Turkey Archives

German gunmaker Heckler & Koch to no longer supply Turkey

November 29, 2016 By administrator

gun-turkey German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch will no longer sign contracts to supply Turkey,news agency DPA reported on Monday, November 28.

Also, countries outside of NATO‘s influence will no longer have such contructs either because it has become too difficult to obtain government approval for such deals, Reuters says.

The company, one of the world’s best-known gunmakers, will in future only sell to countries that are democratic and free from corruption and that are members of NATO or NATO members’ partners, DPA said, citing company sources.

It said this change in strategy would rule out deals with countries such as Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Brazil, India or even NATO member Turkey.

Heckler & Koch did not respond to requests for comment.

Its HK416 assault rifle is said to have been used to kill Osama bin Laden and its G36 rifle is standard issue for armies across the globe.

Erdogan rounding up foreign Journalist BBC, Voice of America Detained in Turkey

November 27, 2016 By administrator

bbc-voc-detain A BBC Turkish reporter Hatice Kamer was detained on Saturday when he went to the Sirvan town in southeastern Siirt Province to meet with the relatives of copper mine collapse victims, while a Voice of America (VOA) journalist was also arrested in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir on Saturday, according to media reports.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A BBC Turkish reporter has been detained in the southeastern Turkish city of Sirvan, media reported Sunday. According to the Hurriyet newspaper, Hatice Kamer was detained on Saturday when he went to the Sirvan town in southeastern Siirt Province to meet with the relatives of copper mine collapse victims. The authorities reportedly provided no reason for the detention.

According to the reports, a Voice of America (VOA) journalist was also detained in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir on Saturday.

At least 10 bodies have been recovered from the copper mine that collapsed due to prolonged rains on November 17. After military attempted to overthrow government in July 2016 massive purges swept through Turkey, with many newspapers shut and journalists arrested. Earlier this month, a french reporter was arrested and deported from the country.

German court cites Turkey’s support for terrorism in Kurdish militant case

November 26, 2016 By administrator

court-germany-turkey-kurd A German court has taken into account Turkey’s persecution of Kurds and support for the so-called ‘Islamic State’ (IS) and al-Qaeda in a case against a PKK member. The court opinion is sure to rile Turkey.

A German court on Friday issued a suspended sentence to a member of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), citing in the decision to grant a mild punishment Turkey’s persecution of Kurds and support for terror groups in Syria and Iraq, “Die Welt” newspaper reported.

The court ruling is likely to further strain ties between Germany and Turkey at a time when Ankara has accused Berlin of not clamping down on the PKK and of being a center of terrorism in Europe.The court’s ruling also comes amid a broader crackdown in Turkey that has drawn sharp criticism in the EU.

The Hamburg court gave the 60-year-old man a one year and nine month suspended sentence for being a member of a foreign terrorist organization and heading PKK activities in the northern city of Bremen. His arrest warrant was also lifted.

The verdict led to some 70 PKK supporters in the room erupting in applause as it became clear the man would be set free.

Between August 2014 and March 2015, the man collected money for the PKK, organized propaganda and took part in membership meetings, the judge said. His name was not provided in line with German privacy laws.

Court cites Turkish support for ‘Islamic State’

The PKK, a recognized EU terrorist group, carries out murder and attacks in Turkey, the judge said.

But in issuing the mild verdict, the judge took into account the man’s admission to being a PKK member and his Yezidi origin, which the judge said meant that he was subject to persecution.

The judge recognized the role of the PKK in fighting against the so-called “Islamic State” in both Syria and Iraq as the Sunni extremist group tried to commit genocide against the Yezidi ethno-religious minority. In 2014, for example, PKK fighters came to the rescue of Yezidis in Sinjar in Iraq.

The PKK’s Syrian affiliate, the YPG, is backed by the United States in Syria in the fight against IS.

The court assumed that Turkey supported al-Qaeda and IS between 2011 to 2014 by providing health treatment to wounded fighters in Turkey and allowing jihadist fighters to cross into Syria. Kurds in Syria and Turkey have repeatedly accused Turkey of supporting terrorist groups in Syria in order to fight against Syrian Kurds, which Ankara considers a threat.

The renewal of fighting between the PKK and the Turkish state since the breakdown of peace talks last year has led to security forces destroying Kurdish towns and a deterioration in human rights, including extra-judicial killings. All this was taken into account in the court’s decision to issue the suspended sentence, the judge said.

Acquittal on other charge

The court acquitted the man on allegations of forced coercion. The charges stemmed from an argument between the accused man and the father of a 21-year-old girl who joined the PKK as a fighter against the wishes of her parents.

The father originally accused the man of threatening him with a gun if he went to the police about the matter. In court, the father denied the statement and therefore there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the charge against the PKK member.

Source: http://www.dw.com/en/german-court-cites-turkeys-support-for-terrorism-in-kurdish-militant-case/a-36532293

Islamic State GodFather “Erdogan” threatens to open borders for migrants into Europe

November 25, 2016 By administrator

untitled-1-740 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened Friday, November 25 to open Turkey‘s borders to allow migrants to reach the EU, in a move that would tear up a landmark deal that has reduced the flow, AFP reports.

Erdogan’s comments, some of his toughest in recent times against the European Union, prompted an immediate warning from Germany which helped broker the deal that such “threats” were unhelpful.

The threat came a day after the European Parliament angered Ankara by backing a freeze in EU accession talks, already hit by alarm over its crackdown in the wake of the July 15 failed coup.

“Listen to me. If you go any further, then the frontiers will be opened, bear that in mind,” Erdogan told the EU during a speech in Istanbul.

He said Brussels had cried out for help in 2015 as tens of thousands of migrants massed at Turkey’s border crossing with EU member Bulgaria.

“You began to ask us ‘what will we do if Turkey opens its borders’?” he asked.

On March 18, Ankara and Brussels forged a deal for Turkey to halt the flow of migrants to Europe — an accord that has largely been successful in reducing numbers crossing the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece.

Hundreds of migrants have drowned in the Aegean en route from Turkey to EU member Greece on unseaworthy boats.

They included three-year-old Syrian Aylan Kurdi, with the images of his lifeless body washed up on a Turkish beach spurring the international community into action.

Turkey agreed to step up maritime and land border controls in exchange for incentives on its long-stalled membership bid, including visa-free travel for its citizens and an acceleration of accession talks.

However with an October target passing, no apparent progress on the visa issue and the accession talks stalled, Ankara has accused Brussels of failing to keep its side of the bargain.

In response to Erdogan’s remarks, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer said the deal was in the interest “of all parties” and that “threats on either side are not helpful”.

“Where there are difficulties, we need to resolve them,” she added.

Erdogan said while Turkey itself was looking after three million refugees — mainly 2.7 million Syrians from the civil war, but also Iraqis — but “you (the EU) did not fulfil your promises”.

“You never acted honourably, you did not act right,” he told the bloc.

He has also accused Brussels of failing to fulfil a promise to deliver some six billion euros ($6.3 billion) in aid for refugees. The EU says the money is to be transferred gradually for individual projects and not in a single payment.

On Thursday, two people died and two others were badly burnt when a fire broke out on the Greek island of Lesbos, where many migrants who crossed from Turkey are housed.

Lenta.ru: Эрдоган пригрозил запустить беженцев в Европу

Terrorist State of Turkey Court arrests former Mardin mayor Ahmet Türk

November 24, 2016 By administrator

ahmet-turk-mardin-mayor-arrested The ousted mayor of the southeastern province of Mardin, Ahmet Türk, was arrested on “terror” charges on Nov. 24, becoming the latest Kurdish politician to be arrested.

Türk was initially brought to the Mardin Public Prosecutor’s Office in the morning hours following procedures at the police headquarters. He was later referred to a Criminal Court of Peace with a demand for his arrest after testifying to a prosecutor.

Police detained Türk on Nov. 21 after he was dismissed from his post as part of a terror investigation along with the co-mayor of Mardin’s central Artuklu district, Emin Irmak, who is also from the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), the sister party of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

The Interior Ministry appointed Mardin Gov. Mustafa Yaman as Mardin co-mayor in place of Türk on Nov. 17 while trustees were appointed to the municipalities of the eastern provinces of Van, Siirt and Tunceli on the same day following operations to detain and arrest the mayors for terrorism charges.

Meanwhile, the former head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the party’s Antalya deputy, Deniz Baykal, visited Türk’s family in order to voice his support. Baykal chatted with Türk’s wife, Mülkiye Türk, at their home in Mardin.

“Hopefully we will have beautiful days together,” Baykal said on Nov. 24, as he added that “these painful days will be left behind.”

Baykal was later joined by another HDP lawmaker from the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, Altan Tan.

Baykal and the group with him later went to the Mardin Courthouse and talked to the Mardin Chief Public Prosecutor. They then went to the Mardin Governor’s Office.

November/24/2016

Thousands of Turkey coup prisoners ‘raped, starved and hogtied’ “Authentic Turkish Crime”

November 24, 2016 By administrator

Amnesty International says it has ‘credible evidence’ Turkish police are holding detainees, denying them food, water and medical treatment and in the worst cases some have been subjected to severe beatings and torture

BY CHRIS HUGHES,

Turkish troops imprisoned after the failed military coup are being raped, starved and left without water for days, it is claimed.

Many of the 10,000 detainees are locked up in horses’ stables and sports halls – some hogtied in horrific stress positions, according to human rights campaigners.

Amnesty International has called for immediate access to prisoners after the coup a week ago which sparked a brutal crackdown and a three-month state of emergency.

More than 200 died in the uprising which aimed to topple dictatorial President Recep Erdogan – and 1,500 were injured.

Amnesty says it has ‘credible evidence’ Turkish police are holding detainees in stress positions for up to 48 hours, denying them food, water and medical treatment and in the worst cases some have been subjected to severe beatings and torture, including rape.

John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Europe director, said: “Reports of abuse including beatings and rape in detention are extremely alarming, especially given the scale of detentions that we have seen in the past week.

“Despite chilling images and videos of torture that have been widely broadcast across the country, the government has remained conspicuously silent on the abuse. “

Amnesty spoke to lawyers, doctors and a person on duty in a detention facility about the conditions in which detainees were being held.

They heard alarming accounts of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees, particularly at the Ankara Police Headquarters sports hall, Ankara Başkent sports hall and the riding club stables there.

Two lawyers in Ankara working on behalf of detainees told Amnesty International that detainees said they witnessed senior military officers in detention being raped with a truncheon or finger by police officers.

A person on duty at the Ankara Police Headquarters sports hall saw a detainee with severe wounds consistent with having been beaten, including a large swelling on his head.

The detainee could not stand up or focus his eyes and he eventually lost consciousness.

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/thousands-turkey-coup-prisoners-raped-8485304?service=responsive#ICID=sharebar_twitter

Turkey claims Syrian airstrike killed 3 Turkish soldiers and wounded 10

November 24, 2016 By administrator

Turkey claims a Syrian airstrike killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded 10 others overnight, raising the ante in its military invasion of the Arab country.

A military statement on Thursday said the attack occurred at around 3:30 am (0030 GMT) in the course of a Turkish operation in northern Syria.

It is the first time Turkey accuses Syrian government forces of killing its soldiers since Ankara launched its incursion, dubbed Euphrates Shield, into the Syrian territory on Aug. 24.

The military did not provide an exact location for the strike. It said one of the wounded soldiers was said to be in critical condition.

Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency said the airstrike took place near the town of al-Bab, located some 30 kilometers from the Turkish border.

However, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights blamed the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group for the attack.

Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Britain-based group, dismissed reports that it was an airstrike, saying that the soldiers were killed during the Daesh attack in the rural area of al-Bab, near a village called Waqqah on Wednesday.

There was no comment from Damascus but Amaq, a news outlet affiliated to Daesh, reported an attack against Turkish troops in a village in rural al-Bab on Wednesday.

The leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) urged the government to act “with common sense” and not escalate tensions.

“This (issue) could drag Turkey toward a very dangerous process,” Kemal Kilicdaroglu said on Thursday.

Citing national security considerations, Turkish authorities imposed a temporary media ban on the coverage of the attack, barring media outlets from reports that “foster fear, panic and chaos.”

In its invasion of Syria, the Turkish military is supporting militants, including the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA), and Takfiri terrorists who are fighting to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Hundreds of Turkish troops are taking part in the operation, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week was pushing forward with the aim of capturing the Syrian city of al-Bab.

On Thursday, Syrian sources were quoted as saying that Turkey was building a military base in the Syrian town of Akhtarin in the northern Aleppo province.

Damascus has condemned Turkey’s incursion into northern Syria, denouncing it as a “flagrant breach” of its sovereignty.

Alan Meale of PACE Monitoring: Everyone must condemn the atrocities committed by Turks against Armenians

November 24, 2016 By administrator

alan-meale Everyone must condemn the atrocities and the Genocide committed by the Turks against the Armenians. The Governments must recognize what has actually happened. PACE Monitoring Committee Co-Rapporteur for Armenia Alan Meale has made such a statement. “People must be informed, schools must teach about the Genocide and everything must be done to prevent such kind of tragedies,” he has noted.

Alan Meale, together with other Co-Rapporteur for Armenia Giuseppe Galati, have paid a visit to Tsitsernakaberd Memorial accompanied by Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Head of the Armenian delegation to PACE Hermine Naghdalyan. The European high ranking officials have laid flowers at the Eternal Flame paying tribute to the memory of the Armenian Genocide victims with a moment of silence. As the NA Public Relations Department reports, PACE Monitoring Committee Co-Rapporteurs for Armenia also visited the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute and got acquainted with the documents on the Genocide.

Source: http://en.aravot.am/2016/11/23/184251/

EU Parliament votes to suspend Turkey membership talks

November 24, 2016 By administrator

eu-suspend The European Parliament has voted to freeze long-term plans for Turkey to join the EU in what is widely seen as a response to Ankara’s crackdown on political opposition and independent media since July’s failed coup, The Independent reports.

MEPs voted 479 in favour on the motion amending EU-Turkey relations, with 37 against and 107 abstentions in a plenary session in Strasbourg on Thursday, November 24.

The long-expected suspension had been criticised by those who say that freezing out President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will only push the country to adopt even harsher stances on human rights issues.

More than 40,000 people have been jailed under emergency laws since the aborted military takeover this summer, and 100,000 fired from public sector jobs, many in schools and universities.

“I believe the best way to strengthening Turkey’s democracy, the most effective way, is by engaging with Turkey, by keeping channels open,” EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini said ahead of the vote.

“If the accession process came to an end, I believe, we would both find ourselves in a lose-lose scenario.”

The EU agreed to accelerated talks on Turkey becoming a member of the EU in February as part of a deal which would see Middle Eastern and African refugees arriving on European shores deported back to Turkey.

The deal has largely succeeded in bringing the numbers of people arriving from across the Aegean Sea down from a peak of over 2,000 people a day in 2015 to a current average of around 100 a day. It also included £2.3billion in promised aid, £5.7 million of which has been given so far.

How the future of the strategy to combat the refugee crisis could be affected by Thursday’s vote is unclear.

Under the terms of the February deal, Turkey was also supposed to modify its anti-terror laws to bring them into line with existing EU policy in exchange for visa-free travel for Turkish citizens to the bloc. However, Erdogan has suggested that rather than do so, in the light of the July coup he would consider asking parliament to bring back the death penalty – which would definitely rule out the possibility of EU membership.

Turkey has suggested it may instead join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, an economic bloc which includes China and Russia.

A formal suspension on the EU membership talks will not be possible until December at the earliest, and will require a vote by the European Parliament’s member states.

RBC.ru: Европарламент выступил за приостановку переговоров о членстве Турции в ЕС

Turkish court starts umbrella trial of U.S.-based cleric Gulen, followers

November 23, 2016 By administrator

By Ece Toksabay | ANKARA

(Reuters) The trial of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen and 72 other people accused of trying to overthrow Turkey’s government began on Tuesday, with the case likely to be expanded to include charges related to an abortive coup in July.

Gulen lives in self-imposed exile in the United States and has so far not been extradited to Turkey. He is among those charged with fraud, political and military espionage, as well as the formation and management of a terrorist organization. Journalists and prominent businessmen were also named in the indictment.

The seven jailed defendants appeared before the court on Tuesday, as several of the more senior defendants are believed to have fled abroad after the July 15 coup attempt. Some are not jailed pending trial and may show up at future hearings.

The cleric has repeatedly denied accusations that he instructed followers to infiltrate Turkey’s police, judiciary and armed forces in order to seize control of the state. He has also denied involvement in the coup and condemned it.

The case in the Ankara Fourth High Criminal Court stems from an investigation initiated before the failed coup and therefore does not include charges related to it. However, both state media and lawyers at the courtroom said the hearing would later be broadened to include such charges and more defendants.

More than 240 people died when a group of rogue soldiers

commandeered tanks, helicopters and fighter jets on July 15 in attempt to attack parliament and topple the government.

Turkish authorities on Tuesday dismissed 15,000 more officials, from soldiers and police officers to tax inspectors and midwives, and shut 375 institutions and news outlets alleged to have backed the coup. The widening purge has been condemned by Western allies and human rights groups. [nL8N1DN0E6]

Plaintiffs included lawyers and family members of prominent author and professor Necip Hablemitoglu, who was killed in 2002 before he could complete a book about Gulen’s network.

Also present were lawyers for Ali Tatar, a colonel who committed suicide in 2009 after being targeted by an investigation into the military that prosecutors now say was concocted by Gulen’s followers in the army in an effort to consolidate their power.

Gulen’s lawyer, who was appointed by the Turkish bar association, has withdrawn from case, citing public pressure and the fact that Gulen is still in the United States, where he has lived since 1999.

Ankara has repeatedly called on Washington to hand Gulen over. The United States has said that extraditions are subject to the judicial process and therefore must meet with its standards of evidence.

(Editing by David Dolan and Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-turkey-security-court-idUSKBN13H1NX