Egypt to join EEU in 2016 – ambassador

June 2, 2015 By administrator

Egypt intends to establish a free trade zone with the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), comprising Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia, by the end of 2016, the Egyptian ambassador to Russia told Sputnik.

A free trade zone deal between the sides was discussed in February during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Cairo. Egypt sent an official request to establish a free trade zone with the EEU last year.

“There is a kick-off already in the negotiation process and we estimate that it is going to take from 12-18 months,” Mohamed Elbadri told Sputnik.

At this stage of negotiations, the envoy added, each party will study the benefits of mutual cooperation before entering into direct talks regarding the details of the agreement.

The treaty should cover all trade in commodities between the countries.

The Russia-led EEU officially came into force on January 1. The bloc aims to achieve the free flow of goods, services, capital and labor across its member states, with provisions for a greater integration in the future.

Last week, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev approved a free trade zone agreement between the EEU and Vietnam.

Egypt court mulls revoking Bilal Erdoğan’s citizenship, given to him by Morsi

May 25, 2015 By administrator

President Erdoğan’s son Bilal Erdoğan (Photo: DHA)

Egypt has been mulling over revoking the Egyptian citizenship granted to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan‘s son Bilal during the term of former President Mohammed Morsi, and a court case concerning the matter continues, in the latest step of rancor that could bring bilateral relations between the two countries to a new low.

The case concerning the possible revocation of Bilal Erdoğan‘s citizenship has been postponed to October, according to Egyptian media.

According to the claims in the Egyptian al-Masry al-Youm daily on Sunday, Morsi, who was ousted from office in a military coup in June 2013, had given Bilal Erdoğan Egyptian citizenship on April 13, 2013, two months prior to the military intervention. Now the case being overseen by the Egyptian Supreme Court over whether to revoke the citizenship of Bilal, among others, has been postponed until October.

The report also claimed that Bilal had used the Egyptian passport issued to him by the previous administration to flee to Georgia after a huge corruption scandal went public on Dec. 17, 2013. The graft investigation, the largest of its kind in Turkey’s history, incriminated four former Cabinet ministers, their families, prominent businesspeople and several members of then-Prime Minister Erdoğan’s family on charges of bribery and transferring gold to Iran in order to undermine US-led sanctions.

According to al-Masry al-Youm, Egyptian citizenship was also granted not only to Bilal Erdoğan but also to several other Turks deemed close to the Hamas administration in Palestine and by extension to the Muslim Brotherhood administration in Egypt. Morsi was sentenced to death in May, nearly three years after he became Egypt’s first freely elected president, on charges arising from the killing of protesters during demonstrations in 2012.

Bilal Erdoğan claims al-Masry al-Youm report work of ‘parallel structure’

The Foundation of Youth and Education in Turkey (TÜRGEV) denied the allegations on Monday, calling them “slander and lies” and continued by claiming the reports were a part of a “character assassination.” It also stated that Bilal Erdoğan is not an Egyptian citizen and did not use an Egyptian passport to flee to Georgia.

Bilal Erdoğan also claimed that the report in al-Masry al-Youm was the doing of the “parallel structure,” a term invented by his father to vilify the faith-based Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement. “I will not flee the country I was born in and worked for due to the lies of a network of espionage and treason concealed as a movement [referring to the Hizmet movement], or [one of] their hired gun newspapers,” Bilal was quoted as saying.

Erdoğan and the AK Party government have launched a self-declared war against the Hizmet movement, inspired by the ideas of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, after a corruption probe went public on Dec. 17, 2013, incriminating senior members of the government, the sons of three former ministers and government-affiliated figures as well as family members of then-Prime Minister Erdoğan.

Bilal’s name has been in the spotlight ever since a voice recording surfaced allegedly featuring the voice of then-Prime Minister Erdoğan ordering Bilal to dispose of vast amounts of cash — reportedly as much as $1 billion — during the corruption operation which went public on Dec. 17, 2013. During five wiretapped phone conversations, a voice alleged to be that of Erdoğan is heard telling his son to dispose of large sums of money hidden in several relatives’ homes on the day police raided a number of locations as part of the operation.

Towards the end of the recordings, Bilal Erdoğan tells his father that he and others have “finished the tasks you gave us,” implying that the whole sum was “zeroed.”

Bilal also made headlines more recently when the BMZ Group, a company owned by Bilal and other family members, purchased a tanker at a cost of $18 million. The tanker, given the name “Poet Qabil,” is the fourth acquired by the BMZ group.

Source: ZAMAN

Ousted Egypt President Mohammed Morsi sentenced to death

May 16, 2015 By administrator

Egypt’s ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi has been sentenced to death on charges of jailbreak. Morsi’s case will now be referred to a religious authority before an execution can take place.

An Egyptian court sentenced the country’s former president, and more than 100 other defendants, to death on Saturday over a mass prison escape during the 2011 uprising that toppled then President Hosni Mubarak.

Morsi sat through the reading of Judge Shaaban el-Shami’s verdict in a caged dock.

Many of the other defendants were tried in absentia, including prominent Islamic cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi who lives in Qatar.

Supporters of the ousted president chanted “down, down with military rule” as el-Shami read his verdict in the packed courtroom, a converted lecture theater in the national police academy in an eastern suburb of Cairo.

As is customary in decisions resulting in capital punishment, the case will now be referred to the country’s top religious authority, the Grand Mufti, for opinion before any execution can occur. His decision at the June 2 hearing is non-binding.

‘Political verdict’

An official from Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood party, Amr Darrag, condemned the decision and called on the international community to take action.

“This is a political verdict and represents a murder crime that is about to be committed, and it should be stopped by the international community,” Darrag, co-founder of the now defunct Freedom and Justice Party, a political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, told the Reuters news agency.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the death sentence decision, saying, “the popularly-elected president of Egypt…has unfortunately been sentenced to death. Egypt is turning back into ancient Egypt.” Speaking at a political rally in Istanbul, Erdogan further accused the West of “turning a blind eye” to the 2013 coup.

Prosecutors allege armed members of the Palestinian Hamas group entered Egypt during the 18-day revolt through illegal tunnels under Gaza’s border with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The militants then fought their way into several jails, releasing Morsi along with more than 30 other Muslim Brotherhood leaders and 20,000 inmates.

Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president was ousted in 2013 by the military following days of street protests demanding his removal. The president’s overthrow triggered a government crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Hundreds of movement members have died and thousands have been imprisoned following now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s banning of the group. Al-Sisi was the military chief at the time Morsi was overthrown and led the coup.

Morsi was sentenced last month to 20 years in prison for inciting violence against protestors in 2012 when he was the country’s president. Rights group, Amnesty International called the verdict a “travesty of justice.”

Even if the mufti confirms Morsi’s death sentence, he can still appeal the verdict.

jlw/bw (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)