Turkish Forum

Category: News

  • Conversation links Ergenekon with US consulate attack

    Conversation links Ergenekon with US consulate attack

    One of the assailants in a deadly armed attack on the US Consulate General in İstanbul in July had engaged in phone conversations with suspects arrested as part of the investigation into Ergenekon.

    Thursday, 18 September 2008 08:51

    One of the assailants in a deadly armed attack on the US Consulate General in İstanbul in July had engaged in phone conversations with suspects arrested as part of the investigation into Ergenekon, a neo-nationalist gang believed to be the extension of a clandestine network of groups with members in the armed forces that planned to overthrow the government.

    Erkan Kargın, one of the assailants killed in the attack, had talked to individuals currently in jail as Ergenekon suspects, the police investigation into the US Consulate General attack showed. According to transcripts of the phone conversations recorded last year with a special warrant as part of the Ergenekon investigation, Kargın was in close contact with a group within Ergenekon that was trying to infiltrate the İsmailağa religious community, whose members reside in the very conservative Çarşamba area of Fatih in Istanbul. Most of the phone conversations were about this mission of infiltrating the community, police sources say.

    Shortly after the US consulate attack, Kargın’s family, in their testimony to the police, had stated that he had contact with mysterious individuals.

    Four gunmen stormed a guard post outside of the US Consulate General in İstanbul’s İstinye neighborhood on the morning of July 9, starting a deadly shootout. Three assailants, identified as Erkan Kargın, Bülent Çınar and Raif Topcil, were killed in the assault. Three Turkish police officers, Nedim Çalık, Mehmet Önder Saçmalıoğlu and Erdal Öztaş, were also slain. Computers, Internet communications and phone conversations of the three terrorists were thoroughly examined by the police in the ensuing investigation. Details of Öztaş’s phone records showed that the terrorist had contacts with a large number of people who are part of the Ergenekon network, a fact that further supports allegations that Ergenekon was behind the US consulate shootings.

    Source: www.worldbulletin.net, 18 September 2008

  • Suleyman Demirel: “I think the Turkish President was right to visit Yerevan”

    Suleyman Demirel: “I think the Turkish President was right to visit Yerevan”

    “The visit of President Abdullah Gul to Armenia was assessed positively both in Turkey and throughout the world. Therefore, I consider this visit to be correct”, said ninth president of Turkey Suleyman Demirel, reports Day.Az with reference to Turkish Cihan news agency.

    He said Gul made a right decision, visiting Yerevan. He also noted that it is wrong to hold a policy of enmity between the two countries till the end.

    It should be reminded that President Gul visited Yerevan by invitation of his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan to watch a football match between the teams of Turkey and Armenia on September 6.

    Source: www.today.az, 18 September 2008

  • Matthew Bryza: The US is paying more attention to the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict now than ever before

    Matthew Bryza: The US is paying more attention to the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict now than ever before

    [ 18 Sep 2008 19:36 ]
    Baku. Tamara Grigoryeva – APA. American co-chair of OSCE Minsk Group Matthew Bryza held a press conference on the outcomes of his visit to Baku. APA reports that the co-chair said Azerbaijan and the Unites States continued active cooperation.

    “The main aspect of this cooperation is the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict,” he said.
    Matthew Bryza said the Unites States supported Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity.

    “We intend to help the conflicting parties to reach an agreement. This agreement should be based on the countries’ territorial integrity, later we should use other practice of the international law. We should find a way satisfying both sides, then a deal should be signed as in business. Our leadership is paying more attention to the settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict now than ever before,” he said.

    Matthew Bryza said he planned to meet with other co-chair Bernard Fassier in Baku and hoped to continue cooperation with Russian co-chair Yuri Merzlyakov.

    The co-chair also took a stance on the Caucasus Cooperation and Stability Pact initiated by Turkey.
    “Any step serving to establish peace in the region is praiseworthy. Turkey is the ally of both the United States and Azerbaijan. It is good if this country wants to contribute to the establishment of peace. Some countries of the region ask why the US and European Union do not participate in this platform, why only Turkey and Russia are represented in the new format. And Georgia says that it is not ready to participate in this project together with Russia, which violated the country’s territorial integrity. Turkey is not the co-chair of OSCE Minsk group, but this country knows more about Azerbaijan and Armenia,” he said.

    Matthew Bryza appreciated the steps taken to normalize the relations between Turkey and Armenia.
    “Both countries have made steps important from political aspect. This is a new direction, there is a need for new directions after the happenings in Georgia,” he said.

    Taking a stance on the meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian Presidents American co-chair said the heads of states determine when they should meet.

    “We, diplomats only give recommendations,” he said.

    Speaking about the attitude of GUAM countries towards the happenings in Georgia, Matthew Bryza said the organization openly supported official Tbilisi.

    “For example, Viktor Yushchenko openly expressed this support. Sometimes this support was silent, but too important,” he said.

    Matthew Bryza said the policy of the United States on the region would not change.
    “We will be more active in the region,” he said.

    Source: en.apa.az, 18 Sep 2008

  • WALL STREET CHAOS AFFECTS TURKEY

    WALL STREET CHAOS AFFECTS TURKEY

    The reverberations from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers investment bank after its shares dropped more than 80 percent before the September 15 opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange have thrown Wall Street into a volatile situation with worldwide echoes, and the fiscal uncertainties have also roiled the Turkish economy.

    On September 15 the Turkish stock market fell dramatically by closing, losing 5.27 percent of its value, its lowest level since early July. The decline erased $13.7 billion in market value, while the lira weakened by 1.85 percent to 1.2620 against the dollar (Hurriyet, September 16). The Istanbul Stock Exchange began the day with massive sales, ending the day by dropping 1,952 points and closing at 35,081 points, (Cumhurriyet, September 16).

    In contrast, the Paris benchmark CAC-40 index closed down 1.96 percent, Germany’s DAX 30 index of blue chips fell 1.63 percent, and London’s FTSE share index dropped 3.71 percent. Asian losses more closely paralleled Turkey’s, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index falling nearly 5 percent and Hong Kong’s blue-chip Hang Seng Index, 5.4 percent.

    WALL STREET CHAOS AFFECTS TURKEY – Eurasia Daily Monitor.

  • Turkey’s row over corruption

    Turkey’s row over corruption

    LEADERS of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development (AK) party like to boast that their acronym means “white” or “clean” in Turkish. No longer so. A succession of corruption allegations is sullying AK’s image of probity.

    Much mud is being flung over a scandal involving a Turkish charity, Deniz Feneri (“Lighthouse” in Turkish). On September 17th a German court convicted three Turkish men involved in the charity of siphoning off €18.6m ($26m). The money had been raised ostensibly to help needy Muslims, among them Palestinians, Turkish slum-dwellers and refugees in Pakistan. Instead the court found that some funds went to buy real estate in Turkey.

    Turkey’s row over corruption | Less than white? | The Economist.

  • Should Muslim world be voting for Turkey?

    Should Muslim world be voting for Turkey?

    I HAVE just returned from what us old hacks (and hackettes) like to call a “fact-finding mission” to Turkey.

    Turkey, as we all know, is positioned at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and is “a veritable melting pot of cultures, often called the cradle of the civilised world”.

    Who calls it that you’re wondering. Why, the bloke who wrote the brochure I pinched it from, that’s who.

    But today Turkey is at its own crossroads. As a secular Muslim state ever since the great Ataturk took power in 1923, it guarantees freedom of religion and is, if you like, a model of what modern Islam might become – if the fundamentalists are faced down. The powerful Turkish military has already warned the Islamic government it will face a backlash from the armed forces if it tries to alter the country’s secular system. General Isik Kosaner, one of the most senior commanders, has pledged to defend “the fundamental characteristics of the republic”.

    Which is good news for Turkey’s women who are not bound by the burka or fears of fanatics.

    Should Muslim world be voting for Turkey? – WalesOnline.