MINORITY EDUCATION IN TERMS OF CENTURIES THERE IS NOTHING CHANGED
By ZEYNEP TOZDUMAN
Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide
MINORITY EDUCATION IN TERMS OF CENTURIES THERE IS NOTHING CHANGED
By ZEYNEP TOZDUMAN
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan‘s younger son Bilal Erdoğan, who was one of the prime suspects in Turkey’s largest corruption case ever which was revealed on Dec. 17-25, 2013, has settled in the city of Bologna in Italy, along with his wife and children following the June 7 parliamentary election in which the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) that President Erdoğan founded lost its majority in Parliament, a Turkish daily has reported.
According to the Cumhuriyet daily, Erdoğan’s son moved to Italy following the election to continue his Ph.D. education at Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Bologna, where he suspended study years ago, and has enrolled his children in a school there. Bilal Erdoğan also reportedly asked for security guards from the Italian government.
Citing confidential sources, the newspaper said Bilal Erdoğan made the decision to leave the country and register in the school that he started in 2007 following the June election after the AK Party failed to secure enough seats in Parliament to form a single-party government. The result also undermined Erdoğan’s goal of gaining 400 AK Party deputies in Parliament and switch the country to a presidential system that would increase his powers.
An official from the school’s administration refused to answer Cumhuriyet’s questions, saying it cannot disclose information about its students. However, Cumhuriyet says Bilal Erdoğan has already completed his courses for the Ph.D. and is only required to write his thesis, a process which does not require him to be at the school permanently but still enables him to secure residential permission for two years.
On Sunday night, Twitter whistleblower Fuat Avni’s claimed that Bilal Erdoğan went to Italy on Sept. 27 with large sums of money. Pro-government media outlets have confirmed the whistleblower’s allegations; however, it is claimed that he is there because of his Ph.D.
Saying Bilal flew to Italy on Sept. 27 and the plan is for him to remain there for a while and possibly bring some family members over at a later time, Fuat Avni wrote: “They are planning to keep Bilal in Italy until the [Nov. 1] election. They will determine whether he will be coming back according to the situation after the election.”
Claiming that there is a plan in place for President Erdoğan and his family to escape if necessary after Nov. 1, the whistleblower also said Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioğlu is organizing the plan.
Fuat Avni also tweeted on Monday that after Erdoğan’s possible flight from the country was revealed, the presidential palace was concerned on Monday morning and there were fears the revelation would “cause resentment in the bureaucracy.” The whistleblower also claims other people are being used by President Erdoğan to manage his money secretly and are being sent abroad.
Source: Zaman
A Russian-made MIG-29 fighter jet put two Turkish F-16 jets under radar lock on Turkish-Syrian border on Monday, the Turkish military has announced.
In a written statement issued on its website on Monday, the military said 10 F-16s scrambled to patrol the Turkish-Syrian border. During this mission, a MIG-29 placed two Turkish F-16s under radar lock for five minutes and 40 seconds. The military said it has not yet determined which country the MIG-29 belongs to.
Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Monday a Russian warplane violated Turkish airspace near the Syrian border, prompting Ankara to scramble two F-16 jets to intercept it and summon Moscow’s ambassador in protest.
“[It] exited Turkish airspace into Syria after it was intercepted by two F-16s from the Turkish Air Force that were conducting patrols in the region,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Moscow’s ambassador to protest the violation and urged Russia against any repeat, warning it would be held “responsible for any undesired incident that may occur.”
Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioğlu had spoken with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, as well as key NATO partners, the statement said.
A Russian fighter aircraft violated Turkish airspace at 12:08 a.m. on Oct. 3 in the southern district of Yayladağı in Hatay province, the Hurriyet Daily News reports referring to the Turkish Foreign Ministry.
“The Russian aircraft exited Turkish airspace into Syria after it was intercepted by two F-16s from the Turkish Air Force, which were conducting patrols in the region,” a written statement said Oct. 5.
The ministry summoned the ambassador of Russia in Ankara, Andrey Karlov, and strongly protested the violation, read the statement.
The ministry demanded that any such violation not be repeated and asserted that, otherwise, Russia would be responsible for any undesired incident that could occur, it added.
Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioğlu also called his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to lodge a protest.
Sinirlioğlu also conducted telephone calls with his U.S., French, Italian and British counterparts to evaluate the situation. He also plans to consult with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and his German counterpart.
A Russian warplane on a bombing run in Syria flew within five miles of the Turkish border, U.S. media reported on Oct. 4.
A Turkish security official reportedly said Turkish radar locked onto the Russian aircraft as it was bombing early Oct. 2 in al-Yamdiyyah, a Syrian village directly on the Turkish border. He said Turkish fighter jets would have attacked had it crossed into Turkish airspace.
A U.S. military official suggested the incident had come close to sparking an armed confrontation. Reading from a report, he said the Russian aircraft had violated Turkish air space by five miles and that Turkish jets had been scrambled, but that the Russian aircraft had returned to Syrian airspace before they could respond.
Cole Forster | The Gateway Online
The maintenance of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party on the Canadian government’s list of terrorist organizations is a bizarre classification given the recent nature of the group. The PKK in its current inception has very little to do with the terror tactics it occasionally employed in the 80s, 90s and early 00s. Correspondingly, the armed wing of the group is smaller than it has ever been, and with regards to Turkey is strictly engaged in insurrection towards military and police installations. If the PKK were today attacking civilians because it saw no other way to redress the grievances of Anatolia’s Kurdish population, then someone arguing for its blacklisting would have a ghost of a point. But this is simply no longer the case.
I proffer no defence of the PKK’s violent actions between 1984-2013, but I invite readers to remember the campaign of brutality and repression visited upon the Kurds in Turkey during those years. The history of Turkey’s “problem” minority is a tragic but resilient one. We are talking about the largest identifiable group of people in the world who don’t have a state of their own. A unique culture, with its own languages, traditions, heritage, and I argue, right to self-determination. But Ankara has always seen the Kurds as an impediment to Atatürk’s vision for an ethnically homogenous Turkey. And for decades the PKK has struggled against state repression in the southeastern quarter of the country.
It’s annoying that I have to waste ink clarifying the obvious, but I will do so anyways to avoid any charge of unfairness. The activity of the PKK in years past is disgraced by the harm that befell civilians. Killing non-combatants is never justified. That being said, I don’t think any thoughtful audience would consider Turkish soldiers complicit in the systematic destruction of an estimated 2,400 Kurdish villages to be pacific actors.
The chronological trend within the PKK has been concurrently towards a more tepid socialism and a deescalation of violent acts towards civilians and foreigners. In 2013 the group’s leader Abdullah Öcalan wrote a letter from the prison cell in which he is being held indefinitely, instructing PKK forces to withdraw across the mountains into Iraqi Kurdistan. This command was followed almost immediately and since 2013 the PKK has sought refuge in the Autonomous Region of northern Iraq. But this retreat has marginalized the PKK in terms of its ability to leverage in discussion of autonomy.
In blacklisting the PKK, Canada is echoing the Turkish government’s position that neither the organization nor its totally benign subsidiaries deserve a seat at the table. The fastest way to broker a peace in this conflict is to invite actual representatives of the Kurdish community to have a say in their own future. This necessarily means including the PKK.
The most compelling argument on this subject is related to the rise of ISIL in the neighbourhood. How can we label the PKK and her affiliates as terrorist groups and simultaneously depend on their bravery in the fight against ISIL? It seems self-evidently hypocritical to condemn the guerillas and then wager against the implosion of the region because of its actions. Remember, it was the PKK who shepherded the Yazidi Kurds to safety on Mount Sinjar. It was the PKK who shouldered rifles to restore Kobanî. And it is the PKK who settles down at night in the mountains of Northern Iraq and wait for the Turks to start shelling them from across the border.
And we repay our brothers and sisters in Kurdistan by taking Erdogan’s side. This great debt we owe tothe people struggling against ISIL on our behalf is reimbursed by freezing their assets, by pigeon- holing a vast umbrella organization for events that transpired decades ago. We recompense their bravery with our cowardice, with confused and dated classifications. As for solidarity, we have abandoned the principal.
Source: thegatewayonline.ca
While Russian-Azeri naval military maneuvers were held in the Caspian, confirming a rapprochement between Russia and Azerbaijan, the Azeri troops range from 5 to 9 October undertake joint military exercises with Turkey as part of operations ” Eternity-2015 “. Exercises to the capacity of military commands to consolidated. Georgia also participate in these exercises. While no allies of Armenia has raised his voice in condemning the Azeri attacks Karabakh and the western border with Nakhichevan, it remains to Armenia to carry out military maneuvers with the army of Nagorno Karabakh … and only rely on its own strength to face the enemy.
Krikor Amirzayan
According to media reports, the dead body was that of Hacı Lokman Birlik, the brother-in-law of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Şırnak deputy Leyla Birlik. Hacı Lokman Birlik was killed on Friday in a clash between members of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Turkish security forces in Şırnak.
Sharing a photo of the incident on his Twitter account, HDP Co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş wrote on Sunday: “Look at this photo closely. It was taken the day before yesterday in Şırnak. Nobody should forget this and we will never forget it.”
Pro-Justice and Development Party (AK Party) figures claimed on Sunday that the photos were fabricated and that they were intentionally served to the media by PKK sympathizers to create a negative public perception about the AK Party government. However, the same figures claimed later the same day that the body had been tied to the police car in case the body was booby-trapped. The pro-government Akşam daily claimed on Sunday afternoon that dragging bodies in such a way was a “routine practice” that is performed across the world as a security precaution.
Akşam’s report also claimed that dead bodies suspected of being booby-trapped are dragged by people holding ropes if the body is found in a rural area but if the body is found in a residential area, the body is pulled by a police car to protect locals. No official statement has yet been made about the photos.
Birlik was buried after a funeral on Saturday in the Dicle neighborhood in Şırnak. HDP Şırnak deputies Leyla Birlik, Faysal Sarıyıldız and Aycan İrmez attended the funeral.
Speaking to reporters following the funeral, Leyla Birlik’s husband, Mehmet Birlik, said that they will not surrender to the AK Party despite all the pressure it is putting on Kurdish people. Sarıyıldız also told the press that it was “the barbarism of the AK Party that killed Birlik.”
In the meantime, the Interior Ministry announced on Sunday afternoon that it has launched an investigation over the photos. In a written statement, the ministry said that all the claims regarding the photos will be investigated by the ministry.
Source: Zaman
Turkey’s president has expressed concern over Russia’s bombing campaign against terrorists in Syria as Moscow says its airstrikes have inflicted severe damage on the Daesh Takfiri group.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that Russia’s actions in Syria are “worrying and disturbing.”
“The steps Russia is taking and the bombing campaign in Syria are quite unacceptable to Turkey,” he added.
The Turkish president acknowledged that Russia’s airstrikes against the Western-backed militants, who are fighting the government in Syria, have “saddened” him.
Erdogan’s remarks came after the Russian defense ministry announced Russian forces have intensified their anti-militancy operations in Syria.
“Over the past 24 hours SU-34, SU-24M and SU-25 jets made 20 sorties,” it said.
Russia’s SU-25 jets have targeted a training camp in the northwestern Idlib Province and “destroyed the terrorists’ hideouts and a workshop making makeshift explosive devices including ‘suicide belts’,” it said.
“From the airbase of Hmeimim, the Russian aviation group is continuing to ramp up air strikes using high-precision missiles against the ISIS (Daesh) facilities in Syria,” it said.
The base of Hmeimim is situated in Latakia Province on the Mediterranean coast.
The defense ministry said its warplanes had used powerful concrete-buster munitions in its precision-targeting operations against Daesh.
“Four command posts of ISIS armed groups have been destroyed with the help of concrete-piercing BETAB-500 bombs,” said the defense ministry.
SU-34 bombers attacked a Daesh training camp and ammunition depot in Raqa Province, dropping guided bombs and destroying the camp, the ministry said.
The Russian raids have drawn criticism from Western governments and their allies in the Middle East, which have been supporting the militants operating in the region.
Russia, however, has dismissed the Western propaganda against its military offensive, saying its airstrikes, which began on Wednesday, are only targeting terrorists such as Daesh and al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Turkish police detained 44 people in Istanbul on Friday, October 2, on suspicion of links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in a continuing crackdown on militants ahead of a snap national election in November, local media reported, according to Reuters.
Fighting between the Turkish military and the outlawed PKK resumed in the country’s mainly Kurdish southeast following the collapse in July of a ceasefire and has reached an intensity unseen since the 1990s. More than 120 security personnel and hundreds of militants have been killed.
Among those detained on Friday were district officials of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), a pro-Kurdish party which the government accuses of having links with the hardline PKK.
An HDP spokesman had no immediate information on the arrests. There was also no comment from Turkish police.
Among the 44 people arrested were union members and former district mayors, Turkish media reported.
In the predominantly Kurdish southeastern city of Diyarbakir, security sources said police had imposed a curfew in the Silvan neighborhood where two soldiers were shot dead by suspected PKK militants on Thursday as they left for work.
Reuters. Turkey detains 44 people in raids targeting Kurdish militants: media
Two soldiers were gunned down by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as they left for work on Thursday in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, while two others died in clashes between Turkish security forces and PKK terrorists in Mardin’s Nusaybin and Şırnak‘s Beytüşşebap districts on Thursday. Report Zaman
As the PKK-related tension in southeastern Turkey continues to grow with every passing day, Turkey witnessed another series of clashes between the terrorist group and Turkish security forces during which four soldiers were martyred.
In Mardin’s Nusaybin district, one soldier was killed and six others were injured on Thursday morning when members of the PKK opened fire on troops guarding fellow soldiers who were checking a road in the southeastern province of Hakkari. The wounded soldiers were reportedly taken to a military hospital in Mardin by helicopter.
The Mardin Governor’s Office declared a curfew, as of 5 p.m., in the district where the first attack took place in the early hours of the morning. The wounded personnel are not in life-threatening condition, the office added.
According to several media outlets, a group of terrorists fired long-barreled weapons against troops who were guarding other soldiers checking the Mardin-Kızıltepe highway and the troops returned fire.
Two F-16 fighter jets were reportedly dispatched to the area and an operation, supported by drones, an attack helicopter and a reinforcement unit, was launched to find PKK members in the area.
According to the Cihan news agency, one terrorist was “rendered ineffective” in coordinated operations that followed the attack, and the PKK casualties were expected to increase as security operations, backed by Turkish Air Force warplanes, helicopters and drones were still ongoing.
In yet another attack in the city in the afternoon, one soldier was killed and another was wounded injured in Şırnak’s Beytüşşebap district, after PKK terrorists detonated a bomb while a military vehicle was passing late on Thursday. The injured soldier was taken to a nearby hospital and an air operation has been launched in the area to find the assailants.
In addition, two other soldiers were killed by PKK militants in Diyarbakır early on Thursday.
After a suicide bomber carried out an attack in the Suruç district of Şanlıurfa on July 20, killing 33 activists and injuring more than 100 people, PKK-related tension in southeastern Turkey has grown over the past month. Two police officers were shot in the head by PKK members in retaliation for the Suruç terrorist attack on July 22. The violence and PKK-led attacks further escalated when Turkey carried out air strikes against PKK bases in neighboring Iraq.
More than 100 security personnel and hundreds of PKK members have been killed since the collapse of a cease-fire with the PKK in July. The renewed hostilities have left efforts to establish long-term peace in ruins, and have sparked some of the worst recent clashes in a three-decades-long conflict.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said this week that up to 2,000 militants from the PKK have been killed in recent military operations inside Turkey and in northern Iraq.