Cyprus-Forum.com

[bill cobbett]

Presumably in what pass for "courts" in Turkey...???

[Tim Drayton]

Four activists have set out on a march for justice (one has dropped out due to a hurt foot) from Antalya to Gezi Park in Istanbul (724 km). They are apparently being stopped frequently by the police for background searches.



http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/adale ... su-1143762

[Tim Drayton]

There were plans by people from the democratic opposition to hold a meal yesterday at the end of the day’s Ramadan fasting in Gezi Park, so, as ever, the authorities adopted a heavy-handed approach. The police closed Gezi Park to the public and then emptied Taksim Square. So, these opponents of the increasingly autocratic Turkish regime decided to have their meal in nearby İstiklal Street. The police then moved in and made arrests.



http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/?hn=431484&kn=7&ka=4&kb=7

[Tim Drayton]

Here is an earlier shot of the same group of people, sitting in İstiklak Street and awaiting the end of the day's fasting period to start ther meal. Isn't this what good Muslims are meant to do, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan?

[Tim Drayton]

The one that got away!

[Maximus]

The following appeared as a full-page announcement in today's The Times.

Erdoğan has announced that he is going to take legal action against The Times for publishing the above letter.

http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/?hn=431148&kn=6&ka=4&kb=6

Here is the announced response which appeared in the New York Times (opinions section) and a version of this letter also appeared in print on July 30, 2013, in The International Herald Tribune. This was composed by his excellency, Mr Egemen Bagis.

Turkey’s Democratic Path

Just days after your editorial “Turkey undermines its bid to join the E.U.” (June 26), the E.U. decided to resume talks with Turkey by opening the Regional Policy Chapter to negotiations. We welcome this decision. Yet criticism by some European officials on issues related to human rights, democracy and rule of law are not very convincing at a time when those issues cannot be discussed under negotiations due to the lack of consensus among member states. The E.U.’s leverage in Turkey’s political reform process and its credibility in Turkey have been weakened as a result of increasing politicization of the negotiation process by some member states.

Unquestionably, Turkey has been undertaking the necessary steps for further democratization by expanding the rights and liberties of its citizens. During the A.K.P.’s rule over the last decade, millions of people have moved into middle class. Socioeconomic transformation has been going hand in hand with democratization. People with different issues started to claim their rights as a consequence of this enormous socioeconomic change. If there is one major reason behind the recent peaceful protests, it is because a vibrant civil society has flourished in Turkey, thanks to the opportunities we have provided to our people. Besides, be it for environmental issues or individual freedoms, protesting against a democratically elected government without resorting to violence I believe proves Turkish society’s European identity.

Turkish people from all walks of life have opted for the A.K.P. in the last three elections because people from different backgrounds had the chance to express themselves more openly. We, as the government, will continue to ensure the sustainability of a democratic environment as in other European democracies, where different voices can be heard in a peaceful manner.

Egemen Bagis, Ankara

The writer is Turkish minister for E.U. affairs and chief negotiator.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/30/opini ... .html?_r=0

[Tim Drayton]

The press has reported on a witness statement, made by a person identified as “S.B.Y.”, contained in the investigation file into the murder of Ali İsmail Korkmaz, who was severely beaten while demonstrating in the streets of Eskişehir on 3 June and died of his injuries about three weeks later.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
S.B.Y., who recounted in his statement what he witnessed on the way to his own home after having taken his girlfriend home, spoke of how he encountered people in the area and their descriptions: “I was affected by tear gas and went into the bakery. Apart from the two persons in the bakery, there was an individual in civilian dress with a black plastic truncheon whom I assumed to be a plain-clothes policeman. I stayed inside the bakery for about 10-15 minutes so that the effect of the tear gas would pass. There were people in civilian dress outside with truncheons in their hands. The sound of radios was coming from where these people were. Alongside the policemen there was also a person with grey hair weighing around 85-90 kg and 1.60-1.65 in height with a baseball bat in his hand. There was also a black-haired person with curly hair aged around 30-35 having an athletic build 1.60-1.65 in height with a knotted stick in his hand, and also a thin person of about 1.65 aged 25-30.”

The witness, stating that there were another five people whom he thought to be plain clothes policemen on account of their truncheons along with these people, passed on the following description of the policemen to the prosecutor: “There was a gas mask on one of the policemen’s faces. There was no letter or number on the mask. I saw when he from time to time took off the mask that he was a moustached, short-haired and dark-complexioned person. This individual was about 1.70 in height. The other policeman that I remember was 1.75-1.80 tall and thin, and he had long curly hair; his hair went down to his shoulders. His hair looked like it had turned grey.” The witness, explaining how he returned to the place where the bakery was upon hearing cries and pleas of, “Don’t, stop it” from the street in which the bakery was located in the area where Korkmaz was beaten up, said, “The policeman whom I described as being grey haired and another policeman were holding this individual by the arms and leading him away in the direction of the covered market. Alongside these policemen were the person whom I described as having knotted hands along with another plain-clothes policeman. They began to beat this individual. They were assaulting this individual with truncheons and kicks. Among the police was also the person with the knotted stick in his hand. This person was also assaulting this individual with both the stick and kicks. A while later, the plain-clothes policemen left this individual. The person with the knotted stick in his hand stayed with the victim of the beating. This person continued to deal blows. The victim of the beating suddenly managed to get away from this person and flee. This person with the knotted stick in his hand went back to the vicinity of the bakery. I also returned to the vicinity of the bakery.” The witness, saying that he set out to go home half an hour later, recounted that the group with sticks and truncheons in their hands had now begun to assault a “tall, fair, short-haired” person with sticks and kicks and the victim was pleading, “Don’t, I came to get water.”

The witness, stating that, just when he expected things to calm down, following rapid reaction force intervention, two people started running to the place where he was, said, “The person in front was the person named İsmail whose picture I later saw in the newspapers. The person with the knotted stick in his hand had previously concealed himself around the corner of a small passage along Sanayi Street. This person even said to me, ‘When I come out, you slip back.’ The person with the baseball bat in his hand and the 3-4 policemen with truncheons caught İsmail. They began to assault him with sticks and truncheons. İsmail fell to the ground as a result of the blows and was sitting on the pavement. At this time, these people continued to assault İsmail with the truncheons and sticks in their hands and also with their feet. İsmail was holding both of his hands above his head and, when the civilian with the baseball bat in his hand kicked İsmail straight in the face, İsmail fell to the pavement, banged his head on the paving slab and passed out. The policeman and the person with the baseball bat in his hand and the other person came past the bakery where I also was. İsmail came to a few minutes later. The person with the baseball bat in his hand swore making repeated use of the ‘f’ word and said, ‘Are you still here?’ İsmail replied calmly to this person. The person with the baseball bat in his hand, saying, ‘What did you say to me,’ went over to İsmail and kicked him four or five times on the head. He also gave him a few kicks to the waist.”

The witness said that he did not see Korkmaz, who tried to run away from the police and whom a further group of policemen attacked, again. The witness S.B.Y., recounting that plain-clothes policemen whom he had not earlier seen arrived in front of the bakery, stated, “One of the policemen said to the civilian with the knotted stick in his hand, ‘You’ll get us into trouble, calm down’.” S.B.Y. also said that he would be able to identify the civilian with the knotted stick in his hand and the long-haired policeman.

[my translation]

http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/?hn=431996&kn=7&ka=4&kb=7

[Tim Drayton]

[...] she most probably also tweeted, which must be punishable by death.
[...]

Talking of tweeting, the following picture of Sabri Çelebi, who attacked peaceful protesters with a cleaver in Talimhane, Istanbul, and is now in Moroco, was sent by a mate of his via Twitter:



I was wondering why he would chose a relatively liberal place like Morocco when there are Islamic paradises like Saudi Arabia or Iran to choose from, but it seems that his wife is Moroccan, so that might explain things. He has also apparently bought a return ticket with a flight back on 10 August. I wonder if he will return?

It seems that this fellow was released pending trial on Monday and included in the court’s reasons for this decision was the phrase “kaçma şüphesinin bulunmaması” [no suspicion that he will abscond]. However, the prosecutor objected to the decision at a higher court on Tuesday, and the higher court agreed with the prosecutor and ordered that Çelebi be remanded and that an arrest warrant for him be issued. However, it appears that the arrest warrant had not yet been issued on the day that Çelebi left the country (Wednesday). In fact, the letter needed by the police to execute the arrest warrant has still not been delivered to them!

And Gilbert and Sullivan thought the French gendarmerie were a joke!

http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/palali_kacti-1141479

Sabri Çelebi changed his return flight to 22 July (yesterday) but, surprise, surprise, did not emerge from the plane when it landed in Istanbul.


http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/?hn=430500&kn=7&ka=4&kb=7

Sabri Çelebi has said that he will return to Turkey (where the public prosecutor's office has now issued an indictment calling on him to be imprisoned for 27 years) after the coming religious holiday at the end of Ramadan.

http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/palal ... im-1144288

[bill cobbett]

Reprisals and crack-downs against protesters continue in Erdogan's Turkey, with a return to what one writer would describe as ...

A revival of the old state, a relapse in to the old dictatorial ways under a new identity...

..."The apparent crackdown against the media, intimidation of business and heightened rhetoric, says Dagi, marks Turkey’s relapse into a familiar, older style of politics. For decades, the state, led by the powerful military and a secularist bureaucracy, had kept the domestic press, the business community and even elected politicians on a tight leash. The moderately Islamist AKP’s surprise election victory in 2002 and its liberalizing reforms in its first years in power marked, or seemed to mark, a long awaited break with the past. Things have since gone full circle, says Dagi. After this summer, he says, it’s clear that the AKP has “revived the old state, just with a new identity.”

More at... http://world.time.com/2013/07/30/in-tur ... z2af0y1Fiz

[Tim Drayton]

Reprisals and crack-downs against protesters continue in Erdogan's Turkey, with a return to what one writer would describe as ...

A revival of the old state, a relapse in to the old dictatorial ways under a new identity...

..."The apparent crackdown against the media, intimidation of business and heightened rhetoric, says Dagi, marks Turkey’s relapse into a familiar, older style of politics. For decades, the state, led by the powerful military and a secularist bureaucracy, had kept the domestic press, the business community and even elected politicians on a tight leash. The moderately Islamist AKP’s surprise election victory in 2002 and its liberalizing reforms in its first years in power marked, or seemed to mark, a long awaited break with the past. Things have since gone full circle, says Dagi. After this summer, he says, it’s clear that the AKP has “revived the old state, just with a new identity.”

More at... http://world.time.com/2013/07/30/in-tur ... z2af0y1Fiz

I had to go here to find a readable version of the article:

http://www.newsxs.com/en/go/13054814/Ya ... rnational/

The conclusions are I think true, but one has to realise that at least the old corrupt, repressive, ossified Kemalist regime was rooted in secularism, surely a prerequisite for pluralistic democracy, and paid at least lip service to a broadly progressive ideology that saw Turkey take its place among the modern, democratic nations of the world, whereas there is nothing in the least bit progressive about the AKP's core ideology.