EU Rewards Turkish State Terrorism

December 1, 2015 By administrator

BY Finian Cunningham,

Only days after Turkey’s fatal shoot-down of a Russian warplane, the European Union announces it is giving the Ankara government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan €3 billion in a “deal” allegedly aimed at halting the flow of refugees to the EU.

At best, the EU is bumbling in a completely misguided way to tackle the refugee crisis stemming from the Syrian conflict; at worst, and more accurately, the European bloc is effectively rewarding Turkey for an act of state terrorism.

This crass move by Brussels will serve to embolden the Ankara regime in its criminal policy of fuelling regime change in Syria. It will also deepen the EU’s complicity in a criminal war of aggression on Syria. While European citizens are suffering economic austerity, soaring poverty and unemployment their governments see fit to indulge the Ankara regime with €3 billion ($3.4 billion)

Let’s get some facts straight. Russia’s Ministry of Defence has released objective flight data which shows beyond doubt that on November 24, Turk F-16 fighter jets violated the Syrian border and fired an air-to-air missile at a Russian Su-24 bomber. The Russian aircraft was at all times within Syrian territory and posed no threat to Turkey’s security.

The Russian data also shows that two Turkish F-16s were already in the air in the location. The timely presence of a Turkish film crew and Syrian militia on the ground awaiting the Russian jet crash also substantiates claims by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that this was a “planned ambush” that resulted in the brutal killing of a Russian pilot and later a Russian soldier attempting a rescue mission.

On the same day — Sunday — that the EU announced its €3 billion payout to Turkey, the Ankara regime said it was making arrangements to send back the corpse of the Russian pilot to Moscow. The airman was slain by radical Islamist Turkmen militia in northern Syria as he parachuted to the ground — a gross war crime. The fact that the pilot’s remains were hauled across the border and ended up in the custody of the Turk authorities is one more proof that the Ankara regime of Recep Erdogan is working hand-in-hand with illegally armed groups inside Syria.

The Turk shoot-down of the Russian jet was thus an act of aggression, an act of war, or more bluntly, a thuggish bout of state terrorism.

This is only the tip of a vile iceberg. The rightwing authoritarian Erdogan regime has been running a giant racket of oil smuggling and weapons supply to the jihadist mercenaries in Syria. These mercenaries are state-sponsored terrorists fighting a criminal covert war for regime change against the elected government of President Bashar al-Assad. This regime-change war is orchestrated by Washington, Britain and France, along with Turkey and the Gulf Arab dictatorships of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Owing to Turkey’s shared border with Syria, Ankara has played a particularly significant role in funnelling weapons and mercenaries into Syria. Paid in part by crude oil stolen by the terror groups from Syrian state-owned oilfields.

Independent Turk media have uncovered this oil-for-arms racket, from as early as two years ago. The editor of Cumhuriyet newspaper, Can Dundar, was last weekend arrested on charges of “treason” and “spying” because he published articles which proved that Turk state intelligence has been ferrying convoys of heavy weapons into Syria. The editor and another colleague are facing up to 45 years in prison.

The arrests of the journalists are just part of a general crackdown by Erdogan’s regime against other newspapers and social media outlets that dare to circulate verifiable articles exposing the gun-running racket. This is the conduct of a despotic regime — a regime which is being feted by the European Union, as the handshakes and smiling faces in Brussels at the weekend attest to, on top of a fat cheque for €3 billion. So much for European values of “freedom of speech”.

Indisputably, Russia’s military intervention in Syria — on behalf of the Damascus government as permitted under international law — was the motive for why Turkey perpetrated its aggression. Russian President Vladimir Putin called it a “stab in the back”.

Russia’s air power, in conjunction with Syrian army ground forces, has been annihilating the Western, Arab, Turk conspiracy against Syria. Russian warplanes have decimated the illegal oil trade and the weapons-supply routes from Turkey into Syria. Erdogan and his son, Bilal, are personally involved and profiting from the oil-for-weapons racket. The Russian damage inflicted was intolerable and so Erdogan regime lashed out. It remains to be seen if Washington had a hand in

the dirty deed.

But there is a lot more to Turkey’s heinous role in Syria’s torment. From the outset of the foreign-instigated conflict in Syria back in March 2011, Ankara embarked on a terrorist recruiting drive by unleashing the flow of refugees. Syrian sources have told this author that the Turkey regime has used the refugee camps on its territory as recruiting and training camps to form jihadist brigades. There are currently some two million Syrian refugee centres in Turkey, which Ankara claims it has spent $8 billion on for “humanitarian aid”.

No doubt many of the displaced are genuine cases of people fleeing from war zones. Nevertheless, there is abundant evidence to show that camps are being used as training and repair centres for mercenaries under the auspices of the Turk authorities. Erdogan’s 34-year-old daughter Sumeyye reportedly runs a hospital in Turkey’s southeast province of Sanluirfa. But this is not a medical centre for civilian refugees. It is where wounded mercenaries get patched up.

There are also camps in Turkey’s southwestern provinces of Hatay and Adana where Turk, American CIA and other NATO special forces are involved in training jihadists like the Turkmen who butchered the Russian pilot last week.

The notion that Turkey is generously tending to the refugees out of humanitarian concern is a cynical ruse.

There is also evidence that the Erdogan regime has deliberately opened human trafficking routes to the European Union via Greece and the Balkans, with the callous calculation that the resulting refugee crisis in Europe will act as a political lever on governments to extract concessions.

With up to a million refugees streaming into the EU this year alone, the German government of Angela Merkel is particularly under pressure to stem the flow. Merkel has latterly become the most vocal of the EU leaders approving the €3 billion payout to Turkey and promising to push on with Turkey’s accession to the 28-nation bloc.

No wonder discontent among the EU’s 500 million population is at record levels. EU leaders are increasingly seen as being lightyears removed from pressing social realities by voters. Rewarding a terrorist-supporting regime in Ankara with billions of euro of taxpayers’ money may be the final straw. The Erdogan ruling clique will use this money to fund more aggression in Syria, thereby creating an ever-worsening refugee crisis for Europe.

EU member states, Britain and France, had already blackened Europe’s reputation with their bilateral participation in regime change in

Syria. Now the whole EU bloc is systematically complicit in this war crime through its direct funding of a state sponsor of terror — Turkey.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.

UK: leader Independence Party slams EU over visa deal with Turkey “collective insanity”

November 30, 2015 By administrator

A deal to grant Turkish citizens visa-free access to the European Union is “collective insanity”, a British politician has said.

Nigel Farage, whose far right U.K. Independence Party (UKIP) wants Britain to pull out of the EU, said the agreement would open Europe and Britain to up to 75 million Turkish citizens.

Sunday’s agreement between Turkey and the European Union would grant visa-free travel for Turkish citizens from October 2016 if Ankara takes steps to stem the flow of refugees coming into Europe.

But the travel agreement would only cover countries in the EU’s Schengen zone, which the U.K. is not part of.

UKIP leader Farage told the Sun the deal was “collective insanity”.

He told the newspaper Monday: “Free EU visa travel for 75 million Turkish citizens is another reason to vote to leave the EU and take back control of our borders.”

His comments came a day after he said German Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted to “fast-track” Turkish membership of the EU.

Farage told Sky News: “And what that will mean is 75 million people will have freedom of movement to come to the rest of Europe and to this country.”

He also claimed that 8 percent of the Turkish population are Daesh sympathizers, citing a opinion poll without naming the pollster, although it raised parallels with an earlier survey in the Sun last week that claimed 20 percent of British Muslims “had sympathy” for Daesh.

Survation, which conducted the Sun survey, subsequently distanced itself from the way it was reported in the newspaper.

“Our view remains that the most meaningful way to interpret the results of this polling is in the proper context alongside a comparable sample of non-Muslims, as we did in March of this year using identical methodology and the same question wording,” the pollster said in a statement last week.

Belgian Prime Minister: “We are still far from a Turkish accession to the European Union”

November 30, 2015 By administrator

The three billion euros in aid promised by the European Union to Turkey must not go to the Turkish Government but to the organizations working in the field for Refugees, said Sunday night the Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel to Following an EU-Turkey summit in Brussels. The three billion euros will be released gradually in tranches, depending on the signs of goodwill shown by Turkey. The first tranche of 400 to 500 million euros, will be paid by the European Commission.

The money does not go to the Turkish government, but NGOs and associations who help refugees on the ground. A monitoring will be implemented to ensure that Turkey complies with the commitments made.

Read more, see link below

Turkey to help EU curb Refugees in Extortion of Billions $$ cash, and EU membership talks

November 29, 2015 By administrator

Turkey will help the European Union handle the flow of migrants that has called into question the future of Europe’s passport-free travel in exchange for cash and restarting stalled talks on EU accession, according to the draft conclusions of an EU-Turkey summit scheduled to be held Nov. 29, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

“Both sides will, as agreed and with immediate effect, step up their active cooperation on migrants who are not in need of international protection, preventing travel to Turkey and the EU, ensuring the application of the established bilateral readmission provisions and swiftly returning migrants who are not in need of international protection to their countries of origin,” the draft, seen by Reuters, said.

In exchange, Turkey will get 3 billion euros of initial aid to handle the refugees on its territory. The amount might be adjusted later on depending on developments, the draft said.

The EU would also open in December the next chapter of negotiations with Turkey in its accession talks to the EU, which have been dragging on since 2005, and prepare further chapters for discussion in the first three months of next year.

The EU also aims to lift the need for visas for Turks travelling to the EU in October 2016 if Ankara meets certain criteria specified in an agreed roadmap, said the draft, which may still be changed after the talks which start at 1500 GMT.

EU condemns days-long curfews in Turkey’s Diyarbakır

November 19, 2015 By administrator

Kurds walk past a destroyed building in a street in the Silvan, Diyarbakır, after clashes between Turkish forces and Kurdish militants ended in the embattled town, on November 14, 2015. (AFP)

A European human rights body has strongly condemned the Turkish government for its days-long curfews imposed across the country’s predominantly Kurdish southeastern province of Diyarbakır.

In a single-page statement issued on Wednesday by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks, Turkish government’s “frequent and widespread” use of curfews in the towns of the southeastern region was described as disproportionate and unnecessary.

“Imposing open-ended, round-the-clock curfews in entire neighborhoods or towns until further notice represents a massive restriction of some of the most fundamental human rights of a huge population,” said Muiznieks.

On November 3, Ankara declared a curfew in three neighborhoods of Silvan, a town in Diyarbakır, in order to battle militants belonging to Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and members of the Patriotic Revolutionist Youth Movement (YDG-H). During the 12-day curfew, Turkish security forces backed up by tanks and combat helicopters launched a large-scale operation against the militants that led to the death of six civilians.

Muiznieks stated that he received “very distressing allegations of human rights violations during this last curfew.”

“I therefore urge the Turkish authorities to reconsider this practice and ensure that in the future anti-terror operations are more limited in scope and the disruption of public life is strictly proportionate to the aims pursued,” the statement further read.

Turkey has been engaged in a large-scale military campaign against the PKK across the mainly Kurdish southeastern and eastern regions of Turkey, and in northern Iraq, since a two-year ceasefire broke down in July.

The operations began in the wake of a deadly bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruç, an ethnically Kurdish town located close to border with Syria, on July 20, killing over 30 people.

The Turkish security forces and the PKK have since been engaged in a series of tit-for-tat attacks.

Source: presstv

EU slams Turkey over rule of law, free speech

November 10, 2015 By administrator

The European Union accused Turkey on November 10 of backsliding on the rule of law, rights and the media, calling on the new government to take urgent action in a sensitive report that Brussels held back until after elections, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
The scathing report on Ankara’s EU candidacy, originally due for release before the vote that returned the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to power, praised Turkey for housing Syrian refugees and for cooperating on the migration crisis.
But it was severely critical of the domestic situation in Turkey, saying that there had been “serious backsliding” on freedom of expression and that the judiciary had been undermined.
“The report emphasizes an overall negative trend in the respect for the rule of law and fundamental rights,” said a summary of the report’s key findings by the European Commission, the EU’s powerful executive arm.
Turkey’s commitment to joining the 28-nation bloc was “offset” by domestic actions that “ran against European standards,” it added.
“The new government formed after the repeat election on Nov. 1 will need to address these urgent priorities,” the summary said.

The report highlighted criminal cases against journalists and writers, intimidation of media outlets and changes to Internet law.
“After several years of progress on freedom of expression, serious backsliding was seen over the past two years,” it said.
It added that the “independence of the judiciary and the principle of separation of powers have been undermined since 2014 and judges and prosecutors have been under strong political pressure.”

Turkey had meanwhile seen a “severe deterioration of its security situation.”
The harsh report had been expected to be released in October but was held back until after the elections, in which the AKP stormed back to a majority.
Its release comes just over a month after the EU announced a refugee cooperation deal with Turkey, the main launching point for migrants coming to Europe, including a possible three billion euros ($3.3 billion) in aid.
The deal included pushing forward Turkey’s long-stalled accession process and speeding up visa liberalization for Turks travelling to the EU.
Turkey applied for EU membership in 1987 and accession talks began in 2005, but Ankara has since completed just one of the 33 “chapters” needed to join the bloc.

EU: Game Changing’ Snowden Resolution Protects Rights of All EU Citizens

November 1, 2015 By administrator

Edward Snowden’s legal representative in Hong Kong told Sputnik that last week’s resolution from the European parliament to prevent Snowden’s extradition is a progressive step to protect the rights of citizens in the EU.

The approval by the European Union parliament of a resolution that calls on member states to prevent Edward Snowden’s extradition to the US marks a “natural progression” to ensure greater protection for the rights of EU citizens, lawyer Robert Tibbo told Radio Sputnik on Sunday.

Despite the vote having no legal force, the resolution to offer protection from extradition to Snowden “definitely falls into a game-changing set of resolutions,” said Tibbo, who represented Edward Snowden in Hong Kong.
“The EU has resolved to recognize that from its 2014 EU parliament report, necessary changes need to be made relating to electronic mass surveillance by government.”

The report identified issues such as a lack of transparency and government oversight, and deficiencies in policies and legislation that should ensure the privacy rights and human rights of EU citizens are not violated by surveillance programs, said the lawyer.
“The European Union in 2014 also mentioned the necessity to provide policy legislation and mechanisms to protect whistleblowers,” explained Tibbo.
“That was a year and a half ago, and the resolution last week by the European Parliament was a recognition that European Union members have not done enough so far in terms of bringing about those changes.”
The resolution that was passed on October 29 was a “very significant step,” said Tibbo, which follows a previous resolution in 2013, the 2014 report and a report from the UN rapporteur on human rights as early as 2009, which warned about a lack of protection for civilians’ privacy and human rights.
“With Snowden’s revelations, there was a significant drop in trust between the European Union and the United States, and the European Union is simply moving forward, building up that trust again with the United States government.”
“This is a natural progression, the European Union, based on evidence, based on law and policy, they are making rational decisions on how to move forward to protect European Union citizen’s rights.”

Greek Cyprus vows to block Turkey’s EU bid

October 19, 2015 By administrator

Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides gestures during an interview with Reuters on June 15, 2015. (Photo: Reuters)

Greek Cyprus said on Monday that it would not end its veto of Turkey‘s accession negotiations with the European Union, potentially scuppering EU leaders’ plans to “re-energize” the talks in return for Ankara’s help in tackling Europe’s migrant crisis.

The conflict-divided eastern Mediterranean island has a long list of grievances against Turkey, its giant northern neighbor. It has blocked the accession talks for several years, citing the presence of Turkish troops in the Turkish-speaking north of the island.

“The reasons [the negotiations] were frozen have not ceased to exist,” Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides told the Greek state broadcaster NET. “As things presently stand, we cannot give our consent [to their resumption].”

EU leaders last week pledged renewed consideration of the long-stalled accession talks with Ankara, cash and easier visa terms in return for its help in tackling a migration crisis that has seen hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East and Africa pour into Europe.

Almost half a million people, including many Syrians fleeing war in their homeland, have entered the EU this year, mainly crossing from Turkey to EU member Greece. Turkey itself has provided shelter for some 2.2 million Syrian refugees.

Kasoulides referred specifically to two chapters, or policy areas in accession negotiations, one concerning the judiciary and fundamental rights and the other dealing with justice, freedom and security.

Greek Cyprus, an EU member state since 2004, has been split along ethnic lines since a Turkish intervention in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup.

Greek Cyprus is blocking the accession talks because Turkey still keeps troops in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), whose government is recognized only by Ankara. The EU considers the Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia to represent the whole island.

On-off peace talks

Greek Cyprus is currently blocking six of the 35 chapters Turkey must conclude as part of its accession negotiations. These include energy, where Turkey has attempted to challenge Greek Cyprus’s right to explore for oil and gas in a region that has recently yielded some of the world’s biggest natural gas finds in a decade.

In addition to Greek Cyprus, some other EU member states have been at best lukewarm about the possible future admission of Turkey, a large, mainly Muslim nation that borders unstable, conflict-riven countries such as Syria and Iraq.

On-off peace talks over the years to reunite the island as a federation have so far failed, but diplomats say a present round of talks are showing encouraging signs of progress.

Kasoulides, who was in Athens to address an interfaith conference, said talks had not yet reached the stage where the sides had “mirror image” positions but said he was hopeful of progress as talks went on.

A former British colony, Cyprus has a complex governance system where Britain, Greece and Turkey are “guarantors” of the island in the event of a disruption to constitutional order. Greek Cyprus wants to abolish those guarantees, used as a pretext for military intervention in the past.

“These guarantees cannot be accepted as a means to make either Greek or Turkish Cypriots feel safe,” Kasoulides said.

‘Criminal’ EU Does Not Deserve the Right to Exist – Austrian Magazine

October 17, 2015 By administrator

The EU has betrayed its own democratic values when it called on Russia to stop supporting the legitimate president of Syria and backed revolutionaries willing to overthrow the legitimate Syrian government, Austrian Contra Magazin wrote.

“Who decides whether an elected head of a state can keep his office, or has to resign? The EU? The USA?” Assad was and will be the only stabilizing factor in the Middle East, although the US and its ally Saudi Arabia make every effort to overthrow him and his government, the magazine wrote.

According to the magazine, the United States used to demonstrate its power and behavior of being an exceptional state which sought to rule the world. The EU has also started to follow the path of this type and has turned into a totally dependent vassal of the US.
The author argued that no one allowed the EU to involve the population of its member countries in armed conflicts and intervene into regions, which the Union has nothing to do with.
When the EU called on Russia to stay away from supporting the legitimate head of state who had asked for help and at the same time backed the opposition seeking a governmental coup, it did not act as a union which promotes rule of law and democracy, but rather as a criminal association that furthers anarchy in the name of all its member countries.
The peoples of the European Union would not want such an EU if they were asked their opinion. The Union has become so disgusting that there is only one solution: to abolish it completely and immediately, the article said.

“The excuse that this is about Russia and therefore any form of the war idiocy is allowed is not only ridiculous, but also old, naive, stupid, inflammatory, apolitical and criminal; because Russia has done nothing wrong and is doing nothing wrong. Assad has asked Russia for help against the ISIL and that’s what Russia is currently dealing with,” the magazine reported.

Source: sputniknews.com

Turkey Blackmail EU with Refugees: EU Throws Money at Turkey to Stem Migrant Crisis $3.4 billion

October 16, 2015 By administrator

European Union leaders have agreed to pay Turkey US$3.4 billion and allow visa-free EU travel for its citizens in return for Ankara doing its utmost to stem the tide of asylum-seekers crossing its borders to reach Europe.
The deal — reached just two weeks ahead of a general election in Turkey — has been criticized by some for adding impetus to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s campaign amid claims over his human rights record and policies toward, among others, the Kurds and the media.
The deal also includes a promise of expediting negotiations over Turkey’s accession into the European Union, but AK Party spokesman Omer Celik said the US$3.4 billion should not be seen as a matter of “political bribery”. He said nothing had been concluded with the EU over the handling of migrant and refugee flows, but that talks were continuing.
“Bordering on Insanity”
The process of becoming an EU member is divided into chapters, but Turkey’s bid has stalled in recent years over sharp differences on issues such as rule-of-law and rights. But the major issue is over Cyprus where — in 1974 — Turkey occupied a third of the island in response to an Athens-backed coup aimed at annexing Cyprus to Greece.

Turkey refuses to acknowledge the Republic of Cyprus (an EU member since 2004) as the sole authority on the island, and recognizes the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus since its establishment in 1983.

This has been a major sticking point in the question of the accession of Turkey into the EU as a full member. Another is a dispute over territorial sea limits between the two nations.
Summit chairman Donald Tusk, expressed “cautious optimism” saying:
“Our intensified meetings with Turkish leaders… in the last couple of weeks were devoted to one goal: stemming the migratory flows that go via Turkey to the EU. The action plan is a major step in this direction.”
However, the plans to allow visa-free access for Turkish citizens to the EU was branded “bordering on insanity” by Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-EU UKIP Party:
“This Commission proposal is bordering on insanity. Agreeing to liberalize border requirements for 75 million Turkish nationals is a form of EU madness.”
“From a cost, security and cultural perspective, this is completely the wrong move.
“If Cameron and Co allow this to happen it’s the British people who will be the turkeys at Christmas. Yet another reason to leave the EU.”

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151016/1028613815/eu-turkey-refugee-crisis-deal.html#ixzz3okOBaG9d