Saturday 28 November 2015

Erdoğan's self-delusion reflected

From the Turkish newspaper whose editor has been arrested under acccusation of betrayal.

Turkish President Erdoğan warns Russia ‘not to play with fire’


27 November, 2014


President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has warned Russia “not to play with fire” in the wake of a crisis between Ankara and Moscow following the downing of a Russian jet by Turkey on Nov. 24 near the Syrian border.

[Russian President Vladimir] Putin says ‘those who have double standards on terrorism are playing with fire.’ I totally agree with him,” Erdoğan said Nov. 27 in the northern province of Bayburt.

Indeed, supporting the [Bashar] al-Assad regime in Syria, which has killed 380,000 people, is playing with fire. Striking opposition groups that have international legitimacy with the excuse of fighting against Daesh [an acronym of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, ISIL] is playing with fire. Using an incident in which Turkey’s righteousness is accepted by the whole world as an excuse to torment our citizens who were in Russia to attend a fair is playing with fire. Irresponsibly hitting trucks in the region that are there for trade or humanitarian reasons is playing with fire. We sincerely advise Russia not to play with fire,” he added.

Erdoğan also expressed his willingness to meet Putin during the upcoming climate change summit in Paris in order to find common ground and avoid a further escalation of tension.

We are uncomfortable with efforts to take the dispute over the downed jet into other areas of relations. Let’s not allow that to happen,” he said, underlining that maintaining good relations was beneficial for both countries.

Claiming that Turkey’s shooting down of the Russian jet was not “intentional” but simply a result of an automatic enforcement of rules of engagement, Erdoğan nevertheless argued that Turkey was right to do so.

Turkey has proved its honesty” by releasing audio recordings of the warnings issued to the Russian pilots, he added.

Erdoğan also touched on the joint press conference held by Putin and French President François Hollande on Nov. 26, describing the former’s comments as “unacceptable.” Denying allegations that Turkey has been purchasing oil from ISIL, Erdoğan said the oil trade between ISIL, Russia and the Syrian regime had been documented by the United States.


Turkish police pepper spray supporters of 2 prominent journalists arrested for ‘treason



Police in Ankara used pepper spray against supporters of two prominent journalists accused of treason over publishing photos of weapons allegedly brought to Syria by Turkish intelligence. Several thousand rallied in their support in Istanbul and Ankara.

The Friday rally in support of the editor-in- chief and Ankara editor of the Cumhuriyet newspaper in the Turkish capital was attended by about 1,000 people accusing the government of attempting to cover up the weapons scandal by silencing the critics and the press. "Shoulder-to-shoulder against fascism," the crowd chanted.







RUSSIA SILENTLY BOMBED TURKISH ARMS CONVOY FOR ISIS; ERDOGAN CONSOLIDATES POWER AT HOME


27 November, 2015

It can now be confirmed that yesterday’s mystery bombing of Erdogan’s arms convoy for ISIS was conducted by Russia, although both camps were silent about it.

The Erdogan government arrested the newspaper editor for “espionage”, in effect, virtually confirming that said convoy was delivering arms and ammunition for the Islamic State at the City of Azaz, Syria, which is just 5 km close to the Turkey border.

We have been expecting Russia’s response to the unprovoked shooting down of its Su-24 to be “cold, calculated, extensive, swift — and most of all unexpected.”
This is the first time that Sputnik News was so silent about Russia’s immediate response. But RT did publish about the Erdogan government’s arrest of the editor of Cumhuriyet newspaper for
The articles, published on Cumhuriyet’s front page in May, claimed that Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) is smuggling weapons in trucks into Syria and was caught doing so twice in 2014. The trucks were allegedly stopped and searched by police, with photos and videos of their contents obtained by Cumhuriyet.“

. ve eşi Dilek Dündar savcılık kararını beklerken
 

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Erdem Gül'ün ifadesi de bitti. Savcının kararını bekliyoruz
 

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That event happened a year ago, so why published it now?
This could be Russia’s way of indirectly acknowledging responsibility for the Turkish ISIS supply convoy “mystery” bombing just recently.
Another question would be, why is Erdogan doing the arrest now?
The answer for the latter is that Erdogan is already consolidating its hold on to power and it would not surprise us if in the coming days, Erdogan would stage an event that will give him the pretext to proclaim martial law.
Not doing so would mean his fall from power and the likelihood of incarceration for financing Islamic State.

Erdogan gobbles up power in new Turkish government

Cengiz Çandar Columnist
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a news conference after a meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Istanbul, Nov. 13, 2015.  (photo by REUTERS/Osman Orsal)
Author: Cengiz Çandar Posted November 25, 2015
I was waiting for the announcement of the new Turkish Cabinet on Nov. 24 when a Russian fighter jet was shot down by a Turkish F-16 on the border between Turkey and Syria. The magnitude of the international crisis that the incident may generate is still too early to predict. Hearing an angry Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said Russia was “stabbed in the back by those who abetted the terrorists” and accused Turkey of aiding the Islamic State (IS) in transporting and selling its oil, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov canceling his visit to Ankara and calling on Russians not to go to Turkey, it is not hard to predict the days ahead could hold very serious developments.
The announcement of the anxiously awaited new Turkish Cabinet revealed the identity of the government that has been much debated. Would it be the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or a coalition between the president and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu?
Following the announcement of the new Cabinet, it is clear that the 64th government of the Republic of Turkey is the government of Erdogan.
One of the 72 founding members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), who asked to remain unidentified, talked to Al-Monitor about the nature of the expected government a few hours before the announcement. The official, who was until he was sidelined recently a well-known figure within the AKP, speculated that the new government would reflect the power that Erdogan has with some minor concessions given to Davutoglu for face-saving purposes.
The announcement of the new government had in store surprises even for the most well-informed AKP veterans. The darling of theWestern financial circles in terms of preserving trust in the Turkish economy, former Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, who has been in charge of running the Turkish economy for over a decade and who Davutoglu has insisted on keeping his post, was excluded.
Former Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek replaced Babacan, as if to assuage the worries of international markets. Two names on the list leave no doubt that this new government will be ruled by Erdogan: Binali Yildirim and Erdogan’s son-in-law Berat Albayrak, who took key portfolios.
This could be Erdogan’s way of protesting NATO’s paying lip service to his attempt of enlisting the organization’s military services to preserve his ISIS oil smuggling enterprise.
Bilal Erdoğan owns several maritime companies. He has allegedly signed contracts with European operating companies to carry Iraqi stolen oil to different Asian countries. The Turkish government buys Iraqi plundered oil which is being produced from the Iraqi seized oil wells. Bilal Erdoğan’s maritime companies own special wharfs in Beirut and Ceyhan ports that are transporting ISIS’ smuggled crude oil in Japan-bound oil tankers.”
Nevertheless, no less than Russia’s deputy prime minister has erased any doubts as to how exactly his country would extract revenge to the backstabbing of Turkey.

Russian deputy PM pledges Russia will fulfil all military goals in Syria

MOSCOW, November 26 /TASS/. Russia will do everything to achieve the goals of its military operation in Syria, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said at a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Thursday.
If anybody wanted to intimidate us, then they do not know our character. The effect is going to be diametrically opposite. The question of revenge on the criminals has turned into a nationwide issue. We will certainly do everything to bring what we are doing to the end and fulfill all the tasks that were assigned when we launched a military operation against the biggest global contemporary threat,” the Russian vice-premier said adding that Russia was actively supporting Syria.

We are taking a more than active part in (fighting terrorism) by comparison to other countries which are only articulating their participation in the counter-terrorism operation,” the vice-premier stressed.

Our presence in Syria is legitimate. We are intensively fighting a common threat. We will certainly give all kind of support to the Syrian army to enable it to liberate the country from international terrorists who have already shown their bare teeth,” Rogozin said
He does not believe that the attack on the Russian Su-24 bomber on November 24 was an annoying incident.
Oil revenues from the terrorist-held regions of Syria and Turkey are accumulating on the accounts of those who are responsible for downing the Russian bomber, Rogozin told the Syrian top diplomat.
The Russian jet had been attacked deliberately, the vice-premier said adding that Russia did not believe in occasional incidents.
We can see Turkey’s direct and selfish interest in preserving the status quo which consists in the Islamic State’s control over considerable regions and areas in Syria, especially those that are oil-rich,” Rogozin said.
In fact, today we can see that petroleum products are delivered from Syria to Turkey on an industrial scale. Billions of dollars are accumulating on the accounts of people who ordered to shoot the jet down,” Rogozin stressed.
The past few days have shown who is who in the Syrian conflict; who is fighting the Islamic State only declaratively while being its direct patrons who are conniving at its terrorist activities,” the vice-premier said.
You know the reaction of our leadership and our people to the terror attack against our Armed Forces, which are carrying out a (military) operation in Syria. It is a mean attack, both literally and figuratively, against our plane, which had legitimately taken part in the operation in Syria and had delivered strikes against the (IS) terrorist group,” Rogozin concluded.




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