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ANKARA, Turkey Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that he has reached agreements with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump that could herald a new era concerning Libya.

Erdogan made the comment in a television interview following a telephone call with the U.S. president, but did not elaborate on the agreements reached.

After our talks on the transition process in Libya, a new era can begin between Turkey and the U.S., Erdogan told state broadcaster TRT. We had some agreements.

Earlier, a statement from his office said Erdogan and Trump had agreed to continue their close cooperation on Libya.

Turkeys support for Libyas U.N.-supported government in Tripoli has helped shift the balance in the country, allowing the Tripoli-based forces to retake the capitals airport and gain the upper hand against the rival east-based forces, led by Khalifa Hifter.

Hifters forces are backed by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as France and Russia. The Tripoli-based government receives aid from Qatar, Italy and Turkey, which stepped up its military support in recent months.

Erdogan said he would soon also discuss the situation in Libya with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

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Originally posted here:
Erdogan says Turkey, US reached agreements on Libya - Military Times

The death of George Floyd has ignited protests across America and the world, reverberating as far as the gates of the Embassy of the United States in Athens. Though some ruffians have been ransacking American cities under the cover of the protests, polls show that up to 54 percent of Americans support the call for justice. Citywide curfews, heavy police and National Guard deployments, as well as tough talk from the White House have been brushed aside by the passion and conviction of the protesters.

Former President Barack Obama threw his support behind the peaceful protesters, and former secretary of defense James Mattis criticized his old boss handling of the protests. More remarkable is the inspiring compassion and empathy shown by police and guardsman who knelt with protesters and others like Sheriff Chris Swanson, who ordered his officers to take off their helmets, lay down their batons, and walk with protesters. Rahul Dubey opened his home to 70 cornered protesters to offer them refuge during Washington, DCs curfew. What this all shows is that the most important political office in America that of private citizen has been stirred.

Sometimes, mass assembly and vocal free speech awaken us to the reality that our neighbor is hurting and needs our help. Protest by the people is a vital component of any democratic order, and no matter how upsetting it may be to witness the events in America, the voice of the people is confronting governing power to demand equal justice for all.

So, to read a tweet from the autocrat Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is the worlds premier jailer of journalists, and who brooks no criticism, condemning the killing of George Floyd as a consequence of a fascist American political order, shows the impulses driving this man. Such impulses were exhibited on May 16, 2017 when President Erdogan was in Washington, DC visiting the White House. After his meeting with President Donald Trump, Erdogans motorcade traveled to the Turkish ambassadors residence, where a small group had gathered to protest across the street. The chants of the protesters enraged Erdogan and his security agents, who, with spite and hate, viciously attacked them.

Today, I am one of the attorneys representing the injured protesters in Usoyan et al vs the Republic of Turkey. The lawsuit, detailed at http://www.hesaysattack.com, demands that President Erdogan and his security agents be held accountable for their violent, politically motivated attacks. No Turkish official has ever expressed remorse for the incident; instead Turkey wants to sweep the violence it perpetrated on American soil under the rug. Turkey argues that as a sovereign country it cannot be sued in American courts, and that Erdogans security agents acted on a perceived threat. Fortunately, United States District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly rejected Turkeys arguments noting that Turkish security forces did not have the discretion to violently attack the protesters, nor to continue violently attacking them after they had fallen to the ground and were otherwise attempting to flee. Having failed to convince the court of its sovereign immunity, Turkey has appealed the decision and we continue to zealously challenge the Erdogan regimes efforts to avoid accountability.

Those who protest the death of George Floyd and those who protest President Erdogan are moved by feelings of pain and suffering. The pain and suffering vented upon the death of George Floyd has driven people into the streets. When Americans attempted to protest Erdogan in the heart of Washington, DC, to express the pain and suffering of their kin and brethren living in Turkey, never could they have imagined Turkish authorities would brutalize them on American soil.

Derek Chauvin, the white policeman who knelt on George Floyds neck for eight and-a-half minutes, and three other officers implicated in his death are being prosecuted by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Muslim African-American. No such prosecutorial diversity and steward of justice can be imagined in Turkey. Indeed, the Erdogan regime is not only harboring the criminally charged security agents who attacked protesters on the streets of Washington, DC, but celebrates them as national heroes. This is to be expected of Erdogan the Magnificent, as he has been called by former secretary of state Madeleine Albright for his fascist impulses, an autocratic leader who commits gross human rights violations, manipulates religion for political gain, violently abuses Kurds, and has plunged his country into a permanent state of political trauma.

Silence is acceptance, say those protesting for equal justice in America. So too our lawsuit raises a voice against Erdogans oppression. America is an imperfect country, but its democracy is robust and resilient, and history will prove Erdogans legacy worthy of the dustbin.

Andreas N. Akaras, a government and political affairs adviser, is of counsel to the law firm Bregman, Berbert, Schwartz & Gilday.

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Erdogan's attacks on freedom and his George Floyd commentary, ANDREAS N. AKARAS | Kathimerini - http://www.ekathimerini.com

By: AP | Ankara | Updated: June 10, 2020 7:45:48 am The government is also relaxing restrictions that were in place on the movement of the senior citizens and minors, Erdogan said.(File)

Turkeys president on Tuesday revealed new plans to ease restrictions in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus, including the July 1 reopening of theaters, cinemas and other entertainment centers.

In a televised addressed following his first face-to-face meeting with Cabinet members _ after almost three months of teleconference meetings _ Recep Tayyip Erdogan also announced that marriage registration halls will reopen for large gatherings on June 15 while wedding party halls will resume operations on July 1.

The government is also relaxing restrictions that were in place on the movement of the senior citizens and minors, Erdogan said. People aged 65 and above will now be able to go out everyday between 10:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. _ instead of just once a week _ while minors will be allowed out anytime as long as they are accompanied by a parent.

Erdogans new measures come amid concerns of complacency within the population following last weeks loosening of restrictions, including the resumption of domestic flights and the opening of restaurants, cafes, gyms, parks, beaches and museums. Many people flocked to parks, seafronts and picnic locations without heeding social distancing or wearing masks.

Erdogan said, however, that he believes the large crowds are the exception and that the population is generally abiding by the rules.

Meanwhile, the health minister announced a slight day-to-day increase in the number of confirmed infections as well as in the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care.

Fahrettin Koca reported 993 new confirmed cases on Tuesday, up from Mondays 914 cases. The number of people in intensive rose to 642 from Mondays 625, according to data he posted on Twitter. Turkey now has a total of 172,114 confirmed cases and 4,729 deaths.

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Turkey unveils new coronavirus restriction easing plans - The Indian Express

ADEN Turkeys growing presence in Yemen, especially in the restive southern region, is fuelling concern across the region over security in the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandeb.

These concerns are further heightened by reports indicating that Turkeys agenda in Yemen is being financed and supported by Qatar via some Yemeni political and tribal figures affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. They are thought to be aiming to blackmail the Arab-led coalition by creating a Turkish threat in the country and forming a new coalition that includes both Qatar and Oman.

Turkey did so far tread carefully in Yemen, apparently waiting for a favourable moment to intervene and hoping for more support from the Yemeni government of Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi before moving in on the ground.

Cautious and virtually concealed, Turkish activity in Yemen is currently concentrated in three Yemeni coastal areas: Shabwa, Socotra, and Al-Mukha district in Taiz governorate, according to anonymous sources in the country.

In previous reports, The Arab Weekly shed light on the presence of Turkish intelligence elements in the Shabwa governorate under the cover of the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Organisation (IHH), which has been active in the province since it fell under the control of the Muslim Brotherhood in August.

The Muslim Brotherhoods growing influence into Shabwa coincided with increased hostility towards the Arab-led-coalition in Al Alam area in south-west Yemen, which has recently been the target of repeated mortar attacks. The attacks are thought to be aimed at cutting off food and medical supplies, eventually forcing coalition forces stationed there to leave.

Once Al Alam area is under control, the Muslim Brotherhood hopes to reach the strategic Port of Balhaf, gaining leverage over critical gas exports and much-needed access to the coast that overlooks the Arabian Sea, a key gateway for any potential Turkish intervention and the shipment of crucial supplies from Turkish military bases in nearby Somalia.

In addition to suspicious activity in Taiz and Shabwa, reports point to Turkish efforts in ramping up tensions with the help of Socotra Governor Ramzi Mahrous. Tensions reportedly escalated following Mahrouss return from a secret visit to Istanbul, during which he met Turkish and Qatari intelligence officers and Muslim Brotherhood leaders.

The developments mean that Turkey has assumed a greater political role in southern Yemen through the countrys local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is helping Turkish charities gain influence.

The Islah (Reform) party is instrumental in giving Turkish institutions and the Turkish government, all masquerading as charity organisations, access to Yemeni cities, said Yemeni political analyst Mahmud al-Tahir.

Turkey has interests in abetting the Muslim Brotherhood and giving it more power on the Yemeni stage.

Founded in 1990, the Reform Party, the Muslim Brotherhoods local branch, has played an important role on the countrys political scene. The party has gained more power in recent years, filling a political vacuum left by the downfall of the Ali Abdullah Saleh regime in February 2012 and then by a coup staged by the Iran-backed Houthi militia against Hadi in March 2015.

The party is represented in the government of Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, which is based in the south-eastern port city of Aden.

Brotherhood-affiliated officials and ministers have taken trips to Ankara to lobby officials with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans Justice and Development Party (AKP) to be more active in Yemen, particularly by investing in the countrys transport sectors and ports. In mid-January, Turkeys deputy interior minister, Ismail Catakli, visited Aden and held talks with Saeed. He revealed that Erdogan had asked a team of aides to prepare a report about humanitarian needs in Yemen.

This came two months after former Yemeni Transport Minister Saleh al-Jabwani, a Reform Party affiliate, visited Turkey to discuss cooperation in managing Yemeni ports.

Turkeys efforts to increase their presence near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, through which Gulf oil is transported before reaching the Suez Canal, will threaten the security of Gulf Arab states.

Turkeys efforts to increase its presence near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait are part of a larger campaign to shore up influence in the southern entrance of the Red Sea.

With a military base in Djibouti and repeated efforts to gain a foothold in Somalia and the Sudanese Red Sea island of Suakin, Ankara is working hard to become a force in the Red Sea.

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Turkey sets sights on Yemen, raising regional security concerns | AW staff | AW - The Arab Weekly

For those too young to remember, Men Behaving Badly was a light-hearted 1990s British and American sitcom about silly blokes doing stupid things. Covid-19 has revived the storyline. But now its not so funny.

Around the world, authoritarian leaders are exploiting, exacerbating or grossly mishandling the response to the pandemic, placing selfish interest ahead of public good.

They are mostly male. Their behaviour is frequently appalling. Unlike harmless Gary and Tony, they are a modern incarnation of TS Eliots hollow men.

Sex is relevant, in that female leaders are generally thought to be behaving better. Germanys Angela Merkel, New Zealands Jacinda Ardern, and Taiwans Tsai Ing-wen are among competent and compassionate women singled out for praise.

Yet do the worst-performing leaders share dysfunctional characteristics beyond mere maleness? A war fixation is one. Poverty of imagination is another. They routinely trot out tired martial metaphors and cliches such as wartime president, blitz spirit, and fighting the invisible enemy.

Lack of empathy also seems to be a common denominator, even among self-styled man of the people populists. This may be a product of class, culture or elite upbringing.

A more decisive factor is a mans political orientation. Broadly speaking, illiberal leaders who run authoritarian regimes, refuse democratic and legal constraints, abuse civil and womens rights, reject media scrutiny, tolerate corruption, and believe that they, personally, know best are the worst-behaved, least effective pandemic performers.

Donald Trump ticks all the boxes. He is the Covid champ of chumps. His advice last week to inject disinfectant hit new heights of toxic idiocy, even for him. But there are plenty of challengers for the world title.

Take Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkeys strongman president. His initial response to a growing Covid-19 threat was to put the economy before lives. Erdogan is accused, like Trump, of politicising the crisis, for example by banning fundraising efforts by opposition-controlled city councils in Istanbul, Izmir, and Ankara. The impressive performance of Istanbuls mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, a possible 2023 presidential rival, is said to worry him more than the disease.

Rushed curfews and protective measures have caused confusion and panic-buying. And Erdogan fumbled a chance to foster unity of purpose when an early release of prisoners excluded jailed political opponents, journalists and human rights activists.

The world expects better of Turkey. In the Philippines, the macho antics of Rodrigo Duterte, a president notorious for celebrating extrajudicial murder, are par for the course. Like right-wingers elsewhere, Duterte minimised the Covid-19 threat, then over-reacted.

A typically heavy-handed clampdown has followed belated lockdown measures. Duterte ordered the police and military to kill those who did not comply. Shoot them dead, he urged. Instead of causing trouble, Ill send you to the grave.

Dutertes assumption of emergency powers mirrors power-grabs in other countries with weak systems of democratic accountability. Hungarys rightwing populist leader, Viktor Orbn, says his new power to rule indefinitely by decree can be revoked any time. Opponents fear a tame parliament may never do so.

Some of the worlds most authoritarian leaders have reacted with a morbid mix of crass irresponsibility and calculation. Jair Bolsonaro, Brazils president, appears to hope, Trump-like, that he can turn the poors hostility to job-destroying lockdowns to political advantage.

Bolsonaro has compared the coronavirus to a mild flu, incited his supporters to oppose lockdown measures adopted by local governments, [and] promoted unproven drugs on social media as miracle cures, wrote Eduardo Mello, a Sao Paulo professor. If Brazils economy implodes, Bolsonaro, weirdly, could be the gainer unless he is impeached first.

Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, is also using the pandemic for political ends, as evidenced by the opportunistic arrest last week of 15 veteran Hong Kong pro-democracy figures. Virus-related security and economic fears are being exploited to justify an ever tighter crackdown after last years failure to halt anti-Beijing protests.

But the hard men are not having it all their own way. Xis carefully nurtured reputation for quasi-celestial infallibility has taken a knock in the wake of the Wuhan disaster. The shine is also coming off Indias Hindu nationalist prime minister, Narendra Modi.

Modi seemed to carry all before him last year, especially following the Kashmir crackdown. A brutal anti-Muslim pogrom in Delhi barely dented his domestic standing. But self-inflicted economic and social damage arising from clumsy, chaotic anti-virus measures are painting a less flattering portrait of incompetence and irrelevance.

Likewise the credibility of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who specialises in exporting lethal germs, is in question after a slow start to the fightback.

Shielding himself from harm, he-man Putin looks on impotently as Russias coronavirus caseload spirals upwards and the global oil price, key source of Kremlin cash, goes the other way.

In contrast, the pandemic has saved Israels prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, from deserved oblivion. After a third, inconclusive election, and with a corruption trial looming, Netanyahu looked dead and buried. His resurrection is largely due to unscrupulous use of the virus threat as a national rallying cause.

Faced by all this bad behaviour, despair is an option. As Eliot wrote in The Hollow Men, This is the way the world ends/ Not with a bang but with a whimper. And yet, perhaps not.

Progressives can take comfort from the way autocrats and rightwing populists have mostly flunked the Covid-19 challenge. Maybe people around the world, shocked by all the high-handed bungling, will begin to resist and reverse the recent trend towards authoritarianism.

It would be reassuring to think so. On the whole, democracies have behaved better during the crisis. But the UK and US responses have been dismal. Maybe thats because, in both cases, a certain kind of shallow, arrogant man is in charge.

Read more:
From Trump to Erdoan, men who behave badly make the worst leaders in a pandemic - The Guardian