Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Government Corruption

Massive voter fraud operation just uncovered in PA

2024-10-26

[X]

This voter fraud bust in Pennsylvania may have just saved Trump’s presidency

The media says election fraud isn’t an issue

But they just busted *thousands* of fraudulent Democrat registrations https://t.co/Fc1FpKvm28
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) October 25, 2024

Courtesy of Skidmark, the rest of the story:

Prosecutors in key Pennsylvania county say they've busted a fraudulent voter registration scheme

[JustTheNews] According to the local elected officials, a batch of 2,500 ballots is suspected to have large numbers of fraudulent registration forms.

In a fresh blow to Americans' confidence in elections, prosecutors in a key Pennsylvania county said Friday they had uncovered a large-scale scheme to submit fraudulent voter applications that were collected at shopping malls and other locations.

Lancaster District Attorney Heather Adams told a news conference that detectives have found about 60% of some 2,500 election registrations submitted in recent days to the county's election office were fraudulent.

"At this point, it is believed that the fraudulent voter registrations are connected to a large-scale canvassing operation for voter registrations that date back to June," Adams said.

The prosecutor said that while detectives continue to review applications they have confirmed fake names, identifications and signatures were used to submit applications and create potentially fake voters. In some cases, real voters' names were used but the voter said they neither approved nor signed the registrations.

"At this point we have confirmed violations of our crime code," Adams said.

She added that she was aware of at least two other counties that may have similar concerns about recent voter applications dropped off in large batches.

"Staff noticed that numerous applications appeared to have the same handwriting (and) were filled out on the same day," Adams said during the press conference.

“The confirmed indicators of fraud that detectives came across were inaccuracies with the addresses listed on the applications, fake and false personal identification information, as well as false names," she continued. "Also, applications that had names that did not match the provided Social Security information."

Lancaster is a politically influential county in the battleground state and home to a large Amish population that both parties have courted.

Pennsylvania's State Department, which oversees elections, praised Lancaster County for its quick actions.

"The Department has been in contact with the county and is offering support in its ongoing investigation. The Department applauds the efforts of the election staff for their diligent work in spotting this potential fraud and bringing it to the attention of law enforcement," the agency said in a statement.

"The Department guidance in cases like this is for counties to immediately contact law enforcement, which is exactly what Lancaster County officials did," the statement added.

The scheme uncovered in Lancaster County mirrors a similar operation that Michigan police uncovered in 2020 in Muskegon that was referred to the FBI, which has yet to announce any arrests or charges.

Link

The Grand Turk

Explosion at Turkish aerospace facility ruled a terror attack

2024-10-24

[FoxNews] Turkish authorities say 5 people, including security and civilians, were killed in the attack

Authorities in Turkey say that a deadly explosion at an aerospace facility on Wednesday was a terrorist attack.

The TUSAS site is in Kahramankazan district, Ankara province, about 40km from the capital.

Authorities say five people were killed and more than a dozen injured. Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya confirmed that the explosion was a "terrorist attack" in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. He added that the victims were both civilians and security personnel.

Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz condemned the attack in a statement on social media. He added that security forces responded to the explosion immediately.

"The treacherous terrorist attack targeted Turkey's achievements in defence industry," he wrote, adding that the country's "fight against terrorism will continue."

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also acknowledged the attack in a statement, condemning "terrorism in all its forms."

Turkey's defense sector is a major exporter for the country, focusing mainly on military drones built at facilities like the one attacked on Wednesday.

No group has taken responsibility for the attack as of Wednesday afternoon.

Turkey has played a divisive role in the ongoing tensions in the Middle East throughout the year. While the country is a member of NATO, it has also expressed solidarity with terrorist groups like Hamas.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered the nation's flag to half staff in after the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in August. Israeli officials condemned the move when the Turkish Embassy in Israel complied with Erdogan's order.

The Times of Israel adds:

Four people were killed and 14 others wounded in an attack at the Turkish Aerospace Industries’ headquarters on Wednesday, the government said, and witnesses said they heard gunfire and a loud explosion at the site near Ankara.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said two attackers were killed in what he called a terrorist attack, adding three of the injured were at death's door. TV broadcasters earlier showed footage of armed assailants entering the TUSAS building.

Ottoman Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, alongside Russia’s Vladimir Putin

...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
at a BRICS conference in the Russian city of Kazan, also called it a terrorist attack.

The cause and perpetrators of the blast and subsequent gunfire remained unclear. No group had grabbed credit. Prosecutors have launched an investigation, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Some media reports claimed a suicide kaboom had occurred and that there were hostages inside the building, though officials have not confirmed this.

Witnesses told Rooters that employees inside the building were taken by authorities to shelters and no one was permitted to leave for a few hours. They said the blasts they heard may have taken place at different exits as employees were leaving work for the day.

According to Rudaw, a broadcast ban was imposed by the government, as they usually do in such situations.

[X]

Terrorist attack in Ankara.
2 people were seen carrying the attack, one of the blew himself up and the other clashed with security forces. Gunfire ongoing pic.twitter.com/nIRmbwG8Ko
— Potkin Azarmehr (@potkazar) October 23, 2024

Link

Africa Horn

UN slams Kenya over deportation of Turkish refugees

2024-10-23

[Garowe] The United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has slammed Kenya over the deportation of four Ottoman Turkish nationals while expressing 'deep concerns' regarding the incident that could be in breach of various international statutes.

According to the government of Kenya, the refugees were repatriated following the request by the government of ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
<del>The Sick Man of Europe</del> Turkey

<del>The Sick Man of Europe</del> Turkey

...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...
. The statement comes after reports of several people being kidnapped in the capital city, Nairobi, on Friday.

A British national told the BBC he and several Ottoman Turkish citizens had been kidnapped by masked men. He said he had been released after eight hours when he showed his alleged abductors a copy of his British passport.

"UNHCR urges the Government of Kenya to abide by their international legal obligations, and in particular, to respect the principle of non-refoulement [forced return of refugees], which protects asylum-seekers and refugees from any measure that could lead to their removal to a place where their life or freedom would be threatened," UNHCR said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kenya said it agreed to Turkey's request to repatriate the refugees because the East African nation has "robust historical and strategic relations" with Turkey, and that it had been assured the refugees would be "treated with dignity".

Multiple sources in Ankara say the four men were deported because they are believed to be followers of the Gulen movement, a powerful Islamic community with followers in Turkey and worldwide, whose leader has just died.

The Gulen movement runs a network of schools in Kenya and around the world. Known as Hizmet or "service" in Turkey, it was blamed for a 2016 coup attempt and later declared a terrorist organization, BBC reports.

Under the UN's 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom. Turkey has remained silent over the incident, which has been widely condemned.

A Kenyan law firm named Mukele and Kakai which said it was acting on behalf of the four men, warned various airlines against ferrying them abroad, maintaining that they were enjoying refugee status in the country. It termed them victims of political victimization.

The Kenyan government said it had an "unswerving commitment to the protection and promotion of refugee rights" and was "committed to the privacy and confidentiality of the repatriated individuals".

The British national, Necdet Seyitoglu, told the BBC that six other people he knew - all Ottoman Turkish citizens - were also kidnapped in the same manner from different locations in Nairobi.

Turkey is often in negative news headlines with President Tayyip Erdogan accused of targeting opposition figures in the country. Turkey has close bilateral ties with the Republic of Kenya, which hosts over 800,000 refugees from across the world.

Link

The Grand Turk

Erdogan's Enemy No. 1 Is Dead, But Behind His Death Lurks the Ghost of an Idea

2024-10-22

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Kamran Gasanov

[REGNUM] Prominent Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen has died in the United States at the age of 83. Can Erdogan breathe a sigh of relief?

Purely symbolically, one can say that the main enemy of the Turkish president is gone. At the same time, since 2016, the influence of the Gulenists in Turkey has been significantly undermined.

Gulen and Erdogan started out as ideological allies.

Both supported Islam, criticized Ataturk's secularism, aimed to introduce an Islamic model of society, and both were victims of the secular model and its iron fist in the form of the military.

Gülen followed the religious path from childhood, consciously. At the age of 10, he became a professional reader of the Koran, then a teacher of the Koran. The country's spiritual administration sent him on the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca. - Ed.) as an official.

In the 1970s, Gülen created his own movement, Hizmet, which translates from Turkish as “service.” He preached service to society and the state, called for interreligious dialogue, and exalted the role of education (“school before mosque”). These ideas became the harbinger of the creation of hundreds of schools and lyceums in Turkey, the CIS, and other countries.

Politically, Gülen advocated a more modern Islam, rejected extremes and radicalism. He believed that Islam was not in conflict with democracy, and supported Turkey's European integration. His teachings welcomed dialogue between Islamic movements.

By 1980, Gülen had become one of the most influential Muslim preachers in Turkey.

If he tried to establish an Islamic model through the creation of horizontal connections, education and cultivation of the future elite (teachers, judges, politicians, etc.) in his schools, Erdogan waged an active political struggle. First under the leadership of the founder of political Islam in Turkey, Necmetdin Erbakan, thanks to whom he became mayor of Istanbul in 1994. Then, after another military coup and the ban on the Welfare Party, he founded his own Justice and Development Party (AKP).

With it, Erdogan won the parliamentary elections in 2002 and began to gradually transform the secular republic into an Islamic one. This is where he needed strong allies from the Hizmet organization.

Gulen, who had been in the United States for medical treatment since 1999, supported the AKP. Gulenists saw Erdogan as a force capable of implementing their views.

During Erdogan's premiership, Hizmet strengthened its position. Lyceums and schools were established both inside and outside the country. By spreading the Turkish language, Islam and the positive image of the Ottoman Empire, they strengthened Turkey's soft power and, accordingly, benefited the AKP's foreign policy.

The second motivation for the alliance was the fight against the remnants of the Ataturk era - secular bureaucrats and generals. The former irritated Erdogan by limiting Islam in the country, the latter - by constant military coups, as a result of which Erbakan and Erdogan himself suffered.

By not interfering with and even helping Gulenists take up positions in the military, judicial and educational systems, the Turkish prime minister tried to weaken the secular elite. Erdogan did not hide his support for Gulen, calling him nothing less than "hodja" (mentor, teacher).

The Gülenists paid handsomely for such sympathy. They voted for the AKP in elections. The Gülen-controlled rating media (Zaman, Cihan, Samanyolu) extolled Erdogan and denounced the opposition. In 2008, as part of the Ergenekon affair, Erdogan carried out a purge of the Armed Forces and security agencies. The Gülenists welcomed these measures.

As Erdogan began to triumph over his secular opponents, competition emerged between yesterday's allies.

Erdogan headed the government, his party controlled the parliament, but Gulen influenced the youth, society, had a number of major media outlets at his disposal, including the Zaman newspaper, controlled financial flows through the same schools and the large bank Bank Asya. There was an official state, but in parallel to it there was also a Gulen state with people in all spheres of society - from mosque parishioners to diplomats.

As the Eastern proverb says: "You can't cook two sheep's heads in one pot." The prime minister began to fear the excessive influence of the Gulenists and decided to rein them in.

The beginnings of the conflict appeared back in 2010.

Then Erdogan sent the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, eight Turkish sailors were killed when the ship was stormed by an Israeli coast guard unit. Gulen called the operation an adventure that led to a rupture in strategic relations with Israel.

Three years later, the prime minister encroached on the “sacred.” He proposed closing the private schools of the “djemaat” (as members of the “Hizmet” movement were called, in other words, the “Muslim community.” — Ed.). The Turkish newspaper Taraf published an article under the headline “A plan to finish off Gulen.” It cites an excerpt from a 2004 document of the Turkish National Security Council, which outlines the goal of cleansing state structures of the “djemaat.”

Gulen did not remain in debt.

In December 2013, thanks in large part to the media under his control, a corruption scandal was provoked. The Gulenists had a dossier on almost every official in Turkey.

As part of Operation Big Bribe, the Financial Crime Department conducted searches in the homes of the sons of Foreign Minister Muammer Güler, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan and Urban Development Minister Erdoğan Bayraktar. The named ministers, as well as the Minister for European Integration Egemen Bagış, were accused of corruption. Moreover, $4.5 million in cash was found during the search at the head of the largest bank, Halk Bankası, Suleyman Aslan.

Erdogan had to change the government, which was a huge blow to his reputation. Critics thought that Erdogan's more than 10-year premiership was coming to an end. Six months before that, the biggest protests since his rise to power had died down in Gezi Park, where Gulen also criticized the actions of the prime minister and the police.

But it was the events of 2014 that really got Erdogan mad and showed him that Gulen was an enemy. That was where he got to the quick.

Not just ministers, but also the prime minister's son, Necmeddin Bilal, began to be accused of corruption. Turkish newspapers published photos of Bilal's meeting with a certain Saudi businessman, Yasin al-Qadi. Allegedly, under the cover of the prime minister's security, they negotiated the sale of a plot of land in a prestigious area of Istanbul, the price of which could reach a billion dollars.

An even more scandalous piece of material has leaked online via Gülen-controlled media: an audio recording of a conversation between the Turkish prime minister and his son, in which they discuss what to do with $30 million. A voice resembling Bilal asks whether Erdogan wants to keep some of it for himself, to which the other person replies: “Better not over the phone.”

Erdogan accused police and prosecutors of a plot orchestrated by " dark forces from abroad."

Turkey began to close down schools sponsored by Gulenists. Already in December 2014, an Istanbul court issued an arrest warrant for their leader. The arrest documents were forwarded to Interpol, but it did not reciprocate.

The conflict, which had gained momentum, reached its peak in 2016.

Two months before the July coup attempt, Erdogan shut down two major Gülen media outlets, the Cihan news agency and the Zaman newspaper. Then came July 15, the day the attempt to overthrow Erdogan arrived.

He placed all responsibility for this on Fethullah Gulen and his people. For his part, the preacher denied his guilt and said that Erdogan himself had faked the coup in order to deal with his opponents.

Be that as it may, the facts indicate the following.

During the uprising, 250 people were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded in a confrontation between supporters of the Turkish president and the putschists. As part of the “purge,” Erdogan’s government arrested more than 200,000 people, convicted 50,000 and fired about 140,000 civil servants.

The Hizmet movement was declared a terrorist organization and has since been known in Turkey as FETÖ. The prosecutor's office has requested two life sentences and 1,900 years in prison for Gülen.

In 2017, the preacher was stripped of his Turkish citizenship. Until his death, Erdogan had been trying to get the US to extradite Gulen, but the Americans refused. Since the coup, the Turkish president has been accusing Gulenists of all mortal sins, and their traces are found in almost every crime.

For example, in 2016, Erdogan admitted that Gulenists were connected to the pilots who shot down a Russian bomber in Syria. They were also accused of organizing an assassination attempt on the Russian ambassador to Ankara, Andrei Karlov.

Gulen's death may make Erdogan both sad and happy at the same time.

Who knows how the political fate of the Turkish president would have turned out if not for the founder of Hizmet?

Erdogan owes his success partly to the Gulenists, and the latter have much to thank the former prime minister for. However, the events of 2013-2014 and 2016 made Gulen an eternal enemy of the 70-year-old Turkish president. So even if he remembers the bright periods of their friendship, hatred probably outweighs nostalgia. One powerful enemy less.

However, it is too early for Erdogan to relax.

Gülen's power was not only in his name, but also in his movement. It is not difficult to kill a person, but it is much more difficult to kill an idea. Gülen's ideas are followed secretly and openly by millions of people in Turkey and beyond.

And besides, even if the Gülenists are weakened, it cannot be ruled out that they could form an alliance with those who now pose a great danger to the extension of the president’s power: the Republican People’s Party and the Kurds.

And if you add foreign funding to this – the Democrats in the US, for example, are not giving up their attempts to overthrow Erdogan,

…the Democrats, really? I had no idea…

who has declared war on Zionism – then the result could be quite unpredictable.

It is not for nothing that the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry and former intelligence director Hakan Fidan said that “ the leader of this dark organization is dead,” but his death “ will not lead to complacency,” since FETÖ is an organization that “ recruits youth.”

Link

-Obits-

US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused of Turkish coup, dies at 83

2024-10-22

[Rudaw] US-based Moslem holy man Muhammed Fethullah Gulen'>Fethullah Gülen
>... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world. Gülen and Erdogan used to be really good friends, but only one of them could be sultan, and Gülen lost...>
, who was accused of orchestrating the attempted coup against the Ottoman Turkish government of President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First

His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First

...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
in 2016, died on Monday, sources close to the holy man announced.

"Dear Friends, Our teacher passed away on October 20, 2024, at 21:20 [US time] in the hospital where he had been receiving treatment for a while," read a post on X from Herkul Nagme, a website dedicated to publishing updates on Gulen’s life and his videos where he addresses his followers.

"His doctors will make a statement about the hospital process in the coming hours," it added

He was 83 years old.

Gulen and his transnational Hizemt [Service] movement, have been accused by Erdogan and the Ottoman Turkish government of orchestrating the 2016 failed coup attempt in ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
that killed more than 240 people. His movement was declared a terrorist organization just two months before the incident and a countrywide crackdown ensued to capture his followers.

"Fethullah Gulen, the traitor and enemy of religion, who spent his entire life plotting against the Republic of Turkey, has died," Ottoman Turkish state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
TRT said on X.

Gulen moved to Pennsylvania in 1999, and has been residing there since then despite calls by Erdogan to return to Turkey in 2013.

In 2000, Gulen was tried in absentia and was charged with attempting to embed his supporters into civil service and important governmental positions to overthrow the government.

The charges were reversed in 2008 under the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and then-prime minister Erdogan, who enjoyed good relations with the holy man until an abrupt end in 2013 after a corruption scandal involving Erdogan’s closest circles pitted the two men against one another. The Ottoman Turkish president accused Gulen of creating a "parallel state" within Turkey.

Erdogan’s consolidation of power has been denounced by Gulen, who has referred to the Ottoman Turkish president as a "dictator" and encouraged the US and European governments to do more to restore political freedoms in Turkey.

Gulen was stripped of his Ottoman Turkish nationality in 2017.

Gulen’s Hizmet movement has focused on establishing schools across the globe, claiming to increase the quality of education. The movement established its first schools in central Asia and later spread globally.

The movement established the first schools in the Kurdistan Region in 1994 in Erbil, and three years later in Sulaimani. The schools teach English, Kurdish, Arabic, and Ottoman Turkish languages.

Gulen’s followers claim the founding of the schools is in line with the vision of Kurdish Islamic scholar Said Nursi and his teachings, who had a vision of establishing schools to spread Islamic teachings.

The Times of Israel adds:

Gulen was a one-time ally of Erdogan but they fell out spectacularly, and Erdogan held him responsible for the 2016 attempted coup in which rogue soldiers commandeered warplanes, tanks and helicopters. Some 250 people were killed in the bid to seize power.

Gulen, who had lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999, denied involvement in the putsch.

According to its followers, Gulen’s movement — known as “Hizmet” which means “service” in Turkish — seeks to spread a moderate brand of Islam that promotes Western-style education, free markets and interfaith communication.

Since the failed coup, his movement has been systematically dismantled in Turkey and its influence has declined internationally.

Known to his supporters as Hodjaefendi, or respected teacher, Gulen was born in a village in the eastern Turkish province of Erzurum in 1941. The son of an imam, or Islamic preacher, he studied the Quran from infancy.

In 1959, Gulen was appointed as a mosque imam in the northwestern city of Edirne and began to come to prominence as a preacher in the 1960s in the western province of Izmir, where he set up student dormitories and would go to tea houses to preach.

These student houses marked the start of an informal network that would spread over the following decades through education, business, media and state institutions, giving his supporters extensive influence.

This influence also spread beyond Turkey’s borders to the Turkic republics of Central Asia, the Balkans, Africa and the West through a network of schools.

FORMER ERDOGAN ALLY
Gulen had been a close ally of Erdogan and his AK Party, but growing tensions in their relationship exploded in December 2013 when corruption investigations targeting ministers and officials close to Erdogan came to light.

Prosecutors and police from Gulen’s Hizmet movement were widely believed to be behind the investigations, and an arrest warrant was issued for Gulen in 2014, with his movement designated as a terrorist group two years later.

Soon after the 2016 coup, Erdogan described Gulen’s network as traitorsh and “like a cancer,” vowing to root them out wherever they are. Hundreds of schools, companies, media outlets and associations linked to him were shut down and assets seized.

Gulen condemned the coup attempt “in the strongest terms.”

“As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt,” he said in a statement.

In a crackdown after the failed putsch, which the government said targeted Gulen’s followers, at least 77,000 people were arrested and 150,000 state workers including teachers, judges, and soldiers suspended under emergency rule.

Companies and media outlets regarded as linked to Gulen were seized by the state or closed down. The Turkish government said its actions were justified by the gravity of the threat posed to the state by the coup.

Gulen also became an isolated figure within Turkey, reviled by Erdogan’s supporters and shunned by the opposition which saw his network as having conspired over decades to undermine the secular foundations of the republic.

Ankara has long sought to have him extradited from the US.

Speaking in his gated compound in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, Gulen said in a 2017 Reuters interview that he had no plans to flee the US to avoid extradition. Even then, he appeared frail, walking with a shuffle and keeping his longtime doctor close at hand.

Gulen had traveled to the US for medical treatment, but remained there as he faced a criminal investigation in Turkey.

Link

The Grand Turk

Inclusion to European Union: Erdogan says Turkey 'no longer expects anything'

2023-10-02

[GEO.TV] ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First

He firmly stated that he would not accept any new demands or conditions regarding Turkey's accession to the EU. Erdogan's dissatisfaction also stems from a recent judgment by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which condemned Turkey for convicting a teacher in connection with the 2016 attempted coup.

Erdogan said Sunday that the "decision of the ECHR was the straw that broke the camel's back."

"[Turkey] will not turn back in its fight against this band of traitors," he said.

The ECHR ruled that the teacher's rights had been violated, potentially setting a precedent for numerous similar cases pending before the court.

Turkey has accused a group led by the US-based preacher Fethullah Gülen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world. Gülen and Erdogan used to be really good friends, but only one of them could be sultan, and Gülen lost...
of orchestrating the failed coup and using a messaging app called ByLock for coordination. Erdogan asserted that the ECHR's decision was a breaking point and reaffirmed Turkey's commitment to its fight against the alleged coup plotters.

Link

The Grand Turk

Turkey slams ECHR for ruling in favor of teacher convicted for Gulen affiliation

2023-09-28

[Rudaw] ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
<del>The Sick Man of Europe</del> Turkey

...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
’s justice minister on Tuesday slammed the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR) for ruling in favor of a teacher affiliated with the Fethullah Gülen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world. Gülen and Erdogan used to be really good friends, but only one of them could be sultan, and Gülen lost...
Movement, saying the court has exceeded its authority.

Link

Europe

Ankara slams arrest of two Turkish journalists in Frankfurt

2023-05-18

[Rudaw] ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
’s foreign ministry on Wednesday condemned the arrest of two journalists working for a ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish pro-government newspaper by Frankfurt police, summoning Germany’s ambassador to Ankara over the issue.

The English edition of Sabah reported on Wednesday that the newspaper’s German representative Ismail Erel and European edition’s chief editor Cemil Albay were briefly arrested by Frankfurt police earlier in the day.

"Police also searched the Sabah offices in Frankfurt and seized Erel and Albay’s computers and mobile phones," added the news outlet.

The ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement that it "strongly" condemns the "heinous act."

"We consider the outright detention of these press members by the German authorities without even requesting their statements as a deliberate act right after the successfully held first round of the Presidential Elections and the 28th Term Parliamentary Elections," read the statement, referring to Sunday’s vote in which the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its nationalist allies secured a parliamentary majority but President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First

Link

The Grand Turk

Erdogan might approve Finland's NATO bid, 'shock' Sweden

2023-01-31

[An Nahar] ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
's president has suggested his country might approve Finland's application for NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
membership before taking any action on Sweden's, while the ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish government issued a travel warning for European countries due to anti-~~Ottoman~~ Turkish demonstrations and what it described as Islamophobia
...the irrational fear that Moslems will act the way they usually do...
The travel warning published late Saturday followed demonstrations last weekend outside the ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish Embassy in Sweden, where an anti-Islam ~~activist ~~muppet~~~~ burned the Koran and pro-Kurdish groups protested against Turkey. The events stiffened Turkey's refusal so far to ratify Sweden's NATO bid.

Sweden and Finland applied jointly to become members of the military alliance, dropping their longstanding military nonalignment following Russia's war on Ukraine. In a prerecorded video of an event released Sunday, President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...
indicated that Turkey might sign off on only Finland.

"If needed, we could give a different message about Finland. Sweden will be shocked when we give the different message about Finland." Erdogan said to a group of young people in Bilecik province.

Turkey has accused the government in Stockholm of being too lenient toward groups it deems as terror organizations or existential threats, including Kurdish groups. NATO requires unanimous approval of its existing members to add new ones, but Erdogan's government has said it would only agree to admit Sweden if the country met its conditions.

In its travel warning to citizens, the ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish foreign ministry cited an increase in anti-~~Ottoman~~ Turkish protests by "groups with links to terror groups," a reference to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency against Turkey. Along with Turkey, the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
and United States also designate the PKK as a terror group.

Pro-Kurdish groups have waved the flags of the PKK and its affiliates during protests in Sweden organized as a response to Sweden and Finland's promise to prevent the PKK's activities in their countries in order to gain Turkey's approval for their NATO memberships.

Erdogan said he told the Swedish prime minister, "You will extradite these hard boyz if you really want to enter NATO. If you don't extradite these terrorists, then sorry." He said Turkey had provided a list of 120 people it wants extradited from Sweden, a demand that was part of a memorandum signed in June that averted Turkey's veto of the Nordic nations' joint application.

Turkey is demanding the extradition of alleged PKK Death Eaters as well as some followers of Fethullah Gülen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world. Gülen and Erdogan used to be really good friends, but only one of them could be sultan, and Gülen lost...
, the Moslem holy man accused of the 2016 attempted coup. In December, the Swedish Supreme Court

...the political football known as The Highest Court in the Land, home of penumbrae and emanations...
said the country cannot extradite Bulent Kenes, the former editor-in-chief of a newspaper linked to Gulen, angering Turkey.

Link

International-UN-NGOs

Sweden gives up neutrality to join NATO

2023-01-10

Sweden eyes closer US defence ties as NATO talks drag on

[AlAhram] Sweden said Monday it had launched talks with the United States about deepening defence collaboration as ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...
continues to block the Nordic country's NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
membership.

Sweden's defence ministry said that the two nations were negotiating a deal for "even closer cooperation with the United States both bilaterally and within the framework of NATO".

Exactly what the so-called Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) will cover is being negotiated "but it makes it easier for American troops to operate in Sweden," Defence Minister Pal Jonson said in a written statement to AFP.

"It could entail storage of military supplies, investments in infrastructure to enable support and the legal status of American troops in Sweden," Jonson said.

"The negotiations are started because Sweden is on its way of becoming an ally of the United States, through the NATO membership," the minister added.

Sweden and Finland broke with decades of military non-alignment and applied to join the US-led defence alliance last year in response to Russia's February invasion of Ukraine.

Turkey has refused to ratify their NATO applications, accusing both countries of providing a safe haven for outlawed Kurdish groups it deems "terrorists".

Most of Turkey's demands have involved Sweden because of its more robust ties with the Kurdish diaspora.

Ankara has notably demanded that Sweden extradite people Turkey accuses of terrorism or of having played a part in the 2016 attempt to topple President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First

...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...
During a security conference in Sweden on Sunday, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who met with Erdogan in Turkey in December, said some of Ankara's demands could not be accepted by Sweden.

"Turkey has confirmed that we have done what we said we would do, but it also says that it wants things that we can't, that we don't want to, give it," Kristersson said.

Sweden has done what's needed to join alliance: NATO chief

[AlAhram] It's time for Sweden to join NATO because it has done what's necessary to secure Turkiye's approval for membership, the military alliance's secretary-general said Monday.

"I have said that time has come to bring to an end the ratification process for Sweden,'' Jens Stoltenberg told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet in an interview.

In May, Sweden and neighboring Finland dropped their longstanding policies of military nonalignment and applied to join NATO following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The move requires the unanimous approval of the alliance members. Turkiye's has held up the process while pressing the two Nordic countries to crack down on groups it considers to be terrorist organizations and to extradite people suspected of terror-related crimes.

Last month, ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Sweden was not even "halfway'' through fulfilling the commitments it made to secure Ankara's support

. His remarks came after a Swedish court ruled against extraditing a man wanted by Turkiye for alleged links to a 2016 failed coup.

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has said that Sweden has lived up to its commitments and that the decision now "lies with Turkiye.''

"We have a very good process together with Finland and Turkiye and are doing exactly what we said, which Turkiye is now confirming,''

Kristersson said on Sunday, the first day of the three-day People and Defense conference in Salen, a ski resort in central Sweden. The event was attended by Stoltenberg and Swedish foreign policy and security experts.

"Legislation banning participation in terrorist organizations is being implemented, and Turkiye is known to name individuals it wants extradited. It is also known that Sweden has legislation that is clear and means that it is up to the courts. We also do not extradite Swedish citizens to any country.''

There was no immediate reaction from Turkiye to the comments by Stoltenberg and Kristersson.

The parliaments of 28 NATO countries have already ratified Sweden and Finland's membership. Turkiye and Hungary are the only members that haven't yet given their approval.

Under the memorandum, the two countries agreed to address Turkiye's security concerns, including requests for the deportation and extradition of Kurdish ~~bandidos~~ forces of Evil and people linked to a network run by US-based Moslem holy man Fethullah Gülen

... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world. Gülen and Erdogan used to be really good friends, but only one of them could be sultan, and Gülen lost...
The ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish government accuses Gulen of criminal masterminding the 2016 coup attempt, which he denies.

However,
a hangover is the wrath of grapes...
Sweden's top court has refused to extradite journalist Bulent Kenes, whom Turkiye accuses of being among the coup plotters.

Kenes, who received asylum in Sweden, was the editor of the English-language Today's Zaman newspaper which was owned by the Gulen network and was closed down as part of Ankara's crackdown on the group.

Sweden to join European Sky Shield Initiative: PM

[AlAhram] Sweden will be part of the European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI) and participate in air policing over the Baltics, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said late on Sunday.

The Scandinavian country, which last year decided to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
), is also prepared to participate in air policing above the Black Sea and Iceland, Swedish Television (SVT) quoted Kristersson as saying at an annual defense and security policy conference in Salen, some 430 km northwest of Stockholm.

Spearheaded by Germany, the ESSI, launched at a NATO defense ministers' meeting in October 2022, aims to create a European air and missile defence system through the common acquisition of air defence equipment and missiles by European nations, and to strengthen NATO's Integrated Air and Missile Defence, according to NATO.

Link

The Grand Turk

Turkey arrests over 500 for suspected ties to alleged leader of failed 2016 coup

2022-10-19

[IsraelTimes] Suspects accused of handling cash from supporters of US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen; fearing clampdown on critics, opposition parties seek suspension of new fake news law

~~Ottoman~~ Turkish authorities announced the arrests of more than 500 people on Tuesday who are suspected of links with a preacher accused of having plotted a failed coup in 2016.

~~Ottoman~~ Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said just over 700 arrest warrants had been issued, with 543 people detained. They are suspected of having collected or redistributed money sent from abroad by supporters of US-based preacher Fethullah Gülen

Link

The Grand Turk

Erdogan says Turkey not supportive of Finland, Sweden joining NATO

2022-05-14

[Reuters] President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday it was not possible for NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
-member ~~The Sick Man of Europe~~ Turkey
<del>The Sick Man of Europe</del> Turkey

...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
to support plans by Sweden and Finland to join the pact given that the Nordic countries were "home to many terrorist organizations".Though Turkey has officially supported NATO enlargement since it joined the U.S.-led alliance 70 years ago, its opposition could pose a problem for Sweden and Finland given new members need unanimous agreement.

Turkey has repeatedly slammed Sweden and other Western European countries for its handling of organizations deemed terrorist by Ankara, including the Kurdish murderous Moslem groups PKK and YPG, and the followers of U.S.-based Islamic holy man Fethullah Gülen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world. Gülen and Erdogan used to be really good friends, but only one of them could be sultan, and Gülen lost...
. Ankara says Gulenists
...the Turkish version of the Boogie Man, who set fire to the Turkish Reichsstag...
carried out a coup attempt in 2016. Gulen and his supporters deny the accusation.

Finland's plan to apply for NATO membership, announced Thursday, and the expectation that Sweden will follow, would bring about the expansion of the Western military alliance that Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
aimed to prevent by launching the invasion of Ukraine.

"We are following the developments regarding Sweden and Finland, but we don't hold positive views," Erdogan told news hounds in Istanbul, adding it had been a mistake for NATO to accept Greece as a member in the past.

"As Turkey, we don't want to repeat similar mistakes. Furthermore, Scandinavian countries are guesthouses for terrorist organizations," Erdogan said, without giving details.

Dreadful. Simply dreadful, and quite unlike the terrorist organizations nestled in the Turkish bosom.

"They are even members of the parliament in some countries. It is not possible for us to be in favour," he added.

Link

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