Turkish govt resigns, Erdogan seeks to form 1st coalition after 12 yrs majority rule

June 9, 2015 By administrator

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accepted the government’s resignation on Tuesday, asking Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to stay on in his post until a new Cabinet is formed.

The prime minister’s resignation is a standard procedure after Sunday’s parliamentary election before the new government starts operating, the Turkish president’s office said.

“The president thanked the government for its work to date. [The acting] Cabinet will continue working until the new government is put together,” Erdogan’s office said in a statement, Tass reported.

After a swearing-in ceremony on June 25, the new Turkish parliament members will have 45 days to agree on the composition of the cabinet.

If they fail to form a government by that deadline, Erdogan has the power to call a new parliamentary election.

After the announcement of the preliminary results of Turkey’s parliamentary election it became clear that Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) had fallen short of a majority for the first time in 12 years.

According to Turkey’s NTV channel, AKP claimed some 41 per cent of the votes, a loss of 9 percentage points, which will only allow it to occupy 258 seats in the country’s 550-seat Grand National Assembly.

Erdogan’s party will now face the prospect of entering a coalition with one of the three opposition parties that passed the 10 percent barrier necessary to enter parliament.

The Republican People’s Party (CHP) has preliminarily garnered about 25 percent of the vote (a rise of 4 percentage points), taking about 130 seats in parliament.

The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) took about 17 percent (an increase of 3 percentage points), claiming a little over 80 seats.

For the time in Turkish history a pro-Kurdish party, the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), has made it into the parliament, with around 13 percent of the vote.

The official results of the election are set to be announced 11 or 12 days after Sunday’s vote.

Eduard Sharmazanov: Erdogan’s failure in parliamentary elections in Turkey may trigger changes in Armenian-Turkish relations

June 9, 2015 By administrator

by Tatevik Shahunya,

The parliamentary elections in Turkey have marked the beginning of a new game, but it is early to forecast the results. In the meantime, it is doubtless that essential changes will happen in Ankara’s political course given that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has lost its monopoly in decision-making, Eduard Sharmazanov, Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, has told ArmInfo.

He says that the Turkish society voted against Erdogan’s political course rather than for something. “This is also proved by the unprecedented success of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party, whose views are different from the ruling party’s views in almost all topical matters, including the Armenian-Turkish relations and the Armenian Genocide,” says Sharmazanov.

He also predicts certain a force majeure in formation of the government, because the ruling party that has failed to receive an absolute majority, should form a coalition with one of the forces, but at the moment none of the parties agrees to enter into a coalition with the AKP. “This may trigger new parliamentary elections. In that case, the ruling party might even fail to retain its current 40%. But even if the situation remains the same, Ankara’s policy will undergo considerable changes because Erdogan will no longer be able to promote his programs unequivocally. This may contribute to stabilization of the situation in the Middle East and to the progress in the Armenian-Turkish normalization. The other forces in the Turkish Parliament do not display such an anti-Armenian hysteria,” says Sharmazanov. He also points out that the elections have probably marked the beginning of the end of Erdogan’s political course.

According to the results of the parliamentary elections in Turkey, the AKP received 40.80 percent of Sunday’s votes (256 seats in the 550-seat Parliament), while the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) scored 25.20 percent (133 seats). The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) secured 16.50 percent of the votes (83 seats), while the country’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP) won 12.90 percent (78 seats). They all crossed the 10 percent electoral threshold that affected the distribution of seats in the Grand National Assembly. The turnout was 84%. Erdogan had campaigned to write a new constitution to bolster the powers of the country’s presidential office. The AKP needed at least 330 seats to unilaterally initiate such a change and take it to a referendum. If the party managed to get 367 seats in the Parliament, it would be able to approve the amendments to the Constitution by means of simple voting, without any referendum

Turkey’s Erdogan, Kurdish leader in war of words after bombing Chanting “Murderer Erdogan”

June 6, 2015 By administrator

ISTANBUL/DIYARBAKIR, Turkey | By Ayla Jean Yackley and Humeyra Pamuk

(REUTERS) Turkey’s Kurdish-rooted opposition party, which could scupper Tayyip Erdogan’s ambitions for sweeping new powers, accused the President on Saturday of a lack of respect for supporters killed in a bomb attack in an election rally and demanded he apologize.

Erdogan countered by accusing Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) leader Selahattin Demirtas of instigating violence in October, linked to events in Syria, that killed dozens.

Chanting “Murderer Erdogan” and bearing a banner declaring “peace despite everything”, hundreds marched to the scene of Friday’s attacks in the mainly Kurdish southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

Others joined a convoy of cars heading to a funeral for a 16-year-old boy. Onlookers made the victory sign and chanted “martyrs don’t die” and “AKP you will pay for this”.

HDP deputy Idris Baluken told Reuters his party had told the government it believed anti-HDP rhetoric from Erdogan and the AK Party had paved the way for the attacks.

Two explosions sent ball bearings and nails tearing into a crowd of tens of thousands at Friday, killing two people and injuring over 200.

Demirtas said Erdogan went ahead with his own rally after news of the bombing broke without referring to it or to the people affected.

Erdogan later offered his condolences on what he termed a “provocation” designed to undermine Sunday’s election. He did not spell out who he believed to be the provocateur.

“He needs to apologize to them, express his sadness to them,” Demirtas told a rally on the Asian side of Istanbul.

“He should go to Diyarbakir. Is he not the president of 77 million people? He ought to leave flowers where people were killed.”

Erdogan, the most popular politician in Turkey but accused by opponents of authoritarian tendencies, seeks a large majority for the ruling AK Party on Sunday to furnish him with the powerful presidency he believes Turkey must have. However, if the HDP clears a 10 percent hurdle to enter parliament, that could rob AK of dozens of seats and thwart his ambitions.

“ANSWER AT THE BALLOT BOX”

Polls suggest such a result is within the HDP’s grasp, drawing as the party now is on non-Kurdish center-left and secularist sympathizers as Erdogan’s religious tone has become more pronounced.

At a rally in eastern Turkey, Erdogan said it was Demirtas who should apologize, accusing him of instigating violence that broke out when Kurds in the town of Kobani, just across the Syrian border, came under siege from Islamic State militants.

Demirtas accused pro-government newspapers of giving scant coverage of Friday’s attacks. He held up their front pages as he spoke to thousands from atop a campaign bus in Istanbul.

“I know we are angry, but we will not act in anger. We will act in good conscience. We will be smart and we will give our answer at the ballot box and stand up for our country,” he said.

Demirtas said his party has been the target of 140 violent attacks during the campaign, including a double bombing in southern Turkish cities last month which wounded six.

He says the HDP will continue to promote peace talks between Kurdish rebels and the government whatever the election outcome.

Erdogan has accused the HDP of being a front for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which took up arms in 1984 in an insurgency that has killed 40,000 people.

Jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and Ankara launched peace talks more than two years ago.

(Additional reporting by Seyhmus Cakan in Diyarbakir; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by David Dolan, Ralph Boulton)

Under Erdogan dictatorship Journalist Baransu faces 52 years in jail for coverage of MGK report

June 4, 2015 By administrator

Journalist Mehmet Baransu was arrested early in March on charges of obtaining classified state documents. (Photo: Today’s Zaman, Kürşat Bayhan)

Journalist Mehmet Baransu, who was indicted for publishing classified documents from a 2004 National Security Council (MGK) meeting during which council members had discussed an action plan targeting the faith-based Gülen movement, is facing a prison term of 52 years, with the first hearing of his trial taking place at an İstanbul court on Wednesday.

The MGK document dated Aug. 25, 2004 persuades the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government to implement a series of measures to curb the activities of the Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement. It advises the government to adopt legal measures that would impose harsh penalties on Gülen-affiliated institutions.

Immediately after Baransu’s report was published in the Taraf daily on Nov. 28, 2013, the Prime Ministry, the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the MGK filed a joint criminal complaint against the daily and Baransu for revealing confidential state documents. The complaint immediately turned into an investigation into the journalist, with Baransu facing charges of acquiring confidential documents crucial to state security, revealing information that is forbidden from being publicized and political and military espionage.

The first hearing of the trial was held at the Anatolia 10th High Criminal Court on Wednesday. Baransu, who is currently under arrest in Silivri Prison as a result of another investigation, did not attend the hearing.

Baransu was arrested by the İstanbul 5th Penal Court in March over documents he had submitted to prosecutors regarding the Sledgehammer (Balyoz) coup plot against the government in 2010.

Since November 2013, Taraf has published several confidential documents suggesting that the ruling AK Party and MİT have been profiling individuals linked to various religious and faith-based groups, mainly the Gülen movement, inspired by Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. The party confirmed the authenticity of the documents but argued that no action was taken to implement the policy prescriptions indicated therein.

In the indictment, the prosecutor’s office said although the entire contents of the Aug. 25, 2004 MGK meeting was required to be kept confidential, Baransu covered it on the front page of the newspaper, thus openly violating laws that provide a shield of secrecy for MGK meetings and documents.

In addition to Baransu, Taraf’s then-managing editor Murat Şevki Çoban is also implicated for his role in allowing Baransu’s story to be published. Çoban is also facing a prison term of 52 years.

Delivering his defense statement, Çoban said the report should be interpreted within the scope of press freedom. Stating that the exposure of a crime does not constitute a crime, Çoban sought his acquittal.

In the meantime, Baransu testified to a prosecutor at the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan on Thursday based on a complaint by Esat Burak Uzundere, the user of pro-government Twitter troll account Esat Ç, known for posting insulting and inflammatory messages targeting people who do not support the AK Party.

Uzundere’s complaint was based on a Twitter post by Baransu on him on the grounds that Baransu had violated his privacy.

In one of his earlier tweets, Baransu revealed Esat Ç’s real identity as Uzundure, which was later confirmed by a court, and exposed his link to the AK Party.

Meanwhile, Baransu’s lawyer and family members were disappointed and upset that the journalist was taken to Çağlayan on Thursday, the only day that they are allowed to have an open visit.

Baransu’s lawyer Sercan Sakallı said the journalist had been taken to the courthouse while his family was waiting for an open visit with him in Silivri.

As he was being taken to courthouse, Baransu spoke to reporters waiting in the corridors of the courthouse, stating he has been kept in isolation for 98 days and that he is preparing his defense under difficult circumstances in prison.

The prosecution of journalist for their work or because of their criticisms of the government or President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has become almost a daily occurrence in Turkey, with dozens of them facing charges of insulting a state official or conducting terrorist propaganda.

Most recently, Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar is facing an aggravated life sentence as a result of a criminal complaint filed by Erdoğan on Tuesday for the publication of images that prove that arms were transferred to Syria by MİT.

The images contradict the government’s earlier claim that the trucks were only carrying humanitarian aid to Turkmens in the war-torn country.

Last week, journalist Erkam Tufan Aytav, who works for Bugün TV, testified to İstanbul Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Fuzuli Aydoğdu as a suspect at the İstanbul Courthouse. Aytav did not give any information about the content of the investigation because it was confidential.

On the same day, another journalist, Aytekin Gezici, was also in court at the first hearing of a trial launched against him over charges of insulting President Erdoğan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç and former Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ on social media.

In addition, journalists Mirgün Cabas, Koray Çalışkan and Banu Güven as well as TV host Pelin Batu were summoned by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office last week to testify as part of an investigation into their social media posts regarding the killing of a public prosecutor during a hostage crisis at the İstanbul Courthouse on March 31. The journalists are accused of conducting propaganda for a terrorist organization in their tweets on the day the prosecutor was killed.

Journalists facing legal action in Turkey today are just not limited to these figures, with dozens more who are either in prison or prosecuted.

Samanyolu Broadcasting Group General Manager Hidayet Karaca was taken into custody on Dec. 14, 2014 as part of a government-backed police operation. Karaca was later arrested and remains in prison on suspicion of being a member of an armed organization. The charges against him are based on a fictional TV series that was broadcast a few years ago.

Sedef Kabaş, a TV presenter, is facing a prison sentence of up to five years for posting a tweet about a corruption probe involving high-profile individuals.

Source: Zaman

Erdogan addresses the Armenians, Alevis and journalists to sexual minorities

June 4, 2015 By administrator

Erdogâneries. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made again evidence of racism and sectarianism by attacking journalists, Armenians, religious minorities and sexual minorities …! Erdogan has implemented a policy of exclusion of minorities was first criticized in a public speech the opposition Kurdish HDP (Kurdish Democratic People). Then its momentum, Turkish President has attacked the opposition party People’s Republican CHP. Finally to complete the whole Erdogan criticized the Armenian media Doghan journalists, Alevis and homosexuals. Its momentum Decidedly very inspired today LA- he said that “the Armenian lobby”, homosexuals, the Alevis and Doghan media journalists were those who supported the HDP and the CHP. Nothing less …

Erdogan whose regime openly supported by the delivery of arms, mercenaries and logistics support the Islamists in Iraq and Syria.

Krikor Amirzayan

Erdogan luxury lifestyle the palace Ak Saray chandeliers carry $35 million price tag

June 3, 2015 By administrator

Two hundred chandeliers hanging from the ceilings above the stairs of the AK Saray presidential palace cost as much as $35 million, according to the Ankara branch of the Turkish Union of Engineers and Architects’ Chambers (TMMOB).

The amount could light the homes of 6 million people, said the TMMOB, and is the equivalent of nearly 37,000 minimum wage salaries in Turkey, where the minimum monthly earnings for a single worker stand at TL 949, currently equal to roughly $354.

According to the TMMOB, the chandeliers in Ak Saray were furnished using expensive Swarovski crystals, and that each chandelier contains upwards of 10,000 Swarovski crystals, meaning that the imported production costs for each chandelier range between an estimated 50,000 and 100,000 euros.

The current residence of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ak Saray was built illegally on protected forest land in the capital of Ankara at an official cost of TL 1.37 billion.

The TMMOB had previously released a number of details and information related to the monthly costs of Erdoğan’s lavish palace. According to the chamber, the cost of cooling the palace for a month is around TL 600,000, while heating (gas) and lighting expenses total some TL 1.6 million and TL 1.2 million, respectively. The cost of cleaning the presidential palace is around TL 8 million. Additional claims surfaced indicating that gold-plated water glasses used at the palace cost TL 1,000 each

Turkey: Foreign Policy Journal: Football Player Who Killed ‘Football Diplomacy’

June 3, 2015 By administrator

Armenian News – NEWS.am presents the abridged version of an article by Andranik Israyelyan, International Relations scholar working at the Diplomatic School of Armenia, published in Foreign Policy Journal:

“In March 2003, Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the Prime Minister of Turkey, replacing Abdullah Gul; the latter took the post of the Foreign Minister. Meanwhile, Ahmet Davutoglu was invited to become the Prime Minister’s chief foreign policy adviser. This triumvirate would shape Turkish foreign policy for the next decade. The “Armenian opening” was one of the most challenging tasks for these foreign policy makers of Ankara.

Erdogan, a graduate of the religious Imam Hatip School and a former semi—professional football player, was the trio’s most powerful figure, yet he had a relatively passive role in shaping Turkish foreign policy. This is best explained by his narrow worldview. His chief adviser, Ibrahim Kalin, would later describe Erdogan as a politician rather than a diplomat, and one with a poor understanding of international relations. His tirades and hate speeches have even led to a breakdown in Turkey’s relations with Israel, Egypt, and Syria.

Abdullah Gul, a graduate of the UK’s University of Exeter, has always been a man of integrity. When in 2003 Foreign Minister Gul met with his Armenian counterpart Vartan Oskanian and expressed his readiness to start a normalization process free from preconditions, it was music to the ears for Armenia’s top diplomat. Yet months later, Gul confessed to Oskanian that intense debate within the inner cycle of Turkish leadership had concluded that Azerbaijan’s interests could not be sidestepped. This, perhaps, was the first row between the ideologues and pragmatists on the “Armenian opening.”

Already serving as President in 2008, Gul accepted the invitation from his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan to visit Yerevan. This was the start of what has become known among foreign policy circles as “football diplomacy.” As Gul had been the driving force behind the Armenian opening in Turkey, his Foreign Minister, Ali Babacan, was an excellent candidate for the routine work. As these pragmatists pushed the process forward, Turkey’s ideologues did not hesitate to jump in and wreak havoc. And they did it quickly. In May 2009, Babacan was replaced by Ahmet Davutoglu.

Upon taking the office of Foreign Minister, Davutoglu, according to senior US diplomat David Phillips, rushed to scratch the Protocols between Armenia and Turkey. A few days later after Davutoglu’s appointment, Erdogan went to Baku to allay Azerbaijani fears about normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations.”

What happened next was unimaginable for Gul and for Davutoglu. Ignoring the briefings by the Foreign Ministry, Erdogan declared that borders with Armenia will not open until Armenian troops withdraw from all “occupied territories of Azerbaijan.” In a moment of irony, the “football diplomacy” was obliterated by none other than a former footballer because of his aversion to diplomacy.

Within this context, the new Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, is left with no other option but to fault Armenia for stalling the normalization process, and to lay the blame for Turkey’s tarnished image abroad with the Armenian Diaspora.”

Source: news.am

HDP’s Demirtaş call on Erdogan, Davuloglu for a live debate

June 1, 2015 By administrator

BİTLİS – Cihan News Agency,

AP Photo

Kurdish problem-oriented Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş challenged Turkey’s president and prime minister to attend a televised live discussion program with him, where they could openly debate.

“I called on him [President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] and his smaller one [Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu]. Let’s [have a] discussion on TV; do you dare? If you trust yourself, your knowledge and wisdom, let’s appear alone. If you want, bring 100 advisors with you. Let’s openly [have a] discussion live,” Demirtaş said June 1, during his party’s rally in the southern province of Bitlis.

Demirtaş added if what Erdoğan has been saying was true, he would not hesitate to say it before him too, but if he had a wound, a lie, a sin or a crime, he would be afraid of it.

Demirtaş also said they needed to stop a government that was built on lies and fraud and which harmed humane, Islamic and conscious values.

Stating the HDP would establish a freedom and equality-based government, Demirtaş said nobody could be able to say anything against another’s’ attire.

Turkey Whistleblower claims journalists, members of judiciary to be detained en masse

June 1, 2015 By administrator

A screenshot taken from whistleblower fuatavni’s Twitter account. (Photo: Today’s Zaman)

A week before the country’s June 7 parliamentary elections, Turkey‘s prominent whistleblower Fuat Avni has claimed that there is soon to be a mass detention of journalists and members of the judiciary as part of government efforts to muzzle media outlets which are free, independent and critical.

The whistleblower, known on Twitter by the pseudonym Fuat Avni, said some 200 people will be detained in a major sweep that has been ordered by the embattled President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is reportedly furious over the publication by the Cumhuriyet daily of photos of weapons being carried to radical groups in Syria by trucks run by Turkey’s intelligence organization.

Avni said Erdoğan has become very concerned over a possible trial in the International Criminal Court for sending arms to Syrian groups, which allegedly included al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Turkey’s president appears to want to divert public attention by launching the en masse detention of journalists, which is supposed to include the chief editor of Cumhuriyet, Can Dündar.

Erdoğan is also reportedly concerned that after the elections, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) may not secure enough seats to establish a single party government, and therefore a witch hunt he has been pursuing since corruption scandals in 2013 may be interrupted.

According to Fuat Avni, the government will detain scores of journalists critical to the government, including Ekrem Dumanlı, the editor-in chief of Zaman, the country’s largest circulated national daily; Bülent Keneş, the editor-in-chief of Today’s Zaman; Kerim Balcı, the editor-in-chief of Turkish Review, a bimonthly news magazine; Celil Sağır, the managing editor of Today’s Zaman; Faruk Mercan, the Ankara representative of Bugün TV; Adem Yavuz Arslan, the Washington bureau chief for the Bugün newspaper; Nazlı Ilıcak, a veteran columnist at Bugün; Yasemin Çongar, former editor of Taraf daily; Ahmet Altan, former editor-in-chief of Taraf, Emre Uslu, columnist at Today’s Zaman, and finally Cumhuriyet’s Can Dündar.

The politically-motivated investigations included not only journalists but also the corporate entities of Zaman, Samanyolu and Bugün media outlets.

Police chiefs and members of the judiciary who were involved in landmark cases that exposed wrongdoings in the government and the military are also targeted in the sweep, Avni claimed.

Avni has revealed many government-backed police operations to the public in the past, and though late at times, all the claims have turned out to be true.

He also said Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is opposed to any mass detentions taking place so soon before the elections, fearing a backlash from voters.

Erdogan vows to punish journalist for publishing Syria trucks video

June 1, 2015 By administrator

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to punish the editor of a newspaper which published video footage it said showed the MIT state intelligence agency helping send weapons to Syria.

The Cumhuriyet newspaper published footage on its website which it said showed gendarmerie and police officers opening crates of what it described as weapons and ammunition on the back of three trucks belonging to MIT.

“The individual who has reported this as an exclusive story will pay a high price for this,” Erdogan said in a television interview with state broadcaster TRT late on Sunday, May 31.

“I will not let this go.”

Reuters said it reported on May 21 that witnesses and prosecutors have alleged that MIT helped deliver arms to parts of Syria under Islamist rebel control during late 2013 and early 2014, quoting a prosecutor and court testimony from gendarmerie officers.

Cumhuriyet said the video was from Jan 19, 2014 but did not say how it had obtained the footage. Erdogan has said the trucks stopped that day belonged to MIT and were carrying aid to Turkmens in Syria. He has said prosecutors had no authority to search MIT vehicles and were part of what he calls a “parallel state” run by his ally-turned-foe Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based Islamic cleric whom Erdogan says is bent on discrediting him and the government.

“These allegations against the national intelligence agency and this illegal operation is some kind of espionage activity. This paper is now involved in this espionage,” Erdogan said, adding that he had instructed his lawyer to file a lawsuit.

The state-run Anadolu news agency said on Friday that the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office had launched an investigation into Cumhuriyet’s editor-in-chief Can Dundar under counter-terrorism laws. Reuters could not reach Dundar for comment, but he defended the newspaper’s coverage on his Twitter account.

“We are journalists, not civil servants. Our duty is not to hide the dirty secrets of the state but to hold those accountable on behalf of the people,” he said in a tweet on Monday.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also said at the weekend that the trucks were carrying aid for Turkmens but declined to comment on their content.

“It is nobody’s business what was inside the trucks. Yes there were serious clashes in Syria and we helped the Turkmens,” Davutoglu said on Sunday in a Haberturk television interview.