Archive for the ‘Erdogan’ Category

Reporter Admits Fabricating Kushner Quote | The Daily Caller – The Daily Caller

A Turkish reporter admitted that he inaccurately quoted White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, who was reported to have lavished praise on Turkish President Recep Erdogan.

A White House official told The Daily Caller Thursday that the quote in the Turkish newspaper AKSAM was made up. The reporter, Yavuz Atalay, admitted as much when contacted by TheDC.

The articlepublished Thursday claimed that Kushner, President Trumps son-in-law, said that Erdogan is making Turkey bigger again like US. We watch his efforts with appreciation.

The piece included a selfie with both Kushner and Atalay.

He [Atalay] approached Jared for a selfie but is not quoted accurately, a White House official told TheDC. Its made up.

Atalay also claimed that Ivanka Trump told him she loves Turkey and that Jared praised Turkeys economy. The White House did not respond to a follow-up question about Ivankas comments and whether the article in its entirety is a fabrication.

When asked over Twitter direct message about the White House pushback, Atalay initially refused to address the claim that he made up a quote.

That was not an interview. I didnt get any permit from Kushners office or Ivankas office or White House. As I mentioned in the report it was a very quick conversation with him (1-2 min.), Atalay said.

When pressed further on whether the Kushner quote was accurate, Atalay said,He did not say that. I asked him, Do you think, Erdogan is making Turkey great again, like Trump and he only said, Yeah, I think so.'

A native Turkish speaker who reviewed Atalays article said that the reporter has a history of making bombastic claims about the Trump administrations view of Erdogan and the Turkish government.

The source pointed to a Feb. 9 article in which Atalay reported that White House sources said that Trump told Erdogan in a phone call that he would order intelligence agencies to prepare an investigative file on Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric living in exile in the U.S. Erdogan has asked the U.S. government to extradite Gulen, who he considers a terrorist.

Erdogan-controlled Turkish media outlets regularly publish inaccurate reports about Gulen.

In an article published in November, Atalay reported that his sources told him that some of Gulens followers requested a meeting with Trump through then-Vice President-elect Mike Pence. According to Atalay, Trump declined the meeting, saying he will not sit together with terrorists. Pence passed this message on to New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who then relayed the information to the Gulenists.

No other outlets have reported that chain of events.

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Reporter Admits Fabricating Kushner Quote | The Daily Caller - The Daily Caller

Lapid on Erdogan comments: Israel should support Kurdish state, recognize Armenian genocide – The Jerusalem Post

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid. (photo credit:Courtesy)

Turkey needs to know they cannot continue to kick Israel, and Israel will come back and ask for more, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid said Thursday in reaction to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's fanning the flames surrounding the tensions on the Temple Mount.

The time has come to stop ingratiating ourselves to the Turks, who every time come and kick us harder, he told journalists during a briefing in Tel Aviv.

We need to say, 'okay, we understand, now we have to run our own policy: from now on we support the establishment of an independent Kurdish state, we need to recognize the Armenian genocide, we need to do all the things that we didn't do when we had good relations with Turkey, because we don't, and we will not have in the future, he said.

He also said that Israel needs to give up the idea of a gas pipeline to Turkey.

Israel cannot allow itself to be dependent on a consumer which has for all intents and purposes turned into a hostile or semi-hostile state, he said.

The Yesh Atid leaders topped short, however, of calling for a closure of the embassy in Ankara and a break in diplomatic ties, saying that Israel needed in any event to work with less friendly countries.

But, he said, the Turks have to know that they can always kick us, and we come back and ask for more.

Erdogan, over the last two days, has made a number of inflammatory comments relating to the Temple Mount crisis, including calling on the Muslim world to defend al-Aksa, and saying that IDF soldiers were dirtying the site with their boots.

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Lapid on Erdogan comments: Israel should support Kurdish state, recognize Armenian genocide - The Jerusalem Post

Erdogan: Under Guise of Fighting Terror, Israel Trying to Take Al-Aqsa Mosque From Muslims – Haaretz

In his strongest statement since the Temple Mount crisis began, Turkish president also calls on world's Muslims to actively defend the mosque

Turkish President Recip Tayyip Erdogan said in an Ankara speech at an AKP party meeting in parliament that Israel is trying to take the Al-Aqsa Mosque from Muslims under the guise of efforts to fight terrorism.

"Everyone who knows Israel is aware that restrictions on Al-Aqsa mosque are not due to safety concerns," Erdogan said in his strongest statement since the crisis began on the Temple Mount.

The Turkish president was one of the prominent leaders of the Muslim world that attacked Israel in recent days following the placement of metal detectors at entrances to the Temple Mount. Erdogan, who serves as the rotating president of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, held a series of phone calls with Arab and Muslim leaders and even raised the issue in a meeting with Saudi King Salman bin Abd al-Aziz earlier this week.

Erdogan called on the world's Muslims to take an active part of the defense of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. "When Israeli soldiers carelessly pollute the grounds of Al-Aqsa with their combat boots by using simple issues as a pretext and then easily spill blood there, the reason [they are able to do that] is we [Muslims] have not done enough to stake our claim over Jerusalem."

The Turkish president also came out against the recent attacks against synagogues in Turkey by Muslim extremists, saying that it is a mistake to respond to one injustice by causing another.

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On Saturday,Erdogan condemned Israel over the crisis and what he described as excessive use of force against Muslim worshippers. "Closing Temple Mount for days and imposing restrictions on Muslims is unacceptable," Erdogan said. "I call on the international community to intervene."

President Reuven Rivlin and Erdogan discussed the Temple Mount crisis in a phone call on Thursday.The Israeli President's Residence said that the call took place at Erdogan's request. A senior Israeli official said that the Foreign Ministry opposed to the call taking place, and even passed on a negative assessment of it earlier in the day.

The President's Residence said that during their conversation, Rivlin clarified to his Turkish counterpart that "the terror attack that occurred last Friday at the Temple Mount, a sacred site for all of us, is an unacceptable crossing of a red line that jeopardizes our ability to live together."

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Erdogan: Under Guise of Fighting Terror, Israel Trying to Take Al-Aqsa Mosque From Muslims - Haaretz

Erdogan dismisses pledges over weapons for Kurds in Syria

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday countries which promised to get back weapons supplied to Kurdish YPG fighters in northern Syria were trying to trick Turkey and would eventually realize their mistake.

Ankara was infuriated by a U.S. decision last month to arm the YPG, which Washington sees as a vital ally in the battle against Islamic State in its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa but which Turkey deems an extension of the outlawed Kurdish PKK.

The PKK, designated a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and Turkey, has been waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey since the 1980s.

Turkish defense ministry sources said on Thursday the United States had pledged that weapons provided to the YPG would be taken back once Islamic State was defeated.

However Erdogan, addressing members of his ruling AK Party in a speech marking the start of the Islamic Eid holiday, appeared to dismiss those assurances, saying Turkey's friends and allies were cooperating with terrorists.

"The ones who think they are tricking Turkey by saying they are going to get back the weapons that are being given to this terrorist organization will realize that they are making a mistake eventually," he said.

"But it will be too late for them," he added, saying that if violence spilled over Syria's border into Turkey, Ankara would hold to account anyone who supplied arms to the YPG.

"We will make the real owners of those weapons... pay for any bullet that will be fired to our country, for every drop of blood that will be shed," he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump decided to arm the YPG fighters, who form a main part of the U.S.-backed force fighting Islamic State inside Raqqa, despite protests from NATO ally Ankara and a direct appeal from Erdogan at a White House meeting last month.

Erdogan said the decision contravened the military alliance's framework of cooperation.

Faced with turmoil across its southern border, Turkey last year sent troops into Syria to support Syrian rebels fighting both Islamic State and Kurdish forces who control a large part of Syria's northern border region.

"I want all the world to know that in northern Syria, on our border, we are never going to allow a terrorist state to be established," Erdogan said.

(Reporting by Omer Berberoglu; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Gareth Jones)

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Erdogan dismisses pledges over weapons for Kurds in Syria

Trump, Putin and Erdogan behave like autocratic rulers …

Chancellor candidate Martin Schulz of the German Social Democratic Party speaks at his party's annual economy forum in Berlin, Germany, June 13, 2017. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Union must become stronger in response to a weakening of democracy in the United States, Russia and Turkey, the leader of Germany's centre-left Social Democrats said in remarks published on Saturday.

Martin Schulz, who is also a former president of the European Parliament, said that U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan behaved like "autocratic rulers".

"It is now important to rejuvenate Europe and make it stronger. Not only through words but also through concrete policies," Schulz told the Passauer Neue Presse.

Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts leaders of the G20 leading economies at a summit in Hamburg on July 7-8, where Trump's vow to renegotiate trade agreements and make them better for the United States is expected to be one of the most divisive topics on the agenda.

Opposition to Trump's protectionist agenda is one area on which Schulz and Merkel agree. Schulz last month accused Trump of destroying Western values and undermining international cooperation.

"There are some in the G20 that behave like autocratic rulers: Turkish President Erdogan, Russian President Putin and also U.S. President Trump," Schulz said.

Schulz's SPD are 14 percentage points behind Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavaria-based Christian Social Union sister party three months before a national election on Sept. 24.

Trump wants Germany and other European allies to boost defence contributions to the NATO military alliance. He has criticized Germany's large trade surplus with the United States.

Merkel said this week that open markets and free trade were a key focus of Germany's G20 presidency.

(Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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Trump, Putin and Erdogan behave like autocratic rulers ...