Turkey: The pastor, the banker, and the irresistible drama in Turkish-US relations

US President Donald Trump once looked to be Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s biggest fan, uttering at a recent NATO summit: “I like him, I like him.” No longer.

This week, the US Treasury announced sanctions on two Turkish ministers over the case of Andrew Brunson, an American pastor who has been in jail for 21 months and who has been the subject of months of secret negotiations between Ankara and Washington.

Although the move is symbolic – given the plethora of bilateral disputes between the sides and Turkey’s drift away from liberal Western norms – the Trump administration’s decision could become a historic milestone for Turkey’s position in the West.

Nonetheless, in the unpredictable global environment we live in and with volatile leaders on both sides, it is also possible that this will end up being a detour in relations between the two long-time allies. As happened with Russia after the Turkish air force downed a Russian fighter jet in 2015, and with Germany following the Turkish authorities’ arrest of two dozen German citizens last summer, this crisis might blow over in seven or eight months, leading first to a thaw and then to normalisation.

Still, the events of this week are momentous – the first serious fissure between Ankara and Washington since the 1975 US arms embargo on Turkey following the Turkish incursion into Cyprus.

Using the Magnitsky Act, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions on Turkish Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gül and Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu, designating them “leaders of Turkish government organizations responsible for implementing Turkey’s serious human rights abuses” – and, as such, accountable for the decision to persecute Brunson on trumped-up charges.

Brunson has been living in Turkey for 23 years, running a small protestant church in Izmir. He was caught up in Turkey’s massive dragnet after the coup attempt, accused of “supporting terrorism” – as most foreign nationals detained during that period were – by way of his alleged links with both the Gülen movement and Kurdish separatists. It took more than a year for the authorities to produce an indictment – which turned out to be a jumble of espionage charges, secret testimonies, allegations of links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and local Gülenists, and an insidious plot to create an independent “Kurdistan” through the Christianisation of Syrian-Kurdish immigrants. A pro-government newspaper even claimed that, had the coup attempt been successful, Brunson would have been appointed as director of the CIA
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It is troubling, if not unusual, for Turkish prosecutors to come up with wild accusations against foreign detainees. The practice reflects, above all, the emergence of a deeply paranoid security state that senses a threat from, as opposed to camaraderie with, Turkey’s traditional Western allies. German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücel and human rights activist Peter Steudtner were similarly accused of “aiding an armed terrorist group”. The perception that the American “deep state” is behind the coup attempt and is harbouring Fethullah Gülen – a US-based cleric whose supporters played a leading role in the event – has now become the standard view in the Turkish bureaucracy. Turkey’s new national security ideology casts suspicion on foreigners, human rights activists, journalists, and liberal-leaning non-governmental organisations for knowingly or unknowingly participating in an effort to weaken or destroy Turkey.

But Brunson’s case is unique because his name has emerged as a rallying cry for the evangelical community in the United States – ultimately making the fate of the Presbyterian pastor a key issue in the strained Turkish-US relationship. When Erdogan held his first official meeting with Trump in Washington in May 2016, the White House organised a prayer vigil calling for Brunson’s release. 

Trump brought up the case three times during a luncheon with Erdogan that day and during subsequent phone conversations with Erdogan. Meanwhile, Congress has held hearings on the case and referred to Brunson in various legislative bills on Turkey. Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Trump supporters such as Jay Sekulow – an attorney on the president’s legal team who leads the American Center for Law and Justice – have all been involved in the Brunson saga. In this way, demands for Brunson’s release have become a permanent fixture in Turkey’s messy alliance with Washington.

Of course, the alliance is no less steady than a tired marriage mired in bickering and a litany of mutual grievances. Ankara has never quite forgiven Washington for not handing over Gülen. Turkey also objects to US support for Syrian Kurds affiliated with the PKK in the fight against the Islamic State group (ISIS). On top of this, the Turkish president has lashed out at the prosecution of Halkbank executive Hakan Atilla in a New York court case concerning the evasion of US sanctions on Iran. As Halkbank is one of Turkey’s largest state banks, Ankara fears that a US Treasury fine on the institution would trigger a domino effect in the Turkish financial system, at a time when the economy is experiencing a serious downturn.

In Trump, Ankara once had a sympathetic ear. From the get-go, the US president seemed eager to build a good relationship with Turkey’s strongman leader. This accorded with the prevailing view of the foreign policy establishment in Washington, which continues to believe that it is important to keep Turkey anchored to the West. However, Erdogan’s anti-Western rhetoric, poor human rights record, and decision to purchase Russian S-400 anti-aircraft systems have all made it harder for American friends of Turkey to make the case for improved relations. US officials have publicly warned that Turkey’s purchase of S-400s would jeopardise NATO’s defences and could result in US sanctions.

Meanwhile, Congress has introduced legislation that threatens to block the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and also discusses the case of Brunson and Turkey’s imprisonment of US citizens and consular employees. (Several other US citizens, and two Turkish citizens who are US consular employees, remain in custody in Turkey; a third remains under house arrest.)

 One of the most dispiriting aspects of all this is that Turkey’s hostage diplomacy sometimes works. Ankara’s decision to return Yücel to Germany has led to the normalization of relations with Berlin and ended an unofficial German embargo on arms sales to Turkey.

 

Last week, the Turkish courts released Brunson from jail and put him under house arrest at his home in Izmir. But Washington saw this as a half-measure. Both Trump and Pence took to Twitter to threaten sanctions if Brunson was not released. US officials continued quietly looking into the possibility of using the Magnitsky Act to penalise Ankara

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This drama even includes an Israeli sideshow. In expectation of Brunson’s release, Trump reached out to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to ask for the release of Turkish activist Ebru Ozkan, who Israel jailed for allegedly aiding Hamas. The 27-year-old was released on 11 June, the day after Trump’s call. 

Erdogan has recently acknowledged as much, but said this week that Turkey never entertained the idea of a direct swap for Brunson. In a meeting this week, Turkey’s National Security Council said that “threatening” rhetoric against Turkey was “unacceptable.” 

 

Even in difficult marriages, divorce is not an easy choice. In the case of Turkish-US relations, there have always been considerations and strategic imperatives that prevented harsh measures against Ankara – such as Washington’s reliance on Incirlik Air Base, and goals of keeping Turkey out of Russia’s arms and maintaining an important NATO alliance in the Middle East.

But the mood in Washington seemed to change very fast this week. Following Trump’s threat of “large sanctions” on Turkey, Turkish officials attempted a quiet diplomacy with the US, offering to release Brunson at his next hearing in October. However, they appear to have misjudged Washington’s patience with the matter, as the sanctions announced this week suggest.

It is hard to predict how long this saga will continue but, as one US official noted, “this is just the beginning [of US measures]. Brunson must be released in the end.” Meanwhile, the knotty set of problems in the Turkey-US relationship – from S-400s to Syrian Kurds, F-35s, and the Halkbank fine – have all somehow become intertwined, with Brunson at the centre of it all.

Note EU-Digest: Again the dirty game of power politics. Also, what is quite interesting to note is that the US government leaders in the past and present have never been able to give some clear picture on the status of the Gülen movement in the US. What kind of a deal has the US with him, and why are they so tight-lipped about why he was allowed "to set up shop" in the US?

Read more: The pastor, the banker, and the irresistible drama in Turkish-US relations | European Council on Foreign Relations

USA - NATO: Trump sends sharply worded letter to NATO leaders to pay more or else

Note EU-Digest: Trump says he is losing his patience with NATO allies, whom he finds should be paying more for the upkeep of NATO. 

Why don't his NATO Allies finally get the guts to tell this narcissist to go to hell, and have the Trump Administration pay for his own disastrous military adventures around the world.  

Fortunately there has been a good counter-move by Europe, which is presently setting up their own united military defense force, combining all the EU Nations military forces into one.

For the complete report click on link below

http://www.newsweek.com/trump-sends-sharply-worded-letters-nato-leaders-says-he-losing-patience-1005779?spMailingID=3670208&spUserID=MTI0NzM2NDgxNDcS1&spJobID=1070120163&spReportId=MTA3MDEyMDE2MwS2

TURKEY - Netherlands Relations: Does the Dutch Government represent EU views on Turkey ?

For the complete report click on:

https://www.dailysabah.com/columns/beril-dedeoglu/2018/07/03/does-the-dutch-government-represent-eus-view-on-turkey

Turkey - LGBTI Community : Istanbul police disperse gay pride march

Riot police have used tear gas to disperse hundreds of people at a gay pride march in Istanbul. The city's LGBTI community and their friends had said they were determined to march.

Read more:: Istanbul police disperse gay pride march | News and current affairs from Germany and around the world | DW | 01.07.2018

EU-Turkey Relations: The EU should brace for a more authoritarian Erdogan, who can now be considered a dictator in his own right

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan won his fifth consecutive election victory on Sunday and finally will be able to rule Turkey with an omnipotent/almighty one-man system non-existent in any democratic country.

Most pundits agree he is now in the club of 'strong rulers' like Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China.

He can be potentially in power until 2032 – with the new system, a president can run twice and also for a third time if he calls for early elections - and calling early elections is within the president's authority.
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Read more: EU should brace for a more authoritarian Erdogan

Turkey - the Presidential elections: Erdogan wins following a rigged election and can now rule Turkey with very little opposition

Neutvoom says that a lot of investors "don't agree with his position on the central bank." Erdogan said last month from London that he wants greater control of monetary policy and suggested he wanted to control interest rates. This worries investors as it could mean a loss of independence at the central bank.Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won sweeping new executive powers after his so called "victory" in landmark elections on Sunday.

But Erdogan was not the only person to claim a victory. His Islamist-rooted AK Party and its nationalist allies also secured a parliamentary majority
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But what do the election results mean for Turkey and the rest of the world?

Turkey's currency has fallen some 20% this year against the dollar. Erdogan has repeatedly called on Turks to convert their euro and dollar savings into lira to help bolster the ailing currency.

While Erdogan's victory is likely to be positive for the lira in the short term, Nora Neutrvoom, an economist at ABN Amro told Euronews that the "Turkish economy will face a severe slowdown."

Turkey has long been vying for full EU membership. Last month, Erdogan said getting a fully fledged membership was a "strategic goal" for Turkey. But that looks unlikely after widespread criticism following the mass arrests and crack down on civil rights since the aborted coup of July 2016.

Note EU-Digest: Unfortunately no one in his right mind believes that these election results represent an accurate reflection of the facts . 

It is nearly impossible, as was reported by the government controlled media, that 59 million votes were counted by hand in only a little over three hours. 

Another first for Turkey was that Erdogan announced he had won, before the official Turkish election board did.

Erdogan called this election, which in reality was a total scam, a "celebration of Democracy", regardless of the fact that he had shut-down all the opposition's access to the media.

In this context, one should also not forget that Turkey presently has more journalists in prison than any other country in the world. 

Bottom line: Erdogan can now rule Turkey without opposition  as Turkey's economy slowly disintegrates.

EU-Digest

Turkey elections live: Voting booths close, Erdogan leads - but 2nd round is now more likely

Voting polls have closed in Turkey, the results of which will determine if incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan secures another five years in office.

The main challenger to Erdogan, centre-left candidate Muharrem Ince, has warned that an Erodogan win will lead to authoritarian rule
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This year's elections are unprecedented, as the winner of the presidency will wield executive powers — and the prime minister post booted — under a new set of reforms backed by Erdogan and later adopted after his 'yes' campaign won a referendum
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Turkish voters have two ballots, one for the presidency, and another for parliament.

• Voting has closed in the Turkish election and so far Erdogan is in the lead with around 54%, while Muharrem Ince trails behind on about 30%.
• In the parliamentary vote, AKP has garnered around 44% of the vote, while CHP are on about 22%.
• The pro-Kurdish HDP party has surpassed the 10% threshold required for their politicians to be eligible to enter parliament.
• Voter turnout has also been recorded at a whopping 87% for both the presidential and parliamentary elections.
• Reports of violence, deaths have emerge during the election. In the city of Erzurum, in eastern Turkey, Good Party representative Mehmet Sıddık Durmaz and two other party workers were shot and killed.
  
• Track our interactive chart as the results come in for the presidential and parliamentary elections.
• Turkey's election system explained in 90 seconds.

For the complete report click here/

Turkey -Turkish Presidential Elections: Mega Rally in Istanbul of opposition's democratic and charismatic Muharrem Ince attracts 5 million supporters - EU-Digest Editorial

Muharrem Ince fresh approach attracting manyTurkish voters

Mr Muharrem Ince drew a massive crowd to an Istanbul rally on Saturday June 23, one day before the election.

Even Istanbul Police estimated that over 5 million attended this rally, despite undemocratic obstructional measures  taken by the Erdogan Governmenmt, including, halting ferry boats, which were bringing Ince supporters to the rally, censoring publications which wanted to report the event. 

People who clicked on web pages which reported on Ince speeches and events found  the following appearing on their screen. . 

THE PAGE YOU ARE LOOKING FOR

COULD NOT BE FOUND

The page you are looking for has been moved or does not exist. 

Turkish voters are calling for end to corrupt Erdogan regime

Mr Ince, a former teacher and the presidential candidate of the main opposition party, the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP), has proved highly effective on the campaign trail, drawing huge crowds, especially in the big cities.

Mr Muharrem Ince repeated an accusation made by other opposition politicians of political bias by Turkey's state media, which has given Mr Erdogan and the AK Party heavy coverage, while often completely neglecting to broadcast opposition rallies.

Massive turnout for Ince in Istanbul on Saturday June 23

"There are 5 million people in Maltepe right no,. but none of the TV channels can show it," Ince said in Istanbul this Saturday, June 23.

It is also remarkable and strange, that very few US and EU media outlets have provided hardly any coverage to the rallies of Muharrem Ince. 

Instead the international Press provides a lot of coverage to "President" Erdogan, who has locked up more journalists than the Peoples Republic of China.

Extra security forces and more than half a million ballot monitors and volunteers will be deployed across Turkey during Sundays election. 

Unfortunately large numbers of these security forces, monitors and volunteers, have been placed there by the Erdogan government, which, just like during the last referendum vote, makes fraud a major threat again during this Presidential election..

The winner of Sunday's June 24 presidential contest will acquire sweeping new executive powers under a constitutional overhaul backed by Mr Erdogan and endorsed last year by a narrow majority of Turks in a referendum.

EU-Digest-

No permission is required to re-publish the above report 
as long as EU-Digest is mentioned as the source.

Turkey - Presidential elections: Turkey’s opposition with its new shining democratic star Muharrem Ince might actually have a chance – by Zia Weise

Muharrem Ince wants to bring democracy back to Turkey

Politico reports that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s challengers are gaining momentum ahead of a snap election Sunday — their confidence buoyed by the energetic campaign of Muharrem Ince, a firebrand politician and former physics teacher who has become "dictator" Erdoğan’s foremost rival in the race for Turkey’s presidencyo reports that Turkey’s opposition, long written off as toothless, has rediscovered its bite.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s challengers are gaining momentum ahead of a snap election Sunday — their confidence buoyed by the energetic campaign of Muharrem Ince, a firebrand politician and former physics teacher who has become "dictator" Erdoğan’s foremost rival in the race for Turkey’s presidency

Ince — the nominee of the secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP) — has won popularity with boisterous political rhetoric not unlike Erdoğan’s own.

On Saturday, while campaigning on Istanbul’s Asian side, he took the president to task over issues ranging from economic mismanagement to democratic erosion, taunting Erdoğan for rejecting a televised debate.

“We’ll only talk about the economy,” he shouted as he paced back and forth on top of a campaign bus in Üsküdar, a largely conservative neighborhood where Erdoğan owns a house. “Come on television. Aren’t you a world leader? Why won’t you come?

The crowd packing the shorefront square in the scalding June heat cheered, but Ince was not finished: “Look, the people of Üsküdar want you to, Erdoğan. Don’t be afraid, I won’t eat you. Come!” he roared.

Even though the odds, mainly reported by the Erdogan cam,  still seem firmly in Erdoğan’s favor on June 24, it will be the first time Turkey holds simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections. 

Given there is no ballot box fraud, like there was in the last Turkish referendum, a new democratic star might be born in Turkey, who can bring the country back on a normal footing, re; human rights, including freedom of the press, and economic health, also with a more than fair chance for Turkey to finally join the European Union.

Opposition candidates hope to force Erdogan into a runoff on July 8 — and most polls show Erdoğan falling narrowly short of 50 percent in the first round, suggesting they might stand a chance.

Sunday will also mark the day that Turkey’s constitutional reforms come into force, endowing the president with vast executive powers as approved in a controversial 2017 referendum. The opposition candidates have vowed to roll back the changes and return to parliamentary rule.

If there is a second round, Ince will likely be the one to face off against Erdoğan — an unexpected turn of events, as the president and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had counted on CHP to nominate its mild-mannered leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

Kılıçdaroğlu, however, surprised many by choosing Ince, an outspoken MP known for criticizing his own party. It was a shrewd choice for CHP: Unlike most secular politicians, Ince has proven capable of reaching out to voters beyond the party’s base.

Unlike most secular politicians, Ince has proven capable of reaching out to voters beyond the party’s base.

Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, fellow at the European Council for Foreign Relations said of him: “But Ince — he’s not elite, he’s a village kid, he knows how to ride a tractor. His mother wears a headscarf. So, he cannot be labelled as an elite hard-line secularist. That makes it difficult for Erdoğan to attack him,”

Erdoğan is still a force to be reckoned with. But in stark contrast to previous elections, the president has run a lackluster campaign plagued by gaffes — from a malfunctioning teleprompter to gifting the opposition its slogan of tamam (“enough”) when he pledged to step down should voters tell him “enough.”

Ince and his fellow opposition candidate Meral Akşener, the nominee of the center-right Iyi Party, are increasingly setting the tone of the campaign. When both Ince and Akşener decided not to appear on TRT state television, Erdoğan followed suit.

When Ince declared he would lift the two-year-old state of emergency if elected, Erdoğan — who had previously insisted that the emergency law was necessary for Turkey’s security — pledged to do so, too.

And while Erdoğan hopes to win over voters with a nationalist agenda, blaming Turkey’s economic problems on Western meddling and emphasizing the threat of terrorism, the opposition has run a campaign marked by a sense of hope.

Ince, who has accused Erdoğan of creating a “society of fear,” has crisscrossed the country promising democracy and rule of law, a stable economy and greater freedoms. At his rallies, he has charmed voters by dancing and cycling on stage.

Recent polls suggest Ince may score between 20 percent and 30 percent of votes in the first round, with Erdoğan between 45 percent and 48 percent (though a few surveys put him at above 50 percent). Akşener’s vote share is projected between 9 percent and 15 percent. 

Though only a few analysts predict a narrow victory for Erdoğan, a second round would see a closely fought race.

Dilara, a 19-year-old first-time voter who attended Ince’s event in Üsküdar, said she sees the CHP candidate as “fresh blood” for the opposition.

“I’ve never seen Üsküdar like this,” she said. “Things are changing. There’s a chance — a small chance — he can win in the second round.”

Like many voters, Dilara counted Turkey’s economic troubles among her chief concerns. Double-digit inflation, rising unemployment and the plummeting lira pose major threats to Erdoğan’s plans for reelection, given his promise of continued growth.

Where the opposition stands a real chance is in the parliamentary election, where they are threatening the AKP’s majority, thanks to an unlikely alliance between secularists, Islamists and nationalists.

The Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has been left out of the alliance, but Ince has gained popularity among Kurdish voters with his inclusive approach.

Ince has visited HDP’s imprisoned candidate, Selahattin Demirtaş, in jail — a risky undertaking that exposed him to accusations of sympathizing with terrorists — and pledged to support Kurdish-language education.

His overtures are paying off: Last week, a large crowd welcomed him in the Kurdish city Diyarbakır — a rare feat for a lawmaker from CHP, the party responsible for Turkey’s historical repression of Kurds

The Kurdish vote may prove crucial. The AKP will only lose its majority if HDP surpasses the 10 percent threshold to enter parliament. Opposition parties are also vying for the vote of conservative Kurds, who have favored AKP and Erdoğan in the past.

“Kurdish voters are key,” said Baris Yarkadas, a CHP MP for Istanbul. “Whoever the Kurds vote for in the second round will become president.”

With just days remaining before the elections, opposition parties and their supporters are growing bolder. Saturday’s Üsküdar rally resembled a festival, with families picnicking on the grass and vendors hawking cotton candy.

Optimism abounded, as well as a sense of unity. Aside from staunch CHP supporters, many first-time voters and even supporters of other parties were in attendance. Some waved HDP and Iyi Party flags.

“It’s a different atmosphere this time,” said Deniz Uludağ, 39, who was at the rally with her siblings. “I think the government, they’re a little bit afraid.”

EU-Digest

Turkey: The Man: Muharrem Ince - Who Could Topple Erdogan - by Safak Pavey

Turkish Presidential Candidate 
Muharrem Ince, rattling Erdogan's base

The New York Times Reports that something is changing in Turkey.

After 16 years of electoral dominance by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the secularist opposition Republican People’s Party, known as the C.H.P., has found a leader and presidential candidate who is rattling Mr. Erdogan, invigorating opposition voters and reaching out to Turks beyond the traditional base of his party.

The murmurs are increasingly audible that Mr. Erdogan may not be invincible when Turkey votes on June 24. The politician who achieved this transformation in the national mood is Muharrem Ince, a 54-year-old legislator from the C.H.P., who was chosen as the presidential candidate by his party in May. Mr. Ince has represented Yalova, a province about 50 miles from Istanbul, in the Turkish parliament since 2002. His father was a small farmer. Mr. Ince taught physics at a school before entering politics.

I got to know Mr. Ince while serving as a member of parliament for the C.H.P. from Istanbul. His speeches in the parliament went viral on Turkish social media; his humor inspired caricatures and memes, skewering the opponents. In the past month of campaigning, Mr. Ince’s witty and pugnacious speeches challenging Mr. Erdogan at public meetings have inspired the Turks.

I recently attended a public meeting Mr. Ince was having in Duzce, a city on the Black Sea coast, which has elected Justice and Development Party candidates in every parliamentary election since Mr. Erdogan founded the party in 2002. Politicians from the secularist C.H.P. would face active hostility — even assault, once — when visiting Duzce. I was surprised to see about 5,000 people waiting to hear Mr. Ince. It was a signifier that he was not preaching to the converted.

A young man I met described himself as a supporter of Mr. Erdogan’s party, but he was curious about Mr. Ince. He spoke about how the people of his city were losing their once-ardent faith in Mr. Erdogan’s party. “Nobody believes them any longer,” he said. “Even at the meetings where they distribute alms, they seal off their seating area to separate themselves from the poor.”

Yet not voting for Mr. Erdogan and his party wasn’t a choice. “Last month, the imam of our village asked all of us to put our hands on the Quran and take an oath to vote for our party,” the young man said. He wouldn’t break his oath but came to agree with the opposition leader’s message.

Mr. Ince is asking the people of Turkey to choose between freedom and fear, between national prestige and national solitude, between imposition of religious practice and freedom to choose, between openness and xenophobia.

Mr. Ince has been challenging President Erdogan for a public debate. “Let us debate on any television network you choose,” he says. The loquacious Mr. Erdogan, who is omnipresent on Turkish television, stayed quiet until Saturday, when he responded with characteristic haughtiness. “He has no shame, inviting me on television,” Mr. Erdogan said, adding that Mr. Ince would try to “ get ratings thanks to us.” Mr. Ince retorted, “He says I want to get ratings, but even the weather forecasts are watched more than his interviews.”

In May, in a speech in the parliament, Mr. Erdogan tried to dismiss Mr. Ince as “a poor person.” The opposition leader responded by asking an important question: “We got the same salary at the same time. How come you became so rich and I am poor?” (Mr. Erdogan’s salary as prime minister between 2003 and 2014 wasn’t a lot more than what members of parliament received. As president he gets paid three times more, but Mr. Ince was referring to the corruption charges against his inner circle.)

Under Mr. Erdogan, polarization between social and ethnic groups has increased in the past several years. His challenger is offering the vision of reconciliation and an end to discriminatory hiring practices by the Turkish state. “The state will have no business if a candidate is Alevi or Sunni, Turkish or Kurdish,” Mr. Ince said at a public meeting last week. “There will be no discrimination whether one is wearing head scarf or not, whether one is a woman or a man.”

Mr. Ince is also changing the misconception that his secularist party’s base is anti-religious by appearing at public rallies with his sister who wears a head scarf. He stood up against the relentless propaganda by the A.K.P. against the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, and visited its leader and presidential candidate Selahattin Demirtas in prison.

The recent fall in the value of the lira exacerbated economic anxieties in the country. Mr. Ince has offered the vision of strengthening a production-based economy, developing agriculture and offering better conditions for local and foreign investors, apart from educating Turkish youth in both their mother tongue and global languages to compete with the world.

Mr. Ince provided examples of moral leadership long before he was in the fray. In the summer of 2016, the Turkish parliament approved a constitutional amendment stripping its members of immunity from prosecution. The bill was pushed by the governing A.K.P. and its ultranationalist allies to target the members from the Peoples’ Democratic Party.

Mr. Ince argued vociferously against the bill and voted against it despite our party being divided on the subject. Earlier, he stood up against the framing and arrest of Turkish military officers by using false evidence and the hollowing out of the judiciary. He spoke out against the indiscriminate purges after the failed coup of July 2016.

During the parliamentary debates on the regressive changes in education pushed by the A.K.P., Mr. Ince called out the party’s hypocrisy by disclosing that A.K.P. elites were not sending their children to the Imam Hatip (religious) public schools, which they deem appropriate for the rest of society. He also pointed out that although the A.K.P. embroiled the country in wars and whipped up hysteric nationalism, its leaders were not enlisting their sons in military service.

Turks seem to be embracing his slogan of “Making Peace, Growing and Sharing Together.” In late April, the C.H.P. vote share, according to independent polls, was about 20 percent. Within a few weeks of Mr. Ince’s presidential campaign, the C.H.P. vote share has increased to 30 percent.

And with the opposition parties coming together, Mr. Erdogan’s time might finally be running out. But nobody knows which rabbit Mr. Erdogan and his team will pull out of their hats before the polling day.

But the shift in the national mood is evident on the streets, on the usually obsequious television networks, in the tea shops across the country. For the first time in almost two decades, Mr. Erdogan no longer seems invincible. A Turkey where every citizen may live without fear finally seems possible.

Note EU-Digest: A Turkish American citizen who was asked what he thought about the possibility of Muharrem Ince  toppling Erdogan answered: "well better the devil you know than the devil you don't.know". 

If everyone had that similar opinion about dictators in power, many would never have been toppled.

Hopefully this fresh wind, which is presently blowing through Turkey in the form of Muharrem Ince candicacy in the Turkish Presidential elections will give the Turks the courage to vote in large numbers for the next President of Turkey: Muharrem Ince 
    

Read more: Opinion | The Man Who Could Topple Erdogan - The New York Times

Turkey - Presidential Elections: Can Erdogan's economic record help him keep seat amid challenges? - by Umut Uras

Sitting by his small telephone sale and repair shop in the buzzing Istanbul district of Besiktas, Hasan Kus is pessimistic about the future of Turkey's economy.

A little over a week before the country's key elections, the 44-year-old believes the financial situation will worsen regardless the outcome of the June 24 polls. "People are merely trying to pick the better scenario, compared to the other ones," says Kus, before trying to sell a phone charger to a customer.

The economy is going to be a decisive factor in the upcoming vote that will transition Turkey from a parliamentary system to an executive one, in line with constitutional changes approved in a referendum last year.

The presidential and parliamentary polls will be held under a state of emergency, in place since July 2016 following a failed deadly coup blamed by the government on the movement of Fethullah Gulen, a US-based self-exiled religious leader.

On the economic front, the polls come against a conflicting backdrop of skyrocketing growth rate - up 7.4 percent last year - and a depreciating currency.

The Turkish lira dropped more than 20 percent against the US dollar this year, prompting the Central Bank to raise interest rates multiple times to shore up one of the world's worst-performing currencies. Meanwhile, both inflation and current account deficit are on the rise.

Under these circumstances, the Turkish electorate appears divided about who is best equipped to deal with the ongoing economic uncertainties.

Voters who blame the uncertainty on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) believe change is needed after 15 years to correct the policies that spawned the current problems.

Note EU-Digest: It is time for a change in Turkey after 15 years of Erdogan. President Erdogan has brought Turkey close to total economic ruin, and based on latest polls can only win the upcoming Presidential elections if he succeeds, once again, to have his associates fiddle with the ballot boxes and votes to change the outcome....? 

Read more: Can Erdogan's economic record help him keep seat amid challenges? | Turkey News | Al Jazeera

TURKEY - Erdogan Driving Turkey Over The Cliff: Why Investors Have Become Skittish About Turkey

For the better part of 16 years, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a "self-styled economic reformer", and the world’s great hope for Muslim democracy, had a compelling story—and for most of that time, everyone bought it. Everyone, that is, except Turkey’s old guard—the secular establishment, the billionaires, generals, and educated elites who stood to lose their monopoly on power, wealth, and influence.

Now, however, it looks like Turks got more than they bargained forAfter a run that brought in more than $220 billion of foreign investment, tripled gross domestic product, and returned inflation to single digits, Turkey’s economy is again ailing—its democracy even more so.

With the nation heading to snap elections on June 24, the lira is sinking, inflation is running at double the central bank’s target, and companies are struggling under more than $300 billion in foreign debt.

Turkey’s ranking on nearly every index of democratic governance has plunged. There’s no longer talk of a peace process with Kurdish separatists.

Buoyed by a seeming imperviousness at the polls, Erdogan has become ever more autocratic, his style of leadership more personal, prickly, and intolerant.

He has ruled using emergency law since a failed military coup in the summer of 2016, jailing more journalists than any country in the world and widening censorship powers to include the internet.

If people don't wake up in time to the fact that Erdogan is driving Turkey over the cliff and vote him out of power - it could mean this beautiful country will be going in na tailspin towards certain disaster.

READ MORE: Why Investors Have Become Skittish About Turkey - Bloomberg

Turkey - on the road to disaster or rebirth?

For the full report go to:

https://www.theglobalist.com/turkey-recep-tayyip-erdogan-vladimir-putin/

Vatican: Pope urges end to ‘carnage’ in Syria in Easter message

Pope Francis called on Sunday (April 1) for an end to “carnage” in Syria and “reconciliation” in the Middle East in his traditional Easter message.

“Today we implore fruits of peace upon the entire world, beginning with the beloved and long-suffering land of Syria,” the pontiff said in the “Urbi et Orbi” (To the City and the World) address.

Appealing to the “consciences of all political and military leaders”, Pope Francis urged “that a swift end may be brought to the carnage” as tens of thousands of pilgrims listened in St Peter’s Square and millions watched the speech broadcast live around the world.

Read more: Pope urges end to ‘carnage’ in Syria in Easter message, Europe News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

'EU Turkish Relations: Turkey needs Europe, Europe needs Turkey'

Turkey's not exactly the flavour of the month in the EU right now, but - as the two sides meet at a summit in Bulgaria - President Erdogan says it's time for the bloc to "keep to its promises."

Ankara kicked off formal membership negotiations in 2005 and, all these years on, they have effectively collapsed.

But there's a reluctance to walk away from each other.

"Europe should take its share of the refugees, so that we don't have to depend on people like Erdogan to manage the issue," said Philippe Lamberts, a Belgian Green MEP.

"That obviously requires a little bit of political courage, but at the end of the day, it's our strategic independence from Turkey."

Erdogan's alarmed the West with a massive purge following a failed coup attempt.

But Turkey remains the destination for many Syrians fleeing war - and an important ally in the NATO alliance. So is it really curtains for the membership bid?

"If Turkey cannot relaunch the reform process and is not anymore in a position to meet EU accession criteria, relations will evolve into a kind of partnership and will be shaped more and more around common interests and strategic priorities," commented political analyst Seda Gurkan.

"And Turkey is considered in Brussels actually as an important strategic neighbour or a key partner rather a candidate."

Three billion euros of fresh cash is expected to be pledged to Turkey to lengthen a deal on it taking in Syrian refugees. And for Ankara, the EU is its biggest foreign investor and trading partner.

"Turkey is not doing very well economically, it needs outlets" said Lamberts, "and it is very clear that bad relations with Europe are harmful to Turkey, so somewhere on the economic level Erdogan needs Europe and Europe in fairness needs Turkey."

With Syria, France has been one of the biggest critics of the Turkish military operation in Afrin - saying border security concerns did not justify it.

Read more: 'Turkey needs Europe, Europe needs Turkey' | Euronews

The Netherlands: Turkey summons Dutch diplomat over Armenian genocide motion

The Turkish government called on the Dutch charge d‘affaires in Ankara on Saturday to express its anger at two bills proposed by the Christian Union party, the first of which would formally classify the events of 1915, when 1.5 million ethnic Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire, as a genocide.

 The second bill would call on a Dutch official to be present during the annual remembrance day in Armenia on April 24. At present, 23 countries, including Russia, recognize the 1915 killings as a genocide. The Turkish authorities, however, dispute the Armenian version of events, arguing that there were atrocities on both sides, and bitterly contest all charges of genocide.

 ead more: Turkey summons Dutch diplomat over Armenian genocide motion — RT Newsline

Netherlands Parliament Recognizes Armenian Genocide - but Government so far takes no action

The lower house of the Dutch parliament, local known as the Tweede Kamer, passed two resolutions on Thursday with a majority vote one recognizing the Armenian Genocide, the other calling on its foreign minister to visit Armenia in April to observe the anniversary of that crime.

According to NLTimes, both motions were submitted by ChristenUnie party parliament member Joel Voordewind. All four coalition parties supported the motions.

The Netherlands has not recognized the Genocide thus far, however, the majority of the parliament voted on Thursday to change that course and officially recognize the events of 1915 as Genocide.

Note: This is a very controversial issue which happened more than 100 years ago and the Netherlands Government would act wisely to refrain from taking any further action on the issue until more research is avaible.

EU-Digest

Turkey: Rights watchdog to visit Turkey over rule of law= - by Eric Maurice

The head of the human rights watchdog Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, is going to Turkey next week amid a proposed roadmap from Ankara to fastrack EU-required reforms, in order to lift visa restrictions on Turks.

But his visit, the third to Turkey since the failed military coup in July 2016, also comes amid renewed tensions between Ankara and the EU.

Jagland is hoping detained journalists will be released from jail and is meeting Turkey's ministers of justice and foreign affairs to discuss options when it comes to the state of emergency and the freedom of expression.

"Our principle is that journalists should not be locked merely for reporting about terrorism. Writing about terrorists doesn't automatically make you a terrorist yourself," Jagland's spokesperson Daniel Holtgen, said in an email.

Turkey's troubled justice system will also be on the agenda. Last month, the nation's top constitutional court demanded the release of two reporters, Mehmet Altan and Sahin Alpay but later reportedly changed its position. Both are facing life sentences.

Holtgen said the constitutional court is seen as "key to implementing the European Convention of Human Rights in Turkey."

The Altan and Alpay case appears to have resonated with Turkey's ambassador to the European Union, Faruk Kaymakci, who told reporters last week the country is going through a difficult time.

"It is a very interesting case but the problem again here is because we are going through a very complex time, a very complicated time," he said.

Read more: Rights watchdog to visit Turkey over rule of law

Kurdistan: It's Time for an Independent Kurdistan - by Stanley Weiss

The dispossessed have become dangerously destabilizing. The overlooked can no longer be overlooked. And what was once a Middle Eastern flashpoint may yet become a safety valve for spiking regional tensions.

It will not be easy, but the uncertainty and plasticity in the region today offers an opportunity to secure a Kurdish homeland and remedy the capricious map-making of the early 20th century. Iraq is threatening to split into the pre-Iraq Sunni, Shia and Kurdish divisions of the Ottoman Empire, with the Kurds semi-independent and the Iran-allied Shiites ruling the Sunnis. Iran’s economy is in free-fall. Syria will soon have no central control and no choice. And while no country is eager to surrender a fifth of its population, Turkey would do well to get ahead of this issue — ending the vicious, ongoing war with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), saving countless lives and positioning themselves to reap the benefits of a long-term strategic alliance to counterbalance Iranian influence. Not to mention, membership in the European Union will forever be out of reach for a Turkey at war with itself.

For proof of what’s possible, look no further than Iraqi Kurdistan, a pro-American, pro-Israel and semi-autonomous parliamentary democracy most Americans have never heard of. Nurtured by an American no-fly zone in the aftermath of the first Gulf War, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) was established under the Iraqi Constitution in 2005, a stunning testament to the success of Muslim representative government. Of more than 4,800 American soldiers killed in the brutal battles for Iraq, not a single one has lost their life — and no foreigner has been kidnapped — within the borders of Iraqi Kurdistan. Boasting two international airports, a booming oil industry and a dawning respect for the rights of women, this 15,000 square-mile territory of nearly four million Kurds is the one part of President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” that was actually accomplished.

Building on this unanticipated success, the U.S. should rethink its previous opposition to an independent greater Kurdistan and recognize that the advantages of a friendly, democratic and strategically-positioned ally far outweigh the outdated assumption that the Kurds’ national liberation would result in regional conflagration. At this point, inaction is far more likely to provoke continued regional conflict. Whether that means calling for U.S.-brokered talks with Turkey or a temporary UN peacekeeping force, sanctions or scaled up foreign investment, the U.S. should make every effort to incentivize the consolidation and emergence of a single, stable, secure Kurdish homeland.

After a thousand years of turning a thousand blind eyes, the world can’t keep kicking the Kurdish can down the road. Somewhere along that bloodstained road to Damascus, the region needs to experience this epiphany — and soon. The first major protests in Syria began outside the Ummayad Mosque, Islam’s fourth-holiest site and the location of Saladin’s tomb. Saladin’s descendants, it seems, are on the march once more. These Kurds want to be heard. Will the U.S. - - and the world — listen?

No EU-Digest:Creating an independent Kurdistan, which stretches from the Mediterranean  to Iraq, along the borders of Syria, Turkey, Iran is the only solution to guarantee a lasting peace for countries who presently are opposing the creation of this independent Republic of Kurdistan. 

These include, Iran, Iraq , Syria and Turkey, which all have large local Kurdish populations.   

Once there is an independent Kurdistan, which has the global recognition and legitimacy of an independent state, it will be far easier for specially Turkey to deal with the PKK and other Kurdish factions at home,  by offering local Kurds to either stay or migrate to this new Republic of Kurdistan. A far better proposition than fighting these factions endlessly, which so far have had no results at all. 

The EU could in this case become a key player and broker in this process, together with the Russians and Americans. So far, unfortunately, they have not had the vision and willpower to do so. and made the weapons industry richer by the day

Read more: It's Time for an Independent Kurdistan | HuffPost

Syria - Turkish Invasion: Turkey and Russia run rings around Trump - by Jennifer Rubin

While the United States has been absorbed with a government shutdown and a debate about President Trump’s mental stability, Turkey — a NATO partner — has invaded Syria and is attacking our Kurdish allies, who have assisted greatly in the war against the Islamic State.

The Associated Press reports: Turkey’s air and ground offensive against Kurds in northwestern Syria has distracted from international efforts to finish off the Islamic State group and has disrupted humanitarian relief work, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday.

Mattis raised the matter in an exchange with reporters after unrelated meetings in the Indonesia capital with senior government officials. He made clear that while the U.S. sympathizes with Turkey’s concerns about border security, Washington wants the Turks to minimize their military action inside Syria.

Read more: Turkey and Russia run rings around Trump - The Washington Post