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Nov 18, 2020

Turkeys main opposition leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, pressed charges with the Istanbul chief prosecutors office against a notorious Turkish mafia boss Nov. 18 after he openly threatened him in a letter he shared via Twitter triggering uproar. Kilicdaroglus lawyer said the four-page diatribe handwritten and signed byAlaattin Cakiciposed a direct threat to his client, who is the leader of the pro-secular Republican Peoples Party (CHP).

In the letter, dated Nov. 17andpeppered with obscenities and threats of physical violence, Cakici accused Kilicdaroglu of treason in concert with Kurdish militants and foreign powers. Be sensible, he warned, using an expression that is commonly used by Turkish gangsters to intimidate their victims. Cakicis ire was sparked by Kilicdaroglus suggestion in a speech to the parliament the same daythat the mobster had been recently freed from prison thanks to pressure on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from his far-right nationalist partnerDevlet Bahceli, while thousands of prisoners of conscience continue to rot in Turkish jails.

Cakici boasts of his close ties to Bahceli: The nationalist leader visited Cakici when he fell ill in jail in 2018 and met with him following his release in April this year undera controversial amnesty law that was pushed by his Nationalist Action Party (MHP). Bahceli took to Twitter to defend Cakici against Kilicdaroglus collaborators who he claimed were trying to smear him, saying that he and the mob leader believed in the same cause

His threats against Kilicdaroglu have been greeted with silence by Erdogan and members of his ruling Justice and Development Party. Their apparent indifference flies in the face of Erdogans recent pledges, which have been echoed by his justice minister, for sweeping economic and judicial reforms that are meant to restore investor confidence in Turkeys battered economy.

The optimists who wanted to give Erdogan the benefit of the doubt following his promise of legal reform must now realize that this was yet another empty promise of his, noted Aykan Erdemir, a former CHP parliamentarian who heads the Turkey program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank. Turkish authorities continue to prosecute legitimate expressions of dissent while offering impunity to threats hurled by mob bosses and vigilantes. The Erdogan government is too intimately involved with a long list of criminal and corrupt figures to be able to afford even the semblance of rule of law and due process, he added in emailed comments to Al-Monitor.

Cakici, whose rap sheet includes running armed gangs and ordering the murder of his ex-wife on a Turkish ski slope, has dominated Turkeys underworld for the better part of four decades. He is also associated with the Gray Wolves, the ultranationalist outfit that operated as the MHPs youth arm in street battles with leftists in the 1970s thatleft thousands dead. It was recently banned in France for its violent attacks against ethnic Armenians there. Cakici was jailed after the 1980 military coup over his role in the murders of 41 leftists.

His most recent spell behind barsfor the murder of his ex-wife, whose father was also a notorious mobster, began in 2004 when he was caught in Austria carrying a special service passport under the name of a former intelligence chief. Turkish officials have confirmed that Cakici operating under the code name Atilla was used by the state for hit jobs against its foreign domestic enemies. These included Armenian militants who assassinated at least 36 Turkish diplomats between 1974 and 1991, as well as Kurds. Whilethe states relations with underworld figures like Cakici are dressed up as patriotism, they have benefited a succession of rogue members of the security apparatus involved in the drugs and weapons trade. Erdogan came to power in 2002 vowing to eradicate the so-called deep state but has ended up in league with it, critics say.

Erdogans alliance with Bahceli, cemented in the wake of the failed 2016 coup, has clearly emboldened the likes of Cakici, who has taken potshots at the Turkish president as well.

Ryan Gingeras, author of "Heroin, Organized Crime and the Making of Modern Turkey" and professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, said, I think it is safe to assume Cakici does believe he can get away with threatening Kilicdaroglu because of his ties to MHP and weakness of the justice system. In emailed comments to Al-Monitor, he added, One may also say it's a product of 'celebrity license.'This is who he isand it's precisely why he's famous. So yes, it again affirms that the Turkish criminal justice system is choosey when it comes to who is prosecuted for clear infractions. It demonstrates the power of the Turkish right and the continued relevance of right-wing toughs in contemporary history.

But it may not be all plain sailing for Cakici. An Istanbul court slapped him last month with 17 years for a catalog of crimes including the attempted murder of a relative. An appeals court will have thefinal say on the case.

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Erdogan mum as mob boss threatens Turkeys main opposition leader - Al-Monitor

Turkeys steady transformation from a democracy to an authoritarian regime has been radical.

While ostensibly still democratic, Turkey is now what political scientists call a competitive authoritarian system where the government has a largely free hand to abuse the democratic apparatus.

Prime minister-turned-President Recep Tayyip Erdoan now wields personalised power over the government and critical state institutions, dramatically shrinking the scope available to opposition parties.

When we look back at the past activity of opposition parties in Turkey, it has been their pronounced fragmentation and inability to bridge their differences that has been a key reason for enabling Erdoan to strengthen his rule and squeeze the space for them to operate.

But this is now changing.

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The opposition parties are increasingly cooperating to deny Erdoan and his Adalet ve Kalknma Partisi (Justice and Development Party, AKP) political hegemony and instead maintain political pluralism. And paradoxically they are using one of Erdoans own laws against him.

In March 2018, the AKP government passed a new electoral alliance law permitting alliances between parties.

The legislative change was aimed a protecting Erdoans government after he was spooked by the narrow 51.4 per cent win he had secured in the 2017 constitutional referendum that increased his presidential powers.

The result suggested victory in the upcoming 2018 election was far from assured. The new legislation meant he could formalise a pre-existing partnership with the Milliyeti Hareket Partisi (Nationalist Action Party, MHP).

The alliance would prove crucial after the AKP secured only a 43 per cent parliamentary vote in the election, meaning it has to rely on the MHPs 11 per cent share to govern under the Cumhur Ittifak (Peoples Alliance) banner.

But the law also facilitated unprecedented cooperation among Turkeys ideologically dispersed opposition parties.

Ahead of the 2018 election, the opposition formed the Millet Ittifak (Nation Alliance) made up by the secular centre-left Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (Republican Peoples Party, CHP), centre-right nationalist IYI Parti (Good Party), the Islamist Saadet Partisi (Felicity Party, SP), and the centre-right Demokrat Partisi (Democrat Party, DP).

As CHP leader Kemal Kldarolu said in an interview ahead of the election:

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We, as different political parties, are coming together as a show of democratic strength and unity. This is a first in Turkey. As diverse political parties we have come together to strengthen democracy, to strengthen human rights, to solve outstanding problems through a democratic parliamentary system. This is very important to us.

The opposition solidified this new alliance by signing a pro-democratic declaration pledging to end polarisation, instill independence of the judiciary and the rule of law, and ensure basic rights and freedoms.

Moreover, one of the primary aims was to re-instate a strengthened parliamentary system.

Under the alliance, the individual parties still selected their own candidates for the presidential race. The CHP nominated Muharrem Ince, an internally popular, charismatic politician with a national profile as its presidential candidate, whilst IYI and SP nominated their respective leaders, Meral Akener and Temel Karamollaolu.

All three candidates campaigned independently, but they ultimately worked off the same platform as the Nation Alliances democratic pledge.

A critical component of their cooperation against Erdoan included refraining from criticising each other, and all three candidates pledged to endorse each other in a potential runoff and serve as vice-presidents in a future cabinet.

Throughout the campaign the opposition ran a highly effective and innovative strategy against the unequal conditions and constricted political space in which it had to operate.

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Ince, Akener, Karamollaolu and CHP party leader Kemal Kldarolu, as key symbols of the alliance, appeared regularly on the few independent media outlets Fox Trk, Halk TV, Deutsche Well Trke and Haber Trk and each ran a tireless campaign schedule across the country.

For instance, Ince organised 107 rallies in 75 cities and Akener visited 81 cities from the time she established IYI in late 2018.

Most of the rallies and speeches were broadcast live on social media platforms, allowing the alliance to reach audiences and work around the monopoly of the media landscape that Erdoans Peoples Alliance enjoy.

This successful campaigning by the opposition occurred in spite of the imbalances skewed towards the AKP and Erdoan.

The Peoples Alliance financed their campaign with presidential and state funds as well as making sure the opposition received near to zero television time on Turkish TV channels owing to the AKPs monopoly of the media landscape.

Given the fraught relations between the Turkish state and its minority Kurdish population, the pro-Kurdish rights Halklarn Demokratik Partisi (Peoples Democratic Party HDP), wasnt part of the opposition alliance and, instead, contested the parliamentary elections independently.

They listed their imprisoned former co-leader Selahattin Demirta as its presidential nominee.

But the opposition Nation Alliances need to increase their electoral reach and present a legitimate democratic platform incentivised the member parties and candidates to move beyond their traditional political identities and appeal to the Kurdish electorate.

This strategy also offset the AKPs attacks on the Kurdish movement, and the very nationalist polemic it had employed throughout the campaign.

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Inces presidential campaign embodied this outreach strategy the most. He broke with the CHPs dominant nationalistic character and visited Selahattin Demirtas in prison.

He also held lively campaigns in Kurdish-majority cities, often attracting large crowds where his speeches were characterised by democratic inclusivity.

Moreover, Ince promised to implement a long-time demand of the pro-Kurdish movement to devolve administrative powers to elected local officials in line with the European Charter of Local Self-Government.

Outreach by the opposition helped loosen traditionally entrenched suspicions against the CHP (which was long considered a haven for anti-Kurdish sentiment by citizens in the south east of Turkey).

Similarly, Akener, from the IYI Parti, attempted to reach out to Kurds through her democratic platform and meetings in Kurdish majority areas. Her nationalist credentials and former role as Interior Minister in the 1990s (a rather dark period in Turkish-Kurdish relations) was her weakness for the Kurdish vote-base.

Akeners centre-right nationalist position limited her appeal and success with Kurdish voters, but her campaign strategy demonstrated political actors can pragmatically overlook ideological constraints in order to more effectively challenge existing regimes.

In the wake of this new cooperative approach among the opposition parties, the AKP actually lost its majority, and only maintained its parliamentary control due to its alliance with the MHP.

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The election outcome demonstrated that despite the fast-shrinking political space and limited openings for the opposition, they were able to adapt to Erdoans authoritarian regime and remain in the contest.

With incoming US president Joe Biden, Erdoan will see a sharp rise in criticism from Washington compared to the Trump administration.

In previous interviews, Biden has labelled Erdoan a tyrant, expressing his wish to support the Turkish opposition to remove Erdogan through the ballot box.

Although Turkeys opposition is extremely unlikely to work with the Biden administration against Erdoan, they will quietly welcome any sharp criticism and pressure from the Biden White House in the hope it will force Erdoan to take democratising steps, bringing greater opportunities of contention and contestation.

This article was co-published with Melbourne Asia Review, Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne.

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The art of opposition in Erdoans Turkey - Pursuit

The US State Department called on Turkey to reconsider its decision to reopen Varosha, a beach resort abandoned by Greek Cypriots fleeing Turkeys invasion in 1974, and described a visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the breakaway Turkish Cypriot north of Cyprus on Sunday as a step in the wrong direction.

The United States supports efforts to de-escalate tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean and continues to demand dialogue and respect for international law., a State Department spokesperson said.

President Erdogan's recent visit was a step in the wrong direction. The United States continues to support a comprehensive settlement for the reunification of the island on the basis of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, which will benefit all Cypriots, as well as the wider region.

Ankara backed the partial re-opening of Varosha ahead of last months election in the occupied north, in a move criticized by the UN, Athens and Nicosia.

Excerpt from:
State Department on Varosha: Erdogan's visit a 'step in the wrong direction' | Kathimerini - http://www.ekathimerini.com

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5. View Full Coverage on Google News

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Quantum computer race intensifies as alternative technology gains steam - Nature.com

DURHAM Construction is currently underway on a 10,000-square foot expansion of Dukes existing quantum computing center in the Chesterfield Building, a former cigarette factory in downtown Durham.

The new space will house what is envisioned to be a world-beating team of quantum computing scientists. The DQC, Duke Quantum Center, is expected to be online in March 2021 and is one of five new quantum research centers to be supported by a recently announced$115 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

The Error-corrected Universal Reconfigurable Ion-trap Quantum Archetype, or EURIQA, is the first generation of an evolving line of quantum computers that will be available to users in Dukes Scalable Quantum Computing Laboratory, or SQLab. The machine was built with funding from IARPA, the U.S. governments Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. The SQLab intends to offer programmable, reconfigurable quantum computing capability to engineers, physicists, chemists, mathematicians or anyone who comes forward with a complex optimization problem theyd like to try on a 20-qubit system.

Unlike the quantum systems that are now accessible in the cloud, the renamed Duke Quantum Archetype, DQA, will be customized for each research problem and users will have open access to its gutsa more academic approach to solving quantum riddles.

(C) Duke University

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Construction begins for Duke University's new quantum computing center - WRAL Tech Wire