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Category: EU Members

European Council decided to open accession negotiations with Turkey on 17 Dec. 2004

CYPRUS: Setback to be discussed with Greek PM

Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will on Monday discuss the setback in the Cyprus peace talks arising from statements made by Turkish President Abdullah Gul.

Greek Government Spokesman Sofia Voultepsi said “the setback in the talks on Cyprus seems to arise from the recent statements by Gul (concerning the form that a possible solution will take) and Turkey’s general stance and not because this is ascertained by the Greek government”.

During his visit to the occupied areas over the weekend Gul said he sees “positive signs” that the ongoing talks on Cyprus will lead to the formation “of a new, partnership country in Cyprus very soon”.

He spoke of a solution “which will guarantee the status quo of the Turkish Cypriots”, and assured that Turkey “always as a guarantor power and a motherland to the Turkish Cypriots, will never allow them to become a minority within a Greek state”.

Speaking on Monday night, chief negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis said things are difficult in the negotiating process but the Greek Cypriot side cannot afford to give up.

Speaking on Monday evening at an event organised by the Green Party to mark the 40th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of the island, Mavroyiannis said that although situation is tough, there was no other choice but to continue efforts to reach a solution and reunite our country.

He noted that it is absolutely normal and rightful for all political parties to express different views and opinions and that he is certain that each one of the political leaders has the vision of reunification in mind.

Mavroyiannis said that what the Turkish Cypriot side really sought was to legitimise the invasion and occupation of the island’s northern third, adding that the Greek Cypriot side was making continuous efforts to prevent this from happening.

The Greek Cypriot negotiator, who holds regular meetings with the negotiator of the Turkish Cypriot side Kudret Ozersay, spoke of the international interest for the Cyprus problem, saying that this interest is helpful, however, it has not been turned into something concrete so far in the negotiations.

Mavroyiannis noted that he very much wanted to reach a result concerning Varosha, but Turkey was negative on this matter.

In his speech, Mavroyiannis also noted that the fact that Cyprus was a full member of the EU since 2004 has contributed to the Republic being stronger and more determined.

He also said that the various UN SC resolutions are a shield for the Republic and have included various aspects that were agreed upon in the many rounds of negotiations.

Meanwhile, Vice President of the Greek Parliament Maria Kollia-Tsaroucha has reaffirmed her country’s support.

Speaking after a meeting on Tuesday with the President of the House of Representatives Yiannakis Omirou, she said “we will be by your side” with an eye towards a free and independent Cyprus.

Omirou made it clear that “we will not accept a solution that will not end the occupation, will not reunite the people, the place, the institutions, the economy, and will not restore the human rights and fundamental freedoms on the basis of the principles of the international and European law”.

Comment: Küfi Seydali

The Greek Cypriots will have to get down from their big horse (EU), and stop looking for military alliances. Resorting to arms has only brought Cyprus disaster in the past, and is not likely to bring anything else in the future. The Greek side deliberately delayed the beginning of the current peace talks and is now doing its best to sabotage the negotiations.

Omirou is dreaming of the past, but there will absolutely be no going back to the pre 1974 state of affairs. A change of paradigm is necessary if a new and mutually acceptable solution to the 50 years old problem is to be found.

KS

President Gül said nothing which is not in line with the peace process, which is aiming at a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation, i.e. the creation of a new Cyprus Republic!

July 23, 2014
FBI Releases Documents proving Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun fled to Argentina in a Submarine

Newly declassified FBI documents prove that the government knew Hitler was alive and well, and living in the Andes Mountains long after World War II. Click here, on the FBI website to confirm the quiet release of this information.

On April 30 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker. His body was later discovered and identified by the Soviets before being rushed back to Russia. Is it really possible that the Soviets have been lying all this time, and that history has purposely been rewritten? No one thought so until the release of the FBI documents. It seems that it is possible that the most hated man in history escaped war-torn Germany and lived a bucolic and peaceful life in the beautiful foothills of the Andes Mountains.

THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY KNEW.

Recently, released FBI documents are beginning to show that not only were Hitler and Eva Braun’s suicide faked, the infamous pair might have had help from the Director of the US’ OSS office in Switzerland – and the man who would later become the first Director of Central Intelligence, Allen Dulles. In one FBI document from Los Angeles, it is revealed that the agency was well aware of a mysterious submarine making its way up the Argentinian coast dropping off high level Nazi officials. What is even more astonishing is the fact that the FBI knew he was in fact living in the foothills of the Andes.

WHO IS THE MYSTERIOUS INFORMANT?

In a Los Angeles letter to the Bureau in August of 1945, an unidentified informant agreed to exchange information for political asylum. What he told agents was stunning. The informant not only knew Hitler was in Argentina, he was one of the confirmed four men who had met the German submarine. Apparently, two submarines had landed on the Argentinian coast, and Hitler with Eva Braun was on board the second. The Argentinian government not only welcomed the former German dictator, but also aided in his hiding. The informant went on to not only give detailed directions to the villages that Hitler and his party had passed through, but also credible physical details concerning Hitler. While, for obvious reasons the informant is never named in the FBI papers, he was credible enough to be believed by some agents.

The FBI Tried to Hide Hitler’s Whereabouts:

Even with a detailed physical description and directions the FBI still did not follow up on these new leads. Even with evidence placing the German sub U-530 on the Argentinian coast shortly before finally surrounding, and plenty of eye witness accounts of German official being dropped off, no one investigated.

EVEN MORE EVIDENCE IS FOUND

Along with the FBI documents detailing an eye- witness account of Hitler’s whereabouts in Argentina, more evidence is coming to light to help prove that Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun did not die in that bunker. In 1945, the Naval Attaché in Buenos Aires informed Washington there was a high probability that Hitler and Eva Braun had just arrived in Argentina. This coincides with the sightings of the submarine U-530. Added proof comes in the form of newspaper articles detailing the construction of a Bavarian styled mansion in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. Further proof comes in the form of architect Alejandro Bustillo who wrote about his design and construction of Hitler’s new home which was financed by earlier wealthy German immigrants.

IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE THAT HITLER ESCAPED:

Perhaps the most damming evidence that Hitler did survive the fall of Germany lies in Russia. With the Soviet occupation of Germany, Hitler’s supposed remains were quickly hidden and sent off to Russia, never to be seen again. That is until 2009, when an archeologist from Connecticut, Nicholas Bellatoni was allowed to perform DNA testing on one of the skull fragments recovered. What he discovered set off a reaction through the intelligence and scholarly communities. Not only did the DNA not match any recorded samples thought to be Hitler’s, they did not match Eva Braun’s familiar DNA either. So the question is, what did the Soviets discover in the bunker, and where is Hitler? Even former general and President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote to Washington. It was not only General Eisenhower who was concerned over Hitler’s compete disappearance, Stalin also expressed his concerns. In 1945, the Stars and Stripes newspaper quoted then General Eisenhower as believing that the real possibility existed of Hitler living safely and comfortably in Argentina.

IS IT POSSIBLE?

With all of the new-found evidence coming to light, it is possible and even likely that not only did Hitler escape from Germany; he had the help of the international intelligence community. Released FBI documents prove that they were not only aware of Hitler’s presence in Argentina; they were also helping to cover it up. It would not be the first time the OSS helped a high-ranking Nazi official to escape punishment and capture. Look at the story of Adolf Eichmann who was located in Argentina in the 1960′s. Did Hitler escape to Argentina? The answer is yes.

Source: Forbidden Knowledge TV

July 5, 2014
APA – Turkey not lose will in EU despite snub: Arinc

Baku-APA. Turkey has not lost its determination to gain European Union membership, despite EU leaders turning cold towards it, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc has said, APA reports quoting Anadolu Agency.

In a speech in the Polish capital of Warsaw, he said on Wednesday that an EU with Turkey inside was the only way permanent solutions to crises around the world could be produced.

He said that the success of the far-right in Europe’s recent parliamentary elections had weakened the EU as an institution in the eyes of European society.

Arinc declared: “A culturally essentialist Europe cannot be a global actor when the winds of Cold War blow. Quite the contrary, a cosmopolitan Europe with diversification is the guarantee for development.

“Turkey is the sine qua non in such a picture.”

Arinc also said that Turkey was ready to break down the prejudices of the European extreme right in order to achieve its EU bid.

– ‘Strong country’

Far-right parties made strong gains in the European Parliamentary elections at the end of May, including the victory of Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, the anti-immigration Front National (FN) in France, with more than 25 per cent of the vote.

The deputy prime minister said: “What did the EU do in response to Turkey, which had abided by the Maastricht and Copenhagen criteria – a strong country in its region with a strong economic record?

“Why did the leaders of the EU disincline Turkey from its integration bid? Without asking these questions, reports which only examine Turkey’s steps cannot lead us to a solution.”

Arinc later met Turkish businessmen at a dinner organized by the Poland-Turkey Businessmen Association (POTIAD) in Warsaw.

He inaugurated the Yunus Emre Institute in Warsaw, together with Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Henrika Moscicka Dendys, and expressed his wish that the institute would help Turkey and Poland’s historic ties flourish.

The Yunus Emre Institute aims to contribute to the training of competent academicians and researchers in the fields of Turkish language, history, culture, art and music through certification programs in several cities across the world.

via APA – Turkey not lose will in EU despite snub: Arinc.

June 7, 2014
THE BEAST

Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live without a common power to keep all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and as such a war, against every man. (13/8)

To this war of every man against every man […] nothing can be unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice have there no place. Where there is no common power, there is no law: where no law, no justice. (13/13)

The Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes (1651)

Defined by its own horror, The Beast defiles the living and the dead. Lies! Cheating! Stealing! Killing! Its toxic mouth spews division, hate and felonious encouragement. It has no interests except its own and those are all-consuming. It rules in a Hobbesian world, where every person is at war with every person and The Beast is at war with all. Consumption, greed, violence and wealth are the supreme virtues. The Beast’s police are everywhere with its deadly violence. The streets are bloody with death. The Beast has strangled justice. It rules by rules, not laws. The Beast has many backs. Media, corporations, opposition politicians, the brain-washed, the brain-dead, the needy greedy, the destructive tycoons that assassinate mountains, rivers, streams, valleys, virgin forests, farmland, the air, the sea. The Beast divides all, rages against all, slaughters all opposed to its rules. It reigns supreme in triumphant arrogance. If it pleases, even the corpses of its enemies are consumed, not by some purifying fire, but as a vengeful hate-weapon to threaten and increase its power. War is perpetual. Fear of violent death rages like a plague. The arts are destroyed. All representations, and imagination itself, are threats to The Beast. All nature, all living and inert things are raped to satisfy its brutish appetites. Bigger, better, taller, deeper, faster, more, more, more… Society has become a vast wasted land. There is no political community. Public gatherings are attacked. Life is poor, fear-filled, nasty and brutish. Death always comes suddenly in this land called Shame. And The Beast is always pleased with its beastly work.

301 coalminers died suddenly and violently in Soma while feeding The Beast. The Beast was not embarrassed, not at all. No one believes The Beast’s death toll. But there is another number, a horrific number that can indeed be trusted. The Beast’s mass murder left 432 children fatherless. And then The Beast came to the grieving town. It beat and gassed the mourning families. It defiled their children. It proclaimed that its own violent mass murder was really quite comfortingly beautiful and, in beastly “truth”, inevitable and, in beastly “fact,” irrelevant. It’s to be expected, said The Beast. For what is life but death? And having finished The Beast hid from its grieving subjects in a supermarket, looking quite pleased with its beastly self.

The other day a handful of people protested the Soma tragedy in an Istanbul section called Okmeydanı. The 15-year-old Gezi murder victim, Berkin Elvan, was memorialized. It’s an Alevite neighborhood and the Alevites are open-minded and sensible people. Of course, The Beast despises Alevites. The Beast tries to do in Turkey what it failed to do in Syria—exterminate them. So The Beast’s Police developed yet another diversionary incident. They opened fire in the street, both gas and bullets. The cops heaved a few Molotov cocktails to make it look like an attack on themselves, pure self-provocation. But it’s now an old trick—they did the same provocative deadly nonsense during Gezi Park. Predictably, chaos ensued. Gunfire filled the air. Two innocent men attending a funeral died, one in the street, one in the Cemevi, the Alevite worship house. The Beast called the protesters “ruthless.” As for the dead boy from Gezi? “He died and it’s over,” said The Beast, adding that these “terrorists see themselves as the saviors of the world.” Such biting, irreverent sarcasm. Such malice. And again The Beast seemed pleased with itself. The Beast feeds on slander, violence and provocation.

Such name-calling! Looters, plunderers, terrorists, atheists, anarchists, Marxist-Leninist communists, screams The Beast. They may be even Maoists! The Beast does not care how stupid it sounds. We, the opposed, are all of these and more, and proudly so. Its snarling face, its hard, black stares, its hooded eyes baggy and black… what made such a…thing? “You are the sperm of Israel,” shouts The Beast. What fuels The Beast’s incomparable fury? Could it be hell itself? Or something even worse?

The Beasts’s mind rages with conspiracies. When caught in a deceit, it spews hate to create war. Its so-called police and its so-called civil police and its so-called bodyguards are just deputized street thugs, some tricked out in uniforms, all of them goons on the order of Hitler’s brownshirt street gangs. All of them praised by The Beast as heroes, saving the nation from…what? Democracy? Life itself?

War, war, war…it’s always war with The Beast. It has many backs but The Beast rides on the backs of even bigger, master beasts. These are the master killers from beyond the sea, George W. Bush, Barack H. Obama, killers and displacers of millions. Obama even won the Nobel Peace Prize! Such beastly, hypocritically evil behavior. It’s their nature. So get used to it.

James (Cem) Ryan
Istanbul
29 May 2014

http://www.brighteningglance.org/

Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live without other security. [….] In such condition, there is no place for industry; because the fruit therefore is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. (13/9)

Reference: Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), Oxford University Press, 2008.

May 29, 2014
Erdogan visit brings Turkey’s divisions to streets of Cologne

BY ALEXANDRA HUDSON

BERLIN

Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during the opening ceremony of Ford Otosan Yenikoy car plant in in Kocaeli May 22, 2014.

CREDIT: REUTERS/MURAD SEZER

(Reuters) – A visit by Tayyip Erdogan to Cologne on Saturday to address thousands of expatriate Turks threatens to bring Turkey’s political tensions to German streets, despite an appeal by Chancellor Angela Merkel for him to adopt a sensitive tone.

Some German lawmakers are concerned by what they see as Erdogan’s inflammatory language and authoritarian behavior in dealing with demonstrations and in handling a corruption scandal that touched on former ministers. His expected candidacy in August presidential elections could further raise passions.

Erdogan typically addresses a mass audience of expatriate Turks when visiting Germany. They are rousing patriotic affairs with thousands waving the Turkish flag. In 2008 he caused uproar by warning Germany’s largest minority against assimilation.

At least 16,000 supporters are expected at the 10th anniversary of the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD).

The event also falls a year after anti-government protests swept the country, fired largely by a violent police crackdown on a small demonstration against development of a city park. Erdogan has denounced protesters variously as vandals, terrorists and anarchists.

As many as 30,000 anti-Erdogan protesters are due to gather nearby on Saturday, as well as a German far-right party, leading Yeni Safak, a pro-Erdogan paper in Turkey to warn on its front page on Friday of a “trap”. Berlin, it suggested, wanted to hold Erdogan responsible for stirring trouble.

Critics in Germany say it is insensitive to give such a speech 11 days after Turkey suffered its worst ever mining accident, in which 301 miners died.

They also oppose giving Erdogan a platform when there is deep doubt in Europe about the direction Ankara is taking – two months before he is expected to stand for a presidency he aspires to turn from a largely figurehead role to that of a strong executive head of state.

Erdogan, for his part, portrays his government as fighting an international conspiracy to undermine Turkey as an emerging power in the region. His outspoken manner constitutes part of his appeal in his conservative Anatolian heartland.

Merkel told the Saarbruecker Zeitung paper in an interview published on Friday: “I assume he knows how sensitive this event is, especially this time, and that he will act responsibly.”

But she acknowledged Berlin was “concerned about some developments in Turkey, such as actions against demonstrators, attacks on social networks and the situation for Christians”.

The two leaders spoke by telephone on Thursday, Merkel’s office said, with Erdogan, by far the most popular politician in Turkey, outlining plans for his visit.

“You can hope that Erdogan will be sensitive but you cannot expect it,” said Gokay Sofuoglu, co-leader of the Turkish Community in Germany organization, noting that people were very divided about the visit. “He will use the event to win votes.”

“Anybody who knows him also knows that whether it be loss of life, or corruption allegations, he always manages to twist events to boost his own support,” he said.

Last month, when German President Joachim Gauck criticized Erdogan’s leadership style and curbs on civil liberties, the Turkish premier responded: “Keep your advice to yourself.”

EXPATRIATE VOTES

The UETD says their anniversary event will be somber in tone to reflect mourning for the miners and it is unrelated to the presidential poll. But critics feel Erdogan’s very appearance in Germany is inevitably an appeal for support from expatriate Turks, significant voters after changes to the electoral system.

Some 3 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany and 1.4 million Turkish citizens can vote, a number equivalent to the electorate of Turkey’s fifth largest city Adana, according to the Institute of Turkish Studies and Integration (ZfTI).

Under previous rules, expats could only vote at Turkey’s borders. Around 62 percent of those who did in 2011 backed Erdogan’s AK Party, but few of those eligible voted.

Erdogan, in power for more than a decade, has weathered a bitter power struggle with an influential Islamic preacher, as well the graft scandal he says was engineered to undermine him. Most recently he was accused by critics of insensitivity in denouncing protests over the mining disaster.

His two-week closure of social networking site Twitter and a block on access to video-sharing platform YouTube earlier this year drew condemnation around the world, yet he remains hugely popular among Turkey’s poorer and more religious voters.

“We want to show Erdogan that he has more opponents in Germany than supporters and that here we can demonstrate, unlike in Turkey. We want him to see there is a democratic culture here, and he is undemocratic,” said Yilmaz Karaman, a spokesman for Germany’s Alevi Community who are organizing the protest.

Alevis are a religious minority in mainly Sunni Muslim Turkey who espouse a liberal version of Islam and have often been at odds with Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted government.

Events in Turkey in recent years have shocked a diaspora whose divisions mirror thoseat home.

“Erdogan has really taken Turkey places. People should be grateful. Of course he has a temper. But calling him a dictator is ridiculous. He works and works for our country,” said 70-year-old Hasan Oz, a retired machine operator living in Germany for 45 years. He plans to vote for Erdogan as president.

But a friend sitting with him at a street cafe in Berlin, who declined to give his name, thought differently.

“Erdogan did a good thing in curbing the military and the economic strength is very admirable. But during the last years the balance between economic reforms and democratic reforms got lost, and now people’s freedoms are being restricted.”

(Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul; Editing by Stephen Brown)

May 25, 2014
Turkey Becomes a Rogue State By Rejecting European Court’s Verdict

The European Court on Human Rights (ECHR) issued on May 12 its largest judgment ever against any country, ruling that Turkey had to pay $123 million as compensation to relatives of missing Greek Cypriots and residents of a Greek enclave in Northern Cyprus.

The Cyprus vs. Turkey lawsuit was filed in 1999, twenty five years after the Turkish occupation of Northern Cyprus. In 2001, after ruling that the Turkish government had violated numerous articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, ECHR postponed making a determination of the penalty to be assessed to Turkey.

That decision came earlier this month, when the 17 judges of ECHR’s Grand Chamber issued their final judgment. By a vote of 16 to 1 (the Armenian and Cypriot judges voted with the majority, while the Turkish judge was the lone dissenter), ECHR ruled that the intervening 13 years had not invalidated the court’s 2001 judgment, as claimed by Turkey. By a vote of 15 to 2, ECHR held that the Turkish government had to pay $41 million, plus any tax and interest (if not paid within three months) for 1,456 Greek Cypriots missing as a result of Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus in 1974. By another 15 to 2 votes, ECHR judges decided that Turkey had to pay an additional $82 million plus any tax and interest (if not paid within three months) for damages suffered by residents of the Greek Cypriot enclave of Karpas peninsula in Turkish-occupied Northern Cyprus.

Right before the court’s judgment, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made a vain attempt to derail ECHR’s anticipated negative decision by warning that a ruling against Turkey would undermine the ongoing negotiations to reach a settlement on the Cyprus conflict. The court rightfully ignored Davutoglu’s threat and went on to issue its firm judgment in favor of Cyprus.

Having failed to bully the judges, Davutoglu disdainfully declared that Turkey rejects the verdict of Europe’s top human rights court and boasted that his country will refuse to pay the $123 million in damages.

Davutoglu should be reminded that ECHR’s “Grand Chamber judgments are final” — not subject to appeal — and “all final judgments are transmitted to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe for supervision of their execution,” according to the court’s records.

Turkish Foreign Minister’s arrogant declaration will certainly come back to haunt his government in the not too distant future. All members of the Council of Europe, without exception, are obligated to comply with ECHR’s rulings. The court’s judgments are binding on all member states. During the past several decades, Turkey has lost hundreds of judgments in the European Court and has paid, whether it liked it or not, countless millions of dollars in penalties. Turkey has no other choice, if it wants to remain a member of the Council of Europe. There have been some ECHR cases where Turkish officials had initially vowed that they would not pay the assessed penalties, but eventually fully paid the required compensation plus interest.

If the Turkish government sticks with Davutoglu’s boastful rejection, not only Turkey could be stripped of its membership in the Council of Europe, but also forfeit its slim chance of joining the European Union!

Member states of the Council of Europe do not have the right to decide whether they are willing to abide by ECHR’s judgments. Otherwise, why would 47 European countries collectively spend almost $100 million a year to maintain a court if its judgments are meaningless or subject to voluntary compliance?

Recently, Turkish leaders have gone on a rampage flaunting domestic and international laws, by jailing a record number of journalists, firing on peaceful demonstrators in Gezi Park, beating family members of a mine explosion victims, making anti-Semitic statements, threatening to expel the US Ambassador, and waving a finger at Pres. Obama in the White House!

The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers should not tolerate a rogue member state which is a major violator of human rights. The Council should put Turkey on notice that unless it makes immediate arrangements to pay the $123 million penalty, it would be expelled from the Council of Europe and have its assets in third countries seized to enforce the court’s judgment.

Europe should take a firm stand on this judgment, as there will be many more such verdicts against Turkey on Cyprus and possibly someday on Armenian restitutional and territorial demands….

May 23, 2014