Turkey Archives

Athens: Israeli defense minister says ISIS funded with ‘Turkish money’

January 26, 2016 By administrator

Israel’s defense minister has alleged that the Islamic State terror group has long been funded with “Turkish money.”

“As you know, Daesh (Islamic State, previously ISIS/ISIL) enjoyed Turkish money for oil for a very, very long period of time. I hope that it will be ended,” Moshe Yaalon told reporters in Athens on Tuesday after meeting his Greek counterpart, Panos Kammenos, Reuters reports.

“It’s up to Turkey, the Turkish government, the Turkish leadership, to decide whether they want to be part of any kind of cooperation to fight terrorism. This is not the case so far,” he said.

Earlier, Russia had accused Turkey of shady dealings with ISIS. In December, the Russian Defense Ministry released maps and satellite images it said proved that Turkey was the main consumer of oil smuggled out of Syria and Iraq by the terrorists. The ministry also claimed that the Turkish president and his family were involved in the criminal dealings.

Iran has also said it was in possession of photographic and video evidence of ISIS oil entering Turkey in trucks.

In December, Syria’s envoy to the UN Bashar al-Ja’afari also accused Turkey of supporting terrorist groups. The diplomat appealed to the UN, urging it to end Ankara’s “violations and crimes.”

Turkey has denied the accusations, while the United States last month rejected Russia’s claims that the Turkish leadership was linked to ISIS oil smuggling.

Turkey has “permitted jihadists to move from Europe to Syria and Iraq and back, as part of Daesh’s terrorist network, and I hope this will stop, too,” Yaalon added, according to a transcript of the Israeli minister’s comments provided by the Greek Defense Ministry.

A book in Turkish which restores the truth about the Armenians with “Resistance to Aintab”

January 25, 2016 By administrator

arton121348-270x428 The Belge Publishing just published in Turkey in Turkish a book about the resistance of Armenians Aintab (Turkey) a book with the title “Antepin-Varoluþ-Mücadelesi”. The book is a translation of the work of A. Cesar, translated by Murat Utchaner and Umit Kurt. It presents Arméniens- -especially related to events between 1 April 1920 and end 1921 to Aintab. The book of 198 pages addresses the Turkish readership that has the opportunity to read eyewitness accounts of survivors of the massacres and not the official and distorted version of Ankara.

Murat Utchaner one of two translators was in Armenia last year. He then told Armenian media that the book on “resistance of Aintab” different from the official version says that the Kemalists forces luted in 1922 against the “French imperialist forces”. The book proves that the troops of Kemal Atatürk did not fight against the “occupying French” but against Armenians Aintab.

Krikor Amirzayan

EU calls for “immediate ceasefire” in Turkey’s Kurdish-dominated region

January 25, 2016 By administrator

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini on Monday, January 25 called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Turkey‘s Kurdish-dominated region where the Turkish army is waging a relentless campaign against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, AFP reports.

“We call for an immediate ceasefire in the southeast and strongly condemn all kinds of terrorism,” Mogherini told a joint press conference with Turkish ministers in Ankara.

“We are ready to contribute with regards to the Kurdish peace process. We have an imminent interest on that because it can affect the security in the region, and in the broader sense, the EU,” added European Union Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn.

After a more than two-year ceasefire, fighting resumed last summer between Turkish security forces and the PKK, dashing hopes of ending a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people since 1984.

But Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir vowed no let-up in the campaign against the PKK, which has since staged a string of attacks against security forces.

“As a sovereign state, Turkey will continue its struggle against all terrorist organizations, including the PKK, which are threatening its national security,” he said.

“In doing so, we try to protect the rights of our citizens.”

AFP. EU calls for ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Turkey’s Kurdish southeast

Iraqi People have had enough with PM Abadi begging Turkey to leave Nanava,

January 23, 2016 By administrator

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has renewed his call on Turkey to withdraw its troops from northern Iraq, saying he hoped Ankara would help Baghdad fight Takfiri Daesh terrorists.

“I appeal to the Turkish government to help us, and withdraw their forces,” Abadi said Friday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss town of Davos.

The prime minister said the Turkish government has failed to provide an answer to the question why its soldiers are on the Iraqi soil. “We have to have an answer.”

“We in Iraq want very good neighborly relations with Turkey, we hope Turkey will help us to fight Daesh,” Abadi added.

Last month, Turkey deployed some 150 soldiers, equipped with heavy weapons and backed by 20 to 25 tanks, to the outskirts of Mosul, the capital of Iraq’s northern Nineveh Province.

Ankara claimed the deployment was part of a mission to train and equip Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the anti-Daesh fight, but Baghdad denounced the uncoordinated move as a violation of Iraq’s national sovereignty.

“I don’t know what their aim is. Is it an expansionist plot to control part of Nineveh?” Abadi noted. “I hope not … I

The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh mounted an offensive in the Arab country in June 2014.

Abadi said the violence perpetrated by Daesh in Iraq has left four million internal refugees.

Comment by Iraqi people

Charles Kerry9

Words don’t work ,diplomacy doesn’t work with Turks,

Zring8913

Why is Iraq so scared??? Just attack them and tell the West that Turkey has caused threat to Iraq as well they are illigaly stationed!!! The US and Nato can’t do anything u guys got Russia, China and Iran by ur side!!!

Marcus Garvey13

STOP BEGGING AND KICK THEM OUT!!!

anti terror15

Abadi is playing the American Zionist Game of Condemning Terrorism on one hand and Aiding Terror on the Other,rather than Appealing to Turkey use Force against it if Serious

Iraqi15

As someone who was born in Iraq I find this man out of touch , for so long he keeps repeating the same words and no action isn’t time he starts asking for help from Russia , what is going on have we lost our pride as Iraqis , he should retire go back doing what he used to do and let a brave leader take his place absolutely disgraceful .

Bahram15

Remove the turks by force if you did NOT invite Them or they dont leave the illigal occupied areas. You should have your legal basis in place to remove Them. WHO does NOT have the right to throw someone out WHO has enteties your home without invitation – everybody has the right to throw uninvited intruders out of theire homes.

Is US VP Biden soliciting lobbying job from Turkey by calling PKK threat to turkey

January 23, 2016 By administrator

204477 U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday, January 23 said that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) is a threat to Turkey like Islamic State, condemning the Kurdish militants as “a terror group plain and simple,” AFP reports.

“IS is not the only existential threat to the people of Turkey, the PKK is equally a threat and we are aware of that.. it is a terror group plain and simple and what they continue to do is absolutely outrageous,” Biden said after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul.

Biden on Fridaystrongly criticized Turkey for failing to set the right “example” on freedom of expression, following the imprisonment of journalists and investigation of academics who criticized government policy, AFP reports.

“When the media are intimidated or imprisoned for critical reporting… and more than 1,000 academics are accused of treason simply by signing a petition, that’s not the kind of example that needs to be set,” Biden said at a meeting with civil society representatives in Istanbul.

TURKEY Death of Mustafa. Koç, Koç Holding CEO whose family fortune comes from the confiscation of Armenian property

January 22, 2016 By administrator

arton121256-276x183 Mustafa Koç, the boss of the largest industrial conglomerate in Turkey, Koç Holding, died Thursday in an Istanbul hospital following a heart attack at age 55, announced his doctors.

“We lost Mustafa Koç following a heart attack which he suffered at his home, despite all the efforts of the doctors,” he told reporters a doctor of the American Hospital of the Nisantasi area. CEO fainted during a workout. He had suffered last year a gastric surgery and lost about 40 kg, the Turkish media reported.

Mustafa Koç led since 2003 one of the strongest and most respected companies of Turkey, founded in 1920 by his grandfather Vehbi Koç.

Vehbi Koç was born July 20, 1901 in Ankara in a family of the working class. Like the Sabanci family, he turned the Armenian private property in 1942 including that of Margarios Ohanyan.

By itself, the family group and Koç hundred companies provide 9% of Turkish exports and 8% of gross domestic product (GDP).

Koç Holding has the particular Tüpras oil company, which owns one of the largest refineries in Europe and a major automotive cluster in Turkey that produces models of Fiat and Ford brands. He is also active in the banking sector.

The boss of Koç Holding had suffered the wrath of the government of the current Islamic-conservative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, especially after he criticized the repression of political slingshot June 2013. His group had particularly suffered significant tax adjustments.

Friday, January 22, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Turkey: Amnesty denounces the “collective punishment” of the curfew in the south-east

January 21, 2016 By administrator

arton121224-480x270 The curfew imposed in the cities of southeastern mainly Kurdish Turkey constitute “collective punishment” for their people and army abuses are “dangerously” of force, Amnesty International denounced Thursday.
“The operations being conducted under total curfew put the lives of tens of thousands of people in danger and begin to look like collective punishment,” lamented the director of the NGO

Organ trade gang receives up to 24 years in jail in southern Turkey

January 21, 2016 By administrator

A local court in Turkey sentenced on Jan. 20 a total of 15 suspects to between two and 24 years in jail for trading organs on social media, in a ruling which came after five years, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Police initially began to surveil an organ trade gang in the southern province of Adana in 2011.

After eight months of surveillance, the police initiated simultaneous operations at 46 addresses in 11 provinces across Turkey. A total of 22 suspects were detained for allegedly being a member of an organ trade gang. The members were accused of finding poor people as organ donors and donor receivers via social media.

Osman Kökyıldırım, 51, the alleged leader of the gang, and Savaş Günay, who allegedly assisted him, were arrested by the court, while 20 others were released pending trial.

Kökyıldırım, who was accused of choosing organ donors among the poor, confessed to the crime.

However, he said he had not done it again after he learned it was a crime. Günay, who was accused of finding the buyers via Facebook messages and also preparing false documents which showed the organ donors and receiver were relatives, denied all charges. “I sold my kidney but never helped anyone in trade,” Günay told the court.

Kökyıldırım was sentenced to 24 years in jail by the Adana 5th Court of Serious Crimes. The court also sentenced Günay to five years in jail.

A further 13 suspects received jail sentences ranging from two to five years. The court acquitted six suspects, while the case was closed for one suspect who had died in the interim.

In Turkey, organ donation is only permitted between relatives, according to a law which aimed to prevent organ trade.

The court’s ruling came soon after dual controversial court rulings which allowed for organ transplantation between people who were not relatives.

Two Turkish courts annulled the procedures of an organ transplant commission prohibiting organ donation to third parties.

The rulings were issued by the fifth and sixth administrative courts in Istanbul on the grounds that the only treatment for some patients was an organ transplant.

The courts said the rationale stated by the Ethical Commission for the Assessment of Organ Transplantation Applications, a commission responsible for organ transplant decisions, prohibiting organ transplants between non-related persons should be based on solid information stated in a written document.

Iran to counterbalance Turkey-Azerbaijan duo – expert

January 21, 2016 By administrator

Iran can act as a serious counterbalance in the current duo between Turkey and Azerbaijan, increasing Armenia’s chances in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace deal, an Armenian orientalist said today, highlighting the possible benefits for the country in the current geopolitical context.
“That will be an opportunity to counterbalance the Turkish influence in the region. For us, that implies a chance to relax Turkey’s pressure,” Director of the National Academy’s Institute of Oriental Studies Ruben Safrastyan told reporters, considering the issue a serious diplomatic challenge for Armenia.
Agreeing that it is for now too early to consider specific steps, Safrastyan said he nonetheless thinks that Armenia should try to derive maximum benefits. “Given that Iran is a friend country – also in these difficult days – we need to take into account the Iran-Turkey strain and take advantage of the opportunity. The Iranian factor is very positive and in our interests,” he added.

Russia accuses Turkey of supporting terrorist groups al-Nusra and Ahrar ash-Sham in Syria

January 21, 2016 By administrator

Terrorist groups al-Nusra and Ahrar ash-Sham have received serious reinforcements from Turkey in the Syrian province of Aleppo, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign ministry said Thursday, January 21, Sputnik News reports.

“Unfortunately, in recent days, we noticed that terror groups have intensified their activities ahead of planned intra-Syrian talks,” Maria Zakharova told a weekly press briefing.

Terrorists may use fortifications built by Turkey on its border with Syria as strongholds, the spokeswoman said, adding that Moscow was concerned about increased Turkish military incursions into Syria.

“While all interested sides pin their hopes on the start of a meaningful and inclusive dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition, some external forces continue helping militants in Syria, including terrorist groups, providing them with arms and ammunition,” she said.

Russia will continue its humanitarian operation in Syria, Zakharova noted, adding that Moscow was surprised over Washington’s claims that it “does not see” Russian humanitarian aid deliveries to the war-torn country.

Sputnik News. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Zakharova Holds Weekly Press Briefing Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160121/1033483222/zakharova-press-briefing.html#ixzz3xt5C2wdo