Erdogan two Thugs Plead Guilty For Roles In Attacks On Peaceful Protesters

April 2, 2018 By administrator

Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavosoglu (right) meets with Eyup Yildirim (left) in Washington, D.C. (Youtube screen grab)

Chuck Ross Reporter

Two Turkish-American men who took part in attacks on peaceful protesters outside of the Turkish ambassador’s residence earlier this year have pleaded guilty in a Washington, D.C. court.

Eyup Yildirim and Sinan Narin accepted guilty pleas in exchange for dropping hate crime charges for their roles in the attacks, which occurred on May 16.

The pair, who face one-year jail sentences as part of their plea deals, were captured on video along with a group of supporters and bodyguards for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan attacking a small group of Yazidi, Armenian and Kurdish protesters.

Yildirim, the owner of a New Jersey construction company, was seen on video kicking a woman as she laid curled up on the ground. Narin, who lives in Virginia, was also recorded assaulting the protesters.

The attack sparked a diplomatic standoff between the Turkish and American governments. Turkish officials claimed that indictments handed down in the case were politically motivated. They also claimed that U.S. Secret Service and Washington, D.C. police failed to protect Erdogan, who watched the beatings unfold from near the entrance to the ambassador’s residence.

Erdogan may also have directly ordered the attacks. Video showed Erdogan speaking with his personal bodyguard moments before he relayed instructions to the attackers. The protesters — who numbered fewer than two dozen — had gathered at the ambassador’s residence to protest against Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian policies. (RELATED: Audio Analysis: Erdogan Goons Were Instructed To ‘Attack’ Peaceful Protesters)

In addition to Yildirim and Narin, 17 others were indicted for their role in the attacks. Two Turkish-Canadian supporters of Erdogan were indicted along with 15 members of Erdogan’s security detail, including the dictator’s closest bodyguards. (RELATED: Video Shows Erdogan Calmly Watching Bodyguards Attack Protesters)

Aram Hamparian, an Armenian activist who witnessed the brutal assault, blasted Thursday’s plea deal.

“A proposed one year sentence for a brutal, unapologetic foreign government directed assault against Americans on U.S. soil is an absolute travesty,” Hamparian, the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of American, said in a statement on Thursday.

“The Erdogan-ordered attack wasn’t just a violent hate crime against Americans but an open assault on American values. This sentence, if approved by the court, will effectively serve as a green light to Erdogan and other foreign dictators intent on exporting their violence to American shores.”

Hamparian recorded video of the May 16 protest. He also helped two of the people attacked by Erdogan’s henchmen.

One of the women Hamparian helped was Lucy Usoyan, the president of the Ezidi Relief Fund. Usoyan was seen on video being kicked in the back and head by Yildirim. She identified Yildirim to The Daily Caller earlier this year. Usoyan said that she suffered head trauma from the assault. (RELATED: Meet The Erdogan Goon Who Brutally Assaulted A Woman In Washington, D.C.)

When TheDC contacted Yildirim back in May, he denied knowing anything of the attacks. He and Narin were arrested in June by U.S. Marshals. They will be sentenced in Washington, D.C. on March 15.

Source: http://dailycaller.com/2017/12/21/erdogan-supporters-plead-guilty-for-roles-in-attacks-on-peaceful-protesters/

Britain First leader and deputy leader GUILTY of hate crime as judge says they were “hostile to Muslims and immigrants”

March 7, 2018 By administrator

The judge said: “I have no doubt that Miss Fransen and Mr Golding demonstrated by their words and actions hostility to those of the Muslim faith” (Image: PA)

Paul Golding, 36, and Jayda Fransen, 31, were convicted of religiously-aggravated harassment at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court in Kent today

Britain First’s leader Paul Golding and deputy leader Jayda Fransen have been found guilty of religiously-aggravated harassment.

Golding, 36, and Fransen, 31, were convicted of the hate crime – which they had denied – at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court in Kent today.

They were found guilty of a first charge of religiously-aggravated harassment by a judge – but were both cleared of a second charge.

Golding was also found not guilty of a third charge. However, Fransen was convicted of both this charge and a fourth one concerning only her.

The pair had earlier arrived at the court, surrounded by a large entourage, with the far-right group’s leader flashing the V-sign at cameras.

Golding had been charged with three counts of religiously aggravated harassment, while his deputy was accused of four offences.

The pair had denied all of the charges against them.

But this afternoon, Golding was convicted of one and Fransen was convicted of three counts at the court, where they had earlier stood trial.

In delivering his judgment, the judge said the two defendants were “well-known”, “controversial” and “generate their own publicity”.

Judge Justin Barron said the court received a number of emails in support of and against Golding and Fransen. But he said his verdicts were based “solely on admissible evidence heard in court”.

He told the court the pair’s words and actions “demonstrated hostility” towards Muslims and the Muslim faith.

The public gallery was packed with more than a dozen Britain First supporters as the verdicts were announced.

Golding and Fransen had been arrested in May last year over the distribution of leaflets and posting of online videos during a trial at Canterbury Crown Court, where three Muslim men and a teenager were convicted of rape and jailed.

Fransen was accused of going to the Kent home of one of the defendants, Tamin Rahmani, and shouting racist abuse through the front door.

Rahmani’s pregnant partner, Kelli Best, said she was alone with their two children, aged three years and 18 months, at the time of the incident on May 9, 2017.

Two days later, she began bleeding heavily and her daughter was stillborn.

At a previous hearing, Folkestone Magistrates’ Court heard that the grieving mum blamed Fransen’s racial abuse for the tragedy.

Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/britain-first-leader-deputy-leader-12143720?utm_source=mirror_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=EM_Mirror_Nletter_DailyNews_News_smallteaser_Image_Story&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter

Breaking News: U.S. jury finds Turkish banker guilty of helping Iran dodge sanctions

January 3, 2018 By administrator

Hakan Atilla, senior Halk Bank executive, convicted by jury after trial

Brendan Pierson

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A U.S. jury on Wednesday found a Turkish banker guilty of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions, after a nearly four-week trial that has strained diplomatic relations between the United States and Turkey.

Mehmet Hakan Atilla, an executive at Turkey’s majority state-owned Halkbank (HALKB.IS), was convicted on five of six counts he faced, including bank fraud and conspiracy, in Manhattan federal court.

Atilla was also found not guilty on a money laundering charge. Jurors issued their verdict on the fourth day of deliberations.

Hakan Atilla, senior Halk Bank executive, convicted by jury after trial pic.twitter.com/pSCyMAKEpJ

— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) January 3, 2018

Prosecutors had accused Atilla of conspiring with gold trader Reza Zarrab and others to help Iran escape sanctions using fraudulent gold and food transactions.

In several days on the witness stand, Zarrab had described a sprawling scheme that he said included bribes to Turkish government officials and was carried out with the blessing of current President Tayyip Erdogan.

Halkbank had no immediate comment. Attempts to reach Erdogan’s spokesman for comment on the allegations at the trial have been unsuccessful. Erdogan has publicly dismissed the case as a politically motivated attack on his government.

U.S. prosecutors have criminally charged nine people, though only Zarrab, 34, and Atilla, 47, have been arrested by U.S. authorities. Zarrab pleaded guilty and testified against Atilla.

“Foreign banks and bankers have a choice: you can choose willfully to help Iran and other sanctioned nations evade U.S. law, or you can choose to be part of the international banking community transacting in U.S. dollars,” Joon Kim, the acting U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement after the verdict was read. “But you can’t do both.”

The trial included testimony from a former Turkish police officer, Huseyin Korkmaz, who said he investigated Zarrab’s business and ties to government officials in 2012 and 2013.

Korkmaz said he was jailed in retaliation, and eventually fled to the United States, carrying evidence from his investigation with him.

Last week, Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul demanded in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions that Korkmaz be returned to Turkey, calling him “a fugitive, a terror suspect facing serious allegations.”

The Turkish government has said that followers of the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen were behind both the Turkish investigation and the U.S. case, as well as the 2016 failed coup in Turkey. Gulen has denied the accusations.

Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Alistair Bell

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-rallies/iran-deploys-revolutionary-guards-to-quell-sedition-in-protest-hotbeds-idUSKBN1ES0FI?il=0

Former National Security Adviser on Turkey’s Payroll Pleads Guilty for Lying to Federal Officials

December 1, 2017 By administrator

former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn

Armenian Assembly Reiterates Call for Public Congressional Hearings on Turkey’s Surreptitious Influence on America’s Democratic Institutions.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty for making “materially false, fictitious and fraudulent statements” to federal officials, reports the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly). Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted Flynn for lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) about conversations with the Russian Ambassador during the presidential transition, as well as false statements about his involvement with the Republic of Turkey.

The Statement of the Offense in the United States of America v. Michael T. Flynn identifies Turkey under the category “Other False Statements Regarding Flynn’s Contacts with Foreign Governments.” The statement notes multiple documents pertaining to a project performed by him and his company, the Flynn Intel Group, Inc., “for the principal benefit of the Republic of Turkey (‘Turkey Project’).” According to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), Flynn made “materially false statements and omissions” regarding his lobbying activities on behalf of the Republic of Turkey and the Erdogan government.

Click here for the Department of Justice’s full Statement of the Offense.

“The newest revelations about Flynn are just the tip of the iceberg. While prosecutors have uncovered some vital information, there is much more yet to come to light, especially regarding Turkey’s continued use of illegal funds to influence national security at the highest levels. This practice has been ongoing and needs to be halted,” Assembly Co-Chairs Anthony Barsamian and Van Krikorian said. “As we have previously urged, there needs to be thorough public Congressional hearings to fully expose Turkey’s attempts to influence the United States Government, which is a direct attack on our democratic values,” they added.

Reports indicated that Flynn would be paid $15 million to secretly carry out Turkey’s bidding. Flynn was already paid $530,000 last year for work the Justice Department says benefited the government of Turkey, and did not register as a foreign agent at the time.

On October 18, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD), alongside 17 Members of Congress, sent a letter to Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) requesting a subpoena on the White House to produce all documents related to Flynn’s “egregious conflicts of interest” in business dealings with foreign governments, which includes his unreported lobbying contract as a foreign agent on behalf of the Turkish government in 2016.

The letter stated: “We believe this paper trail must be pursued to answer the gravest question of all: Did Gen. Flynn seek to change the course of our country’s national security to benefit the same private interests he previously promoted, whether by advising President Trump, interacting with foreign officials, or influencing other members of the Trump administration?”

The Assembly has repeatedly highlighted Turkey’s attempts to gain surreptitious influence over U.S. officials to the detriment of U.S. national security, and has called for investigations therein. The Assembly has also urged Representatives who joined the Turkish and Azeri Caucuses to withdraw their membership. Some already have.

“Members ought not to associate themselves with such corrupt and authoritarian regimes. Given Turkey’s treatment of Christians, dangerously rogue behavior, denial of the Armenian Genocide and support for Azerbaijan’s ISIS-style beheadings and other attacks, it is well past time for Members of Congress to withdraw their membership from the Turkish and Azeri Congressional Caucuses,” reiterated the Assembly Co-Chairs.

Source: Established in 1972, the Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. The Assembly is a non-partisan, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt membership organization.

Turkey guilty of inhuman treatment of ‘Muslim objector’: Euro court

June 7, 2016 By administrator

The European Court of Human Rights has found Turkey guilty of inhuman treatment of a “Muslim objector” who declined to serve in Turkey’s military due to the country’s secular identity, while ruling that Turkey did not violate the complainant’s freedom of conscience because his objection was based on political grounds, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Enver Aydemir, the first Turkish citizen to object to military service on Muslim religious grounds, was forcefully placed in a gendarmerie unit in the northwestern province of Bilecik in July 2007. However, upon declaring his conscientious objection, Aydemir was arrested and sent to Eskişehir Military Prison.

He was then released by a military court on Oct. 4, 2007, and ordered to join his deployment. After again refusing to obey the command, he was re-arrested for military desertion on Dec. 24, 2009, and again put on trial at a military court.

The defense failed to persuade the military court, which ordered Aydemir to be sent to a hospital in Ankara for a mental health evaluation after he was arrested in 2009.

Aydemir said hospital staff declared him “anti-social” before even giving him a proper medical examination.

In February 2010, a third set of criminal proceedings were started against him for desertion between October 2007 and December 2009, and he was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment in July 2013, although his sentence was commuted to a fine.

Aydemir said he was beaten and forced to undress and spend the night without appropriate clothing, as well as don a military uniform during pre-trial detention periods.

Aydemir filed a criminal complaint on Dec. 28, 2009, on the grounds that he had suffered ill-treatment on Dec. 24 and 25, 2009, backing up his allegations with medical reports that revealed he had healed wounds on his body.

However, Aydemir’s accusation that he was forced to spend the night without clothes or bedding was not prosecuted upon a decision by the military prosecutor’s office, leading Aydemir to complain to the ECHR that the investigation into his allegations had been lacking.

In its June 7 ruling, the ECHR found a violation of the convention’s Article 3 on the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment, saying the way he was treated had “undoubtedly been as such to arouse in [Aydemir] feelings of fear, anguish and inferiority capable of humiliating and debasing him.”

The court also said it was not convinced that necessary diligence had been displayed in conducting an investigation into Aydemir’s claims of being forced to spend a night undressed.

On the other hand, the court said Turkey did not violate Article 9 on freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as Aydemir’s rejection was not based on religious beliefs preventing him from performing military service but his political opinions against the secular Republic of Turkey.

“[Aydemir] would be able to [perform military service] under a system based on the Quran and subject to its rules,” the ECHR said, stressing Aydemir’s views did not stem from a pacifist and anti-militarist philosophy.

“Mr. Aydemir’s complaints did not involve a form of manifestation of a religion or belief through worship, teaching, practice or observance within the meaning of Article 9 § 1,” it said, adding that the relevant article was not applicable in his case.

Turkey has been ordered to pay Aydemir a total of 15,000 euros for non-pecuniary damages in addition to 3,000 euros to cover his costs and expenses.

Azeri hysteria against the singer Hadise Turkish guilty in their eyes of wearing on her dress colors of Armenia

April 18, 2016 By administrator

arton125005-400x300 Azeris, are crazy hysterical rage! A known Turkish singer Hadise who participated in Eurovision 2009 during a children’s program for the Turkish television channel TV8 … wearing a dress on which one could distinguish the colors of the Armenian flag …

This is enough to Azeris to cry foul. Azeris who verbally attacked the Turkish singer and accused of being an Armenian officer! Hysteria is limitless. Yet the colors of the clothing of the Turkish singer were orange-blue-red and not those of the flag of Armenia, red-blue-orange … Hadise spoke of “mental illness” of these protesters Azerbaijanis …

Hadise Açýkgöz (born 22 October 1985 in Mol, Belgium), participated under the name of Hadise at Eurovision 2009 representing Turkey. She finished fourth with the song Düm Tek Tek.

Krikor Amirzayan (Գրիգոր Ամիրզայեան)

Livingstone: Blair guilty of ‘criminal irresponsibility’ over Iraq

December 1, 2015 By administrator

Livingstone blames Tony Blair for London 7/7 attacks

Tony Blair is guilty of “criminal irresponsibility” for the 2003 invasion of Iraq, former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone has insisted, while defending his claim that Blair is responsible for the deaths of 52 people in the 7/7 terror attacks.

Livingstone told the BBC on Tuesday the case for war in Iraq was based on information from a discredited local politician who claimed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

He defended comments made last week that Blair “killed 52 Londoners” by ignoring warnings that intervening in Iraq would lead to terror attacks on British soil.

The original comments prompted calls for Livingstone to be removed from his role as co-convener of Labour’s defense review.

When questioned about the comments on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, he said: “I simply told the truth. Everybody knows who saw the website they [the 7/7 bombers] left; they’d actually gone to kill Londoners and give their own lives in order to do that because of our involvement in Iraq. This is the problem,” he said.

“Tony Blair was told by the security services when he took that decision this will put us at risk. We started preparing for that. We spent four years of tests and exercises because we knew that terror attack would come.

“If that had been the truth – that Saddam Hussein had had nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction. But to base that whole war on the testimony of one discredited local politician now in retrospect looks like absolutely criminal irresponsibility.”

https://youtu.be/RIXYJLMLUUQ

Livingstone’s comments come as a new book released this week suggests that ahead of the war Blair actively ignored intelligence from South Africa which showed that Iraq did not have any weapons of mass destruction.

In the book God, Spies and Lies, journalist John Matisonn documents how South Africa had a deep understanding of Iraqi weapons systems as the country had worked with Iraq’s weapons experts during the apartheid era.

According to the Guardian, Matisonn writes that then-South African President Thabo Mbeki had requested a specialist team of South Africans be allowed to enter Iraq prior to the invasion and investigate claims for WMDs.

The team reportedly found no WMDs and their findings were sent to both the US and the UK.

However, Western authorities ignored the findings and a full-scale invasion was launched on March 19, 2003, when troops from the US, UK, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq.

Turkey’s lobbyist Dennis Hastert has agreed to plead guilty in a case tied to hush money over sexual misconduct claims

October 15, 2015 By administrator

J. Dennis Hastert, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, leaving the federal courthouse in Chicago in June. Credit Christian K. Lee/Associated Press

Thursday, October 15, 2015 10:39 AM EDT
J. Dennis Hastert, the small-town wrestling coach who rose to political power as the longest-serving Republican speaker of the House, indicated in Federal District Court on Thursday that he would plead guilty as part of a plea agreement in a case where he is accused of skirting banking laws and lying to the federal investigators.
A federal prosecutor told the court that the government expects a written plea agreement to be given to the judge on Monday and have asked for a hearing on Oct. 28, at which Mr. Hastert is expected to change his plea to guilty from not guilty.
It was unclear what charges that Mr. Hastert would plead guilty to and what the sentence may be.

5 Banks to Pay Billions and Plead Guilty in Currency and Interest Rate Cases

May 20, 2015 By administrator

nytimes.com 5 Big Banks to Pay Billions and Plead Guilty in Currency and Interest Rate Cases
Adding another entry to Wall Street’s growing rap sheet, five big banks have agreed to pay more than $5 billion and plead guilty to multiple crimes related to manipulating foreign currencies and interest rates, federal and state authorities announced on Wednesday.
The Justice Department forced four of the banks — Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays, and the Royal Bank of Scotland — to plead guilty to antitrust violations in the foreign exchange market as part of a scheme that padded the banks’ profits and enriched the traders who carried out the plot. The traders were supposed to be competitors, but much like companies that rigged the price of vitamins and automotive parts, they colluded to manipulate the largest and yet least regulated market in the financial world, where some $5 trillion changes hands every day.
Underscoring the collusive nature of their contact, which often occurred in online chat rooms, one group of traders called themselves “the cartel,” an-invitation only club where stakes were so high that a newcomer was warned “mess this up and sleep with one eye open.” To carry out the scheme, one trader would typically build a huge position in a currency and then unload it at a crucial moment, hoping to move prices. Traders at the other banks agreed to, as New York State’s financial regulator put it, “stay out of each other’s way.”
As part of the criminal deal with the Justice Department, a fifth bank, UBS, will plead guilty to manipulating the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, a benchmark that underpins the cost of trillions of dollars in credit cards and other loans.

READ MORE »
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/21/business/dealbook/5-big-banks-to-pay-billions-and-plead-guilty-in-currency-and-interest-rate-cases.html?emc=edit_na_20150520

Russian soldier accused of massacring Armenian family pleads guilty

January 22, 2015 By administrator

Russian Pvt. Valery Permyakov who stands accused of the gruesome murder of a family of seven in a northwestern Armenian city, has pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him by law enforcement agencies, Armenia’s Investigative Committee said.

Permyakov had been serving at Russian military base near Gyumri, Armenia’s second largest city, when he deserted his post. On January 12 he stormed the Avetisyan family residence and fatally shot all of the members of the family, including a six month old baby who died of wounds a week later on account of the attack.

After fleeing the scene, Permyakov was detained by Russian border guards while trying to cross the Armenian-Turkish border dressed in civilian clothing. He remains in Russian custody.

Last week, mass protests shook both Gyumri and Yerevan as Armenians demanded that Permyakov face trial in Armenia and that the soldier’s commanders also be held accountable.

Currently, Russian and Armenian authorities are conducting a joint investigation into the incident. Chief of Russia’s Investigative Committee Aleksandr Bastrykin is in Gyumri working on the case.

Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Permyakov is to be tried by a Russian court.

“Since he is a citizen of Russia, he is naturally subject to the laws of the Russian Federation and it will be a Russian trial,” Peskov said in an interview with a local Gyumri TV channel adding that “[the] Russian legislature has no mercy for such monstrous crimes.”

Earlier Bastrykin said that Permyakov will be publicly tried in Armenia. The two statements do not contradict one other as he can be tried on Armenian territory by Russian judges under the Russian laws and could serve his term in a Russian prison.