Germany The name of a shoreline dedicated to the father of Taner Akçam

September 1, 2015 By administrator

On 29 August 2015, the municipality of Wilhelmsburg district of Hamburg, surrounded by the Elbe, inaugurated a plaque on behalf of the father of the writer and historian Taner Akcam, Dursun Akcam, born in 1930 in Ölcec near Ardahan in the east of Turkey, and died in Ankara September 19, 2003.

Dursun Akcam is a scholar, humanist, author of Comedy (1955) in which he describes life in northern Anatolia; the fight against natural disasters, hunger and misery, and the strict rules of a social system closed under pressure from religious and landowners.

As a journalist he denounced social inequality compared to the more developed regions of western Turkey by writing articles to improve the living conditions of his countrymen living in misery East regions.

Democrat, he is prohibited from publication by the military junta in 1980, accused of insulting Turkish national feelings.

Exiled in Germany until 1991, Dursun Akcam is allowed to return to Turkey. In 1999, he founded an association of human rights. After his death in 2003, suites from cancer, his family founded the “Cultural Foundation Dursun Akcam” to promote culture and improve the educational opportunities of the population of Ardahan. Will be created the first and only city library. The Foundation also organizes free performances of theater, music and workshops of folk music. It also provides financial support to students from poor families.

The plaque was dedicated to him, “Akçam Dursun Shore” is on the way he drove every day cycling Wilhelmsburg.

Germany to host Armenian Genocide conference

September 1, 2015 By administrator

The German foundation Heinrich Böll Stiftung is organizing a conference dedicated to the Armenian Genocide centennial.
The event entitled, “1915: Present in Past. 100 Years after the Armenian Genocide”, is set to take place in Berlin on September 5. Opening speeches will be delivered by the foundation’s regional director, Sergey Lagodinsky and the president of the German-Armenian Association, Raffi Kantian.
The conference will focus on the Armenian Genocide, survivors’ memories and the great tragedy’s perpetrators, as well as the methods of addressing the problem nowadays and considering ways forward.
German and Turkish participants are expected to deliver speeches at the event.

Germany: Dresden demonstrators march in support of refugees

August 30, 2015 By administrator

A mass rally in support of refugees has passed off peacefully in the eastern German city of Dresden.

The Dresden region has recently been the scene of several violent anti-migrant protests organised by right-wing groups.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was booed when she visited a refugee centre in the nearby town of Heidenau last week.

The country expects up to 800,000 asylum applications this year – more than any other EU country.

Police said 1,000 people joined the protest, which was called by the Anti-Nazi Alliance, but organisers said the number was 5,000.

Dresden has become the hub of Germany’s “anti-Islamisation” Pegida movement, which has brought thousands on to the streets for protests since October 2014.

Up to 25,000 joined protests at the start of the year.

Immigration has become a hot topic in Germany this year, amid a surge in the numbers of asylum seekers, fuelled by the wars in Syria and Iraq.

Demonstrators marched through the city chanting “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here”.

Agency reporters said refugees joined in with the rally at a shelter for asylum seekers.

Mrs Merkel has said there will be zero tolerance for “vile” anti-migrant violence.

A poll by public broadcaster ZDF has shown that public opinion is broadly behind her, with 60% of Germans saying that Europe’s biggest economy was capable of hosting the increasing number of asylum-seekers.

As a place destroyed in the fight against fascism in World War Two, the modern city was one with core values of “openness to the world and tolerance” Dresden Mayor Helma Orosz said earlier this year.

Europe to Australia in 90 Minutes? Aviation Agency Eyes Suborbital Jet

August 20, 2015 By administrator

A German aerospace company is revisiting plans to design a rocket-propelled jet that can take passengers to the other side of the world in just an hour and a half. And if they get enough funding, they can make it happen by 2040.

DLR is a German aerospace agency that specializes in complex flight systems. In 2007, the agency designed a concept for a hypersonic airliner capable of flying 50 passengers from Europe to Australia in just 90 minutes. The plans were shelved at the time, but now, and nearly ten years later, the company is revisiting the concept and laying out a roadmap to make it real.”A new kind of high-speed transport based on a two-stage Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) has been proposed by DLR under the name SpaceLiner,” the company said in a statement.

Described as a suborbital, hypersonic, winged passenger jet, the idea is now being fully investigated by the DLR’s Space Launcher System Analysis (SART).

“We want to come up with a development road map,” Martin Sippel, leader of the SpaceLiner SART told Aviation Week. “We need a mission definition and this year, we will do that in Phase A.”

The idea involves two stages, the first consisting of a 9-engine powered rocket. The rocket engine will be powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, making it environmentally friendly as well as effective. Propelling the passenger orbiter, the rocket would be capable of reaching 20 times the speed of sound in less than 10 minutes.

Germany gains €100 bn from Greece crisis: study

August 10, 2015 By administrator

Germany, which has taken a tough line on Greece, has profited from the country’s crisis to the tune of 100 billion euros ($109 billion), the AFP reports, citing a new study.
The sum represents money Germany saved through lower interest payments on funds the government borrowed amid investor “flights to safety”, the study said.

“These savings exceed the costs of the crisis – even if Greece were to default on its entire debt,” said the private, non-profit Leibniz Institute of Economic Research in its paper.

“Germany has clearly benefited from the Greek crisis.”

When investors are faced with turmoil, they typically seek a safe haven for their money, and export champion Germany “disproportionately benefited” from that during the debt crisis, it said.

“Every time financial markets faced negative news on Greece in recent years, interest rates on German government bonds fell, and every time there was good news, they rose.”

Germany, the eurozone’s effective paymaster, has demanded fiscal discipline and tough economic reforms in Greece in return for consenting to new aid from international creditors.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has opposed a Greek debt write-down while pointing to his own government’s balanced budget.

The institute, however, argued that the balanced budget was possible in large part only because of Germany’s interest savings amid the Greek debt crisis.

The estimated 100 billion euros Germany had saved since 2010 accounted for over three percent of GDP, said the institute based in the eastern city of Halle.

The bonds of other countries – including the United States, France and the Netherlands – had also benefited, but “to a much smaller extent”.

Germany’s share of the international rescue packages for Greece, including a new loan being negotiated now, came to around 90 billion euros, said the institute.

“Even if Greece doesn’t pay back a single cent, the German public purse has benefited financially from the crisis,” said the paper.

Germany’s Yazidis call on Turkey to combat ‘Islamic State’

August 3, 2015 By administrator

One year ago, terror group “Islamic State” began a brutal campaign of violence against Iraq’s Yazidi minority. Germany’s Yazidi community has used the anniversary to demand Turkey do more to stop the militants.

The chairman of Germany’s Central Council of Yazidis, Telim Tolan, on Monday accused Turkey of doing little to stop “Islamic State” (IS) militants from recruiting fighters and smuggling weapons from within its borders.

“Turkey knew about that and should have put a stop to it,” Tolan told German broadcaster SWR. “(IS) is a scourge, and these barbarians only know one language, and that’s the language of violence,” he said.

On August 3, 2014, IS made an unexpected advance into areas of northern Iraq that had been under Kurdish control. Of all the minorities living there, the Yazidi Christians were worst hit. Hundreds of people in the Sinjar area were massacred or abducted, while tens of thousands were forced to flee their homes for the mountains. Many remained stranded there for days without food and water, and several thousand remain there still.

The United Nations has described the violence as “an attempt to commit genocide.” The onslaught received international media attention and was one of the main justifications for the US-led airstrikes against IS that began days later.

At a ceremony in Dohuk marking one year since the IS attacks, the president of Iraq’s Kurdish region, Massoud Barzani, vowed to “hunt down those who committed this crime until the last one.”

Call for more support

Tolan told SWR it was vital the international community counter IS with airstrikes and provide the Kurds fighting against them with more weapons.

“With this military force that the Kurds have, that the Iraqis have, and that America and the international community have, we could have stopped this terrible campaign by IS a long time ago,” he said.

Tolan also called on the German government to provide more humanitarian aid to Yazidi refugees who’ve been living in camps for the past year, and to open a program for receiving persecuted Yazidis.

According to figures from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Yazidis account for 400,000 of the more than three million people who have been displaced in Iraq since the beginning of 2014.

An estimated 60,000 Yazidis live in Germany, mainly in the western states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. A number of local associations planned to mark the August 3 anniversary with rallies in Berlin and Bremen later on Monday.

nm/jil (AFP, AP, KNA, epd, dpa)

Source: dw.com

80 percent Germans Rule Out Summer Holiday in #Turkey Over Terror Threat #BoycottTurkishProduct

August 2, 2015 By administrator

According to media reports, some 80 percent of German citizens have ruled out Turkey as their summer holiday destination because of Ankara’s military operation against the Islamic State (ISIL) group and Kurdish militants.
BERLIN (Sputnik) – Some 80 percent of German citizens will be avoiding Turkey as their summer holiday destination because of Ankara’s military operation against the Islamic State (ISIL) group and Kurdish militants, the Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported Sunday, citing a survey.
Earlier in the week, the German Foreign Ministry issued a warning to tourists in Istanbul of possible terror attacks on the underground rail network and bus stops in the wake of the Turkish Armed Force’s airstrikes on the Kurdistan Workers Party’s (PKK) positions in northern Iraq.
According to the survey conducted by the Institute of Public Opinion Emnid, 81 percent of Germans ruled out a vacation in Turkey in the coming months, while 19 percent of holidaymakers were still willing to make the trip.
The findings also revealed that only 31 percent of German citizens did not pay attention to the level of terrorist threat in holiday destinations, as 68 percent made it top priority when choosing a resort.
Ankara launched a military campaign last week against ISIL jihadists in Syria and the PKK in northern Iraq, in response to an unprecedented escalation of violence across southern Turkey.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150802/1025323109.html#ixzz3hhaDyyh3

Germany: Özdemir warns of ‘Mini-Pakistan’ in Turkey as Germany sharpens travel advisory

July 29, 2015 By administrator

German politician Cem Özdemir has slammed Turkey’s president, saying the country was turning into a “mini-Pakistan.” The German foreign office has warned of possible terror attacks on transport systems in Istanbul.

The co-chair of the Green party in Germany’s Bundestag, Cem Özdemir, issued strong words Wednesday against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying Turkey would be “plunged into chaos” under his leadership.
His comments followed Turkey’s retaliation against attacks on its soil by launching airstrikes against the “Islamic State” (“IS”) militant group in Syria, but also against the minority Kurdish militant group PKK’s headquarters in northern Iraq. A peace process to end some 30 years of deadly violence between the outlawed PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and the Turkish government, which had been underway since 2013, was called off by Erdogan this week.
“We cannot look away when a country, which until yesterday wanted to join the EU, is transforming under Erdogan into a mini-Pakistan with an authoritarian ruler, right on the European border,” Özdemir, who was the first person of Turkish heritage to become a member of Germany’s parliament back in the 1990s, told the “Passauer Neuen Presse” newspaper.
According to Özdemir, the long-time Turkish leader had been turning a blind eye to “Islamic State” and Turkey’s actions against the group were merely symbolic.
“It’s to deceive us in the West. Hardly any positions from ISIS are being attacked and relatively few ISIS supporters have been arrested,” he said, using an alternative name for IS.

Travelers urged to be vigilant

Meanwhile, the German government has warned its citizens of an increased risk of terror attacks in Turkey, especially in the city of Istanbul, in the wake of Ankara’s assault. The foreign office has updated its advice to citizens planning to travel there and is urging them to monitor the situation carefully.
“There could be increased attack activity by the PKK,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on its website.
“Beyond that there are indications of possible attacks on the underground rail network and bus stops in Istanbul,” the ministry added.
Data from Turkey’s tourism ministry, released Wednesday, showed the number of foreign visitors fell by 2.25 percent during the first six months of this year, news agency Reuters reported. During that time 14.89 million people visited Turkey.
Germany is a NATO partner of Turkey and home to about 3 million people of Turkish origin.
se/kms (Reuters, dpa, AFP)

Source: DW.com

Greek Bailout: Germany Cuts Own Throat by Twisting Greece’s Arm

July 18, 2015 By administrator

Germany has shot itself in the foot by persuading Greece to accept its new highly unpopular bailout deal and now “Europe as it is, is over,” according to Tyler Durden, an analyst for the financial website Zero Hedge.

The Italians, Spanish, and French anxiously watched how Germany and the Troika twisted Greece’s arm in an Italian mob-style, Tyler Durden, an analyst for the financial website Zero Hedge pointed out, adding that the EU as it is, is over now.

“The Germans just made their biggest mistake in a long time (how about some 75 years) over the weekend. Now, when all you have to bring to a conversation slash negotiation is bullying and strong arming and brute force, that should perhaps not be overly surprising. But it’s a behemoth failure all by itself regardless,” the analyst noted.

The author underscored that Greek Prime Minister Tsipras failed to introduce an alternative currency in Greece and has ultimately given in to the Troika not because he lost his nerve, but because he was actually “made an offer he couldn’t refuse.”

In other words, the Troika was ready to turn Greece into a “failed state.”

The analyst pointed to some of Tsipras’ remarks he made after the new deal had been concluded.

“We took the responsibility for the decision to avert the most extreme plans by conservative circles in Europe… We resisted demands for the transfer of state assets abroad and averted a banking collapse which had been meticulously planned… I promise you that as hard as we fought here, we will now fight at home, to finish the oligarchy which brought us to this state,” Tsipras stated.

Germany has obviously cut its own throat by undermining the trust of the EU member states which were closely watching the negotiations. Berlin’s era of economic strength is now over the hill, since “without trust you have nothing,” the analyst underscored.

It goes without saying that “the people here in Greece are being forced to pay for years for something they were never a part of, and that they never profited from.” Their profits went to Germany-backed investment banks and Greece’s corrupt elite. Such a business model is doomed, according to the author.

Indeed, Greece’s creditors have completely ignored the results of the Greek national referendum, turning a deaf ear to the plea of the people. The new bailout agreement concluded between Athens, Germany and the Troika can be called a “full colonization” of Greece by the West, Dimitrios Patelis, professor at the Technical University of Crete, noted.

This mob-style way of doing business is a distinguishing feature of the “fascist capitalism,” US publicist Eric Zuesse underscored in his article earlier this week. “This is not democratic capitalism. It is not socialism. It is, instead, fascism. It is dictatorial capitalism,” he stated.

On Monday, the Eurozone leaders agreed to provide Athens with a three-year 86-billion-euro loan to bolster the Greek economy in exchange for tough reforms to the country’s pension system, VAT and labor laws.

Source: sputniknews.com

German Company is Top Tax Evader in Greece

July 14, 2015 By administrator

by Sotiria Nikoloul,

A German company was found to be the biggest tax evader in Greece. A court in Athens found that Hochtief, the German company that was running the “Eleftherios Venizelos” Athens International airport was not paying VAT for 20 years. It is estimated that Hochtief, will have to pay more than 500 million Euros for VAT arrears. Together with other outstanding payments, like those to social security funds, it might have to py more than 1 billion Euros.

It must be noted that under the “Troika” austerity programme Greek employees lost around 400 million Euros from cuts to their salaries.

Hochtief, which is the biggest German Construction company, specializing in airports, was also running the Athens International airport through a subsidiary until 2013, when it sold it’s share to a Canadian company.
(source: neurope)