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Turkey conducts military Terrorism airstrikes on Kurdish people in northern Iraq

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The Turkish Armed Forces on Dec. 13 conducted airstrikes in northern Iraq’s Sinjar and Mount Karacak regions, Hurriyet Daily News reports, citing the Defense Ministry.

According to an official statement, the air operation was conducted to “neutralize PKK/KCK/PYD/YPG and other terrorist elements.”

Ankara considers the YPG as the Syrian branch of the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the US.

“The operation targeted housing facilities, shelters, caves, tunnels, and storage units used by terrorists that threaten our country, nation, and border security,” the statement said.

In the planning and implementation stages of the operation, the statement continued, Turkey exercised due caution to prevent civilian casualties and damage to civilian property, and to protect the environment.

Fahrettin Altun, Communications Director of Turkish Presidency, said in a Twitter post that a successful air operation targeted Sinjar and Mount Karacak, which are among the “important” centers of terror elements.

“This operation dealt a blow to terror and it was a message to terror supporters,” he added.

Former Non-Profit President Turkish Kemal Oksuz Pleads Guilty to Scheme to Conceal Foreign Funding of 2013 Congressional Trip

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The former president of a Texas-based non-profit pleaded guilty today for his role in a scheme to conceal the fact that a 2013 Congressional trip to Azerbaijan was funded by the Azerbaijan government. A five-count indictment was returned earlier this year in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and ordered unsealed in September.

Oksuz was recently extradited from Armenia where he was detained by authorities, pursuant to a warrant that was issued for his arrest.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu for the District of Columbia and Assistant Director in Charge Nancy McNamara of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.

Kemal Oksuz, aka “Kevin Oksuz,” 49, and previously a resident of Arlington, Virginia, pleaded guilty to one count of devising a scheme to falsify, conceal and cover up material facts from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics.  Oksuz will be sentenced on Feb. 11, 2019 before U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan for the District of Columbia.

According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, Oksuz lied on disclosure forms filed with the Ethics Committee prior to, and following, a privately sponsored Congressional trip to Azerbaijan.  Oksuz falsely represented and certified on required disclosure forms that the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasions (TCAE), the Houston non-profit for which Oksuz was president, had not accepted funding for the Congressional trip from any outside sources.  Oksuz admitted to, in truth, orchestrating a scheme to funnel money to fund the trip from the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), the wholly state-owned national oil and gas company of Azerbaijan, and then concealed the true source of funding, which violated House travel regulations.

A five-count indictment was returned earlier this year in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and ordered unsealed in September.  Oksuz was recently extradited from Armenia where he was detained by authorities, pursuant to a warrant that was issued for his arrest.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Marco Palmieri of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Misler and Will Mackie of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. Assistance in the investigation was provided by Trial Attorney Amanda Vaughn of the Public Integrity Section, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Hooks and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Bradford of the District of Columbia.  Trial Attorney Natalya T. Savransky of the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs handled the extradition request to Armenia.  The Office of International Affairs, along with the U.S. Department of State and cooperating Armenian authorities provided substantial assistance with the extradition.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-non-profit-president-pleads-guilty-scheme-conceal-foreign-funding-2013-congressional?fbclid=IwAR3G7rfyRE6AXf4WnMuAxTVfqscMnZROxKWtoChcsdg9hRyExjHNpgXSo4o

Turkish military helicopter crashes in Istanbul residential area

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Four people were killed and one injured after a Turkish military helicopter crashed into a residential area of Istanbul’s suburbs. The cause of the incident was not immediately known.

The aircraft went down while flying over Sancaktepe, a neighborhood in the east of Istanbul, according to local media outlets. Four service members were killed in the deadly crash and one was badly injured, reported local broadcaster NTV.

It also said that the ill-fated aircraft was a UH-1, a type of American-built utility helicopter that has been in service since as early as the Vietnam War.

The helicopter was reportedly returning from a routine training flight and crashed during landing at a nearby military base.

NTV quoted the Sancaktepe mayor, who said the UH-1 struck the roof of a building before hitting the ground. As the events unfolded, Turkey’s Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar arrived at the crash site to coordinate rescue efforts.

Pilots tried to avoid damaging residential areas even after the helicopter started its nosedive, General Akar said later in the day. He confirmed two officers, two non-commissioned officers, and one master sergeant were on board the aircraft.

Fire brigades and ambulances were scrambled to deal with the emergency, and the scene was cordoned off by police. The only surviving service member was taken to hospital, Anadolu reported.

When and how Turkish anti-Armenian lobbyist ended up in Armenia?

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YEREVAN. – US citizen and ethnic Turk Kevin (Kemal) Öksüz, who was apprehended in capital city Yerevan, had arrived in Armenia in July 2017, from Georgia.

The National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia informed about the aforesaid in response to a written query by Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Öksüz was engaged in entrepreneurial activity in Armenia for about a year. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the company he founded in the country has avoided paying large amounts of taxes, and a criminal case has been filed in this regard.

The NSS also informed that while conducting business in Armenia, there was no information with respect to Öksüz carrying out actions that threaten the country’s national interests and security.

But when asked whether the NSS had received any information regarding Öksüz’s ties with the Azerbaijani government and his anti-Armenian activities in the US, the NSS did not respond saying that such information contains national and official secrets.

Kevin Öksüz, whom the US law enforcers are seeking, was found on August 29, in Yerevan.

As reported earlier, the US Justice Department has issued an indictment of Öksüz  for his role in a plot to hide the fact that a 2013 congressional delegation trip to Azerbaijan was funded by that country’s government.

The US court charges him with one count of devising a scheme to falsify, conceal, and cover up material facts from the Ethics Committee of the US House of Representatives, and four counts of making false statements to Congress.

A warrant for his arrest was issued earlier this year

Earlier, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia had received a petition from the relevant US authorities that Öksüz be extradited.

On August 31, a Yerevan first instance court ruled that Kevin Öksüz be detained for one month.

 

Turkish police detain over 500 protesting airport workers Video

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Turkish police have detained hundreds of workers protesting over labor conditions at Istanbul’s new airport, a giant project championed by President Tayyip Erdogan and due to open next month, a union leader said on Saturday, Reuters reported.

The protest broke out after a shuttle bus accident on Friday in which 17 workers were injured, said Ozgur Karabulut, general manager of the Dev Yapi-Is union.

Thousands of workers joined the demonstration, which was broken up by police and gendarmes deploying in riot control vehicles and firing tear gas, he said.

“They broke into the workers’ camp with 30 gendarmerie, broke down the doors and detained around 500 workers,” Karabulut told Reuters by phone. He said he was speaking from a local gendarmerie where he was seeking the workers’s release.

 

Turkish town revokes sister city protocol with Frisco, Texas, amid tensions with US

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The municipal council of Ceyhan district in Turkey’s southern province of Adana has revoked the town twinning protocol with Frisco city in the United States over the disputes between the two countries.

Ceyhan Municipal Council on Aug. 4 unanimously voted for revoking the protocol signed in January 2015 between then Ceyhan Mayor Alemdar Öztürk and then Frisco Mayor Maher Maso.

Councilor Eyüp İkidağ, a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), tabled a motion to revoke the protocol citing the disputes between the U.S. and Turkey.

Turkish lira hits record low as US sanctions bite

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Turkey’s lira has fallen to a record low as US sanctions and the effects of an overly politicized monetary policy kick in. President Erdogan’s virtual economics may be about to hit a wall of hard truths.

The Turkish lira fell to a rate of 5.1 against the dollar in early Friday trading, breaking the symbolic resistance threshold of 5 for the first time. The currency has lost 4 percent against the dollar over the last week and is down about 36 percent this year, according to FactSet.

The lira plummeted in late July after the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) left interest rates unchanged as inflation continued to rise, with one analyst likening buying the currency to “catching a falling knife.”

The sense of doom was compounded on August 1 when the US imposed selective sanctions on Turkey over the detainment of an American pastor.

“Crucially, the geopolitical risks are now much higher following the decision by the US to impose sanctions on two Turkish ministers. Frankly, we do not know what level of real policy rate would compensate for this increase in risk premium,” Inan Demir, an analyst at Nomura, told DW.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond was at 18.28 percent at Thursday’s close, indicating a big return for those willing to risk financing Turkey’s public debt.

Turkey is vulnerable to a stronger US currency because of its large dollar-denominated debt, which becomes more expensive to repay as the lira slips. Emerging economies have been struggling with a stronger dollar, but Turkey and Argentina are highly reliant on foreign — often dollar-denominated — funding, and so when their currencies sell off, it is more expensive to service debt.

Meanwhile, investors left the BIST 100 share index down 2.74 percent on Thursday.

Amnesty accuses Turkey of ‘turning blind eye’ to abuses in Afrin

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Amnesty International says Turkish forces in the northern Syrian city of Afrin are giving Syrian militias “free rein” to commit serious human rights abuses. The group alleges torture, forced disappearances and looting.

Human rights organization Amnesty International accused Turkey on Thursday of allowing Syrian armed groups to commit a wide range of violations against civilians in Afrin.

Turkish forces aided by allied rebels captured the northern Syrian town in March from the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara considers a terrorist group. According to Amnesty’s research, scores of displaced residents have since returned to their homes, only to be subjected to rights abuses.

What Amnesty’s investigation alleges:

Amnesty interviewed 32 people, both current and former Afrin residents, between May and July 2018, who said:

  • Residents in Afrin are enduring “arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, confiscation of property and looting.”
  • Most of the abuses were “at the hands of Syrian groups that have been equipped and armed by Turkey.”
  • Some of the rebel groups and Turkish armed forces had “taken over schools, disrupting the education for thousands of children.”
  • Afrin University was “completely shut down after it was destroyed and looted,” according to residents cited by Amnesty.
  • Civilians have been punished or had their property seized on “baseless accusations of affiliation to the YPG.”

What does Turkey say?

Turkey has denied allegations of human rights violations, dismissing them as propaganda. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also previously said that Turkey has no wish to occupy parts of Syria and wants the rightful owners to return.

Amnesty said it sent its preliminary findings to the Turkish government, which questioned the impartiality of the research, but did not “provide a concrete response” to the charges.

Amnesty’s Middle East research director Lynn Maalouf said Turkey was responsible for the welfare of civilians as well as maintaining law and order, since it was the “occupying power” in Afrin.

“Without further delay, Turkey must end violations by pro-Turkish armed groups, hold perpetrators accountable, and commit to helping Afrin residents rebuild their lives,” she said.

Turkey’s role in Afrin: It’s not the first time troops backed by Turkey have been accused of abuses in Afrin. In June, Human Rights Watch said militias had looted and destroyed property belonging Kurdish civilians after the town was seized. Ankara has said it wants to make Afrin into a safe place for displaced residents to come back to, but it’s not clear how long its forces will maintain a presence there.

Turkish actress Özge Borak turns down Azeri businessman’s $ 1 million offer for one-time sex

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YEREVAN, JUNE 5,  Turkish actress Özge Borak has shown the letter of an Azeri businessman who has offered her 1 million dollars for a one night stand, haqqin.az reports.

“I am an Azerbaijani businessman, I live in Moscow, I will pay 1 million dollars to spend a night with you, tell me your bank account and I will make the transfer immediately,” the  Russia-based Azerbaijani businessman said.

The actress said she posts only the most weird or ridiculous messages which have been sent to her on Instagram.  She mentioned that she receives many love letters, but without disrespectful remarks.

“But I don’t even know what to say to this one. Dirty sham,” she said referring to the Azeri man.

She censored the name and picture of the businessman so the identity of the macho wannabe is unknown.

 

Turkish protesters cleared of charges over Armenian Genocide banner

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The Prosecutor’s Office of Istanbul has ruled that the phrase ‘Armenian Genocide’ lies within the limits of freedom of speech and thought, Ermenihaber.am reports.

IHD’s (Human Rights Association) Istanbul Branch organized a Genocide memorial service in the Sultanahmet district of the city on April 24. However, the police dispersed the remembrance program on the grounds that there were banners with the term ‘Genocide’ written on them.

IHD activists Laman Yurtsever, Jiyan Tosun and Gamze Özdemir, who carried the banners, were taken into custody and released afterwards.

The inscription on the banner in question called for recognizing the Armenian Genocide in which 1.5 million Armenians were murdered at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1923.

When the investigation over the incident was over, Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office decided there was no room for prosecution.

The decision was based on other decision taken by the European Court of Human Rights

IHD Istanbul Branch pointed out that the decision of the Prosecutor’s Office is important and that it should be taken into account from the angle of political will.

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