AKP’s new tactic towards the EU

September 3, 2014 By administrator

By İHSAN YILMAZ,

Former EU Minister Egemen Bağış was a euroskeptic. His only mission was to go to the EU countries and send a message to nationalist Justice and Development Party (AKP) voters who did not like the EU. He did not care about developing Turkey’s ties with the EU or making an effort to make Turkey more democratic. He was simply hated in the European capitals, and this was a well-known secret.

Since support for Turkey’s accession to the EU was very low among AKP voters, then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan purposefully kept Mr. Bağış in this job. Former Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was not an EU enthusiast either. He was more concerned with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), the Middle East, etc.

During election campaigns, the AKP’s anti-Western rhetoric was very helpful as far as votes were concerned, and surveys show that AKP voters believed Erdoğan’s theory of a conspiracy by dark international forces to attempt a coup against him. His voters knew that he was referring to the US, the EU and Israel. In this fantastical story, the internal collaborator of this dark conspiracy was the Hizmet movement. Despite all this, new Prime Minister Davutoğlu appointed two pro-EU figures as EU minister, Mr. Volkan Bozkır, and foreign minister, Mevlüt Cavuşoğlu.

They are the antitheses of Bağış and Davutoğlu as far as Turkey-EU relations are concerned. What is more, they are liked in the EU capitals. Does this show an essential change of approach in the AKP’s almost anti-EU policies? Given the fact that the AKP is becoming more authoritarian and corrupt with every passing day, does the AKP need a supranational power that will keep nagging about the rule of law, transparency, accountability, press freedoms, etc., which are all now anathema to the AKP’s practices? Of course not. So, the question is this: Why does the AKP, meaning Erdoğan and Davutoğlu, need Bozkır and Cavuşoğlu?

My answer essentially is this: It is the economy, stupid! The main reason for their appointments is no different from the reason that forced Erdoğan to reappoint Mr. Ali Babacan despite the fact that he hates him, and he has allowed his chief advisor, Bağış, to call Mr. Babacan a member of the “parallel state,” i.e. the chief villain, the Hizmet movement. This accusation was published in Erdoğan’s newspapers, and Erdoğan has so far not reacted to it. What is more, he has promoted Mr. Yiğit Bulut to chief advisor of the Presidency. Erdoğan had to keep Mr. Babacan in his jib until the 2015 elections, as the economy is very fragile, and as Babacan has stated, Turkey will have to borrow $200 billion per year in an increasingly competitive market.

Unlike the golden years of the AKP, now money is not available in the international market, and the US is increasing interest rates, meaning that it will be more difficult to find money. That is why Turkey has to pay a lot of more interest to find money. This will negatively impact its credit ratings, and this will in turn force Turkey to increase interest rates more. Foreign direct investment is going down, Turkey’s exports to the Middle East are shrinking, and it will be more difficult to keep AKP voters happy, who overwhelmingly vote for economic, not ideological, reasons. If the AKP cannot get about 50 percent of the vote in June of 2015, it will not be able to control 330 seats in Parliament, and it will not be able to change the system into a Putinistic presidential one without checks and balances. What is more, if the AKP gets less than 42 percent, it will probably lose power.

All in all, the AKP is now doing what it did from 2002-2011: using the EU accession process as a tactical move without really believing in it, without with a serious intention of respecting EU values, the Copenhagen criteria, pluralism, the rule of law, transparency, accountability, etc. A revived EU accession process would send good signs to markets, and Turkey would stay away from an economic crisis. And yet, they will not democratize Turkey in real terms. The AKP needs this until May of 2015. In the last month before the general elections, they will go back to their anti-Western rhetoric, conspiracy theories, etc., to please their voters.

ISIL Turkey office recruits militants: Turkish officers have been arrested in the city of Falluja in Iraq,

September 2, 2014 By administrator

The ISIL Takfiri group recruits volunteer militants to join the ongoing battles in Syria and Iraq through a liaison office in the Turkish city of Istanbul, a German television station says. report Presstv

German television station ARD revealed recently that office, run by ISIL-affiliated Turks, helps foreign militants cross the Turkish border to join the terrorist group’s militants in Iraq and Syria. The report said that militants have been paid up to 400 euros, to join the battles.

“There is a liaison office of the terrorist organization in Fatih [district]. Militants have been given money, up to 400 euros and provided help to cross the border,” the report said.

The German state TV station also said that there are more than 2,000 militants joining ISIL who come from Europe, adding that they enter Istanbul as a tourist and then cross borders into Iraq and Syria.

This is not the first time that media expose links between the Turkish government and Takfiri militants.

A member of the Republican People’s Party in Turkey revealed earlier at the Turkish parliament that the government has been treating ISIL leaders in Turkish hospitals.

Meanwhile, Turkish media reported that four Turkish officers have been arrested in the city of Falluja in Iraq, adding that the officers were engaged in training ISIL militants.

The crisis in Iraq escalated after the ISIL militants took control of the city of Mosul in a lightning attack on June 10, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit. Tikrit was later taken back by the Iraqi army forces.

The Syria crisis began in March 2011, and many people have been killed in the violence. ISIL terrorists have been behind many of the attacks across Syria over the past three years.

Turkish police detained over alleged plot to topple Erdoğan government

September 1, 2014 By administrator

Raids part of crackdown on what president describes as ‘parallel state’ seeking to topple his government

Turkish authorities have detained two dozen police officers in nationwide raids over an alleged plot to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Police conducted early morning raids in 16 cities across Turkey, including Istanbul as well as the western province of Izmir, and detained at least 20 police officers, private NTV television reported.

Among those arrested on Monday was Yakup Saygili, the former chief of the police anti-fraud unit, it added.

It was the fourth such wave of raids since July as the government cracks down on what Erdoğan has described as a “parallel state” within the security forces seeking to topple his government.

Arrest warrants were issued for at least 34 officers accused of a number of offences including illegally eavesdropping on top officials and attempting to overthrow the government.

Since July, dozens of police officers have been arrested and placed in custody on suspicion of forming a criminal organisation and wire-tapping hundreds of people including Erdoğan.

The latest arrests appeared to represent a new offensive against the movement of Erdoğan’s former ally Fethullah Gulen in the wake of a vast corruption scandal that broke late last year, implicating Erdoğan and his inner circle.

Erdogan has long accused followers of US-based Muslim cleric Fetullah Gulen of using its sway in Turkey’s police and the judiciary and of concocting the vast corruption scandal.

The allegations were based on recorded phone conversations – purportedly of Erdoğan and his inner circle – whose publication held much of Turkey in thrall.

Gulen, who has been based in the US since 1999, denied any involvement in the claims.

By coincidence, Istanbul prosecutors announced on Monday they were dropping all legal proceedings against 96 people investigated as a result of the corruption allegations, including Erdoğan’s son Bilal.

Erdoğan stepped in to his new role as president last Thursday after winning Turkey’s first direct presidential elections on 10 August. His close ally, former foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, was appointed his successor as premier.

Erdoğan had said Davutoglu was chosen due to his “determination to fight” the parallel state.

Speaking at Istanbul airport before leaving on his first foreign trip as head of state, Erdoğan said more operations could follow to arrest further suspects.

“As you know it is only part of the process. It is not the end,” he said. There could be a new wave “if new information or evidence emerge.”

Since the allegations first broke, the government has already moved to purge opponents from the security forces and increase its control over appointments in the judiciary.

In a speech on Monday, Turkey’s top judge issued a thinly veiled warning to Erdoğan to refrain from interfering in the judiciary.

“A judicial authority that is under the influence of the executive cannot correctly fulfil its role which is to prevent arbitrariness and illegality,” said the president of Turkey’s supreme court, Ali Alkan, in a speech marking the opening of the judicial year.

In a sign of the tensions between the government and the judiciary, both Erdoğan and his prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu shunned the event to mark the new judicial year, which they would normally be expected to attend.

Egyptian newspapers: Turkey supports Daash (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria

August 29, 2014 By administrator

Ahmed Ragab

29/08/2014

Egyptian newspapers attributed to the Egyptian security apparatus for monitoring information that contacts are underway between the Turkish intelligence services and the organization (Daash)(Islamic State). report iraqhurr.org

She pointed out that these newspapers, “the Turkish government provide full support to the organization and help him in recruiting fighters Europeans into Iraq and Syria in the framework of the organization’s efforts to control the two countries and establish an Islamic emirate, according to the alleged scheme.”

Local newspapers reported that the hardware information in Egypt continues to track the movements (Daash- Islamic State) within the region as a whole, and found that the intelligence Turkish supplied (Daash) during the last period with information and maps of the most important banks and exchange offices in Syria and Iraq to the armed robbery them and harvested from the large sums of money assist them in spending on terrorist operations carried out by.

She newspapers that the Turkish government helped (Daash) also in robberies on several wells for oil Baham and sale of oil using the Turkish border with Iraq and Syria, and even benefited Turkey of oil, which steals (Daash) of the wells the two countries and transferring it to the Turkish soil cheaply less than its real .

To the president of the Astronomical Institute of Science, Dr. Hatem return of “The Institute strongly monitor earthquakes first 4 and 7 per ten degrees on the Richter Mkabbas last weak and very strongly less than two degrees in the early hours of Friday morning.”

On the other hand, reports said unidentified fired in the early hours of Friday morning fire on a police station Fayoum, while the forces insurance circumference them back to the police department was an exchange of fire in the vicinity of the section, provided the unsung without causing any injuries between the two parties.

As violent clashes broke out between the Central Security Forces, and elements of the Muslim Brotherhood, in the vicinity of Helwan metro station, and Central Security forces fired tear gas canisters to disperse the elements of the Brotherhood received items pelted troops with stones. The police dispersed the march of the elements of the Muslim Brotherhood in the area of Dokki.

This announced the public prosecutor that it started an investigation with 141 defendants, members of the Ultras Zamalek Club “White Knights”, arrested in clashes with security forces rotation of Shubra on Thursday evening (August 28), following the exit of tens of “White Nights” in rotation Shubra to go in the march to the Office Attorney General to demand the release of 11 members of their colleagues who were arrested last week on charges of trying to assassinate Prime Zamalek Murtada Mansour, and clashes resulted in the injury of three recruits and 6 members of the Ultras Zmalkkawi.

أحمد رجب

29.08.2014

نسبت صحف مصرية الى أجهزة الأمن المصرية رصدها معلومات تفيد عن اتصالات تجري بين أجهزة المخابرات التركية وتنظيم (داعش).

واشارت هذه الصحف الى إن “الحكومة التركية تقدم دعما كاملا للتنظيم وتساعده في استقدام مقاتلين أوربيين إلى داخل العراق وسوريا فى إطار مساعي التنظيم للسيطرة على الدولتين وإقامة إمارة إسلامية وفقا لمخططه المزعوم”.

وأضافت الصحف أن أجهزة المعلومات في مصر تواصل تتبع تحركات (داعش) داخل المنطقة ككل، وتبين لها أن أجهزة مخابرات تركية أمدت (داعش) خلال الفترة الماضية بمعلومات وخرائط عن أهم البنوك ومكاتب الصرافة في سوريا والعراق لكي تقوم بسطو مسلح عليها وتحصد من ذلك أموالا طائلة تساعدها في الإنفاق على العمليات الإرهابية التي تقوم بها.

وتابعت الصحف أن الحكومة التركية ساعدت (داعش) أيضا في عمليات السطو على آبار عديدة للنفط بالشام وبيع النفط باستخدام الحدود التركية مع العراق وسوريا بل واستفادت تركيا من النفط الذي تسرقه (داعش) من آبار الدولتين وتقوم بنقلها إلى الأراضى التركية بثمن رخيص أقل من سعره الحقيقي.

إلى ذلك اعلن رئيس معهد العلوم الفلكية الدكتور حاتم عودة إن “المعهد رصد زلزالين أولهما بقوة 4 و7 بالعشرة درجة على مقباس ريختر وآخر ضعيف للغاية بقوة أقل من درجتين في الساعات الأولى من صباح اليوم الجمعة”.

من جهة أخرى ذكرت تقارير ان مجهولين اطلقوا في ساعة مبكرة من صباح الجمعة النار على قسم شرطة الفيوم، فيما قامت قوات التأمين بمحيط قسم الشرطة بالرد عليهم وتم تبادل إطلاق النار في محيط القسم، وفر المجهولون دون وقوع أية إصابات بين الطرفين.

كما نشبت اشتباكات عنيفة بين قوات الأمن المركزي، وعناصر جماعة الإخوان، في محيط محطة مترو حلوان، وأطلقت قوات الأمن المركزي قنابل الغاز المسيل للدموع على عناصر الإخوان لتفريقهم وردت العناصر برشق القوات بالحجارة. وفرقت قوات الشرطة مسيرة لعناصر جماعة الإخوان في منطقة الدقي.

هذا واعلنت النيابة العامة انها باشرت التحقيق مع 141 متهما من أعضاء ألتراس نادى الزمالك “وايت نايتس”، المقبوض عليهم فى اشتباكات مع قوات الأمن بدوران شبرا مساء الخميس(28آب)، إثر خروج عشرات الـ”وايت نايتس” في دوران شبرا للتوجه في مسيرة لمكتب النائب العام من أجل المطالبة بالإفراج عن 11 عضوا من زملائهم الذين تم إلقاء القبض عليهم الأسبوع الماضي لاتهامهم بمحاولة اغتيال رئيس الزمالك مرتضى منصور، وأسفرت الاشتباكات عن إصابة 3 مجندين و6 من أعضاء الألتراس الزمالكاوي.

Davutoglu Appoints Foreign Minister with Proven Anti-Armenian Track Record

August 29, 2014 By administrator

Turkey’s new foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu

ANKARA—Turkey’s newly appointed Prime Minister and former foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced a new cabinet on Thursday, which appears to be largely unchanged and strictly loyal to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s decade-long leader recently voted to become President.

Most noteworthy among the appointments, Turkey’s new foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, the country’s former Europe Minister, whose most infamous deed was reintroducing a bogus subcommittee on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) during Turkey’s chairmanship of the Council of Europe in 2011.

The head of Armenia’s parliamentary delegation at the PACE, Davit Harutiunian, accused the Strasbourg-based assembly and its then-president Cavusoglu of anti-Armenian bias. “The assembly has disgraced itself with such an overtly biased approach,” he said.

The move was seen largely as a ploy by Turkey — Azerbaijan’s closest ally — to draft an “anti-Armenian” resolution on the Karabakh conflict, as another Armenian PACE delegate, Naira Zohrabian, explained.

A year after his boondoggle at the PACE, Cavusoglu set his sights on Armenia’s international partners who dared to take a moral stand on Turkey’s denial of the Armenian Genocide. Cavusoglu, who was at the time the leader of Erdogan’s ruling AK party, said in 2012 that French President Francois Hollande was “more dangerous that Sarkozy” when it came to the issue of criminalizing the denial of the Armenian Genocide.

The remarks came when President Hollande reached out to the French-Armenian community and reiterated his campaign pledge to shepherd a law that would criminalize the Armenian Genocide.

Cavusoglu has also kept in line with Turkey’s thoroughly destabilizing foreign policy agenda regarding all of its neighbors. When the European Court of Human Rights ordered Turkey to pay a fine to Cyprus for its invasion of the country, Cavusoglu readily echoed Davutoglu’s objections and vows to ignore the ruling while representing Turkey in Europe.

But Cavusoglu is still somehow a figure seen as reassuring for the United States and the European Union. According to Agence France-Presse, many expect Cavusoglu to rebalance Turkish foreign policy which was condemned for over-ambition under Davutoglu. An unrealistic expectation if there ever was one.

Newly-appointed Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus put it succinctly when he admitted, “The focus of the government has not changed. It is just a partial modification.”

Turkey another German documentarian found dead on Lycian Way

August 29, 2014 By administrator

Bernd Girrbach, who worked for Germany’s ARD channel, was in Turkey to film a documentary on Lycian Way.

German documentary filmmaker Bernd Girrbach was found dead early Aug. 29 in Turkey after a two-day police search. report hurriyet dailynews

The 58-year-old filmmaker had begun walking on Lycian Way, located in the Fethiye district of Turkey’s Muğla province, on Aug. 26.

Girrbach, who worked for Germany’s ARD channel, was in Turkey to film a documentary on Lycian Way, a trekking path that attracts travelers from across the world. Girrbach was conducting the initial research for the documentary when he lost his way somewhere along the 540-kilometer walking path on the road between Ölüdeniz to Geyikbayırı. Girrbach sent a text message for help to his wife, Elke Girrbach, who was also in Fethiye. He could not be reached again on his phone, however.

Girrbach’s body was located through his mobile phone signal, which police tracked via two portable base stations, Ölüdeniz local police said.

August/29/2014

USA Justice Dept. files reveal activities of firms lobbying for Turkey

August 27, 2014 By administrator

By Harut Sassounian
TheCaliforniaCourier.com

Last week, I described the terms of the $1.4 million contract signed by the Gephardt Group, the lobbying firm of former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, to promote Turkey’s interests in Washington.

Realizing that its relationship with the United States has seriously deteriorated, the Turkish government has been pouring millions of dollars into the coffers of several U.S. firms, hoping to improve its image by whitewashing the dark stains of its dictatorial regime. For that purpose, Ankara signed a contract on May 12, 2014 with former Turkish national swimming champion Huma Gruaz and her Chicago-based public relations firm Alpaytac, Inc., for $1,420,000 a year. Oddly enough, instead of making monthly payments, the Turkish government gave Alpaytac $1 million up front upon signing the agreement, and paid the balance of $420,000 in the first three months. Alpaytac thus replaced the public relations firm of Fleishman-Hillard which received from the Turkish Embassy $779,805 for the six-month period from Nov. 1, 2013 to April 30, 2014, at which time its contract was terminated.

In addition, Ankara benefits from the activities of Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) which spent over $1 million to sponsor 170 congressional trips to Turkey since 2000. TCA was founded in 2007 by Massachusetts microchip millionaire Yalcin Ayasli who has donated close to $140,000 in the past 18 months to several pro-Turkish members of Congress, according to Al-Monitor.

Most people are unaware that pursuant to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, American firms representing foreign clients are required to report to the U.S. Justice Department their day-to-day activities every six months.

Alpaytac’s six-month report is not yet due. However, we would like to present excerpts from the detailed files the Gephardt Group and its subcontractors — Greenberg Traurig, Lydia Borland, Brian Forni, and Dickstein Shapiro — submitted to the Justice Department regarding their specific activities on behalf of Turkey from August 1, 2013 to January 31, 2014:

— On Sept. 19, 2013, forwarded a letter from Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek to Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Patrick Leahy.
— Sent emails to Representatives Castro, Cohen, Connolly, Deutch, Esty, Foxx, Frankel, Gabbard, Kennedy, Schneider, Wagner, and Whitfield; and Sen. Murphy regarding the upcoming visit of Turkey’s former Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu; contacts were also established with several other members of Congress to discuss Syria, Iran sanctions, Hamas, and Missile Defense.
— Dick Gephardt reported making campaign contributions from Sept. 24 to Dec. 12, 2013 to: Representatives Alcee Hastings ($1,000), Barbara Lee ($1,000), Marjorie Margolies ($1,000), Richard Neal ($1,250), Brad Schneider ($500), Debbie Wasserman-Schultz ($1,500), Marc Veasey ($1,000), and Henry Waxman ($1,000); and Senators Dick Durbin ($2,500), Mary Landrieu ($1,000), Claire McCaskill ($1,000), Mark Pryor ($1,500), and Ron Wyden ($2,500).
— Gephardt Group employees contributed to Senators Dick Durbin ($500) and Jeanne Shaheen ($1,500); and Representatives Steve Cohen ($500), Colleen Hanabusa ($1,250), Jim Moran ($500), Brad Schneider ($500), and Cong. Henry Waxman ($500).
— Employees of Gephardt Group subcontractor Dickstein Shapiro LLC contacted Ben Branch, Legislative Director to Cong. Gregory Meeks, “regarding legislation focused on Turkish regional issues.” On behalf of Dickstein Shapiro, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert met with Turkish Ambassador Namik Tan and Sen. Ron Johnson “regarding U.S.-Turkey relations.”
— Other Dickstein Shapiro employees contacted the offices of Representatives George Holding, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Sheila Jackson Lee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Gregory Meeks, Chellie Pingree, Robert Pittenger, Dana Rohrabacher, Ed Royce, and Ed Whitfield; and Senators John Boozman, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, and Roger Wicker to discuss Turkish regional issues, Cyprus, Travel to Turkey, and U.S.-Turkey relations.
— Dickstein Shapiro employees contributed over $60,000 to the political campaigns of congressional candidates from July 20 to Dec. 19, 2013, including: Senators Lamar Alexander ($2,500), Kay Hagan ($9,000), Amy Klobuchar ($2,000), Mitch McConnell ($2,500), Mark Pryor ($2,500), and Tim Scott ($1,000), and Representatives Sanford Bishop ($2,500), Emanuel Cleaver ($1,500), Rick Crawford ($2,500), Steve Daines ($2,500), John Dingell ($1,000), Bill Huizenga ($2,500), Eddie Bernice Johnson ($1,000), Adam Kinzinger ($2,500), Mike McIntyre ($5,000), Buck McKeon ($1,500), Dutch Ruppersberger ($2,500), and Ed Whitfield ($2,500).

Since the lobbying firms hired by Turkey are obligated by law to report their detailed activities, it is important to check regularly their Justice Department filings in order to find out who are they contacting in Congress, for what purpose, and how much are they contributing to their political campaigns?

Is Turkey Hamas’ new headquarters?

August 26, 2014 By administrator

By Pinar Tremblay, for al monitor

Hamas’ Gaza leader Ismail Haniyeh (C) flashes a victory sign to his supporters in front of the cruise liner Mavi Marmara in Istanbul, Jan. 2, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Osman Orsal)

On Aug. 20, at the Association of Muslim Scholars conference in Istanbul, senior Hamas official Salach al-Aruri accepted the long-denied charges that Hamas had kidnapped the three Israeli teenagers on June 12. Their bodies were found at the end of June. From the very beginning, Israel said that the kidnapping and murders were carried out by Hamas.

All along, Hamas has denied its involvement vehemently. Al-Monitor’s Palestine Pulse reported that many Palestinians believe Israelis “orchestrated the kidnapping and murders” to justify an attack on the Gaza Strip. The same conspiracy theory was widely supported in Turkey, too. It is safe to assume that the majority of Turks do not believe the news of Aruri’s acceptance of involvement despite the video recording. Most Turkish pundits are convinced Hamas had no direct involvement, and that the kidnapping and murders of the three teenagers was nothing but an Israeli conspiracy.

However, speaking from Istanbul, Aruri asserted that the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades’ mujahedeen carried out the kidnapping to show solidarity with Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli prisons. In an interview with Yahoo News on Aug. 22, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal did not deny Aruri’s contention, and only emphasized that it was carried out without the knowledge of the political wing. Fars News Agency promptly denied the news about Aruri’s revelations as false.

Given all this, why does Turkey, a NATO member country, host Hamas operatives, have high-level meetings with them and support their rhetoric? Hamas is on the list of terrorist organizations of the United States, the European Union, Canada and several other countries, but not on that of the UN Security Council and it is not considered a terrorist organization in Turkey. Therefore, it is safe to say most, if not all, of Turkey’s Western allies considers Hamas a terror organization.

Max Abrahms, professor of political science at Northeastern University, who specializes in terrorism and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, told Al-Monitor, “Countries do not gain strategically by hosting terrorist groups. My research demonstrates empirically that terrorism is politically counterproductive behavior that erodes popular support for the political cause and results in a backlash from the target country. Hosting terrorist groups is thus a political liability. There is no strategic sense in supporting terrorist groups because the net strategic effect is almost always negative.”

Domestically, not many even ponder upon such questions with mainstream media boasting how Gazans thanked Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his support. Alptekin Dursunoglu, senior editor of Yakin Dogu Haber, which focuses on news exclusively from the Near East, told Al-Monitor, “I would say even if it may look like Turkey’s heart is with Hamas, its sword is with Abbas. Right now since almost all Palestinian factions appear to act together, I do not see this constituting a risk for Turkey in regard to its relations with the United States.” Dursunoglu explained how difficult it is to convince the Turkish public that Hamas might be planning a plot against the PA; indeed, most in Turkey would not be convinced that Hamas was behind the kidnappings even after a strongly alleged confession from its own senior leader. One of the strongest justifications as to why Turkey is hosting Hamas is because it has payoffs from the majority of the domestic audience. Turkish public opinion strongly sides with the suffering of the Palestinian people, and in the era of the Islamic State (IS) threat on its doorstep, it is not likely to consider Hamas a terrorist organization.

In addition, after multiple attempts at diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, Turkey has accepted that it has failed. It gradually switched its focus to supporting nonstate entities, and thus attempting to make inroads on its neighbors. One diplomat, who is not pro-AKP, told Al-Monitor, “Trying to be a major actor in the Middle East and having felt betrayed multiple times, the Erdogan administration decided we have to be Middle Eastern, which means nonstate entities should be considered as serious actors, partners, enemies and allies. Is there a country in the region that has not taken this road? Is it possible to survive ignoring these nonstate actors?”

This may indeed be the case. Even a few Turkish critics question whether “Turkey is replacing Iran” in being the latest supporter of Hamas. The issue that generates some degree of conflict with rules of engagement is because Turkey is also a member of various Western organizations such as NATO, which was not the case for the former supporters of Hamas, i.e., Syria and Iran. In addition, if the support for Hamas is just a part of “becoming an effective player in the Middle East,” it may be a strategy with mixed blessings as the latest PEW Research Center figures demonstrate that support for Erdogan dropped sharply in four of seven Middle Eastern countries. Interestingly, only in Israel are favorable views of Erdogan on the rise, from 14% to 16% — which is attributed to the Israeli Arabs — while in the Palestinian territories Erdogan’s favorability rating has gone down from 74% to 55%.

Turkey’s support for Hamas — along with Qatar — hampers Israel’s ability to isolate Hamas. The Turkish government has been rather frank and “proud” of its engagement with the organization despite all financial and political repercussions. Whether or not its support for Hamas will provide Turkey more regional influence is yet to be seen, but for now it is fair to assume expansion of Erdogan’s domestic powers would translate into further support for Hamas in the near future.

Pinar Tremblay

Contributor, Turkey Pulse

Pinar Tremblay is a doctoral candidate in political science at University of California, Los Angeles, and an adjunct faculty member at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She

Historical Greek building in Turkey converted into Islamic religious school

August 26, 2014 By administrator

The building was constructed by its former Greek inhabitants as a school in 1879, before being turned into a school for fishermen.

A historic building in the coastal Marmara town of Erdek that was used as a Greek school in the 19th century has been converted into an imam-hatip high school, a religious vocational school, after remaining idle for five years.

Erdek Turizm, a local newspaper, noted that the local authority of cultural heritage and the provincial authorities had approved the decision regarding the building, which was renovated in 2012.

Locals told the Hürriyet Daily News that efforts were continuing to open the facility this school year, which starts next month. Some also raised concerns that the historic identity of the building might be lost.

The building was constructed by the former Greek inhabitants as a school in 1879 before being turned into a school for fishermen.

It was used as a hospital during World War I, offering treatment to many soldiers injured at the Battle of Gallipoli.

The building, which was then turned into a normal school, served as the Atatürk Primary School until 2007, before being emptied.

İmam-hatip schools are currently a hot topic in Turkey, with a new regulation practically forcing families to register their kids in high schools focused on religious education if they fail to qualify for other more secular institutions.

A crowd gathered in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district Aug. 25 to protest against the transformation of one local high school into a specialist imam-hatip school.

August/26/2014

Famous Turkish heart surgeon shot in gun attack

August 24, 2014 By administrator

KARS – Doğan News Agency

Doctors at Kars State Hospital said Sözmez’s condition was not life-threatening. AA Photo

Famous heart surgeon Bingür Sönmez has been injured in a gun attack after assailants opened fire in the eastern province of Kars’ Sarıkamış district.

Sözmez, who is the head of the Sarıkamış Cooperation Group, was attending a ceremony in the district on Aug. 24. The assailants, reportedly two people, first shouted his name and then shot him in the leg and arm when he turned toward them.

Doctors at Kars State Hospital said Sözmez’s condition was not life-threatening.

The attacker who shot the surgeon was İlhan Özbilen, the former mayor of Sarıkamış, who reportedly has a conflict with Sönmez over the ceremonies for the commemoration of the Sarıkamış martyrs, who died during World War I. The second person in the attack was Özbilen’s nephew, reports said.

Özbilen has been sen to police station after being detained.

Kars Gov. Günay Özdemir has confirmed the former mayor’s detention.