Erdogan's Archives

Why Erdogan’s so quiet about Turkish expansion in Africa and slowly swallowing Africa

August 20, 2018 by administrator

As the diplomatic tug-of-war between the United States and Turkey escalates, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is lining up new friends. In early August, Erdogan’s 100-day action plan identified new markets in China, Mexico, India and Russia. It did not mention Africa, despite the “African continent opening” Erdogan sought in the early 2000s.

Frequent headlines in the mainstream media have celebrated Erdogan as “the best friend of Africa.” As president he has visited 21 African countries on more than 30 trips.

In February, Turkey’s state Anadolu Agency reported on impressive progress from 2003 to 2017. For example, Turkey’s investment has increased from $100 million to $6.5 billion, the number of its embassies from 12 to 41. Turkish Airlines flies to 52 destinations in 33 African countries. Construction companies have invested in several projects worth $55 million.

Somalia hosts not only Turkey’s largest foreign military base but also a hospital named after Erdogan, roads constructed by a Turkish company through Turkey’s state-funded aid organization and garbage collection by the Turkish Red Crescent. More plans are in the making, such as the million cataract surgeries to be performed by 2022 in partnership with Islamic Development Bank in 12 African countries.

Almost all of Erdogan’s rallies feature numbers, such as the miles of roads constructed or the number of classrooms built. Erdogan once gave the number of MRI machines purchased during his administration. But not a word about Africa. With such impressive numbers, why doesn’t Erdogan brag about his achievements in Africa more frequently, particularly today, when the challenges and risks facing the Turkish economy are worrying the public?

How do the rewards Turkey is reaping from its projects in Africa actually look when we deduct the costs?

A Nigerian businessmen and consultant who works in Europe and Middle East told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “I have been following Erdogan’s growing reach and influence in Africa. I understand there are three categories of interests that are vital for Turkey: economic, security and cultural. Within the security interests, I do not only mean the military base in Somalia and the 99-year lease of Sudan’s Suakin Island but also minimizing the influence of [exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen] on the continent. Turks have been working relentlessly to convert Gulen schools and arrest Gulenists. These schools will have a significant impact in two decades for the future of these countries. Turkey has performed successful humanitarian missions but it is a mixed blessing. Turkish government here is mired in contracts that were received through back-door channels, without proper transparency. I frequently observe that cutting corners, not having to meet high standards and lack of obligation to report back to agencies is what makes Africa so attractive to Turkey.”

Turkish involvement had the initial goal of expanding its soft power to justify its claim to emerging power status. The high risks are countered by lack of competition for projects in several cities. Erdogan and his travel companions must also have liked the warm welcome they found. When Erdogan visits an African country, the prime time news provide wide coverage of how the public loves Erdogan and Turkey. Turkish flags, cheering crowds and all the extravagant celebrations “must make Erdogan feel like a king,” a senior bureaucrat from Ankara told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity.

Speaking to business consultants in Istanbul who work for companies operating in Africa, it is easy to conclude that doing business in Africa has been lucrative. One from an Istanbul firm that is heavily invested in the continent, particularly Somalia, said, “Money begets money. People love Erdogan and Turkey because we have no colonial baggage, plus we started with projects that are visible and useful to people like hospitals, water sanitation. These affect their everyday life. We work directly, with cash, which is unusual in the Western world. There are few records without banks. So we get profits, but locals earn as well. We do not get involved in their business, we keep to ourselves. That minimizes risk and we both win.” All the businessmen agreed Turkey has given millions of dollars in aid and investment to Africa, but they could not say how much. Turkish aid to Somalia from 2011 to 2012 alone was in excess of $350 million, according to one credible estimate.

Sedat Aybar, a professor of economics and finance at Istanbul Aydin University and the director of the Africa Research Center, told Al-Monitor, “Turkey’s pursuits in Africa can be summarized around the idea of an ensuring a perpetual “win-win” situation for both Africa and Turkey. This requires an enabling business [environment]. Hence, Turkey’s long-term interest in Africa is not limited to bringing aid to the continent but it also aims at developing economic and diplomatic collaboration on an equal basis with equal partners, which would foster mutual economic development and growth.”

Aybar explained that one of the reasons behind Turkish success in Africa was “Turkey’s new policy” that is “based on promoting bilateral business interactions that will help to find “African solutions to African problems.”

When asked why Turkish accomplishments in Africa are not commonly discussed in the public domain, Aybar commented, “Unfortunately, the importance of Africa and what it means for Turkey’s future have not been recognized by the Turkish intelligentsia and academia. However, there exists some fledgling academic research and interest on African affairs in Turkey. There are 17 Africa research centers associated with an academic institutions. There also exists a sizable African community living in Turkey. All of these help increase awareness of Turkey’s involvement with the continent.”

Aybar emphasized business interests as well. “Now Turkey’s fast-growing electronics sector can gain access to raw materials directly from the African market. It should be noted that some of the fastest growing economies of the world are located on the continent. Demand from the middle classes of those countries on commodities can be counted as the main source of faster-growing Turkish exports to Africa.

“Turkey’s foreign direct investments in the continent are also creating positive returns for the Turkish economy. Some of the priority areas for investment are agribusiness, rural development, civil defense, water resource management, the development of micro- and small-scale enterprises, security, health and transportation.”

Still, Turkish involvement in Africa carries serious risks due to the lack of transparency and oversight on these major international contracts. For example, in 2013, Turkish firm Favori LLC acquired the management of Mogadishu’s International Airport. The contract was leaked, exposing a $1.5 million “initial premium fee” paid to the Somalian government. Mogadishu’s port management was given to the Albayrak group, again amid allegations that millions of dollars were paid to secure the contract. And “given all the corruption in these failed states, these charges are quite minute,” said the Nigerian consultant.

Overall, Turkey is presented as an honest broker that is able to get projects completed and running in multiple African sites without getting bogged down with local issues. And despite security challenges, such as 2013 bomb attack at the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu, the investments remain lucrative for Turkish businesses. Considering the International Budget Partnership concluded from 2017 data that Turkey has limited budget transparency with no room for public participation, it is not possible to properly assess how lucrative the quiet expansion in Africa has been for Turkey since 2003. That might well be the reason behind Erdogan’s silence on Turkey’s African accomplishments.

Erdogan’s “Trojan Horse” In Macedonia

June 14, 2018 by administrator

By Alon Ben-Meir

This article is co-written by Alon Ben-Meir and Arbana Xharra. Arbana Xharra authored a series of investigative reports on religious extremists and Turkey’s Islamic agenda operating in the Balkans. She has won numerous awards for her reporting, and was a 2015 recipient of the International Women of Courage Award from the US State Department.

Turkey’s President Erdogan makes no secret of his ambition to spread his neo-Ottoman wings all over the Balkans. He views Macedonia as another Turkish satellite in the making, which sadly the Macedonian government seems to have embraced without carefully assessing the long-term adverse ramifications. Very few Albanian voices in Macedonia have the courage to publicly criticize Erdogan, fearful of becoming a target of threats and insults by a huge propaganda machine directed by many of his cronies. Erdogan has been extremely successful in influencing the majority of Albanians in the country, many of whom consider him as their one and only trusted leader.

For more than a decade, Erdogan has invested heavily in spreading his influence among Albanians, through building mosques and Turkish schools, and funding media, religious institutions, and most recently political parties, which are directly controlled by his close associates and have dramatically increased his influence over the Albanian community.

Anyone who dares to criticize Erdogan or discuss his personal ambitions in Macedonia is attacked publicly by the ‘internet brigade’ as an Islamophobe or traitor.

“I was personally a target of these attacks twice”, says Xhelal Neziri, an experienced investigative reporter from Macedonia. “They cannot stop me from telling the truth, but it is a fact that many of my colleagues do not want to talk about this topic, because of the ‘lynching threats.’”

A majority of Albanians in Macedonia identify themselves as Muslims rather than by their Albanian national identity. There are voices within these fanatical religious groups saying that Albanians should not recognize Mother Theresa as a saint, even though she was an Albanian from Macedonia, because she does not represent the interests of the Muslim community. The number of those who believe that other national Albanian heroes like Gjergj Kastrioti ‘Skenderbeg’, who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in the 1400s, should not be recognized because they were Christians, is increasing rapidly.

Compared to other Balkan states where Albanians live who don’t consider religion to be a dominant factor in their lives, Albanians in Macedonia are the staunchest supporters of Erdogan and his Islamic agenda. Erdogan’s strategy for restoring Turkey’s influence in the Balkans, akin to what the Ottoman Empire once enjoyed, had early success with the Albanians in Macedonia.

Nearly two-thirds of the population in Macedonia are ethnically Orthodox Christian Macedonians, and the other third of the population are predominantly Albanian Muslims. In 2001, tensions between the two groups escalated into an armed conflict between government security forces and the Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA).

The conflict was short-lived and ended with the Ohrid Agreement—a peace treaty that saw NLA commanders rebranded as legitimate politicians, gaining enhanced social and political rights which were granted to Macedonia’s Albanian citizens. While armed hostilities ended nearly 17 years ago, relations between the different groups are still raw.

Albanians are disadvantaged and neglected, and continue to suffer from inequality. Macedonia denied their basic human rights. The Albanian language was not recognized until March of 2018, when Macedonia’s parliament passed a law extending the official use of the Albanian language, despite massive Macedonian protests from the right-wing opposition.

The country’s Slavs and Albanians still live largely separate and do not enjoy equal rights. Erdogan has used ethnic and political problems between Macedonians and Albanians as a “golden opportunity” to portray himself as the greatest defender of the Albanians. Meanwhile, all of Turkey’s economic investments and trade deals are focused on the Macedonian side.

According to the World Bank, in 2016 Turkey’s exports to Macedonia totaled $378 million and imports amounted to $82.6 million. The Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) reports that around 100 Turkish businesspeople currently haveinvestments worth €1.2 billion ($1.47 billion) in Macedonia. These investments are focused in the parts where Macedonians live, while in the Albanian side Erdogan has invested in religious institutions to promote his Islamic agenda.

Erdogan has used Albanians as a trump card in his economic and financial investments to Macedonia. This way, he pretends to guarantee stability to the Macedonian state by converting the troublesome Albanian nationalism into a strong Islamic identity among Albanians.

In public speeches, Erdogan has repeatedly flirted with corrupt Macedonian government officials. He stated that Turkey and Macedonia share a bond of brotherhood and that “Turkey will always be on Macedonia’s side.”

“For us, Ankara and Skopje have no differences and we will never leave our brothers alone, we will always be with them, and we will always help and stand behind them,” Erdogan said in February 2018.

In a conversation with Artan Grubi, a parliamentarian in Macedonia representing the largest Albanian political party (the Democratic Union for Integration, BDI), he stated that “The influence of the current Turkish government in the political setting in Macedonia is undoubtedly serious and present.”

Erdogan does that “through government financial aid, cultural exchange, [and] serving as a role model [to inspire] political parties and politicians such as the newly established entity BESA”, said Grubi, adding that the party he represents will not allow any marginal influences to stray them away from their projected path of integration into NATO and the EU.

The BESA Movement is a political party in the Republic of Macedonia founded in November 2014 by Bilall Kasami and Zeqirija Ibrahimi, chief editor of Shenja magazine, which is one of the most pro-Erdogan media outlets in Macedonia.

Leaders of this political party deny having direct links with Turkey, but they openly follow Erdogan’s line. In their first elections three years ago, they won five seats in the Parliament. We sent questions to the BESA leaders, but they did not respond.

Professor Ymer Ismaili, one of the most critical voices in Macedonia, declared publicly during the last elections in 2016 that the “BESA Movement is [a] religious sect with the open mission of spreading Erdogan’s Islamic agenda among Albanians in Macedonia.”

In a conversation with us, Ismaili said that Albanian nationals in the Balkans (especially in Macedonia) are Erdogan’s favorite “target” because of their religion, poverty, and functional educational illiteracy. “Erdoganism wants the Balkans ‘neo-invasion,’ not with military but with financial and religious means to undermine the ‘Christian’ Europe! In this ‘journey’ in certain situations, his political-geostrategic ally is Putin’s Russia. Both are united in their personal cult and their mission: They both are ‘dictators’ and anti-Western”, said Ismaili.

Many Albanian emigrants, after the Second World War and the establishment of the communist regime, fled to Western European countries or the US to find jobs or seek political asylum. “Almost every Albanian family has one member in the West and can obviously distinguish between what the West has to offer, culturally, politically, and in human rights, and what Erdogan can provide”, said Neziri. Nevertheless, they continue to be manipulated by Erdogan.

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA), the Turkish government’s aid agency, maintains an office in Skopje staffed with a country coordinator and completed almost 600 projects in Macedonia by the end of 2017.

Yunus Emre, the Turkish government’s cultural promotion agency, is also active in Macedonia. According to Turkish Minute, “It is clear that Erdoğan is pushing all the government agencies to focus on [Macedonia] with all sorts of schemes, ranging from mosque building to establishing schools as part of a grand design to create a vassal state that will be loyal to his Islamist rule.”

To be sure, Erdogan’s “peaceful onslaught” on Macedonia has one and one purpose only: to dominate the country under the guise of a long history of brotherly relations. This is Erdogan’s modern “Trojan Horse,” and the Albanians in Macedonia must realize that they are unwittingly falling into Erdogan’s trap.

US Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: Dropped Charges Against Erdogan’s Thugs Unacceptable

March 23, 2018 by administrator

Mar 22, 2018

Press Release

WASHINGTON – Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats, today released the following statement on the dismissal of charges against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security team accused in last year’s beating of demonstrators in Washington:

We have just learned that, over the last few months, U.S. prosecutors have quietly dropped charges against 11 out of 15 of President Erdogan’s thugs who, as a result of video and other photographic images, were accused of beating up pro-democracy demonstrators outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence last May. The brutal attack resulted in at least nine demonstrators sent to the hospital. A police officer and two Secret Service members also were hurt.

I have met some of the injured demonstrators and I am prompted to share my disgust that a grave injustice has been done. In the hearing I conducted on the violent clash, their testimony and the images shown were simply too outrageous too be dismissed by prosecutorial missteps or used as bargaining chips to ease tensions between our two countries. Indeed, we now learn that, before he left office, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, speaking privately with the Turkish government, brought up the unannounced dismissals as evidence of our government’s intentions to relax our relationship with Erdogan’s tyrannical, terrorist-supporting regime.

If this is as it appears, the decision sends exactly the wrong signal to Erdogan, who is aligning his authoritarian government with radical Islamists and who carries out the same sort of brutal attacks on his own citizens as he allowed, within his sight, to be committed on American soil. This outrage must not go unpunished.

Dare to criticize FSA in Turkey? Erdogan’s militias in Afrin

February 17, 2018 by administrator

Dare to criticize FSA

Turkish public divided over military’s alliance with FSA
By Pinar Tremblay

On Feb. 4, most Turkish newspaper headlines blared deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag’s statement that “US soldiers wearing People’s Protection Units [YPG] insignia are also targets” in Turkey’s offensive against Kurds in Afrin, Syria.

The United States has supported the Kurdish YPG in the battle against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, but Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist group. Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) hasn’t forgotten the images of US soldiers sporting YPG patches, which date back to June 2016.

But pictures of patches aren’t that important to the Turkish public, which is more baffled by recent images of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a group of Turkish military-backed rebels opposed to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) fought alongside the FSA during Operation Euphrates Shield against IS in Syria. The public didn’t pay much attention to the FSA then. Now, however, with Turkey’s offensive on Syrian Kurds in Afrin, the FSA’s significance is rising. The change began Jan. 19, the day before Turkey launched the Afrin operation, with images broadcast of 20 buses carrying FSA fighters across the border into Syria. Most Turks were surprised to see that so many fighters could be mobilized so promptly.

The public’s confusion was reinforced by comments from significant opposition figures — for example, Ozturk Yilmaz, Turkey’s former consul general to Mosul, Iraq, who was held captive by IS for 101 days. Yilmaz is now the deputy chairman of the main group that opposes the current AKP government, the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Yilmaz said Jan. 25 that one should look at the origin of these groups Turkey supports that oppose the Syrian regime, including the FSA, which was indeed al-Qaeda. This comment touched a raw nerve within the AKP and generated waves of angry outbursts against the CHP, so much so that anyone who dares to criticize the Afrin operation or the FSA could now face legal action.

“While you are sleeping in your warm bed, FSA fighters along with my soldiers are killing the terrorists you support,” Erdogan said, referring to Yilmaz and the YPG.

CHP Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu also voiced concerns Jan. 29 about the army’s alliance with the FSA. He asked why the brave Turkish soldiers were placed behind the FSA and why their accomplishments were in a sense attributed to the FSA.

That same day, pro-AKP daily Sabah columnist Hilal Kaplan wrote a column with the headline “We will defend the FSA” and declared the FSA to be Syria’s true national forces.

Erdogan echoed Kaplan’s statement a day later, saying, “The FSA, just like the national forces during our Independence War, is a civilian establishment. The FSA fighting along with our brave troops is a fact to be proud of.” Erdogan’s praise of the FSA and the AKP’s obsession with insignia continued when Erdogan said Feb. 3, “Look who the FSA is next to now. They are shoulder to shoulder with the Turkish Armed Forces. And what patch do they [FSA members] have on their arms? It is the Turkish flag. And what does the YPG [wear]? It is the American flag.”

The AKP’s collective efforts to brand the FSA as a multiethnic force fighting next to the Turkish army against the US-backed YPG makes an attractive appetizer for domestic consumption. But it was just in December when Erdogan said, “Hey, US — didn’t we establish the FSA together with you?”

A retired Turkish colonel told Al-Monitor, “Yes, both the Pentagon and the CIA had helped train Syrian rebels in Turkey. But the training and arming were limited compared with what they had done for the YPG. Once the US gave up on the FSA, Turkey struggled to keep them in check and utilized them for Operation Euphrates Shield. But it’s always difficult for regular armies to keep militia under control. If Afrin is a long-term engagement, in time the relationship inevitably will generate higher costs [than returns] for the Turkish Armed Forces.” The colonel added that the AKP’s relatively newfound love of the FSA and constant praise of the militia are dangerous because of the FSA’s unpredictability.

Indeed, the news about the FSA perplexes the public. While Erdogan is determined to argue they are Syrian forces defending their own land, the daily Yeni Safak shared a video of an FSA fighter from Rize, a Turkish city on the Black Sea coast. A senior AKP member told Al-Monitor, “There are Turkmen brigades within the FSA, and a handful of Turks have joined them.” Facing strong reactions, Yeni Safak deleted the tweet about the FSA fighter from Rize.

Still, AKP members make potent public statements praising the FSA. For example, outspoken AKP parliamentarian Burhan Kuzu commented, “The FSA is a local and national militia.” So what does the Turkish public make of the FSA after all?

Musa Ozugurlu, a journalist who has lived in Syria during the civil war, told Al-Monitor, “We can look at three distinct groups’ views on the FSA. First are the Islamists, who view the FSA as holy fighters. Since this group mostly views the [Shiites], Syrian Armed Forces and the YPG as nonbelievers, the FSA is engaged in a holy war in their eyes.” Ozugurlu’s analysis here is crucial in highlighting the hypocrisy in the government’s predominant rhetoric of “local and national” forces versus the Islamist quest for jihadi fighters. The FSA here also represents brewing tension within the AKP among ultranationalists and radical Islamists.

Members of the second group Ozugurlu described are the nationalist forces who view the FSA through pragmatic lenses and believe it uses its power against the YPG. A pro-AKP history professor told Al-Monitor, “Both Iran and the US use foreign militias, or mercenaries — why can’t Turkey?”

Ozugurlu places those who are worried about the FSA-TSK alliance in the third group. Kurds, Alevis, and secular and left-leaning groups belong in this category in Turkey. Ozugurlu said, “I witnessed the FSA employing terrorist methods in Syria. The FSA has no ideological view or any sort of backbone, really. It is an army in name only. They lack a proper command and control system because their commanders are rarely on the ground in Syria. They lack local support and are simply mercenaries willing to work for the highest bidder.” The main concern here is what will happen to FSA forces after Turkish involvement in Syria ends.

Omer Gergerlioglu, a human rights activist and T24 columnist, told Al-Monitor, “There is a correlation between sympathy for the FSA and support for the Afrin operation. Those who support the operation also applaud the FSA. Kurds are relatively divided on this. For supporters of the [pro-Kurdish] Peoples’ Democratic Party, the FSA brings back bitter memories of Kobani. On the other hand, Huda-Par [the Kurdish Islamist Free Cause Party in Turkey] believes the FSA is battling the Americans, so it isn’t critical of an alliance with the FSA.” Gergerlioglu also highlighted a crucial rift between radical Turkish and Kurdish Islamists in Turkey. “The Islamist Felicity Party members are divided. Kurdish members fear that prolonged involvement in Afrin will generate conflict between the Kurds and Turkey inside Turkey.”

Turkey’s engagement with the FSA could deliver certain benefits for national security, yet these benefits are difficult to assess without proper oversight of funding, training and arming of these militias, and accurate accountability of their actions in the war zones. For now, Erdogan and his cronies are taking the easy route of praising the FSA and continuing in their harsh anti-American rhetoric, focusing on patches attached to uniforms.

Pinar Tremblay is a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse and a visiting scholar of political science at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Three new Erdogan’s bodyguards charged in the United States

September 2, 2017 by administrator

The US authorities announced on Tuesday (August 29th) that three new security agents of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been accused of violence in Washington on the sidelines of a recent visit by the latter to the United States.

Nineteen suspects, including 15 Turkish security guards and bodyguards, are believed to have assaulted peaceful Kurdish demonstrators in the federal capital on 16 May. The violence took place in front of the residence of the Turkish ambassador, where the strong man of Ankara went after his meeting at the White House with his American counterpart, Donald Trump. The fight resulted in a report of 12 wounded, including a policeman.

Of the 19 accused, only two were arrested: Sinan Narin, a resident of Virginia, and Eyup Yildirim, residing in the state of New Jersey, are being prosecuted for assault and will be appearing in September. The other suspects are wanted.

Erdogan’s Thugs in Parliament Beat up Armenian & Kurdish MPs

May 11, 2016 by administrator

BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN

Kicking and punching are becoming a daily routine in the Turkish Parliament. Whenever Armenian or Kurdish Members of the Parliament criticize the government, they are viciously attacked by a gang MPs from Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

In recent days, AKP Parliamentarians have hurled insults and physically assaulted Garo Paylan (an Armenian) and Ferhat Encu (a Kurd) who represent the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Parliament.

Paylan delivered an unprecedented speech in the Turkish Parliament on April 21, 2016. After greeting the deputies in Armenian, by saying “Parev tsez,” he boldly continued: “Once World War One began on April 24, 1915, Armenian intellectuals, opinion leaders and parliamentarians were, unfortunately, the first to be arrested…. Although they had immunity, they were arrested and taken to Ankara, Ayash, Urfa and Diyarbekir, and on the way, the deputies were murdered by bandits. Of course, after the community’s opinion leaders and MPs were made powerless, and their claims to solve issues through democratic processes became redundant, the Armenian and Assyrian peoples suffered great massacres by decree and were evicted from the ancient lands where they had lived for thousands of years.”

Paylan dared to raise the shameful legacy of the Armenian Genocide which persists to this day in Turkey: “Look at the names of Talat Pasha, Jemal Pasha, and Enver Pasha. In 2,500 places in the country, streets were named after them. Today, unfortunately, we walk in streets named Talat Pasha. Can you imagine going to Germany and Berlin today and walking in streets named after Hitler and Goebbels? Would such a thing be acceptable? Well, in 2,500 places in our country, we walk in streets and avenues named Talat Pasha.”

During his remarks, Paylan recited the names and displayed enlarged photographs of several Armenian members of the Turkish Parliament, including Krikor Zohrab, who were arrested on April 24, 1915, and brutally murdered. The Armenian MP fearlessly proposed that a parliamentary committee be formed to investigate the circumstances of their deaths, identify those responsible for their murders — those who ordered their killings and actually carried them out — locate where their bodies were buried, rebury them with appropriate funeral services, and restore their dignity. Not surprisingly, Paylan’s proposal was rejected by the majority of Parliament.

After expressing his respect for the memory of the perished Armenian members of the Turkish Parliament in 1915, Paylan concluded his speech with traditional Armenian words of condolences for the departed: “Asdvads irents hokin lousavore” (May God enlighten their souls). Throughout his lengthy and courageous remarks, Paylan was repeatedly interrupted by taunts and threats from AKP MPs.

On May 2nd, as a parliamentary committee met to strip opposition members of their immunity from prosecution, Paylan was kicked and punched over 100 times by Erdogan’s AKP members during a 10-minute all-out brawl. Paylan described the assault as “a premeditated lynching because of his Armenian heritage.”

After the attack, when HDP members walked out of the hearing, the committee voted to approve the AKP proposal to lift the immunity of pro-Kurdish HDP MPs. This inflammatory measure is expected to be approved by Parliament shortly! Most Kurdish members along with Paylan will then be arrested on trumped-up charges. Most probably Erdogan plans to announce new parliamentary elections, hoping the AKP will win additional seats vacated by the HDP, giving him enough votes in Parliament to amend the Constitution and establish a powerful autocratic presidential regime.

Meanwhile, Paylan’s fate seems to be sealed! He will either serve a long jail term or suffer the same tragic fate as Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was assassinated in cold blood by Turkish extremists in Istanbul on January 19, 2007!

All people of goodwill around the world must raise their voices in condemnation of Erdogan’s increasingly despotic rule. It is ironic that Paylan, who was lamenting the killing of Parliamentarian Krikor Zohrab a century ago, may end up dead himself, unless the international community issues a serious warning to the Turkish government to take the strictest measures to ensure the safety of the Armenian MP. Regrettably, nothing seems to have changed in Turkey in the last 100 years!

Sultan’s Family? Erdogan’s Children ‘Walking in Golden Slippers’

May 7, 2016 by administrator

While Turkish president Recep Erdogan’s annual income stands at the modest level of €50,000,($57,000) his children appear to walk in golden slippers. At the same time, there are no official statistics that appear to explain where all that money originates from, the German newspaper Bild reported.

According to the report, Erdogan’s children occupy luxurious villas and have businesses that are far from transparent. Bilal Erdogan, the Turkish leader’s younger son, for instance, has been suspected of several accounts of money laundering. He has been also spotted engaging in the 2013 corruption scandal along with his sister Esra, the paper notes.

Moreover, it was revealed last year that Bilal has long been covering up Turkish businessmen that close underground bargains with the Daesh extremist group with an annual value of up to $500 million. All attempts to investigate alleged crimes by the president’s son within Turkey had been “swept under the carpet,” Aykut Erdogdu, member of opposition People’s Democratic Party (HDP) told earlier Sputnik Turkiye.

The Russian Defense Ministry published last December satellite images that laid bare oil smuggling from Daesh-controlled territories in Syria to Turkey. Despite the country’s establishment’s denial of the allegations of involvement in the dirty business, the trade went on until at least till last February, the RT investigation unveiled.”In fact, Bilal Erdoğan is up to his neck in complicity with terrorism, but as long as his father holds office he will be immune from any judicial prosecution,” Gursel Tekin HDP vice-chairman told Turkish journalists in August.

Now Recep Erdogan is looking into opportunities to expand both the financial and political influence of his “clan,” Bild noted. After the resignation of current prime-minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the president has started to promote for that post Minister of Transport Binali Yildirim or Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, who is Erdogan’s son-in-law. Albayak is convenient to Erdogan, as he has proven his loyalty multiple times.

source: sputniknews.com

Shame on German Chancellor Merkel For Succumbing to Erdogan’s Bullying

April 22, 2016 by administrator

BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN

It is bad enough that Turkish President Erdogan wants to sue a German comic for insulting him! It is much more outrageous for German Chancellor Angela Merkel allowing the lawsuit to go forward, based on a 19th century law!

Under this archaic law, anyone who offends a foreign leader can be sued in court after obtaining the consent of the German government. Erdogan now joins the dictatorial ranks of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran and Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet who had filed similar lawsuits in Germany.

Merkel, after initially defending the German citizen’s right to freedom of press and opinion, contrary to Turkey’s repressive laws, shamefully buckled under Erdogan’s threat to flood Europe with Syrian refugees, after accepting several billion dollars to block such migrants!

Merkel, Obama, and others don’t seem to understand that appeasing a bully only leads to more bullying. The best way to stop a bully is just to say ‘no!’ Naturally, Erdogan will throw a temper tantrum like a spoiled brat, make threats, and probably withdraw his ambassador! But, after a while, he will learn that he can’t impose his will outside of Turkey, and that the rest of the world will not meekly kowtow to his Sultanic diktats!

For several decades, American, British and Israeli leaders have made the same humiliating mistake of buckling under threats from Erdogan and his predecessors not to utter the words “Armenian Genocide.” Had these foreign leaders just said no on day one, they would have spared themselves years of escalating threats! Unfortunate, they have allowed the tail to wag the dog!

Merkel, has now gone down the slippery slope of appeasing the Turkish bully. She has made the gross misjudgment that by allowing the prosecution of the German satirist, she has bought Erdogan’s friendship! The German Chancellor will soon face new demands from the Turkish President on Syrian refugees and many other issues, such as next month’s scheduled vote in the Bundestag on the Armenian Genocide which has already been postponed several times under earlier Turkish threats.

Merkel’s unwise and undemocratic move may cause a split in her “grand coalition” government. Thomas Oppermann, the parliamentary leader of the center-left Social Democrats, criticized her decision, urging the Chancellor to repeal the antiquated law. Foreign heads of state should not enjoy special rights to sue German citizens, Oppermann warned.

Two influential ministers in Merkel’s government also announced their opposition to her decision. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Justice Minister Heiko Maas declared: “The freedom of opinion, media and culture are the highest treasures of our Constitution.”

Furthermore, two-thirds of the German public opposes Merkel’s decision to try the satirist, according to a recent survey. In the last few days, her popularity fell from 56% to 45%. According to another survey, 66% of the respondents oppose the prosecution of the satirist, while only 22% support it. The German newspaper ZDF, which posted the satirist’s video on Erdogan, has promised its full legal support during the investigation.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker also criticized Erdogan’s unacceptable overreaction. Juncker vowed not to compromise on European values in order to preserve the recently struck deal with Ankara to stem migrant flows, according to the Turkish Hurriyet newspaper. “I cannot understand at all that a German ambassador has been summoned for an admittedly difficult satirical song,” Juncker stated on April 13. “That does not bring Turkey closer to us. It will put us farther away from each other.”
According to the New York Times, Erdogan has filed almost 2,000 lawsuits in Turkey against those he accuses of insulting him. The Turkish President has already brought a private lawsuit in a German court against the satirist, who could face a three-year jail term or an unspecified fine, if found guilty.
Satirist Jan Bohmermann, in his sarcastic poem, made references to sex with goats and oppressing minorities. He called Erdogan “dumb as a post, cowardly and uptight” and “perverse, lice-ridden… kicking Kurds, beating Christians, all the while watching child porno films.”
No matter how insulting the poem may be, the writer should have the right to express his opinion freely. It is one thing for Erdogan, the dictatorial leader of a third world country, to repress the media. It is completely a different matter for the head of a major Western European democracy to side with the Sultan of a fascist Middle Eastern state. In this regard, Merkel’s transgression is much worse than Erdogan’s!

Erdogan’s Evil Empire Exposed

April 9, 2016 by administrator

By Ray Camen on April 9, 2016

(VT) Turkish Head of State Erdogan may think that he has everything under control in Turkey, but the proverbial noose is tightening around his throat as irrefutable evidence of his global evil empire comes to light.

It is very likely that he will soon face grave charges in the International Criminal Court. All the roads out of ISIS-held territory in Syria and Iraq lead to Turkey and to Erdogan’s massive oil smuggling ring.

Since December 2015, Russia has been presenting hard evidence of ISIS oil smuggling into Turkey and has consistently pointed at the Erdogan family as the mastermind behind operations. There are piles of hard evidence of this smuggling and it is near impossible that US satellites and Intel drones could have missed thousands of oil trucks entering Turkey from ISIS-controlled Syrian areas.

In Italy, Bologna, prosecutors are investigating Bilal Erdogan with accusations of money-laundering since the beginning of February. Erdogan Jr. had moved to Bologna at the end of 2015 with his family under the guise of finishing his doctorate at the Johns Hopkins University in the Northern Italian city.

He was travelling under diplomatic immunity at the time and seems to have had his “diplomatic pouches” full. He has recently made a hasty getaway from Italy for “security” reasons and although he suggested that he would be returning to Istanbul his exact whereabouts are not clear.

There is mounting evidence that Sarin gas from US-sponsored labs in Georgia was used in a false-flag chemical attack in Ghouta, Syria in 2013 that was blamed on the Assad regime at the time.

It is becoming clear that the attack killing 500 to 1,000 people was carried out with Erdogan’s knowledge and more evidence will come to light as Erdogan is gradually becoming a global persona non grata.

Hundreds of innocent civilians died in the false-flag chemical attack on Ghouta, Syria putting the blame on Assad. King Abdullah of Jordan had some harsh words against Erdogan in a recently-leaked secret meeting with top US politicians held in January 2016.

He basically states that the refugee crisis is orchestrated by Turkish Intelligence for leverage and the export of terrorists to Europe, and highlights Erdogan’s dealings with ISIS in some detail. Granted that the good King is a staunch ally of the US, still where there is smoke, there is fire.

Then there is the story of Reza Zarrab in Turkey. This young “businessman” of Iranian descent became a naturalised Turkish citizen and married a famous singer. But he became a real star back in 2014 in connection with million dollar bribes and a 700,000 Euro watch as a “gift” to an AKP minister.

It turns out he has been scamming Iran and making billion dollar profits along with his mentor Babak Zancani, who is now awaiting execution in Iran for this gold against oil scheme.

Zarrab is currently in US custody for riddling the US embargo on Iran with holes. He faces a 75-year sentence and the mighty US Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York, and is probably spilling the beans for a plea-bargain on how he made prominent AKP ruling party members millionaires (guess where the buck stops).

Elsewhere, the Iraqi Central Government is accusing the Kurdish Regional Government of selling millions of barrels of crude oil behind its back and is demanding billions of dollars of missing revenue in accordance with the Iraqi Constitution.

It is no secret that Erdogan has been buying up Kurdish oil and ISIS oil at less than half the market price and selling it to different “customers” including Israel for years, to the point of rocking the boat for the big oil boys.

There is no way of knowing how much of that money is being used to fund radical Islamic terrorist groups.

As Erdogan comes under increasing international pressure, he is becoming more aggressive and more unpredictable. Unlike the Turkish legal system, he has no control over international legal proceedings.

The astronomical amounts of money he has skimmed for himself is also becoming more difficult to hide. As if you could hide tricky-money from the US, which itself wrote the “international guide-book for shady money transactions”. Delusional and psychotic at the best of times, Erdogan is unlikely to soften as he runs out of options, and we should expect the worst when he is really cornered.

Ending on that note, the families of US military personnel in Turkey, mainly from Incirlik Air Base in Adana, have been ordered by the State Department to evacuate for reasons of “security”. Yet somehow it’s safe to leave more than 80 nuclear weapons in the same air base in the hands of a madman like Erdogan. Incidentally this is NATO’s largest stockpile in Europe, but there are no US nuclear attack planes on base to whisk them away if necessary. And these are no toys either!

The B-61 is more destructive than “Fat Man” in Nagasaki, so how wise is it to leave 80 of them in the hands of an Erdogan?

Despite the fact that they are classed as tactical weapons, a standard B61 air-to-surface nuclear missile carries a punch that may exceed 5 times the devastation of Nagasaki.

Bulgaria officially dismisses reports on Erdogan’s invitiation

March 3, 2016 by administrator

Bulgarian Foreign Ministry’s official spokesperson Betina Zhoteva rejected reports that Bulgaria had invited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to celebrate the Day of Liberation from Ottoman oppression. The official representative labeled the rumors as “crude manipulation” and ” not consistent with reality.” Zhoteva’s comments came at a telephone interview with TASS agency.

“Among participants in official celebrations are heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Sofia. Rumors about inviting the Turkish president are a crude manipulation and not consistent with reality,” Zhoteva said.

As reported earlier, Bulgaria invited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to celebrate the Day of Liberation from Ottoman oppression but did not invite Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters earlier today that the Kremlin has not received an invitation from Bulgaria for Putin to attend the Day of Liberation of Bulgaria but respects this decision of a sovereign country.

Note, that the Day of Liberation in Bulgaria is a national holiday. Bulgaria got its independence after Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. As a result of the war, Ottoman Empire was deprived of a large portion of its territory, and the Bulgarian state was established on March 3, 1878.

He was travelling under diplomatic immunity at the time and seems to have had his “diplomatic pouches” full. He has recently made a hasty getaway from Italy for “security” reasons and although he suggested that he would be returning to Istanbul his exact whereabouts are not clear.

It turns out he has been scamming Iran and making billion dollar profits along with his mentor Babak Zancani, who is now awaiting execution in Iran for this gold against oil scheme.

Elsewhere, the Iraqi Central Government is accusing the Kurdish Regional Government of selling millions of barrels of crude oil behind its back and is demanding billions of dollars of missing revenue in accordance with the Iraqi Constitution.