Mediaboss Marketing

Turkeys presidency is a ceremonial role, or it was until Recep Tayyip Erdogan became the countrys first directly-elected head of state in August of 2014.

Mr. Erdogan had already served three terms as prime minister. Term limits meant he had to step down, so he ran for president, won handily and began remaking the office to suit his political ambitions.

The one-time Islamist activist has been transforming the former democracy into a de facto dictatorship ever since an effort that was given a huge boost by a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

Post-coup, Mr. Erdogan has held his country in an indefinite state of emergency, which he has exploited to justify multiple violations of basic rights and the silencing of the press.

In April, he orchestrated a referendum on constitutional amendments that abolished the office of prime minister and consolidated a number of critical powers in the presidents office, including the power to appoint judges and prosecutors.

Opponents of the amendments were systematically silenced by Mr. Erdogan, helping him win a slim majority, with 51.4 per cent of the vote. His margin of victory was bolstered by a friendly court decision that allowed the inclusion of unstamped ballots, raising doubts about the legitimacy of the referendum.

Mr. Erdogan is now the supreme and untouchable ruler of Turkey. Turks were reminded of his omnipotence in Orwellian fashion on July 15 of this year, when mobile phone users trying to make a call were first obliged to listen to a recorded message from him marking the anniversary of the attempted coup dtat.

In essence, the failed coup in the immediate aftermath of which Mr. Erdogan and his allies boohooed about the pain of seeing their countrys democracy under attack has led to the very real overthrow of that same democracy by those very same people.

The examples of Mr. Erdogans repression are many.

He has pursued the suspected followers of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he immediately and conveniently fingered as the mastermind behind the failed coup, with brutal, relentless vigour.

He has arrested at least 50,000 people, including human-rights activists, half the senior military ranks, thousands of police officers and hundreds of journalists, many of whom have been jailed without even the veneer of due process.

As well, about 150,000 public servants have been sacked, including dozens of judges; 6,000 university professors have been dismissed; and dozens of media outlets have been shut down.

On Monday, 17 journalists from Turkeys last major independent newspaper were put on trial on terrorism charges. They stand accused because they contacted suspected Gulenists and wrote about them, and quoted their social media postings. Twelve of the journalists have been in jail for nine months, for the crime of doing their jobs.

Mr. Erdogan has also seized as many as 950 companies, with $11-billion in assets, on spurious grounds that the owners were sympathetic to the Gulenists. Executives have had to flee the country or face arrest.

Citizens have been detained for the crime of insulting the president, or, in the case of a fashion model and former Miss Turkey, sharing a satirical poem on social media.

The countrys small Christian population is now living in fear, after the government confiscated as many as 50 churches and the land around them.

Turkey has also taken to squabbling openly with its putative NATO allies. In late July, it leaked details of French and American military positions in Syria, an egregious betrayal.

Turkeys relentless human-rights abuses, including the arrest of German human rights workers and Mr. Erdogans willingness to bring back the death penalty, have now also put its entry into the European Union into question a blow to both the EU and Turkey.

Canada has been affected, too. According to Amnesty International, at least five dual Canadian/Turkish citizens have been detained and denied consular access. The number of Turks seeking political asylum in Canada has surged by a factor of five this year.

None of this was necessary. All of it is the product of Mr. Erdogans naked quest for autocratic control. He has used a minor coup attempt of disputed origins as a pretext to end democracy.

A leader who was a democrat would not have taken these steps. Mr. Erdogan has turned what should have been, at worst, temporary measures until order was restored, into an ongoing repression of civil and political liberties, returning Turkey to dictatorship.

While he and his followers celebrate the anniversary of the failed coup with grand ceremonies, a fresh roundup of 6,000 political opponents, and the renaming of streets and landmarks to suit the new regime the free world can only mourn the death of a democratic ally.

Follow us on Twitter: @GlobeDebate

Read more here:
Globe editorial: Under Erdogan, Turkey descends into dictatorship - The Globe and Mail

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.

Visit link:
Reporter Admits Fabricating Kushner Quote | The Daily Caller - The Daily Caller

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.

Share on facebook

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

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.

We've got more newsletters we think you'll find interesting.

Please try again later.

This email address has already registered for this newsletter.

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."

Want to enjoy 'Zen' reading - with no ads and just the article? Subscribe today

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

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)

More:
Erdogan dismisses pledges over weapons for Kurds in Syria