Turkey, main entry point and lifeline for ISIL – expert

September 15, 2014 By administrator

Press TV has conducted an interview with Zayd al-Isa, Middle East expert from London, about a newly-released footage and confessions by militants showing that Turkey remains the main route for ISIL terrorists to enter Iraq and Syria.

Press TV: Tell us about Turkey’s role in all of this. On the one hand we see from this latest Iraqi footage with these terrorists basically that they are saying they cross over into the country, originally their trip or their recruitment started in Turkey. How do you see Turkey’s role in all of this?

Al-Isa: Well what is indisputable and incontestable is the major if not the pivotal and crucial role played by Turkey in order to act as main entry point or actually we could call it a lifeline for the most extreme groups in Syria that is Jabhat al-Nusra and also the ISIS group.

Without those resources and lifeline I do not think that those two groups would have been able to turn into the most aggressive and potent army. It is basically the congruent for all the arming, financing, logistical support and even salaries paid by Saudi Arabia and all those mercenaries, Wahhabi, Salafi mercenaries who basically converged on Syria using the route of Turkey and with full knowledge of the Turkish authorities that that basically is going to continue because we have seen that Turkey has adamantly refused as they claim to take part in the so-called broad-based coalition which by the way includes the main and the principle countries that armed, financed, provided the logistical support and also which bear the same ideology which is the Wahhabi Salafi ideology which is propagated, exported and supported by the very Saudi government and which is based, the ideology Wahhabi Salafi, the establishment, the principle is based in Saudi Arabia. So it is highly hypocritical.

Press TV: So let me just jump in here with just something you have just said Mr. al-Isa. On the one hand you talked about Turkey as for supporting these terrorists, on the other hand you just mentioned that they have refused to join in this so-called coalition against this terrorist group.

Why do you think that is the case? Why has well according to appearances Ankara refused Washington’s request?

Al-Isa: That basically shows and sheds enough light that the Americans are actually not serious in that pursuit of taking apart of what they call degrading fully the capability of ISIS.

ISIS has served them well. It has enabled them to regain their influence that they lost in Iraq completely after they were forced to leave Iraq and that is what Obama said on the 18th of June that al-Maliki refused to give us or grant us immunity from prosecution.

It has helped Americans to form what they call a more inclusive broad-based government that is giving more influence and revolting those parties that have actually turned their areas into sanctuaries and safe havens for al-Qaeda in Iraq and also teaching Iraqi politicians that is mainly the Shias that if they choose or if they simply defy the US orders then they should pay a heavy price by losing their jobs and by simply regaining the Saudi influence.

And we have seen the Saudis scramble after Martin Dempsey said that it is not possible to defeat ISIS without targeting in Syria that the Americans scrambled to say that we are not going to target ISIS in order to strengthen the Syrian regime because it is an integral part of the Saudis strategy to topple the Assad regime.

Washington post: At the foot of a Turkish school, ten thousand Armenians dead always ignored

September 14, 2014 By administrator

The three-storey primary school Yenikov rise overlooking the plateau of south-central Turkey. This is the only building that we can see for miles, the walls of yellow sweet corn. But the swings and slides of the area adjoining games have the colors of the rainbow sky blue azure sky. The bright red of a fire truck. The orange to a traffic cone. Surrounding the recreation area, by cons, there is this black security gate wrought iron. Why? Because the school and the playground are near a ravine that is easily thirty meters deep. In this ravine is the crevice Dudan, a sheer dizzying plunges at least 100 meters higher. I went there twice in the last two years. But in 2013, the first time I went there, the school does not yet exist. Last August, she was out of the ground like a mushroom.

When, being returned the ravine I saw the school, anger came over me; anger justified, or the criticism that adult decision have to arrange a playground near a dangerous ravine, or the fact that this construction disfigures the natural landscape rider – even if this is true in both cases.

I was furious because the ravine is the final resting place for about 10,000 of my ancestors, Armenians Chunkush, a village near Yenikoy. In the summer of 1915, the Turkish gendarmes and Kurdish groups of killers led almost all Armenians living in the vicinity of the ravine. There they were shot in the gun or the bayonet and their bodies pushed into the crevasse. Finally, three-quarters of the Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were systematically destroyed by their own government during the First World War: 1.5 million people.

Turkey has a long tradition of denying the Armenian Genocide. But the numbers do not lie. Outside Istanbul, the nation has been the ethnic cleansing of its Armenian Christian minority. According to the census figures of the Armenian Patriarchate, there were 124,000 Armenians in the province of Diyarbakir where Yenikoy and Chunkush; by 1922, it had 000 3 It remains today a handful, all descendants of the survivors who lived in Muslim and that sometimes calls “hidden”.

There is no indication or any monument in Turkey commemorating the many sites of massacres (There are those in Syria, then the steps of the Empire, where many Armenians were killed); imagine Auschwitz without a sign; Buchenwald imagine without a plate. It is not easy to diaspora Armenians, including myself, to find these places, which were our country at the time.

But we’re getting there. There are many accounts of eyewitnesses.

Some of us make a pilgrimage to places like the Rift Dudan to honor the dead. We visited the ruins and the remains of the churches that were still receiving, there are only 99 years of active faithful, full of life and eager. We bow. We say a prayer. We collect the trash that washes the altars like moss.

When my friends and I have asked the Kurdish villagers what they said had happened near the crevice Dudan, their response was a reflection of nearly a century of denial and concealment. They sometimes say that people died here, but they do not know when and who they were. They sometimes pretend to know nothing. One day, two school-age girls have told a friend: “Some Armenians have fallen.”

The stone skeleton of a massive Armenian Church and the structure of a monastery are on the edge. If you ask people on the spot where did the 10,000 Armenians Chunkush some have will tell you without blinking that they settled in the United States. I do not know what guided the choice of the site for the construction of a primary school in Yenikoy. But I have some suspicions. I would not be surprised that next year when I come back, the crack has been filled: evidence of a crime seismic magnitude forever buried.

The irony, however, is this: it is no longer necessary to go through a complicated route or use GPS to find the 10,000 deaths Dudan, Suffice it to say to someone that you want to visit school Primary Dudan. See you around the playground. This is where the dead are.

Chris Bohjalian

Washington Post

September 5, 2014

Translation Gilbert Béguian

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/near-a-turkish-school-10000-dead-armenians-are-still-ignored/2014/09/05/f0b7baa2-346c-11e4-a723-fa3895a25d02_story.html

Sunday, September 14, 2014,

Viral video shows Erdoğan’s insults against Gülen movement

September 13, 2014 By administrator

By TODAYSZAMAN.COM / ISTANBUL

A new video published on YouTube that has gone viral over the social media shows a compilation of insults and phrases that are tantamount to hate speech uttered by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The video was prepared by sonvesayet.com, meaning the final tutelage, referring to the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), and published online this week. The video is composed of some dozens of insults by Erdoğan in fast-track, targeting a movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen. Most of the speeches in the video are made after Dec. 17 corruption scandal, which he dismissed as a plot to unseat him and blamed on alleged followers of Gülen in the bureaucracy. He went on insulting rampage after the corruption scandal, calling followers of the Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, as leeches, blood-sucking vampires and parasites.

http://youtu.be/qDliWB3n7wA

WSJ says Turkey no longer US ally, air base should be moved

September 13, 2014 By administrator

US daily The Wall Street Journal has claimed in its editorial on Saturday that it is the “unavoidable conclusion” that the US needs to find a better regional ally to fight the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIL) than Turkey, suggesting that the air base Turkey is currently hosting should be moved somewhere else.

Recalling Turkey’s reluctance in joining the anti-ISIL coalition, the editorial said not only will Ankara take no military action, it will also forbid the US from using the US air base in İncirlik—located fewer than 100 miles from the Syrian border—to conduct air strikes against the terrorists.

“That will complicate the Pentagon’s logistical and reconnaissance challenges, especially for a campaign that’s supposed to take years,” it added.

The newspaper said the US military will no doubt find work-arounds for its air campaign, just as it did in 2003 when Turkey also refused requests to let the US launch attacks on Iraq from its soil in order to depose Saddam Hussein. It said Turkey shares a 910-km border with Syria and Iraq, meaning it could have made a more-than-symbolic contribution to a campaign against ISIL.

The daily described it as a “reality” that the Turkish government, a member of NATO, long ago stopped acting like an ally of the US or a friend of the West. The editorial quoted former US Ambassador to Turkey, Francis Ricciardone, who said this week that the Turkish government “frankly worked” with the al-Nusrah Front—the al Qaeda affiliate in Syria—along with other terrorist groups. It claimed that Ankara also looked the other way as foreign radical groups used Turkey as a transit point on their way to Syria and Iraq.

The WSJ noted that İncirlik air base has been a home for US forces for nearly 60 years, but perhaps it’s time to consider replacing it with a new US air base in Kurdish territory in northern Iraq.

“America may no longer have friends in Ankara, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have options in the Middle East,” the editorial concluded.

Turkey moving from reluctant partner to embarrassed ally, Turkey’s only interest distraction of Syria not ISIS

September 13, 2014 By administrator

Turkey is gradually moving from a reluctant NATO ally toward an embarrassing or embarrassed partner in the fight against the Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS). As The Daily Beast reported, “With [IS] on its doorstep, the Turkish government balks at support for Obama’s strategy.

“A diplomatic crisis looms. Turkey, a key US ally and the only NATO member that borders areas controlled by [IS] jihadists in Syria and Iraq, is in a prime location to hit the extremists next door. But it prefers not to.

“Instead, Ankara is seeking a low-profile role — so low as to be almost invisible — in the international alliance that Washington is building up against the so-called caliphate, and that fact is undermining the American strategy to strike back against the terrorists President Barack Obama deems ‘unique in their brutality.’”

Turkey’s stance in the joint struggle against IS is indeed low-profile, but perhaps this is an understatement. If the recent discourse of its decision-makers is scrutinized closely, one may reach the conclusion that the ruling Islamist government of Turkey is more distanced from its NATO allies than from IS.

The 49 Turkish hostages taken by IS when it stormed the Turkish Consulate in Mosul, including the consul general, serves as a good excuse not only for Turkey’s reluctance to take part in joint action against IS, but also as a cover for the inherently and increasingly anti-Western Turkish government not to follow the lead of the “new crusaders” in their actions in the Muslim lands, targeting mainly Sunnis. It is not easy to substantiate such an argument, yet it deserves to be considered.

It is not by chance that some keen observers and political personalities reacted along these lines when Turkey refrained from signing the Jeddah Declaration on Sept. 11 along with Kerry and 10 Arab countries. Turkey’s foreign minister was the only official present who did not sign the document.

Parliamentarian Aysel Tugluk, the former co-chair of the pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, tweeted, ”Turkey did not sign the [IS] communiqué because [IS] is the name of the proxy force fielded by Sunni actors led by Turkey.”

Actually, it was already clear in an article in Yeni Safak, a publication known to be very close to the government, before Obama explained his new IS strategy that the AKP government would not contribute substantially to Obama’s strategy and saw it as a trap. The news report, headlined “Turkey will not be trapped” and attributed to government sources, bluntly stated that Turkey would not take any operational role against IS.

The most critical passage of this report read, “Prime Minister Davutoglu, who gathered top commanders of the Turkish Armed Forces at his office a day before, yesterday held a security summit with larger participation. … The topic was the IS operations and the status of 49 Turkish hostages.

“The meeting did not consider favorably the ‘core coalition’ issue that foresees Turkey’s support for a ground operation against IS but emphasized the complications that have arisen in Iraq and Syria. That IS was an outcome of the [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad regime was heavily underlined in the meeting, which adopted the policy of a passive role in the coalition. The summit decided that at this phase, Turkey could not participate in any military operation. It was stressed that active support by Ankara for the operation could risk the lives of the hostages.”

Even more interesting, Ibrahim Karagul, the editor-in-chief of Yeni Safak and a Davutoglu disciple, penned a column, “ISIS Trap to Turkey,” in which he crafted an outlandish conspiracy theory and claimed that the real target of the new anti-IS joint action is actually Turkey. His argument is significant and interesting in that it more or less reflects the mindset of Turkey’s decision-makers. He wrote, “There is a plot being hatched, but all its elements are in the open. Turkey is aware of the plot and no matter what others say it will follow its own course. They did not take note of any of Turkey’s warnings about the key issues of the region. Now with the pretext of IS, they are trying to throw Turkey into the fire.

“The mentality that punished Sunnis during the invasion of Iraq and in the status quo that evolved is the key creator of the [IS] issue today. Even more bizarre, the countries that are preparing for a new operation don’t have any projects for the future of Sunnis.

“Turkey is, of course, a NATO member and partner of international institutions. Of course, it will do its part in global operations. But for some reason, the priorities of these international institutions always work against us.

“We are truly fed up with paying the costs of the destruction these countries have caused in our region, and of their mistakes.

“To take action for US and European interests and priorities, to play a central role in that operation and to send soldiers are issues that Turkey has to assess carefully and avoid. Let them go and solve their own problems. Before [IS] there was the Syrian issue. They did nothing there. They didn’t keep any of their promises.

“The [IS] problem cannot be solved before the Syria problem is solved. Shouldn’t they know at least this much? Their problem is not [IS] but Turkey. … Everyone knows this now.”

It is not surprising that Turkey did not sign the Jeddah communique, while the Arab nations vowed to “do their share” to confront and ultimately destroy IS. Their promise came after the nations’ foreign ministers met in Saudi Arabia behind closed doors with Kerry.

The New York Times reported on the dramatic development, “Turkey also took part in the meetings here, but it did not sign the communique. A senior State Department official sought to minimize the significance of that development, saying the United States would continue to consult with Turkish officials on how to respond to the threat posed by [IS], which has captured 49 Turkish diplomats in Iraq and held them hostage. ‘We understand the challenging situation Turkey is in given their detained diplomats, and they will make the decision on what role they can play moving forward,’ the official said.”

On the day Kerry reached Ankara, The New York Times reported an unnamed Turkish official’s statement. “Speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, an official advised not to expect public support for the American effort.”

An Agence France-Presse dispatch from Ankara confirmed, “Turkey will refuse to allow a US-led coalition to attack jihadists in neighboring Iraq and Syria from its air bases, nor will it take part in combat operations against militants.”

The two main Turkish dailies, Hurriyet and Milliyet, came out with similar headlines on the day Kerry came to Ankara. Hurriyet’s was “Difficult guest” while Milliyet’s read “Ankara draws the line.” Milliyet wrote that Turkey’s contribution to Obama’s plan to destroy IS will have a “humanitarian focus,” meaning Turkey will not participate any armed action against IS and will not assist those taking part in such an activity.

In his strategy speech, Obama said that “America will be joined by a broad coalition of partners.” Kerry added during his joint statement with the Saudi foreign minister, “We believe we will beat back the evil” of IS. Kerry also asserted that the international coalition against IS was growing.

Turkey is the only NATO country bordering IS’ areas of control. But when it comes to the fight against it, a reluctant ally is gradually transforming itself into an embarrassing partner for the Western nations and an embarrassed regional actor in front of IS.

We have yet to see how such Turkey’s stance will bear on Obama’s strategy and how it might affect its success. Nonetheless, this start does not bode well for the coming fight.

Cengiz Çandar

Columnist

Cengiz Candar is a columnist for Al-Monitor‘s Turkey Pulse. A journalist since 1976, he is the author of seven books in the Turkish language, mainly on Middle East issues, including the best-seller Mesopotamia Express: A Journey in History.

“Turkey the junction in black money traffic. Overflowing with $36 billion in mystery funds

September 12, 2014 By administrator

Mehmet Cetingulec

Contributor, Turkey Pulse

A demonstrator holds toilet paper made from fake US dollars during a protest against Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Ak Party government in Ankara

The pace of foreign currency coming to Turkey from unknown sources for the past 12 years keeps on climbing. Nobody says where the money is coming from. In the Central Bank’s “balance of payments” table these unregistered funds are shown under the item “net error and deficit.”

But all economists know that it is impossible to conceal such high amounts. Anyhow, they have learned to look under the “net error and deficit” column to follow the movement of mystery funds.

This flow of funds from unknown sources is closely linked to political changes in Turkey in the last 12 years and to regional developments.

Mahfi Egilmez, a former undersecretary of the Treasury, has prepared a detailed table which clearly shows that following the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) victory in the first elections it contested in November 2002 there has been a boom in mystery funds coming to Turkey. In 2002, $758 million exited Turkey but in 2003 $4.489 billion entered. The pouring in of mystery funds gained momentum in 2007, when the AKP also took over the presidency of the country, thus giving rise to confidence that AKP would be governing for a long time to come. While the incoming mystery funds were $517 million in 2007, in 2008 that increased sixfold to $3 billion. The year 2011 was a record-breaker, with $9.4 billion arriving in mystery funds.

In the 11 years before the AKP, the unrecorded funds were flowing in the other direction. Between 1992 and 2002, $3.5 billion from unknown sources left Turkey. But a total reversal followed in the next 11 years under AKP. Between 2003 and 2013, a total of $29.3 billion entered Turkey. When you add the $6.4 billion from unknown sources in the first half of 2014, the total from mystery sources is $36 billion. This amount is expected to rise to more than $40 billion by the end of the year.

Is it possible to classify such a huge amount as an “accounting error” and to cover it up as “net error and deficit”? Former Treasury undersecretaries Faik Oztrak and Mahfi Egilmez are calling on the Central Bank to disclose the source of this “net error and deficit” item, otherwise warning that these mystery funds will generate dangerous speculation about many ministers and bureaucrats.

With an anticipated $15 billion coming in by the end of 2014, the record of $9.4 billion for 2011 will be broken. Monthly receipts this year are exceeding annual receipts of earlier years.

Oztrak, now deputy chairman of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) told Al-Monitor that the current account deficit is being financed by money coming from unknown, mystery sources: “In the first six months of this year, $8.8 billion came to Turkey from unknown sources, while $2.6 billion exited Turkey from unknown sources. This means that in the first half of the year there was a net entry of $6.4 billion from unknown sources, which actually means that in the first half of 2014, a $26 portion of each $100 of the current deficit was financed by money from mystery sources. This is extraordinary and needs explanation.”

So where is this money coming from? To discover the source of the mystery funds, Oztrak submitted queries to the parliament for Ali Babacan, the minister responsible for economic coordination, to respond. But to date, he hasn’t heard either from Babacan or the Central Bank.

Oztrak said: “If $13.5 billion of mystery funds from unknown sources come to a country in one year [July 2013-June 2014] but no questions are asked why this money is coming and from what sources, then the seriousness and competence of our institutions will be subject to questioning.” Oztrak said the state has to give a satisfactory explanation of this phenomenon and warned that keeping silent will only fuel speculations about the source of these funds.

Oztrak, however, provided some information on possible origin of these funds: “At one point Iran was cited as the source. Now the addresses are Syria and Gulf countries. The state must investigate this seriously and should not allow speculation.”

Former undersecretary Mahfi Egilmez also alludes to the same sources: “There are allegations that unregistered mystery funds are coming to Turkey from various countries, primarily from the Middle East. None of these claims have been verified, however.”

Political scientist Mustafa Sahin, known to be close to the AKP, looks at the question from a different perspective. He said the AKP has discovered the importance of these unregistered funds and said: “The secret of how Turkey avoided the 2008 global economic crisis is in these mystery funds. The West suspects that Middle East capital is entering Turkey without records, without being registered. Qatar and other Muslim countries have money in Turkey. These unrecorded funds came to Turkey because of their confidence in Erdogan and the Muslim features of the AKP and the signs of Turkey restoring its historic missions.”

What happened to the funds from unknown sources? Were they taxed?

Oztrak answered: “It is not possible to tax entry of funds from unknown sources until that money enters the system. AKP governments legalized some funds from unknown sources with financial amnesties they offered. The state can tax these funds when they are spent. But these taxes on spending cannot legalize the sources of these funds.”

Going back to the question of the origin of these mystery funds, Naki Bakir, economics writer of for the Gazeteciler Online website, makes this assessment: “The movements in the ‘net error and deficit’ account illustrate an ever-increasing inflow of money from unknown sources. They coincide with the data and documents strewn about following the Dec. 17 corruption operations. Clearly, considerable funds from unknown sources, primarily from Middle East countries, are coming into Turkey, thus making Turkey an important junction in black money traffic.”

To conclude, the Central Bank has two options: Either it will give a detailed explanation to prevent speculation or it will continue to conceal the facts. But the numbers are growing. How much longer can they hide $36 billion?

Mehmet Cetingulec

Contributor, Turkey Pulse

Mehmet Cetingulec is a Turkish journalist with 34 years professional experience, including 23 years with the Sabah media group during which he held posts as a correspondent covering the prime minister’s and presidential offices, economy news chief and parliamentary bureau chief. For nine years, he headed the Ankara bureau of the daily Takvim, where he also wrote a regular column. He has published two books.

Turkey won’t allow US to use its bases against ISIL: Official

September 11, 2014 By administrator

File photo shows Incirlik Air Base in Turkey.

Turkish government says it will not allow a US-led military coalition to use its air bases in order to launch attacks on ISIL terrorists’ hideouts in neighboring Iraq and Syria. Report presstv.com

A government official said Ankara can open the Incirlik Air Base in the south only for logistical and humanitarian operations, and not for any airstrikes.

“Turkey will not be involved in any armed operation but will entirely concentrate on humanitarian operations,” media outlets quoted the unnamed official as saying.

Turkey is reluctant to take a stronger role in the coalition against ISIL militants in fear of aggravating a hostage situation.

ISIL militants have held hostage 49 Turkish nationals, including diplomats and children, since June. They were abducted from the Turkish consulate in Mosul.

“Our hands and arms are tied because of the hostages,” the official noted.

Back in 2003, Turkey refused to let Washington put US boots in the country to invade Iraq from the north. This triggered a crisis between the two allies at the time.

The latest developments come as US and European officials have voiced concern that militants in Syria and Iraq may bite the hand that feeds them.

The brutal beheadings of American journalists by ISIL are the latest and most shocking example of foreign militants threatening western interests.

This is while the United States has been actively funding and training the militants to fight the Syrian government.

The West and its regional allies including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey are giving financial and military support to the militants.

Reporters without borders slams Turkey for tightening Internet censorship with amended law

September 11, 2014 By administrator

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has released a written statement on its official website in which it harshly criticizes Turkey for granting the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) extensive powers over Internet use — such as the power to block access to websites without a court order — with new amendments recently made to the country’s Internet law.

The RSF stated that Turkey’s Parliament “passed two last-minute amendments expanding the grounds under which [TİB] can temporarily block websites without a court order, and allowing it to gather Internet user connection data independently of any ongoing investigation.”

“Coming just after the end of the Internet Governance Forum [IGF] in İstanbul [last week], the amendments showed that the Turkish authorities are ready to go even further down the road of Internet censorship,” the RSF statement continued.

TİB has already been able to order the “preventive blocking” of websites since February in cases of “attacks on privacy” or “discriminatory or insulting” content. Under the most recent amendments, it can now also block sites in case of a perceived attack on “national security,” to “protect public order” or to “prevent a crime from being committed.”

“Blocking a website, even for 48 hours, without referring to a court violates the principle of the separation of powers as well as freedom of information,” the RSF statement reported Johann Bihr, the head of the RSF Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk, as saying.

“By increasing the possibility of blocking sites in this way, the authorities are yet again reaffirming their determination to control the Internet. Online resources play a key role in informing the Turkish public, one that is all the more important because harassment of the traditional media is being stepped up. We urge President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan not to sign these amendments into law,” Bihr said.

Islamic state of Turkey unveils legislation to tighten control over Internet

September 11, 2014 By administrator

Turkey’s lawmakers have passed a law expanding the powers of the country’s telecom authority and tightening Internet controls.

The regulations are part of a broader bill that was proposed earlier this week by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Sources say the new law would broaden the authorities’ power to block access to websites without a court order.

The new regulations also authorize telecommunication authorities to store Internet users’ data, potentially letting them track online activity.

Social activists and legal experts have strongly opposed to the new legislation and regulations.

“This is intensely problematic because based on this broad terminology a public servant will make the judgment to block access to websites,” media outlets quoted Yaman Akdeniz, a legal expert who has fought the government on Internet cases.

“I find it incompatible with the constitution…. This is a dubious power to give to a questionable public authority such as the telecoms directorate,” the expert added.

Ankara also blocked access to Twitter on March 20, after it was used to spread corruption allegations against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his inner circle.

YouTube was blocked on March 27 after the release of an audio recording revealing a discussion among top Turkish security officials about a possible false-flag operation to justify a military offensive against Syria.

The laws governing Internet in Turkey were already updated this year in a move that activists said is harming freedom and increasing censorship.

The developments come as protesters used social media during last year’s anti-government protests, and the platforms were used this year to spread audio recordings containing corruption allegations against the government.

Source: presstv.com

Kerry arrives in Saudi Arabia to rally support against IS, Meanwhile, Turkey denied the US use its air bases against IS.

September 11, 2014 By administrator

US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Jeddah to garner support for America’s new military campaign against “Islamic State.” Meanwhile, Turkey has reportedly denied the US use its air bases against IS.

Senator Kerry is touring the Middle East to establish a coalition of more than 40 countries against the Sunni militant organization “Islamic State” (IS). The top US diplomat made an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Wednesday to drum up financial, political, and military support for taking on IS, whose fighters have taken over vast swathes of Syria and Iraq.

On Thursday, Kerry is set to hold talks with foreign ministers from 10 Arab nations and Turkey in the Saudi city of Jeddah, hours after US President Barack Obama outlined his new strategy to confront the Islamists in a Wednesday night television address.

The AFP news agency quoted a Turkish government official as saying that Ankara would not permit a possible US-led coalition to attack IS in Iraq and Syria from its air bases.

“Turkey will not be involved in any armed operation but will entirely concentrate on humanitarian operations,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Washington has launched more than 150 airstrikes against IS militants in northern Iraq since August.

Pivotal Arab support

US officials say that wider over flight permission from Arab states would enhance the capacity of US aircraft to attack IS targets in Iraq and Syria, and if deemed necessary impose a no-fly zone. Riyadh’s support, they say, is pivotal because of its regional stature and influence on other Arab countries.

Saudi Arabia has agreed to train moderate Syrian rebels who are part of Obama’s new strategy to combat IS jihadists.

The Arab League – a regional organization of Arab countries – said in a resolution on Monday that it would take “necessary measures” to combat IS on the political, defense, security and legal levels. The League’s conference in Cairo stopped short of endorsing any direct US involvement in the conflict. Nabil Elaraby, the head of the Arab League, said, however, that action against the militant outfit would include “international cooperation on all fronts.”

Obama: ‘Degrade and destroy IS’

On Wednesday, President Obama said he was prepared to expand the military campaign against IS into neighboring Syria, the militant group’s main base of operations.

“I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria as well as Iraq,” the president said, using an alternative name for the IS, which is also referred to as ISIS. Obama, however, ruled out cooperating with Damascus, saying that the Assad regime had lost its legitimacy.

“This counterterrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground,” Obama continued.

shs/sb (AFP, Reuters)