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Garbis space Manoukian – 40 rue Armenia, Lyon 3rd – 20h
Jean Eckian © armenews.com
ANKARA
Hurriyet daily news Report: PM Erdoğan lays down the gauntlet against Fethullah Gülen in the latest skirmish in their increasingly open war, challenging the exiled Islamic scholar to return to Turkey and engage in parliamentary politics
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has challenged Fethullah Gülen, the self-exiled leader of the influential Hizmet Movement, to establish a political party to compete with his government in the political sphere, vowing to fight against what he calls a “parallel state” led by the Islamic scholar.
“Turkey is no longer a country whose rule can be imposed from abroad. This became history. They should better come to Turkey and deal with this issue through politics,” Erdoğan said during his Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) weekly parliamentary group meeting on Feb 11.
Gülen has been residing in the United States since the late 1990s after he was prosecuted for his alleged attempts to break the constitutional order in Turkey but refused to return even though he was acquitted of all charges under the AKP’s rule. Gülen leads the massive Hizmet Movement which has a global and local reach, running hundreds of schools and other educational institutions. The alliance between Erdoğan and Gülen was recently ruptured after a massive corruption and graft probe was launched by what Erdoğan believes to be “the parallel state” under Gülen’s direction.
Erdoğan reiterated his government’s determination to destroy this “parallel state,” describing Gülen as its leader, alleging that he had been trying to infiltrate the state for the past 40 years and announcing that the government would take all necessary steps in this “independence war” against traitors and the enemies of the “New Turkey.”
“The Dec. 17 [2013] offensive is merely a project of destruction. They just want to destroy; they have no objective to build. They say the ‘AK Party must go, the government must go.’ What they suggest instead of the AK Party government is [an order of] chaos, instability, uncertainty, poverty and corruption. Bring it on. Let them do their best; let them use any sort of dirty means,” Erdoğan told his lawmakers.
“It’s enough! Since they are the ones who are eavesdropping, talking and trying to rule the country through CDs, we will also speak about it and take our steps. We are courageously advancing on this issue,” he said.
Erdoğan said the judiciary was preparing for legal action against what he called an “illegal gang within the state” while reiterating that his government was determined to clear the state of members of this so-called parallel structure. Describing the posting of phone conversations between government officials and business leaders or other media personalities that proved alleged corruption and graft business or direct intervention on the media as “cyber mobbing,” Erdoğan said they would not allow what he calls “tape politics” to shape the country’s politics.
“If we surrender to this, then it would mean a betrayal of the people’s will. If we surrender to this, then we would blacken Turkey’s future,” he said.
Defending the much-criticized Internet bill that will increase the government’s control over the web, Erdoğan said the move aimed to protect individuals’ private lives and society from menaces. The prime minister said the move would prevent future attempts of “dignity assassinations,” recalling that all developed countries had similar regulations on the use of the Internet. Critics say the bill could be used by the government to stifle reporting on massive alleged corruption in government circles. Pro-AKP media groups, meanwhile, have castigated the bill’s opponents as the “Porno Lobby.”
Criticizing the opposition parties for not backing this bill even though they had suffered from illegal eavesdropping and other violations of privacy, Erdoğan accused the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) of “surrendering” to the Hizmet Movement after they had been threatened by the “illegal gang.”
“They wiretapped everybody; not just me and the president, businessmen or journalists. I’m saying it from here: they have listened to everybody, all parties and journalists in Mersin to blackmail them,” Erdoğan said.
“This is the struggle of 77 million [people in Turkey]. March 30 will be date of the victory of Turkey and the failure of the enemies of Turkey and their local contractors,” he said in reference to the date of local elections.
February/11/2014
Source:
SOFIA – Anadolu Agency
Bulgaria on Feb. 11 said it had begun tightening border control checks on all vehicles amid tension with Turkey over transport permits, which has resulted in the closure of crossings to both countries’ respective trucks.
Bulgarian authorities started checking all passenger lists, insurance documents, schedules and toll roads on Turkish trucks and buses yesterday in accordance with a European Union directive. Turkey and Bulgaria closed their borders last week to truck traffic after Sofia approved only 5,000 of the 125,000 transit permits requested by Turkish truckers at the beginning of the year.
Truckers at the Kapitan Andreevo gate on the Bulgarian side, across from Turkey’s Kapıkule gate, and the Lesovo gate across from Hamzabeyli, blocked the way Feb. 10 in protest of the deadlock.
Larger transportation companies were also expected to join the protests to urge Ankara and Sofia to move up a meeting on the quota issue slated for Feb. 21 between the countries’ respective transportation ministries.
They had also pledged to stage a demonstration in Sofia if the transit passage permit crisis with Turkey is not settled within days.
February/11/2014
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has expressed willingness to meet with the Russian leader.
He declared of his intention in a televised comment in response to Vladimir Putin’s earlier proposal for talks with the Georgian cabinet.
“I confirm that I am ready to meet with Russia’s leadership,” Georgia Online quoted him as saying.
Mr Putin said Tuesday that he does not rule out the possibility of a meeting with Georgia’s leader. “If that’s what he wishes, why not?” he told a Georgian correspondent when asked if the Russian leader has any plans to meet with his Georgian counterpart.
The Russian president said further that he is very happy to see Georgian sportsmen in the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) issued an open letter to state legislators about Azerbaijan, calling to take a stand against foreign interference in American civic life by corrupt Azerbaijani dictator Ilham Aliyev.
The letter, signed by ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian, says,
“Dear U.S. State Legislator: I am writing to alert you that Ilham Aliyev, the President of Azerbaijan (an oil-rich and corrupt one-family dictatorship), is pressuring state legislatures across our country into joining his angry and increasingly violent attacks upon his Christian Armenian neighbors.
Azerbaijan has been run by the Aliyev family for the better part of the past half century. Its current President, the son of a KGB general, has become a billionaire on a civil service salary and is often listed as the single most undemocratic leader in the world. His personal wealth and his government’s corruption were both highlighted in this CNBC program: “The Aliyev Family of Azerbaijan.”
President Aliyev is best known around the world for the scandal surrounding his pardon and promotion of a convicted axe-murderer, after this confessed killer happily admitted to hacking to death an Armenian student (while he slept) during a NATO peace program in Hungary. This shameful act was sharply condemned by President Obama. Azerbaijan’s human rights record, among the worst in the world, is documented annually in our State Department’s human rights reports. This one-page provides basic background about his record as President.
It is truly a tribute to our great American democratic tradition that even a regime as flagrantly corrupt as Ilham Aliyev’s is allowed to operate freely within our open society. But that does not mean that American citizens need to remain silent in the face of meddling by foreign leaders who neither respect our rights nor share our values – especially when they try to export their intolerance to our shores.
It would risk public embarrassment for any state legislature to be perceived, in any manner, as somehow serving the foreign interests of a corrupt dictator. The Washington Post and Politico, among other media outlets, have reported extensively about scandalous charges of Azerbaijani influence over U.S. policymakers – past and present. In fact, a previous Presidential nominee for Ambassador to Azerbaijan was blocked by the U.S. Senate due, in large measure, to concerns regarding reports of unacceptable relationships with Azerbaijani officials.
It is in the spirit of our American democracy that I ask you to ensure that this foreign dictator is not allowed to hijack your state legislature in his hateful campaign against the Republic of Armenia and the free people of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic.
I respectfully suggest that you tell President Aliyev: “Fix your own democracy, instead of trying to interfere in ours!”
Paris is well aware of Armenia’s intention to establish closer ties with the EU, and should take better efforts to promote it, French envoy Henri Reynaud said.
As the ambassador noted during discussions titled Armenia’s Way to Europe: Obstacles and Possibilities, “despite President Serzh Sargsyan’s decision to join the Russia-led Customs Union, cooperation with the EU remains a priority on Armenia’s agenda, as reasserted at the November 2013 Vilnius summit.”
According to the envoy, Armenia and EU resolved to revise the principles of cooperation to provide better interaction. “We have a lot to do, but it’s necessary in order to give a new impetus to Armenia’s ties with the EU,” the envoy concluded, according to Armenia Today.
Russian ambassador Ivan Volynkin, in turn, added that the procedure of Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union is moving fast, due to the country’s experts, well skilled in the legal details of the process, Novosti-Armenia said.
As he further noted, “those suggesting that Armenia’s political course was changed on September 3 are mistaken. Yerevan’s policy line hasn’t changed, with Armenia always aiming to perpetuate ties with Russia. President Sargsyan’s statement on joining the Eurasian integration processes was crucial in further stimulating Armenia’s development.”
As Volynkin stated, in conclusion, any political cooperation must be supported with economic one.
During a Sept 3 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Armenian leader Serzh Sargsyan said Armenia is ready to join Customs Union, with further plans to be involved in formation of the Eurasian Economic Union. Mr. Putin supported the initiative, vowing procedural assistance to Armenia.
A draft resolution on Armenia’s accession to the Customs Union and unified economic zone was approved at the Minsk-hosted Supreme Eurasian Economic Council meeting Dec 24.
On Jan 23, Armenian government has approved the list of measures for joining the Customs Union.
The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is the first comprehensive initiative introduced into the system of the European Union’s external relations, addressed to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The Eastern Partnership is designed to help the countries of Eastern Europe and South Caucasus with their approximation to and integration with the European Union. The EaP has injected a new quality into relations between the EU and the countries covered by the initiative through their gradual integration with the European Union.
PARIS, February 10, 2014 (AFP) – (Updated) The judges investigating the assassination in Paris in January 2013 of three Kurdish activists will not question immediately the French intelligence services about what they could learn the alleged murderer, Has on Monday source familiar with the matter.
The Court of Appeal of Paris has just refused to consider the request of the relatives of victims who wanted the magistrates probe including the Central Directorate of Internal Intelligence (DCRI), the source said.
“At the moment everything points to the involvement of Turkish services in these killings, how can we imagine that we can deny investigations that knew the French services on the presence in France of a potential Turkish agent?” Was indignant to AFP Me Antoine Comte, a lawyer relatives of murdered activists. Sakine Cansiz, Dogan Fidan and Leyla Saylemez were shot dead Jan. 9, 2013 at the Centre for Kurdish information (CIK) in Paris. A few days later, police arrested the alleged gunman, Ömer Güney, which remains to this day the only indicted in the terrorism investigation.
Questions about its possible relationship with the Turkish Intelligence Service (MIT) have recently been revived by playing back a recording on the internet likely to jeopardize. The Turk 30, who was the driver of one of the three victims and denies their murderer, recently refuted before the judges to be the man who speaks in this recording two speakers presented as Turkish officials. MIT has denied any involvement in the killings. Expertise is in progress on this record.
Last summer, lawyers for the victims’ relatives had asked the judges to probe the DCRI, but also the information of the Prefecture of Police of Paris, to find out what services the French knew Mr. Güney.
Based on the revelations of widespread spying on World Communications by the French secret services, lawyers felt that the electromagnetic signals emitted by portable suspect could have been collected systematically and that these data could help the investigation .
However, the judges had refused this request on September 20 to act against a refusal which lawyers appealed. The president of the investigating chamber of the Court of Appeal, however, refused Jan. 22 to consider this appeal, in a decision which is without recourse, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Applications lawyers, “if they can enroll in the extension of journalistic investigation, are in fact supported by any justification relating to their real interest in respect of their contribution to the establishment of the truth in the proceedings cause, “said the president of the chamber, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“It is incomprehensible that checks which today are made even more when our request to act was made is refused,” responded Mr. Comte.
In their investigation, the magistrates are particularly interested in the route Güney, especially before his arrival in France and during his stay in Germany.
They try to trace the many telephone exchanges to Turkey of a man who had many SIM cards, including Turkey, stated another source familiar with the matter, confirming the revelations of L’Express.
Turkey is planning to deploy modern control systems along its border with Armenia and Iran.
According to Turkey’s newspaper Aksam, mine clearance is underway at Turkey’s eastern border, coordinated by the General Staff of Turkish Armed Forces and the country’s Interior Ministry.
The 52,450,000 euro worth project will be implemented with a funding from the European Union and Turkey’s Defense Ministry.
Armenian music will sound at Sochi Olympics. Famed Armenian duduk player Gevorg Dabaghyan has been invited to participate in the seventh Winter International Arts Festival of music, drama and ballet in the Olympic city of Sochi, chelovek-online.ru reports.
February 6 saw the first concert of the art festival. The festival’s organizer is Russian conductor and viola maestro Yuri Bashmet. The concerts, performances, exhibitions, film showings and other events in the context of the art festival will be held in Sochi until February 20.
It is the first time when Armenian duduk will sound at the World Olympic Games. The program includes works by V. Sharafyan and Komitas.
Prosecutor Murat İnam has been assigned to the Ergenekon coup plot trial and the murder case of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, after prosecutor Muammer Akkaş was removed from the cases in a judicial purge last month, Hurriyet Daily News reports.
İnam received all the case files that Akkaş had been dealing with in Istanbul, including the above-mentioned cases.
Akkaş wanted to launch a second wave of corruption probes right after the initial one that shook the agenda on Dec 17, 2013. He was prevented as the new Istanbul Police Chief Selami Altınok refused to implement the prosecutor’s orders to carry out the arrests.
Akkaş was later appointed to the Tekirdağ Chief Prosecutor’s office with a decision of Turkey’s Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) on Jan 16.