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Armenia ready to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey without any preconditions – PM

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Pashinyan relations with Turkey

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan deems as strange Turkey’s stance to link the relations with Armenia with those of a third country. Pashinyan’s comments came at a meeting with number of culture representatives and artists in St. Petersburg, when asked to comment on Turkey’s refusal to normalise relations with Armenia unless the conflict around Nagorno Karabakh is solved.

“Turkey was the one who closed the border with Armenia. We can say the border is not closed on the Armenia side. We attach high importance to the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and our country is one of the frontrunners in the struggle against the crime of genocide,” Pashinyan stressed, pointing the issue [genocide recognition] should not be viewed in the context of the Armenian-Turkish relations but rather in the global struggle against genocides.

“We are ready to establish diplomatic relations with Turkey without any preconditions,” concluded the PM.

Pew poll: Israel most hated country in Turkey. Is there country Turks like?

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86% of responders have an unfavorable opinion of Israel, while only 2% view it positively;

Responders were asked whether they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of a selection of states (US, China, Brazil, Russia, Iran, Israel) and entities (such as the European Union and Nation).

Israel was found the most disliked country of the offered options, with 86 percent of responders saying they have an unfavorable opinion of Israel and only 2 percent seeing Israel in a positive light.

There is of course no reason to be surprised of the negative view Turks have of Israel. A diplomatic rift was opened between the two countries during the 2008-9 Operation Cast Lead. At the height of the still-ongoing conflict was the Israeli commando raid of the Turkish “Mavi Marmara” ship that was attempting to break the blockade on Gaza. The incident left 10 Turkish citizens dead.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan often attacks Israel, publicly accusing it of “genocide” of the Palestinians.

Still, it’s interesting to learn just how much the Turkish public dislikes Israel.

Other than having a favorable opinion of their own country (78 percent, according to a 2012 poll), the Turks don’t think highly of any of the countries or entities asked about.

The Turks have a lot opinion of the European Union (66 percent unfavorable opinion, 25 percent favorable), China (68 percent negative views, 21 percent positive), the United States (73 percent negative views and 19 percent positive), Russia (73 percent negative, 16 positive), Brazil (65 percent negative, 20 percent positive) and Iran (75 percent negative, 14 percent positive).

Saudi Arabia, however, another Sunni state, is the most liked of the countries asked about, but even then, only 26 percent of Turks have a favorable opinion of it, while 53 percent have an unfavorable opinion of it).

The Turks also have a very negative view of terror organizations, including al-Qaeda (85 percent negative), Hezbollah (85 percent) and Hamas (80 percent).

Turkey poised to replace emergency law with doppelganger

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Pinar Tremblay,

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has kept his vague election promise to end emergency law after two years, allowing it to expire July 18. Its replacement, however, appears to be as bad or worse.

The end of emergency law doesn’t mean the end of restrictions on individual freedoms. Indeed, opposition figures said on social media that it’s as if emergency law is now being extended for three more years. The reason for these concerns is a proposed bill, known as the “anti-terror package,” currently under review by parliament.

The anti-terror package, written by the newly minted ministers, arrived at parliament July 18. By July 20, it had cleared committee and is now being debated before parliament with a high probability to be passed as is.

This bill will make Erdogan’s dream of swift legislation and execution possible, ending any sort of deliberation and oversight. Mehmet Ucum, one of Erdogan’s senior advisers, summed it up handily: “The [new] system doesn’t allow quarrels. If there are disagreements about personal choices, the system permits those to be discarded as well, because there is only one decision-maker. Dissenters will be replaced in one night and in their place there will be people appointed who will do the job right.”

The proposed bill summarizes how this will be done. The four most crucial categories are outlined below.

Fear of the military: Even before the July 2016 botched coup, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had gone through a series of reforms and arrests. According to government sources, 15,000 TSK personnel were dismissed during the past two years. In a surprising move earlier this month, Erdogan appointed Gen. Hulusi Akar as defense minister. At the time, Akar was the active-duty chief of general staff.

Although pro-government figures report this as a sign of comfortable relations with the TSK, the proposed anti-terror bill has several articles showing strong distrust. A retired military judge told Al-Monitor, “Reading the proposal, I was ashamed. This is disgraceful for any member of the TSK, whether a general or a conscript. The army, which used to be the most trusted institution in this country since its establishment, is now under constant surveillance.”

The judge’s comments are based on the ambiguous wording of the articles, which suggest the government can investigate members of the armed forces, and even search and seize their private property, including their cars and homes. If a soldier is being expelled, there will no longer be a need to wait for a court order to strip off his or her stars and stripes; that can be done immediately.

Protests: The first article grants extensive responsibilities to state-appointed governors. According to the bill, governors will have the right to keep individuals or groups they deem dangerous from entering their cities, or certain sections of the cities, for as long as 15 days. How this law can be effectively enforced is unknown, especially since there are no current checkpoints at city entrances. Also, governors are granted the right to forbid people from gathering at certain places and during certain times. This article also allows governors to ban transportation of any ammunition or guns, even if they are licensed.

The rest of the bill also has several items that restrict freedom of expression, the press and assembly. For example, all group events in public spaces need to end before sunset. Indoor gatherings must end by midnight. The most interesting part bans all protests that “would make the lives of residents unbearably difficult.” This vague statement could easily be used to justify any number of situations in major cities.

Pinar Tremblay is a columnist visiting scholar of political science at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Turkey: American Pastor Brunson in Prison; ISIS Terrorists Roam Free

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American Pastor Andrew Brunson, held in a Turkish prison on baseless charges of "terrorism" and "espionage." (Photo: The American Center for Law and Justice)

American Pastor Andrew Brunson, held in a Turkish prison on baseless charges of “terrorism” and “espionage.” (Photo: The American Center for Law and Justice)

by Uzay Bulut,

  • “Incredibly, the indictment now admits that Turkey considers ‘Christianization’ to be an act of terrorism” – The American Center for Law and Justice
  • Meanwhile, there are ISIS sleeper cell houses in seventy cities across Turkey, according to a 2015 “confidential” note by a Turkish chief of police.
  • Turkey’s arbitrary arrests of Brunson, Erdem and many other innocent individuals expose Erdogan’s regime as a brutal dictatorship that invades its neighbors, does not tolerate diversity, and that targets Christians and peaceful dissidents who oppose jihad – actions that run counter to the US State Department’s minimum requirements for membership in NATO.

A Turkish court has decided to continue holding American Pastor Andrew Brunson in prison, to await a fourth hearing on October 12. Brunson, who has been in jail in Turkey since October 7, 2016, is accused of “membership in an armed terrorist organization.” His first court hearing took place on April 16 this year, after 18 months in detention.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) condemned the charges and is calling for Brunson’s immediate release. In a statement released on July 18, USCIRF Vice Chair Kristina Arriaga excoriated the Turkish government, which she accused of “continu[ing] to make a mockery of justice in its treatment of Pastor Brunson.”

Denouncing Brunson’s case as a “miscarriage of justice,” Arriaga added, “Turkish authorities still have not provided one good reason for depriving Pastor Brunson of his liberties. The Trump Administration and the Congress should continue to apply pressure, including using targeted sanctions against officials connected to this case, until Pastor Brunson is released.”

Brunson was charged with terrorism (including “Christianization”) and espionage, which carry a sentence of up to 35 years’ imprisonment. According to the lengthy indictment, the pastor is linked to the movement of Fethullah Gülen — an Islamic cleric who has lived in self-exile in the United States for three decades – and whom the Turkish government accuses of plotting the failed coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July 2016.

The American Center for Law and Justice, which has been advocating Brunson’s release, began circulating a petition a few months ago that states, in part:

“The 62-page indictment, wholly lacking merit, provides no evidence regarding criminal action by Pastor Andrew, which comes as no surprise… Incredibly, the indictment now admits that Turkey considers ‘Christianization’ to be an act of terrorism… Now, more than ever, we need to remind Turkey that the eyes of the world are watching this case closely and the world is demanding Pastor Andrew’s release.”

Erdogan is apparently using Brunson’s detention as a bargaining chip to seek the extradition of his ally-turned-foe, Gülen, in exchange for the pastor’s freedom.

Brunson, who for more than 20 years served the Izmir Diriliş (Resurrection) Church, a small evangelical Presbyterian congregation, is now demonized by the pro-government Turkish media as a “terrorist supporter” and a “spy” hostile to Turkey.

The practice of targeting and arresting peaceful individuals or dissident citizens for political reasons is nothing new in Erdogan’s Turkey; since the failed coup, it has increased. Take the case of Eren Erdem, for example, an author, journalist and former MP of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), and now in jail on doubtful charges of “aiding terrorists.” Many say that his real “crime” was to expose how members and supporters of Islamic State (ISIS) have been operating freely in Turkey – a charge that raises the issue of how actual jihadist terrorists are treated by Ankara.

In a parliamentary speech in 2016, Erdem gave examples of ISIS members who were released after being arrested:

“Yunus Durmaz [an ISIS official] said to the police that they [his cell along with another sleeper cell] carried out the Suruc massacre in Antep but he was released…. Yunus Emre Alagoz [Ankara suicide bomber] was arrested in 2011 and then released. All the people in the Adiyaman ISIS cell were arrested and then released. These men have killed around 300 to 400 of our people.

“This man [showing the photo of ISIS official, Halis Bayancuk] is mentioned in three investigations. He is accused of sending militants from Turkey to al Qaeda in Afghanistan. In another investigation he is confirmed to have sent militants from Turkey to the ISIS headquarters in Raqqa in Syria. Weapons, ammunition and a car filled with explosives were found during a police raid on his house. And this person is still free. But journalists, academics and students are put behind bars the moment they make a statement… Is there anyone here who could name this type of a regime?”

In November 2015, Erdem submitted a parliamentary question to Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Berat Albayrak about “foreign press reports” according to which documents were found in the computer of an ISIS official in charge of oil smuggling, indicating that Turkey “transfers 40 million dollars every month to ISIS.”

“How much money does Turkey transfer to ISIS in oil smuggling?” Erdem asked. “Has our government ever attempted to stop money transferring to ISIS?”

In August 2016, the minister issued a strong denial. “The allegations that Turkey is buying oil from is a dirty propaganda war.”

In December, 2015, Erdem submitted another parliamentary question to then-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The text read, in part:

“The press covered that the South Korean police and intelligence service (NIS) opened investigation two weeks ago against the South Korean firm DaeKwang, which produces pepper spray for Turkey, for supplying explosive materials for ISIS and that its Turkish partner companies, Meydan and Mercan, are also mentioned in the investigation. It is alleged that DaeKwang delivered DK-3M hand grenades to the Mercan and Meydan companies to be transferred to ISIS.”

Among the questions Erdem asked was whether Turkey had “opened an investigation into the Mercan and Meydan companies, and if it was true that [they] operated as intermediaries in the transfer of ammunition to ISIS.” The government has yet to provide a response.

The government has also not responded to any of the many additional questions Erdem continued to submit – on issues such as the activities of an ISIS-affiliated association in Istanbul; the 2016 ISIS bombing attacks and sleeper cells in Gaziantep; the government’s imposing publication bans about terrorist attacks

across the country; and allegations concerning the Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters selling Turkish armored vehicles to ISIS.

At the same time, an American pastor who has lived and worked in Turkey for 23 years without a mishap, and a former MP who has dedicated his career to exposing ISIS activities, are behind bars on totally false charges of “terrorism.” Meanwhile, there are ISIS sleeper cell houses seventy cities across Turkey, according to a 2015 “confidential” note by a Turkish chief of police.

Turkey became a NATO member in 1952. “NATO enlargement has furthered the U.S. goal of a Europe whole, free, and at peace,” according to the U.S. Department of State. However, Turkey’s actions appear to make the region a more unstable, un-free and violent place.

Turkey’s arbitrary arrests of Brunson, Erdem and many other innocent individuals expose Erdogan’s regime as a brutal dictatorship that invades its neighbors, does not tolerate diversity, and targets Christians and peaceful dissidents who oppose jihad – actions that run counter to the US State Department’s minimum requirements for membership in NATO.

Uzay Bulut, a journalist from Turkey,  She is currently based in Washington D.C.

Turkey: Exposing Crimes of ISIS is Terrorism

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Eren Erdem at a June 2016 press conference. (Image source: Eren Erdem video screenshot)

Eren Erdem at a June 2016 press conference. (Image source: Eren Erdem video screenshot)

by Uzay Bulut,

  • In an Orwellian nightmare, Eren Erdem, a former MP, journalist and the author of 9 books, who has courageously dedicated his career to exposing and condemning terrorist organizations, is now being accused of “aiding terrorists”. The real terrorists he has condemned, however, remain free.
  • Erdem is paying the price for telling the truth in Turkey. He has risked his life to stop ISIS and help save lives. Now is the time for human rights activists and the media to defend him.
  • “Where are the police forces? I identified 10.000 addresses [of ISIS members] in these documents of investigations conducted by prosecutors and judges…. Why are these men not in jail?” — Eren Erdem.
  • “If the commission we proposed were established, we would crush all of the ISIS cells across in Turkey in a few months. There would be no cell left. Because we know the addresses of these cells. We learn them from the police… We also learn from the investigations by police that ISIS members get organized in Istanbul through a magazine called ‘The Islamic World’. But there has been no police operation against them. This is not neglect. This is cooperation [with ISIS].” — Eren Erdem.

How does Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan fight his political opponents, including those who have been working hard to expose the atrocities of the Islamic state terror group, ISIS? By throwing them into jail for allegedly “supporting terrorism.”

Since the 2016 botched coup attempt in Turkey, Erdogan has been waging a massive crackdown on his opponents and critics, including politicians, political activists, journalists and members of the Turkish security forces and army.

The latest victim of this crackdown is Eren Erdem, a former deputy of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), who is known for his activities to expose the crimes of ISIS and other terrorist groups.

How does Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan fight his political opponents, including those who have been working hard to expose the atrocities of the Islamic state terror group, ISIS? By throwing them into jail for allegedly “supporting terrorism.”

Since the 2016 botched coup attempt in Turkey, Erdogan has been waging a massive crackdown on his opponents and critics, including politicians, political activists, journalists and members of the Turkish security forces and army.

The latest victim of this crackdown is Eren Erdem, a former deputy of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), who is known for his activities to expose the crimes of ISIS and other terrorist groups.

Erdem was recently detained on charges of “aiding a terrorist organization” and is also being investigated for “insulting the Turkish state.” He faces a prison sentence of 9 to 22 years on charges of “knowingly and willingly aiding an armed terrorist organization as a non-member”, “revealing the identity of an anonymous witness” and “violating the confidentiality of the investigation.”

The author of nine books, Erdem worked as a journalist before being elected as a CHP member of parliament for Istanbul in 2015. He appears to be the bravest MP who has exposed ISIS activities across Turkey during his tenure and has often urged the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to stop these activities and bring the perpetrators to account.

Erdem meticulously cited evidence from criminal cases, indictments and investigations by state authorities as well as news reports in his statements and parliamentary motions. On December 10, 2015, for example, Erdem made a speech in Turkey’s parliament about ISIS activities in Turkey. These included ISIS’s transfer of the ingredients of sarin gas through Turkey to Syria “with which thousands of children were murdered in the Middle East”. Referring to the investigation and indictment by the Adana office of a public prosecutor, he said:

“Some people in Turkey have contacted the members of the ISIS terrorist organization and transferred the raw material of sarin gas, which is a chemical weapon, to Syria. The prosecutor started an investigation on this. The suspects who carried out the transfer were arrested and jailed. Upon the order of the prosecutor, the telephones of all suspects were wiretapped, the details of which are in this indictment… But within a week, the case was closed, the suspects were released and allowed to leave Turkey to cross the border to Syria.”

Because of the statements he made in parliament, Erdem became the target of a smear campaign, particularly after he spoke to the international press. In December 2015, for example, he told RT: “Chemical weapon materials were brought to Turkey and put together in ISIS camps in Syria, which was known as the Iraqi Al-Qaeda at that time.”

Erdogan, condemning Erdem for the RT interview, said that Erdem “has sunk in the pit of treason” and called on the CHP to dismiss him: “Shame on his party, me and my nation for letting him stay in his party.” A investigation into treason was then launched against Erdem.

Erdem then stated that after the publication of the interview, he received death threats over social media, with his home address posted by pro-government Twitter users presumably to enable an attack on his house:

“I just shared the contents of the indictment with the people… I provided them with a document… [The government] is carrying out a lynching campaign against me. Because they are disturbed by me. I have exposed their filths and exploitation of religion in my books… I have received more than a thousand death threats. My email address is filed with death threats… If something happens to me, the pro-government media and AKP deputies are responsible.”

Undeterred by the pressure and threats, Erdem has continued exposing and speaking about the activities of jihadist terror groups in the region. During a speech at Turkey’s parliament in June 2016, for instance, Erdem once again criticized the government for turning a blind eye to ISIS activities: “ISIS has sleeper cells in Turkey. These cell houses are monitored [by state authorities]… The information gained from technical surveillance on these cells has confirmed that ISIS is organized in Turkey.”

The. primary suspect of ISIS’s terror attack in Ankara, Erdem said, who goes by acronym I.B. [Ibrahim Bali] “sent 1,800 terrorists to ISIS, all of whom were monitored through technical surveillance but not a single police or military operation was carried out on them… Where are the police forces? I identified 10.000 addresses [of ISIS members] in these documents of investigations conducted by prosecutors and judges…. Why are these men not in jail?”

Erdem also commented on the Turkish language online magazine published by ISIS, Konstantiniyye:

“ISIS sends these magazines to bookstores and its cell houses. The government knows this. But no police or military operation has been carried out on anywhere including the printing house of this magazine.”

Erdem then showed a photo of the “database” interface ISIS created of its injured and treated members and said that many ISIS terrorists received medical treatment in Turkey. He also called on the parliament to open a commission to investigate ISIS activities in Turkey, but the call was rejected by the votes of the ruling AKP party. A day later, at a press conference at Turkey’s parliament, Erdem said:

“If the commission we proposed were established, we would crush all of the ISIS cells across in Turkey in a few months. There would be no cell left. Because we know the addresses of these cells. We learn them from the police… We also learn from the investigation by police that ISIS members get organized in Istanbul through a magazine called ‘the Islamic World’. But there has been no police operation against them. This is not neglect. This is cooperation [with ISIS].”

Erdem also said that he received threats and curses on social media after he proposed establishing a commission for investigating ISIS. He added that he was provided with security guards by the governor as a precaution to death threats.

In May 2018, an Islamist association demanded prosecutors to issue an arrest warrant against Erdem. He responded that he was “being exposed to yet another lynching campaign”. He then received a ban on going abroad as he was about to leave Turkey for Germany with his family on May 21. He was stopped at the Istanbul airport by authorities and his passport was seized.

When Erdem’s party, the CHP, failed to nominate him as MP candidate for June 24 elections, he lost his parliamentary seat and his immunity. On June 26, he was arrested in Istanbul.

The terror organization to which Erdem’s indictment refers is the FETÖ (Fethullahist Terrorist Organization), named after Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen. It is an organization that Erdogan and other members of the Turkish government accuse of staging a 2016 attempted coup, and often use as an excuse to arrest its critics.

A lawsuit was filed against Erdem due to his works at newspaper Karşı, where Erdem was the editor-in-chief. The accusation that he is a “FETÖ supporter” is particularly baseless given that in 2016, he published a book entitled “Nurjuvazi” that criticized Gülen and his movement.

In the meantime, a former CHP deputy announced on July 3 that CHP MPs who wanted to visit Erdem in prison were not given permission by authorities. “This,” he wrote on Twitter, “is isolation against Erdem.”

Another investigation was recently opened against him that is looking into his criticism against the Free Syrian Army (FSA) for allegedly violating Article 301 of the penal code, which prescribes prison terms for “denigration of Turkey, the Turkish nation, or Turkish government institutions.”

In an Orwellian nightmare, a former deputy and a journalist who has so courageously dedicated his career to exposing and condemning terrorist organizations, is now being accused of “aiding terrorists”. The real terrorists he has condemned, however, remain free.

Erdem is paying the price for telling the truth in Turkey. He has risked his life to stop ISIS and help save lives. Now is the time for human rights activists and the media to defend him.

Uzay Bulut, a journalist from Turkey, She is currently based in Washington D.C.

US evangelical Pastor Andrew Brunson denied release from Turkish prison

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US Congress and President Trump are outraged over pastor Andrew Brunson’s continued detention. The Izmir court decision will add strain to already troubled ties between Washington and Ankara.

A Turkish court on Wednesday again denied a request to release US pastor Andrew Brunson from prison where he is being held on charges of terrorism and espionage. He is to be kept in jail pending trial.

The case of the American evangelical Christian pastor from North Carolina has added further strain to US-Turkish relations, with some members of US Congress calling for sanctions against Turkey.

Critics of Turkey have described Brunson as a “hostage.”

Gulen and Brunson cases linked

The 50-year-old Brunson has spent nearly two years in prison, accused of links to Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, who lives in the United States, and who Ankara accuses of being behind the failed coup attempt of July 2016.

Last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested Brunson’s release may be tied to the extradition of Gulen from the United States.

Brunson is also accused of ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the EU.

In the court’s third hearing, it was decided to keep the pastor in prison until the next hearing on October 12.

Brunson, who has lived nearly two decades in Turkey and served at a small church in Izmir, denies the charges. He faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted.

Speaking outside the courtroom on Wednesday, US charge d’affaires Philip Kosnett told reporters: “I don’t believe that there is any indication that Pastor Brunson is guilty of any sort of criminal or terrorist activity.”

Currency and political effects

The court decision sent the already troubled Turkish lira tumbling over fears of heightened tensions between Washington and Ankara.

The pastor’s detention has become a major issue for President Trump’s key evangelical constituency in the United States.

Trump, whose political base includes conservative Christians, tweeted in April that Brunson was “on trial and being persecuted in Turkey for no reason.”

US Senators Lindsey Graham and Jeanne Shaheen were in Turkey in June and met with Brunson. They also held talks with Erdogan to press for the pastor’s release.

Read more: Turkey threatens retaliation against US if Washington halts weapons sales 

In addition to Brunson’s imprisonment, US-Turkish relations have nosedived over American support for Syrian Kurdish forces, Ankara’s plans to buy Russia’s S-400 missile system and human rights concerns.

US Congress has ratcheted up pressure on Turkey over Brunson’s imprisonment and the S-400 deal, threatening to cut NATO ally Turkey out of the international Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II procurement program.

cw/jm (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

Michael Rubin; Turkey will spread Islamic terrorism like Saudi Arabia once did

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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared victory in an election which independent observers say was neither free nor fair. Under Turkey’s new executive presidency, Erdogan can rule by decree. Then again, he has been able to do so for almost two years, since he declared a state of emergency in the wake of a coup attempt which very well may have been Turkey’s equivalent of the Reichstag fire. Those who support continued U.S.-Turkey partnership sayeither that the United States has invested too much in its ties to Turkey to walk away because of disgust with one man or they point to Turkey’s strategic value.

These concerns miss the point, however: The partnership between Washington and Ankara was never arbitrary; it rested on shared values. The values the Turkish government now holds, however, are the antithesis of American democratic and liberal values. Erdogan has cracked down on free press, imprisons opponents, and engages in hostage diplomacy. He unapologetically supports Islamist terrorist groups and threatens to betray U.S. military technology to Russia. NATO, meanwhile, is an alliance of joint defense. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. When one member is threatened, the others rally to its defense; they do not engage in a bidding war for loyalty, as Erdogan openly does with Washington and Moscow.

The real problem with Turkey is not its relationship with the United States, however, but rather its relations with the world.

Consider the case of Saudi Arabia: It grew tremendously wealthy in the 1970s on the back of the petrodollar and used that money to spread its intolerant and extreme vision of Islam around the world. The Sept. 11 attacks perpetrated by Saudi hijackers and financed in part by Saudi royals was simply the tip of the iceberg. Saudi money, Saudi nongovernmental organizations, and Saudi-funded mosques are responsible for hundreds of thousands, if not more, deaths in conflicts from Paris to the Philippines and from Syria to Somalia.

That began to change not in the aftermath of the attacks on New York and Washington, but rather when al Qaeda terrorists attacked inside Saudi Arabia itself. The Saudis quickly understood the blowback they risked. After all, al Qaeda essentially followed a theological exegesis and worldview taught in Saudi textbooks. The kingdom could no longer ensure its own security by ensuring that its militants focused their efforts on conflicts beyond its borders.

It is uncertain if Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman will be successful with his reforms and, if not, radicalism could return with a vengeance. That said, there is optimism not only in Washington, but across the Islamic world and in Riyadh itself that bin Salman is serious about righting past wrongs and beginning to unravel the radicalism which his kingdom and his relatives once supported. The irony here, however, is that as Saudi Arabia pulls back from its past role as the number one financier of religious radicalism, Turkey may take its place.

Erdogan is the product of a religious education in Turkey and joined a movement more attuned to the Muslim Brotherhood than traditional Turkish Islam. As he has consolidated power, he has sought to privilege this Salafi vision and fundamentally change Turkish society. After all, when Erdogan has promised “to raise a religious generation,” he means one that adheres only to his vision. He has sought to force Alevi students to undertake religious education with Sunni teachers, and he has lifted age and time restrictions on supplemental Quran schools often taught by teachers from oil-rich Gulf emirates like Qatar. He had replaced the traditionally technocratic banking board with Turkish alum who learned their trade working in Islamic banking in Saudi Arabia. And he has undertaken an unprecedented mosque construction program which he then staffs with those who amplify his vision. The whole dispute with exiled theologian Fethullah Gulen? That has more to do with a conflict between Erdogan’s more Salafi exegesis and Gulen’s more traditionalist, Turkish Sufi vision than political and financial competition.

While Erdogan has laid the groundwork for a new Islamist vision in Turkey, his ambitions go beyond. He sees Turkey as leader of the Islamic world.

In 2004, he pushed successfully for a Turk to lead the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. And he has pushed the Diyanet, the institutionalization of Islam in Turkey, not only to take a more international role, but to take a more Islamist one as well.

Indeed, European security services increasingly see the Diyanet and the imams it funds and produces to be a security threat in much the same way that graduates of Saudi-funded religious seminaries were once viewed. Austria is closing Turkey-funded mosques and expelling Turkey-sponsored imams. Germany and the Netherlands are also investigating Turkey and Turkey-sponsored imams for illegal activities on their soil. Turkey’s diplomats and imams increasingly pose a security threat in the Balkans, where they work to radicalize Muslim populations in Bosnia, Macedonia, and Kosovo. About 90 percent of the Islamic State’s foreign fighters traversed Turkey.

Had Erdogan sought to control his border, ISIS would never have seized the territory it did. While Erdogan has justified his incursion into the Afrin district in Syria as necessary for counterterrorism, he has allowed radical Syrian Islamist groups to fill the vacuum left by largely secular Kurds ethnically cleansed from the region. Turkey is also reaching out and using its imams to proselytize a more radical vision among Muslims in Africa; a leaked phone call suggests it may even have supplied arms to Boko Haram. Turkey’s new Islamist drive also determines its growing relationship with Sudan, Qatar, and the Hamas-run administration of the Gaza Strip.

Erdogan’s vision is clear. His goal was never simply consolidation of absolute power over Turkey, but rather to lead a worldwide transformation of Islam and become leader of the Islamic world. For Erdogan, phase one is complete, but phase two of his program is just beginning. He may not have the money Saudi Arabia once did, but he has picked up the baton dropped by Saudi Arabia as it seeks a new direction. Alas, it increasingly appears that Turkey, as Erdogan’s vassal, will become the new engine for instability just as the old one responsible for so much destruction sputters out.

Michael Rubin (@Mrubin1971) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Pentagon official.

Turkish parliament to have two Armenian MPs Garo Paylan and Margaret Yesayan

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YEREVAN, JUNE 24, According to the preliminary results of the parliamentary elections in Turkey, there will be 2 Armenian deputies in the parliament.

As Armenpress reports, the new parliament will be Garo Peilan, a prominent Armenian Democratic Party nominated by Diyarbakir, and Margar Yesayan, a candidate from the ruling Justice and Development Party, in Istanbul’s second polling station.

Following the November 2015 parliamentary elections, there were 3 Armenian MPs in Parliament: Garo Pylaan, Margar Yesayan and Selina Dogan, member of the Kemalist Republican People’s Party. The latter’s candidacy did not nominate the party in these elections.

During his parliamentary career, Garo Pylaan has always raised issues of concern to the Armenian community. He has distinguished himself in the murders of the Turkish Parliament in which he has repeatedly voiced the Armenian Genocide calling on the authorities to confront their own history and to accept their own crime. The deputy even submitted a relevant proposal, which was intended to officially recognize the 1915 incidents as genocide. Offer rejected. He also periodically raised questions about the concerns of the Constantinople-Armenian community, in particular the need to elect the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople. He was subject to disciplinary penalties for talking about genocide from the podium of the parliament. In addition, it became known recently that an investigation was launched under Article 301 of the Criminal Code. A request for deprivation of immunity was made within the framework of the investigation.

Unlike Pasha, Yesayan is known for having close ties with the authorities. Since his election in 2015, he did not notice any pro-Armenian initiative. Moreover, in June 2016, at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, he voted for the British parliamentary Robert Walter’s anti-Armenian “Increase in Violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and Other Occupied Territories” report, which was abused by the PACE.

Two Armenian candidates, Ludmila Bjuyum (People’s Democratic Party) and Elmas Kirakos (“Good” Party), who are nominated for this election, will not be in the mazhilis with preliminary results.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will have 295 seats in the parliament, the Republican People’s Party – 146, the Nationalist Movement – 49, the Democratic People’s Party – 66, the Good Party – 44 seats.

Turkey admits to having 11 temporary military bases in Iraq

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Turkey has 11 temporary military bases in northern Iraq, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said Thursday, June 21, according to Daily Sabah.

Speaking in a live interview to private A Haber broadcaster, Yıldırım also said 400 square kilometers of the region has been cleared of ‘terrorists’.

“We are shelling Mt. Qandil through air operations at times. This time PKK terrorists are crossing into Iran when they are on the back foot,” the prime minister said.

He added Turkey has no problem with Iran over its Qandil operation. “We cleared the area in northwestern Syria’s Afrin during Operation Olive Branch. We will do the same thing in Mt. Qandil area,” the prime minister said.

On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to remove YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin region. On March 18, Day 58 of the operation, Turkish troops, and Free Syrian Army members liberated the town of Afrin.

About a possible joint operation with Iran, Yıldırım said: “Iran expects to work with us all the time, including sharing intelligence, but it is naturally reluctant to launch a joint counter-terror operation within its borders.”

Related links:

The Daily Sabah.Turkey has ’11 temporary military bases’ in northern Iraq, PM Yıldırım says

Turkey: Glorification of Murder, Martyrdom and Child Soldiers

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by Uzay Bulut,

  • The celebrations are not just about the glorification of guns and killing for national or religious purposes. The events are also marked by historic revisionism in which the genocide victims are blamed for their own extermination.
  • There are many factors that drive the hysteria in Turkey extolling deaths, killings and attempts to brainwash children and turn them into “voluntary martyrs”: Systematic racism, ultra-nationalism, Islamic jihad and belief in martyrdom as well as the denial of the Christian genocide combined with pride in having waged it.
  • The 2015 “Islam Law” of Austria, which Erdogan was protesting, states that “The freedom of religion is secured in the Austrian Constitution – individually, collectively and cooperatively” — and that this freedom should not be allowed to be exploited by those who incite hate or violence for any group.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned the Austrian government that “…measures taken by the Austrian chancellor are, I fear, leading the world towards a war between the cross and the crescent.” (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz recently announced that the government was shutting down a Turkish nationalist mosque in Vienna and dissolving a group called the Arab Religious Community that runs six mosques, according to the Associated Press. “Parallel societies, political Islam and tendencies toward radicalization have no place in our country,” Kurz told reporters.

“The move comes after images appeared on Twitter in April of children in a Turkish-backed mosque playing dead and reenacting the World War I battle of Gallipoli (in which an allied invasion of Ottoman Turkey was defeated). Their “corpses” were then covered in Turkish flags. The mosques association called the event ‘highly regrettable,'” according to the CBN News.

These decisions by the Austrian government also follow its 2015 “Islam Law“, which bans foreign funding of religious groups and introduces a duty for Muslim organizations to have “a positive fundamental view towards [Austrian] state and society”.

The 2015 “Islam Law” of Austria, which Erdogan was protesting, states that “The freedom of religion is secured in the Austrian Constitution – individually, collectively and cooperatively”. This freedom should not be allowed to be exploited by those who incite hate or violence for any group. European governments should be alert and take all measures available to monitor mosques — their sermons and activities — and bring to account the imams who attempt to indoctrinate Muslims in teachings that imperil the safety and liberty of others.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned the Austrian government that “These measures taken by the Austrian chancellor are, I fear, leading the world towards a war between the cross and the crescent,” he said, referring to Christianity and Islam. “You do this and we sit idle? It means we will take some steps too.” He added that the “western world should get their act together.”

Austria is not the first European government taking precautions against Islamic radicalization. In 2016, the Washington Post reported:

After three major terrorist attacks in the last year and a half, public outrage has forced the French government to respond…

…Prime Minister Manuel Valls called for an outright ban on the foreign funding of mosques in France “for a period to be determined.” Days later, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced that, in fact, more concrete measures had already been taken: Since December 2015, he said, 20 Salafist mosques were shut down altogether.

“There is no place in France for those who call for and incite hatred in prayer halls or in mosques,” Cazeneuve said.

Children reenacting the WW1 and playing dead at a place of worship might be considered out of ordinary for the 21st century Austria and other EU countries, yet the public use of “child soldiers” in military costumes and with “toy guns” is extremely widespread in Turkey.

At a private kindergarten in the city of Kırıkkale, for example, children between the ages of 3 and 6 were also made to put on military costumes and take up “toy arms” to commemorate the 97th anniversary of the battle of Gallipoli in 2012. According to news reports, “the martyred students were covered with Turkish flags.”

Such commemorations that normalize and even glorify killing are officially organized in Turkey. Events celebrating “the liberation from enemy forces” of every city and town across Turkey are held annually. The “enemies” are Western powers such as Britain, France, Russia and Greece as well as the Christian peoples of Turkey, who are portrayed as “criminal traitors”, including Armenians, Anatolian Greeks and others. In many of these events, stage plays are performed by locals including children who “wipe out the enemy from the homeland and sacrifice their own lives” during and after the WW1.

In 2011, for instance, during the ceremony of the liberation of the city of Bayburt, children in military costumes and with guns were put on stage. The “martyred” ones were – as usual – covered in Turkish flags.

There are countless examples.[1]

The celebrations are not just about the glorification of guns and killing for national or religious purposes. The events are also marked by historic revisionism in which the victims of the 1914-1923 Christian genocide are blamed for their own extermination.

“The Ottoman campaign against Christian minorities of the Empire between 1914 and 1923 constituted a genocide against Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks,” by contrast, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) announced in 2007.

Turkish historiography asserts that Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks were “dealt with” by Turks for their “criminal and treacherous” activities such as their political cooperation with other countries and the desire of these groups to establish an independent state of their own.

On January 5, 2018, for instance, celebrated as the day the city of Adana was “liberated from enemies”, the city’s mayor, Hüseyin Sözlü, held Armenians responsible for their own annihilation. “January 5 is the name of our honorable stance against French invaders who took their power from colonialism and against their local cooperators, Armenians, who they deceived with the promise of establishing a state of their own,” he said, adding that Turks “drowned the enemy” because the enemy “wanted to exterminate and wipe Turks out from history”.

The formal celebrations for the March 12 “liberation of Erzurum from the enemy invasion” were for years done by bayonetting “Armenian gang members” in public.

Some personnel at the municipality, however, declared they did not want to play the bayoneted Armenians – not because it is inhumane to do so but because they did not want to be Armenian even in a play:

“We definitely do not want to be Armenian. We don’t want to play the role of an Armenian even if they give us 1 billion Liras. We don’t want the people in the neighborhood to talk about us all the time. They should make the ceremony without bayonetting Armenians.”

Armenian gang members often are played by municipal workers in the town.: “I have played the Armenian soldier Ohannes for 30 years. Today, I will commit a massacre. I will show what Armenians did in this country and let future generations know about it. Today, I will take the lives of Mahmut and Şevket Efendi whose bread I have eaten for years,” said one retired municipal worker in 2015.

Some municipal workers, however, have expressed their unwillingness even to play the role of Armenians:

“We get negative reactions from everyone because we play the role of Armenians in these ceremonies. We are sometimes mocked. They call us ‘Armenian servants’. We don’t want to do this, but we do because our mayor orders us to.”

In 2016, the mayor, Enver Başaran, told an audience: “In your presence, I remember once again with mercy and gratitude our glorious ancestors who extirpated the Armenians whose history is filled with blood and treason from these lands.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also publicly promoted child martyrdom. At a party congress, he spotted a weeping six-year-old girl in a military uniform. He brought her onto the stage to tell her that if she died as a martyr, her coffin would be covered with the Turkish flag she held in her pocket. “You are ready for anything, aren’t you?” Erdogan asked. The terrified child, through her sobs, hardly managed to say “yes.”

There are many factors that drive the hysteria in Turkey extolling deaths and killings and attempts to brainwash children and turn them into “voluntary martyrs”: Systematic racism, ultra-nationalism, Islamic jihad and belief in martyrdom as well as the denial of the Christian genocide combined with pride in having waged it.

Sadly, Turkish schoolchildren have for decades been indoctrinated in these anti-humanitarian values. Why should the Austrian and other European governments be expected to allow Turkey to export the same destructive values to Europe as well?

Uzay Bulut, a journalist from Turkey, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute. She is currently based in Washington D.C.

[1] A few more include the 2008 celebrations for the “liberation from enemies” of the town of Pasinler in which “the majority of the children watching the theater play had guns in their hands.”

In another event, on the 90th anniversary of “liberation of Rize from enemy forces” on March 3, 2008, an official ceremony was organized in which a stage play was performed in which two thirteen-year-old girls were made to shoot guns at “enemy forces.”

For years, public celebrations in the city of Rize were carried out by locals using blank cartridge pistols and rifles, but even these caused some injuries. So, in 2009, upon the instruction of the governor of the city, toy guns were used instead. “Was Rize saved with toy guns?” some locals asked. Halil Bakırcı, the mayor of the city, was not happy with the decision either. “The festival of liberation of Rize cannot be celebrated without guns,” he said.