Terrorist State of Turkey Police confront May Day protesters in Istanbul’s Taksim Square

May 1, 2017 By administrator

Demonstrators had attempted to defy a government ban on holding events in the symbolic square. The confrontation occurred shortly after a new round of internationally-criticized sackings among the Turkish civil service.

Turkish police confronted left-wing protesters on Monday who attempted to march to Taksim Square despite the government having sealed off the symbolic square for the third May Day in a row.

Only small numbers of labor union representatives were permitted to lay wreaths at a monument in the square. Major trade union organizations agreed to hold their demonstrations at government-approved spots in Istanbul.

According to the AFP news agency, some 200 protesters in the Gayrettepe district wanted to defy the ban and walk to the square. They unfurled anti-government banners reading “Long Live May Day, No to the dictator!,” alluding to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s expanded executive powers that resulted from an April 16 referendum.

Police used tear gas and shot rubber pellets to disperse the group. Turkish state-run media reported that 13 individuals trying to access Taksim square were detained. However, AP reported some 70 individuals were detained.

According to a statement from Istanbul’s Govenor’s Office, Turkish riot police detained 207 individuals across the entire city.

Taksim holds a prominent position in the history of anti-government activism due to the 2013 Gezi Park sit-in, as well as due to the 1977 Taksim Square Massacre. On May Day of that year, an estimated 34 people were killed after shots were fired from a nearby building into a crowd.

The government crackdown has drawn widespread international criticism, including from the United Nations (UN).

On Monday at a press conference in Geneva, UN Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein expressed concern over the recent events in Turkey.

“It is highly unlikely that the suspensions and detentions will have met due process standards,” Zeid said.

He also commented on the imprisonment of journalists in Turkey, stating “Journalism is not a crime in Turkey, it is an issue the government must pay deep attention to.”

Erdogan detains 1,000 “secret imams” in police purge

April 26, 2017 By administrator

Turkish authorities arrested more than 1,000 people on Wednesday, April 26 they said had secretly infiltrated police forces across the country on behalf of a U.S.-based cleric blamed by the government for a failed coup attempt last July, Reuters reports.

The nationwide sweep was one of the largest operations in months against suspected supporters of the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is now accused by the government of trying to topple him by force.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said the overnight crackdown targeted a Gulen network “that infiltrated our police force, called ‘secret imams’.

“One thousand and nine secret imams have been detained so far in 72 provinces, and the operation is ongoing,” he told reporters in Ankara.

In the aftermath of the failed July coup, authorities arrested 40,000 people and sacked or suspended 120,000 from a wide range of professions including soldiers, police, teachers and public servants, over alleged links with terrorist groups.

The latest detentions came 10 days after voters narrowly backed plans to expand Erdogan’s already wide powers in a referendum which opposition parties and European election observers said was marred by irregularities.

The referendum bitterly divided Turkey. Erdogan’s critics fear further drift into authoritarianism, with a leader they see as bent on eroding modern Turkey’s democracy and secular foundations.

Erdogan argues that strengthening the presidency will avert instability associated with coalition governments, at a time when Turkey faces multiple challenges including security threats from Islamist and Kurdish militants.

Lapshin’s Case Again Brings the Issue of Signing the RA-NKR Mutual Military Aid Agreement on the Agenda

February 13, 2017 By administrator

By Greta Avetisyan

(Armedia) The extradition of Lapshin and the developments around it have become one of the main topics of discussion recently. The claims that the extradition of the famous blogger is a violation of fundamental freedoms, that this is a result of Azerbaijani-Belarusian bilateral agreement raise no doubts. It is also obvious that the incident connected with Lapshin is another provocation by Azerbaijan and the target is not Lapshin, but Armenia and Artsakh.

If in case of Armenia Azerbaijan intends to make it resort to provocative actions and come up with destructive position, in case of Artsakh Azerbaijan’s aim is its isolation.

Azerbaijan has always responded to any international visit to Artsakh quite toughly, and if previously that response was limited with several announcements and with including several people in their “black list”, now, after carrying out the “operation” of extradition of Lapshin, Azerbaijan tries to threaten those, who have visited or intend to visit Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

Azerbaijan’s policy which attempts to isolate Artsakh society may give rise to certain concern among the Artsakh people of being isolated from the world, as well as a fear of increase of threat to their security.

In such a case, perhaps, it is necessary to again consider the issue of signing RA-NKR mutual military aid agreement, which will become another security guarantee for NKR people hitting the attempts of Azerbaijan’s isolation policy. In this regard it is important that the mutual military aid agreement includes a corresponding provision, which will fix that an attack on one side would mean attack on the other side.

Greta Avetisyan

Source: http://armedia.am/eng/news/45191/lapshins-case-again-brings-the-issue-of-signing-the-ra-nkr-mutual-military-aid-agreement-on-the-agenda.html

US authorities detain hundreds in immigration raids

February 12, 2017 By administrator

US authorities have arrested hundreds of people across five states. Officials have called the operations “routine” but immigration advocates say it signals a more aggressive policy under President Donald Trump.

Hundreds of people who were in the United States without authorization were arrested this week as President Donald Trump’s hard-line stand on immigration appears to be being put into action.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency conducted a series of immigration sweeps across Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. While the agency did not release the total number of detainees, a spokesman for the Atlanta office said it had arrested 200 people, while the director of enforcement and removal for the Los Angeles field office, David Marin, said his office counted 161 arrests.

This week’s raids sparked concerns among immigration advocates and families. The sweep comes on the heels of Trump’s executive order barring refugees and migrants from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the US. The order is currently on hold after a District Court judge in Seattle ordered a temporary halt to the ban.

“The fear coursing through immigrant homes and the native-born Americans who love immigrants as friends and family is palpable,” the executive director of the National Immigration Forum, Ali Noorani, said in a statement. “Reports of raids in immigrant communities are a grave concern.”

Turkey #RT_Erdogan orders detention of 380 businessmen links to Gulen & 11 Pro-Kurd HDP

January 5, 2017 By administrator

A Turkish soldier stands guard next to the courthouse as a vehicle transporting prisoners charged with involvement in the July 15 coup attempt passes on December 27, 2016 at Silivri District in Istanbul. (Photo by AFP)

Prosecutors in Turkey have ordered the detention of 380 businessmen suspected of assisting Fethullah Gulen, a US-based cleric who is accused by Ankara of having masterminded a coup attempt in the country in mid-July 2016.

The arrest warrants were issued on Thursday as prosecutors also demanded permissions for searches of houses and offices of the suspects, who were believed to have financially supported Gulen and his network in Turkey.

More than 40,000 people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicions of having links to Gulen and the Fake failed coup while more than 100,000 have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations.

Gulen, who runs a vast network of schools and cultural centers in Turkey and other Muslim countries, has categorically denied any role in the coup attempt, which claimed the lives of at least 240 people.

He warned in the summer that the accusations may be a ploy by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tighten the grip on dissent.

Turkey has also been carrying out a severe crackdown on those believed to be linked to Kurdish militants operating in the country’s southeast.

The state-run Anadolu agency said Thursday that nine suspects, including two provincial officials of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), were remanded in custody by a court earlier in the day over alleged links to Kurdish militants.

The nine were among some 30 people arrested overnight, who included HDP Istanbul Provincial Chair Dogan Erbas and Vice Chair Aysel Guzel. The report said that 11 suspects were initially taken to court but nine were remanded in custody over terrorism-related charges. The two others were released under judicial court while legal procedures were continuing for the remaining 19 suspects, according to the report.

Terrorist State of Turkey Arrest Pro-Kurdish HDP party co-chair in Ankara

December 26, 2016 By administrator

Aysel Tugluk leading member of the pro-Kurdish HDP has been arrested on terrorism charges. Tugluk had been helping other arrested HDP members with their legal battles amidst a government crackdown.

Turkey’s crackdown on the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) showed no sign of slowing down on Monday after the arrest of Aysel Tugluk, deputy co-chair of the party. Tugluk was taken away by anti-terrorism police at her home in Ankara about a month after 10 HDP lawmakers were detained on charges of having ties to the outlawed militant group the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

According to German news agency DPA, Tugluk acted as a lawyer for jailed HDP leaders. The party claims that since parliamentary immunity was lifted earlier this year, the central government has systematically tried to destroy it through arrests and erroneous claims that it supports the PKK. The HDP has long denied any ties, though it has pressed the government to resume stalled peace talks.

Pro-government newspaper the Daily Sabah wrote that Tugluk would be sent to await trial in her home province of Diyarbakir after officials cleared her for travel. The report, citing an anonymous police source, said it was the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office that launched the investigation into Tugluk’s activities.

On Twitter, the HDP’s womens’ group condemned the arrest of its co-chair as an “attack on the free will of women.”

The PKK has actively promoted an independent Kurdish state and led an armed insurrection against the Turkish government since 1994. It has long been listed as a terror organization by the United States and the European Union. Since a ceasefire agreement collapsed last year, frequent clashes have broken out between the group’s fighters and the military in the Turkey’s southeast. Earlier in December, the more extreme wing of the PKK, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), killed 44 people in a string of attacks on Istanbul.

A blogger arrested in Minsk at the request of Baku for visiting Karabagh

December 20, 2016 By administrator

The Belarusian blogger Alexander Lapshin was arrested on 15 December in Minsk, at the request of the authorities of Azerbaijan, who accuse him of having visited Nagorno-Karabakh in 2011 and 2012, without the authorization of Baku of course. The Azerbaijani prosecutor’s office has indicated that it is taking the necessary measures to extradite Lapshin from Belarus. This arrest is very badly publicized in the Belarusian capital, which is to host a hypothetical conference dedicated to the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which has been undergoing for two decades the Minsk Group, baptized for this reason.

But the very authoritarian Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled for twenty-six years with an iron fist Belarus, does not care. He is much more concerned about sparing another despot, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev, with whom he has always had excellent relations, even though Belarus, unfailingly allied to Russia, is a partner of Armenia within the The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and other political and military alliances. For example, Belarus, together with Kazakhstan, raised the issue of the status of Karabakh at the request of Baku during the debates on the admission of Armenia to the EUE in 2014. According to the Azerbaijan prosecutor’s office, a criminal investigation was opened against A.Lapshin for “illegal” crossing of the border of Azerbaijan and for public statements hostile to the state.

A. Lapshin, who holds dual Russian and Israeli nationality, said he would not withdraw any of his remarks from his blog and described the black list drawn up by Baku as “nonsense and a joke” Foreign personalities who visited Karabagh, including senior officials, such as the current French interior minister, JB Le Roux.

David Babayan, spokesman for the presidency of Artsakh, reacting to the arrest of the blogger in a third country, said that Azerbaijan was crossing a “new level” in its measures and sanctions aimed at the personalities who visited the Nagorno-Karabakh region. “This is now a matter of interference in the internal affairs of a third country,” said Babayan, adding that “in fact, Azerbaijan seeks the extradition of a citizen of a foreign state, Attempting to accuse him of a fictitious ‘crime’; This constitutes a gross violation of international law and international humanitarian law “. The Facebook page of A. Lapshin said he would still be detained in Minsk. As for the Belarusian authorities, they have remained at least discreet about this case. .

Turkey wants arrest of 55 people suspected of financing Gulen

December 10, 2016 By administrator

Turkish authorities issued arrest warrants for 55 people, including businessmen, suspected of giving financial support to the network of the U.S.-based cleric Ankara accuses of orchestrating a failed military coup in July, broadcaster NTV said.

The businessmen suspected of being linked to the cleric’s network allegedly carried large sums of cash, which they have called a “favor”, back and forth between Turkey, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kazakhstan since 2014, NTV said.

Ankara accuses the cleric Fethullah Gulen of orchestrating the July 15 coup bid, in which rogue soldiers commandeered tanks, fighter jets and helicopters to attack the parliament and attempt to overthrow the government. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied involvement and condemned the coup, Reuters reports.

Police from the Istanbul financial-crimes unit conducted operations in 57 separate addresses on Saturday to root out sympathizers of Gulen, NTV said. Authorities have detained some of the suspects in the operations, while others are still being sought, NTV said, adding that some were found to be using Bylock, a smartphone messaging app which Ankara says was used by Gulen’s adherents as a communication tool.

Turkey has so far jailed some 36,000 people pending trial and has suspended or dismissed more than 100,000 people from the military, judiciary, public service and others in the crackdown.

Turkey’s Western allies have voiced concern at the extent of the purges under President Tayyip Erdogan, who has repeatedly rejected such criticism, saying Ankara is determined to root out its enemies at home and abroad.

Turkey classified Gulen’s movement, which espouses philanthropy, interfaith dialogue and science-based education, as a terrorist network in July 2015. It says Gulen’s followers spent four decades infiltrating the bureaucracy and security forces in a bid to eventually take control of the state.

Terrorist State of Turkey issues warrant for Kurdish PYD leader Salih Muslim over Ankara bombing

November 22, 2016 By administrator

arrest-warning ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey has issued an arrest warrant for Salih Muslim, co-leader of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), for alleged connections to an Ankara bombing last year which killed 28 people.

The state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Tuesday that arrest warrants had been issued for Muslim and 47 others, including some top leaders of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), including Murat Karayilan and Cemil Bayik, both founding members of the group.
Turkey regards PYD as the Syrian wing of the PKK.
February’s bombing targeted military busses during the evening rush hour. The PYD denied involvement after it was accused of the bombing following the attack.

Just days after the attack, another Kurdish group, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) claimed responsibility, saying it carried out the attack to show its opposition to policies of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The perpetrator, according to TAK, was a 26-year-old Turkish national from the eastern Turkish city of Van.

The then Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, however, named the Ankara bomber as Salih Necar, a Syrian national and member of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the PYD.

Raffi Hovhannisyan: Arrests of opposition MPs in Turkey resemble the #ArmenianGenocide of 1915

November 7, 2016 By administrator

Raffi Hovhannisyan: Arrests of opposition MPs in Turkey resemble the Armenian Genocide of 1915

On November 6, Heritage Party Chairman Raffi K. Hovannisian attended and addressed a special conference on Migration and Refugees organized by the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP).

The meeting, which brought together 40 political parties from more than 25 countries, was co-sponsored by the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party of Turkey.

Following inflammatory interventions by Azerbaijani and Turkish delegates, Raffi Hovannisian took the floor to present an Armenian perspective on historical and current developments in the region. He referred in particular to the unacceptability of the recent arrest of opposition MPs in Turkey and the crackdown on civil liberties which triggered flashbacks to 1915; the reality and legacy of the Armenian Genocide and Great National Dispossession of the Armenian and other peoples (Assyrians, Greeks, Kurds, Yezidis, and Alevis) as an unprecedented watershed in refugee creation; the Turkish official policy of denial and the untold story of thousands of righteous Turks who saved Armenian lives.

He underscored the tendency of states like Turkey and Azerbaijan to launch military activities in neighboring countries and then be compelled to manage refugee crises, seeking international support for their solution; Armenia’s experience with Syrian-Armenian refugees; Azerbaijan’s failed war of aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) Republic and the 500,000 Armenians who were displaced from Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan and other occupied Armenian lands; the imperative to secure for all refugees and internally displaced persons a guaranteed and equitable right of return to their places of origin, including the return of Armenians to and the establishment of communal life in Azerbaijan, Nakhichevan, and the western Armenian heartland in current-day eastern Turkey; and the need to be
self-critical in Turkey, Armenia, and all other countries and to take responsibility for developing just, democratic societies which are the only avenue to prevent non-conflict-driven emigration.

Upon completion of Hovannisian’s address, the vice chairman of the AK Party repeated Turkey’s denialist line and asked the reference to the word Genocide be deleted from the record. Hovannisian condemned this approach as an unacceptable, characteristic attempt at official censorship.

Source: http://www.armradio.am/en/2016/11/07/raffi-hovhannisyan-arrests-of-opposition-mps-in-turkey-resemble-the-armenian-genocide-of-1915/