Turkish Forum

Category: Turkey

  • Benjamin Netanyahu accused of offering newspaper owner commercial favours in return for positive coverage

    Benjamin Netanyahu accused of offering newspaper owner commercial favours in return for positive coverage

    Israeli Prime Minister already being investigated for accepting gifts of champagne and cigars but denies any wrongdoing

    According to the Independent Benjamin Netanyahu has been caught on tape offering commercial favours to an Israeli newspaper owner in return for more positive coverage, reports suggest, in a development commentators are describing as an “earthquake” in the police investigation.

    The Israeli Prime Minister, who is being investigated for alleged corruption offenses, is said to have been recorded proposing a commercially beneficial deal to Arnon Mozes, the owner of one of Israel’s biggest newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth.

    He has denied any wrongdoing.

    Israel’s Channel Two television station claimed Mr. Netanyahu had offered to reduce the circulation of Israel Hayom, a pro-Netanyahu newspaper that is owned by U.S. billionaire and Republican Party donor Sheldon Adelson, if Mozes instructed Yedioth Ahronoth to be more favourable towards the Prime Minister.

    Cutting the circulation of Israel Hayom, which is distributed free of charge, would be of clear benefit to Mr Mozes because it is the main competitor of his newspaper in the battle for advertising revenues.

    The conversation is reported to have taken place several months ago, although the precise date is unknown. Reports suggest the recording was made by Mr Mozes.

    Mr Netanyahu is already under investigation for alleged corruption relating to receiving illegal gifts and donations. He has disputed the allegations and his lawyer said receiving gifts from friends is not illegal.

    The Prime Minister is accused of accepting thousands of pounds worth of gifts, including cigars and champagne, from Israeli billionaire Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan. Reports suggest Mr Netanyahu lobbied US Secretary of State John Kerry on Mr Milchan’s behalf while the producer was attempting to acquire a new US visa.

    Mr Netanyahu has denied the allegations. Sources said he told his ministers: “This is wrong, incessant pressure from the media on law enforcement. They release balloons and the hot air comes out of them time after time. That will be the case here too.”

    Israeli news outlets quoted Mr Netanyahu’s lawyer, Yaakov Weinroth, as saying:  “Any reasonable person knows that there is nothing remotely criminal involved when a close friend gives his friend a gift of cigars.”

    The Israeli Prime Minister has been interviewed twice by police in the last week and is reported to have been surprised by the evidence against him.

    “He didn’t expect it”, a source who knows the Prime Minister well told Haa’retz.

    The evidence of the conversation between Mr Netanyahu and Mr Mozes is said to have been passed to the Israeli Attorney General, Avichai Mandelblit, by investigators early last year. It is unclear what caused the delay in interviewing Mr Netanyahu, although there are suggestions state prosecutors were not clear whether a deal of the nature allegedly proposed by the Prime Minister was actually illegal.

    The conversation between the pair was reported by Israeli media to have been initiated by Mr Netanyahu in an attempt to convince the newspaper publisher not to print a story about his son, Yair. The nature of the story is unclear.

    Mr Netanyahu is also accused of having accepted a accepted €1 million (£850,000) from Arnaud Mimran, a French businessman currently serving eight years in prison for committing a huge carbon-tax fraud. Mimran claimed during his trial that he had given the money to Mr Netanyahu during the 2009 Israeli election campaign – something the politician has consistently denied.

    Last year a spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister said: “Mr. Netanyahu received no prohibited contribution from Mimran. Any other claim is a lie.”

    The Prime Minister did, however, admit accepting $40,000 (£33,000) from Mimran in 2001.

    Following reports last month that investigators had been given permission by Mr Mandelblit to open a formal investigation into Mr Netanyahu, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister told Haaretz the allegations were “all nonsense”.

    He said: “Since Netanyahu’s victory in the last elections and even before, hostile elements have used heroic efforts to attempt to bring about his downfall, with false accusations against him and his family.

    “[The allegation] is absolutely false. There was nothing and there will be nothing.”

    Mr Netanyahu is not the first Israeli prime minister to be accused of corruption and his allies have pointed out that such accusations have often come to nothing. Other charges have been proven, however: Ehud Olmert, for example, is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence after being convicted of breach of trust and bribery. Mr Olmert held office from 2006 to 2009 before giving way to Mr Netanyahu.

  • Civil servant resigns after discussing how to ‘take down pro-Palestine MPs’ with Israeli diplomat Footage secretly recorded by a media outlet appeared to show the civil servant discuss plans to ‘take down’ Tory MP

    Civil servant resigns after discussing how to ‘take down pro-Palestine MPs’ with Israeli diplomat Footage secretly recorded by a media outlet appeared to show the civil servant discuss plans to ‘take down’ Tory MP

    Israel embassy1 1A former Westminster official has resigned after footage emerged appearing to show her discuss “taking down” pro-Palestinian MPs.

    According to Independent Maria Strizzolo, who is a former chief of staff to Conservative MP Robert Halfon, was recorded talking to Israeli embassy official Shai Masot.

    The footage, obtained by Al Jazeera, shows Mr. Masot say: “Can I give you some MPs that I would suggest you would take down?” In response, Ms Strizzolo appears to laugh, before responding: “Well you know, if you look hard enough, I’m sure there is something that they’re trying to hide.”

    Ms. Strizzolo has reportedly now resigned from her post at the Skills Funding Agency.

    Israel’s ambassador to the UK Mark Regev has apologized for Mr. Masot’s comments, describing them as “unacceptable”.

    Labour has demanded an investigation to probe alleged Israeli “interference” in British politics.

    During the conversation between the pair, which took place at the Aubaine restaurant near the Israeli embassy in Kensington, Mr. Masot also described Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson as “an idiot”.

    Ms. Strizzolo told the Mail on Sunday that her conversation with Mr. Masot was “tongue-in-cheek and gossipy”, adding: “Any suggestion that I … could exert the type of influence you are suggesting is risible.”

    She said she knew Mr. Masot “purely socially and as a friend. He is not someone with whom I have ever worked or had any political dealings beyond chatting about politics, as millions of people do, in a social context.”

  • Policeman ‘killed Greek Ambassador’ at wife’s request- BBC Reports

    Policeman ‘killed Greek Ambassador’ at wife’s request- BBC Reports

    Greek ambassador rio 1Police in Brazil say the Greek ambassador to the country was killed by a local police officer who was having an affair with the envoy’s wife.

    Kyriakos Amiridis had been missing since Monday. His body was found in a burnt-out car on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.

    Police say the ambassador’s Brazilian wife, Francoise Amiridis, plotted the murder with her lover.

    Sergio Gomes Moreira Filho confessed to strangling him to death, police said.

    Ms. Amiridis, 40, has been detained along with Mr. Moreira, 29, and his cousin, Eduardo Melo.

    Mr. Melo is said to have been paid about 80,000 reais ($25,000; £20,000) to act as a lookout.

    ‘Crime of passion’

    The three suspects have been questioned and will be held in police custody for another 30 days.

    Investigator Evaristo Pontes Magalhaes described the murder as “a tragic, cowardly act,” which police are treating as “a crime of passion”.

    “Francoise initially denied the facts. She said she had nothing to do with that. We managed to make her see that she had no alternative and that there was no point in continuing to deny it,” said Mr. Magalhaes at a press conference.

    “She fell into contradictions, burst into tears and began to say that the police officer [Sergio Moreira] had carried out her husband’s murder,” he added.

    Mr. Magalhaes said Mr. Moreira had a fight with the ambassador and ended up killing him when he went to confront the diplomat about claims of violence against his wife.

    He said he acted in self-defence. But Brazilian police have dismissed his statement.

    They say the policeman’s cousin confessed to moving the ambassador’s body and gave full details of the plot to murder Mr. Amiridis, implicating both Mr. Moreira and Mrs. Amiridis.

    Charred body

    The 59-year-old ambassador had traveled from Brasilia to the city of Nova Iguacu, north of Rio, to spend the Christmas and New Year holidays there with his wife and her parents.

    The couple had been living together for 15 years and their daughter is 10 years old, local reports said.

    Mrs. Amiridis reported her husband missing on Wednesday.

    She told police that he had left on Monday in a car he had rented. The burnt-out vehicle was found on Thursday under a flyover on one of the main access roads to Rio with a body inside.

    The body was burned beyond recognition, but police said it was that of Mr. Amiridis.

    Investigators also said that they had found blood stains on the sofa in the house where the couple was staying and say he was probably stabbed to death there.

    Mr. Amiridis served as consul in Rio de Janeiro between 2001 and 2004 and returned to the country as the ambassador earlier this year.

  • Body found in burnt-out car in Rio ‘believed to be Greek ambassador’

    Body found in burnt-out car in Rio ‘believed to be Greek ambassador’

    Greek ambassador rioKyriakos Amiridis last seen on Monday and license plates on the car match his rental vehicle, according to reports

    Brazilian police suspect a body discovered inside a charred vehicle in Rio de Janeiro is Greece’s ambassador to Brazil who went missing three days ago, it has been reported.

    A police spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment on the report by TV channel Globo.

    Ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis, 59, was last seen on Monday evening leaving the home of friends of his Brazilian wife in a suburb of Rio’s metropolitan area, police had said earlier on Thursday. A state police official said the ambassador’s wife reported him as missing on Wednesday.

    Globo showed images of the burnt-out white car in the Nova Iguaçu neighborhood where the ambassador went missing. The station reported that the license plates on the car matched those of Amiridis’s rental vehicle.

    An official at the Greek embassy in Brasília would not confirm the ambassador was missing, saying only that he was on vacation in Rio and expected to return to the capital on 9 January.

    According to Guardian, Rio police inspector Evaristo Pontes had earlier told the Folha de São Paulo newspaper that he did not believe the ambassador was kidnapped. “We’re following some leads, but not that one,” he said. “If it had been [a kidnapping], those who took him would have made contact by now.”

    Amiridis previously served as Greece’s consul general in Rio from 2001 to 2004. More recently he was Greece’s ambassador to Libya from 2012 until he took the top Brazil post at the beginning of 2016.

    Brazil’s foreign ministry said it had no comment on the case, other than to say it was being fully pursued by police, while Greece’s foreign ministry had no comment.

  • Urge California Governor Jerry Brown to Deny Parole to Terrorist Hampig Sassounian

    Urge California Governor Jerry Brown to Deny Parole to Terrorist Hampig Sassounian

    DEGERLI DOSTLARIM

    ATAA ONEMLI BIR KAMPANYA BASLATTI .. KONSOLOSUMUZ KEMAL ARIKANI SEHIT EDEN CANI HAMPIG SASSUNIAN MECLIS TARAFINDAN AFFA LAYIK BULUNMUS VE KALIFORNIA VALISININ (EYALETIN SECILMIS BASKANI) BUNU TASDIK ETMESI HALINDE SERBEST KALACAK .. KAMPANYA BU AFFI DURDURMAK ICIN DUNYA CAPINDA.. BILHASSA AMERIKADA VE EN ONEMLISI KALIFORNIADA YASAYAN VE YERLESMIS TURK TOPLUMU TEMSILCILERININ GORUSLERINI VALIYE BILDIRMELERI VE AFFA KARSI CIKMALARI ICIN SON DERECE ONEMLIDIR.. BU ISI YARINA BIRAKMAYINIZ .. KALIFORNIA ERMENI LOBISI AFFIN YILBASINDAN ONCE ONAYLANMASI ICIN BASKIYA GIRMIS DURUMDA MALESEF ZAYIF IRTIBAT AGLARI SEBEBI ILE COK GEC OGRENILMIS BIR OLAY KAYBEDECEK VAKTIMIZ KALMADI ..

    BUGUN KAMPANYAYA KATILMASSANIZ YARIN COK GEC OLABILIR.

    OLAY – GEREKLI BILGILER VE ORNEK MEKTUP INGILIZCE OLARAK ASAGIDA VERILMISDIR

    BASARI DILEKLERIMLE

    DR. KAYAALP BUYUKATAMAN, BASKAN

    TURKISH FORUM – DUNYA TURKLERI BIRLIGI

    From: ATAA Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2016 10:57 AM
    To: kbuyukataman@gmail.com
    Subject: ACTION ALERT: Urge California Governor Jerry Brown to Deny Parole to Terrorist Hampig Sassounian

    s.gif

    1526 18th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036 | 202.483.9090 | 202.483.9092 fx | www.ataa.org
    ACTION ALERT December 21, 2016 / No:61
    Assembly of Turkish American Associations

    ACTION ALERT

    Urge California Governor Jerry Brown

    to Deny Parole to Terrorist Hampig Sassounian

     
    9dbabb76 7fe9 4dc2 8630 d4c164e226a0

    Dear Turkish American Community and Friends of Turkey:

    On December 14, the California Department of Corrections Parole Board found inmate Hampig Sassounian, # C88440 suitable for parole. Hampig Sassounian was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment for the heinous assassination of Turkish Consul General Kemal Arikan on January 28, 1982, as Mr. Arikan was in his car waiting at a traffic signal. Sassounian shot Mr. Arikan 14 times in the chest and head. The Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide (JCAG), the militant wing of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) claimed responsibility.

    Sassounian entered prison on June 29, 1984. He is at San Quentin Prison, which is a maximum security facility where notable assassins have been inmates, such as Sirhan Sirhan, who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy and Jang In-hwan, who assassinated American diplomat Durham Stevens. Sassounian’s previous parole requests had been denied because of his violent extremism in advocating the Armenian allegation of genocide, which poses a public safety risk.

    Under California law, Governor Brown has the ability to stop Sassounian’s release on parole.

    Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) is urging all Turkish Americans and friends of Turkey to send letters, faxes, and emails to Governor Brown in order to urge him to stop the parole.

    Please communicate to Governor Brown and his Staff today and get your voice heard!

    Governor Jerry Brown

    Phone: 916-445-2841
    Fax: (916) 558-3160

    Email: jerry.brown
    Web contact:

    Executive Secretary Nancy McFadden
    Email: nancy.mcfadden

    Legal Counsel Peter Krause
    Email: Peter.Krause
    1- Sample Letter

    2- ATAA Report on Armenian Terrorism and JCAG Terrorist Hampig Sassounian
    3- CIA, FOIA act file: Armenian Terrorism Report
    S.gif S.gif
  • Britain could be like Turkey and remain part of the customs union after leaving the EU, says Liam Fox in first TV interview since promotion

    Britain could be like Turkey and remain part of the customs union after leaving the EU, says Liam Fox in first TV interview since promotion

    g osborneAccording to The Telegraph Britain could be like Turkey and stay part of the customs union after leaving the European Union, Liam Fox has said in first broadcast interview since his promotion to Cabinet.

    The news came as George Osborne, the former Chancellor, said that Mrs. May should not to have “red lines” on issues like immigration in her Brexit negotiations.

    The customs union includes all 28 EU member states, alongside Turkey, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra and non-EU UK territories such as the Channel Islands.

    Turkey’s customs union only covers goods, but not services or finance which is a large part of the UK’s GDP. Crucially there is also no freedom of movement between Turkey and the EU.

    Pressed on the Andrew Marr programme, Dr Fox, the international trade secretary, said: “We want to look at all the different things, it’s not binary.

    “I hear people talking about hard Brexit and soft Brexit as though it’s a boiled egg we’re talking about.

    “It’s a little more complex. So Turkey, for example, is in parts of the customs union, but not in other parts.”

    When asked whether he was open to staying inside the customs union, Dr Fox said: “I’ll argue my case inside Cabinet, rather than on the programme. I remain… instinctively a free trader.”

    “The Government will come to a collective view on this once we’ve looked at all the issues.

    “It’s correct that we do so, because we can’t go for a quick result, we have to get the right result.

    “Whatever result we do come to, we have to be able to put in front of the British people the reasoning for coming to that result.”

    He also indicated that the Government would pursue a transitional arrangement with EU officials to preserve single market access before striking a fresh trade deal with the bloc, saying “we can’t go for a quick result”.

    Last week Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, lent his support for Britain to agree a transitional trade deal with the European Union after Brexit.

    He said it would be “generally helpful” to have a longer period than the two years afforded under the Article 50 process to hammer out future trade arrangements.

    On the same programme, Mr Osborne Britain needed a “hard-headed assessment” about issues such as whether to leave the customs unions.

    Mr Osborne – who was one of the leaders of the failed Remain campaign ahead of the EU referendum – told the Andrew Marr programme: “I would not go into this negotiation necessarily drawing red lines.

    “I would say we are leaving the EU – that’s the only red line I would draw – let’s go in there and try and get the best deal for Britain.”

    Mr Osborne urged the Government not to discard existing free trade deals in Europe in the search for new ones elsewhere.

    He said: “You can’t say we are a beacon of free trade in the world and the main thing you achieve is a huge act of protectionism, the biggest in British industry.”

    Mr Osborne also criticised the target Mrs May agreed to as Home Secretary to get net migration down to the tens of thousands, which he said should not include students.

    He said: “When I was the chancellor I thought it was not sensible to include them in the figures. But that’s got to be a collective decision.”

    He warned jobs in the financial sector could move to New York if Britain gets its Brexit negotiations wrong.