The Associated Press @AP 3 minutes ago
BREAKING: Turkey's state-run media: 7 prosecutors enter base key to US-led fight against IS militants as part of probe into coup.
The Associated Press @AP 3 minutes ago
BREAKING: Turkey's state-run media: 7 prosecutors enter base key to US-led fight against IS militants as part of probe into coup.
Incirlik was jointly used by US and Turkish forces. This may or may not be an issue depending on the scope of their actions.
The more stuff that comes out combined with the moves he is making
Erdogan would be an extraordinarily fortunate fella indeed for such an inept, bumbling coup to come about at such an opportune moment. A Reuters source said that two F-16s were on Erdogan's plane but for inexplicable reasons didn't shoot it down. Huh? I saw a link somewhere to this piece by an expat Turkish journalist in Sweden. I can't vouch for this guy because I know nothing about him, but it's an interesting read:
Quote:
More surprising for me is the amateurishness of the attempted coup on the night of July 15. As a veteran observer of military coups and coup attempts in Turkey, I have never seen any with this magnitude of such inexplicable sloppiness.....
In no previous military coup or coup attempt in Turkeys history has parliament been bombed by military helicopters and fighter jets.
Why did the coup attempt begin with blocking one side of Istanbul's Bosporus Bridge? Why was the passage from the Asian side to Europe blocked while the passage from Europe to Asia was allowed to flow?
Why did the putschists knowing that Erdogan was neither in Ankara nor Istanbul but instead spending his vacation in the Mediterranean seaside town of Marmaris not move to detain him? They let him travel from Marmaris to the nearby Dalaman airport and then fly to Istanbul on a flight that took over an hour.
Why did the putschists not seize the main TV news channels and instead waste precious time taking over the least-watched state TV channel, TRT, allowing their targets to regroup and use more popular channels and social media effectively to challenge the coup attempt?....
Twenty-four hours had not passed after the collapse of the coup attempt when 140 judges judges of the Court of Appeals and 48 judges of the Council of State, two of the highest judiciary institutions were taken into custody. Summarily purged from the judiciary apparatus were another 2,475 judges. A member of the Constitutional Court, the highest institution of the judiciary, was arrested and charged with association with the putschists.
On top of that, the Turkish Interior Ministry suspended almost 9,000 officials over the weekend, including 30 provincial governors and 47 district governors. This is within 2-3 days of the start of the coup. That's an awfully large number of people to purge in such a short time. Link - ( New Window )
'At the height of the attempt to overthrow Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the rebel pilots of two F-16 fighter jets had Erdogan's plane in their sights. And yet he was able to fly on.
The Turkish leader was returning to Istanbul from a holiday near the coastal resort of Marmaris after a faction in the military launched the coup attempt on Friday night, sealing off a bridge across the Bosphorus, trying to capture Istanbul's main airport and sending tanks to parliament in Ankara.
"At least two F-16s harassed Erdogan's plane while it was in the air and en route to Istanbul. They locked their radars on his plane and on two other F-16s protecting him," a former military officer with knowledge of the events told Reuters.
"Why they didn't fire is a mystery," he said.
A successful overthrow of Erdogan, who has ruled the country of about 80 million people since 2003, could have sent Turkey spiraling into conflict and marked another seismic shift in the Middle East, five years after the Arab uprisings erupted and plunged its southern neighbor Syria into civil war.
A senior Turkish official confirmed to Reuters that Erdogan's business jet had been harassed while flying from the airport that serves Marmaris by two F-16s commandeered by the coup plotters but that he had managed to reach Istanbul safely.
A second senior official also said the presidential jet had been "in trouble in the air" but gave no details.
Erdogan said as the coup unfolded that the plotters had tried to attack him in the resort town of Marmaris and had bombed places he had been at shortly after he left. He "evaded death by minutes", the second official said.
Around 25 soldiers in helicopters descended on a hotel in Marmaris on ropes, shooting, just after Erdogan had left in an apparent attempt to seize him, broadcaster CNN Turk said.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had also been directly targeted in Istanbul during the coup bid and had narrowly escaped, the official said, without giving details.
Flight tracker websites showed a Gulfstream IV aircraft, a type of business jet owned by the Turkish government, take off from Dalaman airport, which is about an hour and a quarter's drive from Marmaris, at about 2240 GMT on Friday.
It later circled in what appeared to be a holding pattern just south of Istanbul, around the time when a Reuters witness in the airport was still hearing bursts of gunfire, before finally coming in to land.
Was the best for that region. Noth that has happened since has changed my opinion. Turkey is an ally on paper and only when it's convenient for Erdogan. He's Putin at this point IMO. And like Putin he wants more power and control and is taking what he wants. He won't stop anytime soon
1. Did the replacement of Ozel by Akar as head of the Turkish military in 2015, along with other senior staff changes, mean that the army would never move as a unified force? Was the Gulen faction moving with what they had with little chance for success?
2. Is the US now going to be presented with a "no Gulen, no Incerlik" ultimatum from Erdogan? How do they respond? How does a potential death penalty, allowed in parts of the US but not favored by the President or Secretary of State, come into play?
3. Does Erdogan move Turkey towards a Putin style cleptocracy of a fundamentalist Islamic State?
4. What happens to the PKK? They didn't participate but would make a convenient scapegoat.
5. Does whatever direction Erdogan takes create a whole new class of refugees? Either a small majority or sizable minority of Turks want a Western lifestyle. If he moves in a fundamentalist direction where do they end up and what impact does it have on the Turkish economy?
6. Where does the leadership of the Turkish military end up. Does Erdogan's military end up like Chavez' oil industry in Venezuela?
In a press conference this afternoon Erdogan refused to rule out the death penalty. Point 2 has become very relevant.
The Associated Press @AP 2 minutes ago
BREAKING: Turkey's state media says ministry of education sacks 15,200 for alleged ties to group govt blames for failed coup.
The Associated Press @AP 2 minutes ago
BREAKING: Turkey's state media says ministry of education sacks 15,200 for alleged ties to group govt blames for failed coup.
One wonders how the coup failed if all 15,200 were participants. Or is Erdogan purging anyone that ever had any connections with Gulen.
Reuters Top News @Reuters 2 minutes ago
'We will dig them up by their roots': 50,000 targeted in Turkish purge after failed coup
Around 50,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended or detained since the coup attempt, stirring tensions across the country of 80 million which borders Syria's chaos and is a Western ally against Islamic State.
"This parallel terrorist organization will no longer be an effective pawn for any country," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, referring to what the government has long alleged is a state within a state controlled by followers of Fethullah Gulen.
"We will dig them up by their roots," he told parliament. Link - ( New Window )
The Associated Press @AP 47 seconds ago
The Latest: Turkish media says the government begins to revoke the licenses of 21,000 teachers at private schools.
The Associated Press @AP 47 seconds ago
The Latest: Turkish media says the government begins to revoke the licenses of 21,000 teachers at private schools.
There are roughly 300 Gulen Movement Schools in Turkey so those teachers are the likely target.
''As the July 15 coup attempt was taking place in Turkey, Turkish-speaking ISIS social media lit up against the coup and against the overthrow of Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. ISIS cadres knew if the coup succeeded, it would mean their end in Turkey.''
''Despite Erdogans claims that he is fighting ISIS, evidence indicates that he has been, and continues to be, deeply complicit in allowing ISIS to transport, not just recruits via Turkey, but also weapons and supplies. These chilling facts have been confirmed over and again during our ISIS defector interviews. A former emir [commander] told us that ISIS had been able to construct thousands of propane tank bombs from supplies they brought in through Turkey.''
''That ISIS members would cheer for Erdogan and his government and against the attempted coup, shows how much freedom they have been enjoying under Erdogans administration. From foreign fighters to traders of ISIS sex slaves, alleged perpetrators have been released from prison without trial.
In March 2016, the leader of ISIS in Turkey, Halis Bayancuk and his deputies, were suddenly released from prison though there was ample evidence of Bayancuks activities managing foreign fighter movement and logistical support for ISIS, including helping two French women travel from Istanbul to Gaziantep, a well known border town in southeastern Turkey, to join ISIS.
Similarly, a legal case against Gaziantep businessmen who were facilitating the sale of ISIS sex slaves over the Internet was abruptly closed in a manner unusual for Turkish courts.
As Erdogan has beaten the attempted coup and consolidated even more power to himself, it appears that ISIS also scored a big win. And it begs the question, should we expect more ISIS attacks if its cadres are able to more freely move people and supplies across the Syrian border via Turkey, ISIS gateway into Europe and beyond?''
''U.S. President Barack Obama named Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan among the five leaders that he has established relations based on confidence, in an interview with Time.
In an interview with Fareed Zakaria, the Editor-at-Large of Time magazine, Obama named Turkish PM Erdoğan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, and British Prime Minister David Cameron among leaders that he was able to forge "bonds of trust."
and then, RealClearPolitics 2015:
''By Victor Davis Hanson
December 04, 2015
Turkey often appeals to the West for support, given its longtime membership in NATO. Now, Turkish leadership is in a shouting match with Russia's provocative president, Vladimir Putin, over Turkey's downing of a Russian jet in probable Turkish airspace. Each country has accused the other of helping terrorists in Syria.
The problem with Turkey and the West, however, is that their relationship is decades out of date. What was once an alliance is now nothing special at all.
Barack Obama used to lecture reluctant Europeans about why they should accept Turkey into the European Union as its first Islamic member. Obama boasted of a "special friendship" with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As president, Obama suddenly forgot the promise he made as a senator to formally acknowledge the Armenian genocide committed by the Turks in the early 1900s
Turkey has become a favorite stop abroad for Obama to lecture his fellow Americans about their ethical shortcomings, from past treatment of Native Americans to their present supposed xenophobia over not accepting Syrian refugees en masse.
Yet the more Obama has appeased Erdogan, the more anti-Western and anti-American Turkey has become.''
''Two members of Turkey's constitutional court arrested: NTV
Two members of Turkey's constitutional court were arrested on Wednesday, private broadcaster NTV reported, as purges in the judiciary, military, civil service and education widen in the aftermath of a failed coup.
About 60,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended, detained or are under investigation since Friday's attempted coup staged by a faction within the armed forces.
The two constitutional court members were among a group of 113 officials from the judiciary formally arrested on Wednesday, NTV said. Formal charges were also brought against President Tayyip Erdogan's chief aide-de-camp, it said.
The failed putsch and the ensuing purges have seriously unsettled Turkey, a country of nearly 80 million which borders Syria and is a Western ally against Islamic State.
(Reporting by Seda Sezer and Ece Toksabay; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Gareth Jones)''
The Associated Press @AP 42 seconds ago
BREAKING: Turkey deputy prime minister says his country to suspend European human rights convention under new state of emergency.
The Associated Press @AP 42 seconds ago
BREAKING: Turkey deputy prime minister says his country to suspend European human rights convention under new state of emergency.
It's like an open invitation to torture, murder, and disappear any threat to Gollum's power. What's next concentration camps?
looks like we've resumed air strikes from Incirlik AFB. Surprised this story hasn't make it into the US press.
US Airstrike from Incirlik - ( New Window )
It made television news, as had the resumption of flights out of Incirlik
Reuters Top News @Reuters 19m19 minutes ago
BREAKING: No obstacle to extending Turkey's state of emergency beyond initial three months - Erdogan tells Reuters
MORE: Limited constitutional change might be possible with consensus of other parties - Turkey's Erdogan tells Reuters
MORE: Turkey's Erdogan says 4,060 people arrested since coup attempt, including 103 military generals
MORE: Turkey's Erdogan says 246 people other than plotters killed in coup attempt
ISIS and associated movements is much better than ours, you think its a coincidence that they rallied so quickly? That they are pushing the civilians killed angle all of a sudden, they play the post modern game better than we do, means towards an ironic end.
David Ignatious interview of Jame Clapper in the WaPo
One of these camps that holds generals involved in this coup attempt, the men are stripped down to just their underwear and hundreds of bodies stocked on top of themselves.
Several of the lower ranking soldiers who just were following orders, were thrown to pro-Erdogan civilians and beaten to death.
Erdogan's Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim, has also proposed to changing their constitution so that these plotters could be executed.
Unfortunately, things in Turkey will get a lot more worst over the coming years. Wouldn't surprise me if Erdogan just declares himself Sultan of Turkey at some point in the future.
"If todays Western leaders possess one general trait, its a genius for self-deception. Insisting that Islamist terror has nothing to do with Islam, or that religion has no strategic impact, or that all human beings want freedom and democracy, amounts to declaring that up is down, right is left and night is day.
And midnight is coming for millions in Turkey, even as we insist that a dying flashlight is the sun.
Over the past few years, many Americans heard the term caliphate for the first time as ISIS declared that the territory it seized from Iraq and Syria was the caliphate reborn. To us, caliphate appeared to be just another name for a vast torture chamber. But for hundreds of millions of Muslims, many of whom have nothing to do with ISIS, the caliphate is associated with a lost and much-romanticized golden age when the caliph, who was also the Turkish sultan, claimed spiritual dominion over all Muslims.
In the 14th century, the Ottomans revived the still-older concept of a caliphate, declaring that the sultan and caliph were one. It remained so until 1924, when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the great modernizer, abolished the office as a relic, insisting that Turks had to build a new Turkey and not lay claim to an enervating empire, temporal or spiritual.
At the time, the Muslim world split into two camps. On March 8, 1924, The Economist captured the difference: For Turks and other nationalities newly free of Ottoman rule, the Western idea of nationality is in the ascendant and the Caliphate is losing its power over the imagination. So far, so good.
But the journal went on to note that for Muslims under colonial rule, the Caliphate carries a message of salvation through an international Muslim solidarity.
That message of salvation, if not yet of solidarity, is back. The ragtag ISIS caliphate is merely the forerunner of the more ambitious caliphate to come.
Its coming in Turkey.
Convinced that history has no relevance, those same self-deluded Western leaders and diplomats refuse to recognize President Recep Tayyip Erdogans vision for his Turkey. He dreams not only of neo-Ottoman glory, but of a caliphate reborn and led by a Turk. (Might anyone venture a guess as to his candidate?) Essentially, the sultan and caliph both would be back on a Turkish throne.
The person who tweeted that explained at length he was mocking
the person is a party leader in a minor Eastern province not a person close to power
two thats not the way he meant caliphate ( he meant that people underestimated Erdogan)
three he was referring to a ruling not a goal
four the politician in question has a reputation of saying oddball stuff
Five i would not take anyone in the journalism worlds opinion on Turkey. Its has long had the fewest journalists per capita and has one of the highest rates of jailing "jurnalists" and so the ones not in jail are writing what someone wants not actual journalism.
Six, for his inappropriate remarks his twitter is now down and no one has seen him lately.
Sounds like a truly strategic insight from a real insider.
Thats what your stuff which said nothing told us...junk. what you left out was confirmation that you said nothing.
So you told me what exactly? That you copied junk and did not recognize that it was junk? I knew that already.
And so what if Turkey is a caliphate?
All we really really care about is that they do not export terror and they waste lots of money on pipelines that are prone to sabotage and dont matter to us by the time they might get built
We can move our nuclear weapons. And Turkey has no way to lift the economic fortunes of its growing population so eventually what ever government is in power is weak anyway.
Lastly, If i am not in conversation with you then dont post my name on threads i am not on and I will do the same. Thats been an unwritten rule around here for years.
BREAKING: Turkey's state-run media: 7 prosecutors enter base key to US-led fight against IS militants as part of probe into coup.
BREAKING: Turkey's state-run media: 7 prosecutors enter base key to US-led fight against IS militants as part of probe into coup.
Incirlik was jointly used by US and Turkish forces. This may or may not be an issue depending on the scope of their actions.
In no previous military coup or coup attempt in Turkeys history has parliament been bombed by military helicopters and fighter jets.
Why did the coup attempt begin with blocking one side of Istanbul's Bosporus Bridge? Why was the passage from the Asian side to Europe blocked while the passage from Europe to Asia was allowed to flow?
Why did the putschists knowing that Erdogan was neither in Ankara nor Istanbul but instead spending his vacation in the Mediterranean seaside town of Marmaris not move to detain him? They let him travel from Marmaris to the nearby Dalaman airport and then fly to Istanbul on a flight that took over an hour.
Why did the putschists not seize the main TV news channels and instead waste precious time taking over the least-watched state TV channel, TRT, allowing their targets to regroup and use more popular channels and social media effectively to challenge the coup attempt?....
Twenty-four hours had not passed after the collapse of the coup attempt when 140 judges judges of the Court of Appeals and 48 judges of the Council of State, two of the highest judiciary institutions were taken into custody. Summarily purged from the judiciary apparatus were another 2,475 judges. A member of the Constitutional Court, the highest institution of the judiciary, was arrested and charged with association with the putschists.
On top of that, the Turkish Interior Ministry suspended almost 9,000 officials over the weekend, including 30 provincial governors and 47 district governors. This is within 2-3 days of the start of the coup. That's an awfully large number of people to purge in such a short time.
Link - ( New Window )
All hail Grand Emperor Gollum.
'At the height of the attempt to overthrow Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, the rebel pilots of two F-16 fighter jets had Erdogan's plane in their sights. And yet he was able to fly on.
The Turkish leader was returning to Istanbul from a holiday near the coastal resort of Marmaris after a faction in the military launched the coup attempt on Friday night, sealing off a bridge across the Bosphorus, trying to capture Istanbul's main airport and sending tanks to parliament in Ankara.
"At least two F-16s harassed Erdogan's plane while it was in the air and en route to Istanbul. They locked their radars on his plane and on two other F-16s protecting him," a former military officer with knowledge of the events told Reuters.
"Why they didn't fire is a mystery," he said.
A successful overthrow of Erdogan, who has ruled the country of about 80 million people since 2003, could have sent Turkey spiraling into conflict and marked another seismic shift in the Middle East, five years after the Arab uprisings erupted and plunged its southern neighbor Syria into civil war.
A senior Turkish official confirmed to Reuters that Erdogan's business jet had been harassed while flying from the airport that serves Marmaris by two F-16s commandeered by the coup plotters but that he had managed to reach Istanbul safely.
A second senior official also said the presidential jet had been "in trouble in the air" but gave no details.
Erdogan said as the coup unfolded that the plotters had tried to attack him in the resort town of Marmaris and had bombed places he had been at shortly after he left. He "evaded death by minutes", the second official said.
Around 25 soldiers in helicopters descended on a hotel in Marmaris on ropes, shooting, just after Erdogan had left in an apparent attempt to seize him, broadcaster CNN Turk said.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim had also been directly targeted in Istanbul during the coup bid and had narrowly escaped, the official said, without giving details.
Flight tracker websites showed a Gulfstream IV aircraft, a type of business jet owned by the Turkish government, take off from Dalaman airport, which is about an hour and a quarter's drive from Marmaris, at about 2240 GMT on Friday.
It later circled in what appeared to be a holding pattern just south of Istanbul, around the time when a Reuters witness in the airport was still hearing bursts of gunfire, before finally coming in to land.
2. Is the US now going to be presented with a "no Gulen, no Incerlik" ultimatum from Erdogan? How do they respond? How does a potential death penalty, allowed in parts of the US but not favored by the President or Secretary of State, come into play?
3. Does Erdogan move Turkey towards a Putin style cleptocracy of a fundamentalist Islamic State?
4. What happens to the PKK? They didn't participate but would make a convenient scapegoat.
5. Does whatever direction Erdogan takes create a whole new class of refugees? Either a small majority or sizable minority of Turks want a Western lifestyle. If he moves in a fundamentalist direction where do they end up and what impact does it have on the Turkish economy?
6. Where does the leadership of the Turkish military end up. Does Erdogan's military end up like Chavez' oil industry in Venezuela?
In a press conference this afternoon Erdogan refused to rule out the death penalty. Point 2 has become very relevant.
Is it s fairly safe bet that all are people who believe in the basics of civil society, law, freedom of press, secularism and so forth?
I would wonder who gave Erdogan the tip off.
How long has it been since Turkey really gave a fuck about what they say?
BREAKING: Turkey's state media says ministry of education sacks 15,200 for alleged ties to group govt blames for failed coup.
BREAKING: Turkey's state media says ministry of education sacks 15,200 for alleged ties to group govt blames for failed coup.
One wonders how the coup failed if all 15,200 were participants. Or is Erdogan purging anyone that ever had any connections with Gulen.
'We will dig them up by their roots': 50,000 targeted in Turkish purge after failed coup
Around 50,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended or detained since the coup attempt, stirring tensions across the country of 80 million which borders Syria's chaos and is a Western ally against Islamic State.
"This parallel terrorist organization will no longer be an effective pawn for any country," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, referring to what the government has long alleged is a state within a state controlled by followers of Fethullah Gulen.
"We will dig them up by their roots," he told parliament.
Link - ( New Window )
The Latest: Turkish media says the government begins to revoke the licenses of 21,000 teachers at private schools.
Education is in direct conflict with instituting laws best served in the Dark Ages
The Latest: Turkish media says the government begins to revoke the licenses of 21,000 teachers at private schools.
There are roughly 300 Gulen Movement Schools in Turkey so those teachers are the likely target.
BREAKING: Turkey's President Erdogan says there may have been foreign countries involved in coup attempt.
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international-affairs/288452-turkeys-failed-coup-a-victory-for-isis
''As the July 15 coup attempt was taking place in Turkey, Turkish-speaking ISIS social media lit up against the coup and against the overthrow of Turkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. ISIS cadres knew if the coup succeeded, it would mean their end in Turkey.''
''Despite Erdogans claims that he is fighting ISIS, evidence indicates that he has been, and continues to be, deeply complicit in allowing ISIS to transport, not just recruits via Turkey, but also weapons and supplies. These chilling facts have been confirmed over and again during our ISIS defector interviews. A former emir [commander] told us that ISIS had been able to construct thousands of propane tank bombs from supplies they brought in through Turkey.''
''That ISIS members would cheer for Erdogan and his government and against the attempted coup, shows how much freedom they have been enjoying under Erdogans administration. From foreign fighters to traders of ISIS sex slaves, alleged perpetrators have been released from prison without trial.
In March 2016, the leader of ISIS in Turkey, Halis Bayancuk and his deputies, were suddenly released from prison though there was ample evidence of Bayancuks activities managing foreign fighter movement and logistical support for ISIS, including helping two French women travel from Istanbul to Gaziantep, a well known border town in southeastern Turkey, to join ISIS.
Similarly, a legal case against Gaziantep businessmen who were facilitating the sale of ISIS sex slaves over the Internet was abruptly closed in a manner unusual for Turkish courts.
As Erdogan has beaten the attempted coup and consolidated even more power to himself, it appears that ISIS also scored a big win. And it begs the question, should we expect more ISIS attacks if its cadres are able to more freely move people and supplies across the Syrian border via Turkey, ISIS gateway into Europe and beyond?''
BREAKING: Turkey will have a state of emergency for three months to tackle Gulen movement - President Erdogan
MORE: Turkey's three-month state of emergency not against rule of law or freedoms - President Erdogan
''U.S. President Barack Obama named Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan among the five leaders that he has established relations based on confidence, in an interview with Time.
In an interview with Fareed Zakaria, the Editor-at-Large of Time magazine, Obama named Turkish PM Erdoğan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, and British Prime Minister David Cameron among leaders that he was able to forge "bonds of trust."
and then, RealClearPolitics 2015:
''By Victor Davis Hanson
December 04, 2015
Turkey often appeals to the West for support, given its longtime membership in NATO. Now, Turkish leadership is in a shouting match with Russia's provocative president, Vladimir Putin, over Turkey's downing of a Russian jet in probable Turkish airspace. Each country has accused the other of helping terrorists in Syria.
The problem with Turkey and the West, however, is that their relationship is decades out of date. What was once an alliance is now nothing special at all.
Barack Obama used to lecture reluctant Europeans about why they should accept Turkey into the European Union as its first Islamic member. Obama boasted of a "special friendship" with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As president, Obama suddenly forgot the promise he made as a senator to formally acknowledge the Armenian genocide committed by the Turks in the early 1900s
Turkey has become a favorite stop abroad for Obama to lecture his fellow Americans about their ethical shortcomings, from past treatment of Native Americans to their present supposed xenophobia over not accepting Syrian refugees en masse.
Yet the more Obama has appeased Erdogan, the more anti-Western and anti-American Turkey has become.''
Turkey's president declares 3-month state of emergency "to eliminate the threat against democracy."
Two members of Turkey's constitutional court were arrested on Wednesday, private broadcaster NTV reported, as purges in the judiciary, military, civil service and education widen in the aftermath of a failed coup.
About 60,000 soldiers, police, judges, civil servants and teachers have been suspended, detained or are under investigation since Friday's attempted coup staged by a faction within the armed forces.
The two constitutional court members were among a group of 113 officials from the judiciary formally arrested on Wednesday, NTV said. Formal charges were also brought against President Tayyip Erdogan's chief aide-de-camp, it said.
The failed putsch and the ensuing purges have seriously unsettled Turkey, a country of nearly 80 million which borders Syria and is a Western ally against Islamic State.
(Reporting by Seda Sezer and Ece Toksabay; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Gareth Jones)''
BREAKING: Turkey deputy prime minister says his country to suspend European human rights convention under new state of emergency.
BREAKING: Turkey deputy prime minister says his country to suspend European human rights convention under new state of emergency.
It's like an open invitation to torture, murder, and disappear any threat to Gollum's power. What's next concentration camps?
US Airstrike from Incirlik - ( New Window )
US Airstrike from Incirlik - ( New Window )
It made television news, as had the resumption of flights out of Incirlik
BREAKING: No obstacle to extending Turkey's state of emergency beyond initial three months - Erdogan tells Reuters
MORE: Limited constitutional change might be possible with consensus of other parties - Turkey's Erdogan tells Reuters
MORE: Turkey's Erdogan says 4,060 people arrested since coup attempt, including 103 military generals
MORE: Turkey's Erdogan says 246 people other than plotters killed in coup attempt
Turkey's Erdogan, using emergency decree, shuts private schools, charities, unions
Link - ( New Window )
Turkey detains 42 journalists in crackdown as Europe sounds alarm
Several of the lower ranking soldiers who just were following orders, were thrown to pro-Erdogan civilians and beaten to death.
Erdogan's Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim, has also proposed to changing their constitution so that these plotters could be executed.
Unfortunately, things in Turkey will get a lot more worst over the coming years. Wouldn't surprise me if Erdogan just declares himself Sultan of Turkey at some point in the future.
Turkey orders dozens of media organizations to close, which could raise domestic, international tensions.
"If todays Western leaders possess one general trait, its a genius for self-deception. Insisting that Islamist terror has nothing to do with Islam, or that religion has no strategic impact, or that all human beings want freedom and democracy, amounts to declaring that up is down, right is left and night is day.
And midnight is coming for millions in Turkey, even as we insist that a dying flashlight is the sun.
Over the past few years, many Americans heard the term caliphate for the first time as ISIS declared that the territory it seized from Iraq and Syria was the caliphate reborn. To us, caliphate appeared to be just another name for a vast torture chamber. But for hundreds of millions of Muslims, many of whom have nothing to do with ISIS, the caliphate is associated with a lost and much-romanticized golden age when the caliph, who was also the Turkish sultan, claimed spiritual dominion over all Muslims.
In the 14th century, the Ottomans revived the still-older concept of a caliphate, declaring that the sultan and caliph were one. It remained so until 1924, when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the great modernizer, abolished the office as a relic, insisting that Turks had to build a new Turkey and not lay claim to an enervating empire, temporal or spiritual.
At the time, the Muslim world split into two camps. On March 8, 1924, The Economist captured the difference: For Turks and other nationalities newly free of Ottoman rule, the Western idea of nationality is in the ascendant and the Caliphate is losing its power over the imagination. So far, so good.
But the journal went on to note that for Muslims under colonial rule, the Caliphate carries a message of salvation through an international Muslim solidarity.
That message of salvation, if not yet of solidarity, is back. The ragtag ISIS caliphate is merely the forerunner of the more ambitious caliphate to come.
Its coming in Turkey.
Convinced that history has no relevance, those same self-deluded Western leaders and diplomats refuse to recognize President Recep Tayyip Erdogans vision for his Turkey. He dreams not only of neo-Ottoman glory, but of a caliphate reborn and led by a Turk. (Might anyone venture a guess as to his candidate?) Essentially, the sultan and caliph both would be back on a Turkish throne.
Today, Istanbul. Tomorrow, the world...."
(told you Bill2)
you said stuff.
you said stuff.
Hey Bill. Did you see the article on Turkey in last weekends WSJ?
Today, Istanbul. Tomorrow, the world...."
(told you Bill2)
Interesting or bullshit?
The person who tweeted that explained at length he was mocking
the person is a party leader in a minor Eastern province not a person close to power
two thats not the way he meant caliphate ( he meant that people underestimated Erdogan)
three he was referring to a ruling not a goal
four the politician in question has a reputation of saying oddball stuff
Five i would not take anyone in the journalism worlds opinion on Turkey. Its has long had the fewest journalists per capita and has one of the highest rates of jailing "jurnalists" and so the ones not in jail are writing what someone wants not actual journalism.
Six, for his inappropriate remarks his twitter is now down and no one has seen him lately.
Sounds like a truly strategic insight from a real insider.
Thats what your stuff which said nothing told us...junk. what you left out was confirmation that you said nothing.
So you told me what exactly? That you copied junk and did not recognize that it was junk? I knew that already.
And so what if Turkey is a caliphate?
All we really really care about is that they do not export terror and they waste lots of money on pipelines that are prone to sabotage and dont matter to us by the time they might get built
We can move our nuclear weapons. And Turkey has no way to lift the economic fortunes of its growing population so eventually what ever government is in power is weak anyway.
Lastly, If i am not in conversation with you then dont post my name on threads i am not on and I will do the same. Thats been an unwritten rule around here for years.
carry on.
BREAKING: Turkish President Erdogan says he will drop all lawsuits against people charged with insulting him.
carry on.
Translation:
"Damn I just got my clock punched in by getting caught regurgitating nonsense from a loony"
Nazli Ilicak, 72 years old veteran of Turkish journalism. A staunch supporter of liberal democracy. Now under arrest
Bulent Mumay. A hard-working man, who made enemies among Erdogan's inner circle for top-notch journalism. Arrested.
Bunyamin Koseli. We used to be roommates. An excellent mind, great investigative reporter. Jailed for doing his job.
Arda Akin. Known for columns that deeply disturbed the government. Roared when necessary, without fear. Arrested.
Busra Erdal. Veteran court reporter. Revered & reviled, made enemies because she never stopped writing. Arrested.
Cemal Kalyoncu. He knew nothing in his life besides reporting and editing. Arrested because he did not bow to power.
Ali Akkus. If Turkey has few excellent newsroom editors, he is among the top. Publisher of graft cases. Arrested.
Abdullah Kilic. Supreme irony that he made headlines for investigating 1960 military coup. Arrested on coup charges.
Ufuk Sanli. His Al Monitor columns shed light on Turkey's economy. An avid reader, excellent reporter. Arrested.
Emre Soncan. To learn anything about the military, he was the reporter to read. Extraordinary journalist. Arrested.
A talented journalist, unwavering editor. Published a series of court investigations. Now paying the price. Arrested
Hasim Soylemez. A general assignment investigative reporter who wrote about almost anything. Price: Arrested.
Bayram Kaya. Made his career by digging into Turkey's economic life. Now under arrest for excellent court reporting.
Yakup Cetin. We know his face because he was live on TV when a story broke out. As every great reporter, arrested.
Cihan Acar. Colleagues called him "cemetery Cihan" for exceptional coverage of funerals, from Kurds to celebrities.
Mehmet Gundem. Hardly anyone could get away when he asked questions. An interview geek. Arrested.
Sahin Alpay. I don't know anyone else who fought for Turkish democracy more than him. A champion of rights. Arrested
Ahmet T. Alkan. He made his point through satire. Was a marvelous novelist. Now with head held high, going to jail.
Ali Bulac. A powerful mind, one of Turkey's rare Islamist sociologists. Refused to bow to Erdogan. Arrested.
Mumtazer Turkone. Tortured in jails after 1980 coup. With exceptional writing, always advocated liberties. Arrested.
Hilmi Yavuz. Almost as old as Turkey itself, a great literary mind, an extraordinary poet and columnist. Arrested.
Yakup Saglam. From riots to war, Yakup was on the spot when something went wrong. Refused to applaud govt - arrested
Ahmet Memis. Guru of digital journalism. Give him a news portal and see its rating hit the roof. A critic - arrested
Nuriye Akman. Give her a cup of coffee and she would ask the most amazing questions. Interview nerd. Arrested.
Faruk Akkan. Perhaps the most prolific writer in Turkey. Made career by reporting from Moscow. Arrested.
Faruk Akkan. Perhaps the most prolific writer in Turkey. Made career by reporting from Moscow. Arrested.