Erdogan to release Journalist Yücel, Germany to provide arms in return

January 6, 2018 By administrator

A dirty deal has been found to be sought over journalist Deniz Yücel, who is imprisoned by the Erdogan regime. Speaking before talks with Çavuşoğlu, German Foreign Minister said, “If Deniz Yücel is released, we’ll give approval to arms exports to Turkey.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu will be arriving in Germany today to meet with counterpart Sigmar Gabriel. Çavuşoğlu is expected to make fresh negotiations with the Merkel government in a visit to the German town of Goslar, Gabriel’s hometown, as part of a return visit to Antalya last November.

Before the visit, Gabriel gave an important statement for the German citizens held hostage by the Erdogan regime. Speaking to the new issue of the weekly Der Spiegel, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician made the following appeal to Ankara:

“Turkey is a NATO member and our partner in the fight against IS (Islamic State). Despite this, the federal government does not give its approval to the many arms exports to Turkey. This situation will not change until the Deniz Yücel case reaches a solution.”

Noting that the situation of German prisoners in Turkey is important for Germany, Minister Gabriel stressed that “Relations between both countries will not improve as long as we are not in dialogue with each other,” hinting that the doors were open for deals.

Maria Adebahr, the spokeswoman of the German Foreign Ministry, made assessments on the visit of Çavuşoğlu at a press conference in Berlin yesterday. Stating that the visits were a mark of effort by the two sides to improve relations, the spokeswoman noted that the two ministers’ meeting would address a number of issues. The spokeswoman said that the situation of Germans jailed in Turkey were at the forefront of these talks.

After the release of Peter Steudtner, a human rights activist among the Erdogan regime’s prisoners, on October 25, the Berlin-Ankara friendly relationship period resumed. Followed by the release of Meşale Tolu and finally David Britsch, the number of German citizens arrested in Turkey for political reasons in recent years has fallen to seven. However, what has been received in exchange for the release of German hostages by the Erdogan government is nont disclosed to the public.

After Gabriel’s words, it is understood that the hostages will be exchanged for weapons. Gabriel announced in September last year that Turkey had applied many times to buy weapons from Germany, before being rejected. Gabriel had said “Turkey’s arms requests are pending” and so for the first time it has emerged that a NATO country rejected the arms request of another NATO country.

ARMS SALES DIDN’T STOP, REDUCED INSTEAD

In Germany, the government must approve the foreign sales of arms companies. During this time, however, despite the tensions and crisis between the Merkel government and the Erdogan regime, Germany continues to trade arms with the Turkish state. In the first four months of 2017 alone the Turkish army bought weapons and ammunition worth 5,600,000 euros from German weapon companies.

This information was revealed by the German Ministry of Economics last August, in response to a parliamentary question concerning the arms trade with Turkey from the Left Party. Last year, German arms company Rheinmetall was found to have produced 7 billion euros worth a thousand panzers in Turkey. In November 2015, Erdoğan’s photographs from the invitation of Rheinmetall’s managers to his palace for this matter were also circulated in the press.

However, it appears that the Erdogan regime is seeking dirty deals over the jailed Die Welt Turkey correspondent Deniz Yücel, who was detained in Istanbul on February 2017. Yücel was taken into custody on February 14 in the Istanbul Security Directorate, where he went to testify under the investigation carried out on the news reports of Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak’s e-mails.

While deemed by Erdogan as a “PKK member” and “German agent”, Yücel, who is still waiting for an indictment, was kept in isolation for months. After the German police attacked the Kurds in Dusseldorf on November 4 and the unofficial meeting of Gabriel and Çavuşoğlu in Antalya the same day, Yücel was transferred from the single cell.

Canadian defense deal with Azerbaijan raises more questions about arms export controls

July 25, 2017 By administrator

A deal by a Canadian company to export armoured personnel carriers to Azerbaijan and set up a joint production of these military-style vehicles in the oil-rich former Soviet republic is once again raising questions about the efficacy of Canada’s defence export controls.

According to Cbc.ca, Toronto-based INKAS Armored Vehicle Manufacturing has signed a deal with Azerbaijan’s interior ministry under which the company has already delivered “a few” Canadian-made armoured personnel carriers (APCs).

The privately owned company has also set up a joint venture with an Azerbaijani firm to produce APCs in Azerbaijan, which has been embroiled in a simmering armed conflict with neighbouring Armenia since the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, said Roman Shimonov, vice-president of marketing and business development at INKAS.

“Azerbaijan is a very unique country in terms of geographic location, in terms of geopolitical challenges, because they are in the middle between Iran and Armenia and Turkey,” said Shimonov, who has also been appointed CEO of the joint venture AZCAN Defence Solutions. “And they have resources, more resources than other countries, and they are looking to be able to have more solutions in terms of defence — and not only defence, they’re looking to protect their borders.”

Shimonov said the company has fully complied with all the government rules for the export of military goods.

“We cannot sell anything without getting a written permit from export control and once we get it, we know that our authorities, our Canadian authorities, have checked and they have approved,” Shimonov said.

Global Affairs Canada, the federal department responsible for issuing export permits for military and controlled goods, said “all applications for permits to export dual-use, military and strategic goods are assessed on a case-by-case basis, based on the specific goods and technology being exported, the destination country, and the specific end-use and end-user, amongst other criteria.”

“Regional peace and stability, including civil conflict and human rights, as well as the possibility of unauthorized transfer or diversion of the exported goods and technology, are actively considered,” said Global Affairs spokesperson Natasha Nystrom.

US nears $100 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia ahead of Trump’s trip

May 12, 2017 By administrator

Smoke rises after Saudi-led air strikes in Sanaa

Ahead of the US president’s visit to Saudi Arabia, a series of multi-billion-dollar arms deals have been outlined. The previous US administration suspended some supplies because of human rights concerns.

A senior, unnamed White House official said the US was close to completing a series of deals to sell Saudi Arabia arms and related maintenance worth $100 billion (91.4 billion euros), according to Reuters.

President Donald Trump begins an international tour next Friday with the first stop in Saudi Arabia, followed by visits in Israel, the Vatican, Brussels for a NATO summit and Sicily for a Group of Seven summit.

“We are in the final stages of a series of deals,” the White House official said on Friday. The arms package could be worth more than $300 billion over a decade, the official said. The US has been the Saudi kingdom’s major arms supplier, delivering F-15 fighter jets, command and control systems worth tens of billions of dollars in recent years.

President Barack Obama had canceled a series of planned weapons sales to Saudi Arabia in the last months of his administration because of the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen which had led to numerous civilian casualties.

Trump has already met with Saudi deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 31-year-old who is de facto ruler of the kingdom due to the frailty of the 81-year-old King Salman. Prince Mohammed is also defense minister and has led an aggressive campaign both militarily in Yemen and politically against Iran and Shia Muslims.

The UN estimates that 17 million of Yemen’s 27 million people are “food insecure” including 3.3 million pregnant and breast-feeding mothers and children, some 462,000 under the age of five, who are “acutely malnourished.”

Restoring US-Saudi ties

Trump and Prince Mohammed met at the White House in Washington in March. The Bloomberg news agency reported on Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund could invest up to $40 billion in US infrastructure.

US national security adviser H.R. McMaster previewed Trump’s first foreign tour to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy and Belgium in a White House briefing on Friday. “President Trump understands taht America First does not mean America alone,” McMaster told reporters. “To the contrary, prioritizing America’s interests means strengthening alliances.”

McMaster said Trump “will encourage our Arab and Muslim partners to take bold, new steps to promote peace and to confront those, from ISIS to al Qaeda to Iran to the Assad regime, who perpetuate chaos and violence that has inflicted so much suffering throughout the Muslim world and beyond.”

Terrorist State of Turkey foreign minister warns US arming of Syrian Kurds poses threat

May 10, 2017 By administrator

US to arm Kurdish fighters in Syria

Turkey’s top diplomat has decried the US order to arm a Syrian Kurdish militia, saying each weapon they hold is a direct threat to Turkey. President Erdogan will travel to Washington next week to take up the issue.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned on Wednesday that arming the People’s Protection Units (YPG) Syrian Kurdish militia was no different to arming the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) group fighting in Turkey.

Cavusoglu’s remarks came as the US signed off on an order to arm YPG fighters in the fight to recapture the Syrian city of Raqqa, the last remaining stronghold of the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) jihadist group. Turkey, however, classifies the YPG as a terrorist group.

“Both the PKK and the YPG are terrorist organizations and they are no different, apart from their names,” Cavusoglu told reporters during a visit to Montenegro. “Every weapon seized by them is a threat to Turkey.”

Turkey’s top diplomat added that the US was well aware of Ankara’s stance and that the issue would be discussed when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets his US counterpart Donald Trump during a visit to Washington next week.

Earlier on Wednesday, quoting Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli was quoted by Turkish media of saying that the US’ order was “unacceptable” and that he hoped Washington would reverse its decision.

US: Kurdish assistance necessary in fight against IS

However, in announcing the order, the US appeared to double down on its position that Kurds provide crucial help in wiping out IS and liberating Raqqa.

“We are keenly aware of the security concerns of our coalition partner, Turkey,” Defense Department spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement on Tuesday. “We want to reassure the people and government of Turkey that the US is committed to preventing additional security risks and protecting our NATO ally.”

The Pentagon stressed that assisting the YPG was “necessary to ensure a clear victory” against IS in Raqqa.

The US and western powers have been backing a Syrian alliance of militias, known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), fighting IS. Among its groups is the Kurdish YPG.

YPG welcomes arms

The YPG militia hailed the US’ decision to provide it with arms, calling the decision “historic” and a “sign of confidence” in the group.

The move, coupled with the US’ commitment to its umbrella coalition with the SDF, would expand its operations against IS, the YPG said in a statement. The decision was a refutation of “distortions” likening the YPG to a terrorist group, it added.

dm/rt (Reuters, AP, dpa)

U.S. Approves Supplying Weapons To Syrian Kurdish Fighters

May 9, 2017 By administrator

The United States has agreed to supply weapons to the main Kurdish opposition group in Syria, a move likely to anger Turkey just days before a meeting between the U.S. and Turkish leaders in Washington.

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White announced the move in a May 9 statement, saying President Donald Trump a day earlier had authorized the Defense Department “to equip Kurdish elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces as necessary to ensure a clear victory over ISIS in Raqqa, Syria.”

The statement came shortly after news agencies cited an unidentified senior U.S. official as saying that the White House had approved arming the People’s Protection Units (YPG) as the battle to dislodge Islamic State (IS) militants from its stronghold in Raqqa nears.

Raqqa, in northern Syria, is the de facto capital of the IS group but is being surrounded by opposition forces fighting IS militants government forces.

An unidentified U.S. official was quoted by AFP as saying prior to the Pentagon statement on May 9 that the approval has immediate effect “but the timeline for weapons delivery is to be refined.”

Washington considers the YPG to have been critical in defeating IS fighters in northern Syria. Turkey considers the Syrian Kurds to be a terrorist group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been fighting a decades-long insurgency against Turkish forces for greater autonomy.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House in mid-May.

White said in her statement that Washington was “keenly aware of the security concerns of our coalition partner Turkey.”

“We want to reassure the people and government of Turkey that the U.S. is committed to preventing additional security risks and protecting our NATO ally,” she added.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on May 9 that he had “useful” discussions in Denmark with Turkish officials about Washington’s alliance with the YPG in the fight against the IS in Syria.

“We’re going to sort it out,” Mattis said.

With reporting by Reuters, The New York Times, AP, and AFP

Germany blocks arms sales to Turkey – report

March 22, 2017 By administrator

The German government has refused approval for military exports to NATO partner country Turkey on a growing number of occasions. Ministers are concerned the weapons could be used to oppress the local population.

Berlin has rejected more than 10 applications for arms exports to Turkey in recent months, the German daily “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (SZ) reports, citing a letter from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The ministry was answering questions by the left-wing MP Jan van Aken.

As a NATO partner, Turkey is rarely subject to restrictions on arms exports. But there are concerns that since last July’s coup attempt, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched a far-reaching purge of political opponents.

Concern over ‘internal repression’

“The importance of observing human rights will be particularly important in respect to arms export approvals,” a ministry official reportedly said in his reply to van Aken. Since the failed coup, “the federal government’s foreign security policy review” has given special consideration “to the risk of an intervention in the context of internal repression of the Kurdish conflict.”

According to German government figures, the federal government had rejected eleven individual arms shipments starting November 2016, compared to only eight between 2010 and 2015. The most recent refusals involved weapons, ammunitions and parts for the manufacture of certain armaments.

Likely to cause friction

“This is a first step,” van Aken told the “SZ” newspaper. “And next, we must make sure that Turkey doesn’t receive any weapons from Germany.”

The Left party MP said the Turkish government was waging war in its own country and in Syria and becoming “increasingly dictatorial.”

German-Turkish relations are tense at present after two cities banned campaign rallies by Turkish ministers who sought to address the large Turkish community living in Germany.

On April 16, Turks will decide in a referendum on reforms to the constitution that would give Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan far-reaching new powers.

In response, Erdogan accused Germany of using Nazi measures against his politicians.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/germany-blocks-arms-sales-to-turkey-report/a-38059815

Moscow’s arming Azeris beneficial to Armenia: Russian news agency chief

March 7, 2017 By administrator

Azerbaijan is arming Armenia through its own purchase of weapons from Russia, head of Russia’s state-run news agency Rossiya Segodnya Dmitry Kiselyov said.

“Azerbaijan can buy armaments from Israel, the U.S. and Russia. The world’s second largest exporter of weapons, Russia supplies arms to the market and international salons, from where Azerbaijan, like many other countries, buys weapons,” he said.

Kiselyov urged against searching for political implication behind the sale of arms to Azerbaijan. According to him, Moscow thus maintains relations with Baku.

Kiselyov expressed the belief that Armenia benefits from relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, since Russia, according to him, uses the money received from Azerbaijan to develop its military-industrial complex, thus gaining an opportunity to arm Armenia.

“Azerbaijan thus buys weapons for Armenia through Russia,” he said.

Armenian authorities and people were not happy with Russia’s sale of ammunition to Azerbaijan during the four-day war in early April, 2016. Russian officials, however, defended the deals, claiming that Moscow “thus maintains the balance in the South Caucasus.”

Azerbaijan on April 2 unleashed a large-scale military offensive against Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), which claimed the lives of hundreds on both sides. Chief Armenian and Azerbaijani defense officials reached an agreement on the cessation of hostilities on April 5 in Moscow.

Also, Kiselyov said fluency in Russian language is vital for Armenia.

“A young Armenian taxi driver once didn’t know something in Russian, which really surprised me. My words drew a stormy response, with people reacting not to the fact that the driver could not count in Russian, but to my saying that ‘Russian language is a security factor for Armenia,’” Kiselyov explained, according to Radio Sputnik Armenia.

He stressed that he never recanted and still believes that fluency in Russian is vitally important for Armenia. According to Kiselyov, “without this (knowledge of Russian – editor’s note), it is impossible to imagine the future of Armenia.”

Armeniasputnik.am: Киселев: русский язык – фактор безопасности Армении

Azerbaijani arms supplies destroyed in Armenia’s south

October 29, 2016 By administrator

A task group from the Humanitarian Demining and Expert Center has destroyed Azerbaijani arms supplies in Armenia’s southern region Syunik, reports the Defense Ministry’s press service.
The supplies, left behind by the adversary back in the 1990s, were found in military posts in the villages Yeghvard and Uzhanis.
The experts continue the searches in another former military post close to the neighboring communities.

Female Turkish journo loses custody of children after leaking video from Syria arms smuggling trial

May 18, 2016 By administrator

Journalist Arzu Yildiz was sentenced to 20 months in jail and lost her parental rights after exposing a video related to a weapons-smuggling scandal denied by the Turkish government, in what her lawyer said was “an act of revenge” by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Nobody can take my children away from me… not even the Sultan himself, let alone the court,” Yildiz told Can Erzincan TV, outside the court in the southern city of Mersin.

The journalist’s sentence is related to a 2014 incident in which prosecutors uncovered trucks belonging to MIT, Turkey’s national security agency, smuggling weapons for rebels across the border to Syria. President Erdogan has insisted that the vehicles were carrying humanitarian aid and accused the prosecutors of “treason and espionage,” as well as of being agents of his US-based nemesis Fethullah Gulen.

The prosecutors were arrested and put on trial before a closed court, before being sentenced to prison terms. Yildiz obtained video of the proceedings, however, and posted the prosecutors’ testimonies, which contradicted the government’s claims, on YouTube. She was later charged with breaching court confidentiality.

She has insisted throughout that she was not the only one to publish the videos and objects to the jailing of the prosecutors.

“I thank everyone for their messages and support. I have no worries. I don’t care about whatever punishment they give me. I’m just doing my job,” Yildiz tweeted after Wednesday’s ruling.

While her two children will not be physically taken away, Yildiz will have no legal authority to make any decisions on their behalf for at least the next two years.

“This was an act of revenge,” her lawyer, Alpdeger Tanriverdi, told Reuters. “There are many cases in which the court does not execute this article of the penal code. They didn’t have to do it.”

source: RT