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BERLIN Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's push to expand his powers in an April 16 referendum is causing deep divisions in Germany's already fractured three million-strong Turkish community, splitting families and turning friends into enemies.

Emotions are running especially high after German authorities banned several planned rallies by Turkish ministers, citing public security concerns. Erdogan has branded such bans "fascist", infuriating the German government.

"My father is pro-Erdogan. When he turns on the television, I have to leave the room," one 22-year old German man of Turkish descent told Reuters in Berlin, where he is completing a year of voluntary work before starting his university studies.

Many of his friends' families have also been split by the looming referendum, said the man, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals from ardent pro-Erdogan supporters or a ban on visiting Turkey.

Just down the street in Berlin's multicultural Kreuzberg district, bright red signs proclaiming "Hayir" - 'No' in Turkish - and "No to dictatorship in Turkey" have been ripped from a fence and now lie on the pavement.

Others are shocked by the efforts of German, Dutch and other authorities to prevent Turkish politicians rallying support on European soil for the referendum.

"It's completely right-wing and radical how the Turks are being treated here," said Ergun Gumusalev, another Turkish man, told Reuters in Cologne. "I'm actually opposed to Erdogan, but how can this be? Where are we living? We've been here for 50, 60 years, exploited like pigs ... and here's the thanks we get."

THREATS

Many Turks came to Germany as "Gastarbeiter' (guest workers) in the 1960s and 1970s and contributed to the country's postwar "economic miracle".

But the latest conflict has reignited debate about the integration of Turks in German society, and Chancellor Angela Merkel and other politicians are anxious not to import internal Turkish conflicts into Germany.

Ismail Kupeli, a political science professor at Ruhr-Bochum University, said he expected about 60 percent of the 1.4 million Turks in Germany who are eligible to vote in the referendum to back Erdogan, roughly the same percentage that backed the Turkish leader in the last presidential vote.

"Erdogan is trying to shore up support for the referendum here because polls show a narrow majority is against the measure in Turkey," Kupeli told Reuters.

"People are being told, 'Either you're for the president or you're terrorists ... Either you're for a strong Turkey under Erdogan or a weak Turkey that is under the thumb of the West.'"

Ahmet Daskin, project manager with the Foundation for Dialogue and Education, said his members had recently seen a big increase in hate messages on social media. The foundation is close to Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based cleric accused by Erdogan of orchestrating last summer's failed coup in Turkey.

"It's much worse than it was a few months ago," Daskin said.

The group's leader, Ercan Karakoyun, is currently on a book tour across Germany, but his appearances must be coordinated with local police since he has received over two dozen death threats since the coup, Daskin said.

"Every time Erdogan ratchets up his rhetoric, the threats and harassment increase over here," he added.

A ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Tuesday that said companies in the European Union may bar staff from wearing Islamic headscarves or other visible religious symbols could further exacerbate tensions in the Turkish community.

"I think it's discriminatory and unnecessary because my headscarf doesn't limit my ability to work at all," Beyda Kokluce, a Turkish woman in Cologne, told Reuters.

"It will only make the situation worse," said a second woman, Gokalp Cerci. "Every person is free to decide what he wears at work, and setting up general bans for people won't accomplish anything."

(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal, Reuters TV; Editing by Gareth Jones)

MOSUL, Iraq Iraqi government forces battling Islamic State for Mosul took control of a main bridge over the Tigris river on Wednesday and advanced towards the mosque where the group's leader declared a caliphate in 2014, federal police said.

WASHINGTON The top Republican and Democrat on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee both said on Wednesday that sanctions imposed on Russia over its involvement in Ukraine must not be lifted without drastic changes by Russia.

BRUSSELS/VIENNA Turkey has blocked some military training and other work with NATO "partner countries" in an apparent escalation of a diplomatic dispute with EU states, officials and sources said on Wednesday.

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Turkish diaspora in Germany divided by Erdogan's referendum - Reuters

Israeli ex-defense minister Moshe Ya'alon accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday of seeking a neo-Ottoman empire" while warning of growing instability in the Middle East.

Ya'alon, seeking to build a campaign to become Israel's next prime minister, spoke of his concerns while addressing regional issues in a meeting with foreign journalists.

The ex-minister accused Erdogan of pursuing "hegemony by establishing (a) neo-Ottoman empire using the Muslim Brotherhood ideology, not just within Turkey".

He also accused NATO-member Turkey of working against Western interests.

His comments came with Turkey and the European Union undergoing an explosive crisis after key EU members the Netherlands and Germany blocked Turkish ministers from holding rallies to back constitutional changes expanding Erdogan's powers.

Ya'alon named Turkey under Erdogan as one of three "radical" elements seeking to expand their influence in the Middle East, also mentioning Iran and jihadists such as the Islamic State group.

He said he believed the situation had evolved in that way because of what he called former US president Barack Obama's administration's decision to "disengage" from the Middle East.

"And the vacuum has been filled by these three elements struggling for hegemony in the region," he said.

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Ya'alon: Erdogan seeking to be 'neo-Ottoman empire' - Arutz Sheva

A large image of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is held up outside the Turkish Consulate during protests in Rotterdam, Netherlands, March 11, 2017.

Author:Mustafa Akyol Posted March 14, 2017

On March 13, Blick the third top-selling newspaper in Switzerland, came out with a giant headline in an unusual language: Turkish. Vote no to Erdogans dictatorship, the title read, appealing to the Turks living in this small country. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the paper argued, was seeking to establish dictatorship with the upcoming referendum on April 16. And Turks living in Switzerland, who enjoy the freedoms of this liberal nation, should say no to this menace.

Back in Turkey, however, this headline quickly turned into yet another reason to vote yes for Erdogan. Pro-government media ran immediate stories condemning the Swiss paper in fact, Switzerland and all of Europe for imperialist hubris. They also called on all Turks to give their patriotic response by rallying behind the great leader. On social media, pro-Erdogan users reiterated their standard line: Europes enmity was not just against Erdogan, but in fact against Turks and Islam. This, a pro-Erdogan journalist even declared, is the war of the Cross against the Crescent.

This is the narrative one can read and hear every single day in Turkeys pro-government media. It is a narrative that explains every single tension with Western nations including the recent Tulip Crisis between Turkey and Holland, which could have been avoided if both sides acted more reasonably. It tells Turks the West is not really worried about Erdogans authoritarianism, which is only necessary for a nation under major threats. The West is rather worried that Turkey is becoming a powerful, independent, virtuous nation. Erdogan is just making Turkey great again, in other words, and that is why Turkeys quintessential enemy the West is all up in arms.

This very narrative itself is actuallyproof that Erdoganindeedis authoritarian, because it equates patriotism and Erdoganismand considers all Erdogan critics as enemies of the nation. The enmity against the West, in other words, helps intimidate all Western puppets within Turkey, which are basically all opposition circles.

One may wonder, however, why the West has so categorically become the main enemy for Erdogan and his supporters. Because when Erdogan first came to power in 2002, this was not the case at all. His Justice and Development Party (AKP), despite its Islamist roots, rather embarked on a mission to make Turkey a full member of the European Union. Erdogan was a frequent visitor to Western capitals at the time, and a sponsor of love fests between the East and West such as the Alliance of Civilizations.

This Western-friendly AKP was a product of two things. The first was soul-searching and self-reform among Turkeys Islamists. In a plenitude of meetings, panels, media forums and informal chats, Western concepts such as liberal democracy were discussed and accepted, whereas the anti-Westernism of the past called the National View ideology was abandoned.

But there was also a secondand more burningreason for abandoning anti-Westernism: It was the only way to survive the wrath of Turkeys secular establishment. This establishment, upheld by a draconian military and judiciary, had overthrown the AKPs predecessors for trying to take Turkey away from Ataturks Westernized vision. It could do the same thing again. The safest way to overcome this threat was to outdo the secular establishment in Westernization. That is why the AKP hung on tightly to the European Union rope, which really saved itself from any possible coup attempt in the first decade of the 2000s.

However, this pragmatic reason to cozy up with the West ended in the early 2010swhen Erdogan subdued the secular establishment and seized the state for himself. The EUsooneven began to look like a drag on his feet. His notion of democracy was limited to the ballots, and as he began to crack down on free speech, the gap with Europe widened. From 2013 onward, Erdogan even began to believe in a giant Western conspiracy to topple him, to which he responded with furious anti-Westernism.

That is why todays AKP is a far cry from the AKP of the early 2000s. Those who have stayed loyal to the partys intellectual founding including its grand names such as former President Abdullah Gul or longtime czar of the economyAli Babacan have all been sidelined. Erdogan rather created a new coalition of militant nationalists whose common call is to build a fully independent Turkey.

Islam or, more precisely, a kind of Islamic nationalism plays a great role in this latter-day AKP ideology. The West is depicted as not just the enemy of Muslims but also their very antithesis. Muslims are moral, honest, decent people, whereas the West is corrupt, degenerate and hypocritical. It is a typical case of Occidentalism, which just like its mirror image, Orientalism demonizes a whole civilization for the sake of its own biases and ambitions.

Notably, in this major anti-Western drive, which is likely to make Turkey a Muslim version of Vladimir Putins Russia, Erdogan has a major ally within the West itself: the Orientalists, especially Islamophobes. These are the people who, with their enmity against Muslims and their double standards over them, prove the Erdoganists right. One shining example is the far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders, who led the Tulip Crisis on the Dutch side. Erdoganists are now busy sharing his anti-Islam remarks online, only to add: This is the real face of Europe.

If Europeans want to break this vicious cycleand the clash of civilizations it heralds, what they need to do is simple: Show that Wilders and his ilk, and the anti-Islamic ideology they represent, is not the real face of Europe. Show that liberal values are not lies and double standards, but true norms valid for everyone. Uphold freedom of speech and the right to peaceful assembly for all including the defenders of Erdogan. Be principled, in short, about Europes own principles.

Read More: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/turkey-european-union-crisis-empower-erdogan.html

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How conflict with the West empowers Erdogan - Al-Monitor

Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his unrelentingquest to bepermanentdictator of his country and who knows where else, is accusing Dutch officialsof Nazism for denying his proxies the ability to campaign for him among Holland's sizable Turkish populationAlmost simultaneously,a group of Senate Democrats isproffering legislation to overturnPresident Trump's temporary travel ban on six Muslim majority countries.

Thesetwo events seem unrelated --NATO member Turkeyis not one of the six -- butin actuality they are tied closely together because they highlight a growing dilemmathat is approaching catastrophe. Trump's travel ban may be of some use, even necessary, in the short run, but it is only a temporarybandaid for what confronts us.

The president'sintention is to stop the flow from these terror-ridden locales until we, in his parlance, "figure things out," while giving himself a scant 90 days to accomplish this.How do we vet, "extremely" or otherwise, cultures that are so dissimilar to ours in such a time frame? How do we determine whether potential immigrantswill participate willingly in America's pluralisticdemocracy instead of adheringto Sharia law inculcated in them from birth that is antithetical to our way of life? How do we know if they are telling the truthwhen their religion countenances, even encourages, misleadingunbelievers for the advancement of theirfaith?

Non-Arab Turkey was thought to be the most assimilableof Islamic societies, but what is transpiring now in Europe -- Erdogan corralling eagerpro-Islamist voters all over the Continent -- shows how limited that view is. These people had something rather else in mind than liberal democracywhen they headed to Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin in search of work.

Europe itself offers no hint of how this vetting can succeed, although it does offer a preview of what occurs when it is not in place. Anyone visiting the "old country"today is traveling toa different continent from twenty, even ten, years ago, with no-go zones surrounding almost every capital.

Meanwhile, the UN is reporting 20 million people on the brink of starvation in Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and northeast Nigeria. Even if the UN is exaggerating by half, that's a frightening World War II-sized number. What do these four locationshave in common? Any good "phobic" knows the answer. Three of the countriesare also on the temporary ban list. Yemen by itself is caught in a murderous eighth century Islamic crossfire between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, with al-Qaedawaging its own war in the margins. The outflow of this disaster is now the next global horror.

TheSenate Democrats (led by the predicable Schumer and Feinstein) for their part are doing the usual virtue-signaling cum Trump-bashing withtheir attempt to stop the ban, which seems largely symbolic at this point. But a true moral rot and pervasive dishonestylurks just below the surface of their contempt for the president. They offer nothing in return fortheir criticism of Trump and never have. They have no ideahow to deal with the problemand aren't even talking about it, other than to again virtue-signal by saying we should open the door to yet more of these refugees -- this although it was reportedonly last weekthat 300,roughly one-third of all domestic terror casescurrently under investigation by the FBI, are indeed from those admitted to the U. S. as refugees.

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Erdogan, Angela, & Chuck Can Trump Save Europe? - PJ Media

BBC News

Turkey-Netherlands row: Dutch warn citizens after Erdogan threat BBC News The Netherlands has warned its citizens over travel to Turkey as a row between the countries shows no sign of abating. Germany, Austria and the Netherlands blocked Turkish attempts to hold rallies in those countries. Turkish President Recep Tayyip ... Turkey's Erdogan warns Dutch will pay price for disputeBBC News Turkey's Erdogan says Netherlands acting like a 'banana republic'Eyewitness News Dutch-Turkish row: Why is president Recep Tayyip Erdogan obsessed with Nazis?Telegraph.co.uk Voice of America -9news.com.au all 1,027 news articles »

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Turkey-Netherlands row: Dutch warn citizens after Erdogan threat - BBC News