administrator, Author at Gagrule.net

Ex Turkish Gray Wolves Leader Busted at Turkish-Bulgarian Border

August 13, 2013 By administrator

Levent Temiz, the former leader of Turkish ultranationalist organization Gray Wolves, has been busted by Bulgarian authorities at the Turkish-Bulgarian border, according to media reports.

Temiz was using a fake ID when he was arrested on August 8 at the Malko Tarnovo border crosspoint, the Bulgarian National Radio informs.

The datainee is likely to be handed to Turkish authorities. Temiz recently received a 10-years prison sentence in Turkey’s high-profile Ergenekon trial.

The Gray Wolves are a Turkish ultra-nationalist,neo-fascist youth organization. It is the “unofficial militant arm” of the Nationalist Movement Party.

Source: Novinite.com

Former Turkish Foreign Minister: Erdogan’s government involved in supporting terrorism

August 13, 2013 By administrator

Aug 13, 2013

Ankara, (SANA) – Former Turkish Foreign Minister Shukri Sina Gurel stressed that the government of Justice and development Party supports inciting the sectarian conflict in the Middle East through arming al –Qaeda terrorists and sending them to fight in Syria and Iraq against the legal government.

In a statement to Yurt Newspaper published on Tuesday, Gureal described the stance and policy of the Turkish government towards the crisis in Syria and the Middle East as a scandal, adding that Erdogan’s government is looking at terrorism as a legal tool, which appears clearly in its policy in Syria.

“Justice and Development’ government flooded Turkey in swamp of terrorism through supporting Jabhat al-Nusra, linked to al-Qaeda which wreak havoc in Syria,” Gureal said.

B. Mousa / Mazen

Justice Dept. Files Lawsuit to Block US Airways-American Merger

August 13, 2013 By administrator

NYTimes Report:

The Justice Department, along with the attorneys general of six states, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to block the proposed merger of American Airlines and US Airways.
The $11 billion deal, announced in February, took American out of bankruptcy. It would create the nation’s biggest airline, a company with the size and breadth to compete against United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, which have grown through mergers of their own in recent years and are currently the biggest domestic carriers.
But in the complaint filed Tuesday in Federal District Court in the District of Columbia, the Justice Department said that the merger “will leave three very similar legacy airlines — Delta, United and the new American — that past experience shows increasingly prefer tacit coordination over full-throated competition.”

Azerbaijani Opposition Leader’s Detention Extended

August 13, 2013 By administrator

By RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service August 13, 2013

BAKU — A court in Baku has extended the pretrial detention of Tofiq Yaqublu, the deputy head of the opposition Musavat party.

Yaqublu’s lawyer, Nemat Karimli told RFE/RL that Yaqublu was handed almost four additional months in jail during closed court hearings on August 13.

Yaqublu and the chairman of the Republican Alternative (REAL) movement, Ilqar Mammadov, were arrested in February and charged with helping organize riots in the town of Ismayilli, northwest of the capital Baku.

On January 23, thousands of Ismayilli residents demanded the resignation of the district’s governor, setting fire to his residence, cars, and a local motel.

Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters. Yaqublu and Mammadov, arriving in Ismayilli the following day, called for civil disobedience.

Amnesty International has called the charges against Yaqublu and Mammadov “politically motivated

Turkey media crackdown: Who to blame?

August 13, 2013 By administrator

By Selin Girit BBC Turkish

Press freedom has become a burning issue in Turkey after the police crackdown on protesters in Istanbul’s Gezi Park and the way Turkish media initially avoided covering it.

As police fought running battles with protesters in June the mainstream news channels opted to air documentaries – including, infamously, one about penguins.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently remarked: “Not everyone has to like us. I’m being frank. There is no such obligation.”

That appeared to suggest tolerance for opposing views. But many sacked journalists are sceptical.

Since the Gezi Park protests – the biggest challenge yet to the AKP government after 11 years in power – at least 75 journalists have been fired or have resigned, the Turkish Journalists’ Union says.

Tugce Tatari was one of them. She has been a columnist since 2007 for the daily Aksam, which was taken over by a Turkish state-run fund, TMSF, in May this year. Soon after, a number of journalists lost their jobs, herself included.

Ms Tatari says they were sacked because of their coverage of Gezi Park, where anger over redevelopment plans mushroomed into wider criticism of the government.

“Those who opposed the PM, who objected to him in their columns, those who said the police used excessive force, were all fired, one by one. There was a crisis in the country.

“For the first time, there was a mass movement. The PM wants everyone who has spoken out about this to be sacked, because he cannot tolerate any sort of criticism.”

Media bosses’ other businesses

Dogan Group: Energy, retail, tourism, finance, industrial
Demiroren Group: Gas, construction, education, industrial
Ciner Group: Energy, mining, industrial, service sector
Dogus Group: Banking, finance, automotive, construction, tourism, energy, restaurant chains
Calik Group: Textiles, energy, construction, finance, telecoms, mining

Source: Turkish Journalists’ Union

Government pressure?

Another prominent columnist, Can Dundar, was one of the latest casualties.

He was dismissed from the daily Milliyet, after three weeks of uncertainty when his columns were not published.

“I am not the first, and I will not be the last,” Mr Dundar wrote in his personal blog after his dismissal.

Mr Dundar’s case sparked a huge debate in Turkish media, with a fellow journalist claiming the prime minister’s adviser Yalcin Akdogan had played a significant role in the process. Mr Akdogan denied that. The BBC contacted him, but he declined to comment.

Mr Dundar was also sacked from a television channel two years ago after having attended a protest about arrested journalists.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: “We have been told Mr Akdogan made a call. But the government then defends itself, saying ‘we never said such things’. So the blame rests on media bosses or editors. If they are really disgruntled about this, they need to speak out. They need to do this, not only for press freedom in Turkey but also for the future of Turkish democracy.”

Mr Erdogan’s conservative, Islamist-rooted party increased its majority in the last election. When it first came to power there were high hopes that the AKP would democratise Turkey, after years of military interference in politics.

Landmark trial

Earlier this month 22 journalists were given sentences ranging from six years to life imprisonment in the Ergenekon case, alongside senior military officers, politicians and academics convicted of plotting a coup against the AKP government.

The government says the imprisoned journalists are being held not because of their journalism but because of criminal acts.

However, the campaign group Reporters Without Borders ranked Turkey 154th out of 179 countries – putting its record on press freedom below those of Iraq, Afghanistan or Russia.

More journalists are imprisoned in Turkey than anywhere else in the world.

The Turkish Journalists’ Union says 63 journalists are still behind bars in Turkey, while more than 120 journalists have been released pending trial.

Today critics of the AKP government claim they have borrowed tactics previously used by the military to influence the media.

In 1997 pressure from the military forced the resignation of an Islamist prime minister. During that period several columnists were sacked, headlines were manipulated, and certain Islamist papers were banned from military press conferences.

Many claim that now the government “whispers” to media bosses or editors, complains about certain headlines, phones the broadcast news galleries and even boycotts those who fail to meet specific demands.

But a columnist for the conservative daily Zaman, Mumtazer Turkone, says such things never happen. “Someone from the government never says, ‘If you do not do this, we will not do that’ directly. These measures are applied by the media bosses. Or maybe the papers are too sensitive to government reactions, so they apply these measures themselves.”

According to Akif Beki, a former adviser to Mr Erdogan and now columnist for the daily Radikal, it is the media bosses and not the government who are to blame for the increasing number of sacked journalists.

He told the BBC that “it is not like the government asked for these 70-80 journalists to be fired and then media bosses showed them the door”. He insisted that each case had to be considered individually.

But he also said the AKP government had failed to rid itself of “old reflexes” towards the media.

“They can still perceive criticism as a rejection of their existence, a categorical denial of their being. That is why they sometimes overreact.”

The BBC contacted four government ministers, but none was available for comment.

Powerful conglomerates

Some critics point to a questionable relationship between media bosses and the government, via their activity in other industrial sectors.

There is no judicial or ethical code preventing these media moguls bidding for public contracts.

Recently the winning bidder to build Istanbul’s planned third airport paid $60m for media assets that had been seized by the state, including the daily Aksam.

Professor of Communications Haluk Sahin from Bilgi University says the state “is one of the biggest actors in the Turkish economy.

“The PM may decide personally who is going to win which government auction, which contract will go to whom. Media bosses who happen to be businessmen have started to act on the suggestions made to them directly or indirectly and carry out instructions, in order to do business with the state. It is obvious that media bosses prefer to win contracts rather than make news.”

A $2.5bn (£1.6bn) tax bill imposed on the Dogan conglomerate in 2009 was an example of the pressure the government can bring to bear on media owners.

Can Dundar fears that Turkey may be in a downward spiral.

“I suppose they will continue the suppression until all the papers in Turkey come out with the same headlines, until all the columns write about the same things. We’re almost there,” he lamented.

Ancient church found in Aegean province of Denizli dates back 1,500 years

August 13, 2013 By administrator

DENİZLİ – Anadolu Agency

A church that dates back 1,500 years was unearthed during excavations at Denizli’s ancient city of Tripolis. The church will open to visitors at the end of the year after being covered with a wooden material just like the original, say officials. A church found in the ancient city of Tripolis in the Aegean province of Denizli’s Buldan district dates back 1,500 years and will open to visitors at the end of the year. It will be covered with a wooden material.
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The archaeological excavations have been carried out for two years by Pamukkale University in the Lycian city of Tripolis, which was located at the junction point of Phrygia, Karia and Lydia in the Hellenistic period. The city was surrounded with walls in the early Roman period.

In last year’s excavations, georadar work revealed a marketplace in good condition. This year during excavations next to the marketplace, a church, which is in very good condition until its roof level, was found. The earth in the church has been cleaned and its roof will be covered with a wooden material just like the original before being opened to visitors.

The head of the Tripolis ancient city excavations, Professor Bahadır Duman, said the history of the first settlement place in the ancient city dated back to the Hellenistic period in the 3rd century B.C.

Byzantium church

“One of our most important findings in 2013 excavations is this church from the early Byzantium period in the 6th century. But the frescos and icons on the walls of the church show us that worship continued here until the 10th century. The church is in 21 by five meters in size and seven meters in height. Local stones of the region were used in the construction of the church, mostly travertine. The floor covering is made up of marble and travertine. It has three sections, which are the narthex, naos and atrium. We are currently working on the restoration of the church. At the end of this season, we plan to open it,” said Duman.

He said the church remained original aside from its roof. “As roofs were generally wooden in the ancient era, it was unprotected against natural conditions such as erosion and earthquakes, and it collapsed. But we will finish its restoration and revive it. Another significance of the church is that worship continued for 400 years between the 6th and 10th centuries. When compared to other churches in the region, it is a small church but better protected.”

Duman said the walls of the church had figures of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the 12 apostles. “Iconoclasm existed in Christianity in the 8th and 9th centuries. This structure consists of frescos made in 10th century after the iconoclasm period.”

The church is located on an important route, Duman said. “The ancient city of Philadelphia in Manisa Alaşehir is in the northwest of Tripolis. It is one of the seven churches mentioned in the Bible. One of these churches is also located in Laodicea in 40 kilometer south of our ancient city. Therefore, Tripolis is on the pilgrimage route between these two holy cities. We have found four churches in two years, and this church is one of them. Pilgrims will visit it since it is on the pilgrimage route.”

‘Any Turk in Beirut’ target for us, kidnapped Lebanese pilgrims’ families threaten

August 13, 2013 By administrator

The families of abducted Lebanese Shiite pilgrims in Syria have threatened to kidnap any Turkish national in Beirut to protest the detention of their relatives.

Members of the Internal security forces sit outside the Turkish Airlines offices in downtonw Beirut on August 12, 2013. Turkey has closed its cultural centre and commercial office in Beirut after the kidnap of two Turkish Airlines pilots, Ankara’s ambassador to Lebanon told AFP. AFP photo

“Any Turkish citizen in the southern suburbs and the city of Beirut is a target for [kidnapping] by the families of the Lebanese hostages,” Hayat Awali, a spokesperson for the families of the hostages, told reporters Aug. 12. The families of the nine Lebanese pilgrims, who were returning from a trip to Iran when they were kidnapped in Syria last year, have called repeatedly for the release of their relatives. They accuse Turkey of not doing enough to win the release of their relatives.

“It has been proven to us that the detention of [Mohammad Saleh] is a political move by the Information Branch and a gift from them to Turkey,” Awali said. “Therefore, and in response to that, a large group of the families of the hostages in Azaz are heading to the streets of Beirut and any Turk seen there will be kidnapped,” she added, according to Lebanese media.

Saleh was arrested Aug. 11 on charges of having links to the kidnappers of two Turkish Airlines pilots who were abducted on Aug. 9 near the Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport.

‘‘Google Maps’’ presents ripped flag of Azerbaijan to world

August 13, 2013 By administrator

The world search engine ‘Google’ had prepared an unpleasant surprise to spring on Azerbaijan once more. The state symbol of the National Flag Square in Baku is featured torn in ‘Google Maps’ 3D-model, reports APA Azerbaijani news agency.

‘The Winter Boulevard,’ the luxurious opening of which took place in downtown Baku on May 10th, was named ‘Zone of illegal demolition’ in ‘Google Maps.’ Similarly, screenshots of ‘Google Maps,’ which were spread all over the Internet last year, pictured streets of Baku named in Armenian. For instance, the Neftyanikov Avenue was renamed ‘Free Artsakh,’ other streets were renamed ‘Freedom to Nagorno Karabakh’ and ‘Recognize the Armenian Genocide.’

The inauguration of the National Flag Square, where the flag of Azerbaijan was raised, took place in Baku on September 1, 2010. The flagpole of the mentioned Square used to be the highest one in the world during the time period starting from its construction till May of 2011, when another 165-meters high flagpole was set in Dushanbe. On September 3, 2010, only two days after the setting, the flag was replaced, as it was torn by a storm. The incident was repeated in April 2011, the flag of Azerbaijan was ripped off.

The foundation stone of the National Flag Square of Baku was laid on December 30, 2007. The project was prepared by the American company ‘Trient Support’ and implemented by Azerbaijani company ‘Azenko.’ A day after the inauguration of the square on September 1, 2010 the 350kg-weighing flag, which was ripped by a strong wind, was taken down. The same incident was recorded twice.

Furthermore, at night of February 2, 2011 the flagpole started to swing because of a wind, and the flag was taken down for awhile. Moreover, the residents of the nearby 9-storeyed building were evacuated because of the danger of a falling flagpole, weighing 220 ton. The flag was taken down again on April 9, 2011. According to one of the explanations, the flag was ripped again by the wind, another one suggests that the problem was in the material the flag was made of.

$ 35 million from the state budget of Azerbaijan was spent over the construction of the National Flag Square.

Source: Panorama.am

Putin’s Baku trip alarming but not awesome – opinions

August 13, 2013 By administrator

With Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip to Azerbaijan being high on the regional agenda, the Armenian political circles remain relatively balanced in their opinions on the issue.

The political analyst Levon Shirinyan says the visit is quite normal if viewed from the angle of the bilateral relations’ agenda. But from the regional viewpoint, he says, it is a little bit alarming, especially for Armenia.

“The is felt not only in Armenia and [Nagorno-]Karabakh, but also in Turkmenistan and Iran, because they too, have problems with Azerbaijan. This is a regional issue,” he said in comments told Tert.am. “Russia is our strategic ally – perhaps officially – but we know historically that it was Russia that had our country divided between the Turks and the Georgians. So we mustn’t forget the history”

Putin is travelling to Azerbaijan on Tuesday, the visit being the first since his being elected a president. Earlier reports said that the Russian leader will be accompanied by a big delegation, as well as cruisers.

“It is also important that Azerbaijan – while starting an approximation process with Europe – is not seeking for the Association [Agreement] process, but rather trying to gain advantages.

“Azerbaijan has adopted the right approach to the so-called Customs Union which is overestimated for Putin. And they are trying to gain maximum benefits, also in relation to the Karabakh issue,” Shirinyan added.

Aghasy Yenokyan, the director of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS), thinks that major complication may arise in autumn while the initialing of the Association Agreement is in process.

“Russia has a clear-cut agenda in relation to the Karabakh issue. [It plans] to deploy Russian troops in Azerbaijan, either in the form of peacekeepers or through the return of the military base. But Azerbaijan will never naturally agree to that; hence the hopes for breaking the stalemate in the relations will remain vain,” he said.

Armenian News – Tert.am

The Sultans of Swindling

August 13, 2013 By administrator

BY KHATCHIG MOURADIAN
From The Armenian Weekly

“To dispossess the people unyieldingly, the government has created monopolies (tobacco, salt, railroads, mines), that aim at snatching from the worker’s pocket a part of his earnings and handing it to European or local capitalists.”

(More than two decades after regaining its independence, Armenia is witnessing a protest movement gaining momentum with every battle, while it seems that the political parties are laying low.)

Contrary to what many readers suspect, the above diagnosis was not written with the Armenian government in mind.

Far from it!

These lines, published in 1892 in the official organ Droshak (Flag) of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (at the time called Federation of Armenian Revolutionaries), are part of a description of the Ottoman Turkish government’s modus operandi.

In the late 19th century, the Ottoman Armenian workers had very few, mostly unappealing, options to avoid humiliation, subjugation, and dispossession. While many Armenians left for the U.S. and other countries to make a living and support their families in the homeland, a very small proportion took up arms. Revolutionary parties like the ARF were born to support and direct that struggle. Most Ottoman Armenians however remained unwavering in their insistence on laying low and hoping for the best.

The rest is history.

Today, in the tiny Republic of Armenia, erected in 1918 on the ashes of the Armenian Genocide in large part due to the efforts of the very same people who wrote in Droshak and swore by it, the Armenian citizen is faced with similar options: To emigrate—as most Armenians already have or hope to be able to one day— or to fight.

The grassroots activism that has emerged and matured in recent years, from Teghut to Mashdots Park to the “I will not pay 150 drams” movement, is the product of the few who decide to stay, decline to lay low, and struggle against all odds. They are bullied, threatened, beaten, imprisoned, and sometimes even killed, while the regime continues “snatching from the worker’s pocket a part of his earnings…”

More than two decades after regaining its independence, Armenia is witnessing a protest movement gaining momentum with every battle, while it seems that the political parties are laying low.

Over-promising and under-delivering has become a staple of politics-as-usual in Armenia. Unfortunately, this also includes much of the opposition, which has thus far failed to muster the strength and ingenuity to tackle the profound economic and social challenges the Armenian citizen faces.

The same Droshak article argues: “To liberate the people from this unbearable situation, to create circumstances for it to enter humanity’s path to development, is only possible through revolution….” In today’s Armenia, such a revolution could only be waged through a robust movement that harnesses grassroots activism and civil disobedience.

One could already discern the contours of such a movement in the “I will not pay 150 drams” initiative.

Yet it seems political parties haven’t gotten the memo about direct action and bottom-up protest movements. This is to their detriment. In these challenging times for the Armenian nation, state, and church, their political reflexes must change. Otherwise, loyalties will begin to shift, and those who fail to step forward may well be forced to step aside.