Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide
This morning on the show The Great visit Europe 1, led by Jean-Pierre Elkabach and Michaël Darmon, Senate President Gerard Larcher, said he is “not in favor of accession” Turkey in the European Union in the current state.
Note that Gérard Larcher is the former president of the friendship group France-Turkey.
After the recent EU-Turkey summit there has been no major breakthrough in tackling the refugee crisis, European media reported. Deutsche Welle cited several European media sources to show their reaction on the current state of affairs.
In particular, DW stressed that with regard to the settlement of the current migration crisis the EU has become very dependent on Turkey. According to the media source, the Turkish side makes one demand after another and the EU has no other choice than to satisfy all of them ignoring its own interests.
The conservative Austrian newspaper Die Presse wrote that it “was Angela Merkel’s mistake to rely solely on Turkey. President Erdogan now believes that he is allowed (almost) everything. The Europeans are quiet and are afraid to utter a word.”
At the same time, Czech newspaper Hospodářské Noviny doubts that the EU and Turkey will be able to achieve positive results over the course of their negotiations. “Even if the parties agree that Turkey would commit to taking care of the maximum possible number of refugees and fighting against illegal migration, we still need to see what just remains on paper and what will actually be implemented.”
For its turn, Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza argues that Turkey could do a lot to save Europe from the consequences of the current migration issue and a Schengen area collapse. “But would not the price be too high? Wouldn’t the agreement with Erdogan mean the betrayal of ourselves?”
The conservative Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzetcan believes that the migration policy of German Chancellor Angela Merkel will soon face a “slow turn,” while French newspaper Le Figaro describes Merkel’s attempts to resolve the current situation with sarcasm and irony. “The German influence is particularly felt at a time when it is moving in the wrong direction, and its partners — especially France — are too weak to bring it to its senses.”
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160312/1036174215/full-obedience-turkey.html#ixzz42hcpvvjn
The Turkish language became an official language of the European institutions in Strasbourg after the promotion of Turkey among the countries most represented in the Council of Europe.
The Council of Europe has adopted Turkish as one of its six official languages with English, French, Russian, German and Italian at its winter session being held in Strasbourg.
The adoption of Turkish as an official language was motivated by the transformation of the Turkish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the number rose from 12 to 18. Turkey has become one the most countries represented in PACE with France, Russia, Germany and the United Kingdom and Italy.
The first speech in Turkish PACE was that of deputy Utku Cakirozer (Republican People’s Party – CHP) during Wednesday’s session.
Speaking to the Anadolu Agency on adoption of Turkish as the official language of the Council, Talip Kucukcan, chairman of the Turkish delegation (Party of Justice and Development – AK Party), said he was “proud” of promote Turkish as a working language at international level.
“The influence of a country is measured by its powers of representation,” he added.
Moreover, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), international court established by the Council of Europe, also adopted Turkish as one of its working languages.
The platform of the Reports of Judgments and Decisions of the Court (HUDOC) has become available in Turkish with English, French and Russian.
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN
The lessons learned from Europe’s decision to reward Turkey is, if you are a despotic leader like Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, you can murder and imprison your citizens and praise Hitler as an “effective leader” and get billions of dollars in taxpayer aid. Hurray for the new world order.
European leaders demonstrated their enslavement to Ankara’s policies, which ignore basic human rights and condone terrorism, by rewarding Turkey billions of dollars in aid and guaranteeing other perks, including the establishment of a visa-free regime.
This kowtowing to Ankara sets a new precedent in international circles of how to hold nations accountable to basic human rights abuses and sends a clear message to despots around the world that killing and maiming their citizens and forced closure of media outlets are not only tolerated, but can also be rewarded if the perpetrator nation can pledge minimum action as long as it preserves European nationalist interests.
International rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and UNHDP, as well as some European Parliament members are up in arms with the European leaders’ decision to grant Ankara a carte blanche in the name of suppressing the tide of migrants into European countries.
By turning a blind eye on human rights abuses, which in Turkey’s case include waging a violent and indiscriminate war against its own Kurdish and other minority citizens, stifling dissident voices by shutting down media outlets through the use of barbaric force and imprisoning any individuals who dares to oppose the regime, European leaders are trampling upon the very democratic value system, based on which Europe’s partnerships are determined with other—developing—nations.
This is a direct consequence, if not a natural progression, resulting from the West’s general and historic ambivalence—or outright disregard—for the realities on the ground, be they in Syria, the Middle East or elsewhere in the world. All one has to do is reflect back on Europe’s posturing in the same part of the world a hundred years ago to know that the more things change, the more they stay the same. A 100 year ago, while Germany and France seemed to be on opposing sides, Germany’s support for the Ottoman Empire and France’s and Britain’s ignoring of the so-called realities on the ground paved the way for the Armenian Genocide.
So Europe’s pledge of billions of dollars in aid and easing of travel restrictions among other perks, will, most definitely, allow Ankara to carry out its crimes and perhaps escalate its campaign against the Kurds into a full-blown Genocide, since nobody is watching, or those that are have relinquished their powers to intervene.
The same forgiving policy is also being carried out by the United States. Despite voicing “concern” over human rights violations by Ankara, which don’t even amount to a slap on the wrist, the US continues to defend Turkey and praise it as an important and critical ally in this farce that also known as the “war on terror” or the “fight against ISIS.”
In fact, as recently as Tuesday, US Ambassador to Armenia, who is on a tour of Armenian communities on the West Coast (the press has been excluded from this visit—at least Asbarez has been) has dismissed criticism of Turkey by praising Ankara for its generosity in allowing the US to use the Incirlik airbase in the fight against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Da’esh. I am certain that Ambassador Mills has also dismissed the notion that Turkey has aided and abetted the rise of ISIS, despite his own colleague’s, former US Ambassador to Turkey Francis J. Ricciardone’s assertion that Turkey has systematically turned a blind eye on the flow of Islamic militants into Syria through it porous border.
How long will it take for the Obama Administration to further sweeten the already saccharine pot and embrace Turkey’s uncivilized regime?
Below is an article posted by The Telegraph
Haggling in a Turkish bazaar is not an experience most Westerners enjoy at the best of times. But it becomes especially unpleasant when you discover that, having agreed a price, you then become a victim of blatant extortion. That is certainly how EU leaders must be feeling after their bruising encounter with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to find a workable solution to the refugee crisis that is threatening mainland Europe.
Writing on these pages on Tuesday, William Hague, our former foreign secretary, revealed the high regard in which he held Mr Davutoglu during his four-year tenure at King Charles Street. And it is easy to understand why the Turkish politician became the object of Mr Hague’s admiration when you look at the way he has run rings around his EU opposite numbers.
Not so long ago it was the case that, in terms of the EU’s relations with Turkey, it was Brussels that held all the trump cards. Numerous initiatives undertaken by Ankara to join the EU were hindered by the demands of Brussels – from resolving the long-standing dispute over Cyprus to improving Turkey’s woeful human rights record.
Now, thanks to the migration crisis, the tables have turned dramatically, so that it is Ankara, not Brussels, that finds itself holding all the aces, a drastic change in circumstance the Turks are determined to exploit for their own advantage.
The most graphic illustration of Turkey’s new assertiveness emerged in Brussels in the early hours of Monday morning after Mr Davutoglu had invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel to dinner at the Turkish Embassy, ostensibly to discuss the terms of the refugee deal negotiated over several weeks by EU President Donald Tusk. Instead Turkey’s prime minister presented her with a completely new set of demands that read more like a ransom note than a bargaining position.
In return for agreeing to the repatriation of migrants being shipped to Greece by Turkish people-smuggling gangs – the so-called “one in, one out” deal – Turkey is demanding an extra three billion euros added to the three billion euros the EU has already pledged. In addition, Ankara wants full-scale visa liberalisation for Turkish citizens visiting the EU by June, an acceleration of Turkey’s application for EU membership and a pledge to resettle in Europe many of the Syrian refugees Turkey agrees to take in.
Such is the EU’s desperation to fix the migrant crisis that it now has little option other than to accede to Ankara’s demands. But if the Turks think that by indulging in blackmail this will somehow help to improve their relations with Europe, they should think again.
For a start, the suggestion that Turkey still remains interested in joining the EU can only be described as a bad joke. Just a few days before Mr Davutoglu’s démarche to Mrs Merkel in Brussels, Turkish riot police were busy raiding the offices of Turkey’s main anti-government newspaper, Zaman, arresting its senior journalists and firing tear gas at demonstrators. This is not the conduct of a country that is serious about joining an organisation like the EU, where the protection of all human rights – including press freedom – is pursued with obsessive zeal.
Moreover, the increasingly pro-Islamist agenda being pursued by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has placed him on a far more worrying collision course with his European neighbours.
Mr Erdogan likes to claim that, with an estimated three million Syrian refugees already seeking sanctuary in Turkey, his country cannot cope with the influx. But he is conveniently overlooking the fact that Turkey would not be in this position if its government had prevented jihadists from freely crossing its borders to travel to the war zones in Syria and Iraq. Indeed, it has been suggested that Ankara, which supports the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has links with Islamic State (Isil) militants fighting across the border in Syria.
Furthermore, when British counter-terrorism officials warn, as they did earlier this week, that Britain today finds itself at risk from “enormous and spectacular” terrorist attacks, this is in large part due to Turkey’s disinclination to monitor the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees crossing its border. Many of the returning jihadists who now pose a threat to our security have made their way to the UK courtesy of Turkey’s unpoliced migrant routes.
If Turkey were really serious about forging a closer relationship with Europe, then it would be more proactive in monitoring those from Isil and other Islamist-inspired terror groups that seek to do us harm.
For the moment the EU might be desperate to keep the Turks onside as it tackles the worst migration crisis in living memory. But in the long term we should take the view that, so long as Turkey remains under its present leadership, it would be foolhardy to regard her as an ally in whom we can place our trust.
THE HAGUE – The 
in Europe under the leadership of Prime Minister Mark Rutte to the Turks, who never keep appointments and have gotten everything they wanted. “” So PVV leader Geert Wilders decides on the principle deal with the European Union with the Turks on the processing of the flow of refugees.
It is the total abandonment and what we get in return, I have not seen anything yet. Rutte has let piepelen squared ” said Wilders ,, by a totalitarian regime, also known as the North Korea called on the Bosphorus. ”
CDA leader Sybrand Buma is also highly critical of the arrangements with the Turks. Rutte has Europe really made in the sale, he said, ,, Turkey may then what it wants and gets it demands ”.
Buma points to the agreements between the EU and Turkey-November. Turkey would stop the boats with refugees towards Greece in exchange for 3 billion. ,, But Turkey has waved the boats, for months, ” said Buma. ,, And now say the Turks: We want to still do what we promised in November, but we want three billion additional, previously visa freedom, and we want a better view of accession to the European Union. Then you will be handed over to Turkey. ”
After the summit on Monday, the Turks want to take back illegal migrants who come to Europe, as EU countries include recognized Syrian refugees in Turkish camps. The EU should not have to provide 3 but 6 billion for the refugee camps in Turkey. Turkey also wants the process to allow Turks to travel visa-free to Europe and the accession negotiations be accelerated to the EU.
When the Ankara government carried out a brutal media crackdown at the weekend and then saw minimal Western protest as a result, President Erdogan knew he had the upper-hand – to leverage the refugee crisis.
It seems more than strange that, only three days before a high-profile summit was to take place between European Union leaders and Turkey on Europe’s refugee crisis, the Ankara authorities carried out an audacious assault on democratic rights.
The violent police seizure of Turkey’s biggest opposition newspaper, Zaman, and its immediate cowing into a tame pro-government publication represents the most brazen authoritarian move to date by the ruling AK party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkish opposition politicians denounced the full-frontal assault on independent media as tantamount to a coup d’état by Erdogan.
But the Western response to the draconian display of state power was more muted than ever. There was hardly any Western media coverage of the Zaman seizure. Both Washington and the EU merely issued perfunctory statements of “concern,” and breathlessly urged Ankara to respect “free speech” and “core European values.”
In recent months, Erdogan has been locking up journalists and closing critical media outlets. Under his increasingly autocratic rule, the Ankara authorities have prosecuted thousands of citizens who have “insulted” the president through social media.
More gravely, Erdogan has ordered a bloody wave of repression against ethnic Kurds in the country’s southeast, with disturbing reports of mass killings by Turkish troops. Turkish military have also been shelling across the border at Kurdish positions in Syria for several weeks now.
It is not as if EU leaders are oblivious to Erdogan’s rogue conduct. An EU report issued in November highlighted the growing repression of human rights. But still Erdogan continued his autocratic power-grab anyway. And the full-scale assault on an opposition news media outlet at the weekend is arguably his most flagrant move yet. The timing suggests it was a gambit to test EU resolve.
In other words, Erdogan knew from the Western silence and empty platitudes that there would be no repercussions for his repressive gambit. And why was that? Because, as Erdogan is all too aware, the EU is on its knees to gain his cooperation on ending the refugee crisis assailing its very foundations. That, in turn, meant that he could send his prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, to Brussels to extract whopping concessions.
Significantly, at the last minute before the Brussels summit opened on Monday, Turkey’s premier Davutoglu pulled out “some new ideas.” One of those “new ideas” was that Ankara was no longer requesting $3.3 billion in EU aid, as it had done four months previously. Ankara was now demanding double the money.
Davutoglu hinted at the upper-hand when he arrived in Brussels, saying: “The whole future of Europe is on the table.” And he also let it be known that Turkey was talking more than just refugees, adding that Ankara expected “a new era in Turkey-EU relations.”
The upshot of negotiations in Brussels this week is that Turkey is to receive a 100 percent increase in promised financial aid from the European Union – to $6.6 billion – supposedly for accommodating Syrian refugees on its territory.
Ankara also wrung a promise from Euroland that its 75 million citizens could avail of visa-free travel by as early as June this year; and, perhaps the biggest prize of all, Turkey got a commitment from Brussels to speed up its long-delayed accession to the European Union.
A Financial Times report hinted at the delicate balancing act: “EU leaders tread carefully over Turkey’s media crackdown,” adding: “Leaders careful not to jeopardize deal with Ankara on migration.”
In theory, the EU has been spared the nightmare scenario of thousands of refugees crossing on a daily basis from Turkey into Greece and thence further north. The uncontrolled migration over the past year was threatening the very existence of the 28-nation EU, with member states publicly bickering over closed borders and perceived unfair burdens.
Five years after a bribery scandal broke out in the European Parliament, former MEP Adrian Severin, who was also lobbying Azerbaijan’s interests in the EP, was sentenced to 3,3 years in prison in Romania for attempting to make changes in the European Union legislation in exchange for up to 100 thousand euros, according to The Sunday Times.
The story, known as the “cash-for-laws scandal,” goes back to 2011, when a group of journalists from The Sunday Times posed as lobbyists and offered money to 60 MEPs for adopting amendments watering down rules protecting bank customers across Europe. Adrian Severin, former Foreign Minister of Romania; Zoran Thaler, former Foreign Minister of Slovenia; and Ernst Strasser, Foreign Minister of Austria, agreed to the deal, according to the EurActiv.
Back then, the European Parliament said in a press release that on 21 March 2011, “the Romanian National Anti-Corruption Department instituted proceedings against Mr Severin on the basis that between December 2010 and March 2011 he allegedly accepted an offer of payment of €100,000 from representatives of a fake lobbying company ‘Taylor Jones Public Affairs’ (created by the ‘Sunday Times’)” to adopt amendments favourable for them and vote against those going against the interests of the company they represented. FOCUS information agency reports that a video filmed on the journalists’ hidden camera shows him agreeing to receive 4000 euros a day for his work. This prompted the European Parliament to waive Severin’s parliamentary immunity.
After being offered the deal, Severin, the vice-president of the Socialist Group (the second biggest in the EP), asked an unsuspecting colleague to table the amendment offered by the disguised lobbyists. The EurActiv cites an email sent from Severin to the reporters “just to let you know that the amendment desired by you has been tabled in due time,” before sending them a 12 thousand euro invoice for “consulting services.” Later Severin said he had done nothing illegal.
As a result, a political scandal broke out. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the European Parliament initiated an investigation into the case to punish the above-mentioned MEPs. However, the problem was that both the rules of the OLAF and the Codes of Conduct and Ethics of the European Parliament referred to misuse of public money rather than a private lobbying company. Therefore, the issue was to be solved in the frameworks of the legislation of the countries the MEPs under question were representing. Meanwhile, the media reported about Severin’s exclusion from the Socialist Group in 2011. However, he refused to leave his seat in the European Parliament and remained there until the completion of his term in 2014.
According to the Lawyer Herald, a law news portal, Adrian Severin’s sentence was possible because, under the Romanian Penal Code, giving bribe implies the promise, offering or giving money or other benefits.
In their time, there were different media reports about the above MEPs being lobbyists of the interests of various forces. In particular, the Russian service of Radio France Internationale called Adrian Severin “an open defender of Azerbaijan.”
Severin’s pro-Azerbaijan position was expressed both in his support of the country during votes and in his written questions, which are available on the EP website. Back in 2008, in response to a speech by Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European Commissioner for Trade and European Neighbourhood Policy, where she addressed the Georgian crisis and noted the EU’s commitment to offering support to Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova as regards their territorial integrity and sovereignty, Severin expressed his protest over “the omission of Azerbaijan from the speech by Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner.” Further, he asked the Commission to say whether it was “ready to prepare a plan to advance its relations and to step up its cooperation with Azerbaijan.”
In 2013, the Romanian MEP asked another written question to the Commission for the European Neighbourhood Policy. In the question, he noted that “Azerbaijan has an important regional role in the energy security, geoeconomic, geostrategic and cultural fields.” He also made an inquiry about the EU’s “alternatives” to define “the basis of a strategic partnership with Azerbaijan, including a declaration of the EU’s unequivocal support for Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity, during the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius.” He asked the Commission whether the EU was committed to signing a visa facilitation agreement with Azerbaijan.
Severin was the last protagonist of the scandal to be sent to prison. Ernst Strasser was sentenced to four years in 2013, and Zoran Thaler received a two-and-a-half-year prison term in 2014. Before that, unlike the Romanian politician, they resigned as the scandal broke.
Foreign minister Edward Nalbandian met Tuesday, March 1 with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini in Yerevan.
At the meeting, the parties thoroughly discussed Armenia-EU ties and negotiations on forming a new legal basis for relations, also dwelling upon Armenia’s participation in projects on political dialogue, human rights, mobility, economic reforms among other things.
The Armenian foreign policy chief thanked EU for its continuous support to the country, having played a significant role for reforms implementation and institutional capacity building.
Analyzing the situation in the Middle East, Nalbandian stressed that Armenia has so far hosted around 20,000 Syrian refugees, adding that EU’s possible assistance in this context would be quite appreciated.
Minister Nalbandian also briefed Mogherini on the latest developments of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship. Mogherini, in turn, reaffirmed the EU’s support to the mediators’ efforts towards the peaceful settlement of the conflict.
At the end of the meeting, Nalbandian restated Armenia’s determination to go for an exclusively peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.
The European Parliament demanded Thursday an embargo on arms supplies to Saudi Arabia, criticizing its airstrikes in Yemen and the maritime blockade imposed on the country, which made “thousands of deaths”.
In a resolution adopted by a large majority at a plenary session in Brussels, MEPs call on the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini, to “launch an initiative to impose an arms embargo EU against Saudi Arabia. “
They condemn “the coalition airstrikes led by Saudi and the naval blockade it has imposed in Yemen, which have led to thousands of deaths, and yet further destabilized” the country. In a statement, the humanitarian organization Action against Hunger was immediately welcomed that the EU “finally spoke again on this crisis, one of the most serious in the world today.”
While the text is not binding but for Mike Penrose, CEO of Action against Hunger France, “this resolution is a signal to all Member States inviting them to break the silence and to no longer participate in disaster humanitarian underway in Yemen. “
Riyadh led since March 2015 Arab-Sunni coalition in Yemen against Houthi Shiite rebels, accused of being supported by Iran. These, from their stronghold of Saada (north), took control of many areas including the capital Sanaa. The government recognized by the international community based in Aden (south), although its leaders often stay in Riyadh for security reasons. The conflict in Yemen has more than 6,100 dead, nearly half civilians, and about 30,000 injured, according to the UN.
The United States is the leading arms supplier to Saudi Arabia, with sales reaching $ 90 billion between 2010 and 2014 by the Congress, but the main countries of the EU have also recently delivered bombs, equipment or signed arms contracts for billions of euros. According to Avaaz NGOs, including an online petition collected 750,000 signatures, the United Kingdom has authorized in 2015 the sale of fighter jets and unmanned Paveway bombs. France signed in October 2015 contracts with Saudi Arabia in the maritime and military sectors whose value is estimated at more than ten billion euros, says Avaaz.
The UN expressed concern early January of the use of cluster munitions in Yemen by the Arab coalition led by Riyadh, saying they had received “disturbing reports” about their use in attacks against residential areas and buildings civilians in Sanaa on 6 January.
Its secretary-general Ban Ki-moon warned Riyadh, noting that it “could constitute a war crime.”