Turkey Archives

Switzerland: Armenian genocide: “Parliament must not play historians”

January 27, 2015 By administrator

Wednesday, Switzerland will face before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights Dogu Perinçek, who had publicly denied the existence of the Armenian genocide. The lawyer and National Councillor Yves Nidegger (UDC / GE) has heard the voice of the 130,000 Turks living in Switzerland defending the position of the Federation of Turkish Associations in Western Switzerland

Wednesday, Switzerland will face Dogu Perinçek before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. The chairman of the Turkish Workers’ Party had publicly denied the existence of the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Convicted of racial discrimination by the police court in Lausanne (judgment upheld by the Federal Court), the Everyone has enjoyed the support of the ECHR, the latter believing that Switzerland had violated his freedom of expression. The lawyer and National Councillor Yves Nidegger (UDC / GE) has heard the voice of the 130,000 Turks living in Switzerland defending the position of the Federation of Turkish Associations in western Switzerland.

Time: Why the term genocide is it not applicable to events of 1915?

Yves Nidegger: It is up to historians to say whether this term is applicable or not, and a commission of Turkish and Armenian historians was specifically formed for this in the context of the Zurich protocols. As this historic debate is ongoing, there is no sanction opinions, even if they are false or hateful, from either party.

The National Council has acknowledged the existence of such a genocide in 2003 …

It is always a mistake for a parliament to play the historians, this is not its role. In a democracy, we can not have the same people who say the official story as a resolution and enact a criminal provision to punish those who have the bad taste to disagree with it. If it were possible in the Soviet Union, this can not be in Switzerland.

Why Dogu Perinçek’s statements do not they fall within the scope of Article 261 bis of the Penal Code, which con damns those who “minimize crimes against humanity”?

The article speaks of one who “grossly minimizes” a crime against humanity. But the killings are not denied by Mr Perinçek. He does not say that the Armenians have not suffered or are suffering dummy. It simply says that to qualify these genocidal events to accuse Turkey is an international lie. You can be completely disagree with what he says. Freedom of speech has limits, of course, but the limits that the state may make the exercise of freedom of expression is also limited. The issue is there.

How to explain the vigor with which the Turkish authorities are fighting to deny the term genocide?

The explanation is pretty much the same as for a Swiss who does not want to be condemned by the ECHR for violating freedom of expression. The Turks do not want to be called a Nazi. Who would want, anyway?

It’s still funny that the UDC that you are defending an opinion which is against Switzerland, which is more a court that your party tries to kill, right?

(Laughs) For the first time, you will see the UDC invoke the infallible law of the Court and the superiority of international law. If the Grand Chamber disclaims Switzerland, or be amended article 261 bis, or you leave the ECHR.

If one recognizes Dogu Perinçek the right to speak, would it would not allow the construction of an Armenian memorial in the Ariana Park, close to the UN?

Not in the Ariana park under UN windows. And one that is here is the city of Geneva, it is the state, even if all this was done at the insistence of the Armenians. When the state is the official history by saying, “I think it is genocide,” this is not quite the same thing as a private memorial erected on a private plot, for example the Armenian church. I am in the opinion of Didier Burkhalter: mark the UN territory with an extremely serious charge of a people against another is not in the spirit of Geneva or that of international Geneva.

http://www.letemps.ch/Page/Uuid/d27b4474-a590-11e4-9acf-c65b500212f4/G%C3%A9nocide_arm%C3%A9nien_Le_parlement_ne_doit_pas_jouer_les_historiens

Tuesday, January 27, 2015,
Stéphane © armenews.com

A Conversation With Bashar al-Assad “Erdogan belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood & the base of al Qaeda”

January 26, 2015 By administrator

By Jonathan Tepperman

The civil war in Syria will soon enter its fifth year, with no end in sight. On January 20, Foreign Affairs managing editor Jonathan Tepperman met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus to discuss the conflict in an exclusive interview.

I would like to start by asking you about the war. It has now been going on for almost four years, and you know the statistics: more than 200,000 people have been killed, a million wounded, and more than three million Syrians have fled the country, according to the UN. Your forces have also suffered heavy casualties. The war cannot go on forever. How do you see the war ending?
All wars anywhere in the world have ended with a political solution, because war itself is not the solution; war is one of the instruments of politics. So you end with a political solution. That’s how we see it. That is the headline.

You don’t think that this war will end militarily?
No. Any war ends with a political solution.

ISIS.

Kobani is a small city, with about 50,000 inhabitants. It’s been more than three months since the beginning of the attacks, and they haven’t finished. Same areas, same al Qaeda factions occupying them—the Syrian army liberated in less than three weeks. It means they’re not serious about fighting terrorism.

So are you saying you want greater U.S. involvement in the war against ISIS?

It’s not about greater involvement by the military, because it’s not only about the military; it’s about politics. It’s about how much the United States wants to influence the Turks. Because if the terrorists can withstand the air strikes for this period, it means that the Turks keep sending them armaments and money. Did the United States put any pressure on Turkey to stop the support of al Qaeda? They didn’t; they haven’t. So it’s not only about military involvement. This is first. Second, if you want to talk about the military involvement, American officials publicly acknowledge that without troops on the ground, they cannot achieve anything concrete. Which troops on the grounds are you depending on?

So are you suggesting there should be U.S. troops on the ground?

Not U.S. troops. I’m talking about the principle, the military principle. I’m not saying American troops. If you want to say I want to make war on terrorism, you have to have troops on the ground. The question you have to ask the Americans is, which troops are you going to depend on? Definitely, it has to be Syrian troops. This is our land; this is our country. We are responsible. We don’t ask for American troops at all.

So what would you like to see from the United States? You mentioned more pressure on Turkey …

Pressure on Turkey, pressure on Saudi Arabia, pressure on Qatar to stop supporting the rebels. Second, to make legal cooperation with Syria and start by asking permission from our government to make such attacks. They didn’t, so it’s illegal.

I’m sorry, I’m not clear on that point. You want them to make legal … ?

Of course, if you want to make any kind of action in another country, you ask their permission.

I see. So a formal agreement between Washington and Damascus to allow for air strikes?

The format we can discuss later, but you start with permission. Is it an agreement? Is it a treaty? That’s another issue.

Do you think you will eventually defeat the rebels militarily?

If they don’t have external support, and no, let’s say, supply and recruitment of new terrorists within Syria, there will be no problem defeating them. Even today we don’t have a problem militarily. The problem is that they still have this continuous supply, mainly from Turkey.

So Turkey seems to be the neighbor that you’re most concerned about?

Exactly. Logistically, and about terrorist financing from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but through Turkey.

Do you blame Erdogan personally? This is a man you once had a fairly good relationship with.

Yes. Because he belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood ideology, which is the base of al Qaeda; it was the first political Islamic organization that promoted violent political Islam in the early twentieth century. He belongs strongly and is a staunch believer in these values. He’s very fanatical, and that’s why he still supports ISIS. He is personally responsible for what happened.

Do you see any other potential partners in the region? For example, General el-Sisi in Egypt?

I wouldn’t talk about him personally, but as long as Egypt and the Egyptian army and the government are fighting the same kind of terrorists as in Iraq, of course, we can consider these countries eligible to cooperate with in fighting the same enemy.

Two final questions, if I may. Can you imagine a scenario in which Syria returns to the status quo as it was before the fighting started almost four years ago?

In what sense?

In the sense that Syria is whole again, it is not divided, it controls its borders, it starts to rebuild, and it is at peace and a predominantly secular country.

If you look at a military map now, the Syrian army exists in every corner. Not every place; by every corner, I mean north, south, east, west, and between. If you didn’t believe in a unified Syria, that Syria can go back to its previous position, you wouldn’t send the army there, as a government. If you don’t believe in this as a people, you would have seen people in Syria isolated into different ghettos based on ethnic and sectarian or religious identity. As long as this is not the situation, the people live with each other; the army is everywhere; the army is made up of every color of Syrian society, or the Syrian fabric. This means that we all believe Syria should go back to the way it was. We don’t have any other option, because if it doesn’t go back to its previous position, that will affect every surrounding country. It’s one fabric—it’s a domino effect that will have influence from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

If you were able to deliver a message to President Obama today, what would it be?

I think the normal thing that you ask any official in the world is to work for the interests of his people. And the question I would ask any American is, what do you get from supporting terrorists in our country, in our region? What did you get from supporting the Muslim Brotherhood a few years ago in Egypt and other countries? What did you get from supporting someone like Erdogan? One of the officials from your country asked me seven years ago in Syria at the end of a meeting, “How do you think we can solve the problem in Afghanistan?” I told him, “You have to be able to deal with officials who are not puppets, who can tell you no.” So for the United States, only looking for puppet officials and client states is not how you can serve the interests of your country. You are the greatest power in the world now; you have too many things to disseminate around the world: knowledge, innovation, IT, with its positive repercussions. How can you be the best in these fields yet the worst in the political field? This is a contradiction. That is what I think the American people should analyze and question. Why do you fail in every war? You can create war, you can create problems, but you cannot solve any problem. Twenty years of the peace process in Palestine and Israel, and you cannot do anything with this, in spite of the fact that you are a great country.

But in the context of Syria, what would a better policy look like?

One that preserves stability in the Middle East. Syria is the heart of the Middle East. Everybody knows that. If the Middle East is sick, the whole world will be unstable. In 1991, when we started the peace process, we had a lot of hope. Now, after more than 20 years, things are not at square one; they’re much below that square. So the policy should be to help peace in the region, to fight terrorism, to promote secularism, to support this area economically, to help upgrade the mind and society, like you did in your country. That is the supposed mission of the United States, not to launch wars. Launching war doesn’t make you a great power.

See More: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/discussions/interviews/syrias-president-speaks

2,000 so called vehicles stolen in Turkey sold to Syrian jihadists

January 26, 2015 By administrator

About 2,000 vehicles stolen in Turkey were sent to Syria during the past two years, with most of them being sold to jihadists fighting in the neighboring country, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

According to data from the Police Department and the Gendarmerie Command, the 2,000 vehicles stolen in 2013 and 2014 were smuggled to Syria with cloned license plates. Most of the vehicles were either pick-ups or panel vans which have been sold to fighter groups in the region, primarily the Islamic State (IS). Such vehicles have been used by fighter groups for carrying ammunition and fighters.

According to figures from the Public Security Department of the Police Department, about 63 vehicles are stolen every day in Turkey, mostly in Istanbul.

In 2014, 23,000 vehicles were stolen across Turkey.

The newest models of luxury vehicles are also often stolen and smuggled to northern Syria and Iraq, according to data obtained by the police.

Erdogan: Move Gallipoli commemorations from March 18th, to April 24 to shadow Armenian Genocide 100 year centennial

January 25, 2015 By administrator

DENİZ ARSLAN / ANKARA

The Turkish government’s move this year to invite more than 100 leaders around the world for the centennial commemorations of the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I to be held on the same day as the Armenians’ centennial commemoration “Armenian genocide” has been perceived as a crude attempt to distract attention from the Armenian commemorations.

In an attempt to reduce the impact of the centennial commemoration ceremonies of the Armenian “genocide” this year on April 24 in Armenia, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has come up with the idea of celebrating the 100th anniversary of World War I’s Gallipoli Campaign on two-day-long ceremonies on April 23-24.

Turkey traditionally commemorates its fallen soldiers in the Battle of Gallipoli — also known as Çanakkale on March 18 every year. But just two years ago, then-president-Abdullah Gül marked the 98th anniversary of the Çanakkale Battle on March 18 in 2013.
No one in Turkey at the time suggested that the Çanakkale Battle should be remembered on April 24. March 18 is the day the British started its bombardment of the Dardanelles peninsula.

The Gallipoli commemorations will take place on April 23-24 this year for the first time and the Turkish government has sent invitations to more than 100 leaders around the world, whose soldiers fought in World War I, including Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu had to explain last week that other ethnic groups, including Arabs and Armenians also fought at Gallipoli. “We [Turks and Armenians] fought together at Gallipoli. That’s why we have extended the invitation to President Sarksyan as well,” he said.

Speaking to Agos daily after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s invitation to Sarksyan, many Turkish citizens of Armenian descent reacted strongly to Erdoğan’s invitation to Sarksyan, calling it a “joke” and an “ill-mannered” act, and further criticizing it as a “political maneuver.”

In an open letter addressed to President Erdoğan, Sarksyan immediately rejected the invitation to the Gallipoli commemoration ceremonies, adding that the invitation itself shows that Turkey continues to pursue its “denial policy” of the Armenian “genocide.”

Richard Giragosian, director of the Regional Studies Center (RSC), an independent think tank in Yerevan, said the timing of the Gallipoli invitation could not have been worse.

“In fact, in what seems to be a rather selective reinterpretation of history, the Turkish government has set the two-day Gallipoli commemoration for April 23-24, in a blatant disregard for the traditional April 24 commemoration of the Armenian genocide,” said Giragosian in an email reply to Today’s Zaman.

Giragosian stated that Erdoğan’s move only triggered an intense negative reaction in Armenia and tended to confirm the perception of Turkey as an “insincere and unreliable interlocutor,” as the timing of the Turkish state commemoration of Gallipoli is viewed as “a crude attempt to distract from and deny the Armenian genocide commemoration.”

Armenia is preparing a wide-scale anniversary ceremony for the 1915 events on April 24 and invited a number of leaders around the world. French President François Hollande and US President Barack Obama are among those invited to Yerevan for the ceremonies in Armenia.

Yerevan commemorates the mass killings of Armenians every April 24 and often use the anniversary as an opportunity to lobby Western countries to brand the killings as genocide. Ankara denies claims that the events of 1915 amounted to genocide, arguing that both Turks and Armenians were killed when Armenians revolted against the Ottoman Empire during World War I in collaboration with the Russian army, which was then invading Eastern Anatolia.

Giragosian pointed out that there are concerns over recent developments in Turkish politics. “For one, the rapid rise of President Erdoğan as the most powerful, but most polarizing politician is a cause for worry. And given his rather unpredictable and inflexible personal posture on many issues, there is concern that he will have and hold too much personal and political power, without due deference to the rule of law or democratic institutions within Turkey,” he said.

“At the same time, the future of both Turkey’s broader regional policy and its more specific policy towards Armenian-Turkish normalization are ever more hostage to the outcome of domestic Turkish politics,” Giragosian added.

Erdoğan’s invitation could be interpreted as an olive branch to Armenia, with which Turkey has no diplomatic relations. But Sarksyan in his letter to Erdoğan last week indicated his doubts about the sincerity of the invitation and expressed his expectation that Turkey will reply first to Armenia as to whether it will attend the ceremonies to commemorate the Armenian “genocide” in Yerevan.

“For his part, the Armenian president had little choice but to reject the invitation,” said Giragosian.

Last year, the Turkish government pulled another trick from its bag, only one day before April 24 to reduce the impact of the April 24 commemorations by Armenia. In a historic first for the Turkish Republic last year, Erdoğan, who was prime minister at the time, extended Turkey’s condolences to the grandchildren of Armenians who had lost their lives in 1915.
The statement, which doesn’t include the word “genocide,” was welcomed by the West and Armenians living in Turkey, but was short of satisfying Yerevan.

Another “olive branch” to Armenians came this week from Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. The prime minister released a statement on Tuesday to commemorate slain Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink eight years ago and called for a new beginning in Turkish-Armenian relations.

He stated that a relocation policy and the events of 1915 took place under the harsh conditions of World War l, and Turkey shares the pain of Armenians.

“Our desire to share pain, heal wounds and re-establish friendships are sincere. Our prospect is friendship and peace,” Davutoğlu said.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgiç also denied on Wednesday that Erdoğan’s message for Armenians last year and Davutoğlu’s statement addressed to Armenians are “tactical” steps to reduce the effects of centennial commemorative events of 1915.
Speaking at a press conference on Jan. 21, Bilgiç said that both statements by Erdoğan and Davutoğlu are “sincere.”

Nalbandian: ‘It’s inappropriate’

Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian, who was visiting Brussels to attend the Armenia-EU Cooperation Council on Jan. 20, told journalists that it’s not appropriate to organize the Gallipoli commemoration events in Turkey on April 24.

“I don’t think it is appropriate to organize such an event in Turkey on April 24 and I couldn’t believe that anybody could perceive this as a proper step,” said Nalbandian.

He also recalled that the Armenian president had invited Erdoğan to participate in the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian “genocide” in April 2015.

“I conveyed the written invitation to President Erdoğan being in Ankara in August of last year,” said Nalbandian.
He had attended President Erdoğan’s inauguration ceremony in Ankara in late August. “Till now we haven’t received any response,” he added.

The chief spokesman for the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Tigran Mkrtchyan, posted a tweet on Jan. 20, after Davutoğlu’s call for a new beginning with Armenia saying, “How can we speak of a ‘new beginning’ if the starting point is an aggressive denial of the Armenian genocide — a double crime!”

Mkrtchyan also accused Erdoğan of “seeking to keep foreign leaders away from the Armenian commemorations by creating an impromptu — and historically inaccurate — anniversary of his own, “ according to an article by Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty on Jan. 16.

Turkey HDP’s Demirtaş chastises gov’t over day of mourning for Saudi king

January 25, 2015 By administrator

He had 30 wives, 60 children and $20 million of wealth,

KONYA / ŞANLIURFA

Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) co-leader Selahattin Demirtaş has lamented the declaration of national mourning for Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, arguing the presence of holy sites in the Saudi territories does not automatically make the king a divine figure.

“Today, they declared national mourning. Of course, we have holy sites in the Saudi territories. Of course, we have our Prophet’s entrusts, which are of course assets of the Islamic world. However, is the Saudi king, the one who lives in the golden palace, holy too because of being on the holy land?” Demirtaş said on Jan. 24, referring to Saudi Arabia being the birthplace of Islam and is home to the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

As of Jan. 23, the Turkish government announced that it declared Jan. 24 a day of national mourning for bin Abdulaziz, who passed away early Jan. 23 at the age of 90.

“We declare Saturday, Jan. 24, a day of national mourning for bin Abdulaziz,” the Turkish Prime Ministry said in a written statement, shortly after bin Abdulaziz passed away.

The national flag was to be flown at half-mast across Turkey and at foreign delegations on Jan. 24, accordingly. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, meanwhile, delayed a planned trip to Somalia to attend bin Abdulaziz’s funeral.

While speaking at a HDP provincial congress, Demirtaş argued bin Adbulaziz did not live according to the rules of Islam.

“He had 30 wives, 60 children and $20 million of wealth,” Demirtaş said. “God forgive him for his sins. Are we supposed to hold national mourning for him? No offense, we are not mourning. It is not our mourning. The king may be your king, but we do not recognize any kings. This country has 12 million subcontracted workers; the cost of your king’s dinner for one day is the salary that 1,000 subcontracted workers receive in total in a month,” he added.

In a message posted to his Twitter account, Demirtaş said: “Don’t lean on the king; you will fall.”

Delivering a speech at another HDP provincial congress, this time in Şanlıurfa, Demirtaş said on Jan. 25 that the government has been imposing discriminative policies based on people’s identities.

He suggested that they used women being victimized for wearing headscarves as a tool for scoring in domestic policy and used those people to “climb to the top.”

Anwar Muslim, head of the Kobane canton in Syria, also joined the congress in Şanlıurfa and delivered remarks through a teleconference.

January/25/2015

Turkey’s Erdogan and the spread of terror

January 24, 2015 By administrator

writes Sayed Abdel-Meguid

Turkey has sided with the Islamic State group, to the ire of Washington, but Erdogan may not be immune to terrorist attacks staged by takfiri militants,

It had not been expected, that is true. But many, especially among the intelligentsia, were not all that surprised by Cumhuriyet’s decision to publish some images from Charlie Hebdo as a way of expressing solidarity with the French satirical magazine whose staff members were murdered by jihadists. report weekly.ahram

The government of the ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP) could not let the incident pass without comment. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out against the outspoken opposition newspaper. The Istanbul public prosecutor summoned two of its staff members, Ceyda Karan and her colleague Hikmet Çetinkaya, for questioning after pressing charges of incitement to hatred and animosity via the media and of insulting people’s religious values.

Saturday brought a development of a different order. About 500 demonstrators connected to a group calling itself the Fraternal Platform of the Prophet’s Companions rallied in the forecourt of the Fatih Mosque in the heart of historic Istanbul. Their purpose was to pray for Cherif and Said Kouachi, responsible for the massacre at Charlie Hebdo, and to chant slogans in support of Al-Qaeda.

As for Charlie Hebdo, they proclaimed: “The magazine has not died, but its fate is death!” Police blocked the demonstrators from staging a march around the historic mosque and participants soon disbanded.

The two contrasting scenes reflect the gulf in Turkish society that has expanded into a chasm under JDP rule. On one side of this chasm stands the religious conservatives and fundamentalists whose numbers are steadily growing, with the support and encouragement of JDP elites.

These JDP elites, in turn, have been harsh criticised by Turkey’s friends and allies. Two examples illustrate. The first is Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s objections to the presence of his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, in the solidarity march against terrorism that took place in Paris the Sunday before last. Davutoglu’s participation did not come from the heart, Renzi said.

The second example came from former US ambassador to Ankara, Francis Ricciardone, who said, “Turkey and the US no longer share the same values.” Ricciardone was referring to the JDP government’s repression of freedoms and its cooperation with Daesh (the Islamic State) and other takfiri jihadists.

US State Department spokesperson Mary Harf was asked whether it was the case that Washington and Ankara no longer shared the same values. She refused to answer. Her silence spoke volumes: the US and Turkey are drifting apart.

The trend has its origins in mounting US and Western concerns over Ankara’s clampdowns on civil liberties and press freedoms and its increasing authoritarianism. Erdogan’s boundless thirst for power at home and regionally have driven him to increasing fanaticism in his campaign to bolster fundamentalism and Islamicise Turkish society and government.

According to Alon Ben-Meir, professor of international relations at New York University, Erdogan has promoted religious beliefs as prime criteria for key political and military appointments. At the same time, he has doubled the number of schools for training clergymen.

It could be that the Turkish president’s zealotry is fed, in part, by some wacky historiography. In November last year, Erdogan claimed that Muslims had discovered America in 1178 and that Christopher Columbus had mentioned seeing a mosque on a hill on the Cuban coast.

Be that as it may, there is little doubt that Turkish coffers have been open to radical Islamist fundamentalist groups. Perhaps the most telling evidence in this regard is in the recently leaked documents from the Turkish General Staff indicating that this government body supplied military support to Syrian opposition groups, including Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

It appears that convoys carrying truckloads of weapons and other military equipment rumbled across the Turkish border into northern Syria. The existence of this military supply line lends considerable weight to the belief that the Erdogan regime has close relations with terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq, Daesh in particular.

Presumably, this should have immunised Anatolia to jihadist terrorism. But as it turns out, the JDP’s Turkey has come into the terrorists’ crosshairs. Two weeks ago, Turkish security forces forestalled bombing attacks against two shopping centres in Istanbul.

Turkish authorities do not rule out the possibility of attacks similar to those that occurred in France, especially in view of the large number of Turks that have joined the ranks of Daesh. According to some estimates that government sources have not refuted, these are no less than 12,000.

Minister of Customs and Trade Nurettin Canikli stepped forward to reassure citizens. Turkey has the experience and knowhow to stop that kind of terrorism, he said, adding that the government had drawn up policies to confront it.

But then Teref newspaper revealed that security forces have unearthed terrorist plans to attack coastal areas during the summer season. Moreover, the attacks were to have been carried out by homegrown cells. According to the newspaper, a Turkish Daesh recruit who took fought in Syria returned home to Turkey to form a terrorist cell and coordinate with cells in the coastal area.

Why are these terrorist organisations turning against the government that boasts of its piety day and night? The answer could be that Ankara is backing away from them, and once again trying to curry favour with EU and the US. The pro-government Sabah newspaper reported on 6 January that Turkey and the US will sign a memorandum of understanding to train and equip 15,000 fighters from the Syrian opposition.

According to diplomatic sources cited by the newspaper, the programme will begin in March. Some 100 US officers will come to Turkey to support the training. Such a development would obviously incur the wrath of Daesh.

Who will go from Armenia to ECHR to attend Perincek vs. Switzerland case?

January 24, 2015 By administrator

YEREVAN. – The delegation from Armenia will leave on January 26 to participate in the hearing of the “Dogu Perincek vs. Switzerland” case, which will be held on January 28 at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Grand Chamber.

The sources of Armenian News-NEWS.am have informed the aforesaid.

From Armenia, Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan, Deputy Prosecutor General Emil Babayan, and Deputy Minister of Justice Arman Tatoyan, will go to the ECHR to attend the hearing.

In addition, internationally renowned attorneys Geoffrey Robertson, Amal Ramzi Clooney—the wife of famous actor George Clooney—, and Toby Collis will defend Armenia’s interest at the European court.

All six attorneys, who will be representing Armenia, are expected to address the ECHR.

In 2008, a Swiss court had convicted Dogu Perincek for denying the Armenian Genocide. In December 2013, the ECHR had ruled in favor of Perincek’s lawsuit that was filed against Switzerland. Subsequently, the Government of Switzerland had decided to petition that the Dogu Perincek case be referred for a review by the ECHR Grand Chamber. Afterward, Armenia had petitioned to the ECHR, and it now acts as a third party in this case.

Dogu Perincek is Chairman of the socialist Workers’ Party of Turkey. In addition, he heads the Talat Pasha organization, which actively fights against the Armenian Genocide’s recognition in Europe.

Turkey’s Internal Islamist Dangerous Tensions

January 23, 2015 By administrator

By Rebwar Rashed:

The birth of the state of Turkey from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire in 1923 meant major changes. Mustafa Kemal, the Ataturk, as a president had the opportunity to put his ultra-nationalistic project into practice by forcing large political changes on the people of the area; for example, by waging a fanatical war against the others such as Armenians, Assyrians and Kurds to the point of extermination and assimilation: the demographic changes of the area, changing the names of the people, villages, towns, cities, mountains, valleys, songs, literature, music and folklore of the people of the area, was just the beginning of a long assimilation process.

Ataturk’s aim was to build a Turkish nation of “new” Turks. Thus, everything after 29th October 1923 was Turkish and belonged to the “New” Turks.

In order to realize his dream he knew that there had to be other changes which would transform the Turks into new beings. The Turks started to have a new look, with new clothes which almost copied Europeans. Many Turks inherited enormous wealth after a successful subjugation of other nationalities; they simply took over the wealth of those people they killed. It was a national political thievery that was justified by the state and its leaders. Taking over Assyrians, Armenians and Kurdish wealth was an organized and conscious political crime.

The new-made Turkey started to belong to the “new” Turks, but there were still obstacles.

Ataturk started to force secularism harshly and mercilessly on a very religious Turkish people. The only identity the Turks had and were proud of was Islam. Ataturk took it from them and locked it behind thick walls of political power.

He changed the Ottoman script from Arabic to Latin and soon a new Turkish Qur’an took over from the Arabic version. This helped to change the language of Islamic worship into a Turkish version.

By 10th November 1938, the day Ataturk died, there were millions of “new” Turks. Happy or not, was not the issue. The issue was that they lacked collective guilt then, as they still do.

Answering Ataturk’s racial extermination is the picture behind the Kurds revolt for national and democratic rights. It´s also the picture behind the Armenians’ and the Assyrians’ plea to get an apology, an understanding and a fair compensation for the pain and suffering they have faced.

It is also the picture behind today´s nostalgia for Islam in Turkey. The Turkish Islamists crave to see the great days of Islam again as they see themselves as victims. Ataturk reminds them of everything evil.

They had to wait many years to have the power to rise up.

It took almost half of a century for the Turks to regain Islam. The Milli Nizam Partisi, MNP (National Order Party) was an Islamist political party founded in 1970 by Necmettin Erbakan. But it lasted only a year and a few months. It was dismantled as it violated the articles of secularism, as it was said. The Moslem Turks didn´t give up their Islamist ambitions. They established Millî Selâmet Partisi, MSP (National Salvation Party) in October 1972. This was again led by Necmettin Erbakan. It soon became a popular party but again it was closed down in the military coup of 1980.

The 1980s were bad years for many “new” Turks who did not want to be so “new” in the way Ataturk had dreamed. By 1980, there were terrible devastation in the Kurdistan area from the killing, deportation and assimilation of Kurds. At the same time there was also a psychological and political war, albeit an undeclared one, against the Islamists.

But, in 1983, Turks announced a Refah Partisi (Welfare Party/ RP) which became the largest party in the parliament and was banned in 1998 by the military.[1] The Fazilet Partisi (Virtue Party) was established soon after in December 1998 and it was also banned in June 2001.[2]

The Turkish Islamists were now immune to the punitive measures and kept on trying.

The Virtue party’s reformist wing formed the Justice and Development Party (AKP). History witnessed the AKP was not at all so moderate and reformist-minded as it sounded then. The hardliners among the Islamists founded the Saadet Partisi (Felicity Party) in 2001, which was mainly supported by conservative Muslims in Turkey. It was the Felicity Party that mobilized thousands of protesters in demonstrations against Israeli- and American “intervention”. (Examples include the bitterness against the US army in 2003 after Saddam Hussein’s. fall, the aggressive and angry protests in 2004 against the US attack on Fallujah in Iraq, protests against the naming and drawing of Muhammad, the Islam Prophet, in newspapers around the world, responses to Israel-Palestine war in Gaza in 2008–2009, etc.)

It is worth mentioning that there is an outlawed Islamic party, namely “The Hizb ut-Tahrir”[3] which claims to have been established in 1953. It is a pan-Islamic party which calls for establishing a Caliphate in every Islamic country and has a project then to make a union by collecting everyone in an Islam nation. The name is Arabic and means “The Liberation Party” [4] which is outlawed in Turkey and other countries. The party´s name is the same no matter the country and haven´t been translated to other languages.

Strange enough, The Hizb ut-Tahrir reminds people a lot of today´s AKP party. The similarity of ideological beliefs are plentiful, i.e. liberating Palestine, calling Jerusalem by its Arabic name “Al-Quds” and seeing it as an occupied place which must be liberated, spreading Islam and uniting Islam as a Nation, etc. The party also reminds one of ISIS/ IS in an almost detailed manner, both ideologically and polemically: for instance, the banner of the party is the same as the IS/ ISIS banner as it´s black and there is the Islam confession of faith (Shahada) [5] on it, though in a different script style. (Saudi Arabia has the same flag but with a green background and a sword beneath the confession of faith).

It has come to public knowledge that many members of the Turkish Ergenekon were indeed members of other fascistic and Islamic organizations [6] such as Hizb ut-Tahrir [7] and there were hundreds of arrests in Turkey in 2008 and 2009.[8]

In the ‘90s the Turkish ultra-nationalists and fascists had established a “Kurdish” Hezbollah so they could use it against Kurdish liberation movement. The same Turkish people were against every kind of Islamism in Turkish Anatolia. This move was a new tactic to fight Kurdish progressive groups under the name of “Kurdish” Hezbollah. It seems that the Turkish establishment is well aware of the politics behind it because the Turkish media always emphasizes specifically the word “Kurdish” Hezbollah. The Turks have a history of using Islam against Kurds, so it is not so problematic for the Kurdish liberation movement to tackle this even though it costs Kurds lives and pain. The “Kurdish Hezbollah” is part of the paramilitary, linked to Village Guards and MIT officials.

In 2003, when the PKK became stronger, the Turks all of a sudden made a new move by founding an association called “Solidarity with the Oppressed (Mustazaflar ile Dayanışma Derneği or Mustazaflar Hareketi), the “Menzil group”, which also calls itself “Kurdish”. The group worked and still works as death squads against Kurdish people. The state was enjoying itself by referring to “internal Kurdish dispute”.

It is not a secret that the AKP and the Islamist establishment in Turkey have spent and are still spending enormous amounts of money in order to make it easy to the group to enter the Kurdish public sphere. On 18th April 2010 the group organized a mass meeting in Diyarbakir (Amed in Kurdish) to celebrate the anniversary of the Muhammad’s birthday which is known as Mawlud (the Birth of the Prophet), in Arabic. The state officials of Turkey marketed the event as one of the biggest “celebrations” of Muhammad’s birthday which, according to the official sources, gathered crowds of 120,000 people.

Following some up and downs of smearing campaigns among various Islamic scholars in Turkey, it seems that the AKP was behind organizing the Association for the Oppressed (Mustazaf-Der) to gain a platform and money. The AKP have lent grassroots support to them too. This was behind the head of the Association´s announcement on 17th December 2012 of the founding of a new party, the “Free Cause Party” (Hür Dava Partisi) which has its own general headquarters located in Ankara, the heart of Turkishness. Just after this, the party started to open its branches in the Kurdistan area.

Almost everybody in Turkey knows that Hezbollah is indeed a Turkish Hezbollah, not a “Kurdish” one. This party has no enmity towards the Turkish state and doesn’t bother to enquire into Turkish oppression of the Kurds and is not at all critical about the political, social and economic situation of Kurdish people. As a matter of fact, it only scares Kurds, threatens them and murders them. The “Kurdish” Hezbollah shows itself only during Kurdish mass protests against the state and acts exactly as extra police and paramilitary forces. The mission of “Kurdish” Hezbollah is to fight the Kurdish liberation and Kurdish secularist movement.

The Turkish Islamists, especially the AKP, which has money and resources, do everything to organize Kurdish Muslims. For instance, another organization by the name Peygamber Sevdalıları (Turkish)/ Evindarên Pêyxamber (Kurdish)/ Lovers of Prophet Mohammad is an organization which is affiliated to “Hezbollah”/ Huda-Par. The organization uses religious songs and music for Muhammad’s birthday (Arabic: Milad an-Nabi), knowing that the Kurds love music and song and have a tradition of religious music.

Back in October 2014, when Kurdish people in Turkey started to go on mass protests against Turkish support to the Islamist terrorist group ISIS/IS, the Turkish Special Forces – which are usually described by state officials as the “local police force” – killed at least 60 Kurdish people and wounded some 300. The killing of Kurdish protesters has continued through the last days of 2014 and the beginning of 2015. Turkey has begun a war against Kurdish people in Turkey in order to prevent them from having time to support their sisters and brothers in Rojava.

On 27th December, there were armed incidents in the Kurdish town of Cizre. Three Kurdish individuals were killed and bullets were fired almost blindly in the neighborhood. Not one single actor in the Turkish establishment hesitated to announce with the speed of light that the PKK and “Kurdish” Hezbollah were fighting and blaming each other for the attack. The Turkish media was using “Islamist Kurds” systematically. Their joy expressed the satisfaction.

It’s obvious that Turkey is doing everything it can to find an alternative to the Kurdish liberation movement. The Islamic alternative seems favorable to the Turks. The narrative of showing the PKK as a communist and anti-Islam force is still a part of Turkish psychological warfare. In much of the political literature of the ISIS/ IS and other Arabic Islamist groups in Syria, such as Jabhat al-Nusra, one can read that the PKK is a communist anti-Islam force, a force made by the West World to wage a proxy war against Turkey and Islam in the Middle East.

The bitter fight between the Fethullah Gülen movement and the Erdoğan wing requires a separate chapter. In short, the Gulinists, the Erdoğanists and other Islamic sorts are in a great disagreement and therefore in a bitter war against each other. And almost all of them dislike the Alawites. This is deepening every passing day and it could lead to a civil war among Turks. Turkey is never safer than Iraq, Libya, Syria or Lebanon. Turkey is a Middle East Moslem country.

Turkish people and Anatolian Turkey (without Kurdistan) are dangerously divided and polarized. There is no doubt that the AKP and many of its grassroots still constitute the dominant movement among Turks, but there are other sorts of Islamist Turks who are numerous and very unhappy with everything that happens; there seems to be a fermentation that is happening slowly but surely.

Today´s Turkish society, which is a result of Ataturk’s model of “new” Turks, has a very fragile composition and many questions to answer. It cannot withstand the harsh tests of history.

References:

[1] http://www.theguardian.com/world/1998/jan/17/turkey

[2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1402927.stm

[3] http://www.hilafet.com/html/bynlr/2012/0288.html

[4] http://www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org/arabic/

[5] http://www.questionsonislam.com/article/1-confession-faith-shahada

(“La ilah illa Allah, Muhammad rasoolu Allah.”). The Party has an official Face book page too: https://tr-tr.facebook.com/TurkiyeMedyaOfisi

[6] http://www.todayszaman.com/national_close-relation-between-hizb-ut-tahrir-ergenekon-exposed_182248.html

[7] http://www.milliyet.com.tr/hizb-ut-tahrir/

[8] http://www.haber7.com/guncel/haber/611527-ergenekon-sanigi-tegmenden-hizb-ut-tahrir-itirafi

Rebwar Rashed has a Ph.D. degree in Political Science. He has translated several books into Kurdish and also written many articles in Kurdish and English about the Kurdistan National Liberation Movement, human rights, anti-Semitism, equality between the sexes and ethnicities, and the need for a democratic and peaceful struggle.

ANKARA: Major spying case uncovers crook in Turkey’s top science body

January 23, 2015 By administrator

Nuray Babacan / ANKARA

Hasan Başaran, a relative of former Science, Technology and Industry Minister Nihat Ergün, was employed in July 2012 at TÜBİTAK although he did not have a diploma. Within four months, Başaran was promoted to become the manager of TÜBİTAK’s Public Certification Center with a monthly salary of 7,000 Turkish Liras.

An alleged fraudster with familial links to Turkey’s former science minister has been exposed as part of a probe into a spying case that encompasses wiretapping then-Prime Minister President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other top-ranking state officials. Report Hurriyet daily news

The arrests at the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) showed that Hasan Başaran, a relative of former Science, Technology and Industry Minister Nihat Ergün, was employed at the country’s top science body although he did not have a diploma.

Başaran, who is married to Ergün’s niece, shocked the whole family, according to the former minister who also supervised TÜBİTAK, speaking to Hürriyet.

The family used to think that Başaran was a Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ) graduate, and only learned about the fraud when he was detained two days ago, Ergün said, highlighting that he had no role in finding the figure employment at TÜBİTAK.

“I am the relative of a person who is victimized,” he said, in reference to his niece, the seven-year wife of Başaran who was unaware of the fraud. “The family is now facing a great trauma.”

Başaran introduced himself to TÜBİTAK as a cryptology specialist, the former minister added.

The suspect also enjoyed shorter compulsory military service thanks to a fake diploma from the prestigious university.

The family does not know about his links to U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, the leader of what Erdoğan calls the “parallel structure,” Ergün said.

Erdoğan accuses Gülenists for illegal wiretappings and a “coup attempt,” starting from the revelation of a large corruption investigation in December 2013.

Başaran reportedly said in his testimony that he produced the diploma in a photography manipulation program and developed himself in cryptology in order to not arouse suspicion.

More arrests in espionage probe

Meanwhile, four of 11 suspects were arrested on Jan. 22 as part of the espionage investigation.

The Gölbaşı Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ankara demanded that 28 people be detained as part of the probe into the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) and TÜBİTAK.

Fifteen of the 26 suspects were released by the prosecutor after questioning, while 11 suspects were sent to court. The court arrested four of the 11 suspects, including Osman Nihat Şen, the former deputy head of the TİB, who was detained on Jan. 21 in front of the court where he had arrived with lawyers to testify.

The suspects face charges including “spying,” “destroying the unity of the state,” and “wiretapping both crypto-secure and regular telephones.”

Five of the 26 suspects were released on probation, while two others were released after further questioning.

Hasan Palaz, the former vice president of TÜBİTAK, who was released on probation, spoke to the media while leaving the courthouse, saying they had been detained “without any concrete evidence,” and were being asked to prove that they are innocent.

“There is no evidence, but they are asking [us] to prove that we are not guilty. First the prosecutor did it and then the judge,” he said, adding that he would appeal the probation ruling.

Three of the wiretapped crypto-secure phones belonged to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and one of these was likely used by his son Bilal Erdoğan.

Speaking on Jan. 21, President Erdoğan said he knew that he had been wiretapped on a number of occasions when he was prime minister. “This is an issue that I have been talking about for the past two years,” he told reporters.

January/23/2015

PACE: draft report criticizes Turkey’s media environment, citing Dink assassination and Gezi Park

January 23, 2015 By administrator

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) published a draft report, on Jan. 12 focusing on the deteriorating situation of journalists, independent media and freedom of speech in Turkey, among other countries; specifically citing in Turkey’s case the Hrant Dink investigation and the Gezi Park protests.

The draft report titled “Protection of media freedom in Europe” calls on Turkey to fully investigate the violent death of journalist Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist who was shot by 17-year-old Ogün Samast, on Jan. 19, 2007, in front of the Agos newspaper’s office, where he served as editor-in-chief.

The draft report states: “He [Dink] had received numerous death threats from nationalist Turks. Several people, including the young gunman who carried out the killing, were convicted in connection with the murder; but public officials, including members of the security forces, [who were] suspected of complicity or trying to impede the investigation, have escaped without punishment.”

Maintaining that “journalists in Turkey still face threats to their safety and professional independence from overly restrictive laws, [and] hundreds of questionable criminal investigations,” the draft report also cites “improper government interference with the work of the media, and intolerance of criticism on the part of the government” as the reasons for Turkey’s worsening media environment.

The report also underlines that “independent media monitoring organization Bianet reported that police assaulted at least 105 journalists while they were covering the events of the Gezi Park protests,” protests which erupted in May 2013 over government plans to destroy a park located in the Taksim district of İstanbul and build Ottoman-style military barracks in its place. “Police also detained 28 journalists, some of whom were held overnight and questioned,” states the draft.

According to the draft, “the assembly welcomes the considerable reduction in the number of journalists detained in Turkey but regrets the number of journalists who are still [being] prosecuted or detained.” The report states that although many journalists have been released from pre-trial detention because of judicial reforms, more than 20 journalists are still in prison in Turkey at the time of the writing of the report.

The most recent of these operations against independent media happened on Dec. 14, when police operations were carried out at the buildings of Turkey’s best-selling daily Zaman and the Samanyolu Broadcasting Group, both headquartered in İstanbul. Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı as well as Samanyolu TV chief executive Hidayet Karaca, along with dozens of journalists, scriptwriters and police officers, were detained during the operations. Karaca was charged with heading a terrorist group based on a TV series that was broadcast years ago on the Samanyolu TV station and was later imprisoned pending trial.

Although the report in its current form fails to mention the Dec. 14 police operation, the largest against independent media in the history of the country, the finalized version is still to be published and the events of Dec. 14 are expected to be added via amendments.