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Turkey could be America’s most important regional ally, above Iraq, even above Israel, if both sides manage the relationship correctly.

  • Karzai Opposes US Use of Afghan Soil Against Iran

    Karzai Opposes US Use of Afghan Soil Against Iran

    News

    Karzai Opposes US Use of Afghan Soil Against Iran

    Monday 14 July 2008

    »

    by: Sayed Salahuddin, Reuters UK

    According to Afghan president Hamid Karzai, his government wants to maintain peaceful relations with Iran and would be against the US stationing troops in Afghanistan to attack that country.
    (Photo: AFP / Getty Images)

        Kabul – Afghanistan opposes U.S. use of its territory for launching a possible attack against neighbouring Iran, President Hamid Karzai said in an interview broadcast on Monday.

        Iran has threatened to target Israel and U.S. interests in the region in the event of an attack against the Islamic Republic which is locked in a dispute with the West over its nuclear programme.

        Karzai said his government, which came to power after U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban in 2001, had always tried to “keep the balance between the powers”.

        “We are attentive to the dangers,” Karzai told Radio Liberty when asked about the possible repercussions of a conflict between Iran and the United States.

        “Afghanistan should not become the battleground of differences of any country,” he said in a wide-ranging interview. “Afghanistan does not want its soil to be used against any country and Afghanistan wants to be a friend of Iran as a neighbour which shares the same language and religion.”

        Karzai said his government had facilitated talks between Tehran and Washington, and had also served as a messenger between both in the past.

        Washington, which has some 32,000 troops in Afghanistan and is the biggest aid donor to Kabul, has not ruled out military force against Iran.

        Meanwhile, Karzai said foreign troops had ignored his repeated calls to coordinate operations with Afghan forces to avoid civilian casualties.

        Nearly 700 Afghan civilians have been killed in the first six months of 2008, the United Nations says, 255 of them by Afghan and international forces.

        “This in reality is a disaster … many innocent people have been killed in the bombardment. For five years, routinely, I have been trying to prevent foreign forces from possibly harming our nation. Unfortunately, this effort has not had outcome I wanted, and as the nation expects,” Karzai said.

        Karzai brushed aside reports about a possible postponement of next year’s presidential election due to rising violence.

        He said Afghanistan favoured good ties with its other large neighbour, Pakistan, but said there were “elements in Pakistan’s intelligence and Pakistan’s army” who did not want a stable Afghanistan.

        ——–

        Editing by Jeremy Laurence.

  • Turkish Identity Formation and Political Mobilization in Western Europe and North America

    Turkish Identity Formation and Political Mobilization in Western Europe and North America

    From: Gokce Yurdakul <g.yurdakul2007@googlemail.com>
    List Editor: Mark Stein <Mark.Stein@GW.MUHLENBERG.EDU>
    Editor’s Subject: H-TURK: Call for papers for a special issue in Turkish Studies [G Yurdakul]
    Author’s Subject: H-TURK: Call for papers for a special issue in Turkish Studies [G Yurdakul]
    Date Written: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:47:20 -0400
    Date Posted: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:47:20 -0400    		 
    CALL FOR PAPERS FOR A SPECIAL ISSUE IN TURKISH STUDIES (to appear in June
2009)

We would like to invite papers for a special issue in Turkish Studies
journal on Turkish Identity Formation and Political Mobilization in Western
Europe and
North America. We are specifically interested in original articles that
focus on Turkish immigrant associations and their participation in politics
in
FRANCE, BELGIUM, and in the UNITED KINGDOM.  Articles that contain primary
data will be preferred. If you would like to submit your article to this
special
issue, please contact: Dr. Sebnem Koser Akcapar at sa364@georgetown.edu and
Dr. Gokce Yurdakul at g.yurdakul2007@gmail.com (special issue guest
editors).
Please note that all articles will be peer-reviewed. The submission date is
July 30, 2008.  This special issue is currently in preparation and has the
following articles:
Turkish organisations in Europe: how national contexts provide different
avenues for    participation? Pontus Odmalm   //  Divided We Stand?: Turks
and Turkish associations in the United States, Sebnem Koser Akcapar //
Immigrant associations in Canada: Included, accommodated or excluded? Saime
Ozcurumez// Islam, conflicts and immigrant integration in Germany: The cases
of Diyanet
Isleri and Milli Gorus, Gokce Yurdakul // Organizing for access? The
political mobilization of Turks in Amsterdam, Laure Michon and Floris
Vermeulen //
"The light of the Alevi fire was lit in Germany and then spread to Turkey":
The debate about
the relationship between Alevism and Islam, Esra Ozyurek //
Towards a success story? Turkish immigrant organisations in Norway, Jon
Rogstad, // The Gulen Movement in Ireland: Civil society engagements of a
Turkish religio-cultural community, Jonathan Lacey.

Best regards,
Gokce Yurdakul
Post-doctoral Fellow
Freie Universitaet Berlin Program for Advanced German and European Studies
  • New York Post – A leader in the world of terrorism / A Must READ

    New York Post – A leader in the world of terrorism / A Must READ


    New York Post – A leader in the world of terrorism / A Must READ

     

     

    GOTTI EX MARRIES TERROR PRINCESS

    By PERRY CHIARAMONTE and STEFANIE COHEN

    July 14, 2008 —

    Carmine Agnello has a thing for dangerous women – or at least dangerous fathers-in-law.

    The man who married and divorced Victoria Gotti, daughter of the late “Dapper Don” John Gotti, has a new bride – the daughter of a terrorist, The Post has learned.

    Agnello, 48, quietly married the beautiful, raven-haired daughter of Mourad “Moose” Topalian, a former leader in the world of Armenian terrorism.

    Agnello, nicknamed “The Bull,” wed Danielle Vangar, nee Topalian, on Feb. 19, according to court documents obtained by The Post.

    The lovebirds met about five years ago while Danielle, 35, was visiting her father in the same Ohio federal pen where Agnello was doing time on racketeering and tax-evasion raps.

     

     

    Topalian was convicted of weapons and explosives possession after authorities in 1996 found a locker filled with more than 100 pounds of dynamite and a cache of guns that they traced back to the high-profile Armenian nationalist from Cleveland.

    The feds claim Topalian helped plot the 1980 car bombing of the Turkish Mission to the United Nations in New York, which badly injured three passers-by.

    He has maintained his innocence, saying in published reports that he copped a plea only to keep his family from the ordeal of a trial.

    But a source told The Post that Topalian was the leader of a militant Armenian terrorist group dedicated to avenging his people’s genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks in 1915.

    His daughter and Agnello are now the picture of suburban bliss, living in a trim white colonial at the end of a cul-de-sac in the posh Cleveland suburb of Bentleyville.

    Agnello has even opened a new business, Charity Towing, which hauls vehicles donated to nonprofit groups.

    But while he’s busy playing house with his new bride, Agnello’s three sons by Victoria – Carmine, John and Frank – weren’t even told about the nuptials, said his ex-wife, Victoria Gotti.

    “I wish him the best,” said Victoria, 46, when The Post broke the news to her. “But I can’t believe he didn’t tell the kids himself.”

    She said Agnello, who is still on supervised release, has only visited the three boys once since he’s been out of jail.

    “Like my mother always says, the government did me the biggest favor of my life,” Victoria said, referring to both Agnello’s arrest and the secret government recordings that revealed he’d been having a steamy affair with his bookkeeper, which led to the couple’s divorce in 2002.

    perry.chiaramonte@nypost.com

     



  • Iran vs. the West

    Iran vs. the West

    Iran vs. the West

    Source: Aljazeera.net
  • America’s top cops in Istanbul during attack

    America’s top cops in Istanbul during attack

    America’s top cops in Istanbul during attack on consulate
    Thursday, July 10, 2008
     
    ISTANBUL – Turkish Daily News

      The armed attack in front of the American Consulate in Istanbul took place at a time when high-level U.S. drug enforcement agents were in town to attend the 26th International Drug Enforcement Conference, bringing together top law enforcement officials from 91 countries.

      When the attack took place at around 10:30 a.m. yesterday, Michele Leonhart, the Drug Enforcement Agency’s, or DEA, acting administrator; Scott Burns, deputy director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; and Mark Destito, the DEA’s Regional Director based in Ankara were briefing a group of journalists at the conference venue in the Conrad Hotel in Beşiktaş district, 10 kilometers from İstinye, where the consulate moved a few years ago.

      The news of the attack, which left three Turkish police officers dead, sent shock waves through the U.S. agents who organized the conference with the Directorate of the Turkish Police.

      During the press briefing, which likely began around when the 15-minute gunfight between the Turkish police and the assailants started, Turkish law enforcement officials were praised for their success in intercepting drug trafficking passing through Turkey.

      “Turkey seized 15 to 16 percent of the heroin coming from Afghanistan. Turkey has done such a good job that drug smugglers have started to take a different route rather than the Balkan route, which is the primary corridor for Afghan-produced drugs to reach Europe. The anchor point for the Balkan Route is Turkey, which remains a major staging area and transportation route for heroin destined for European markets,” said the Interpol Web site. 

      “Turkish authorities need to be recognized because they have put so much pressure on the drug lords that they started to change methods and routes,” said Leonhart.

       Answering a question regarding the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, Leonhart recalled President Bush’s decision to use a U.S. drug trafficking law to impose financial sanctions on the PKK.  “This allows us to cut off organizations helping the PKK in their criminal activities,” said Leonhart. 

      Scott Burns from the White House said those using drugs are funding terrorism.

  • Al-Qaeda might be behind Istanbul attack

    Al-Qaeda might be behind Istanbul attack

    NTV news channel reported : Turkish police suspect the gunmen behind Wednesday’s attack on a guardpost outside the US embassy in Istanbul might belong to Al-Qaeda. Police had found information linking the gunmen to Afghanistan, leading to suspicions that the attack was inspired by the Al-Qaeda network.