Germany drops Turkey President Erdogan insult case TV comedian Boehmermann’s poem

October 4, 2016 By administrator

Satirist Jan Boehmermann poked fun at Turkey’s president in an obscene poem on TV

German prosecutors have dropped an investigation into a TV comedian accused of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The prosecutors in the western city of Mainz said they had not found sufficient evidence to continue the inquiry against Jan Boehmermann.

In March, Boehmermann recited a satirical poem on TV which made sexual references to Mr Erdogan.

Mr Erdogan then filed a complaint alleging that he had been insulted.

In a statement on Tuesday, the prosecutors said that “criminal actions could not be proven with the necessary certainty”.

It was “questionable”, the statement added, whether Boehmermann’s poem constituted slander, given the satirical context in which the comedian recited it.

In April, German Chancellor Angela Merkel Germany said her government would allow the potential prosecution of the comedian, triggering criticism that she did not stand up for free speech.

Under German law, the cabinet had to approve a criminal inquiry.

However, Mrs Merkel added that the authorities would move to repeal the controversial and little-used Article 103 of the penal code, which concerns insults against foreign heads of state, by 2018.

Boehmermann is a satirist and television presenter well-known for pushing the boundaries of German humour.

The poem was broadcast on ZDF television. The comedian was later given police protection.

Mr Erdogan has drawn much criticism in Turkey and internationally for attacking political opponents, including harassment of journalists. Many accuse him of authoritarian methods, stifling legitimate dissent and promoting an Islamist agenda.

A rarely used article of the criminal code

Paragraph 103 of Germany’s penal code, on defamation of organs and representatives of foreign states, has the following to say:

(1) Whosoever insults a foreign head of state, or, with respect to his position, a member of a foreign government who is in Germany in his official capacity, or a head of a foreign diplomatic mission who is accredited in the federal territory shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years or a fine, in case of a slanderous insult to imprisonment from three months to five years.

The article dates back to the penal code drafted when the German Empire was formed in 1871, although at that time it just applied to monarchs.

It has been little used in recent years and is colloquially known as the “Shah law” among German lawyers after the Shah of Persia successfully brought a case against a Cologne newspaper in 1964.

A Swiss man living in Bavaria was also prosecuted under the article in 2007, after he posted offensive comments about then Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey on the internet.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37554167?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_breaking&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central

Turkey’s dictator Erdogan slashes through police force, 12,801 police officers suspended

October 4, 2016 By administrator

Turkey has suspended 12,801 police officers from duty over suspected ties with US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of having masterminded a July coup in the country.

The country’s law enforcement authorities announced the suspensions on Tuesday, saying they had followed an investigation of the police force by the Interior Ministry.

A day earlier, Ankara had also extended by three more months a state of emergency it brought into force after the failed coup.

“The decision on continuing the state of emergency [is] beginning on October 19,” said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus.

Terrorist State of Turkey President Erdogan Threatens Expat Citizens With Links To US-Based Cleric

September 21, 2016 By administrator

erdogan-expat Turkish president has threatened his citizens around the world who may have links to a U.S.-based cleric accused of masterminding the failed coup attempt in Turkey in July, vowing that they won’t be safe wherever they are in the world.

“There is no country or region in the world that will be a safe haven for [followers of cleric Fethullah Gulen],” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a news conference as he departed for New York to attend UN General Assembly meeting.

Erdogan’s remarks on Monday illustrated his government’s unwavering determination to push further to curb activities of the Gulen movement around the world. In New York, Erdogan said he would have a chance to explain to world leaders how this movement poses a threat.

“It would be too late,” Erdogan said during his UNGA speech on Tuesday, “when you realize how dangerous this organization is.” The president was referring to the Gulen movement.

“From this podium I am calling on all our friends to immediately take the necessary measures against the Fethullahist terrorist organization for their own safety and the future of their nations,” Erdogan said.

In the U.S., the Turkish government hired at least 10 lobby and law firms to go after the Gulen movement and affiliated organizations.

Since the failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, Ankara has intensified its efforts abroad to undermine the Gulen movement’s activities. Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Sudan, Iraqi Kurdistan and Somalia, Turkey’s closest allies, either shut down or nationalized educational facilities and hospitals run by Gulenists.

Despite putting pressure on the U.S. and other European countries, Western nations were reluctant to go after the Gulen institutions and individuals and demanded that Ankara provide substantial evidence to back up its claims.

The president repeatedly claimed that the Gulen movement is not only a threat to Turkey, but also to host countries. He claimed last week that the Gulen movement’s goal is to take over 170 countries, where it established schools and charity organizations.

Turkey’s top national security council officially framed the Gulen movement as a terrorist group late May. The U.S. announced that it does not view the Gulen movement as a foreign terrorist organization and that it “is up to Turkish officials” to do so.

Last year, President Erdogan ordered all Turkish ambassadors in the world to go after individuals and institutions affiliated with the Gulen movement. He hired a British law firm headed by Robert Amsterdam at a rate of $50,000 a month to pursue the Gulenists in the US and in Africa, where they established hundreds of schools, orphanages, hospitals and aid centers.

Turkey: Erdogan have seized and added another Billions of assets of 41 businessmen.

September 7, 2016 By administrator

more-assets-seized The assets of a total of 41 business leaders were seized on Sept. 7 over their alleged links to Fethullah Gülen, the prime suspect in the July 15 coup attempt, as more people, including a renowned pollster and journalists, were detained.

Investigations have been launched into companies accused of financially supporting the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

Fikret İnan, the owner of the large construction business Fi Yapı; the former CEO of İhlas Holding, Cahit Paksoy; and Fatih Aktaş, chairman of Akfa Holding, were among those whose assets were confiscated.
A total of 102 people had already been detained in the case, while 39 people, including Paksoy, İnan and Aktaş, were arrested.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the MetroPOLL polling company, Özer Sencar, was detained on Sept. 7 in Ankara as a part of the ongoing investigation into the FETÖ.

“Özer Sencar has been detained today after a search was conducted as part of the investigation into FETÖ/PDY [Parallel State Structure],” read a tweet posted on Sencar’s personal Twitter account.

His son, Hüsrev Taha Sencar, said his father was detained after a search at his residence and the MetroPOLL headquarters at 6:30 a.m.

He also added that Sencar’s views and stance against FETÖ were clearly known by the public.

MetroPOLL is one of the more respected polling companies in Turkey.

Elsewhere, three columnists from a nationalist newspaper were detained as a part of the probe into FETÖ.

Servet Avcı, Adnan İslamoğulları and Yavuz Selim Demirağ, who wrote a book on Gülenist activities in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), from daily Yeniçağ were detained as a part of the probe launched by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Dissidents from the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have reacted to the detentions of columnists, with Meral Akşener, Sinan Oğan and Koray Aydın condemning it.

Turan Yaldir, a former lawmaker from the MHP was detained in Ankara on similar charges, Yeniçağ reported.

Meanwhile, detention warrants were issued for a total of 105 people from 17 provinces. Detention warrants were issued as a part of the investigation launched by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

“Imams managing the Armed Forces” and soldiers were among those for whom detention warrants were issued.

“Imam,” which traditionally refers to a religious public worker, is a term used by the Gülenist organization to mark local leadership.

September/07/2016

Source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-pollster-detained-assets-of-41-businessmen-seized.aspx?pageID=238&nID=103675&NewsCatID=341

Germany: Kurdish rally ‘against Turkish dictatorship and for equality’ gathers in Cologne

September 3, 2016 By administrator

kurd-protest A rally of 30,000 people from Kurdish communities across Germany has been organized in Cologne to protest the policies of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and to call for an end to attacks in Syria.

Under the banner “Against Dictatorship and For Equality” a number of Kurdish organizations have organized a rally Saturday in the western German city of Cologne.

Groups including the Democratic Social Center of Kurdish people in Germany” (Nav-Dem) have condemned what they called Erdogan’s “dictatorial approach” in Turkey following the failed coup attempt in July.

Police were out in force in Cologne to monitor the rally and announced they would intervene to prevent what they called “illegal propaganda.” By mid-day a police spokesman said the situation remained calm.

Rally participants also oppose the state of emergency imposed in Turkey following the failed July 15 coup and the arrests of tens of thousands of people suspected of involvement.

They also condemned the Turkish army attacks on Kurdish militia in Syria.

A number of people carried banners with the portrait of Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). The European Union and the United States both regard the PKK as a terrorist organization. It has been banned in Germany since 1993.

Leader of the Left party, Bernd Riexinger, is due to address the rally. He again called for the lifting of the PKK ban. He said the “complete isolation” of Ocalan was not correct. He said the leader should instead be involved in negotiations between Kurdish groups and the Turkish government to bring about a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict.

jm/sms (epd, dpa)

Were Erdogan and Obama False-Flag Military coup to fool Putin and invade Syria?

September 1, 2016 By administrator

syria map By Prof Michel Chossudovsky,

Global Research, August 29, 2016

In mid-July, President Erdogan pointed his finger at the CIA, accusing US intelligence of having supported a failed coup directed against his government. Turkish officials pointed to a deterioration of US-Turkey relations following Washington’s refusal to extradite Fethullah Gülen, the alleged architect of the failed coup.

Erdogan’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag was categorical:

“If the US does not deliver (Gulen), they will sacrifice relations with Turkey for the sake of a terrorist”

Public opinion was led to believe that relations with the US had not only deteriorated, but that Erdogan had vowed to restore “an axis of friendship” with Moscow, including “cooperation in the defence sector”. This was a hoax.

Turkey’s Invasion of Syria

The implementation of the Turkish invasion required routine consultations with the US and NATO, coordination of military logistics, intelligence, communications systems, coordination of ground and air operations, etc. To be effectively carried out these military endeavors required a cohesive and “friendly” US-Turkey relationship.

We are not dealing with a piecemeal military initiative. Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield could not have taken place without the active support of the Pentagon, which ultimately calls the shots in the war on Syria.

The likely scenario is that from mid July to mid-August US, NATO and Turkish officials were actively involved in planning the next stage of the war on Syria: an (illegal) invasion led by Turkish ground-forces, backed by the US and NATO.

The Failed Coup Sets the Stage for a Ground Invasion

1. Massive purges within the armed forces and government were implemented in the immediate wake of the July coup. They had been planned well in advance. ”Arrested immediately were 2,839 army personnel with 2,745 Judges and Prosecutors ordered detained… In under a week 60,000 people had been fired or detained and 2,300 institutions closed” … “ (See Felicity Arbuthnot, Global Research, August 2, 2016)

2.The coup was intended to fail. Erdogan had advanced knowledge of the coup and so did Washington. There was no conspiracy directed by the CIA against Erdogan. Quite the opposite, the failed coup was in all likelihood engineered by the CIA in liaison with Erdogan. It was intended to consolidate and reinforce the Erdogan regime as well as rally the Turkish people behind their president and his military agenda “in the name of democracy”.

3. The purges within the Armed Forces were intended to get rid of members of the military hierarchy who were opposed to an invasion of Syria. Did the CIA assist Erdogan in establishing the lists of military officers, judges and senior government officials to be arrested or fired? The Turkish media was also targeted, many of which were closed down.

4. Erdogan used the July 15 coup to accuse Washington of supporting the Gulen movement while seeking a fake rapprochement with Moscow. He flew to St Petersburg on August 9, for a behind closed doors meeting with President Putin. In all likelihood, the scenario of a rift between Ankara and Washington coupled with the “my friend Putin” narrative had been approved by the Obama administration. It was part of a carefully designed intelligence ploy coupled with media disinformation. President Erdogan, vowed according to Western media reports: “to restore an ‘axis of friendship’ between Ankara and Moscow amid a growing rift between Turkey and the West.”

5. While “mending the fence” with Russia, Turkey’s military and intelligence apparatus was involved in planning the invasion of Northern Syria in liaison with Washington and NATO headquarters in Brussels. The underlying objective is to ultimately confront and weaken Syria’s military allies: Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.

In St Petersburg in the immediate wake of the July 15 failed coup, Erdogan thanked his “dear friend” Vladimir Putin.

“The fact Mr Putin called me the next day after the coup attempt was a very strong psychological factor,” he said at a joint press conference. “The axis of friendship between Moscow and Ankara will be restored,” he said. Telegraph, August 7, 2016

Did Putin know that the failed coup, covertly supported by the CIA, was meant to fail? One suspects that Russian intelligence was aware of the ploy and was also informed regarding Turkey’s invasion plans:

“Your visit today, despite a very difficult situation regarding domestic politics, indicates that we all want to restart dialogue and restore relations between Russia and Turkey,” Mr Putin said as the pair met in the city’s Constantine Palace.

… Mr Putin on Tuesday said Russia would “step by step” lift sanctions, … Mr Erdogan in turn promised to back major Russian energy projects in Turkey, including the construction of the country’s first nuclear power station and a gas pipeline to Europe.

He also said the two countries would step up “cooperation in the defence sector,” but did not elaborate.

The Putin-Erdogan Saint Petersburg meeting was interpreted by the media as a rapprochement with Moscow in response to the alleged involvement of the CIA in the failed coup.

According to the Washington Post, an improvised about-turn in US-NATO-Turkey relations had occurred despite Erdogan’s “friendly” encounter with Putin:

NATO went out of its way Wednesday to insist that Turkey — whose president this week visited Moscow and promised a new level of cooperation with the man he repeatedly called his “dear friend,” Russian President Vladimir Putin — remains a “valued ally” whose alliance membership “is not in question.”

In a statement posted on its website, NATO said it was responding to “speculative press reports regarding NATO’s stance regarding the failed coup in Turkey and Turkey’s NATO membership.”

A nonsensical report. In actuality, the Pentagon, NATO, the Turkish High Command and Israel are in permanent liaison. Israel is a de facto member of NATO, it has a comprehensive bilateral military and intelligence relationship with Turkey.

With the invasion of the border area of Northern Syria and the influx of Turkish tanks and armoured vehicles, the Turkey-Russia relationship is in crisis. And that is the ultimate objective of US foreign policy.

Russian forces are acting on behalf of their Syrian ally.

How will the Kremlin and Russia’s High Command respond to what constitutes a US-Turkey-NATO ground invasion of Syria?

How will they confront Turkish and allied forces? One assumes that Russia will avoid direct military confrontation.

After the US, Turkey is NATO’s heavy weight.

Sofar the Turkish op is limited to a small border territory. Nonetheless it constitutes and important landmark in the evolution of the Syria war: invasion of a sovereign country in derogation of international law. Washington’s endgame remains “regime change” in Damascus.

Is the military initiative a preamble for a larger military undertaking on the part of Turkey supported by US-NATO? In many regards, Turkey is acting as a US proxy:

Turkey’s incursion was backed by US air-cover, drones, and embedded special forces per the WSJ. These were there largely to prevent Russia and Syria from even thinking about taking action against the invading forces.

Turkey is moving into Syria not just with its own military, but with thousands of “rebel opposition groups” including US-backed FSA brigades allied with AlQaeda/Nusra/Sham and the child head-chopping al-Zinki who are reported to form the vanguard. Syrian territory is outright being turned over to them by the Turkish military, simply exchanging control from one group of terrorist jihadis (ISIS) to others who are more media acceptable and more direct proxies of the Erdogan regime, the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

That said, ISIS has not resisted the Turkish advance at all – simply “melting away” (or exchanging one set of uniforms for another?). (Moon of Alabama

Do the SAA Syrian forces have the military capabilities of confronting Turkish ground forces without Russian and Iranian support? How will Tehran react to the influx of Turkish forces? Will it come to the rescue of its Syrian ally?

An “incident” could be used as a pretext to justify a broader NATO-led war. Article 5 of the Washington Treaty (NATO’s founding document) states under the doctrine of “collective security” that an attack against one member state of the Atlantic Alliance (e.g. Turkey) is an attack against all members states of the Atlantic Alliance.

Dangerous crossroads. With the incursion of Turkish ground forces, military confrontation with Syria’s allies, namely Iran and Russia, is a distinct possibility which could lead to a process of escalation beyond Syria’s borders.

The Erdogan-Jo Biden Meeting

From Washington’s perspective, this ground invasion sets the stage for a possible annexation of part of Northern Syria by Turkey. It also opens the door for the deployment of US-NATO ground force operations directed against central and southern Syria.

Erdogan met up with Vice President Biden on August 23, following the influx of Turkish tanks into Northern Syria. The invasion is carefully coordinated with the US which provided extensive air force protection. There is no rift between Ankara and Washington, quite the opposite:

It [is] difficult to believe that Turkey truly suspected the US of an attempted decapitation of the nation’s senior leadership in a violent, abortive coup just last month, only to be conducting joint operations with the US inside Syria with US military forces still based within Turkish territory.

What is much more likely is that the coup was staged to feign a US-Turkish fallout, draw in Russia and allow Turkey to make sweeping purges of any elements within the Turkish armed forces that might oppose a cross-border foray into Syria, a foray that is now unfolding. (See The New Atlas, Global Research, August 24, 2016)

Media reports convey the illusion that the Biden-Erdogan meetings were called to discuss the extradition of the alleged architect of the failed coup Gulen. This was a smokescreen. Jo Biden who had also met Erdogan back in January, gave the green-light on behalf of Washington for a joint US-Turkey-NATO military incursion into Syria.

The Kurdish Question

The invasion is not directed against Daesh (ISIS) which is protected by Ankara, it is geared towards fighting SAA forces as well as Kurdish YPG forces, which are “officially” supported by the US. The US supported ISIS-Daesh and Al Qaeda affiliated rebels are working hand in glove with the Turkish invaders.

The invasion is also part of a longstanding project by Turkey of creating a “safe-haven” within Northern Syria (see map above) which can be used to extend US-NATO-Turkey military operations Southwards into Syria’s heartland.

Washington has warned its Kurdish allies not to confront Turkish forces:

Biden said the Kurds, who Turkey claims intend to establish a separate state along a border corridor in conjunction with Turkey’s own Kurdish population, “cannot, will not, and under no circumstances will get American support if they do not keep” what he said was a commitment to return to the east.

Washington will no doubt eventually clash with Ankara with regard to Turkey’s project of territorial expansion in Northern Syria. Washington’s longstanding objective is to create a Kurdish State in Northern Syria, within the framework of a territorial breakup of both Syria and Iraq. (see US National War Academy map below). In a bitter irony, this “New Middle East” project also consists in annexing part of Turkey to the proposed Kurdish State. In other words, Turkey’s New Ottoman objective of territorial expansion encroaches upon Washington’s design to fragment Iraq, Syria, Iran as well as Turkey. In other words, America’s ultimate imperial design is to weaken Turkey as a regional power.

The Pentagon has defined a military roadmap: “The road to Tehran goes through Damascus.” The invasion of Northern Syria creates conditions for a broader war.

Moreover, on the US agenda is a longstanding objective, namely to wage war on Iran. In this regard, US military strategy largely consists in creating conditions for America’s staunchest allies (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel) to confront Iran, and act indirectly on behalf of US interests. i.e. “do the job for us”.

Source: http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-nato-turkey-invasion-of-northern-syria-cia-failed-turkey-coup-lays-groundwork-for-broader-middle-east-war/5542921

How Erdogan (AKP) party glorification of martyrdom produces child suicide bombers in Turkey

August 30, 2016 By administrator

BY PINAR TREMBLAY,

Indeed, Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) have always enjoyed the rhetorical statement “We have embarked upon this journey with our shrouds,” trying to signal to the public that they are willing to die for their cause. As patriotic as it may sound, when these words are paired with images of men wrapped in white cloth at AKP rallies, it could have a terrifying impact on minors.

A family health official, who works for an AKP municipality in Istanbul, told Al-Monitor, “We witness children between the ages of 4 and 14 frequently in two categories: Either they are acting extremely bold and aggressive in ways that could physically hurt themselves and those around them, or they are on the other side of the spectrum with a sincere phobia, what we call death anxiety. One child complained, for example, ‘I wake up suffocating.’ Later, we found that he was scared his parents would kill him so that he could become a martyr.”

The depth of the children’s fears and anxiety can be better understood after seeing the intense indoctrination of Turkish youths through the publications of the Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet). For example, in one Diyanet publication in April, there were three separate controversial cartoons.

In the first one, a preteen boy asks his father, “Would you like to be a martyr, Daddy?” His father replies, “How blessed it is to be a martyr. Who would not want that, who would not want to reach heaven?” In the next one, a young girl salutes like a soldier and says, “I wish I could be a martyr.” Her brother replies, “Girls cannot join the army,” but the mother intervenes and says, “If you want it so much, my dear daughter, God will grant you that wish.” In the last one, a young boy and his father appear at a graveyard decorated with Turkish flags. The young boy says, “They must have suffered so much before falling martyrs, right, Dad?” The father replies, “Son, martyrs don’t suffer in the way that you envision.” Alongside each of these drawings there is a quote from the Prophet Muhammad.

Turkish State Television (TRT) has also been doing its part. In November 2015, TRT aired a documentary claiming to document the Syrian civil war. In an effort to portray Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as the evil against Islam responsible for all the atrocities, the producers interviewed several Syrian refugees. One of them was a young girl who had lost her father in the war. The interviewer asked her, “What would you do if you had to fight?” She replied, “I would blow myself up at a checkpoint.” Turkish opposition parties made this section of the program the focus of a parliamentary inquiry in March, and after the Gaziantep bombing, the young girl’s image appeared on social media with harsh criticism about utilizing taxpayer money to advocate self-sacrifice.

It is quite ironic that in a country where Pokemon was banned due to its harmful effects on children, there are now thousands of imam hatip schools where children are indoctrinated to walk to their deaths without fear. There are several videos of school plays or other activities from these schools where kids sing and march declaring they wish to be martyrs.

After the attempted coup, nothing could abate the martyrdom zeal in Turkey. At every possible instance, Erdogan and his men told people that they wish to be martyrs and that they are even jealous of those who reached this status, adding that every inch of Turkish soil should be washed with the blood of the martyrs. Watching all this passionate rhetoric combined with a formal education system focusing on self-sacrifice, one cannot help but be fearful of its possible consequences for Turkey’s future.

Pinar Tremblay is a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse and a visiting scholar of political science at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She is a columnist for Turkish news outlet T24. Her articles have appeared in Time, New America, Hurriyet Daily News, Today’s Zaman, Star and Salom. On Twitter: @pinartremblay

Turkish EU bid ‘unrealistic’ while Erdogan in power – European commissioner

August 30, 2016 By administrator

Turkey is unlikely to join the European Union as long as its president remains in office, a top official from the bloc has said, adding that Ankara’s bid will be an issue for negotiations “for the time after Erdogan.”

In the current circumstances Turkey’s EU accession “is not realistic all through the next decade,” Guenther Oettinger, the European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, told Bild newspaper on Tuesday.

This will surely be an issue [for discussion] for the time after [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan,” he said. The official added, however, that Ankara is an important geostrategic and economic partner for the EU, and keeping good bilateral ties is critical.

German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel has also previously dismissed the Turkish accession bid, which started in 2005. Speaking to reporters in early June, he said Europe was not in a position to admit “even a small state” to its 28-nation ranks, according to the broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW).

“The illusion … here comes someone to soon become a full member in the EU … that’s complete nonsense … that will not eventuate,” he was quoted as saying by DW.

Talks between Ankara and Brussels on Turkey’s EU membership have not been smooth, with Turkey linking the progress in discussions on granting visa-free travel for its nationals to its contribution to a controversial refugee deal.

In turn, the EU cites 72 conditions on issues such as the rule of law and human rights to be implemented by Turkey for lifting the visa requirements. A number of prominent European officials have accused Turkey of “blackmailing” Brussels or even behaving “like at a bazaar” by trying to raising the stakes.

European officials say that although Turkey has fulfilled most of the 72 conditions, it has failed to comply with the most important one, which is to relax its strict anti-terrorism laws, said to have been used to silence Erdogan’s critics.

Ankara maintains that it is Brussels which has not stuck to the initial arrangements and has failed to meet its own obligations.

Source: https://www.rt.com/news/357646-turkey-eu-accession-unlikely/

Turning Away From Gulen’s ‘Golden Generation’

August 29, 2016 By administrator

The schools are part of Fethullah Gulen’s stated effort to aggressively pursue educations in the natural sciences and in foreign languages while also being committed to Islam and “Turkish national objectives.”

By Abbas Djavadi

August 29, 2016

In the mid-1990s, Aygul attended one of the hundreds of “Gulen schools” that were established throughout Turkey by the unregistered network of Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish cleric who has lived in exile in the United States since 1999 and is at the center of an extradition wrangle.

It began around two decades after Aygul’s Kurdish-Alevi family migrated to Ankara from a village in the eastern Turkish region of Tunceli. Southeastern and eastern Turkey are traditionally home to many of the country’s estimated 8 million to 10 million Alevis, a branch of Shi’ite Islam, and there are both ethnic Turkish and ethnic Kurdish Alevis.

Alevis differ from Sunnis and Shi’a in many ways, including the way they pray. They don’t pray five times a day. Their spiritual ceremonies are accompanied by music and folk songs. They attend neither mosques nor the hajj pilgrimage, as most Muslims do. Alevi women needn’t cover their heads and arms in public in the fundamentalist style. And drinking alcohol is not banned in the Alevi faith.

Aygul — whose name I’ve changed to protect her privacy — had been born in the Turkish capital and had grown up as something of an urban girl, maintaining her family’s Alevi faith but adopting Turkish as her first language.

Her father was employed as a “kapici,” or doorman, in charge of maintenance and cleaning in a building with multiple apartments. Her mother didn’t usually work but occasionally cleaned a few homes to augment the family budget.

“We started to send Aygul to one of Gulen’s schools when she was 15,” her father told me. “Why not? Those schools were very good at preparing students for college. They had excellent teachers. They were also very cheap, and we couldn’t afford other, expensive, good schools.”

Gulen, who was still in Turkey at the time, had a wide network of schools, foundations, charities, and media outlets, amounting to perhaps thousands of institutions with many thousands of employees. After first appearing in Turkey in the 1970s, the Gulen schools and universities had multiplied for decades and expanded abroad beginning in the 1980s.

The schools — which were said to have been funded by sympathetic businessmen and other, undisclosed sources — were part of Gulen’s stated effort to build a “golden generation,” one aggressively pursuing educations in the natural sciences and foreign languages and also committed to Islam and “Turkish national objectives.”

After a while, Aygul’s parents started to see changes in her behavior: wearing the Islamic head scarf, praying regularly, refusing handshakes with men. Her mother feared that her daughter was “being brainwashed in school as well as in those lengthy after-school hours.”

Newcomer students at universities, schools, and in private after-school tutoring courses under the auspices of the “Hoca Efendi” — or Master Teacher, as supporters referred to Gulen — had senior colleagues or occasionally “imams” to help and “guide” them. Senior brothers “abis” or sisters “ablas” were assigned to upper-school boys and girls, respectively. The Gulen movement rented thousands of apartments where such students gathered — girls and boys separately — for tutoring, guidance, and training in the sciences, English, ethics, and religion.

They were the “agents” of Gulen’s missionary and sectarian work launched in the 1970s.

Aygul’s father told me he liked Gulen’s school “as long as they provided my daughter with good and cheap lessons and ensured a university entrance and later a good job.” The latter was particularly attractive in Turkey, where national exams and oral interviews presented (and still present) major hurdles to admission to university or government service.

But Aygul’s mother rebeled after two years. As a result, her parents withdrew Aygul from the Gulen school and sent her to a regular public school and “regular” after-school tutoring to get additional support in the sciences and foreign languages and to prepare for university exams.

Nobody could have predicted at the time that some two decades later, in July 2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) would blame a failed coup attempt on Gulen and his purported sympathizers within Turkey’s army, courts, education system, and other government institutions, in addition to its private sector.

Since the failed coup, the government has closed down all public and private institutions identified by the government as “related to the Gulen terrorist organization.” That has included 15 universities and 934 schools and tutoring centers, as well as hospitals and clinics, foundations, associations, and businesses. Around 77,000 government employees — including army and police officers, judges, prosecutors and teachers — have been fired.

Aygul, meanwhile, is an optimistic and ambitious junior lawyer with a degree from an Ankara law school.

I asked Aygul about her feelings and whether she was pleased that she had left the Gulen school after two years.

“Yes,” she said, “especially after finding out that, as you know, they kept stealing the university and government employment exams’ questions to [elevate] their sympathizers in the government ladder.” She was referring to a scandal in 2010 in which so-called Gulenists in higher education and the government-placement bureaucracy were accused of providing other Gulen supporters access to exam questions in advance.

Aygul’s father chimed in, saying: “Not only illegal; it is also against any religion’s principles, while they claim to be the true faithful. … But what makes me angry is that Erdogan and Gulen were the right and left hands of the same body until 2013, supporting each other. Now one [Erdogan] is fighting a war against the other [Gulen], laying all the blame in the world on his former ally.”

When Erdogan’s AKP won Turkish parliamentary elections in 2002 and built a one-party government, it appeared to have enjoyed the active support of the Gulen movement. Such backing looks to have continued in the next elections and, in return, the movement and its activities were tolerated and even supported by the AKP government from its inception until 2013.

Beginning in 2010, however, Erdogan seemed to be distancing himself from the Gulen movement and purging government agencies of its supporters. Within three years, Erdogan appeared to have broken entirely with Gulen after the emergence of a series of audio and video recordings — which the president suspected the Gulen movement of leaking — hinting at corruption in the AKP government and Erdogan’s inner circle.

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/fethullah-gulen-golden-generation/27952822.html?ltflags=mailer

Video: How Turkish despotic Ruler Erdogan simultaneously Blackmail EU, U.S., Russia

August 29, 2016 By administrator

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In This Video How Turkish despotic Ruler Erdogan simultaneously Blackmail EU, U.S. Russia.
How Israel, Islam, and NATO a deadly weapon in Turkish Hand
how Turkey made billions from Syrians and Iraqi, refugees, how Turks have no concept of coexisting with others, neo-ottoman project, Arab spring, Islamic state as Turkish trial balloon. Erdogan takeover of Gulen industries, and much more.