Turkey Archives

Athens, smugglers receive support in Turkey

January 18, 2016 By administrator

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos said Turkey was not doing enough to reduce the number of migrants arriving in Europe and accused Turkish port officials of helping people smugglers, drawing a denial from Ankara on Monday.

Turkey reached a deal with EU officials late last year to keep more refugees inside its borders and stop them travelling onto Europe. Thousands fleeing civil war in Syria have made the perilous journey from Turkey, across the Aegean Sea to Ankara’s long-term regional rival Greece, many of them dying on the way.

“I greatly fear that Turkish people smugglers are getting support from the authorities,” Pavlopoulos said in an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung published on Monday.

“In particular, the port authorities act as if they don’t notice anything. There are cases in which smugglers have supposedly been helped. We have evidence for this,” he said.

A senior Turkish official strongly denied the allegations, saying Ankara was determinedly fighting irregular migration.

“Allegations that Turkish authorities have closed their eyes to human trafficking and helped smugglers are baseless and slander,” the official told Reuters.

He said statistics showed Turkey had prevented the passage of nearly 200,000 irregular migrants and caught more than 3,800 people smugglers in 2015.

“In an environment where bilateral cooperation in the fight against irregular migration has intensified so much, the Greek president’s comments were met with astonishment,” he added.

Pavlopoulos said Greece was still prepared to contribute towards the 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) pledged by the EU to Turkey to help care for Syrian refugees as long as Ankara fulfilled its obligations.

“Up to now Turkey has not delivered,” Pavlopoulos, who is due to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel later on Monday, told the paper.

The European Commission said earlier this month it was far from satisfied with Turkey’s containment of migrants as the number of new arrivals to Europe remained far too high.

Turkey: Erdoğan takes main opposition leader to court for compensation over ‘insult’

January 18, 2016 By administrator

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has taken main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to court for his remarks describing him a “sham dictator,” and asked for compensation for non-pecuniary damages, Hurriyet Daily News reported.
In their petition filed to the Ankara Civil Court of First Instance on Jan. 18, Erdoğan’s lawyers quoted Kılıçdaroğlu’s speech delivered during a convention of his party on Jan. 16, and said their client’s “honor and reputation” was targeted by Kılıçdaroğlu’s “extraordinarily weighty insults.”
“There is no public interest in the speech subject to the case. The defendant did not taken public interest into account while criticizing our client; he has exceeded the boundaries of criticism and attacked the personality rights of our client, while it was possible to make criticism with expressions other than these unfair and unlawful expressions,” the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted the lawyers as saying in their petition, demanding that Kılıçdaroğlu pay 100,000 Turkish Liras for non-pecuniary damages.
The complaint filed by Erdoğan’s lawyers followed a probe launched by prosecutors earlier on Jan. 18 into Kilichdaroglu for the same remarks.
In September 2015, a local court in Ankara ordered Kılıçdaroğlu to pay 20,000 liras in compensation to Erdoğan for insulting the head of state.
Erdogan took Kilichdaroglu to court over playing leaked tape recordings involving corruption claims that engulfed former government officials during his tenure as prime minister, before he was elected as president in August 2014.

Genocide Petition: Turkey she would prepare a genocide in Kurdistan?

January 17, 2016 By administrator

arton120995-480x269 “A massacre of State is preparing to general indifference. And all this policy is supported by the Western powers, our governments … “the words of the petition being alert Genocide? are strong. Yet the text of a petition launched on the website change.org is clear. Turkey should prepare a massacre against a city of Kurdistan in general indifference. “Imagine a district of Lyon or Rennes reduced to ashes by the French army itself. Imagine, teachers receive a text message announcing the Ministry all schools in unlimited vacation and summoning you to leave your city, Nantes and Valencia, in preparation for a massacre by the army, “says the author Petition Christine Jacquemin, whose daughter lives in Istanbul. She said it “is happening right now in Turkey, in its eastern part, among the Kurds. That’s what state is the neighborhood of Sur in Diyarbakir (Turkey). “ Message to medical and school services

The reason for this mobilization to the site? The author of the petition said it had received the information of his daughter, present on site. “Cizre Teachers were ordered to leave the premises, hospitals were sent indicating stand ready hardware and personnel.” Mass slaughter in perspective? While Turkey is attacked from all sides by suicide attacks, terror reigned in the country which “the vast majority of the country, lobotomized by state TV and intoxicated by nationalist hatred think it is a legitimate war against “terror” and welcomes the dead “terrorist dirty” and less “wrote the petition. Turkey prepares you it genocide?

The Kurdistan situation is tense for decades. This entity territory divided between Turkey, Iraq and Syria is very virulent and has caused numerous attacks in Turkey through the armed group PKK. Leading the fight against Daech, military means were given to anti-Daech fighters on the Syrian territory. If this uprising permits a ground fight against the terrorist group, Turkish specialists seem to care that such uprising could turn against Turkey, which refuses to give a piece of its territory for the creation of a Kurdish state. If this is true, Turkey, “heads a hundred years after the Armenian Genocide,” prepare “a real ethnic cleansing is preparing under the orders of President Erdogan,” says the petition. The Turkish government refuses to validate the thesis of the Armenian genocide during World War II in 2015. Do not denying the massacres perpetrated there, however, the Turkish government refuses to recognize the organized nature of these massacres that would become genocide.

For now, the Change.org petition has collected nearly 800 signatures and 2 were sent directly towards the UN.

to access the petition

https://www.change.org/p/alerte-g%C3%A9nocide-en-cours? recruiter = 464140334

Sunday, January 17, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Russian embassy website in Israel hacked in suspected Turkish cyberattack

January 17, 2016 By administrator

The website of the Russian embassy in Israel has reportedly been taken down by the Börteçine Siber Tim hacker group, which put an image of the Turkish national flag on the home page and accompanied it with a message in Turkish, according to RIA Novosti. The website is currently not available. The diplomatic mission hasn’t commented on the incident so far. In early January, the hacker group also cracked the Instagram account of Russian minister Nikolay Nikiforov and posted there photos of the Russian Su-24 military jet downed by Turkish air forces in November 2015.

EXECUTION: Levon Ekmeddian The Association of Turkey Human Rights emphasizes the illegality of the trial

January 17, 2016 By administrator

arton121038-480x311 The members of the Association of Human Rights who attended the transfer of the body of Levon Ekmekdjian, his family demanded, noted that over the formalities which lasted two years, we had to make non approaches required by the regulations; they stressed the illegality of his trial and execution.

The body of Levon Ekmekdjian who was executed in Ankara, was returned to his family in France, two years after the start of the procedures initiated at the request of his family by the Association of Human Rights (IHD).

The body of Levon Ekmekdjian which was exhumed Cebeci Asri Cemetery in Ankara December 23, 2015 and taken to Paris will be planted after a DNA check, during a ceremony.

The Istanbul branch of the Anti-Racism and Anti-Discrimination Commission branch of the IHD held today (January 7) a press conference about it.

Eren Keskin, lawyer of the family of Ekmekdjian, said the formalities for approval to transfer the body, which would have had to take a day, lasted two years because of barriers erected; she noted that being deprived of a lawyer and his right to express himself at his trial, Levon Ekmekdjian was sentenced to the death penalty.

The formalities, which would not have taken more than a day, it lasted two years.

Levon Ekmekdjian, born in 1958, was the child of an immigrant family in Lebanon after the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

Member of the Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), he was arrested as a suspect in the attack on the Esenboga Airport in Ankara, August 7, 1982, during which, according to figures officials, nine people were killed and 72 injured; Turkey was at that time under the military junta.

Ekmekdjian, imprisoned in the Mamak prison had been executed January 29, 1983, the day after the conviction to the death sentence had been served.

The family of Levon Ekmekdjian in 2013 had filed a case with the Commission IHD members who were in Paris for a conference and had informed them of a process for the transfer of the body of Levon Ekmekdjian in Paris.

Keskin was taken as a family lawyer and IHD members had discovered the body of Levon Ekmekdjian was Cebeci Asri Cemetery buried in Ankara.

Although the transfer of the body, since the location of the body through the Cemeteries Branch was made, authorization and a declaration of the Health Directorate of the Province stating that no public health problem was posed would been enough, things did not go normally.

After two years at cross-correspondences, even not provided for in administrative procedures, among various levels of internal affairs departments of Justice and Foreign Affairs, the remains of Levon Ekmekdjian were exhumed from his grave and transported to Paris .

“An execution and punishment illegal death sentence”

Meral Cildir, reading a statement by the IHD, said that the execution and sentencing were illegal.

“He did not advocate. The ability to defend itself was not given to him. And he could call, with no lawyer.

“In his statement he expressed regret and according to the law in force at the time, he would not have been performed. Despite this, Ekmekdjian was executed without delay.

“The date of the decision approving its implementation is January 28, 1983. Levon Ekmekdjian was executed on the morning of the next day, January 29.

“At that time, it was the state of emergency imposed by the fascist junta that reigned, but Levon Ekmekdjian was special treatment because in the eyes of power, he was not a” terrorist “but a” Armenian terrorist “.

“We must tell the truth about Esenboga”

Cildir drew attention to the fact that the truth about the fighting in Esenboga was not revealed.

“The crucial details about the event and have been kept secret for many years regarded as state secrets. Nevertheless, evidence has been made public in very small circles, and non-official documents are accessible. Shedding light on the event has not been made yet. It is not known if autopsies were done on dead or technical studies were made.

“The first time an eyewitness who had been held hostage that day spoke, it was in” The Raid Esenboga “, a documentary by CNN Turk in 2004. He said he n ‘Never forget that finding himself face to face with a police officer, he had immediately opened fire on him when it was trying to escape through the window he had broken. It was a policeman who had shot him. How others were killed must be reported, and the truth must be revealed. “

Beyza Kural isatanbul

BIA News Desk

January 7, 2016

Translation Gilbert Béguian

This website is published within the framework of “Journalists for the Law, the Law for Journalism” – under the acronym BIA3 – an initiative developed by the IPS Communication Foundation with the financial assistance of the International development Sweedish Assembly.

http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/170877-levon-ekmekciyan-s-funeral-by-his-family-after-32-years

Sunday, January 17, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Turkey launches investigation against scientists under notorious Article 301

January 17, 2016 By administrator

art 301 Turkey’s Prosecutor General has launched an investigation against the “Academics for Peace” initiative under the notorious Article 301of the country’s Criminal Code.

1128 Turkish scientists and representatives of intelligence, who addressed a letter to President Erdogan urging him to make peace with the Kurds, may face imprisonment for a period of six months to two years. The scientists are also charged under an article related to “propaganda for a terrorist organization”. The mentioned article envisages imprisonment for a period from one to five years.

The same article was used to try Armenian Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, who was later acquitted by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

1128 scientists and representatives of intelligence signed a declaration, urging the Turkish authorities to stop the massacre policy against the Kurds, allow the monitoring commission to visit the Kurdish-inhabited regions and create conditions for negotiations.

President Erdogan called those people traitors and ordered to launch an investigation against them. 12 scientists from the Kocaeli University have already been arrested.

Turkey: 18 academics detained, over 130 face criminal charges amid accusations by president of ‘terrorist propaganda’

January 16, 2016 By administrator

n_93887_1 Turkish police have detained at least 18 academics who signed a petition calling for an end to military operations in southeastern Anatolia, while more than 130 academics are facing criminal charges. The moves come just days after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed the signatories for making “terrorist propaganda.”

Universities and prosecutor’s offices across the country started to launch probes into some of the 1,128 local and international academics and intellectuals who fall within the state’s jurisdiction, arguing that the petition went beyond the limits of academic freedoms.

In a dawn operation in the northwestern province of Kocaeli on Jan. 15, police raided the houses of 19 academics and detained 15. Provincial police head Levent Yarımel told the press a detention warrant had been issued for a total of 21 academics in the city.

In the northwestern province of Bursa, meanwhile, three academics were also detained, Anadolu Agency reported.

Speaking in Sultanahmet after Friday prayers on Jan. 15, President Erdoğan again denounced the signatories of the document, who included U.S. philosopher Noam Chomsky, saying that “those who do not want to take part in politics in parliament should dig trenches or go to the mountains.”

“Our nation should see who is who. Being a professor does not make someone an intellectual. These are the darkest of people. They are cruel people, because those who ally with cruelty are themselves cruel,” Erdoğan said on Jan. 15, referring to the detention of academics.

Meanwhile, the Anatolian, Istanbul and Bakırköy chief public prosecutors also launched investigations against at least 123 academics employed by universities in Istanbul. Anadolu initiated probes on 82 academics and Bakırköy on 41 academics while public prosecutor of Istanbul did not disclose a number.

Some of the academics employed by universities outside of Istanbul are also facing charges as public prosecutor’s offices in Bartın, Diyarbakır, Kayseri, Mardin and Samsun also announced that probes would be launched against academics that have signed the petition, although a clear number was not provided to the press.

According to reports, the academics are being charged with violating the controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, according to which it is illegal to insult the Turkish nation, the state of the Turkish Republic or the Grand Assembly of Turkey and the state’s judicial institutions. The academics are also accused of “terrorist propaganda” and of “inciting hatred and enmity.”

This view was reiterated early on Jan. 15 by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu who claimed no country would consider “supporting or collaborating with a terror organization” as freedom of expression, implying the petition aimed at supporting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

“There is no difference between supporting terror financially or politically,” Çavuşoğlu argued, underlining Turkey has been going through a “sensitive” period in its history.

The president’s call for action of legal institutions and university senates, coupled by criticisms of Justice and Development Party (AKP) government officials, led to a series of administrative inquiries by universities which employ some of the academics in question.

At least 41 academics are facing, among other punishments, suspension and dismissal. This figure does not include the academics whose number has so far been disclosed only as “a group of” academics by Çukurova and Gediz universities.

In stark contrast with the AKP, Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) strongly criticized the detentions, arguing the move came from Erdoğan’s instructions to the judiciary.

“The steps taken by the judiciary and some universities that regarded President Erdoğan’s statements as an order on 1,128 academics who signed a petition titled ‘We won’t be part of this crime’ by the ‘Academics for Peace Initiative’ constitute a new dark stain on Turkish democracy,” read a statement issued by the party assembly of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) on Jan. 15.

The Istanbul Chamber of Medicine also raised its voice against the detention of academics and announced that it would hold a press conference in protest at the raids.

The investigation and the detentions come soon after Turkey’s president slammed the petition’s signatories, arguing the human rights violations in the southeast are being committed by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants and not the Turkish state.

“Despite all of these facts, this crowd, which calls itself academics, accuses the state through a statement. Not only this, they also invite foreigners to monitor developments. This is the mentality of colonialism,” he said. Likening today’s situation with the Turkish War of Independence, Erdoğan said the country was again facing “treason” from “so-called intellectuals.”

Erdoğan also touched upon the issue following a visit to Sultanahmet Square, where an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) suicide bomber killed 10 German tourists on Jan. 12, underlining that there was no different between “oppressors and the supporters of oppressors.”

January/15/2016

Sharmazanov: Turkey has nothing to do in Karabakh conflict settlement

January 16, 2016 By administrator

Armen Turkey YEREVAN. – Turkey does not and cannot have anything to do in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia, Eduard Sharmazanov, told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am, as he commented on the statement by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

“This statement once again demonstrates that Turkey, in violation of the international commitments it has assumed, continues to posit preconditions,” Sharmazanov noted. “This is unacceptable and reprehensible.”

Çavuşoğlu had stated that Armenia-Turkey relations cannot be normalized unless the Karabakh conflict is resolved.

Turkey: Police detain 12 academics amid accusations by president of ‘terrorist propaganda’

January 15, 2016 By administrator

acd.thumb Police in the northwestern province of Kocaeli have detained 12 academics that signed a petition to call for an end to military operations in Southeast Anatolia, just days after President Recep Erdoğan slammed the academics for making “terrorist propaganda,” the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The Kocaeli Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation against 21 academics from Kocaeli University that signed a petition by the “Academics for Peace” initiative. The signatories of the petition, some 1,128 local and international academics and intellectuals, were labelled “poor excuses for intellectuals,” by Erdoğan.

Police raided the academics’ houses early on Jan. 15 and detained 12 who were at their declared addresses at the time. The remaining nine will also be detained, state-run Anadolu Agency said, quoting sources from the police.

The investigation and the detentions come soon after Turkey’s president slammed the petition’s signatories, arguing the human rights violations in the southeast are being committed by outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants and not the Turkish state.

“Hey, you so-called intellectuals! You are not enlightened persons, you are in the dark. You are nothing like intellectuals. You are ignorant and dark, not even knowing about the east or the southeast. We know these places just like we know our home addresses,” he said, reiterating his position that Turkey’s problem is “not a Kurdish one, but one of terror.”

Deadly blast devastates Turkish police HQ in Kurdish region, 5 Killed, Over 30 Injured

January 13, 2016 By administrator

Car bomb in Turkey At least five people were killed and over 30 were injured in an attack on police headquarters in Turkey’s southeastern Diyarbakir Province, local media report.

The car bomb detonated at the entrance to the police headquarters in Turkey’s Cinar district led to a fire. BBC said citing local media that five people, including a woman and a baby, were killed and at least 36 others were wounded as a result.

Earlier, RT reported citing local media that between 6 and 31 people, including police officers, could have been killed in the attack, although there has been no official confirmation of a death toll.

According to RT, PKK has also carried out attacks at six other locations in Turkey (Bismil, Cizre, Mardin, Silopi, Sirnak, and Van).

The PKK group, outlawed in Turkey, has been struggling for independence of Kurdish-dominated regions in the southeast. Kurdish rebels seek to create a sovereign state in territories belonging to Turkey, Iraq and Syria.

https://youtu.be/obDegXT26RA