Turkey Erdogan on the moves detain 121 ex-Foreign Ministry employees

October 26, 2017 By administrator

Turkey’s state-run news agency says authorities have issued warrants for the detention of 121 former Foreign Ministry employees, suspected of links to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen whom Turkey blames for last year’s failed coup attempt, New York Times reported.

Anadolu Agency says that police launched simultaneous operations Thursday in about 30 provinces to detain the ministry employees. It says the suspects were previously fired from posts as part of a vast government crackdown on suspected followers of Gulen’s movement.

Some of the suspects are believed to have used an encrypted secret messaging app allegedly favored by followers to communicate with each other, according to Anadolu.

Turkey has arrested more than 50,000 people and purged over 110,000 from government jobs in the failed coup’s aftermath.

Gulen denies involvement in the coup attempt.

Istanbul: Man who exposed Turkish weapons deliveries to Syrian terrorists detained

April 18, 2017 By administrator

FILE PHOTO: Turkish soldiers stand next to a line of trucks © Reuters

Turkish authorities have detained a former official involved in a controversial 2014 search of Syria-bound trucks. While media reported the vehicles were full of ammunition, Ankara claimed they carried “aid for the Turkmen” and branded the search “treason.”

Former Prosecutor Yasar Kavalcioglu was detained after an ID check on a passenger bus in Istanbul early on Monday, according to Anadolu news agency. Kavalcioglu was put on search list for his role in the truck issue, the Daily Sabah notes.

In January 2014, when Gendarmerie intercepted trucks belonging to Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), after prosecutors of the Adana province got a tip-off that the trucks were carrying weapons for rebel and terrorist groups in Syria.

The search exposed large amount of munitions under a thin layer of medical supplies in large containers marked ‘FRAGILE’. The discovery, however, led only to arrests of the officials involved in the search of the vehicles.

The truck incident got an international attention in May 2015 when the Cumhuriyet newspaper’s website released a footage allegedly showing the inspection. The MIT trucks had been carrying over 80,000 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, some 1,000 mortar shells and hundreds of grenade launchers projectiles, the newspaper reported.

Turkish officials made quite contradictory statements after the paper’s report, either admitting or denying the weapons’ presence, denying the existence of the delivery altogether and eventually settling on the story that the convoy carried “aid destined for the Turkmen.”

In 2015, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that the trucks belonged to MIT, but were merely carrying “aid.” He added that the prosecutors had no right to search the vehicles, and accused them of “treason and espionage” and being part of a “parallel state” run by his political enemies, who are determined to discredit the government.

In the aftermath of the last year’s botched coup, the 2014 truck incident gained a new “understanding,” as a former top gendarmerie official openly branded it a “coup attempt that targeted our president” by followers of Erdogan’s rival, Fethullah Gulen, who later “attempted to turn into a plot inside gendarmerie.”

A week ago another prosecutor involved in the trucks case, Aziz Takci, who has been under arrest since 2015, faced up to 15 years in jail on charges of being a part of the Gulen movement, according to judicial sources, quoted by Turkish media.

Source: https://www.rt.com/news/385163-mit-truck-scandal-prosecutor-detained/

Terrorist State of Turkey detains pro-Kurdish party spokesman amid post-coup purge

January 29, 2017 By administrator

Turkish police have arrested the spokesman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) as part of the government’s crackdown on the pro-Kurdish opposition party launched following last year’s failed military coup.

An unidentified Turkish security source said Ayhan Bilgen, who also serves as the MP for the city of Kars, was taken into custody at Ankara Esenboga Airport on Sunday and would be taken to southeastern Diyarbakir Province, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported.

Bilgen was detained for his failure to give testimony in an alleged terror probe underway by Diyarbakir prosecutor’s office, the source added.

Huda Kaya and Meral Danis Bestas, two other HDP lawmakers, were arrested on Saturday as part of the same investigation and released under judicial supervision.

The crackdown on opposition is part of measures taken under a state of emergency declared following the abortive military putsch on July 15, 2016, blamed on the movement led by US-based opposition cleric, Fethullah Gulen.

In November 2016, 13 HDP lawmakers were detained on charges of links to Kurdish militants. They have all denied having any ties with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, also known as the PKK.

Currently, 10 of those arrested, including HDP co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag still remain in custody awaiting trial.

Earlier this month, Diyarbakir prosecutors demanded a jail term of between 43 and 142 years for Demirtas and a prison sentence of between 30 and 83 years for the Yuksekdag.

Turkey has banned the PKK as a terrorist organization. The militant group has been calling for an autonomous Kurdish region since 1984.

A shaky ceasefire between Ankara and the PKK that had stood since 2013 was declared null and void by the militants in 2015 in the wake of a Turkish aerial campaign against the group.

Three Kurdish district mayors detained in Turkey’s southeast Plus 9 others in Çukurca

December 3, 2016 By administrator

A police vehicle is seen in front of the Şemdinli Municipality on Dec 3. / DHA Photo

The mayors of three districts of Turkey’s southeastern province of Hakkari have been detained on Dec. 3, while searches were being conducted in the municipality buildings, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Police officers, who were operating under the Hakkari Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, have detained the mayors of Çukurca, Yüksekova and Şemdinli as part of an ongoing terror investigation.

Within the scope of simultaneous operations conducted in Hakkari, first the Çukurca Mayor Servet Tunç, who is from the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), the sister party of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), was detained early on Dec. 3.

A total of nine people have been detained in Çukurca, including Tunç and Deputy Mayor Hilal Duman.
Adile Kozay, the mayor of Yüksekova from the DBP, was detained later in the day, which was followed by the detention of Şemdinli Mayor Seferi Yılmaz, who is also from the DBP.

Turkish flags were hung on the municipality buildings following the raids.

Turkish police detain CEO of Cumhuriyet daily

November 11, 2016 By administrator

AA photo

Police detained Cumhuriyet Foundation Executive Board President Akın Atalay on Nov. 11 at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport after he landed from Germany, as a part of the investigation into columnists and executives at Turkish daily Cumhuriyet.

The detention warrant issued by the Istanbul 4th criminal court of peace accuses Atalay of “conducting activities in the name of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), despite not being a member of either.”

Atalay was in Berlin at the time when nine from Cumhuriyet were arrested in the “terrorism” investigation targeting the daily following a police operation last week.

He told reporters at the airport that he thought the police operation targeting the daily was aimed at appointing a government-approved trustee to manage it, rather than targeting individual personalities.

Bahri Belen, one of Cumhuriyet’s lawyers, called the operation “political and unlawful” and said the court would likely order Atalay’s arrest.

After his detention, Atalay was transferred to the Istanbul police headquarters for questioning.

November/11/2016

Source: hurriyetdailynews

Turkey detains well-known Turkish journalist Kadri Gürsel that visited #ArmenianGenocide Memorial

November 1, 2016 By administrator

kadri-gursel Within the framework of operations against the opposition Cumhuriyet daily of Turkey, police also detained well-known journalist Kadri Gürsel.

At the orders of the Prosecutor’s Office, and on charges of supporting the Gülen movement and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which Turkey considers to be terrorist organizations, police detained 13 employees of Cumhuriyet, including its chief editor as well as its consultant, Kadri Gürsel, according to Milliyet daily of the country.

Gürsel has written numerous articles in favor of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations. In one of his articles, Gürsel even advised the Azerbaijanis to forget about Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

And during a visit to Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, Kadri Gürsel had laid flowers at the Armenian Genocide Memorial.

Terrorist State of Turkey detains co-mayors of mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir

October 25, 2016 By administrator

Gultan Kisanak, co-chair of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), speaks during a news conference in Istanbul March 14, 2013. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Turkish police on Tuesday detained the co-mayors of the mainly Kurdish southeast’s biggest city, part of a government crackdown after more than a year of militant violence in the region, security sources said.

Gultan Kisanak, a former parliamentarian before her election as mayor in Diyarbakir, and Firat Anli, her co-mayor, were taken into custody as part of the local prosecutor’s investigation into terrorism links, the sources said.

President Tayyip Erdogan has said the removal of elected officials and civil servants who are accused of links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, is a key part of the fight against the armed group.

Authorities were also searching the mayor’s office, security sources said.

An aide to Kisanak said the mayor’s home was being searched by police but was unable to provide further details and did not know what the pair were accused of.

Turkey appointed new administrators in two dozen Kurdish-run municipalities in September after removing their elected mayors over suspected links to militants. Those arrests triggered protests across the region.

Police formed a security cordon around city hall in the event the latest detentions stirred unrest, witnesses said.

Kisanak, 55, is a well-known Kurdish political figure and became Diyarbakir’s first female mayor in 2014. Earlier on Tuesday, she testified upon the invitation of lawmakers at a parliamentary commission in Ankara looking into a failed military coup on July 15.

It was not immediately clear whether her testimony was related to the detention order. Kisinak was detained upon her return to Diyarbakir at the airport, while Anli was detained at his home, sources said.

Erdogan accuses their opposition party, the Democratic Regions Party, a sister party to the third-biggest grouping in parliament, of links with the PKK, which both parties deny.

The PKK took up arms in against the Turkish state in 1984.

It abandoned a fragile two-year ceasefire in July 2015 after peace talks had ground to a halt, and violence has escalated sharply since. Hundreds of soldiers and police officers, thousands of militants and about 400 civilians have been killed.

(Reporting by Gulsen Solaker and Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Alison Williams)

Terrorist State of Turkey detains journalist Altan hours after release

September 23, 2016 By administrator

journalist-altan ANKARA – Agence France-Presse

Turkish authorities detained prominent journalist Ahmet Altan late on Sept. 22, less than 24 hours after he was released in connection with a probe into an attempted coup on July 15.

Altan was initially freed before dawn on Sept. 22 while the Istanbul court arrested his academic brother, Professor Mehmet Altan.

But the journalist was detained again after an arrest warrant was issued late on Sept. 22.

Hours earlier, the court placed Mehmet Altan under arrest on charges of “attempting to remove the government or attempting to obstruct its work.”

He was also charged with “being a member of a terrorist organization,” referring to the movement of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, who is accused of masterminding the failed coup attempt.

The Altan brothers were first detained on Sept. 10 and were two of the most high-profile figures detained after the coup attempt on July 15.

Their case sparked an international campaign for their release with famous writers criticizing the government.
Altan now faces the same accusations in the warrant issued prior to his detention.

His brief freedom came after almost 12 hours in court in a marathon overnight hearing.

The pair were detained over comments in a talk show on the Can Erzincan TV channel on July 14, the eve of the coup which contained “subliminal” messages that the coup was imminent.

The broadcaster, seen by the authorities as pro-Gülen, has since been shut down.

September/23/2016

Turkey arrests 17 journalists on ‘terror’ charges

July 30, 2016 By administrator

A court in Turkey has put 17 journalists under arrest over links to US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is blamed for the July 15 failed coup attempt.

A court in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, on Saturday remanded in custody the journalists on charges of being members of a “terror group.”

On Friday, 21 detained journalists appeared before a judge in hearings which lasted until midnight. Four were then freed but 17 were placed under pre-trial arrest.

Those held include veteran journalist Nazli Ilicak as well as former correspondent for the pro-Gulen Zaman daily, Hanim Busra Erdal.

Among the four freed is prominent commentator Bulent Mumay.

“I could never have imagined being accused of such a thing. It was a madness. It’s not right to arrest journalists — this country should not make the same mistakes again,” he said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu defended the detention of reporters, saying it was necessary to distinguish between coup plotters and those “who are engaged in real journalism.”

Ankara considers Gulen’s movement a terror group, saying it was behind the July 15 coup. He fiercely denies the allegation.

Turkey has detained more than 18,000 people over suspected involvement in the attempted coup, with the relentless crackdown sparking warnings from the European Union that Ankara’s EU membership bid may be in danger.

Turkey must respect ‘rule of law’

On Friday, EU Enlargement and Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn warned Turkey that the bloc would freeze the country’s accession talks if its post-coup crackdown violates the rule of law.

Canadian actress detained amid chaos in Armenian capital

July 27, 2016 By administrator

Police officers detain Armenian-Canadian actress Arsinee Khanjian during a rally near the police station which is being hold by an armed group in Yerevan, Armenia, Wednesday, July 27, 2016. (Vahan Stepanyan/PAN Photo via AP)

By: CTVNews.ca Staff

Armenian-Canadian actress and producer Arsinee Khanjian was among hundreds of people detained in Yerevan, Armenia, near a police station that has been occupied by gunmen for 10 days.

A spokesperson for Khanjian, who is married to Canadian director Atom Egoyan, told CTV News that she was no longer detained as of Wednesday afternoon.

The reason and the duration of her detention were not immediately clear.

In a video posted online by Armenian news outlet CivilNet, Khanjian is heard talking to someone in English on her cellphone, while police officers surround her.

“They want to take me in with two people,” she says in the video. “They have been pushing me.”

The incident was filmed by what appeared to be news crews and bystanders, and Khanjian herself was recording the scene with her own camera.

“This is pathetic. The entire diaspora should stand on its feet and stop this ridiculous situation in our homeland,” she said in the video before she was led away by officers.

She also told the person on the phone that she was stopped by police “because I don’t have papers to be a journalist.”

Gunmen who took over the police station in the Yerevan also took an ambulance crew hostage on Wednesday, police said.

The gunmen seized the police post in the Armenian capital on July 17, killing one officer, wounding several others and taking those remaining hostage to demand freedom for a jailed opposition figure.

With files from The Associated Press