Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government of “treachery” for pressing ahead with the vote despite international opposition.

Massoud Barzani should now “give up on this adventure”, he said.

Mr Erdogan has previously threatened to cut a vital Kurdish oil pipeline and stop lorries crossing Turkey’s border.
Turkey fears that the emergence of an independent Kurdish state on its border will stoke separatist feeling in its own Kurdish minority.

The results of the referendum are yet to be declared, but a “yes” vote is expected.

Kurdish leaders say that would not automatically trigger a declaration of independence, but rather give them a mandate to start negotiations on secession with the central government in Baghdad and with neighbouring countries.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ruled out any such talks on Monday night, saying he would not discuss the referendum’s results because it was “unconstitutional”.

This was the strongest rhetoric yet from President Erdogan on the Kurdish referendum. He called it “treachery” and a “threat to national security”. Once again he threatened military or economic intervention, without elaborating.

Turkey is worried that independence might further Kurdish insurgency here and is concerned for ethnic Turkmen in the city of Kirkuk, which the Kurds want to be part of any future state. But there was a lot for a domestic audience – sabre-rattling to please nationalists at home.

Ankara has built a strong relationship with the Iraqi Kurds through an oil pipeline that feeds the Kurdish economy and Turkey’s energy needs. And the authorities in Irbil oppose the PKK Kurdish militant group, allowing Turkish military bases in northern Iraq. Mr Erdogan warned he could close the oil valves in Turkey – but it has not yet happened.

With Turkey’s notoriously abrasive president, the oratory sometimes does not actually translate into action.

In a speech on Tuesday, Mr Erdogan said he had expected “until the last moment” that Kurdistan Regional President Massoud Barzani would postpone the vote.

“This referendum decision, which has been taken without any consultation, is treachery,” he said.

“If Barzani and the Kurdish Regional Government do not go back on this mistake as soon as possible, they will go down in history with the shame of having dragged the region into an ethnic and sectarian war,” he warned.

Mr Erdogan said Turkey, which has long been the Kurdistan Region’s main link to the outside world, might now impose sanctions to persuade Mr Barzani’s administration to “give up on this adventure that can only have a dark end”.

“It will be over when we close the oil taps, all [their] revenues will vanish, and they will not be able to find food when our trucks stop going to northern Iraq,” he added.

Cross-border trade between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey was worth some $5bn (£3.7bn) in the first six months of 2017, according to Kurdish officials, while hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil flow daily through a pipeline from Kurdish-controlled oil fields to the Mediterranean via Turkish territory.

Iraqi soldiers also joined Turkish troops for military exercises in south-eastern Turkey on Monday, near the border with Iraq.
The US earlier said it was “deeply disappointed” that the Kurdistan Region held the referendum, but stressed that their “historic relationship” would not change.

The referendum was held in the three Iraqi provinces that make up the Kurdistan Region, as well as in adjoining disputed areas claimed by the Kurds and the Arab-led central government that are controlled by Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

The Kurdish news agency Rudaw reported that 72% of the 5.2 million Kurds and non-Kurds registered as resident in those areas had voted. Ballots were still being counted on Tuesday, with initial results expected by the end of the day.

Kurds are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East but they have never obtained a permanent nation state.
In Iraq, where they make up an estimated 15% to 20% of the population of 37 million, Kurds faced decades of repression before acquiring autonomy in 1991.

–
Source: BBC

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Turkey has remained in a state of emergency since the failed coup Murad Sezer/Reuters

If President Erdogan is to be believed, last year’s failed coup in Turkey was an attempt by his erstwhile ally, Fethullah Gulen – a conservative Islamist like him – to overthrow the Government and do away with the Constitution and National Assembly. Gulen, it should be said, denies that he was in any way involved.

Still, while Turkey has had a chequered history on human rights – particularly with respect to the Kurds – it was a functioning democracy with a Constitution protecting fundamental rights, and a relatively independent judiciary to provide some counterweight to executive excess. Even though suspicions about Erdogan’s penchant for power had been gathering for some time, it was nonetheless a relief to most in Turkey that the coup failed within hours. And although there was considerable loss of life – about 300 died – it could have been much worse.

The irony, however, is that what followed the attempted coup has gravely damaged the institutions and constitutional framework that the plotters themselves sought to sweep away.

Within hours of the coup, Erdogan had started rounding up his adversaries, far beyond those involved in the plot. To date, something like 160,000 public officials – judges, academics, military and police officers, and civil servants – have been dismissed from their posts. More than 50,000 have been detained and mass trials are now taking place on charges alleging support for the coup.

Erdogan declared a state of emergency which continues to this day, giving him enormous power by decree, and he has consolidated many of these emergency powers by a referendum heavily criticised by the EU, not only for dubious ballot results but also because those opposed to the President were not on a level playing field – harassed and refused access to mainstream media.

In tightening his grip on power, Erdogan has particularly targeted the judiciary and journalists, removing supervision of the executive from within the state and criticism of it from without.

Over 4,000 judges and prosecutors, a quarter of the total, have been dismissed from their posts for alleged links to Gulen. By decree, Erdogan changed the way judges are appointed, from an independent judicial committee to one of executive selection. Judicial independence has thus been substantially undermined by the fear of dismissal and by the replacement of a sizeable proportion of existing judges and prosecutors by government appointees. Defence lawyers face similar jeopardy with a number facing indictments of their own.

Turkey’s president Recep Erdogan wins referendum to greatly expand powers

Freedom of expression has also been severely curtailed, with sections of the media closed down, websites blocked and some 169 journalists detained and facing indictments alleging support for the coup.

In June, a major trial of journalists began and it resumes on 19 September. Together with fourteen others, ten of whom have fled, Nasli Ilicak and Ahmet and Mehmet Altan are charged with conspiring to overthrow the government, constitution and national assembly, and with assisting a “terrorist” organisation.

The prosecution case is that the three – all well-known secularist, liberal journalists, academics and writers in their 60s and 70s – took part in a current affairs TV programme the day before the coup, which contained “subliminal messages” to the plotters. Quite why the dark forces supposedly connected to Fethullah Gulen could not use WhatsApp or Viber remains a mystery, as does the nature of the alleged communications. Several of the other allegations go back years – well before Gulen fell out with Erdogan over a corruption scandal in 2013.

Turkey’s Erdogan steps up anti-Europe rhetoric

Other defendants are “linked” to the coup by the fact that they held accounts at Bank Asya, said to be a Gulenist institution. Others are said to have produced TV adverts for a pro-Gulen newspaper some nine months before the coup.

The reality of the coming court appearance of the Altan brothers and others is that it is a show trial being held to render opposition to the President illegal. It is a clear and outrageous affront to freedom of expression, which is ostensibly protected by Article 26 of the Turkish Constitution and by various international legal instruments by which Turkey is bound – including Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Some conspiracy theorists think Erdogan himself was behind the coup – indeed, that is Gulen’s contention. Yet the reality is more straightforward: he has seized an unexpected opportunity, galvanizing the popular revulsion at a coup which apparently sought to destroy Turkish democracy and using it to suppress any opposition and all independent supervision and criticism of his administration.

In so doing, Erdogan has himself done the damage to democracy arguably intended by those behind the coup – but has done so in order to vastly expand his own powers as President.

Unless there is a return to normality – the ending of the state of emergency; a reinstatement of an independent judiciary; the release of all post-coup detainees (except where there is clear evidence of involvement in violence); and a clear commitment to freedom of expression – Turkey risks becoming a pariah, trapped between the failed states of Syria and Iraq to the south and former EU friends, who no longer want to know, to the north.

–

By:Pete Weatherby QC/ independent.co.uk

The author of a Bar Human Right Committee report on the Altan trial, published this week.

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Mr Erdogan praised those people, including MPs, who had defended democracy and his government.

He backed the death penalty for coup plotters and said they should wear Guantanamo Bay-style uniforms.

Nearly 250 people died and 2,196 were wounded fighting the coup attempt by an army faction on 15 July last year.
The government has since led a crackdown on alleged coup supporters, with the dismissal of more than 150,000 state employees and the arrest of some 50,000 people.

The coup failed for several reasons, including a lack of support in higher echelons of the armed forces and a lack of political or public backing.

Plotters tried to detain Mr Erdogan as he holidayed in an Aegean resort, but he had left and the coup was thwarted by civilians and soldiers loyal to the president. It is on these people that the president has focused in commemorations.

“People that night did not have guns, they had a flag and more importantly, they had their faith,” he told thousands of supporters.

However, the national unity that was initially felt against the coup has faded, and divisions have widened, correspondents say.

Opponents of Mr Erdogan boycotted the day and night of speeches and pageantry. They say his government’s actions over the past year amount to an attempt to purge dissent.
Such purges continued right up to last Friday, when more than 7,000 state employees were dismissed.

Mr Erdogan addressed Turks who had rallied to the bridge over the Bosphorus where civilians had confronted pro-coup soldiers last year.

He said: “I am grateful to all members of my nation who defended their country.”

Mr Erdogan said that 250 people had lost their lives but the country had won its future.

“Putschists who closed off the bridge on that night wanted to show the world that they were in control,” he said, but were countered by “millions who took to the streets that night to defend the honour of their nation”.
He said he would “break the heads of the traitors” who plotted the coup.

Mr Erdogan also said he had spoken to Prime Minister Binali Yildirim about the coup plotters, saying: “When they appear in court, let’s make them appear in uniform suits like in Guantanamo.”

The president then unveiled a “martyrs’ memorial” at the bridge, which has been renamed the Bridge of the Martyrs of July 15.

Moving on to Ankara, the capital, he spoke in parliament a year to the hour after it was bombed by warplanes.
He said that on the night of the coup, “our nation showed the whole world what a nation we are”.

One supporter in the crowd, who gave his name only as Murat, said: “”If it happened again, I would stay out again. That night, it was like a war. We take ownership of this country and this people.”
The date of 15 July has been declared an annual holiday called Democracy and National Unity Day.
Earlier Mr Yildirim told a special session of parliament that 15 July 2016 was a “second War of Independence”, following the conflict that led to the creation of the modern state in the 1920s.
“It has been exactly one year since Turkey’s darkest and longest night was transformed into a bright day, since an enemy occupation turned into the people’s legend,” the prime minister said.

But Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, said: “This parliament, which withstood bombs, has been rendered obsolete and its authority removed.

“In the past year, justice has been destroyed. Instead of rapid normalisation, a permanent state of emergency has been implemented.”

The Turkish authorities accused a movement loyal to the Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen, of organising the plot.
Mr Gulen, who remains in the United States, denies any involvement, and Washington has so far resisted calls from the Turkish authorities to extradite him.

The BBC’s Turkey correspondent, Mark Lowen, says that for half of the country, he says, 15 July 2016 was its rebirth; for the other half, its aftermath is killing off what was left of Turkish democracy.

Critics say Mr Erdogan is using the purges to stifle political dissent, and last week hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Istanbul at the end of a 450km (280-mile) “justice” march against the government.
The president accused the marchers of supporting terrorism.

–

Source: BBC

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I also pray for their families and loved ones that have continued to live in fear on a daily basis. I pray for those outside Turkey who fear for their lives on a daily basis due to the threat of abduction and forcible deportation to Turkey.

I also pray for those whose businesses have been either shut down or seized by the government. God in heaven, comfort them and let your light and glory be their pathway. Amen.

In the confinement of the four walls of my room, I sat in absolute bewilderment with the happenings in Turkey. I imagined the hardship, the physical and emotional torture of innocent people that have been clamped in prison in Turkey on unsubstantiated allegations of plotting a coup. I was left with no choice but to pray for the victims of Turkey. I encourage you reading to say a word of prayer for them too.

Turkey has been in the news since the unfortunate coup attempt of July 15, 2016. In my opinion, the country has drifted from a democracy into autocracy. I say this because, since the coup attempt, the state of an emergency rule introduced by the president provided him the long-awaited opportunity to be of disservice to the people of Turkey.

Also, the massive purges carried out by the government have led to a remarkable dearth in the health and educational institutions in Turkey. Those that were fortunate were able to leave the country in droves. Those that were not lucky were rounded up and thrown into prison.

We are talking about professors, doctors, teachers, and other highly resourceful people other countries would wish to have.
As a fact, Turkey is now the number one country for applications from under-threat scholars seeking safety in Western universities, according to Scholar Rescue Fund and Council for At-Risk Academics, two of the world’s leading charities that help at-risk academics.

As at the last count, close to 1300 schools have been shut down, 15 universities also closed.
54 hospitals closed down. 8,271 academics have lost their jobs. This is aside from other scary figures of the number of media outlets and charity organizations that have been shut down by the government. This is quite frightening.

I will give one sad example: Kim Se Yokmu (KYM) Foundation is one of the biggest charity organizations in the world. KYM is involved in many projects all over the world to bring relief to disaster-stricken areas, provide essential resources to areas in need, and establish schools and medical facilities in areas that lack such vital services. The KYM has been shut down by the Turkish authorities. Can you believe that?

In Turkey today, the fastest way to prison is to call the name Fethullah Gulen only. If you commit murder, you won’t be sent to prison because the jail spaces are meant for critics and perceived enemies of the president.

Interestingly I learned the government is planning to build additional 174 prisons over the space of five years to accommodate more people.

For some of us who have devoted time and energy to research on the Hizmet movement, it smacks of nothing but evil intent to label the Hizmet movement a terrorist organization. Little wonder why Mr. Bruno Karl, head of German Intelligence Agency (BND) said the BND could not find a direct link between what Turkey calls the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and the coup attempt.

Similarly, Congressman Devin Nunes, chairman of the Intelligence Committee of the US Congress, said he hadn’t seen evidence that suggests Fethullah Gulen was involved in failed coup.

Hear Fethullah Gulen: “Ever since I was a child, I have believed that the greatest service to humanity has to go through education, that all of the humanity has to be embraced, that pursuing tolerance and dialog are critical, and that everyone must be accepted just as they are.

I believe in being tolerant and approving of everyone, as these are necessary ingredients for preventing internal social divisions and strong barriers against the outbreak of conflict.” I am afraid that for such a personality and the people he inspires through his teachings to be labelled as terrorists or behind a coup attempt can best be described as absurd.

What is happening in Turkey is perhaps the largest clampdown in modern Turkish history. Else how do you explain the closure of hospitals including dialysis centers? How do you also account for the closure of schools, universities, and dormitories? What is the relationship between a coup and a hospital or school? How can you also explain the arrest and imprisonment of teachers, doctors, nurses, professors, journalists, judges, and prosecutors, etc.? It doesn’t add up to me and likewise many others.

At times I imagine the academic and health resources languishing in Turkish prisons that I very much fear for Turkey. That is not all; there is also an aggressive drive to annihilate participants of the Hizmet movement in Turkey and outside Turkey.

For the ones doing legitimate businesses outside Turkey, there is an ongoing campaign to pressure countries to close down their firms that consist of mainly schools and hospitals, and in some instances, the Turkish authorities are demanding the transfer of these institutions to a government organization called Maarif foundation. This is another absurdity.

They didn’t stop there. There have been cases of kidnaps and deportation of Turkish nationals from some countries to Turkey. It happened in Malaysia, Georgia, Myanmar and Thailand.

Only recently, the United Nations Human Rights office expressed grave concern over the deportation of a Turkish teacher in Myanmar Muhammet Furkan Sokmen by Myanmar.
The United Nations Human Rights office said the extradition to Turkey of Muhammet Furkan Sokmen, was one of an increasing number of cases of Turkish nationals singled out by Turkish authorities over suspected links to the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

This terror is also rearing its ugly head in some African countries including Nigeria. The case of Nigeria almost denigrated into a diplomatic row between both countries when the Nigerian government rejected the request for the closure of Turkish schools in Nigeria for lacking in merit.

In retaliation, the Turkish authorities detained and deported Nigerian students studying in Turkey. Till date, the quest to ensure that these schools and hospitals are either closed down or ruined has not relented. Why? Some secret service agents from Turkey have been profiling Hizmet movement participants in Nigeria.

I cannot categorically comment on the possibility of an abduction and forcible deportation, but the threat is real, and I think it is something the relevant security agencies in Nigeria have to look into carefully.

I also think the international community must rise to the occasion and demand respect for the rights and privileges of those detained in Turkey.
They must take a collective action towards calling President Recep Erdogan to discontinue the repression of his people, especially participants of the Hizmet movement. Hundreds of thousands of lives and businesses have been ruined already.

Fethullah Gulen recently penned an emotional article titled “The Turkey I no longer Know” in the article you could sense his disappointment and pain.

He said “ Since July 15, following a deplorable coup attempt, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has systematically persecuted innocent people — arresting, detaining, firing and otherwise ruining the lives of more than 300,000 Turkish citizens, be they Kurds, Alevis, secularists, leftists, journalists, academics or participants of Hizmet, the peaceful humanitarian movement with which I am associated.”

“The Turkish government must stop the repression of its people and redress the rights of individuals who have been wronged by Erdogan without due process.” This is my prayer for the victims of Turkey.

*Ocheja is an Alumnus of the Nigerian Defence Academy
–
By: nigerianpilot.com

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If Mr. Erdogan had not allowed the Islamic State operatives inside Turkey to transport weapons and explosives to Syria and Iraq openly, there would be no Islamic State as we know it today, and thousands of people likely would have evaded their brutality.

The president’s missteps began in 2011, when he apparently surmised that the Syrian uprising was an opportunity for his regional and political interests. Initially, he aimed for a prompt regime change in Syria with this support. Eventually, as the Islamic State started to target the Kurds in the region, he considered the Islamic State as a tool that would help him conquer the Kurdistan Worker’s Party and deal with PKK’s Kurdish allies in Northern Syria. The Turkish State, under the direction of Mr. Erdogan, committed the following crimes against humanity:

—Mr. Erdogan allowed more than 25,000 Islamic State foreign fighters to cross from Turkey to Syria and Iraq to join the terrorist organization, according to a recent report of the Combatting Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy. The Turkish intelligence and law enforcement forces were strictly ordered not to intervene with the movement of foreign fighters until 2016. In fact, in some cases, foreign fighters were accompanied by the Turkish intelligence officers.

—Various Salafist Jihadist terrorist groups, including the al Qaeda affiliates and the Islamic State, were either provided arms and explosives by some elements of the Turkish State or were openly allowed to carry out their armament and logistical support operations inside and through Turkey. For example, on Jan. 19, 2014, three trucks operated by the Turkish National Intelligence (MIT) loaded with hidden military grade weapons underneath medicine boxes were stopped on Adana highway, revealing the ongoing transfer of arms and explosives to terrorists in Syria.

—Turkey had been the main supplier of arms and explosive materials for the Islamic State, according to the December 2016 report of Conflict Armament Research (CAR), a research organization funded by the European Union to identify and track the conventional weapons supply chain to the Islamic State. “CAR’s findings continuously reinforce evidence that the Islamic State operates a major acquisition network in Turkey and has a direct line of supply from Turkey, through Syria, to the Mosul area,” CAR reported.

As the former chief of counterterrorism police in Turkey in 2013, I personally witnessed that hospitals across southeastern Turkey opened their doors to any wounded Islamic State fighter and treated him free of charge, often under the protection of Turkish police. While I was the chief, I was ordered to provide security to the wounded fighters — and there were so many, I was not able to find enough officers to assign. I was personally assigning the security details by orders of the governor. In fact, following an air strike, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s right-hand man and six other fighters were treated in August 2014 in a private hospital in Sanliurfa. The Turkish government paid the hospital bills, according to hospital doctors who spoke to me.

The world learned through the hacked emails of Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources and the son-in-law of Mr. Erdogan, that he continuously purchased Islamic State oil through Powertrans, his front company for illicit oil transfers. His purchases provided the terrorist organization a steady income of $3 million a day at the height of Islamic State’s oil production — thereby offering the terror network hundreds of millions of dollars to fund its operations.

Mr. Erdogan released into the custody of Islamic State on two separate occasions more than 200 hard-core terrorists in order to gain concessions from ISIS. In all, 201 Islamic State fighters who were residing in Turkey were arrested by Turkish police for the chief purpose of bartering them for Turkish officials held hostage by ISIS in Iraq, or to gain the release of Turkish soldiers stranded and encircled by ISIS fighters in Syria.

In order to get the release of approximately 49 Turkish consular officials kidnapped by ISIS after the seizure of the Turkish Consulate in June 11, 2014, the Turkish police rounded up more than 100 ISIS members sheltering on Turkish soil and offered them to ISIS as a prisoner exchange on Sept. 20, 2014. (See translation of Ministry of Interior document below that orders governors to hold foreign fighters in their detention centers.)

The second exchange happened during the Suleyman Shah tomb operation on Feb. 22, 2015, in the town of Sarrin in Aleppo Province. In that operation, Turkey handed 98 ISIS members to the terrorist organization, so that the tomb could be moved. The disturbing part of these exchanges is the fact that the State of Turkey handed over several well-known and experienced foreign fighters to the Islamic State, including some who had “red notices,” that is, arrest warrants from Interpol. For example, Ahmed Diini, a Dutch citizen of Somali origin who was wanted by American authorities on terrorism charges, was handed to the Islamic State on Sept. 20, 2014, even though the U.S. government had requested that Turkey extradite him back to the U.S. for trial. Similarly, Islamic State senior leader Mohamed Mahmoud, known as Abu Usama al-Gharib, an Austrian citizen, was among the terrorists who were handed over to the Islamic State. Mahmoud went on to command large units of ISIS terrorists in Syria and reportedly murdered hundreds of people.

The Islamic State freely operated in Turkey for years without facing any counterterrorism operations. After sensational corruption scandals surfaced in 2013 that appeared to implicate Erdogan’s son, Bilal, the president called a halt to all ongoing counterterrorism operations against the Islamic State, the al Qaeda and its affiliates. In 2104 and 2015, Turkish police neglected to carry out any planned counterterrorism operations in Turkey targeting those terrorist organizations. It appeared that the police realized that Islamic State and other jihadist groups were untouchable. The whole nation was put on notice on Jan. 15, 2014, when police chiefs and prosecutors from Van, a city in the east of Turkey, attempted to interdict arms smuggling from Turkey to Syria — but were instead promptly fired and arrested themselves.

Whereas 10 years ago, all Turkish parties took a hard line against radical, political Islamism, Mr. Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) in recent years began to praise the mujahidin as freedom fighters, which justified their presence on Turkish soil. A 2015 Pew Research Center survey confirmed this tendency by reporting that approximately 7 million of Turks had a favorable approach towards the Islamic State.

Journalists and scholars point to the president’s Islamist rhetoric and the AKP’s lapdog media platforms for radicalizing many Turks, a tendency illustrated by the horrendous assassination of the Russian ambassador to Ankara on camera by a police officer on Dec. 19, 2016.

Islamic State in today’s Turkey enjoys mind-boggling privileges: It has opened four schools in the middle of Ankara, maintained training centers and camps in Istanbul, and operated hundreds of safe havens and terrorist cells across the country.

Mr. Erdogan and his government systematically, willingly, and in most cases openly supported Salafist terrorist organizations, as documented by Turkish independent media (before the government closed them) and European news organizations.

The grim result of this support is that Islamic State became a monstrous killing machine in a very short time, killing thousands of men, women and including children. Even worse, atrocities unseen since World War II were committed: Men and women were beheaded or killed, or burned, tortured, raped and forced to move because of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Mr. Erdogan has the blood of innocent people on his hands — in fact, more so than many ISIS foot soldiers, because atrocities were enabled on his watch while he paid no attention.

By any legal standard, Mr. Erdogan has earned the label of “terrorist” himself. He has committed crimes against humanity, which is defined as “a deliberate act, typically as part of a systematic campaign, that causes human suffering or death on a large scale.” The Rome Statute provides for the International Criminal Court in The Hague (Netherlands) to have jurisdiction over crimes against humanity. Mr. Erdogan should be tried at the International Criminal Court for his crimes. It follows there should be an immediate flight ban for Mr. Erdogan and his co-conspirators, limiting their international movements. Sanctions against his government should be put in place, and Mr. Erdogan’s assets should be frozen promptly.

The writer; Ahmet S. Yayla, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor of Criminology, Law, and Society at George Mason University. He served as the chief of Counterterrorism and Operations Department of the Turkish National Police in Sanliurfa between 2010 and 2013. He is co-author of the newly released book, “ISIS Defectors: Inside Stories of the Terrorist Caliphate.” Follow @ahmetsyayla.

–

Source: washingtontimes.com

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Speaking on a German public broadcaster ZDF program on Sunday, Schmidt-Eenboom said: “According to CIA analyses, the so-called coup attempt was staged by Erdoğan to prevent a real coup. The BND, CIA and other Western intelligence services do not see the slightest evidence showing Gülen instigating the coup attempt.”

The military coup attempt on July 15 killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement despite a strong denial from the movement and lack of any concrete evidence to this effect so far.

When asked by the host of the program, Maybrit Illner, why Erdoğan is accusing Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen and his followers of masterminding the coup attempt, Schmidt-Eenboom said: “This is the easiest way to criminalize and eliminate them.”

Gülen, who inspired the Gülen movement, called for an international investigation into the coup attempt, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.

“CIA and other intelligence services have the capability to infiltrate into the most secret communication systems and according to the information they gathered, July 15 was a staged coup,” said Schmidt-Eenboom in further remarks.

According to a statement from Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu on April 2, a total of 113,260 people have been detained as part of investigations into the Gülen movement since the July 15 coup attempt while 47,155 were put into pre-trial detention.

–

Source: Turkishminute

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Turkey has been mired in a diplomatic row with Germany and the Netherlands after they banned Turkish officials from campaigning in support of an April referendum on boosting the Turkish President’s powers.

“If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets,” Mr Erdogan told journalists in Ankara.

He added: “We, as Turkey, call on Europe to respect human rights and democracy.”

Turkish government officials are still participating in events for expatriate Turks across Europe, but are not campaigning for the referendum, the Turkish deputy prime minister has said.

Numan Kurtulmus said the row had helped Turks in Europe better understand the constitutional changes proposed in the referendum.

He said the “footsteps of neo-Nazism and extreme racism” were being heard in Europe.

Germany’s new President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, used his first speech in the role to accuse Mr Erdogan of jeopardising everything Turkey has achieved in recent years.

“The way we look [at Turkey] is characterised by worry, that everything that has been built up over years and decades is collapsing,” Mr Steinmeier said.

“President Erdogan, you are jeopardising everything that you, with others, have built,” he said, adding he would welcome “credible signs” to ease the situation.

Nato member Turkey has repeatedly accused Germany of using Nazi tactics and has caused anger by detaining German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel.

“End the unspeakable Nazi comparisons,” Mr Steinmeier added. “Do not cut the ties to those people who want partnership with Turkey. Respect the rule of law and the freedom of media and journalists. And release Deniz Yucel.”

Mr Erdogan has previously branded the Netherlands “Nazi remnants” and accused Germany of “fascist actions”.

He has said his country may review its ties with Europe after the referendum, which he hopes will give him sweeping new powers, and has described Europe as “fascist and cruel”, saying it resembles the pre-Second World War era.

In pictures: Turkey coup attempt

European leaders have made repeated calls for Turkish officials to avoid Nazi comparisons and the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany accused Mr Erdogan of disrespecting the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.

“The comparisons between today’s Federal Republic of Germany and National Socialism, which we have heard in recent days, are not only insulting and absolutely false – they also relativise the Nazis’ rule of terror,” Josef Schuster said.

“The comparison is monstrous and denigrates the suffering of the victims of the Shoah.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Turkey should stop Nazi comparisons “with no ifs or buts”.

The controversy deepened last week when a Turkish pro-government newspaper depicted Ms Merkel as Adolf Hitler on its front page, branding her “Mrs Hitler”.

The right-wing tabloid accused the German chancellor of attempting to lead a fascist movement against Turkey.

It came days after Germany’s biggest-selling newspaper Bild attacked Mr Erdogan for threatening the stability of Europe through his “lust for power”.

“Bild tells the truth to Erdogan’s face – you are not a democrat! You are hurting your country! You are not welcome here!” the German newspaper said.

Turkish hackers also spread Nazi accusations across high profile Twitter accounts, posting pro-Erdogan messages from accounts including Amnesty International, BBC North America and Forbes.

While tensions between Turkey and Europe have boiled over in recent weeks, acrimony over Turkey’s belief some European countries are harbouring suspected terrorists has festered for years.

Europe has questioned whether fugitives would get a fair trial in Turkey and said free speech laws and other rights protect many dissidents.

A Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press that Turkey will ask the Netherlands to extradite a Turkish leftist militant.

Mr Erdogan criticised Germany for allowing a weekend rally of Kurds, some of whom expressed support for a jailed rebel leader in Turkey.

In January, Turkey condemned a Greek court ruling granting asylum to eight Turkish military servicemen allegedly involved in a failed coup to oust Mr Erdogan last year.

–
By: independent.co.uk

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The Turkish government immediately blamed Erdoğan’s former ally-turned-rival Fethullah Gülen for being behind the plot, the genesis of which remains unclear, but the simple fact is that none of the material Turkish officials have given to their US counterparts has yet risen to the standard of proof — let alone credible evidence — to support Erdoğan’s charges.

It is noteworthy that the Turkish press purports to describe the US reaction as accepting of the Turkish material, yet no American officials have ever been quoted as saying anything near what the Turkish press describes.

Indeed, alternate narratives about the July 15 coup attempt are equally compelling.

The only certainty is that the attempted coup became the excuse Erdoğan needed or crafted in order to purge those opposed to or insufficiently enthusiastic about his agenda. Much of what has been reported in the Western media has focused on the ongoing purge of teachers and university professors.

Certainly, there is a newsworthy irony to a man whose university diploma appears to be forged assuming the right to appoint university presidents through a board he has staffed with his cronies. But it is what Erdoğan has done in recent days to the police which should put chills down the spines of those who care about Erdoğan’s intent and Turkey’s future.

The problem seems not that Erdoğan believed all the sacked chiefs disloyal — most were not and many he had appointed in the first place — but rather that he considered them soft…

Last week, Erdoğan appointed new police chiefs for 61 out of Turkey’s 81 provinces. He also assigned 55 police chiefs to central departments that act as police professional bodies. (On page 105 of this book chapter, Turkish academic and counter terrorism specialist Ahmet Yayla explains how these positions relate to Turkish counterterrorism).

Some of the police chiefs Erdoğan fired were religious and some even supported him. None were followers of Gülen, simply because those who were had long ago been purged. Most of the chiefs whom Erdoğan has appointed are fiercely nationalist, very young, and relatively inexperienced, and so are likely to more easily defer to Erdoğan’s orders.

The problem seems not that Erdoğan believed all the sacked chiefs disloyal — most were not and many he had appointed in the first place — but rather that he considered them soft, unwilling to use the extreme violence Erdoğan believes will be necessary to exert not only on Turkey’s Kurds but also many liberal or apolitical Turks as he moves to further consolidate control.

Throw into the mix that Erdoğan has also just in the past few days extended the time for which Turks can be detained without access to an attorney to six months. What this sets the stage for is a significant augmentation of torture in custody in order to extract forced confessions, a practice that has become more common since July.
Erdoğan’s ruling party has also begun issuing weapons permits to loyalists, especially through the Ottoman Youth Authority (Osmanli Ocaklari).

I have previously reported Erdoğan’s appointment of former general Adnan Tanriverdi, the head of SADAT, to be his military counsel. Tanriverdi had been dismissed by the Turkish General Staff during the 1997 soft coup and appears bent on revenge against the secular order. SADAT, which has trained paramilitaries and Special Forces, is increasingly becoming Erdoğan’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Indeed, SADAT appears to have been behind much of the killing of civilians which Erdoğan’s media blamed, absent any evidence beyond forced confessions, upon Gülenist coup plotters.”

All this hints at Erdoğan’s long game. He appears to be consolidating his own religious control through the Service for Youth and Education Foundation of Turkey (TÜRGEV, a charity on whose board Erdoğan’s son sits) and Heyrettin Karaman, Erdoğan’s favorite local Islamic leader.

But, as Erdoğan seeks to change the constitution, he also wants to win through the point of a gun what he cannot win popularly. The issue at hand is not simply the Turkish public — Erdoğan believes he has them cowed — but rather Doğu Perinçek, a former Maoist and ultranationalist. Perinçek has been the chief beneficiary of Erdoğan’s purges, as they have eliminated many of his opponents as well.

Today, Perinçek is effectively the shadow defense minister. He has said he will not allow the constitutional change, which means the terms of the showdown are now clear.

Whomever wins, the only certainty is that Turkey is headed for a bloodbath. The only questions are how soon it comes, and whether Erdoğan is more prepared than Perinçek.
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By: Michael Rubin@mrubin1971/ aei.org
Foreign and Defense Policy, Middle East

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Erdogan and his supporters have long argued that the country needs the strong leadership of an executive presidency, akin to the system in the United States or France, to avoid the fragile coalition governments that hampered its development in the past.

Opponents see the proposed change as a vehicle for Erdogan’s ambition, and fear it will bring increased authoritarianism to a country already under fire from Western allies over its record on rights and freedoms, especially after widespread purges in the wake of a failed military coup in July.

“There will only be strong leaderships now,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters on Saturday, saying the changes meant the end of periods of coalition government.

“Parliament … is being strengthened, while the presidency, in charge of the executive branch, is being restructured to end conflicts between branches.”

The AKP wants to hold a referendum on the constitutional changes by next May and is seeking the backing of the nationalist MHP opposition to win approval for a national vote.

Any constitutional change needs the support of at least 330 deputies in the 550-seat assembly to go to a referendum. The AKP has 316 lawmakers eligible for voting, and the MHP 39.

Erdogan has turned a largely ceremonial presidency into a powerful platform at a time of domestic upheaval by drawing on his unrivalled popularity. The AKP is now seeking a strong executive presidency that while formalizing his position’s powers could avert any relapse into the fractious coalition governments of the 1990s.

Both Erdogan and the AKP have said they would put their proposed changes to the public even if they were to win 367 votes, which is theoretically enough to make constitutional changes without a referendum.

Speaking at a news conference following the submission of the proposals, senior officials Abdulhamit Gul from the AKP and Mehmet Parsak from the MHP outlined the specifics of the 21-article package, which Reuters has seen.

“This text … carries the mission to the people of strengthening its leadership after July 15,” Gul said, referring to the date of the failed military coup.

Presidential, parliamentary and local elections will all be held together in 2019 under the proposals, while the number of parliamentarians will be increased to 600 with each political party providing “substitute lawmakers” in the event of members no longer being able to take part in parliamentary activities.

If he were to win the presidential election, Erdogan could assume the executive presidency in 2019 and serve two five-year terms, keeping him in power until 2029.

In an unprecedented move, the proposals would allow the president to retain his ties to a political party, meaning Erdogan could resume his leadership of the AKP, which he founded.

The package would introduce criminal liability for the president, who previously was immune from all charges except treason. It also includes cutting the number of Constitutional Court members to 15 from the current 17 and abolishing military courts. The Gendarmerie would be removed from the national security council.

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Source: Reuters

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