Military coup underway in Turkey

Norway grants asylum to torture-fearing Turkish officers.

Turkish military personnel have ignored orders to return home following last year’s attempted coup and have now been granted asylum in Norway, saying they fear torture should they return home.

Four officers, as well as a military attaché, have been given asylum after appealing for protection following the failed coup attempt on July 15th last year, reports Norwegian newspaper VG.

A lawyer representing the men confirmed to Norwegian media Klassekampen that all five had been given asylum in the Scandinavian country.

The decision by Norway to give the men asylum is notable given both Turkey and Norway’s membership in the Nato military alliance.

The officers and attaché in question were stationed in Norway at the time of the attempted coup and claim that they had nothing to do with it, writes Klassekampen.

In January, the four officers told VG that they had been removed from their positions and ordered to return to Turkey.

They chose instead to remain in Norway and apply for asylum, saying that they feared imprisonment should they return to their home country.

“It is impossible to return now. I have been removed from my post in Norway and my passport has been cancelled. If I go back now, I will immediately be arrested and forced to give false confessions,” one of the officers said to VG in January.

“In Turkish prisons people die for unexplained reasons,” the officer added.

Turkish presidential advisor Numan Kurtulmuş said via state news agency Anadolu that he did not accept the men’s explanation for not returning to Turkey.

“It is impossible to accept this. It is wrong. It is protecting and defending this gang known to be Fetö [the Turkish government’s name for the Gülen movement, which it accuses of being being the July 2016 attempted coup, ed.]. We want to make it clear that we do not accept this,” Kurtulmuş said.

All five officers along with their families are currently residing at secret addresses in Norway, reports Klassekampen.

Now those people are genuine asylum seekers, in real danger, not a bunch of fit young men looking for free stuff in Europe because life is a bit crappy back home.

Swiss warn about illegal spying ahead of Turkish referendum

GENEVA (AP) — The Swiss foreign minister has told his Turkish counterpart that authorities in the Alpine country will investigate any illegal intelligence activities in Switzerland ahead of a pivotal referendum in Turkey that could grant sweeping new powers to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter's office summarized his comments in a meeting in Bern with Turkey's Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday. Cavusoglu's efforts to address Turkish expatriates in Europe have stirred controversy in places like the Netherlands, where authorities barred him from attending a campaign event there, and Germany.

Burkhalter's office said in a statement that he recognized the "difficult situation" Turkey faces after a failed coup d'etat in July, but that a state of emergency declared by Ankara "does not exempt Turkey from its international human rights obligations."

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/turkey-erdogan-crisis-germany-angela-merkel-row-europe-nazi-practices-robert-fisk-a7643431.html

It is President Erdogan's Turkey, not humane Germany, that is guilty of 'Nazi practices'
While Merkel’s Germany has constantly expressed its remorse for the Jewish Holocaust, Erdogan will not even admit to the Armenian Holocaust – and Turks who have mentioned this terrible precedent in genocide have been threatened with imprisonment

Robert Fisk @indyvoices

Well worth a read.

I agree with you Bonny.  The military people who tried to stage a coup a while back and were caught, should be given amnesty.  Erdogan gets on my nerves to be honest......

He is, IMO, a very dangeorous man, Lily.

No question about it, Bonny.

Dismay as Erdogan begins revoking passports of Turkish nationals living in Europe

Turkish nationals living in Europe have reported their passports are being revoked by the Erdogan administration.

Turks living in European countries, especially those who are opposed to the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have said they have had their passports rescinded and were only told when they visited their embassy or consulate.

Kurds, Alevis – a branch of Shia Islam – and supporters of the preacher Fethullah Gulen, said by Erdogan to be the mastermind behind the attempted coup last July, have been targeted by the Turkish authorities who have prevented them from returning to their home country.

According to one report a 33-year-old man was called to the embassy in Germany to release his Turkish citizenship so he could officially take up the German citizenship instead.

When he arrived at the embassy in Hamburg, however, he was told: "We must keep the passport, as your application is being processed."

The passport was not returned and he was not given any clues as to when he was going to receive his German papers, effectively leaving him in limbo.

A spokesman for the city of Hamburg said that at least four cases are known of passports being taken away by the Turkish consulate.

The spokesman said: "We are seeing a new phenomenon here. We are monitoring further developments and are also in contact with other authorities."

In the Turkish consulates in the cities of Hanover and Essen there has even been talk of violent clashes inside consulate grounds.

Melek Yildiz of the Alevi Community of Germany said: "We know the methods of the Turkish consulates well, because we have experienced them so many times."

Supporters of Erdogan have increasingly leaked information about fellow Turks to their consulate if they deem them not to be supportive enough of the Turkish president.

It has been reported that at the start of the year several consulates even invited Turkish parents and teachers to report Erdogan-critical voices in schools to the consulate.

Kamal Sido, the Middle East advisor for the Society of Threatened Peoples, said he knows of several cases where people are now afraid to visit the Turkish Embassy.

He said: "They do not want the Turkish government to know where they are."

The news comes after Bulgarian police on Friday removed nationalists who were blocking border checkpoints with Turkey in an effort to stop buses bringing Bulgarian ethnic Turks to vote in Sunday's election, amid growing tension between the two neighbours.

Sofia has accused Ankara of interference in its election on behalf of the DOST party that represents Bulgarian Turks, the country's largest ethnic minority. Polls suggest DOST will fall short of the four-percent vote needed to enter parliament.

Tensions between Ankara and the EU have been running high since Germany and the Netherlands blocked Turkish ministers campaigning among expatriate Turks in their countries for a referendum that would give Mr Erdogan broader executive powers.

Erdogan: Turkey might hold referendum on EU membership

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's president said Saturday the country might pursue a Brexit-like referendum on whether to pursue European Union membership and also lashed out at a critical protest in Switzerland.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan brought up the proposal at a Turkish-U.K. forum in the southern city of Antalya, referring to the British departure from the EU and saying Turkey "might" hold a similar referendum after the April 16 vote to expand the powers of the Turkish presidency.

The negotiation process for Turkey's EU membership began in 2005, but has been at a standstill for years. Tensions between Ankara and several European capitals have been escalating ahead of the contentious April 16 referendum.

Turkish opposition members and Western allies have criticized the constitutional referendum, saying it would grant Erdogan unprecedented authority with limited checks and balances. Earlier this month, Dutch and German authorities restricted Turkish officials from campaigning for diaspora votes, resulting in harsh criticism from Ankara.

At a rally earlier Saturday, Erdogan lashed out at the critics who claimed Turkey would not be allowed into the EU if the referendum passed, saying it would "make our job easier" if Europe made that call and adding "Turkey is no one's whipping boy."

Erdogan also criticized a demonstration in Switzerland on Saturday where protestors hung a giant banner depicting the Turkish president with a gun to his head. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had summoned Swiss charge d'affaires to condemn the incident and that the minister had called his Swiss counterpart to voice his displeasure.

The statement also claimed the demonstrators belonged to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, adding that it would be "closely monitoring the legal and administrative actions to be taken by Swiss authorities regarding this crime."

Turkey's president said Saturday the country might pursue a Brexit-like referendum on whether to pursue European Union membership and also lashed out at a critical protest in Switzerland.

I don't think threatening NOT to keep trying to join the EU is actually much of a bargaining point - the thought of Turkey being allowed in was one of the drivers of the Brexit vote.

Switzerland investigates Kurdish rally over 'kill Erdogan' banners.

Swiss and Turkish authorities have opened separate probes into protesters in Bern who called for the assassination of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, local media in both countries reported on Monday.
During a Saturday demonstration in the Swiss capital, organised by Kurdish groups, some people brandished a banner showing a gun pointing at the Turkish president alongside the words "Kill Erdogan".

Turkey summoned the Swiss ambassador on Sunday to protest at the rally, claiming it was organized by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Ankara says is a terrorist group.

An investigation targeting unidentified people over possible incitement to violence has been opened by cantonal authorities in Bern, Switzerland's ATS news agency said. More at link.

https://www.thelocal.ch/20170328/switzerland-investigates-kurdish-rally-over-kill-erdogan-banners

Right....PKK are the fairly violent Marxist Kurds, not the nice Kurds who just want to be left in peace?

The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK (Kurdish: Partiya Karkerên Kurdistanê‎) is a left-wing organization based in Turkey and Iraq. Since 1984 the PKK has waged an armed struggle against the Turkish state for equal rights and self-determination for the Kurds in Turkey, who comprise between 18% and 25% of the population and have been subjected to repression for decades. The group was founded in 1978 in the village of Fis (near Lice) by a group of Kurdish students led by Abdullah Öcalan. The PKK's ideology was originally a fusion of revolutionary socialism and Kurdish nationalism, seeking the foundation of an independent, Marxist–Leninist state in the region, which was to be known as Kurdistan.

PKK is rather like the Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) in that it demands the right for Kurds to have their own country and uses force etc to achieve its desire. The PKK is only representative of the more radical Kurds, most others would just like to live a normal life. LL

The PKK's ideology was originally a fusion of revolutionary socialism and Kurdish nationalism

National socialism never ends well....I think I prefer the Kurds who want to live a normal life. IMO, the minute you start planting bombs and killing innocent people, you too become one of the Bad Guys, whatever your Cause is.

The concierge of my Vienna property is Turkish, his wife Kurdish, been married for nearly 30 years, they are a lovely couple with no intention of going back to Turkey and took Austrian nationality many years ago.     LL

Very wise, LL - they showed great foresight.

Turks in Germany divided as voting begins in Erdogan referendum.

Turkish voters in Germany, as deeply split as those in their ancestral homeland, started casting early ballots on Monday in a referendum that could vastly boost President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's powers.

Hundreds of expatriates lined up at consulates in Germany, which has 1.4 million eligible Turkish voters, and in five other European countries ahead of the controversial April 16th plebiscite.

The vote sparked a bitter row when Germany and The Netherlands blocked campaign events by Turkish ministers earlier this month, leading a furious Erdogan to accuse both countries of using "Nazi" methods.

As in Turkey, the voters flocking to polling booths were divided on whether the proposal would help bring stable government or allow a strongman to impose one-man rule.

"I voted for democracy!" said one, Hussein Saregul, indicating that he had stamped the brown ballot paper for a "no" vote - not the white version for "yes".

Saregul, who has lived for eight years in the eastern city of Dresden with his family, said he was sorry relations between Germany and Turkey had been so tense in recent weeks.

"We hope that the 'no' vote will prevail," he said, adding that the referendum is only "in the interest of one man. It is a step towards dictatorship."  

Germany, the most populous EU country, is home to the world's largest overseas Turkish community, about three million strong, a legacy of the "guest worker" programme of the 1960s and 1970s.

Turkish voters in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France and Switzerland can also cast their ballots for the next two weeks, until April 9th.

Other countries will start later, with a total of around three million allowed to vote in 120 Turkish missions in 57 countries.

Turkey itself will vote on April 16th on the proposal to create an executive presidency and abolish the post of prime minister.

Germany and other Western nations have voiced concern about the plan, and about a crackdown in Turkey in the aftermath of a failed coup last July that has seen thousands of people arrested or fired from their posts.

Germany's top-circulation newspaper Bild recommended opposing the constitutional change, in a bilingual German-Turkish article.

It argued that modern Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, "would have said no", describing him as "authoritarian but not dictatorial".

Turkish community leader Gokay Sofuoglu spoke of a "deep split" that ran through the diaspora and said the rift had intensified because Erdogan was labelling opponents of the referendum traitors and terrorists.

One voter in Berlin, Aslan Ismael, accused European countries of being biased against Erdogan.

"The German media and German politicians want a 'no' vote," he said, also complaining that Turkish ministers had been blocked from several rallies by local authorities citing logistical reasons.

"I don't understand this bashing, these anti-Erdogan measures," he said. "Those high-ranking officials wanted to come and explain what the reform is all about.

"In Germany, the principle of freedom of expression is very important and it has not been respected," he said, adding that he was not a member of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP).

An opponent of the proposed change, Berlin-born Sirin Manolya Sak, said that in the debate tensions "have been fuelled by both sides".

She said she regretted that Turks and Germans "who have lived together for 60 years in Germany - neighbours, friends, work colleagues - are arguing today".

"It's a shame ... that suddenly we wonder if some are integrated or not, just because they vote this way or that."

For Turkish president, referendum on power is a big gamble

ISTANBUL (AP) — In a slick online video, 22-year-old Turkish student Ali Gul sits in front a drum kit and framed artwork while making tart remarks about Turkey's political leadership. He wraps up by musing that he'll probably get arrested if the video goes viral.

The video clocked tens of thousands of hits. This month, Gul was detained. Times have been hard for Turkey, buffeted by bombings, violence between government forces and Kurdish rebels, refugee flows from the war in neighboring Syria and a failed coup attempt that unleashed a huge government crackdown under an ongoing state of emergency. Now the nation is on the cusp of what could be drastic change in its political system that would, backers say, impose badly needed stability or, according to Gul and other critics, nudge it toward autocracy.

Next month, Turks will decide whether to make the post of president more powerful in a constitutional referendum that is a big gamble for Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the tough-talking president who is arguably Turkey's most transformational figure since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Ottoman-era army officer and national founder who died in 1938.

Whichever way the April 16 vote goes, Turkish society will remain deeply divided. In power since 2003, Erdogan represents a swathe of pious Muslims whose political and economic ascendancy came at the expense of a hard-line secular class that once dominated the NATO member country with the military's support.

A former prime minister, Erdogan was elected president in 2014 for a five-year term and took a far more active role in politics than his predecessors. Even if the referendum proposals fail and his aura of invincibility is punctured, he could still run for another term as president.

"He is truly a man of servitude. And he knows how to affect a person down to the capillary vessels. He gets down to one's heart, touches it," said Ahmet Kaya, a machinery workshop owner in Istanbul who views the president not as an authoritarian ruler, but as a scrappy defender against Turkey's perceived enemies.

Those enemies, at least for the purposes of a political campaign, include some European nations that blocked efforts by Turkish ministers to woo diaspora votes before the referendum. Erdogan, who once courted the European Union on behalf of Turkey's fading candidacy to be an EU member, has galvanized supporters by comparing current Dutch and German authorities to the Nazis.

The taunts aimed at Europe, Turkey's No. 1 trading partner, tap into historical grievances in Turkey, where the story of how colonial powers carved up the disintegrating Ottoman Empire still fuels a powerful nationalism. To some, they smack of desperation in a referendum campaign whose outcome is unclear.

Hopes for consensus politics in Turkey would diminish if referendum proposals to abolish the post of prime minister and concentrate power in an executive presidency are approved, said Ahmet Kasim Han, an associate professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul.

"The gates of populism, which will be fed also by the current zeitgeist around the world, could be wide open in Turkey," Han said, referring to the populist platforms and anti-immigrant politicians in Europe.

A "yes' vote in the referendum would grant the president the power to appoint government ministers and senior officials, appoint half of the members in the country's highest judicial body, declare states of emergency and issue decrees.

"The president would be given the power to dissolve parliament on any grounds whatsoever, which is fundamentally alien to democratic presidential systems," said the Venice Commission, an advisory body to the Council of Europe.

Erdogan has dismissed assertions that the referendum proposals set the stage for one-man rule, saying they will instead end the kind of political chaos that rocked past coalition governments. In 2001, the Turkish currency plummeted during an economic crisis in which public disgust with national leaders opened a path for Erdogan's rise to power.

"I want to rule my country with almost the same understanding as a company manager. Why? To be able to lead with speed, to speedily take decisions," Erdogan told the A Haber news channel. Gul, the student, could face jail time if convicted of insulting the president and the Turkish state in his online video criticizing the referendum. Drawing a questionable parallel with democratic Turkey, he said dead dictators Moammar Gadhafi of Libya and Saddam Hussein of Iraq, as well as current Syrian President Bashar Assad, imposed stability and took rapid decisions in their countries.

"But these weren't all that beneficial," Gul said. "Speed in government leadership isn't a good thing."

Germany launches probe into 'intolerable spying' by Turkey.

UPDATE: German prosecutors announced an investigation on Tuesday into claims that Turkish agents are spying on alleged followers of exiled preacher Fethullah Gülen in Germany.

The probe came as a German state minister accused Turkey of the "unacceptable" espionage against supporters of Gülen, blamed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a failed coup attempt last year.

The claims open a new front in the diplomatic row between NATO allies Germany and Turkey, whose relationship has been strained by a series of disputes centred on human rights issues.

"It is clear that the Turkish secret service MIT is investigating people living in Germany," said Boris Pistorius, interior minister of the northern German state of Lower Saxony, deploring the "intensity and ruthlessness" of Turkey's pursuit of people living abroad.

"It's intolerable and unacceptable," he said at a press conference.   More at link
https://www.thelocal.de/20170328/german-official-accuses-turkey-of-intolerable-spying

German reporter held in Turkey appeals for release.


Lawyers for a German-Turkish journalist detained by Ankara on terrorism-related charges have lodged an appeal for his release with Turkey's highest court, his employer said on Wednesday.

A court in Istanbul on Monday ordered provisional detention for Deniz Yücel, 43, a correspondent of the German newspaper Die Welt who holds dual German and Turkish nationality.

Yücel has been in custody since February 18th over reports on an attack by hackers on the email account of Turkey's energy minister Berat Albayrak, who also is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law.

His employer said a month ago he had been charged with spreading terrorist propaganda and inciting hatred.

Die Welt said his lawyers had on Monday demanded his release while stressing "his right to a fair trial," as well as "respect for presumption of innocence."

The newspaper said the constitutional court is the "last national instance" Yücel can take his case  and conceded that his chances of success were "uncertain."

It said that since the abortive July 15th coup, which was followed by a huge crackdown against tens of thousands of government opponents, the court "has not pronounced on a single demand for the lifting of provisional detention" against those arrested.

The Yücel case has sparked an outcry in Germany, with Chancellor Angela Merkel calling the Istanbul court's decision "bitter and disappointing".

Some 166 lawmakers in Germany's lower house of parliament have written an open letter calling for Yücel's release.

Erdogan has labelled the reporter a Kurdish separatist and "German agent," comments which the German foreign ministry said it abhorred as the affair deepened a growing rift between the two countries in the wake of the post-coup crackdown.

Die Welt says Yücel, who presented himself at the Istanbul police headquarters for questioning on February 14th, reported on emails the leftist Turkish hacker collective RedHack had acquired from the private email account of Berat Albayrak, Erdogan's son-in-law.

The paper said the mails concerned control of Turkish media groups and influencing the public with fake tweets.

Relations between Berlin and Ankara slid further in recent weeks after several German cities refused to allow political meetings organised by Erdogan supporters to go ahead.

Yücel has been in custody since February 18th over reports on an attack by hackers on the email account of Turkey's energy minister Berat Albayrak, who also is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law.

His employer said a month ago he had been charged with spreading terrorist propaganda and inciting hatred.

Poor man!

Austria warns Turkish minority of crackdown risk if travelling to Turkey.

Austria has warned its large Turkish minority about travelling to Turkey after a number were apparently caught up in a crackdown against suspected opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Recently there have been sporadic cases of Austrian citizens being temporarily arrested, held up as well as rejected on arrival (in Turkey)," according to the warning on the Austrian foreign ministry website.

It said that this happened "without there being any known concrete accusations being made by the Turkish authorities. In some cases Turkish authorities analysed mobile phones".

The travel advice, updated on Wednesday, does not explicitly mention Austria's 360,000-strong Turkish minority, most of whom have Austrian citizenship.

However it follows a purge in Turkey of suspected opponents of Erdogan in the wake of last July's failed coup attempt.

According to prominent opposition Austrian lawmaker Peter Pilz, there are at least 10 recent cases of Austrian passport-holders being held on arrival in Turkey for up to 72 hours.

Pilz alleged earlier this month that they had been denounced to the Turkish authorities by the "Erdogan-Stasi" in Austria, a reference to the Stasi secret police in communist East Germany.

Elsewhere in Europe, German and Swiss prosecutors have in the past week opened enquiries into claims of spying on their Turkish minorities.

In February German police raided the homes of four Turkish Muslim preachers suspected of reporting on Turkish followers of US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan accuses of having orchestrated the coup.

The four imams reportedly belong to DITIB, an organisation controlled by Ankara that manages some 900 mosques or religious communities in Germany.

In Austria, the interior ministry said in February it was looking into charges that its DITIB counterpart ATIB was "involved in the surveillance of supporters of the Gulen movement as well as Kurds, opponents and journalists".

Turkey criticizes US arrests in Iran sanctions case

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's foreign minister says a Turkish banker and a Turkish businessman arrested in the United States for allegedly helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions are the target of a politically motivated case.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says he expressed concerns while meeting U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in Ankara on Thursday. Cavusoglu says the case was opened by Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He says Bharara opposes the Turkish government.

Turkish businessman Reza Zarrab, who also has Iranian citizenship, pleaded not guilty after his March 2016 arrest in Miami. U.S. federal prosecutors say Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla was arrested Monday on charges he conspired with Zarrab and others to use the U.S. financial system to conduct transactions for Iran and Iranian entities.

Turkey's foreign minister says a Turkish banker and a Turkish businessman arrested in the United States for allegedly helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions are the target of a politically motivated case.

Pot, kettle.....

Slime bags.......