Thousands protest over Cairo church bombing

December 12, 2016 By administrator

Thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets in the capital Cairo, protesting against the government after a bombing attack on the city’s Coptic Cathedral killed many worshipers.

The protesters marched on the streets and hundreds of them gathered near the targeted Coptic Cathedral in the Abbasia district of Cairo on Sunday.

They demanded justice for the victims of the attack, which occurred during Sunday mass and killed at least 25 people, among them women and children.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail arrived at the site of the attack shortly after it took place. Angry protesters started hurling insults at him, accusing officials of negligence.

One protester said there had been no security at the gate of the Church, and that security staffers “were all having breakfast inside their van” when the bombing occurred.

Police moved in to contain the crowd as Ismail visited the site.

The protesters shouted “leave, leave, leave” as high-ranking security officials escorted Minister of Interior Major Magdy Ibrahim along a road. Police and armored vehicles were deployed to the scene.

“As long as Egyptian blood is cheap, down with any president,” and “The people demand the fall of the regime,” the protesters chanted.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has condemned the attack and promised justice. He has also declared three days of mourning.

“Vicious terrorism is being waged against the country’s Copts and Muslims. Egypt will emerge stronger and more united from this situation,” the Egyptian president said after the attack.

Exiled Muslim Brotherhood officials also condemned the bombing on the Coptic church. Church officials have said they would not allow the bombing to trigger sectarian turmoil.

Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 90 million.

The last major attack on a church in Egypt took place in Alexandria weeks before the start of a 2011 uprising and killed at least 21 people.

Turkish police detained 235 people including pro-Kurdish (HDP)

December 12, 2016 By administrator

Police have detained 235 people including pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) officials over alleged ties to Kurdish militants. One day prior, a PKK splinter group claimed responsibility for bombings in Istanbul.

Scores of people suspected of acting on behalf of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were detained in nationwide raids, Turkey’s Interior Ministry said on Monday.

Some 235 people were taken into custody, the interior ministry said in a statement, saying they were suspected of either membership in outlawed groups like the PKK, or of “spreading terror group propaganda.”

Counter-terrorism police conducted early-morning raids in 11 Turkish provinces on Monday, detaining officials in cities like Istanbul and Ankara, the ministry said. The raids appeared to also target officials from the pro-Kurdish HDP political party.

In Istanbul, police took 20 officials into custody, including the HDP’s provincial head in the city, Aysel Güzel, Turkish authorities said. The party’s main offices in the city were also reportedly searched.

Another 17 people involved in the party were detained in Ankara, including the provincial head Ibrahim Binici, Hurrieyet reported. To the south in Adana, a further 25 were taken into custody as part of a large police raid.

The sweeping police raids came after weekend attacks in Istanbul killed 44 people and injured 155, according to the latest figures from the health ministry in Ankara. Most of those killed were police officers.

On Sunday, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) – a radical splinter group of the PKK – claimed responsibility for twin blasts outside a soccer stadium in Istanbul.

Following the claim, Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq, an army statement said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a published statement that those behind the attack would “pay a heavier price” for Saturday evening’s attack.

Turkey has cracked down hard on the HDP both before and especially since a July 15 coup attempt, arresting several national leaders and local officials although the pro-Kurdish party had no obvious connection to the coup plot. The party’s members insist they have no ties to the PKK.

Last month, HDP co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag were arrested along with eight others and are being held in pre-trial detention.

The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union, and the United States.

rs/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) claim deadly Istanbul attack that killed 38

December 12, 2016 By administrator

An offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claimed responsibility on Sunday, December 11 for twin bombings that killed 38 people and wounded 155 outside an Istanbul soccer stadium, an attack for which the Turkish government vowed vengeance, Reuters says.

The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), which has claimed several other deadly attacks in Turkey this year, said in a statement on its website that it was behind Saturday night’s blasts, which shook a nation still trying to recover from a failed military coup and a number of bombings this year..

Saturday’s attacks took place near the Vodafone Arena, home to Istanbul’s Besiktas soccer team, about two hours after a match at the stadium and appeared to target police officers. The first was a car bomb outside the stadium, followed within a minute by a suicide bomb attack in an adjacent park.

TAK, which has claimed responsibility for an Ankara bombing that killed 37, is an offshoot of the PKK, which has carried out a violent, three-decade insurgency, mainly in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast.

“What we must focus on is this terror burden. Our people should have no doubt we will continue our battle against terror until the end,” Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan told reporters after meeting injured victims in an Istanbul hospital.

Speaking at a funeral for five of the police officers at the Istanbul police headquarters, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said: “Sooner or later we will have our vengeance. This blood will not be left on the ground, no matter what the price, what the cost.”

Soylu also warned those who would offer support to the attackers on social media or elsewhere; comments aimed at pro-Kurdish politicians the government accuses of having links to the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Europe and Turkey.

In recent months thousands of Kurdish politicians have been detained, including dozens of mayors and the leaders of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), parliament’s second-biggest opposition party, accused of having links to the PKK.

Thirteen people have been detained in connection with the attacks, Soylu said.

A total of 155 people were being treated in hospital, with 14 of them in intensive care and five in surgery, Health Minister Recep Akdag told a news conference.

ТАСС: В Турции задержано более 100 членов прокурдской партии

Reuters. Kurdish militants claim responsibility for Istanbul attack that killed 38

Turkey: 38 killed, 155 wounded in twin bombings in Istanbul: Interior minister

December 11, 2016 By administrator

Some 38 people were killed and another 155 were wounded on Dec. 10 when a double bombing hit central Istanbul near Beşiktaş’s Vodafone Arena Stadium.

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said seven civilians are among the dead, while 30 others are police officers and one of the victims has yet to be identified.

Thirteen suspects have been detained in connection to the attack, Soylu added.

Health Minister Recep Akdağ said 14 of the 155 wounded are in intensive care.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) expressed condolences to the relatives of the victims, vowing that the fight against terrorism would continue “until the last terrorist is neutralized.”

In addition, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) announced that planned matches would go ahead, Doğan News Agency reported.

“A day of morning has been declared for the police officers and civillians killed in the twin bombings after the match between Beşiktaş and Bursaspor. One minute’s silence will be observed and flags will be lowered to half-mast before all matches in professional and amateur leagues on Dec. 10 and Dec. 11,” it stated.

The first explosion came from a moving car that directly targeted riot police near the stadium, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said in a press conference early on Dec. 11.

The second attack came 45 seconds after the first one when a suicide bomber detonated explosives at Maçka Park just across from the stadium, Kurtulmuş said.

Beşiktas has announced that one of the civilians killed was a staff member at the Beşiktaş store while the other was a congress member and a police officer.

The huge blasts occurred at around 10:20 p.m., around 90 minutes after a match between Beşiktaş and Bursaspor ended at the nearby ground. It was heard on both sides of the Bosphorus.

Following the attack, Bursaspor stated on its official Twitter account that there were no injuries among its supporters.

Beşiktaş also condemned the attack in a statement issued on its website, as did the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Trabzonspor.

A number of ambulances were immediately dispatched to the scene as eyewitnesses reported the sound of gunfire after the explosions, although the lack of hospitals in the Taksim area meant most of the wounded had to be taken to Şişli Etfal Hospital or other medical centers in the area.

Security forces later detonated a suspicious car near the scene in a controlled explosion early on Dec. 11, Doğan News Agency reported.

The prime minister was immediately briefed about the attack by Soylu and Istanbul Gov. Vasip Şahin.

Presidential sources also said Erdoğan was at Tarabya Palace by the Bosphorus in Istanbul and that he was also briefed by officials.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s media watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), announced a gag order on reporting the attack.

A total of six prosecutors were assigned to investigate the attack.

Source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/38-killed-155-wounded-in-twin-bombings-in-istanbul-interior-minister.aspx?pageID=238&nID=107142&NewsCatID=341

Ankara police, activists clash on bombing anniversary

October 10, 2016 By administrator

Turkish police used tear gas and plastic bullets to prevent pro-Kurdish activists holding a protest to mark the one-year anniversary on Monday of the country’s worst attack in its modern history in the capital Ankara, Freemalaysiatoday.com reports, citing an AFP correspondent.
One hundred and three people were killed on October 10, 2015 when suicide bombers said to be linked to Islamic State (IS) jihadists blew themselves up in a crowd of pro-Kurdish peace activists planning to hold a rally outside Ankara’s main train station, .
Nearly 500 people were wounded, some of whom are still receiving treatment.
A crowd of more than 150 chanted “murderous state” as a line of police and water cannon trucks refused to let them through to the site of the attack to commemorate the the one-year anniversary, the correspondent said.
Hundreds of people carrying placards and flags from different associations were also stopped by a group of at least 20 police officers carrying anti-riot shields.
Police then used tear gas and plastic bullets against the group, some of whom threw bottles and stones. Some were hit by police truncheons as they scattered, covering their mouths to limit the effects of the tear gas.
But demonstrators said relatives of the victims — including parents and children — had been allowed through to pay their respects at the site of the attack before the commemoration began.
When the moment came to pause for silence at the precise time of the attack at 10:04am (0704 GMT), the crowd burst into applause vowing that they would not let it ever be forgotten.
There has been considerable frustration among relatives of those killed over the slowness of the investigation and no-one has ever been brought to justice over the attack.
The attack came at a time of considerable social tension in Turkey as the government wages a crackdown against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its supporters.

Turkey: All terrorist were Turks 13 suspects indicted and imprisoned for Istanbul bombing

July 4, 2016 By administrator

turks terrorist Thirteen suspects, including ten Turks, were charged and jailed Sunday night in Istanbul for “membership of a terrorist organization”, in connection with the triple suicide bombing that killed 45 people on Tuesday in the airport of the Turkish megapolis, reported Dogan news agency.

The suspects are also accused of “undermining the unity of the state and the people” and “intentional homicide”, the agency said, without specifying the nationality of the foreigners.

As part of the investigation, police arrested 29 people “including foreigners,” said Sunday the Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters.

“All will be revealed in time, we are conducting a broad investigation into the matter,” he added.

The governorate of Istanbul for his part said Sunday in a statement that 49 people were still treated, including 17 in intensive care. The Turkish authorities had reported on Thursday a record of foreigners among 19 killed, without giving a precise count.

The attack, the fourth and the deadliest in Turkey since the beginning of the year, has still not been claimed but Turkish officials have pointed to the Islamic State group (EI).

The authorities said that suicide bombers were a Russian, an Uzbek and Kyrgyz while the Anadolu agency, she has advanced the names of Rakim Bulgarov and Vadim Osmanov, without specifying their nationality. The former Soviet republics of Central Asia are among the most important providers jihadists in Syria and Iraq.

Turkish media have identified a Chechen Akhmed Chataev named as the mastermind of the bombing of the airport. It would be the head of EI in Istanbul, the daily Hurriyet.

Moreover, a team of 80 members of the special police forces started from Sunday to patrol the airport in question, one of the busiest in Europe, and its terminals, according to media.

The government in Ankara is mostly to blame, writes DW’s Baha Güngör.

June 30, 2016 By administrator

Baha Güngör was the head of DW’s Turkish department until 2015

The toll of the brutal terrorist attack on Istanbul Ataturk Airport is alarming and not only because of the high number of victims. There is much speculation as to how the terrorists with explosive belts and guns were able to slip past security at the international terminal of Turkey’s largest airport. It is no longer a question of whether the ugly face of terrorism will appear in Turkey, but when it will happen again.

Momentum for the enemies of democracy

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent attempts to take the bull by the horns have come too late. The foreign policy maneuvers being made in an attempt to mend broken relations with Russia and Israel are significant because both countries have a wealth of intelligence information and analyses that can anticipate the direction in which terrorism is evolving and what regions and countries are particularly under threat. Whether actions against terrorism are sufficient and effective measures are possible is another matter.

Not only Russia and Israel, but also the US and European allies have long been witnessing how Turkey has developed into a hub of supposedly religiously driven henchmen working for the patrons of terrorism. And people are paying the price for Erdogan’s political misjudgment with their lives, while Turkey has been burdened with economic setbacks that have set the country back decades.

By not recognizing the results of parliamentary elections, rejecting the country’s constitutional court as “not worthy of respect” and ending the reconciliation policy with the Kurds, Erdogan has given the enemies of democracy momentum.

The submissively applauded speeches in which Erdogan relentlessly promises his people better and safer times can, at best, blind the trusting supporters and beneficiaries of the system. The critical observers of the country, unlike journalists and scientists who subscribe to Erdogan’s convictions, can expect to be charged with criminal offenses and given prison sentences, instead of the president’s recognition. It’s simple: Anyone who undermines a democratic constitutional state, restricts freedom of the press and speech, and harmonizes essential state structures such as the police and judiciary, paves the way to terrorism.

Polarization must be stopped

The Turkish Republic, which will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023, originally wanted to develop along the lines of contemporary, western civilization. What has happened instead after 14 years under Erdogan’s rule threatens to become a cesspool of war and terrorism, like all the crisis regions in the Middle East.

Erdogan would be well advised to respond with less hostility to his critics, starting now, and instead, to go along with the advocates of European values. This will not necessarily reduce the risk of new terrorist attacks like everywhere else in the world; however, a closer alliance with Europe would at least offer the hope of having a positive influence on the mood in Turkey – and moving away from the fruitless and disastrous polarization of the people.

Diyarbakir: Bombing kills one, injures 7 Turkish soldiers

June 28, 2016 By administrator

A car bomb explosion targeting a police vehicle in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakir has left one officer dead and seven other people wounded.

The blast took place on Tuesday when the armored police vehicle was passing close to a state hospital in Diyarbakir’s Dicle district.

An unidentified security source said a police officer who suffered serious injuries died at the hospital, while another officer and six civilians were being treated for injuries. The explosion also damaged buildings in Dicle.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s bombing but Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency blamed the incident on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group, which has been fighting for an autonomous Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey since 1984.

A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants following the Turkish strikes against the group.

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale anti-PKK campaign in its southern border region over the past few months. The Turkish military has also been pounding the group’s positions in northern Iraq in breach of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

Turkey’s operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern town of Suruc, which the Turkish government blamed on the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group.

After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations.

Ankara on Offensive? Baghdad Slams Turkey for Bombing Iraqi Village

February 6, 2016 By administrator

Baghdad sharply criticized Turkish armed forces for the recent bombardment of its village in the northern part of the country and demanded that Ankara should withdraw its military from the Iraqi territory, media reported.

Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman Nasir Nouri accused Ankara of violating Iraq’s sovereignty and called for the Turkish forces to withdraw from the Iraqi territory without any preconditions.

Earlier this week, Turkish aircraft carried out a series of airstrikes in an Iraqi village in the Kurdistan region. The military operation was a part of Ankara’s efforts to eliminate militants of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the Turkish government views as terrorists.

Turkey intensified its military operations against Kurdish militants and Daesh terrorists after a series of terrorist attacks that hit the country since July 20, 2015 and claimed the lives of many civilians.

On December 4, Turkey unilaterally deployed 150 soldiers and 25 tanks in northern Iraq near Mosul without authorization from Baghdad. The de-facto “invasion” was carried out under the pretext of war against Daesh and counterterrorism training of Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters.

Baghdad sharply criticized the intervention of Turkish forces and urged Ankara to immediately withdraw its troops from the region, a request that the Turkish government has not met so far.

While Erdogan & barzani planning new False-Flag operation for Mosul, Turkish jets bombing Kurdish positions

December 9, 2015 By administrator

Ankara carried out airstrikes targeting Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) forces in northern Iraq, the Turkish army said on Wednesday. The action comes in the wake of rising tensions between Ankara and Baghdad over the deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq.

Ten F-16 fighter jets launched an attack between 10pm and 10:50pm on Tuesday, targeting PKK positions in the Kandil, Hakurk, Zap and Avasin-Baysan regions in northern Iraq, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement. It added that the targets were “destroyed in an aerial campaign.”

Tensions have been rising between Ankara and Baghdad after Turkey deployed hundreds of troops equipped with tanks and artillery to Iraq’s northern Nineveh Governorate last Thursday, saying they will train forces battling Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

Baghdad said it had not asked for the help of Turkish forces, and demanded their withdrawal after it said Turkey had “illegally” sent the troops into Iraq. Describing the move as violation of sovereignty, the Iraqi government also asked NATO to intervene.

Meanwhile, Shiite paramilitary groups have threatened to use force against Turkey unless it pulls its forces out of Iraq. Likening the Turkish incursion to the occupation of Iraq by IS militants, Badr Brigade spokesman Karim al-Nuri said “all options” were available.

“We have the right to respond and we do not exclude any type of response until the Turks have learned their lesson,” Nuri said on Wednesday. “Do they have a dream of restoring Ottoman greatness? This is a great delusion and they will pay dearly because of Turkish arrogance.”

Also on Wednesday, the Iraqi parliament unanimously approved a motion condemning the Turkish intervention, supporting the government in taking whatever measures it viewed as appropriate.

Russia raised the issue at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, expressing hope that Ankara will avoid escalating the situation in the region with any further reckless actions. Following the meeting, Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said that Moscow expects Ankara to “settle the situation in Iraq in a way that would satisfy the Iraqi government.”

“Now the situation is within the focus of the attention of the Security Council, so we hope it will help resolve [it] to the satisfaction of the Iraqi government, whose sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence will be respected,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed Ankara’s actions while speaking to Italian media on Wednesday.

Lavrov proposed a thorough examination of how Turkey performs goals set by the coalition in Syria. “We need to examine how a member of the US-led coalition – the Republic of Turkey – performs goals set by the coalition,” the minister said. “Why is it not bombing terrorists as such, but the Kurds instead?”

On Wednesday, Ankara argued that Turkish soldiers were sent to northern Iraq after a threat from IS to Turkish military trainers in the area. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the deployment was an act of solidarity, not aggression.

“The [military] trainers in the Bashiqa camp were threatened by Daesh (Islamic State) because it is 15-20 kilometers from Mosul and they have only light arms,” he told media in Istanbul. “So when these threats increased… we sent some troops to protect the camp, not as an act of aggression but as an act of solidarity.”