Category: Turkey

U.S. warns Turkey over offshore drilling near Cyprus

By David Brunnstrom and Renee Maltezou

ATHENS (Reuters) – There are rules in exploring energy resources in the Mediterranean Sea, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Saturday, warning Turkey not to engage in drilling activity that is “illegal” and “unacceptable”.

“We’ve made clear that operations in international waters are governed by a set of rules. We’ve told the Turks that illegal drilling is unacceptable and we’ll continue to take diplomatic actions to … ensure that lawful activity takes place,” he said during a visit to Greece.

“No country can hold Europe hostage,” Pompeo told a press briefing.

Tensions between Cyprus and Turkey over offshore drilling have intensified after Ankara sent a drilling ship to an area already licensed by Nicosia to Italian and French energy companies.

Earlier on Saturday, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged the United States to use its clout to defuse tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, where Cyprus and Turkey are locked in a dispute over offshore rights.

Mitsotakis told Pompeo that Turkish moves south of the island in recent days were a “flagrant violation” of Cyprus’ sovereign rights.

Turkey and Greece are allies in NATO but long at loggerheads over Cyprus, which has been ethnically split between Greek and Turkish Cypriots since 1974.

“The United States have a particular interest in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Cyprus is only asking for the self-evident, the implementation of international law,” Mitsotakis told Pompeo, who is visiting Greece on the last leg of a trip to southern Europe.

Pompeo referred to the issue after meeting Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias. He said the United States would work to help the parties involved find mutually agreeable solutions and that it was eager to extend its partnership with Greece on energy issues.

Ankara says some of the areas where Cyprus is exploring are either on its own continental shelf or in zones where Turkish Cypriots have equal rights over any finds with Greek Cypriots.

A Turkish drill ship, the Yavuz, is currently 50 nautical miles off Cyprus. Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said on Saturday that drilling would start “as soon as possible”.

In his remarks, Pompeo also said that the relationship between Greece and the United States “has truly never been stronger” and that he was very confident that Greece can be a pillar for stability in this region.

But he also added that he was concerned about Chinese investments in infrastructure, an issue also raised during his visit to North Macedonia on Friday. Greece and the United States have traditionally close relations even though many blame Washington for its tacit support to a military junta that ruled Greece between 1967 and 1974. Protest marches to the U.S. Embassy are an annual event.

As Pompeo visited town, groups of protesters marching to the U.S. Embassy on Saturday clashed with police, who fired teargas to disperse them.

Earlier, several hundred demonstrators had gathered in Athens’s main Syntagma square, chanting “Americans, Murderers of Peoples” to protest against the amendment of a defense agreement between the two countries concerning U.S. military bases in Greece.

They held banners reading “Pompeo go home – No to the Greece-USA agreement”.

(Additional reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Alkis Konstantidis; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Frances Kerry)

October 6, 2019
Greece to deport thousands of migrants after deadly camp fire ;Angry protests at ‘power keg’ migrant camp over deadly fire

By The Cube • last updated: 01/10/2019 – 12:04

Copyright

REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinidis

Greece has announced plans to return thousands of migrants by the end of next year, after a deadly fire at its largest camp on Lesbos island.

The UN refugee agency estimates that the Moria refugee camp, with an official capacity of 3,000, currently houses around 12,000 people in tents and shipping containers.

Government spokesman Stelios Petsas confirmed that the Council of Ministers had discussed an overhaul of Greece’s migration policies on Monday.

Changes to be implemented include a strengthening of the country’s border guards, with increased patrols at sea, and the construction of closed pre-concession centres for illegal migrants not yet entitled to asylum.

Greece also plans to increase the immediate return of migrants to “safe countries”. More than 1,800 migrants were returned by Greece since early 2015, but Stelios Petsas announced aims to increase this number to 10,000 by the end of 2020.

Citing the nationalities of new arrivals, Petsas said Greece was now dealing with “a problem of migration, rather than a refugee problem.”

Speaking at the UN General Assembly last week, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece was reaching the limit of its ability to tackle the problem.

Mitsotakis had urged Turkey to respect an agreement with the EU to stem irregular migration flows, while also calling on the bloc to adopt new common rules for asylum seekers.

Turkey has become one of the main corridors for migrants seeking to enter Europe, but a 2016 agreement with the European Union had reduced the numbers using the route.

“This is a situation they cannot endure any longer”

At least one person, a woman, was killed when a fire broke out at a container inside the crowded refugee camp. More than a dozen others were hurt as clashes later broke out between refugees and emergency services. The cause of the fire is yet unknown.

The events prompted further calls from NGOs, including International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), for government action.

Marco Sandrone, Project Coordinator for MSF in Lesbos, told Euronews the fire was the “ultimate result of the insane and inhumane policy of the EU-Turkey deal”.

“We need to call on all the Greek authorities and EU to evacuate the most vulnerable people immediately to safe accommodation on the mainland,” he said. “If not possible, this evacuation needs to happen to other European countries where proper medical care can be provided.”

Franziska Grillmeier, a journalist based on the island of Lesbos, told Euronews that the refugees are “still disorientated” after Sunday’s fire.

“This is all about the whole feeling of insecurity here, the enormous tension and immense psychological terror people are under. This is a situation they cannot endure any longer and they are demanding safety.”

Angry protests at ‘power keg’ migrant camp over deadly fire

By Joao Vitor Da Silva Marques & Apostolos Staikos in Lesbos • last updated: 01/10/2019 – 12:02

Copyright

EURONEWS

Angry women are leading protests in one of Europe’s largest migrant camps after a fire left at least one person dead.

Tensions are high after the blaze at the vast and overcrowded Moira camp, on the Greek island of Lesbos.

Fatema Ebraimi, an Afghan refugee, told Euronews: “We are protesting for our dead friend. We want justice, we don’t want to mourn more innocent lives.

“Women in Moria are scared, we cannot leave our tent when it gets dark. We cannot go to the toilet.”

Soghra Bayat is another Afghan refugee and she claims the authorities are hiding the truth about Sunday’s fire:

“Women are screaming for safety and dignity. We know that on Sunday, because of the fire more people died, not only one woman. But authorities are lying.”

Fazel Obaid is at the camp with his pregnant wife. They know they are likely to spent quite a few months in there as they have just arrived. The young couple have nothing but a tent/

“We came last Friday, my wife and I now are in Moria camp,” he said. “We expected a better place. During these days, nobody paid any attention to us, because my wife was at the hospital for three nights on the island of Lemnos. Here, we are being ignored. Nobody cares if we are human or not.”

The governor of the northern Aegean region of Greece, Kostas Moutzouris, believes that the situation in the camp might have wider implications.

“The situation resembles a powder keg and [it] can explode at any time,” he said. “I fear for the safety of our people, of the residents of Lesbos. For the situation to change, many refugees have to be transferred to the mainland and new arrivals from Turkey must be stopped. If not, we are doomed.”

He went on to say that Turkey doesn’t have the political will to solve the issue.

About 250 migrants boarded a ferry on Lesbos headed to the mainland on Monday as part of government efforts to tackle massive overcrowding.

Greece’s government has announced it would accelerate efforts to move thousands more to the mainland.

Moria is covered in rubbish and the flow of refugees isn’t slowing down. It is estimated 12,000 people — more than four times the site’s capacity — are currently housed at the camp and just outside its perimeter.

October 1, 2019
Afghan election sees big drop in voter numbers — estimate

Afghan election sees big drop in voter numbers — estimate

By Associated Press • last updated: 29/09/2019 – 15:45

Afghan presidential election ballot boxes are taken to mountainous regions –

Afghanistan’s presidential election turnout is unofficially estimated at just over two million people — or about 20 percent of registered voters — an official said on Sunday, amid fears that the Taliban threat of violence kept many from polling stations.

Roughly seven million turned out to vote in the last presidential election, in 2014.

Tight security ensured Saturday’s election took place in relative calm, but low turnout and complaints about the voting system heightened concerns that an unclear result could drive the war-torn country into further chaos.

“Turnout appears to have been dampened not just by Taliban threats, but also voter disinterest,” wrote Thomas Ruttig and Jelena Bjelica of the Afghanistan Analysts Network.

Taliban fighters attacked several polling stations across the country to try to derail the process, but intense security prevented large-scale violence.

There were more than 400 attacks, mostly small-scale, carried out by the militants, according to the Afghanistan Analysts Network.

There were also technical shortcomings, they wrote, including biometric devices not working, missing voter names and election material sent to the wrong province.

Nine million Afghans are voting in the electionREUTERS

Many Afghans, however, did brave the threat of militant attacks to vote in an election seen as a major test of the Western-backed government’s ability to protect democracy against Taliban attempts to derail it.

As many as eight election staff were kidnapped Saturday evening by the Taliban in central Parwan province’s Shinwari district, the provincial governor’s spokeswoman said.

“The local government and tribal elders are working to release them,” she said on Sunday.

Two policeman and one civilian were killed in mostly small-scale Taliban attacks, and 37 people were injured, the interior ministry said.

A ballot box is taken through the Afghan mountainsREUTERS

Of 9.67 million registered voters, only about one in five cast their ballot, according to the election commission official who requested anonymity as they were not authorised to release a turnout figure.

Previous elections were marred by dozens of deaths, accusations of fraud and allegations that the election commission was not independent. Memories of those issues hung over Saturday’s vote.

The days after voting are also fraught. The Taliban often attack those transporting ballot boxes from local voting centres to larger regional offices for counting. From there, the boxes make their way to the capital Kabul.

Preliminary results are not expected before Oct. 19 and final results not until Nov. 7.

If no candidate gets over half of the votes, a second round will be held between the two leading candidates.

Video editor • Michael Daventry

September 29, 2019
Hundreds of chained captives released from Nigerian school

Hundreds of chained captives released from Nigerian school

By Michael Daventry with Reuters• last updated: 28/09/2019 – 11:55

More than 300 captives, many of them children, have been rescued in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna.

The children aged young as five were found in a building that was thought to be an Islamic school.

Police said they had been tortured, starved and sexually abused. Some of them were chained up.

”This place is neither a rehab or an Islamic school because you can see it for yourselves,” Ali Janga, police commissioner for Kaduna state, told reporters outside the building.

He said there were many small children and that some had been brought from neighbouring countries including Burkina Faso, Mali and Ghana.

“They were used, dehumanized, you can see it yourself,” he said.

Pictures of Thursday’s raid were shown on local television in Nigeria.

Police said seven teachers from the school had been arrested, while the children are being housed at a nearby stadium as the authorities try to trace their parents.

Islamic schools, known as Almajiris, are common across the mostly Muslim north of the country.

Nigeria’s population is half Christian, half Muslim.

Many parents in the north, which is the poorest part of a country, choose to leave their children to board at such schools. Most adults live on less than $2 a day.

Earlier this year, the government of President Muhammadu Buhari said it planned to eventually ban the schools, although it would not happen immediately.

Video editor • Michael Daventry

September 29, 2019
THE WESTERN CONDITION TURKEY, THE US AND THE EU

the westerncondition Turkey , The and the EUİndir

September 26, 2019
Slovakia Welcomes Its First Female President

By Sushmita Roy

Slovakia Welcomes Its First Female President — And She’s an Environmental Activist

Zuzana Čaputová has been called the “Erin Brockovich of Slovakia.”

Why Global Citizens Should Care

Worldwide, women have been underrepresented in their countries’ governments, but that is now slowly changing. Zuzana Caputova’s win is a win for women everywhere. Join us by taking action here to empower women and girls around the globe.

Slovakia’s first female president, Zuzana Čaputová, a lawyer and environmental activist, was sworn in on Saturday, vowing to fight impunity and restore justice in a country largely affected by large-scale political corruption.

“I offer my expertise, emotion and activism. I offer my mind, my heart and my hands,” she said at her swearing-in ceremony.

“I want to be the voice of those who are not heard.”

Čaputová, a lawyer and political newcomer, is now the youngest person to serve as president of Slovakia. She is sometimes called the “Erin Brokovich of Slovakia” for her decade-long struggle to close a toxic landfill in her hometown, which she succeeded in doing, earning her the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize.

In a conservative Roman Catholic Country, Čaputová, a divorced mother of two, supports both LGBTQ rights and access to reproductive health care.

Presidential candidate Zuzana Caputova greets with supporters after acknowledging the first preliminary results of the second round of the presidential election in Bratislava, Slovakia, March 30, 2019.
Image: Petr David Josek/AP

“Under the constitution, people are free and equal in dignity and in rights, meaning nobody is that irrelevant to have their rights compromised, nor is anyone that powerful to stand above the law,” she said in her inauguration speech.

Even though the presidential role in Slovakia is mostly ceremonial — the prime minister oversees most of the country’s affairs — Čaputová has blocking powers, is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and can appoint top judges.

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Čaputová assumes the presidency in the wake of the murder of journalist Ján Kuciak, 27, and his fiancee, Martina Kušnírová, who were found shot dead at the home they shared last year. Kuciak covered tax evasion stories for the news website Aktuality.sk where his last piece was published on Feb. 9, 2018. He mostly reported on fraud cases involving businessmen with political connections, including governing party leaders at the time.

The scandal led to the resignation of Prime Minister Robert Fico last year. And Kuciak’s murder led to a massive outcry in Slovakia where tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest government corruption.

Čaputová campaigned on an anti-corruption platform and was elected vice chairman of Progressive Slovakia, a liberal party established only two years ago, which then had no seats in the parliament, making her win after a second run-off vote all the more remarkable.

Her election stood in contrast to the European shift towards populist and nationalist parties.

“I see a strong call for change in this election following the tragic events last spring and a very strong public reaction,” Čaputová said following her win in the presidential vote in March, referring to Kuciak’s murder. “We stand at a crossroads between the loss and renewal of public trust, also in terms of Slovakia’s foreign policy orientation.”

In her inauguration speech, Čaputová suggested that officials who failed to fight corruption should be removed from their posts. She pledged to make the justice system more equal for everyone.

Her presidency could represent a turning a point for Slovakia, which was ranked 83 out of 149 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2018, scoring especially poorly for women’s participation in politics.

Update, June 17, 2019: This story was updated to reflect recent developments.

TopicsEnvironmentGender EqualityWomen’s EmpowermentClimate ChangeWomen in PoliticsActivistAnti-CorruptionSlovakia

Slovakia’s new President Zuzana Caputova reviews the guard

September 26, 2019