Formerly "Hudson Institute, New York"
In this mailing:
- Soeren Kern: Angry Turk's Message for Europe: "We are Coming"
- Raymond Ibrahim: Muslim Persecution of Christians: February 2012
- AK Group: Assad Regime Gains Momentum As Opposition Shows Signs Of Division
Angry Turk's Message for Europe: "We are Coming"
by Soeren Kern
March 16, 2012 at 5:00 am
http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2947/angry-turks-europe
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"Whether or not you want us in the European Union, our influence in Europe is growing. We are more numerous. We are younger. We are stronger."
A second-generation Muslim immigrant in Austria has authored a provocative new book in which he argues that Europe's future is Turkish, whether Europeans like it or not.
The book's short, sharp and confrontational title says it all: "We are Coming."
The thesis is: "Regardless of whether or not you [Europeans] like us [Turks], whether or not you integrate us, whether or not you want us in the European Union, our influence in Europe is growing. We are more numerous. We are younger. We are more ambitious. Our economy is growing faster. We are stronger."
The author, a 25-year-old Austrian-Turk named Inan Türkmen, says his objective in writing the book is to change the terms of the debate about Muslim immigration in Europe.
Türkmen -- who was born in Austria to Kurdish migrants and speaks fluent German -- says he is sick and tired of the way Turkish immigrants are being portrayed in the European media. He believes the time has come for Turks to fight back.
Taking a page from the playbook of the American Tea Party movement, Türkmen says he wants to establish an "angry citizen movement" (Wutbürgerbewegung) in Europe. His Turkish Tea Party would unite Turkish immigrants in Austria, Germany and other European countries to protest against European "arrogance."
In an interview with the Vienna-based newspaper Die Presse, Türkmen says he decided to write "We are Coming" after getting "hot under the collar" over a recent book about Muslim immigration by the renowned German economist Thilo Sarrazin.
Sarrazin's best-selling book, "Germany Does Away With Itself," broke Germany's long-standing taboo on discussing the impact of Muslim immigration. The book, which was first published in August 2010, is now on its 22nd edition. At last count, more than two million copies have been sold, making it one of the most widely read titles in Germany since the Second World War.
Sarrazin's book has resonated with vast numbers of ordinary Germans who are becoming increasingly uneasy about the social changes that are transforming Germany, largely due to the presence of millions of non-integrated Muslims in the country.
The following are some excerpts from Sarrazin's book:
"In every European country, due to their low participation in the labor market and high claim on state welfare benefits, Muslim migrants cost the state more than they generate in added economic value. In terms of culture and civilization, their notions of society and values are a step backwards."
"No other religion in Europe is so demanding and no other migration group depends so much on the social welfare state and is so much connected to criminality."
"Most of the cultural and economic problems [in Germany] are concentrated in a group of the five to six million immigrants from Muslim countries."
"I do not want my grandchildren and great-grandchildren to live in a mostly Muslim country where Turkish and Arabic are widely spoken, women wear headscarves and the day's rhythm is determined by the call of the muezzin."
"If the birthrate of migrants remains higher than that of the indigenous population, within a few generations, the migrants will take over the state and society."
"I do not want us to end up as strangers in our own land, not even on a regional basis."
"From today's perspective, the immigration of guest workers in the 1960s and 1970s was a gigantic mistake."
The roots of Germany's current problems with Muslim immigration can be traced back to October 30, 1961, with the signing of a labor recruitment agreement between West Germany and Turkey. At the time, West Germany's post-World War II economy was booming and similar treaties with Greece, Italy and Spain were insufficient to supply Germany's seemingly endless demand for labor. By the end of 1969, more than one million Turkish "guest workers" had arrived in Germany to work in the "host country's" industrial zones.
The initial idea was that the Turkish laborers would return home after a period of two years, but the so-called "rotation clause" was removed from the German-Turkish treaty in 1964, partly due to pressure from German industry, which did not want to pay the costs of constantly training new workers. The predictable result was that many Turks never returned home.
Today, the Turkish population in Germany has mushroomed to an estimated 3.5 million, and Turks now constitute the largest ethnic minority group in the country. Demographers expect that the Turkish population in Germany will increase exponentially in coming decades, largely due to a high birth rate and Germany's continuing high demand for foreign workers.
Germany's demand for foreign labor is being fuelled by a demographic crisis in which the German population is not only ageing, but also shrinking, at a rapid pace. According to projections by the German Federal Statistics Office, Germany's current population of 82 million, the largest in the European Union, is set to decline by as much as 20%, to 65 million, over the next five decades. At the same time, 34% of the population will be older than 65 and 14% will be 80 or more by 2060, up from 20% and 5% respectively in 2009.
The twin challenges of depopulation and aging will have major consequences for the financial sustainability of Germany's cradle-to-grave social security system. For example, the number of pensioners that will have to be supported by working-age people could almost double by 2060, according to the Federal Statistics Office. While 100 people of working age between 20 and 65 had to provide the pensions for 34 retired people in 2009, they will have to generate income for between 63 and 67 pensioners in 2060.
This implies that in the future, Germany will become more, not less, dependent on immigrants. And Turks will continue to be a major source of labor, considering that the birth rate among Turkish immigrants in Germany is 2.4, nearly double that of the native German population (which at 1.38 is far below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per couple).
Time is on the side of the Turks and Inan Türkmen knows it. In a highly confrontational essay titled "You Germans Need the Turks more than the Turks Need You" which was published by the Financial Times Deutschland, Türkmen writes: "Our consolation is that Turkish influence in Europe is growing and there is nothing you Europeans can do to stop it. Of course, Turkey has always exerted influence on Europe. Mozart, Hayden and Beethoven were all inspired by Turkish music. Soon you will not even realize it because you will all be a little Turkish. People mix into cultures and I am planning to contribute something to make this happen. Up until now, all of my girlfriends have been European, not Turkish. In the future, freckles will become increasingly rare sight in Europe. The point is: The future belongs to Turkey"
Soeren Kern is Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook.
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Muslim Persecution of Christians: February 2012
by Raymond Ibrahim
March 16, 2012 at 4:00 am
http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2949/muslim-persecution-of-christians-february-2012
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A pastor was attacked with acid and blinded by Muslims screaming, "Allahu Akbar!" ["Allah is Greater!"]
Half of Iraq's indigenous Christians are gone, due to the unleashed forces of jihad [holy war]. Many Christians fled to nearby Syria; yet, as the Assad regime comes under attack from al-Qaeda and others, the jihad now seeps into Syria, where Christians are experiencing a level of persecution unprecedented in the nation's modern history. Similarly, some 100,000 Christian Copts have fled their native Egypt since the overthrow of the Mubarak regime; and in northern regions of Nigeria, where the jihadi group, Boko Haram, has been slaughtering Christians, up to 95% of the Christian population has fled.
Meanwhile, the "big news" concerning the Muslim world in the month of February—the news that flooded the mainstream media and had U.S. politicians, beginning with President Obama, flustered, angry, and full of regret—was that some written-in [in Islam it is forbidden to write anything in a Korans] in Afghanistan were burned by U.S. soldiers because imprisoned Muslim inmates had been using them "to facilitate extremist communications."
Categorized by theme, February's batch of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed in alphabetical order by country, not severity.
Church Attacks
Algeria: Armed men raided and ransacked a church that had been formally recognized since 1958, and dismantled the crucifix. The pastor and his family, trapped inside, feared that "they could kill us." The pastor "has been repeatedly threatened and attacked since being ordained in 2007. In the summer of 2009, his wife was beaten and seriously injured by a group of unknown men. Then, in late 2011, heaps of trash were thrown over the compound walls while an angry mob shouted death threats."
Egypt: Thousands of Muslims attacked a Coptic church, and demanded the death of its pastor, who, along with "nearly 100 terrorized Copts sought refuge inside the church, while Muslim rioters were pelting the church with stones in an effort to break into the church, assault the Copts and torch the building." They did this because a Christian girl who, according to Islamic law, automatically became a Muslim when her father converted to Islam, fled from her father and was rumored to be hiding in the church.
Iran: Iran's Ministry of Intelligence has ordered the last two officially registered churches holding Friday Farsi-language services in Tehran—Farsi being the nation's Persian language—to discontinue the language: "Friday services in Tehran attracted the city's converts to Christianity as well as Muslims interested in Christianity, as Friday is most Iranians' day off during the week." Banning church use of Farsi prevents most Iranians from hearing the Gospel.
Kazakhstan: A new report notes that "Churches are being raided, leaders fined and Christian literature confiscated as the Kazakh authorities enforce new laws intended further to restrict religious freedom in the country."
Kuwait: A parliamentarian is set to submit a draft law banning the construction of churches. Originally, Osama al-Munawer announced on Twitter his plans on submitting a draft law calling for the removal of all churches in Kuwait. However, he later "clarified" his statement, saying that existing churches can remain, but the construction of new ones must be banned.
Macedonia: A two-century-old Christian church famed for its valuable icons was set on fire in response to "a carnival in which Orthodox Christian men dressed as women in burkas and mocked the Koran." Earlier, "perpetrators attacked a[nother] church in the nearby village of Labunista, destroying a cross standing outside" and "also defaced a Macedonian flag outside Struga's municipal building, replacing it with a green flag representing Islam."
Nigeria: A Muslim suicide bomber forced his way into the grounds of a major church, killing two women and an 18-month-old child during Sunday morning service; 50 people were injured in the blast. In a separate incident, Muslims detonated a bomb outside a church building, injuring five, one critically: "The bomb, planted in a parked car, was left by suspected members of Boko Haram, which seeks to impose sharia [Islamic law] throughout Nigeria."
Pakistan: A dozen armed Muslims stormed a church, seriously wounding two Christians: one man was shot and is in critical condition, the other risks having his arm amputated; another church member was thrown from the roof, after being struck repeatedly with a rifle butt. "The extremist raid was sparked by charges that [the] church was trying to evangelize Muslims in an attempt to convert them to Christianity. The community several times in the past has been the subject of assault and the pastor and his family the subject of death threats." As usual, the police, instead of pursuing the perpetrators, have opened an investigation against the pastor and 20 other church members.
Syria: Some 30 armed and masked jihadis attacked a Catholic monastery—unprecedented in Syria's modern history—demanding money. According to the Catholic Archbishop of Damascus, "the situation in the country is spiraling out of control as the armed opposition spreads its influence to different regions of the state."
Dhimmitude
[General Abuse, Debasement, and Suppression of non-Muslims as Second-Class, "Tolerated" Citizens]
Bangladesh: Three American Christians were injured after their car was attacked by a Muslim mob who suspected they were converting Muslims into Christians: at least 200 angry locals chased the missionaries' car and threw stones at it, leaving three with cuts from broken glass.
Egypt: Rather than punishing the perpetrators who opened fire on and ran tanks over Christians protesting the constant destruction of their churches, the government arrested and is trying two priests in connection to the Maspero massacre. And although Egypt's new parliament has 498 seats, only six are Copts, even though Copts make up at the very least 10% of the population, and so should have approximately 50 seats. Finally, indicating how bad the situation is, Coptic protesters organized a demonstration on Tuesday in front of Parliament to protest "the disappearance and abduction of Coptic girls."
Indonesia: The Islamist Prosperous Justice Party complained about the Red Cross' symbol of a cross; they said it was too identifiable with Christian culture and traditions. Red Cross volunteers and activists rejected the claim, saying that any changes to the logo would be "tantamount to giving in to the extremists."
Iran: A pastor of a major house church movement began serving a five-year prison sentence for "crimes against the order." According to one activist, "His 'crimes' were being a pastor and possessing Christian materials." He is being beaten in jail and has grown ill, to the point where his hair has "turned fully gray."
Israel: A mob of around 50 Palestinian Muslims stoned a group of Christian tourists atop Jerusalem's Temple Mount, wounding three Israeli police officers in the process. The attack is believed to have been instigated by the former Muslim mufti of Jerusalem.
Pakistan: Yet another Christian woman, a teacher, has been targeted by Muslims on allegations that she burned a Koran. A mob stormed her school in an attempt to abduct her, but police took her into custody. Also, a Christian student who missed the grade to get into medical school by less than 0.1% would have earned 20 extra points if he had memorized the Koran—although no bonus points for having similar knowledge of the Bible.
Turkey: A new report notes that "Christians in Turkey continue to suffer attacks from private citizens, discrimination by lower-level government officials and vilification in both school textbooks and news media." The report adds that there is a "root of intolerance" in Turkish society toward adherents of non-Islamic faiths: "The removal of this root of intolerance is an urgent problem that still awaits to be dealt with."
Turkmenistan: A 77-year-old Christian man was detained and questioned by police for six hours after he tried to print copies of a small book of Christian poetry. He was forced to write a statement and banned from travelling outside his home region while the case is being investigated.
Uganda: Not long after a pastor was attacked with acid and blinded by Muslims screaming, "Allahu Akbar!" ["Allah is Greater!"], his friend, another pastor, was shot at by "Islamic extremists" in what is being described as "a new wave of persecution against Christians in Uganda."
Murder, Apostasy Issues, and More
Egypt: Two Christians were killed "after a Muslim racketeer opened fire on them for refusing to pay him extortion money." The local bishop "hold[s] security forces and local Muslims fully responsible for terrorizing the Copts living there, who are continuously being subjected to terror and kidnapping."
Iran: After enduring five months of uncertainty in a prison, a Christian convert who was arrested in her home by security authorities has been sentenced to two years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. Authorities further arrested six to ten Christian converts from Islam while they were meeting for worship at a home in the southern city of Shiraz.
And of course Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani awaits execution for refusing to renounce Christianity.
Nigeria: A 79-year-old Christian woman and choir singer was found dead at her home, her throat slit with a note in Arabic left on her chest reading: "We will get you soon," a message believed to be directed at her son, a pastor at a local church.
Somalia: Al-Shabaab Muslims beheaded a 26-year-old Muslim convert to Christianity who had worked for a Christian humanitarian organization that the terrorist organization had banned. He is at least the third Christian to be beheaded in Somalia in recent months.
Turkey: A 12-year-old boy, Hussein, publicly professed his Christian faith by wearing a silver cross necklace in school. Accordingly, Muslim classmates began taunting and spitting on him. When the boy threatened to report one of the bullies, the bully's father threatened to kill him. His religion teacher beat him severely: "Like in most Islamic countries, students of all faiths are required to attend Islamic studies in school. Those who refuse to recite the Koran and Islamic prayers are often beaten by the teacher. And so it was for Hussein. He said he was punished regularly with a two-foot long rod because he wouldn't say the Islamic Shahada."
About this Series
Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of Muslim persecution of Christians that surface each month. It serves two purposes:
- To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
- To show that such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.
Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; apostasy and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death to those who "offend" Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis, or second-class, "tolerated" citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination.
Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the East, and throughout the West wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.
Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
Previous Reports:
Related Topics: Raymond Ibrahim
Assad Regime Gains Momentum As Opposition Shows Signs Of Division
And more from the Turkish Press
by AK Group
March 16, 2012 at 3:00 am
http://www.stonegateinstitute.org/2948/assad-regime-gains-momentum
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Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, bolstered by their recapture of most of the opposition stronghold Idlib, attacked opposition hotbeds in different parts of Syria on Wednesday as the opposition began to show signs of fracture with the resignations of three prominent members of the Syrian National Council, or SNC.
On Tuesday, Syrian forces regained control over most of Idlib after a three-day operation that came soon after a similar offensive to dislodge the opposition from another key area that it had controlled -- the Baba Amr district in Homs. The two victories gave Assad's regime momentum as it tries to crush the armed opposition fighters a year after the unrest first started.
Assad is also bolstered by a pledge from ally Russia that it will continue to sell weapons to Syria, increasing prospects that Assad will not bow to the uprising and that Syria may be on the verge of a Balkan-style civil war that could continue for years. The latest signs of fracture on the side of the opposition have further exacerbated concerns over a prolonged civil war in Syria.
"I can no longer see myself inside the group because the leadership lacks clarity and does not treat the rest of the council democratically," said Haitham al-Maleh, a prominent rights campaigner who resigned from the SNC's three-person Executive Committee on Tuesday.
Maleh told Today's Zaman that he resigned because council leader Burhan Ghalioun has failed to discuss key decisions with the council and has been slow to extend support to the armed opposition that opposes Damascus on the ground. Maleh's resignation was joined by the departures of prominent members Kamal al-Labwani, a long-time Damascus opponent and leading figure in the SNC, and Catherine al-Talli, a Washington-based human rights lawyer, from the SNC this week.
A report by Reuters on Monday suggested that more resignations may follow, quoting an anonymous source within the SNC as saying that as many as 60 of the 270 member group may soon resign.
"The leadership does not want to play as a group," Maleh said. "Ghalioun did not consult other members of the group when he wrote his speech for the meeting of the 'Friends of the Syrian People' meeting in Tunisia, and he did not even tell other members of the council that he was going to meet with Kofi Annan in Ankara this week. The group is not a council, it is run like the Baath party."
The SNC has aspired, since its formation in September, to be seen as the legitimate voice of Syria's opposition movement, but the effort has been limited by infighting between the group's wide range of ethnic and political factions. Activists in Syria have claimed that the group's leadership, dominated by exiled dissidents, is not in tune with the anti-regime movement inside Syria. The SNC has found itself hard-pressed to woo Syria's diverse range of ethnic minorities, who have been favored for 42 years by the Assad family's Alawite-minority regime.
On Wednesday, Maleh dismissed the possibility that the SNC could become an effective platform for opposing the regime, and announced his plans to create a parallel group that would focus on delivering arms and money to the coalition of anti-Assad militias collectively known as the Free Syrian Army, or FSA.
The SNC's own decision to assist the armed opposition has been harshly criticized by the FSA itself, who declared that the FSA wanted "actions and not just talk."
Meanwhile, UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan received Syrian response to a group of proposals Annan tabled and is due to brief the UN Security Council on Friday about his peace mission to Syria on Saturday.
Council diplomats say that Annan's assessment of the crisis will be crucial to a bid by the United States and its European allies to pass a resolution on Syria. Russia and China have already twice vetoed draft resolutions condemning Syria. Negotiations on a resolution are expected to accelerate after Annan's briefing, diplomats said.
Adopt A United Position Against Damascus, Davutoglu Says
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu called on the international community to adopt a unified position to deal with the crisis in Syria, adding that Turkey will continue to be at the center of efforts on this issue.
"The recipe for ending the crisis should ideally originate from the region and be implemented with the support of the international community," Davutoğlu said in an interview with the Cairo Review on March 7. "The most effective way of dealing with the crisis in Syria is the adoption of a unified position by the international community as a whole. It will only be then that the [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad] regime will finally comprehend that persisting in its current policies will only lead to more bloodshed and nothing else."
Turkey will sustain its efforts in cooperation with regional and international actors and to pave the ground for a political transformation process in the country, he said, adding that Turkey could not remain indifferent to incidents in Syria, which is not just a neighboring country.
"We have a common history, we share a very long land border and we are destined to live next to each other," he added.
Davutoğlu also denied having a neo-Ottomanism perspective in foreign policy, saying that Turkey did not want to be seen as a "role model" for countries in the region.
"Every country has its own unique characteristics. As Turkey, we do not want to present ourselves, or to be seen, as a role model," Davutoğlu said, responding to a question as to whether Turkey can be a model for Egypt's transition to democracy. "If needed, Turkey remains ready to share her own democratic experience with all interested countries."
Two Turkish Journalists Missing In Chaotic Syria
The families and colleagues of two Turkish journalists who went missing in Syria four days ago called on the Turkish government Wednesday to help discover their whereabouts.
"We are worried about the lives of our colleagues, whose single purpose was to properly inform [people] about the incidents in Syria," Ali Adakoğlu, chief editor of the Istanbul-based Milat newspaper, told reporters in Istanbul Wednesday.
Adem Özkose, Middle East correspondent for the Gerçek Hayat magazine and columnist for Milat, and Hamit Coşkun, a cameraman, crossed into Syria from the southern province of Hatay last week.
The newspaper said it has not been in contact with the two journalists for four days. Özkose was last heard from on March 10, when he called from an area near the northern town of Idlib, which the Syrian army captured on Tuesday, Adakoğlu said, adding that they were seeking help from the Turkish Foreign Ministry to locate both.
The Turkish Embassy in Syria, as well as Ankara's consulates, is in contact with Syrian authorities to obtain information on the missing reporters, a Foreign Ministry official told the Hürriyet Daily News.
Families of the journalists gathered in front of the Foreign Ministry late Tuesday before moving on to the Syrian Embassy in Ankara to demand the safe return of the two.
Turkey is making efforts for the safe return of Özkose and Çoşkun, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu told reporters in Konya. He also requested that Turkish nationals be extra careful in visiting Syria.
Özköse has lived in Syria for five years, and returned to Turkey one year ago due to unrest in the conflict-hit country, Adakoğlu said, adding that the journalist was closely acquainted with leaders in the Syrian opposition.
Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry officials said Turkey was in contact with Iraqi authorities to release 25 Turkish workers arrested in Iraq. The Turkish Embassy in Baghdad said it had sent a note to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry demanding the release of the detained workers.
Turkey Getting Ready For Influx Of Migrants From Syria
Fifty thousand Syrian refugees are expected to arrive in Turkey, authorities said as a wave of migration from Syria into Turkey has already started.
In the Syrian province of Idlib, near the Turkish border, government forces reportedly continue to pound civilians. Turkish citizens who live in border villages say they can hear the bombs from across the border. Media outlets report that thousands of Syrians have been hiding near the Turkey-Syria border, which they are attempting to cross. In the last month, a total of 3,400 Syrians took shelter in Turkey, while 740 people entered Turkey on Tuesday night.
Accommodations are being established in Turkey's southern provinces of Hatay, Kilis, Gaziantep and Şanlıurfa. Currently, there are seven tent cities, in Hatay's Yayladağı, Reyhanlı and Altınözü districts. Hatay authorities said roughly 13,500 Syrians are taking shelter in these tent cities, and more such accommodation centers are needed to host more people. In a Reyhanlı tent city, an area for 100 more tents is being prepared. Although the capacity of the tent cities in Hatay is 25,000, more tents are needed because only Syrian soldiers who have deserted are being accepted in a separate tent city, Apaydın. Hatay authorities added the neighboring provinces will also share the responsibility of housing those who arrive from Syria.
A commission was formed by the Gaziantep Governor's Office to deal with the issue. Preparations are underway to establish a tent city in İslahiye district with the capacity to house 10,000 people. Gaziantep Governor Erdal Ata said the work to establish infrastructure and install electricity systems will be concluded in a week.
"We plan to set up 2,000 tents. The Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) will deliver blankets and tents," he said.
İslahiye was chosen as the location for the tent city because a railway between Turkey and Syria passes through the district. Compared to last year, more passengers are using the train services from Syria to arrive in İslahiye. According to data from Gaziantep railway officials, 7,825 passengers arrived in İslahiye from Syria in 2010, while this figure increased to 9,498 last year. Şanıurfa's Ceylanpınar district is another location that will host Syrians.
A 20,000-person-capacity accommodation center is being established on land owned by the Turkish General Directorate of Agricultural Enterprises, or TİGEM. A team formed by the Şanlıurfa Governor's Office has already begun working on the center's infrastructure. Of the Turkish provinces, Şanlıurfa shares the longest border line with Syria.
The Ceylanpınar border gate is currently closed, but it will be opened if needed. In Kilis, near the Öncüpınar border gate, another accommodation center is about to be completed. Kilis Governor Yusuf Odabaş said city officials have long been working on the center, on an area of 315,000 square meters. More than 2,000 containers have been sent by the Prime Ministry's Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate, or AFAD. The containers, in which a family of five can live, are 21 square meters and they can endure temperatures of -50 Celsius degrees. The center will host roughly 10,000 people.
"The Turkish government is providing the necessary support," Odabaş said.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-274300-turkey-getting-ready-for-influx-of-migrants-from-syria.html
Turkey To Sue Iran Over Natural Gas Price
In the absence of an agreement over the price Turkey pays for Iranian natural gas, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız said the government is getting ready to sue the Middle Eastern country's administration in an international court of arbitration for a settlement that the two countries could not reach on their own.
Speaking to reporters in Kuwait on Wednesday, Yıldız said he was not suspicious of the Iranians' good intentions to resolve the matter bilaterally, yet Turkey remained with but one option after months-long discussions to that end proved futile.
"The road to arbitration is being paved on March 16, and we will not wait for too long after that to file our complaint," he was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.
Yıldız met with Iranian Petroleum Minister Rostam Qasemi on the sidelines of the 13th International Energy Forum, or IEF, held in Kuwait City on Tuesday and that marked the latest of official discussions over the price Iran charges Turkey for its natural gas. The preparations for an arbitration application were already under way, and it became clear at the two ministers' meeting that, in Yıldız's words, "There was nothing left to discuss."
"They told us that they had a legal excuse [for not lowering the price] rather than talking about if the price was appropriate or not. Iran is our second biggest natural gas supplier after Russia, and there is a price difference [between the two suppliers]," Yıldız said.
Of the natural gas that Turkey buys, Iran charges the most, and this is the main cause of rising tensions between the two countries. Turkey currently buys a cubic meter of Azerbaijani gas for $330 and pays Russia $400 for the same amount. However, Iran sells its gas to Turkey for $505 for each cubic meter, which increases Turkey's natural gas bill by an extra $800 million annually. The price of a cubic meter of natural gas is sold for $400 in international markets.
Although it has not been specified where Turkey is seeking arbitration, the International Chamber of Commerce in Switzerland, which awarded Turkey $800 million in compensation in 2009 in a previous dispute with Iran, is the most likely place where the arbitration will be held.
At the end of last year, Turkey experienced a similar problem with another major gas provider: Russia. The Russian government agreed to lower the price of natural gas it sells after Turkey agreed to a key natural gas pipeline that will carry Russian gas to European markets via Turkey's territorial waters in the Black Sea.
High gas prices aside, Turkey, a net energy importer, is also facing challenges due to a much discussed "take or pay" condition that requires the country to import predetermined amounts of natural gas in almost all of its natural gas import agreements. According to the natural gas purchase contract between Turkey and Iran, Turkey has to buy at least 6.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Iran annually. This means Turkey has to pay Iran a specified amount of money irrespective of whether it needs that amount of natural gas. A similar situation exists for the supply of natural gas from Russia. Although the payments can be used in lieu of natural gas acquired in the future, there is a five-year limit after which the amount paid cannot be used to obtain natural gas. In a time of poor domestic natural gas consumption, the Turkish Pipeline Corporation, or BOTAŞ, is wondering whether it will be able to consume the (unused) natural gas it has paid for.
When asked if the dispute over the price of natural gas is likely to also have a negative impact on the two neighbors' relations at large, Yıldız said business and friendship are two different things that should not be confused.
"It is like the continuation of trade between two enlightened nations as they are also carrying out the arbitration process. This is pretty normal. We are good with them. Our business relations, trade are going on. Both the buyer and the seller are happy, but there is one problem. We are now trying to solve it without damaging the very business between us," he said. "Here, actually, I believe the Iranians acknowledge that reality [that a price arrangement to Turkey's benefit is necessary], but they are unable to do so because of certain limitations. That is, I cannot say they are ill-intentioned. This is why our relations are not affected. I believe they have good intentions, as they believe we do."
Turkey and Iran have a highly unbalanced trade. As of last year, the trade volume reached $16 billion, mostly from Iranian natural gas and oil proceeds. In addition to the one-third of natural gas it buys from overseas, Turkey imports some 30 percent of its oil needs from Iran, or 200,000 barrels per day, which represents over 7 percent of Iranian oil exports.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-274244-turkey-to-sue-iran-over-natural-gas-price.html
Lawyers Want Ocalan To Be Heard In KCK Case
Lawyers under arrest in the ongoing Kurdish Communities' Union, or KCK, case have applied to the prosecutor's office to have Abdullah Öcalan, the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, heard as a witness in the trial.
"[We] lawyers under arrest are accused of 'getting orders from Öcalan, transmitting the orders to the alleged [KCK] organization, leading to actions as a result of such orders and informing Öcalan about the results,'" the lawyers said in a petition to the Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office for the PKK leader to be heard in the trial. "As such, Abdullah Öcalan is the focus of the probe, and his testimony on the accusations will be crucial."
The lawyers also said Öcalan himself voiced a similar demand to be heard in the case in a letter sent Feb. 2.
Thirty-six of Öcalan's lawyers were arrested following police raids on Nov. 22, against the KCK. Öcalan's lawyers have long been under fire for allegedly acting as go-betweens to pass Öcalan's orders and instructions onto the PKK, but they have argued that all their meetings with the captive PKK leader took place under the supervision of the Justice Ministry and were recorded.
The lawyers have been unable to visit Öcalan since last July, on the grounds that the boats that take them to the prison island of İmralı are broken.
Aided by U.S. colleagues, Turkish undercover agents captured Öcalan in Nairobi on Feb. 15, 1999, after the militant leader was forced to leave the local Greek embassy, where he had been offered refuge while on the run. He was sentenced to death in June that year.
The sentence was later commuted to life in prison when Turkey abolished capital punishment as part of EU harmonization reforms.
The KCK is the alleged urban branch of the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
Since 2009, around 700 people have been arrested over their alleged links to the KCK, according to government figures, although the Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, puts the figure at more than 3,500.
'Parliament Oversight On Executive Branch Dysfunctional'
Opposition parties have accused the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, of ignoring parliamentary inquiries, thereby undermining the balance of powers and the highest body that serves to represent the nation.
The opposition claims that parliamentary oversight over new legislation being proposed by the government has become dysfunctional during the current 24th parliamentary period. They point to the government's low record of responses given to parliamentary queries submitted to the Parliament Speaker's Office, demanding a response from government members.
The questions were either completely disregarded or were given evasive answers by government members, opposition members have complained.
Republican People's Party, or CHP, Konya Deputy Atilla Kart, a prominent jurist in the party, said Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek has to take the initiative in order to ensure the proper functioning of Parliament.
"Some answers given to our parliamentary questions lack seriousness. I do not want to be unfair to ministers who are taking the parliamentary questions very seriously, but some ministers answer the questions carelessly, as if they just want to satisfy their egos by acting in an arrogant manner and giving irrelevant answers. I can provide many examples of this. In order to prevent this, the parliament speaker has to take the initiative," Çiçek told Today's Zaman.
Commenting on the issue, Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, parliamentary group Deputy Chairman Mehmet Şandır noted that although they appreciate that some ministers have given comprehensive answers to parliamentary questions, most others were non-serious in their approach toward the question motions, which reduces the quality of lawmaking in Parliament.
Şandır also complained about the ruling party's obstinacy in going solo in passing new legislation.
"The government refuses contributions from the opposition to the legislative process. Passing new legislation without consensus on issues reduces the quality of Parliament's legislation work," he said. "Bills that are not well-prepared, or drafted without an all-inclusive consensus, cause harsh debates in Parliament."
Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, parliamentary group Deputy Chairman Hasip Kaplan also voiced his party's uneasiness about carelessly answered parliamentary questions.
"Some ministers give single-sentence answers that state, 'The legislative work on this issue is continuing,' to our parliamentary questions on serious issues," he lamented. Kaplan pointed out that some ministers prefer to refer the questions to the bureaucrats in their ministries instead of answering them personally.
Parliamentary Questions In Numbers
Parliament has already seen a number of question motions in its 24th term, the current legislative season. From June 12, when the 24th term started, to the end of the year, deputies submitted 3,165 question motions, including 758 questions in non-written form to the Parliament Speaker's Office. During the first two months of 2012, the total number of parliamentary questions reached 5,841.
The number of question motions that remain unanswered provides valid reason for the opposition's complaints. While the government answered 3,429 of a total 5,590 questions in the previous term, Parliament's 23rd session before the 2009 elections, in the current term it has answered only 1,627 of a total 5,841 questions during the first legislative year.
The figures, current as of March 8, show clearly that the government has slowed down its work in responding to inquiries from opposition parties.
AKP Denies Allegations
When asked to comment by Today's Zaman, AKP parliamentary group Deputy Chairman Mahir Ünal denied claims that oversight regarding new legislation has been rendered ineffective. He pointed at the record before the AKP came to power.
"On the contrary, the AK Party is working to ensure the more efficient functioning of Parliament. When the figures from the 18th and 19th terms of Parliament are compared with the figures from the 23rd and 24th parliamentary periods, this will be more visible," Ünal said, underlining that the AKP has made the necessary arrangements to ensure written questions are referred to the relevant ministries as soon as possible.
Saying that the AKP puts great importance on the proper functioning of parliamentary oversight over legislation, Ünal denied the opposition's claims that the answers given to the parliamentary question are unsubstantial.
"Why would a government that has made the necessary arrangements in order to increase the number of questions answered by the government make them devoid of meaning? In the 18th term, 1,255 oral questions were asked, and only 98 of them were answered. In other words, only 7.8 percent of them were answered," he said. "During the 22nd term of Parliament, when the AK Party came to power for the first time, this figure increased to 42 percent. And in the 23rd term, 72 percent of the oral questions were answered. The number of oral parliamentary questions doubled, and the rate of oral questions answered has increased by 1,000 percent compared to the 18th term of Parliament. That is why it's unfair to blame the AK Party for undermining parliamentary oversight over legislation."
Ünal's statement, however, failed to explain the sharp increase in the number of queries that went unanswered in the current legislative term in comparison with the previous term.
http://haber.gazetevatan.com/o-kiblesi-donmus-bir-basbakan/436773/9/Siyaset
Religious-Based Politics Harm Faith, Gul Says
Turkish President Abdullah Gül has warned Muslim countries against seeking religious-based politics, saying parties that promise such rule would ultimately harm the faith.
If a political party that comes out in the name of Islam fails, it will defame and humiliate the religion itself, Gül told a Tunisian television channel.
"If one comes forward, saying one is 'religious' and then fails, what will be harmed? Thus, one has more responsibility [to be wise]. Furthermore, policy should not be conducted based on religion," he said. "If religion directly becomes a tool for politics, which would hurt religion a lot. Because of this, Turkey does not have religious parties."
The statements echo previous comments from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who advised Egyptians last September to not fear secularism.
"I suggest that Egypt should have a secular constitution, because secularity is not an enemy of religion," Erdoğan said in Cairo. "Do not fear secularity. I hope the new regime in Egypt will be a secular one."
Gül also advised Muslim countries to adopt democracy, accountability and transparency, saying democracy and Islam did not contradict each other.
New Trial Hope For Sivas Massacre
The European Court of Human Rights does not accept the statute of limitations in crimes such as the Sivas Massacre, a Turkish judge at the Strasbourg-based court said after an Ankara court invoked the statute Tuesday in dropping the case.
The comments by Judge Işıl Karakaş come as Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç signaled that a probe could be launched against then-state officials accused of negligence in the 1993 massacre. The European court does not tend to invoke the statute of limitations in cases that involve the violation of the right to life, Karakaş said.
Noting that other cases in which police forces and security officers in Turkey have also previously been dropped due to the statute of limitations, Karakaş said her court was against such decisions.
Meanwhile, Arınç said civil servants who served during the massacre, including then-Prime Minister Tansu Çiller and Sivas Mayor Ahmet Karabilgin, could be put on trial on charges of negligence.
"[Those killed in Sivas] were our dearest souls, they were our people. I wish all the perpetrators had been put on trial and fined but the court decided to drop the case due to the statute of limitations. According to the verdict, the court dropped the case because the perpetrators were not public officials. Then I can say that the officials who had negligence in the incident can be put on trial," Arınç said Wenesday in Istanbul.
Deputy Prime Minister Hüseyin Çelik also responded to criticisms that lawyers for the suspects in the massacre were now deputies for the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, saying the "right of defense is sacred."
"Is the lawyer who defends a murderer also a murderer himself? When this horrible incident took place, the AKP was not even conceived. For the first time in the Turkish Republic's history, Alevism made an entry into the school books in my ministry's term. A dark power is trying to sow discord among Alevis and Sunnis over this case," Çelik said.
Çelik also criticized the opposition parties and media, saying they had been misleading society.
"The image is as if everyone who was on trial was released; that is not the truth. Some 79 people were charged in the case while 40 were released at the beginning," Çelik said, adding that Turkey would no longer experience problems with statutes of limitations after new legal amendments are implemented in two years.
Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay, a lawyer by profession, also expressed his sorrow over Tuesday's decision, the Doğan news agency reported.
"It was a crime against humanity. After the court's verdict to drop the case, public sensitivities were damaged. We do not want to see such cases dropped again due to the statute of limitations," Günay said.
Some 33 intellectuals and two hotel workers died when radical Islamists attacked a hotel in the Central Anatolian province of Sivas that was hosting an Alevi festival on July 2, 1993.
Deputy Prime Minister Calls For Trial Of Public Officials Over Sivas Massacre
Amid country-wide outrage over a court decision to drop a nearly two-decade-long trial regarding the death of 33 artists and intellectuals, along with two hotel workers and two assailants, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said public officials of the time who are suspected of negligence in the incident may be investigated.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, one day after an Ankara court announced that the Madımak case was being dropped as the statute of limitations had expired, Arınç said the trial of high-level public officials in charge at the time is more important than the trial of the assailants.
"An investigation may be launched into public officials of the time who are thought to be at fault in this massacre-like incident. For me, the investigation of the [Sivas] governor, interior minister, members of the government at the time, those who somehow had a role in how the incident ended up and the trial of those who indirectly caused the incident is more important than this [dropped] trial," he said. "So, I personally think it would be useful if our prosecutors investigate these claims."
On July 2, 1993, 37 people were killed inside the Madımak Hotel in Sivas when an angry mob set the building on fire. Seven of the suspects have been at large, but two of them, Cafer Erçakmak and Yılmaz Bağ, have been confirmed dead. The other five walked free on Tuesday when the Ankara 11th High Criminal Court decided to drop the case on the grounds that too much time had passed.
The court also said the cases against suspects Erçakmak and Bağ were dropped due to the fact that the two defendants had died, while the cases against Şevket Erdoğan, Köksal Koçak, İhsan Çakmak, Hakan Karaca and Necmi Karaömeroğlu were dropped on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired.
Presiding Judge Dündar Örsdemir, when reading the verdict, said he agreed with arguments that the statute of limitations should not apply to crimes against humanity, but added that the offenders were not public or civil agencies. "Hence the decision to drop the cases," he said.
Arınç also referred to recent remarks by former Sivas deputy Ziya Halis, who said he believes the interior minister, prime minister and deputy minister of the time displayed negligence in preventing the incident.
"I also know that whenever the Madımak incident comes onto the agenda, claims emerge that the governor of the time and bureaucrats in Ankara remained indifferent to the incident, regarded the incident as a simple one and blatantly were responsible for those people burning to death in the hotel. It is possible for this aspect of the case to open a new page," he added.
Supreme Court of Appeals President Nazım Kaynak also commented on the case being dropped on Wednesday, underscoring that the trial is still ongoing as the appeals process has not yet been completed.
Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay said that as a Turkish citizen he "feels deep regret" over the case being dropped.
"The judiciary is shaking the public's faith in the law by causing such cases to be dropped instead of concluding them in a way that pleases both the public and co-plaintiffs," he said.
http://haber.gazetevatan.com/akpden-sivas-tepkisi/436868/1/Gundem
Related Topics: AK Group
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