Why IS Turkey part of NATO?
The Clarion Project posts a brutal summary of the
beating and torture of military personnel by Turkey's Islamist police in the aftermath of the supposed coup attempt last week. It finishes off with this:
Since 1952, Turkey has been a member of NATO, which is supposed to
defend freedom and democracies. However for decades, Turkey has been a
center of torture and other human rights abuses of the worst magnitude.
If the Turkish government authorities, police officers and so many
average citizens are capable of torturing, starving and raping even
their own soldiers and citizens, how can they be worthy of being
recognized as a Western ally and partner?
Moreover, we can only imagine that if
this is what they do to their own soldiers, imagine what they have been
doing to their minority citizens, who they fundamentally see as
“enemies” -- Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians, Jews, Kurds, Alevis and
others.
By the way, is their EU application still live? And what on earth is the President of the United States doing hugging Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan?
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Islamic terrorism, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, torture, Turkey, Turkish army, Turkish Kurds, Turkish regime change, Turkish repression
Breaking: Sultan Erdogan declares 'state of emergency'
It's come to
this:
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared a three-month state of emergency.
Speaking to the nation Wednesday night, Erdogan said he met with the
National Security Council and together they decided to recommend a state
of emergency be declared.
“The purpose of state of emergency is to be able to take most efficient
steps to remove threat as soon as possible,” he said. “It will
strengthen and protect democratic values and rule of law.”
He also commended the citizens of Turkey who heeded his call and took to
the streets. “Citizens are occupying the squares on a democracy watch
and their names will go down in golden letters in the history of
democracy.”
Adding that, “Turkey proved its allegiance to democracy and the rule of
law by paying the high price of the lives of its citizens.”
“This nation has the right to determine its own destiny. Everyone should know that.”
He assured the nation that the armed forces will remain under the
command and control of the governors and, “As the president elected, as
the commander in chief, I will attend to it so that all viruses in the
armed forces will be cleansed.”
“My people, do not have any concerns. Turkey has overcome this challenge
and will come out of it stronger by investing more,” he concluded.
The latest estimates are that some 60,000 people have been arrested in Turkey. And they don't get Miranda warnings.
Obama and Kerry were last heard mumbling something about the world's only Muslim democracy.
#Legacy
Labels: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, Turkish repression
NATO member, US ally, blocks all media
US President Hussein Obama's Best Friend Forever, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has ordered all
websites showing the new Charlie Hebdo cover blocked. He has also blocked all media from reporting on allegations that
Turkey armed Syrian Islamist rebels last year. This is from the first link.
A Turkish court on Wednesday ordered the telecommunications authority to
ban access to websites showing Charlie Hebdo's front cover with the
image of the Prophet Muhammad, a state-run news agency said.
The Anadolu Agency said the ban, which would block access to the
websites in Turkey, was ordered by a court in the southeastern city of
Diyarbakir, according to the Dogan news agency. The decision came from
the court, because a lawyer in Diyarbakir filed a petition saying the
websites were a danger to "public order."
And from the second link.
Turkey on Wednesday imposed an all-out media blackout, including on Facebook and Twitter, prohibiting publication of reports claiming Turkish intelligence services delivered arms to Syrian Islamist rebels last year.
The Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTUK) delivered a court ruling to Turkish newspapers, television, websites and social media networks, banning them from reporting the arms allegations.
...
The earlier interdiction on reporting the arms allegations arose from events in January last year, when Turkish police stopped and seized seven trucks near the Syrian border that were suspected of smuggling weapons into Syria. The move came as the government in Ankara denied suspicions it was aiding rebel forces.
That ban was imposed after a Twitter account with handle @LazepeM leaked a series of documents indicating that the seized trucks were actually National Intelligence Agency (MIT) vehicles delivering weapons to Syrian Islamist rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad.
Hurriyet newspaper reported that a Turkish court ordered the closure of all websites, including social media networks Facebook and Twitter, that don't remove information or allegations linked to the documents.
"There are several court decisions against the websites that published the signed documents," a Turkish official was quoted as saying by Hurriyet.
Twitter, which was previously blocked by the Turkish government, immediately removed the documents and suspended the account that published them.
But by that time the information had already begun circulating on many other websites, as well as some Facebook accounts.
The contents of the vehicles have never been revealed to the public, but MIT claimed they were carrying humanitarian aid to war-stricken Syrians.
The security officials who stopped the vehicles are now standing trial for 'spying.' And you thought that if you voted for Mitt Romney you'd see the United States allied with fascist countries... and you were right.
Labels: freedom of the press, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey, Turkish repression
Turkey seethes at criticism from US ambassador
Turkey is
seething over criticism leveled at its judicial system on Thursday by United States ambassador Francis Ricciardone.
A senior member of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)
reacted strongly today to critical remarks from U.S. Ambassador to
Turkey Francis Ricciardone regarding the Turkish judicial system.
“We
are inviting Ricciardone to remain within his boundaries and limits. We
are not pleased with [his remarks], we condemn and denounce them. The
ambassador should know his place,” said the deputy head of the AKP,
Hüseyin Çelik in televised comments on the private broadcaster Kanal A.
Ricciardone, who briefed Ankara
reporters yesterday after a suicide attack targeting the embassy killed
two people Feb. 1, criticized the long detention of army officers,
scholars and students. “You have your military leaders, who were
entrusted with the protection of this country behind bars as if they
were terrorists... When a legal system produces such results and
confuses people like that for terrorists, it makes it hard for American and European courts to match up,” Ricciardone had said.
Çelik
noted that the U.S. envoy had in the past also commented about internal
questions in Turkey, emphasizing that it was unappropriate for a
diplomat to make judgments about “topics that he does not know the
details of.”
“The Prime Minister had called him ‘novice
ambassador.’ As it seems, Ricciardone has not yet learnd his place in
that period,” said Çelik.
My, my. A little touchy, aren't we? Too bad that with the current administration in power, the State Department will not be calling in the Turkish ambassador to have him sit on a low stool....
Labels: Turkey, Turkish repression, United States
What goes around comes around: Turkey headed for civil war?
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has largely defeated his secular, Kemalist opponents. Many of the military's leaders are in jail, as are more journalists than any other country in the world. While this development is negative for Turkish democracy, it also may turn out to be
negative for Erdogan himself.
Yet, while Erdoğan may appear to be at the pinnacle of power, it is his government’s “Gülenist” allies who have grown increasingly powerful. Members of the transnational Gülen movement – inspired by followers of Fethullah Gülen, a Pennsylvania-based Muslim theologian – are staffing Turkey’s police, judiciary, bureaucracy, and universities. The Gülenist media now set the country’s new ideological tone, producing a steady stream of disinformation in their vocal support of the country’s show trials.
These trials are, in fact, often staged to serve Gülenist ends specifically. Prominent detainees, such as the journalist Nedim Sener and police commissioner Hanefi Avci, landed in jail after exposing the wrongdoings of Gülenist police and prosecutors. Editorials in Zaman, the Gülen network’s Turkish-language daily newspaper, no longer mince words: a new Turkey is being created; those who stand in the way are getting what they deserve.
Erdoğan has benefited greatly from Gülenist support, yet he detests sharing power and remains suspicious of the movement. Early on, he successfully exploited the Gülenist-supported political trials in order to demonize the opposition. But, as the charges have increased in scope and implausibility, the trials have complicated his relationships with the military, domestic liberals, and outsiders such as foreign media and the European Union. Moreover, individuals close to him and his administration have recently become entangled in the net of judicial manipulation, which suggests that he may be losing control over the police and the special courts.
Given that the fight against the common enemy, the secularist old guard, has been decisively won, an eventual break between Erdoğan and the Gülenists is perhaps inevitable. Unfortunately, regardless of which side emerges victorious, the outcome will not be good news for Turkish democracy.
Read the whole thing. It could not happen to a nicer guy. Heh.
Labels: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish army, Turkish repression
Disaster ahead in Turkey
There are elections in Turkey on Sunday, and barring a last minute miracle, they're a disaster in the making. The AKP party seems poised to ride to victory and continue the Islamization of Turkey and the repression of dissent.
Barry Rubin explains.
If the regime gets a big enough majority it will rewrite the Turkish constitution. Turkey, as we have known it, a secular democratic state since the 1920s, will no longer exist. Of course, not everything will be obvious and happen overnight, but the repression we have already seen will increase. The courts, the armed forces, and other institutions will be taken over by this Islamist government.
It will be a disaster for Western interests. And coupled with the same thing happening in Egypt, these events will catapult the region back a half-century or more into strife.
Meanwhile, the West snores on. Western media coverage of the Turkish regime is glowing. Yet if one actually looks at what’s happening in the country, reading the Turkish-language media and talking to the many Turks horrified by these developments, the picture is horrifying.
Here is an example of life in contemporary Turkey. The town of Hopa received a visit from Prime Minister Erdogan. Opposition banners are removed by the police. When local people resisted, the police attacked. A retired teacher who had been trying to negotiate with the police died.
Scores of journalists have been arrested and thrown into jail. One-third of the media has been bought up by the regime; much of the rest intimidated. Military officers, college professors, union leaders, activists, and peaceful critics of every description are thrown into jail on trumped up charges and kept there for months, years. The waiting time for a trial during which people are jailed is now three years. Yes, three years without proof of any wrongdoing.
A respected investigative journalist is arrested and accused of terrorism. His crime? Writing a critical book on Fathi Gulen, Turkey’s leading Islamist cleric. All of the copies of the manuscript are confiscated. Gulen controls the police.
Two other journalists are arrested. Their crime? Saying that they were about to publish documentation showing that the government’s claims of conspiracy, used to arrest so many, are bogus. Gareth Jenkins, a serious scholar, has gone through thousands of pages of court documents and shown that the hundreds of people imprisoned have not even been accused of any specific act. I know of a half-dozen journalists fired for daring to criticize the government. There are many more.
How to intimidate the media? Tax officials arrive and take over offices, going through all of the documents trying to find some technicality on which to bring charges. The largest media group in Turkey, the Dogan Group, was told that it owed $2.5 billion in penalties. That is not a typographical error. It is several times the worth of the entire company. The government demanded that they pay the fines first and then if they wanted they could go to court. To provide a partial payment and bank guarantees, the Dogan Group had to sell two newspapers.
People feel that they are watched, wire-tapped, and spied on. Turkey was never a perfect democracy. Yet this atmosphere is closer to that of a country under Communism than the Turkey they have known all their lives.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: AKP, Turkey, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish elections, Turkish Islamization, Turkish repression
