Erdogan blackmails Italy

August 2, 2016 By administrator

erdogan-blackmail Investigation against Turkish President’s son which is led by prosecutor’s office of the Italian city of Bologna on suspicion of money laundering, can have a negative impact on the relations between two countries, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Rai News 24.

According to him, the story with investigation concerning his son in Bologna can complicate the relations with Italy which should be more engaged in their own mafia, TASS reported.

In February, it was reported that the Bologna prosecutors’ office opened an investigation against Bilal Erdogan, who arrived to Italy for his thesis at Johns Hopkins University. The reason was the statement of the Turkish businessman Murat Hakan Khuzaa, political oppositionist, forced to live in exile in France.

According to Massimiliano Annette, a lawyer representing his interests, Erdogan has brought to Italy a large sum of money derived from illegal activities. In particular, media claimed that Bilal receives income from illegal oil trade, including deals with terrorists. Erdogan’s family has always denied the charges. However, in March it was reported that Bilal and his family left Italy, but the case against him was opened.

Turkey blackmails Bulgarian municipalities over the Armenian genocide

May 24, 2016 By administrator

Bulgarian municipalities By Georgi Gotev | EurActiv.com

Three Bulgarian municipalities will not receive EU funding under the cross-border cooperation programs between Bulgaria and Turkey. The reason is that Turkey bans partnerships with municipalities who recognise the Armenian genocide.

The Bulgarian municipalities of Burgas, Haskovo and Svilengrad stand no chance to receive EU money, because of obstructions by Turkey, a non-EU member state, the Bulgarian public TV channel bTV announced yesterday (14 March).

The ban comes from the Turkish foreign ministry, which prohibits working with municipalities who recognise the Armenian genocide of 1915, when hundreds of thousands of Christian Armenians died during forced removals by the Ottoman army from what is now Eastern Turkey.

As Bulgarian municipalities are unable to find a Turkish partner to implement joint projects, they are bound to lose several millions of euros. The most important projects concern the environment, for the prevention and mitigation of natural disasters.

For Bulgaria, the issue constitutes both a diplomatic and economic scandal. In the region of Haskovo, every winter, rivers destroy bridges and dams, and flood villages. Local government lacks the resources to do preventative work. That’s why it was counting on the EU-funded regional partnership with the Turkish municipality of Edirne to do the required work. But now the project is dead, because Turkey reneged on cooperating.

The Mayor of Edirne, Recep Gürkan, is quoted as saying that the decision of the Turkish foreign ministry is final:

“With Haskovo we worked very well, but we already have a ban from our Foreign Ministry. The reason is a decision of the Municipal Council of Haskovo from last year, who used the motif of the Armenian genocide to name a park in the city,” Gürkan said.

Declarations condemning the Armenian genocide, adopted by the municipal councils of Bourgas and Svilengrad, have put these municipalities on Turkey’s black list. The Bulgarian Environment Ministry was informed of the case.

Speaking to bTV, Gürkan advised the Bulgarian municipalities to vote again. If the municipal council of Haskovo rescind using the Armenian genocide as a motif for naming a park, cooperation can start again, he said. And he added that the Bulgarian municipality of Yambol had done precisely that.

“Nobody can interfere (with) how we will name a street or a park,” retorted the mayor of Haskovo Dobri Belivanov.

Before prohibiting Edirne to work with these communities on projects, Turkey formally ended diplomatic relations with their mayors. With Haskovo, for example, the twinning was frozen.

Brussels can’t do anything

Apparently the EU can only stop the financing, because trans-border projects require a partner in the neighbouring country. Therefore the risk that the Bulgarian municipalities would lose EU funding because of the political games played by Ankara is real, bTV reports.

Turkish-Bulgarian relations have deteriorated recently. Bulgaria has declared a Turkish diplomat working at the Consulate General in Burgas a persona non-grata. A government source said the Turkish diplomat carried out activities which breach the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Bulgaria expels Turkish diplomat for conducting Islamist activity

Bulgaria has declared a Turkish diplomat working at the Consulate General in Burgas persona non-grata, the Bulgarian press reported yesterday (21 February).

Erdogan playing “an Armenian card” blackmails Baku with opening Armenia border

July 17, 2014 By administrator

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pressing Azerbaijan to close Gulen schools, Turkish media reported.

According to Rotahaber website, the PM is threatening Azerbaijan to open border with Armenia. The author says the evidence is an article published by Taraf newspaper suggesting that Erdogan plans to open Armenia-Turkey border in September.

Interestingly, U.S. President Barack Obama has been recently refusing to communicate with Erdogan, while the latter is trying to revive relations with Washington by playing “an Armenian card”.

“If necessary, after settling relations with Washington, he will resume relations with Armenia, thus abandoning his promise in return for closing Gulen schools in Azerbaijan,” the article reads.