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Turkish police detained over alleged plot to topple Erdoğan government

September 1, 2014 By administrator

Raids part of crackdown on what president describes as ‘parallel state’ seeking to topple his government

By 177654Agence France-Presse in Istanbul

Turkish authorities have detained two dozen police officers in nationwide raids over an alleged plot to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government of president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Police conducted early morning raids in 16 cities across Turkey, including Istanbul as well as the western province of Izmir, and detained at least 20 police officers, private NTV television reported.

Among those arrested on Monday was Yakup Saygili, the former chief of the police anti-fraud unit, it added.

It was the fourth such wave of raids since July as the government cracks down on what Erdoğan has described as a “parallel state” within the security forces seeking to topple his government.

Arrest warrants were issued for at least 34 officers accused of a number of offences including illegally eavesdropping on top officials and attempting to overthrow the government.

Since July, dozens of police officers have been arrested and placed in custody on suspicion of forming a criminal organisation and wire-tapping hundreds of people including Erdoğan.

The latest arrests appeared to represent a new offensive against the movement of Erdoğan’s former ally Fethullah Gulen in the wake of a vast corruption scandal that broke late last year, implicating Erdoğan and his inner circle.

Erdogan has long accused followers of US-based Muslim cleric Fetullah Gulen of using its sway in Turkey’s police and the judiciary and of concocting the vast corruption scandal.

The allegations were based on recorded phone conversations – purportedly of Erdoğan and his inner circle – whose publication held much of Turkey in thrall.

Gulen, who has been based in the US since 1999, denied any involvement in the claims.

By coincidence, Istanbul prosecutors announced on Monday they were dropping all legal proceedings against 96 people investigated as a result of the corruption allegations, including Erdoğan’s son Bilal.

Erdoğan stepped in to his new role as president last Thursday after winning Turkey’s first direct presidential elections on 10 August. His close ally, former foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, was appointed his successor as premier.

Erdoğan had said Davutoglu was chosen due to his “determination to fight” the parallel state.

Speaking at Istanbul airport before leaving on his first foreign trip as head of state, Erdoğan said more operations could follow to arrest further suspects.

“As you know it is only part of the process. It is not the end,” he said. There could be a new wave “if new information or evidence emerge.”

Since the allegations first broke, the government has already moved to purge opponents from the security forces and increase its control over appointments in the judiciary.

In a speech on Monday, Turkey’s top judge issued a thinly veiled warning to Erdoğan to refrain from interfering in the judiciary.

“A judicial authority that is under the influence of the executive cannot correctly fulfil its role which is to prevent arbitrariness and illegality,” said the president of Turkey’s supreme court, Ali Alkan, in a speech marking the opening of the judicial year.

In a sign of the tensions between the government and the judiciary, both Erdoğan and his prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu shunned the event to mark the new judicial year, which they would normally be expected to attend.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: detained, police, Turkey

US police go military with Program 1033

August 16, 2014 By administrator

The shooting of Michael Brown has revived debates about race and policing in the US. Not just over the killing – but the response to the protests that followed and what’s being 0,,17857717_303,00called the “militarization” of the police.

The civil rights legend John Lewis expressed what many Americans were thinking: “This is not China or Russia or the Congo. This is America.” His statement came after Wednesday night’s turmoil in Ferguson, when the streets of the Missouri town were transformed into a conflict zone.

It wasn’t just the tear gas, smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails that proved shocking. It was the sight of armored vehicles on American streets, surrounded by officers armed so heavily they looked like they were going to war.

US President Barack Obama interrupted his vacation to call for calm. Attorney General Eric Holder – leading the White House’s response to the situation – said, “At a time when we must seek to rebuild trust between law enforcement and the local community, I am deeply concerned that the deployment of military equipment and vehicles sends a conflicting message.”

‘Small Armies’

It’s a concern that has been echoed across the political divide. “We need to de-militarize the situation,” said Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat.

“Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies,” wrote Republican Senator Rand Paul in Time Magazine.

At the heart of this process of “militarization” is a Pentagon program that has channeled billions of dollars worth of surplus weapons, vehicles and even aircraft from the military to law enforcement agencies all over the United States – virtually free of charge. Its name is Program 1033.

Program 1033

Run by the Defense Logistics Agency, the program has its roots in the early 1990s, as a means of providing local agencies with equipment for use in the “war on drugs.” It was expanded later in the decade and is now subject to “few limitations and requirements,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

The program’s website hails its own scope: “If your law enforcement agency chooses to participate, it may become one of the more than 8,000 participating agencies to increase its capabilities, expand its patrol coverage, reduce response times, and save the American taxpayer’s investment.” And with US combat forces now long out of Iraq and soon leaving Afghanistan – there is a lot of surplus equipment going for free.

The incentive to militarize

From M16 rifles to Mine-Resistant Ambush Protection Vehicles (MRAPs) – there’s plenty on offer for cash-strapped police forces. And they only have to pay the cost of delivery and maintenance.

There is even an incentive to put their new equipment to use – and fast. The ACLU highlights a clause in the Memoranda of Agreements between states and the DLA requiring the recipient to “utilize property within one year or schedule its return.”

The ACLU said Program 1033 encourages not just escalation on the streets of Ferguson but countless SWAT team deployments that never go reported: forms of “militarization” that disproportionately target the black community.

Congressman Hank Johnson said it is time to end this process. He has drafted a “Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act,” which he said will “end the free transfers of certain aggressive military equipment to local law enforcement.” His spokesman told DW that the bill does not seek to scrap Program 1033 altogether. But he said it would limit the types of weapons on offer – as well as boosting accountability.

Ferguson regroups

Back in Ferguson, the police response demilitarized dramatically on Thursday night after Governor Jay Nixon weighed in. But there is no sign the equipment seen on the suburb’s streets will be returned to sender.

DW asked the spokesman for Missouri’s Department of Public Safety if the police would ever have been able to afford – or even obtain – such gear without access to government programs like 1033. He would only say that Missouri was no special case: “This is a national program available right across America.”

source: DW.com

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: militarization, police, US

Turkey: At least 52 police officers detained in ‘parallel state’ probe in Turkey

July 21, 2014 By administrator

ISTANBUL

 n_69443_1The police officers detained include Istanbul Police Department’s former anti-terror unit chief Yurt Atayün. AA Photo

Dozens of high-ranking police officials were detained in simultaneous operations conducted in 22 provinces of Turkey early July 22 as part of an investigation into accusations against the “parallel state.”

At least 40 people were detained in Istanbul on accusations of spying, illegal wiretapping and fraud in official documents. At least 12 people were detained in a separate operation targeting former intelligence department officials, for allegedly conducting illegal surveillance.

There are detention orders for a total of 134 suspects, CNNTürk reported.

Most of the detained suspects were in key positions during the Dec. 17, 2013, probe into allegations of graft and corruption, which targeted prominent businessmen, civil servants and four ex-ministers.

Among the suspects detained are Yurt Atayün, former head of the Istanbul police’s anti-terror department, Ömer Köse, head of the anti-terror department at the time of the Dec. 17, 2013 operation, as well as former deputy police chiefs Kazım Aksoy, Ramazan Candan and Gafur Ataç. Aksoy was expelled from the police force following the Dec. 17 operation during which he was a part of the financial crimes department, while Köse was suspended after the same incident.

The operation is considered as part of the government’s fight against the Fethullah Gülen movement, which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accuses of creating a “parallel state within the state.”

Speaking in a televised interview July 21, Erdoğan said he would not back down from his bid to “clean up the state.”

Erdoğan also said he expected the United States “to have a stance” on Gülen, who resides in Pennsylvania.

“I told [U.S. President Barack] Obama and he said he understood,” the prime minister said. “Of course, the judicial rulings are important. When we have a Red Notice, he will not be able to stay where he is.”

July/22/2014

Filed Under: News Tagged With: detained, police, Turkey

Demonstrators, police clash around Turkey in wake of Lice deaths

June 9, 2014 By administrator

ISTANBUL

Demonstrators battled police around Istanbul and around the country late June 8 in protest at the Turkish state after soldiers opened fire on locals angered at the construction of new police stations in the southeastern district of Lice, killing two and wounding others.

Ramazan Baran, 26, and Baki Akdemir, 50, both died from gunshot wounds when the military opened fire in Lice.

Clashes continued throughout the night in the flashpoint Istanbul neighborhoods of Gazi and Okmeydanı, where anti-terrorism police staged a dawn raid on June 9 at several n_67563_1addresses in the neighborhood. The raids were the latest incident in the quarter, which has been marked by tension for months, especially after police killed 15-year-old Berkin Elvan during the Gezi protests as well as 30-year-old Uğur Kurt during a funeral last month.

In Gazi, police attacked protesters as they sought to march to the local police station on İsmet Paşa Avenue. Protesters responded with Molotov cocktails and other projectiles during battles that lasted throughout the night into June 9.

There were also violent protests in Ankara’s Tuzluçayır neighborhood, with one protester reportedly suffering broken teeth after being struck by a plastic bullet fired by police.

Protesters in the mostly Alevi neighborhood also allegedly torched a public bus, prompting Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek, to take to Twitter and accuse the “terrorists” of destroying public property.

Gökçek demanded that the residents of the area inform on the protesters. “Residents of Tuzluçayır, the task is now yours: You must give the police the names of these terrorists, one by one,” he said. “The state (which is yours) will win its rights by force.”

During demonstrations on June 8, right-wing groups allegedly attacked protesters marking the Lice incidents in the central provinces of Sivas and Tokat, with five activists reportedly suffering injuries in Sivas.

Source: hurriyetdailynews

 

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: clash, İstanbul, police

German police launch probe into poster depicting Turkish PM with Nazi symbol

May 25, 2014 By administrator

An investigation has been opened into a banner depicting Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan with a Nazi symbol during the Turkish leader’s rally in Cologne PM Nazi Symbolon May 24, the Hurriyet Daily News reports. 

Cologne police released a statement over the probe, saying “peaceful demonstrations” were held during Erdoğan’s rally at Lanxess Arena.

But a legal process against one person has been launched regarding the poster which carried Erdoğan’s photo along with a National Socialist symbol at the protest organized by the Federation of Alevi Communities in Germany (AABF), police stated.

Four people were also detained after attempting to block the way of Erdoğan’s official convoy at Ottoplatz.

Legal action has been taken against the four on charges of damaging property and injuring people during a protest held by far right Pro-NRW, the statement said.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Germany, Nazi, police, Turkish PM

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