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Exiled Turkish novelist Asli Erdogan expected to be a convicted woman by now with a life sentence hanging over her head.

The award-winning author, whose books have been translated into 21 languages, spent four months in jail in 2016 as part of a probe into a newspaper's alleged links to outlawed Kurdish militants.

After her release she travelled to Germany in 2017 as soon as she received her passport back. She has been in self-imposed exile ever since.

This week, when the long-running terror case in which she was accused came to court again, she was unexpectedly acquitted.

"To be honest, I was very surprised. Almost everyone took it for granted that I would be convicted.

"I still cannot believe it, but if it's not that, there will be another case," said Erdogan (the writer is not related to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan).

An Istanbul court acquitted Erdogan on Friday of membership of an armed terrorist group and disrupting the unity of the state, while charges of spreading terror propaganda were dropped.

The writer said she had risked a life sentence just because her name was on the literary advisory list of the now-closed pro-Kurdish Ozgur Gundem newspaper.

She might have escaped a long jail term, but the experience has taken a toll.

In Germany she has had surgery twice for muscle paralysis of the intestine, a condition which doctors say is post-traumatic.

"At the age of 52 I encountered a disease that should occur in one's 80s," she said, adding that her stint in jail also played a part.

What she most longs for, however, is access to her library in Turkey.

"A 3,500-book library is my only property in the world. (Without it) I feel like my arms and legs are cut off."

However, she has no plans to return home because the authorities could seize upon anything she might say to charge her with further offences, with potentially fatal consequences.

"Another arrest would mean death for me... Under the current circumstances, I cannot return given a risk of detention," she said.

Since a failed coup in Turkey in 2016, tens of thousands of people including academics and journalists have been arrested suspected of links to coup plotters.

Critics accuse the president of using the coup to silence opponents, but the government argues a wholesale purge is needed to rid the network of followers blamed for the failed putsch.

For the author, the political climate is worsening even though she can no longer gauge the mood for herself as she could before.

"I used to speak with grocers or witness chats in a bus or metro. That was feeding me as a writer but this channel had been cut now. But I have the impression that silence prevails in Turkey."

She said ongoing cases involving jailed author Ahmet Altan and businessman and philanthropist Osman Kavala showed the situation in Turkey was "well beyond dictatorship".

She added: "I don't know for sure what happens behind closed doors but such irrational cases have no other explanation. I see them as part of a strategy."

Updated: February 17, 2020 10:48 AM

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Exiled Turkish novelist Asli Erdogan fears for her life if she ever returns home - The National

KARACHI, Pakistan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will address Pakistan's parliament on Feb. 14 during his two-day visit to Islamabad, a Pakistani official announced on Thursday.

Asad Qaisar, the speaker of the National Assembly -- the lower house of Pakistans parliament -- announced that Erdogan would address the joint sitting of the parliament for the record fourth time.

Presiding the National Assembly session, Qaisar said he would consult with the parliamentary leaders of all the political parties with respect to Erdogan's visit, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

Erdogan is expected to arrive in Islamabad on Feb. 13 for a two-day visit.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Aisha Farooqui confirmed Erdogans visit next week, however Turkey is yet to officially confirm it.

At a weekly press briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, she said: "The visit is taking place as per the schedule agreed by both sides. They are working very hard to finalize the substantive program of this visit.

She reiterated that Pakistan and Turkey have very warm, brotherly and cordial relations.

We support each other on core issues. Pakistan looks forward to the visit of the Turkish president. All details of the visit will be shared with you in due course, Farooqui added.

Erdogan paid his last visit to Pakistan in November 2016 -- his first visit to the South Asian nuclear state since assuming the presidency in August 2014. Previously, he visited Pakistan twice as the prime minister of Turkey.

He is the only head of state who addressed Pakistans parliament thrice.

Ankara and Islamabad have boosted bilateral defense and security cooperation in recent years. In October 2018, Pakistan Navy commissioned a 17,000-ton fleet tanker built in collaboration with a Turkish defense company in the southern port city of Karachi.

It was the largest warship ever constructed in the Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works in collaboration with Turkish defense contractor STM, according to Pakistan Navy.

In July 2018, Ankara won a multibillion-dollar tender to supply four corvettes to Pakistan Navy -- a deal dubbed as the biggest export for Turkeys defense industry in history by then-Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli.

In 2016, Turkey gifted 34 T-37 aircraft and spares to Pakistan. Ankara is, meanwhile, buying MFI-17 Super Mushshak aircraft from Pakistan, besides upgrading three Pakistani submarines and jointly building a fleet tanker.

See original here:
Erdogan to address Pakistan's parliament on Feb. 14 - Anadolu Agency

Turkey is in a historically critical phase concerning its present and its future. Much of the debate is focused on one crucial question: Can Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan consolidate power around his person and cadres loyal to him or will he face increasing difficulties ensuring control over key institutions?

Given the apparent lack of exit strategy for him as Turkeys system crisis deepens, the question seems intractable. The situation is one of unprecedented limbo for Turkey and its political class.

What adds to the dilemma is the type of balance between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its minor partner the National Movement Party (MHP) on the one hand and the opposition bloc on the other.

A poll by one of the few reliable pollsters, Ankara-based Metropoll, indicated that the AKP-MHP alliance has 51% favourability while the secular main opposition Republican Peoples Party does not draw more than 25% favourability. Its nationalist opposition partner, the Iyi party, has fallen below the critical 10% threshold needed to enter parliament and the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party polls just above that level at 11%.

Discontent among the voters, because of economic hardships, brews beneath the surface. Those who oppose moves to send troops to Libya are slightly more than 50% of the public. The controversial Canal Istanbul project is another issue that doesnt seem to convince large numbers of voters in the massive Greater Istanbul Municipality area.

Yet, as pointed out by Metropoll director zer Sencar to Ahval News, the concerned voter bloc within the AKP is not convinced by what the opposition offers as a political alternative.

This snapshot is good news for Erdogan. It gives him time to construct a future in his favour but, as Canal Istanbul, Libya and East Med examples show, the plunge first, think later mindset, seems to hardly stir the bureaucracy in Ankara and a sense of despair gains ground.

Turkeys main opposition leader, Kemal Kldarolu, voiced such deep establishment concerns in a meeting with journalists recently. Kldarolu has a deeply rooted background as a bureaucrat in Turkish state apparatus; thus his remarks have particular pertinence.

For the first time, he said, Turkeys dependency on Russia is increasing. We are dependent in energy up to 60% to Russia. This is wrong. More important, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin began shaping Turkeys foreign policy. Especially in Syria and Libya, Putins words have the final say.

In another part of the meeting, Kldarolu is said to have raised alarm over Erdoans steady attempts to take full control of the Turkish judiciary and persistent restructuring of Turkish Armed Forces.

The stalemate in the balance of power between the government and the opposition blocs in Turkey, coupled with a toothless parliament, creates a dangerous vacuum that may lead to a crash unless Erdogan pays attention to the calls for a return to responsible policies and abandons his bellicose moves in the region.

A report by the RAND Corporation shed light on the minefield-like crossroads where Turkey finds itself. Based partly on Pentagons insider assessments, it warned: Turkeys assertive foreign policy moves include support for political Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood a group viewed as terrorists by Gulf monarchies and Egypt and its bid to claim a share of the Eastern Mediterranean hydrocarbon wealth.

Equally important, the 243-page report argues that mid-rank officers in the Turkish Armed Forces are deeply worried about purges that have taken place since the botched coup in 2016 and that this may lead to another disruptive attempt. Erdoan is aware of this, it adds.

RAND outlines four scenarios ranging from a Turkey remaining somewhat part of the Western alliance to a full-scale de-anchoring of its previous alliances and moving towards Russia and China but leaves a question mark on Erdogans map towards 2023 the year of the centennial of the Turkish Republic.

What is clear is that his assertive, adventurist, crisis-oriented policies have begun to accumulate negative energy beneath Ankaras political fault lines.

Original post:
Turkish discontent with Erdoan on the rise - Ahval

Turkeys president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday denied that the country was under-prepared for earthquakes as the death toll from a tremor that hit the countrys east climbed to at least 35.

Do not listen to rumours, do not listen to anyones negative, contrary propaganda, and know that we are your servants, Mr Erdogan said on Saturday after attending the funeral of a mother and son who were killed in Fridays 6.8 magnitude earthquake

His comments followed the announcement of a criminal investigation into provocative social media posts and reports that broadcasting authorities were reviewing media coverage of the quake.

Some locals accused officials of under-reporting the number of people trapped inside buildings, as hopes faded that the missing might be found alive.

The earthquakes epicentre was in the town of Sivrice, in Turkeys eastern Elazig Province, a picturesque area atop the Eastern Anatolian Fault.

Locals here oftenchoose one-story prefabricated housingin anticipation of tremors. Much of the damage appears to affecthigh-density multi-storey housing in urban areas.

By Sunday afternoon, experts had clocked 714 aftershocks.

The Turkish governments disaster and emergency agency, AFAD, said close to 80 buildings collapsed and another 645 were heavily damaged across two provinces.

Turkeys Interior Ministry said at least 15,000 people are sleeping in gymnasiums and schools, and more than 5,000 tents have been set up for others made homeless by the quake.

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Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan hits back at criticism of earthquake readiness as death toll reaches 35 - The Telegraph

President Recep Tayyip Erdoan of Turkey arrived in Banjul on Monday, as part of a three-nation tour that follows a stop in Algeria and will continue in Senegal.

This is Erdoans first official visit to the West African nation, which comes amid The Gambias recent struggle over President Adama Barrows tenure. Advocates for a three-year term, which would have recently expired, say hes violating his own promises but Barrow says the consitution requires a five-year term. Those tensions spilled into the street at the weekend, with dozens of arrests reported.

The Gambia also struggles with the economic fallout following the 22-year rule of exiled leader Yahya Jammeh, whose supporters have pressured Barrow to allow to return, as well as a lengthy national reconciliation process.

For his part, Erdoan has worked to raise Ankaras profile on the African continent in recent years, but that too has become controversial as Turkeys presence in Libya, in support of the Tripoli-based government, and its investments in Sudan have drawn international scrutiny.

Both nations say they plan to build on existing bilateral agreements on security, trade, health care and other sectors. The Gambian government says more than 100 students currently study in Turkey, most of them on scholarships, as education remains a focal point of the relationship.

The two leaders also plan to discuss regional and international security concerns, while business forums were planned for both Algeria and Senegal.

African leaders have been quick to extend condolences to Erdoan following last weeks earthquake in Elaz province, in the eastern part of Turkey where at least 41 people died.

Image: Gambian presidency

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Erdogan arrives for visit in troubled The Gambia - Africa Times