At the beginning of July 2021, the Department for Combating Smuggling of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia received operational information that a transnational organized criminal group engaged in the illegal transportation of heroin from Iran to the EU countries plans to transport a large consignment of heroin in transit through the territories of Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine.

Agreements were reached with the police of Ukraine and Georgia on joint round-the-clock operational-search activities. The employees of the Armenian National Security Service were involved in the operative-search work.

Employees of the Border Directorate of the Federal Security Service of Russia in Armenia and the regional office of the US Department of Justice Department of Justice, located in Tbilisi, were also involved in the implementation of the event.

During the 20-day operational-search event, a representative of the anti-smuggling department of the Armenian State Revenue Office was sent to Georgia and then to Ukraine. A truck with 20 tons of refractory bricks arrived from the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Republic of Armenia on July 4, 2021. According to the operational information received, he was supposed to carry heroin.

With the operational escort of representatives of the law enforcement agencies of Armenia, Georgia, and then Ukraine, the truck headed through the territories of Armenia and Georgia to the port of Poti, and from there by ship to the port of Chornomorsk in Ukraine, from where, upon arrival, the vehicle headed to Kyiv.

Two Turkish citizens who are members of this group rented a warehouse in Kyiv. It was to this warehouse that the goods were delivered, unloaded and stored as a cache for drugs after customs clearance. On July 22, Ukrainian law enforcement officers, with the participation of representatives of the Anti-Smuggling Department of the State Revenue Committee and the Georgian Police, entered a warehouse in Kyiv, where they found 1164 packages of heroin with a total weight of 368 kg, transported from Iran to Ukraine. On the same day, the mentioned Turkish citizens were detained in Kiev. The discovered drugs were planned to be sent in small batches to the countries of the European Union. Within the framework of this criminal case, a few days later, another Turkish citizen born in 1948 was detained in Kyiv.

The value of the drug discovered on the black market is about US $ 45 million.

Man has attempted to self-immolate in front of ombudsman’s office in Yerevan.

The emergency team of doctors on duty brought a man with burns of varying degrees from the territory opposite the office of the Ombudsman of Armenia to the National Burn Center.

According to Shamshyan.com, work is now underway to find out the reason for the incident.

Work is underway to establish the identity of the citizen.

Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan is very actively advancing Baku’s interests. This is what expert on Azerbaijan Armine Adibekyan told reporters today, commenting on Pashinyan’s statement that all transport and economic links need to be unblocked and that Azerbaijan needs to have a link to Nakhchivan, as well as Georgia and Iran through Armenia.

According to Adibekyan, Pashinyan says the enemy has invaded the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia and is carrying out various military and terrorist operations, but at the same time, he is doing everything he can to make sure Azerbaijan continues without any hindrances.

Adibekyan also stated that over the past three years, Pashinyan has turned Armenia into a burden that needs to be lifted.

By SUZAN FRASER,

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — From alleged drug trafficking and a murder cover-up to weapons transfers to Islamic militants, a convicted crime ringleader has been dishing the dirt on members of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party through a series of tell-all videos that have captivated the nation and turned him into an unlikely social media phenomenon.

Sedat Peker, a 49-year-old fugitive crime boss, who once openly supported Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, has been releasing nearly 90-minute long videos from his stated base in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, making scandalous but yet-unproven drip-by-drip allegations, in an apparent bid to settle scores with political figures.

The weekly YouTube videos have been viewed more than 75 million times, causing an uproar, heightening concerns over Turkish state corruption and putting officials on the defensive. They have also exposed alleged rifts between rival factions within the ruling party and added to Erdogan’s troubles as he battles an economic downturn and the coronavirus pandemic.

On Sunday morning, a couple in Istanbul were absorbed while watching Peker’s latest release. They were among millions in Turkey who tuned in.

“I’ve added (Peker’s videos) to the category of TV series I watch every week,” Gulistan Atas said. “Just like a TV episode, I wait in excitement, and every week on Sunday, we prepare our breakfast when we get up and watch them along with our breakfast.”

Clad in a waistcoat or a half-buttoned shirt displaying a medallion, Peker taunts his opponents from behind a desk with neatly arranged notes, prayer beads and books, promising to bring their downfall using nothing more than a “tripod and a camera.”

His initial videos targeted former Interior Minister Mehmet Agar and his son, Tolga, a ruling party lawmaker, whom he accused of raping a young Kazakh journalism student and later covering up her murder as a suicide. Mehmet Agar, Peker suggested, misappropriated a luxury marina that may have been used in drug trafficking operations. Agar later resigned from the marina’s board.

Subsequent videos leveled accusations against business people and media figures close to the government, as well as former Prime Minister Binali Yildirim’s son, claiming he was involved in drug smuggling from Venezuela. But the target of Peker’s most vitriolic and mocking attacks is Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, whom he accuses of abuse of power and corruption while aiming to become Turkey’s president. Peker justifies the tell-all by saying Soylu betrayed him despite the crime leader’s help to defeat a rival faction within the ruling party.

All those implicated have rejected Peker’s accusations.

In an explosive claim with international dimensions, the mob boss said that a former security advisor to Erdogan accused of leading a paramilitary force had sent weapons to Al-Qaida-linked militants in Syria. Erdogan hasn’t yet addressed those claims although the government has in the past denied allegations that it had armed jihadis.

Erdogan ignored the Peker videos for weeks, but broke his silence on May 26, when he dismissed earlier allegations by the mafia leader as a conspiracy against Turkey.

“We will spoil these games, these plots. No one should doubt that we will disrupt this devious operation,” Erdogan said. “We pursue members of criminal gangs wherever in the world they flee to … We will not leave these criminals alone until we bring them back to our country and hand them over to the judiciary.”

Peker responded to Erdogan that week and suggested that the Turkish strongman could be the focus of future videos. He later said he would speak about Erdogan after his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden on June 14 so as not to “weaken his hand.” In his latest video Sunday, he said his revelations would be conducted with respect and wouldn’t hurt the state itself.

“Will finding and bringing me (to Turkey) change the reality,” he said.

Opposition parties, meanwhile, have seized on the allegations to demand the resignations of implicated figures as well as parliamentary and judiciary inquiries.

The ruling party and its nationalist allies have blocked opposition bids to launch parliamentary inquiries into Peker’s claims as well as into the arms smuggling allegations.

Authorities have issued a new warrant for Peker’s arrest.

Can Selcuki, the director of polling and analysis platform Turkiye Raporu, said of Peker: “We shouldn’t forget that he’s a criminal,” but explained the videos’ popularity as a need for information.

“It seems to me people are asking this illegal operator these questions because they can’t get answers elsewhere. And this tells me there’s a growing demand in Turkish society for more transparency,” Selcuki said.

Peker addresses his viewers, especially people under age 40, as the real owners of Turkey who have the power of demanding accountability and change.

A nationalist who advocates unity between Turkic-speaking nations, Peker has been in and out of prison since age 17 for his involvement in organized crime and other offenses. After his last release from prison in 2014, he held rallies to support Erdogan’s party and leveled threats against his opponents. His 2015 wedding to Ozge Peker, who was his lawyer, drew a host of celebrity guests.

In April, an operation was launched against Peker’s group, leading to the arrest of around 60 of his associates.

His home in Istanbul was also searched. Peker maintains that he was forced to speak out after his wife and two daughters were allegedly mistreated and humiliated during the police raid.

“They ask me why I am doing it,” Peker said in the latest video. “I swear to God that at first I did it out of anger, I expected an apology … Now, I don’t know why I am doing it … I feel like doing it.”

Gulistan Atas’ husband Alparslan Atas said Peker’s videos were like the movies “The Godfather” and “Scarface,” to be forever etched in people’s memories.

“I like that the state’s dirty laundry has come to light and spread around because knowing that the people who are in politics with their hands on the Quran can at the same time do cocaine business gives me interesting information,” he said.

Robert Badendieck, Zeynep Bilginsoy, Mehmet Guzel and Ayse Wieting contributed to this report from Istanbul.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/sedat-peker-turkey-crime-boss-youtube-6868c1563a1152712bd2b2191445da95

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Four people are wounded from the Armenian side as a result of the provocation carried out on July 28 by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.

As of 13:00, the situation in the Gegharkunik province of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is stable, the ceasefire agreement is generally observed.

The situation on the rest of the border is relatively calm.

By SCF,

Although the number of journalists jailed in Turkey’s prisons has begun to drop, journalists continue to face legal action for doing their job, with 109 journalists appearing in court in May and June, Turkish Minute reported, citing a report by the Expression Interrupted project.

The report titled, “Freedom of Expression and the Press Agenda,” is based on data obtained from trials and media monitoring work carried out by Expression Interrupted.

According to the report, 109 journalists appeared in courtrooms across Turkey in 51 trials throughout May and June. Among them, four were sentenced to a total of nine years, eight months and two days in prison. Prosecutors launched new trials against at least four journalists, while six journalists faced new investigations in the same period. At least three journalists were taken into custody.

In the same period three journalists including Mezopotamya news agency reporter Mehmet Aslan, who had been jailed pending trial since January, and Bugün daily journalist Cuma Ulus and Zaman daily news editor Erkan Acar, who had been imprisoned since July 2016, were released, bringing the number of journalists jailed down to 65. According to data compiled by Expression Interrupted, this number was 87 on the first day of 2021.

Both the Bugün and Zaman dailies were closed down by the Turkish government, while dozens of journalists from these dailies were jailed in the aftermath of a failed coup in Turkey in July 2016 on the grounds that they had links to the Gülen movement.

The movement, inspired by the views of cleric Fethullah Gülen, strongly denies any involvement in the failed putsch.

“Despite the seeming decrease in the number of imprisoned journalists, the judicial pressure faced by the media in the country has not improved. Trials against journalists continued in the period covered by the report, except during a 17-day Covid-19 lockdown in May. Several new investigations and indictments targeting journalists have also been issued during the period covered,” said the report.

The report also found that the increase in police brutality and interventions targeting reporters, especially those covering public demonstrations, as well as physical attacks on journalists were among the most significant issues faced by the media in Turkey in May and June 2021. At least five journalists were targeted by civilian attackers in the period covered.

Police intervention and brutality against reporters working in the field markedly increased with the implementation of a circular issued in late April by the General Directorate of Security, prohibiting all audio and video recording during public demonstrations, the report said.

Police used disproportionate force on demonstrators and journalists based on the circular, especially during May Day celebrations and Pride Week events in June.

Journalists who were trying to cover the demonstrations were physically assaulted by the police; some journalists were violently arrested, while some journalists’ equipment was broken by the police during interventions. The knee-on-neck arrest of AFP photojournalist Bülent Kılıç as he was covering the banned Pride parade in İstanbul became a symbol of increasing police brutality against journalists in Turkey, said the report.

Kılıç was filmed shouting “I can’t breathe!” as police officers pushed him to the ground and pressed their knees against his neck, prompting journalists’ groups to take to the streets in İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir in protest, under the slogan “We can’t breathe.”

Turkey, which is among the top jailers of journalists in the world, ranked 153rd out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2021 World Press Freedom Index announced in April.

The Turkish government side lost the appeal hearing of the lawsuit filed in May 2017 for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bodyguards attacking anti-Erdogan protesters in Washington, DC.

When Erdogan returned to the Turkish Embassy Residence after meeting with then-US President Donald Trump, his bodyguards attacked a dozen people on the public area called Sheridan Circle, right across the Residence, and the events took place in all American national news channels and newspapers. The kicks and blood coming from the faces of the protesters who fell to the ground and were US citizens remained on the agenda for weeks.

In January 2019, the Washington district court accepted the case against two separate compensation lawsuits filed by protesters claiming to have been harmed by the attacks against the Republic of Turkey, while Turkish government lawyers filed an appeal.

On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals announced its decision, giving the opinion that both compensation cases should continue, and the Turkish government dismissed the lawyers’ objections. The full 29-page resolution is here:

The case, which was appealed by Turkish government lawyers David S. Saltzman, Cathy A. Hinger, and Victoria A. Bruno, put forward three main arguments: ‘immunity of a foreign leader’, ‘political doctrine’ and ‘international respect’. The Court of Appeal declared that it did not accept all three arguments.

Although the appeal was filed in January, U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of State officials, responding to the Court of Appeals request for comment in March, found the protesters justified, allowing the Turkish bodyguards to use force against the protesters without overt threat, even though it was their duty to protect their leaders, and disproportionate force as in this example. reported to the Court of Appeal that he found their use unwarranted.

The Biden administration expressed the following view:

“If foreign security personnel attack civilians on U.S. soil and do not necessarily act against physical harm when using force, then they are acting outside the concept of the protection function and are legally deprived of protection.”

Before the opinion of the US Department of Justice, members of both parties sent a letter to the Congress, asking the US administration not to protect the Turkish government.

Likewise, the Court of Appeal found the Turkish government unfair, noting that the bodyguards protecting the guest country leader did not have the right to “dangerous weapons” and “heavy attacks”, and that the arguments of the plaintiffs in this regard were worth considering. After that, compensation cases are expected to continue in the local district court.

In the analysis-news published on the subject in March, we stated that the decision of the Court of Appeal would most likely be against the Turkish government as follows:

An American legal expert who spoke to Ahval and closely monitors the cases pointed out that the US government’s opinion would most likely be accepted by the Court of Appeals and that the decision would also be against Turkey in the Court of Appeals. If Turkey wishes, it can also take the Appeals Decision to the US Constitutional Court, but it is not expected that much will come out of it.