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Merkel-Erdogan Dispute Ratchets Up Before Turkish Referendum New York Times The controversy has worsened ahead of an April referendum in Turkey on a new Constitution that would vastly expand the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His allies want him to campaign in Germany, where 1.5 million Turks live and are eligible ... Merkel hits back at Erdogan over 'Nazi' insultIrish Independent Angela Merkel tells Turkey to stop calling German authorities Nazis in row over pro-Erdogan ralliesThe Independent Stop calling us Nazis, German leader Angela Merkel tells Turkey's ErdoganTelegraph.co.uk Deutsche Welle -BBC News -EurActiv all 362 news articles »

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Merkel-Erdogan Dispute Ratchets Up Before Turkish Referendum - New York Times

Micha Jzefaciuk/CC BY-SA 3.0 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan.

In many respects, Kemalisms death warrant was signed by Recep Tayyip Erdoan on July 20, 2016. Following an abortive coup dtat, the Turkish president predicated a state of emergency. In other words, it was a constitutional suspension of the Turkish constitution on the destabilized sociopolitical atmosphere of the country, prompting a widespread culling of dissent within Turkish society.

The first to go, of course, were those accused of being Glenist conspirators within the ranks of the military. As reported by the government of Turkey, 1,684 members of the Turkish Armed Forces had been suspended by July 27, and 96 were arrested. By October, however, the government, under the watchful eye of President Erdoan, had dismissed upwards of 100,000 more civil servants, according to the BBC.

This represents the most obvious slide towards autocracy since Erdoan first joined the highest echelons of the Turkish state in 2003 as premier. His palpable disdain for dissent, especially that which is directed at the media, has reached climactic levels. His favorite piece of legislation, the oft-invoked statute that renders insulting the president verboten, has led to the imprisonment of several thousand journalists across Anatolia. In fact, Turkey leads the world in jailed journalists, beating out such regimes as Vladimir Putins Russia, the Peoples Republic of China, Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea; Erdoans rabid pursuit of detractors knows no equal.

Through the Justice and Development Party (abbreviated AKP), Erdoan has cultivated an overzealous, disturbingly nationalistic base of support centered around the principle of Neo-Ottomanism. As the name might imply, Neo-Ottomanism calls for a resurgence of the ascendancy of the Turkish state in areas formerly ruled by the Ottoman Empire.

In a sense, the variety of Neo-Ottomanism pushed by the AKP can be compared to a (rather alarming) form of Turkish irredentism, conflated with revanchism stemming from the Empires castration by the Treaty of Svres and a desire for the reintroduction of Islamism into the largely secular domestic politics of Turkey.

These tenets are diametrically opposed to the Republic of Turkeys founding principles, laid out by Mustafa Kemal Atatrk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. The contravention of Kemalisms guiding pillars, being democracy, secularism and the distinction of the Turkish Republic from Ottoman Turkey, is a grievous disservice to the Republic and could undo almost a centurys worth of progress.

The recently proposed constitutional amendment, an addendum that would mangle Turkeys long-standing majoritarian parliamentary system beyond recognition, represents the culmination of Erdoans long-standing quest to centralize power in Turkey. The adoption of a presidential system in Turkey, a country historically beset by issues stemming from highly centralized state apparatuses, would almost certainly spell the quick and painful death of what remains of Turkeys democracy.

Furthermore, under Erdoan, the Government of Turkey has pursued a merciless policy of opposition against the Kurdish minorities of southeast Anatolia and northern Syria. Erdoan has justified such punitive measures against the embattled Kurds with a blanket accusation that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) enjoys a broad base of support within the region. In other words, because of the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of Kurds are forced to suffer.

Ultimately, the AKP-dominated governments stance toward Kurdistan is driven less by a perceived terrorist threat stemming from the PKK than an intrinsic prejudice against the Kurdish people and what they represent: a major roadblock against the sociocultural homogenization of the Turkish state.

Erdoan must be stopped at all costs. The constitutional amendment must, for the sake of Turkeys well-being and posterity, be defeated at the ballot box, else Turkey risks slipping into the insurmountable ravine of statist authoritarianism. The right to freedom of speech is under siege from the Bosporus to the Caucasus, and unless the power of the state is curtailed, the Turkish people risk far worse.

Indeed, for Turkish Kurds, the burden of runaway state power channeled toward the institutionalization of bigotry can be felt every day. The world runs the risk of the resurgence of the Ottoman Empire, and unless we are willing to stand against Emperor Erdoan, pretending Sultan of Anatolia, the people of Turkey will lose.

Howard Senior is a freshman double major in economics and mathematics from Miami.

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Emperor Erdogan of Turkey must be stopped The Johns Hopkins ... - Johns Hopkins News-Letter

ISTANBUL

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is heading to Russia in the latest step in rapprochement efforts between the countries. Erdogan is to meet Friday with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin

Erdogan will be accompanied by several of his Cabinet ministers for bilateral talks, under the auspices of the High level Cooperation Council.

The council was created as part of rapprochement efforts between the countries after the Turkish downing of a Russian jet operating from Syria in 2015.

The meeting comes as differences over Syria remain. Murat Bilhan, an analyst with the Turkish Asian Center for Strategic Studies, says the agenda will be full.

"Syria will top the agenda, plus the normalization of relations in the economic cooperation field, with the Russians also. I do not see many thorny issues between Russia and Turkey because they have already started escalation of positive relations, positive cooperation," Bilhan said.

With the Turkish economy slowing and unemployment rising, Erdogan is expected to be pushing for Moscow to end sanctions imposed against Turkey after the downing of the jet.

Former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen says despite nearly a year of rapprochement efforts, there have been few concrete gestures by Moscow.

"The relations are better, but on the other hand there is no concrete progress or development. Because we know even the famous tomato issue is not solved yet, the exporting of tomatoes to Russia. So there is little progress actually, but rhetoric-wise, everything is going for the better," Selcen said.

FILE - Posters showing a portrait of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and reading "Wanted, Erdogan, Turkey," are left after a protest against Ankara's downing of a Russain warplane, at the Turkish Embassy in Moscow, Nov. 25, 2015. Bilateral relations fell to a low point following the incident but have been gradually improving.

Progress slow in coming

Turkish media report that Moscow has agreed to ease some trade restrictions, but Syria could again threaten relations.

Earlier this year, the Syrian Kurdish group PYD opened an office in Moscow. Ankara accuses the PYD and its YPG militia of seeking to create an independent Kurdish state on its border. It also charges the PYD with being affiliated to the PKK, which is fighting the Turkish state.

Observers say Ankara has been muted in its criticism of Moscow, which last month hosted a gathering of Kurdish groups from the region, including the PYD.

Selcen says with Russias growing military and political influence in Syria, Ankara probably recognizes it has to work with Moscow.

"From now on, forming a policy toward Kurds of Syria, and in particular toward those PKK-affiliated elements in Syria, they will have to take in[to] consideration what Moscow and Washington, D.C., say. The Russians are also pulling the Kurds of Syria to be more realistic with Damascus. Moscow shows the limits of what can be done and what cannot be done," Selcen said.

Erdogan is expected to offer potentially lucrative arms deals, including possibly purchasing Russias S400 anti-aircraft missile system, which is incompatible with its NATO partners.

Weakening Turkeys ties to its NATO partners is widely seen as a goal of Putins foreign policy, while analysts say Erdogan is eager to send a message that Turkey has alternatives to its traditional allies.

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Erdogan, Putin to Meet in Rapprochement Efforts - Voice of America

Orhan Uzuner, the father of the president's daughter-in-law, discusses "Stay as Brothers, Turkey." Posted Feb. 23, 2017. (photo byTwitter/kardeskalTR)

Author:Sibel Hurtas Posted March 9, 2017

Since the coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016, Ankara hasbeen preoccupiedwithscenarios of a possiblesecond coup attempt. These scenarios are sometimesmade public before being immediately countered by measures the political rule and its affiliated civil society take.

TranslatorTimur Gksel

The political rule is worriedaboutpotential new threats and has been undertakingradical measures, especially within the Turkish Armed Forces. Military schools have been closed, military hospitals have beentransformed into civilian public hospitals and tens of thousands of people have been fired from the public sector, including the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Interior.

Turkey's civil society responded to the rumors of threats with new structures that would not be allowed in a democratic country. The latest such body "Stay as Brothers, Turkey" was founded by Orhan Uzuner, a name known to the public.

Uzuner is not a politician but an engineer who started working for the Istanbul municipality in 1994.His life changed completely when his daughter Reyhan was introduced to President Recep Tayyip Erdogans sonBilalin 2003. Reyhan, who was only 17 years old at the time, was allowed to marry Bilal with a court permission, as she was not yet 18. That's how Uzuner became a relative of Erdogan. He subsequentlyresigned from his jobwiththe municipality. When his new employer Betra Corporation was accused by a Court of Auditsof causing losses for the Turkish State Railways, his name came up.

Hemade the headlines again when he founded "Stay as Brothers, Turkey," with the opposition secularist daily Cumhuriyet reportingthe group's formationunder the headline Erdogans militias.

Uzuner told his audience that he had set up the group to countera natural disaster, an earthquake or an uprising. The group, whichorganized on WhatsApp, is said to have 500 members already.

Uzuner, in his address to the group, explained the preparations they were making to warn the public and provide communications ina time of danger. He said their smallest instrument is a whistle, but that he has a bullhorn in his car.Next,a wireless communication system and a radio station will be established. Also on the agenda arefirst aid courses to be organized bythe Ministry of Health. In addition, Uzunerpromised training for the group's members on how to use drones, yet did not explain the objective.

Uzuner concluded his speech by saying that the group is fully dedicated to Erdogan, and their supreme goal is to prevent harm to our Quran, our prophet,our country and our nation.

Some reports quoted Uzuneras saying, We have weapons to use when needed." Uzuner denied saying thisand claimed he was talking of "sirens not weapons."

While the debate of his use of the term"weapons" or "sirens" continues, people have not forgotten how paramilitary groups and militias were set up in the past. Husnu Bozkurt, anopposition lawmaker from the Republican Peoples Party (CHP), asked Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to initiate an official inquiry. The intention to set up a parallel arm cannot be ignored. Youlike Mussolinis black shirts or Hitlers brown shirts, Bozkurt said in his written query to the parliament.

Although Uzuner insists his group is unarmed, other allegations aboutarming against a new coup attempt arewidespread. Sinan Ogan, a lawmaker from the ultranationalist Nationalist Movement Party, charged the Justice and Development Party (AKP) with providing shopkeepers with weapons training.We know that after July 15, shopkeepers who are normally bakers, grocers and barbers are taken to camps for weapons training. This semi-militia force is being prepared to take on the other segment of the population when the AKP feels it is needed, Ogan said in an interviewwith daily Sozcu.

A man namedEmin Canpolat, who refers tohimself as the head of a nationalist, Islamist group onhis social media account, calledon people to arm themselves.For the country, for the flag and for Erdogan, Canpolat wrote.

Ankaras staunchly pro-AKPMayor Melih Gokcek recently said, There has been extraordinary arming. Everyone buys a pump shotgun to keep in their house.

Ahmet Akin, a CHP lawmaker, also said there has beena boom in sales of pump shotguns. No permit is needed to obtain these kinds of guns.

While Uzuner insists Stay as Brothers, Turkey was set up to resist dangerous events, he does not say who is to decide that an event is against Erdogan, the Quran, the prophet, the country or the nation. Who will then turn on the sirens in a country that is becoming more tenseby the day?

Read More: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/turkey-president-relative-forms-anti-coup-group.html

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Are pro-Erdogan groups buying arms to prep for potential coup? - Al-Monitor

Turkish President Recep Erdogan has slammed German communities for aiding and abetting terror after they scrapped rallies due to be attended by Turkish ministers advocating for the upcoming constitutional referendum in Turkey.

They need to be put on trial for aiding and abetting terror, Erdogan said, apparently referring to the authorities of the communities, Hurriyet Daily reports. The leader noted that while preventing Turkish leaders from addressing their communities, Germany has allowed members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leaders to hold rallies.

Erdogan, who himself was denied an opportunity to address a rally with German-based Turks last year, stressed that at the same time, Germany allowed a video addressof a PKK figure, Cemil Bayk, in a rally in Cologne, in September 2016.

But they are connecting Cemil Bayk from Kandil [Qandil mountains] and he is making his speech there [Germany], he said. The Qandil area of Iraqi Kurdistan is notable as a PKK sanctuary and headquarters.

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Tensions between Turkey and Germany started when the small town of Gaggenau in Baden-Wurttemberg withdrew the permit for the rally for Thursday organized by the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD), a group close to Erdogan, citing security concerns. It also listed concerns over potential overflows inside its town hall and the parking lot outside.

Turkeys justice minister, Bekir Bozdag, who was due to give a speech in the town, then pulled out of a scheduled visit to Germany.

In the wake of Gaggenaus decision, Cologne canceled another UETD event where Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci was due to speak on Sunday, saying the city was unable to guarantee the safety of participants on short notice.

The event can and will not happen there, a spokeswoman for Cologne city authorities told AFP.Later, the town of Frechen also cancelled a rally scheduled for Sunday, as the venue excludes political events, police said.

Following the harsh criticism from Ankara, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the federal government had nothing to do with the decision, since it was made by local authorities.

On Friday, the Dutch government said that plans for a similar rally in Rotterdam scheduled for March 11 were undesirable, Reuters reports. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was planning to attend.

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The Turkish leader also commented on Berlins criticism concerning the arrest of Die Welt journalist Deniz Yucel.

Yucel, who has both Turkish and German citizenship, was arrestedin Turkey on charges of terrorism propaganda and inciting violence earlier in February.

It isn't because a correspondent of Die Welt was arrested. It is because this person hid in the German embassy as a member of the PKK and a German agent for one month. When we told them to hand him over to be tried, they refused, Erdogan said.

Erdogan said he had spoken to Chancellor Merkel on the matter.

Your terrorists are requested by us, and you say justice is impartial and independent. We currently trust our impartial and independent judiciary. Give him up so he can be tried. They first didn't hand him over, but later, somehow, they did. The judiciary did what was necessary and arrested him, he said, citing his statement to the German chancellor.

Relations between Germany and Turkey have been worsening over the past months. Berlin accuses Ankara of overreacting after a failed military coup last July, which triggered a wide-scale crackdown on supporters of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based cleric accused by the Turkish government of masterminding the plot.

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Erdogan slams German towns for aiding and abetting terror ...