MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : SAVE HASANKEYF / TURKEY
Erklärung zum Brand in Hasankeyf am 21.7.2019: Viel Zerstörung und unverantwortliche Regierung
Die vor drei Wochen gegründete neue türkeiweite Plattform “Hasankeyf Koordination” hat sich zu den vom Feuer in Hasankeyf vom 21. Juli 2019 ausgehenden Zerstörungen kritisch geäußert und auf die Regierungsverantwortung hingewiesen. Das Feuer brach am Abend auf der Felsenburg aus und führte zu Schäden am Kulturgut und der Natur.
Die Erklärung kommt von der Batman Gruppe der Hasankeyf Koordination, die auch in Amed, Istanbul und Ankara organisiert ist. Die Hasankeyf Koordination wurde vor allem von der seit 2006 gegen den zerstörerischen Ilisu-Staudamm agierenden “Initiative zur Rettung von Hasankeyf” und der breiten Umweltbewegung Nord-Kurdistans der “Ökologiebewegung Mesopotamiens” initiiert und bringt viele Organisationen im Kampf gegen den Ilisu-Staudamm, der weitgehend fertig erstellt ist, zusammen.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : HOLY ISLAM & SEXUAL ABUSE – Turkish journalist describes murky world of sheikhs, lies and video tape
Amberin Zaman July 24, 2019 Article Summary – AL MONITOR –- A shocking tale of sexual abuse and exploitation has Turks reeling now that an investigative journalist has published new details about the cult of Ugur Korunmaz. Further shocking details have emerged about rampant sexual exploitation by certain Islamic religious cults in Turkey thanks to a respected Turkish investigative journalist. Timur Soykan has published his findings in a new book, “Badeci Seyh’in Sir odasi,” or “The secret chamber of the sheikh who engages in oral intercourse.”
The modus operandi of the randy sheikh illustrates what Soykan argues is deep rooted and systemic abuse by a multitude of cults that continue to operate unhindered in violation of a 1925 law introduced by Turkey’s secularizing founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The law banning sheikhs and dervishes and shuttering their lodges was intended to break their hold over segments of society, but it apparently failed. Soykan notes that while they have existed for centuries, the “tarikats,” as the sects are known, are currently enjoying “a golden age” under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP).
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS BREAKING : U.S. proposals for safe zone in north Syria do not satisfy Turkey: FM
24 July 2019 – MESOP – ANKARA,— New U.S. proposals for a safe zone in north Syria do not satisfy Turkey, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday, adding that an agreement on the issue needs to reached as soon as possible because Ankara has no patience left.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : SIGNIFICANT DEAL ! TURKEY / US ?
MESOP NEWS SHORT CUTS & TWEETS
Kyle OrtonVerified account @KyleWOrton 24 July 2019
Hakan Atilla, the Halkbank executive convicted in the U.S. for sanctions-busting with #Iran (the “gas-for-gold” episode), was released last week and has now returned to #Turkey.
More via www.mesop.de
Who Lost Turkey? – – The blame for Ankara’s antagonistic stance to Washington lies with both sides, a product of decades of misunderstandings.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS TODAYS COMMENTARY BY FOREIGN POLICY
By Keith Johnson, Robbie Gramer – FOREIGN POLICY – July 19, 2019, 5:47 PM
On July 4, 2003, U.S. paratroopers kicked down doors and raided a compound in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah. It was two months after the United States declared “Mission Accomplished” and major military operations in Iraq over. The soldiers snatched up small arms, grenades, and explosives—and also 11 members of Turkey’s elite special forces. The U.S. troops reportedly cuffed the Turks and covered their heads with the kinds of dark hoods normally reserved for terrorist detainees in Afghanistan or Guantánamo Bay.
Before the Turkish commandos were released, it took days of behind-the-scenes diplomacy, including lengthy phone calls between then-Vice President Dick Cheney and then-Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to defuse the crisis.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : Syria Safe zone: Can US reconcile conflicting demands of Turkey, YPG
Metin Gurcan July 22, 2019 – Article Summary – al monitor – A US delegation is visiting Turkey for “safe zone” talks amid the Turkish army’s increasing activities along the Syrian border, which are signaling a possible new military operation. An American delegation led by US Syria envoy James Jeffrey has arrived in Turkey for July 22-23 meetings with its Turkish counterparts to make progress in plans for a proposed safe zone, which is expected to provide a buffer between Turkey’s border area and parts of northern Syria controlled by Kurdish groups that Turkey considers a threat to its national security. The critical talks are expected to focus on five controversial points.
NORTH KURDISTAN (TURKEY)MESOPOTAMIA NEWS INSIDER : WHY THE U.S. EJECTED TURKEY FROM F-35 FIGHTER JET PROGRAM, AND WHY THE TURBULENCE WILL ONLY GROW
by Soner Cagaptay – NBC News – July 22, 2019
The future of the bilateral relationship looks bleak after years of strategic divergence on crises in Iraq and Syria.
When the Pentagon took the unprecedented step of suspending Turkey from America’s flagship F-35 fighter jet project earlier last week in retaliation for Ankara’s decision to purchase the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system, it spoke volumes about the dismal prospects for the U.S.-Turkish relationship. The F-35 project will serve as the backbone of cooperation between America and its allies for decades to come. It’s a future that Turkey’s military is unlikely to share in.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS EXTRA : ERDOGAN’S UNIT LEADER!
Istanbul’s Syrian refugees fear deportation as officials step up raids
Officials in Turkey’s largest city of Istanbul have stepped up operations against Syrian refugees as part of new policy aiming to shrink the country’s some 4 million Syrian population.
Istanbul hosts over one-eight, 500,000, of Syrians living in Turkey. There are increasing reports of rising animosity against Turkey’s Syrian refugees, which analysts maintain is fuelled by Turkey’s stumbling economy and rising unemployment. A large number of Turks resent Syrians, who they see as cheap labour taking over jobs and using services. Officials over the past 10 days have been raiding the homes and businesses of Syrian refugees in Istanbul, causing widespread fear of deportation among the city’s Syrians population, left-wing newspaper Evrensel reported on Sunday.
Gerry Simpson, the associate Director of the crisis and conflict division of Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Sunday said there were reports of Turkey beginning mass deportations from Istanbul.
“They rounded up a lot of people and sent them back home. Syrian workers are afraid. The owners of the workshops where they are employed too are afraid of hefty financial penalties. The owners are telling us that we have to leave. There are workers that haven’t left the workshops for days out of fear,‘’ one Syrian refugee in Istanbul’s Küçükçekmece district told Evrensel.
Küçükçekmece, which is home to a sizeable Syrian community, has witnessed an increasing number of attacks on refugees, in addition to a municipal campaign to curb Arabic shop signs following complaints from locals.
A lawyer working focusing on refugees, Abdulhalim Yılmaz told the daily that there were signs pointing to such a move by the Interior Ministry, which had taken on an increasingly harsh tone where refugees are concerned since the March 31 local elections. The Ministry of Interior Süleyman Soylu said earlier this month that Turkish authorities would no longer register Syrians in Istanbul, excluding exceptional cases.
“The topic of deportation was in the spotlight during the local elections. If they are doing this in order to pander to the nationalist crowds, then the outcome will not be a good one,” Yılmaz said.
The lawyer said that Turkish laws regarding deportation were very “flexible,‘’ and officials had the freedom to send any foreigner outside a city or even deport them.
However, “the lives of refugees must not be under danger in the countries they are being sent to. Countries such as Afghanistan and Syria are in the category of unsafe countries,’’ according to Yılmaz.
Turkish police are forcing Syrian refugees to sign voluntary return forms from Turkey form as part of the deportation, Syrian civil society and human rights activist Asaad Hanna said on Twitter, sharing an image of said document.
Hanna also shared video footage of Syrian men handcuffed while being transported on a bus.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has in the past said up to 1 million of Turkey’s Syrian population would return to their homeland once a safe zone is established in northeast Syria along their shared border. However, following the March polls, which saw his ruling party lose five of Turkey’s most populous provinces, Erdoğan has taken on a harsher stance, announcing the deportation of Syrian refugees involved in crime and the cancellation of free health services.
Syrians in Turkey do not have an official refugee status, but live under temporary protection, which does not allow them legal rights to counter deportations.
The raids on Syrian businesses have also spilled over to capital Ankara. The municipality in the capital Ankara’s Polatlı district closed 39 shops belonging to Syrians, Akif Haber reported on Friday.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS BOOK RECOMMENDATION : The EU’s Approach to the Syrian Crisis: Turkey as a Partner?
Uluslararasi Iliskiler, 2019 – By Çiğdem Nas
The article aims to analyze the European Union (EU)’s approach to the Syrian crisis and to evaluate the role it attributes to Turkey. The EU’s approach staggered between supporting transition in Syria to a post-Assad regime and the need to protect itself against spill-over effects of the conflict. Two issues emerged as urgent priorities that determined the EU’s approach to the conflict. One of them was to control the outpouring of refugees fleeing war and oppression in Syria and the other was to deal…The influx of Syrian refugees through the Aegean and Balkan route to the EU surged in the summer of 2015 leading to practical and political problems for EU countries. In the meantime, ISIL related terror attacks in the EU created a major security problem and led several Member States to bring back border controls in the Schengen area. The EU turned to Turkey and sought Turkey’s cooperation in controlling the refugee flow and also keeping away the ISIL threat. The article looks at cooperation between Turkey and the EU and also points of contention that created hurdles in this cooperation.
Doi: 10.33458/uidergisi.588912
Publication Date: 2019
Publication Name: Uluslararasi Iliskiler
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