Category: USA

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

Turkey bombing: What is the DHKP/C terrorist group?

A suicide bomber detonated an explosive strapped to himself Friday in front of the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, killing himself and a Turkish guard, the AP reported.

AFP/Getty Images

(AFP/Getty Images)

The attack destroyed the entrance to the building, Turkey’s foreign minister said, and the force of the explosion left body parts strewn around the scene.

White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters that the bombing “was clearly an act of terror.”

Turkish media identified the bomber as Ecevit Şanli, allegedly a 30-year-old member of the outlawed Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C).

If the reports are true, it might mean that the terrorist group, which some experts describe as long past its heyday, is seeing a revival now that the Syrian conflict has given the U.S. and Turkey new reason to cooperate on foreign policy.

The DHKP/C is a Marxist-Leninist party and terrorist group that strongly opposes any NATO or U.S. influence over foreign policy in Turkey. For the past few decades, they’ve targeted a series of Western and Turkish officials, professors and businessmen with suicide bombings.

Today’s attack is similar to another suicide bombing on Sept. 11, 2012, when an explosion in a police station in Istanbul’s Sultangazi district killed a police officer and the bomber.

The group was far more popular in the ’70s and ’80s, though, and it has lost much of its influence since then.

“It went from being a group with mass appeal to one with just a few hundred members,” Soner Cagaptay, an expert on Turkey at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Daily Beast. “They see the world through the prism of the Cold War. It’s really kind of surprising they’re still around.”

But Turkey’s recent cooperation with the U.S. on Syria might have given the group a new raison d’etre.

Friday’s attack could have been prompted by Turkey’s cooperation with the U.S. in preventing spillover from Syria’s civil war in Turkey, as Reuters reported:

Turkey is a key U.S. ally in the Middle East with common interests ranging from energy security to counter-terrorism and has been one of the leading advocates of foreign intervention to end the conflict in neighboring Syria.

Around 400 U.S. soldiers have arrived in Turkey over the past few weeks to operate Patriot anti-missile batteries meant to defend against any spillover of Syria’s civil war, part of a NATO deployment due to be fully operational in the coming days.

The attack may have also been retaliation for the detention of more than 50 alleged DHKP/C members by Turkish police last month, but that wouldn’t explain why it occurred at the U.S. Embassy.

One DHKP/C splinter group called the “Urgent Ones” has reportedly been attempting to stir up sectarian conflict around Turkey in the hope that the Turkish government will abandon its anti-Assad policy.

“Using the leftist, anti-U.S. and anti-E.U. ideological campaigns overtly laced with anti-imperialist jargon, the group strives to broaden support for the Assad regime,” wrote Abdullah Bozkurt, a columnist for the Turkish paper “Today’s Zaman.”

via Turkey bombing: What is the DHKP/C terrorist group?.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/02/01/turkey-bombing-what-is-the-dhkpc-terrorist-group/

February 2, 2013
US warns citizens against visiting Turkey missions after blast

Istanbul:The US consulate in Istanbul warned its citizens against visiting its missions in Turkey until further notice after a suicide bomber killed himself and one other person in an attack on its embassy in Ankara.

“The Department of State advises US citizens traveling or residing in
Turkey to be alert to the potential for violence, to avoid those areas where disturbances have occurred and to avoid demonstrations and large gatherings,” the consulate statement added.

The attacker detonated explosives strapped to his body after entering an embassy gatehouse. .

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said the bomber was a member of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), a far-left group which is virulently anti-US and anti-NATO and is listed as a terrorist organisation by Washington.

The White House said the suicide attack was an “act of terror” but that the motivation was unclear. U.S. officials said the DHKP-C were the main suspects but did not exclude other possibilities.

Islamist radicals, extreme left-wing groups, ultra-nationalists and Kurdish militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past. There was no claim of responsibility.

“The suicide bomber was ripped apart and one or two citizens from the special security team passed away,” said Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.

“This event shows that we need to fight together everywhere in the world against these terrorist elements,” he said.

In New York, the UN Security Council strongly condemned the attack as a heinous act.

Turkish media reports identified the bomber as DHKP-C member Ecevit Sanli, who was involved in attacks on a police station and a military staff college in Istanbul in 1997.

KEY ALLY

Turkey is a key USally in the Middle East with common interests ranging from energy security to counter-terrorism and has been one of the leading advocates of foreign intervention to end the conflict in neighboring Syria.

Around 400 U.S. soldiers have arrived in Turkey over the past few weeks to operate Patriot anti-missile batteries meant to defend against any spillover of Syria’s civil war, part of a NATO deployment due to be fully operational in the coming days.

An embassy security guard arrives at the Gate 2 of the US embassy just minutes after a suicide bomber has detonated an explosive device at the entrance of the U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capital, Ankara. AP

The DHKP-C was responsible for the assassination of two U.S. military contractors in the early 1990s in protest against the first Gulf War and launched rockets at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul in 1992, according to the U.S. State Department.

Deemed a terrorist organisation by both the United States and Turkey, the DHKP-C has been blamed for suicide attacks in the past, including one in 2001 that killed two police officers and a tourist in Istanbul’s central Taksim Square.

The group, formed in 1978, has carried out a series of deadly attacks on police stations in the last six months.

The attack may have come in retaliation for an operation against the DHKP-C last month in which Turkish police detained 85 people. A court subsequently remanded 38 of them in custody over links to the group.

“HUGE EXPLOSION”

U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone emerged through the main gate of the embassy shortly after the explosion to address reporters, flanked by a security detail as a Turkish police helicopter hovered overhead.

“We’re very sad of course that we lost one of our Turkish guards at the gate,” Ricciardone said, describing the victim as a “hero” and thanking Turkish authorities for a prompt response.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland condemned the attack on the checkpoint on the perimeter of the embassy and said several U.S. and Turkish staff were injured by debris.

“The level of security protection at our facility in Ankara ensured that there were not significantly more deaths and injuries than there could have been,” she told reporters.

It was the second attack on a U.S. mission in four months. On September 11, 2012, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three American personnel were killed in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The attack in Benghazi, blamed on al Qaeda-affiliated militants, sparked a political furore in Washington over accusations that U.S. missions were not adequately safeguarded.

A well-known Turkish journalist, Didem Tuncay, who was on her way in to the embassy to meet Ricciardone when the attack took place, was in a critical condition in hospital.

“It was a huge explosion. I was sitting in my shop when it happened. I saw what looked like a body part on the ground,” said travel agent Kamiyar Barnos, whose shop window was shattered around 100 meters away from the blast.

CALL FOR VIGILANCE

The U.S. consulate in Istanbul warned its citizens to be vigilant and to avoid large gatherings, while the British mission in Istanbul called on British businesses to tighten security after what it called a “suspected terrorist attack”.

In 2008, Turkish gunmen with suspected links to al Qaeda, opened fire on the U.S. consulate in Istanbul, killing three Turkish policemen. The gunmen died in the subsequent firefight.

The most serious bombings in Turkey occurred in November 2003, when car bombs shattered two synagogues, killing 30 people and wounding 146. Part of the HSBC Bank headquarters was destroyed and the British consulate was damaged in two more explosions that killed 32 people less than a week later. Authorities said those attacks bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda.

Reuters

February 2, 2013
Making sense of the Ankara embassy bombing from Istanbul

Emergency personnel are seen on Friday in front of a side entrance to the U.S. Embassy in the Turkish capital.

ISTANBUL — “Have you heard the news?” my editor at the local Turkish newspaper asked. Lazily clicking through various media outlets’ homepages as I shouldered the phone to my ear, I assumed he was referring to the still-missing New Yorker in Istanbul.

“Yeah, but the investigator hasn’t —”

“No, not Sierra,” he interrupted. “The U.S. Embassy was bombed this morning.”

I immediately jumped on Twitter, where I watched and retweeted as developments unfolded. First, news of a blast near the embassy in Ankara. Then, photos of the damaged front entrance. After that came 140-character blurbs reporting several injuries, a suicide bomber (or was it a package?) and one, no, two deaths.

The distance between Ankara and Istanbul, where I live, is more than 200 miles. But I felt a world away as I drank my latte, watched two boys rough-house in the street and wrapped up another story on the investigation into Sarai Sierra’s mystifying disappearance.

Meanwhile, my American cellphone has not stopped buzzing since 3:30 p.m. I’ve received dozens of Facebook messages and e-mails from concerned family members and friends back home. As I rushed to meet my daily deadline, I put my phone on silent.

After filing, I cautiously opened my inbox. My heart sank — three messages from mom. I knew what they said before I read them.

“IMPORTANT!!” shouted the first subject line. I took a deep breath before clicking it open. As I read the message interspersed with exclamation points and phrases in all caps, I could hear her frightened voice and see her furrowed brow.

Let me add an important aside: Mom’s been trying to get me to come home since I moved here two years ago. The oldest of three daughters, I was the first in my immediate family to go to college and the first to travel abroad. She had no idea I was going to end up living in Turkey when I hugged her goodbye in January 2011. Neither did I.

She and my sisters traveled to Istanbul this past summer and, as I did when I first stepped off the plane, fell in love with the city and its storied history, generous people and distinct cuisine. But that hasn’t stopped my mom (and many of my family members, for that matter) from sending frantic messages every time a protest occurs or bomb detonates, not just in Turkey but anywhere in the region.

As much as I hate to admit it, she’s got a point.

According to the Pew Research Center’s 2012 Global Attitudes Project, only 15 percent of Turks have a favorable opinion of the United States. Conversely, 72 percent view the United States unfavorably.

In the past, I’ve been able to alleviate my chronically worried mother’s fears about my safety by pointing out that none of our governmental buildings had been targeted recently, as has happened in the Arab Spring countries. Perhaps, in retrospect, that wasn’t the greatest example I could have given.

After all, this isn’t the first time a U.S. diplomatic mission has been attacked in Turkey.

In 2008, six people were killed when gunmen attacked Turkish police guarding the entrance to the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul. Only five years before that, an al-Qaeda-linked gang of Turks killed 58 people in various suicide truck bombings around Istanbul.

As my mom reminds me every day, Turkey also is in a geopolitical hot spot.

Think of what’s happened in the past two years alone — social and political upheaval has swept the Middle East and North Africa; Syria is riddled with conflict; already tense relations between the United States and Iran have deteriorated; four people were killed in an attack on an American diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, etc.

But do I worry about my safety in Istanbul? Honestly, other than frequent harassment, no. Perhaps it sounds naïve, but those concerns don’t match my reality here. It hasn’t affected my daily life.

And it hasn’t, at least until now, stopped others from visiting Istanbul, consistently ranked among the world’s most popular tourist destinations.

I pumped out a quick message, knowing my mother’s anxiety would not subside until she heard from me. “Hey mom, I’m fine. Promise I’m being safe. Just sitting in a café, writing.”

Less than a minute later, my inbox chirped. “OK, love you.”

via Making sense of the Ankara embassy bombing from Istanbul.

February 2, 2013
U.S. And Indian Army Military Exercise – WOW ViDEO

January 31, 2013
Obama Calls For Citizenship For Illegals

Immigration Reform Could Raise Cost Of ObamaCare By Hundreds Of Billions

Posted on January 30, 2013

In the wake of the U.S. Senate’s “Gang of Eight” announcement on immigration reform yesterday, President Barack Obama traveled to Las Vegas today to deliver his proposals on immigration reform.

“I am here because most Americans agree that it is time to fix a system that has been broken for way too long,” he said. He added it is time to tackle immigration reform, for immigration strengthens “our economy and our country’s future.”

Placing emphasis on bipartisanship, Obama said, “The differences are dwindling and a consensus is growing.”

Despite the years of partisanship, the president today said he felt the time has arrived to where Republicans and Democrats can “finally work together.”

Using the Kennedy-Bush amnesty plan of 2007 as a model, Obama said the infrastructure for “consensus is already in place” and he wants Congress to work immediately and take a vote on the measures “right away.”

While Obama admits those he’s helping have broken the law, he said, “They are not looking for any trouble” and “they are members of the community.”

He said the U.S. needs to make certain everyone is playing “by the rules,” but he insists “in order for immigration reform to work,” there must be a pathway to citizenship.

The president’s reasoning is that to lose these immigrants would be “bad for the economy.” He said many illegal aliens currently are studying for high tech positions but upon their graduation, they will leave America and travel to other countries with their skills.

Additionally, the president elaborated on other requirements needed for comprehensive immigration reform – elements almost identical to the proposals of the Gang of Eight from the U.S. Senate.

He said requirements for amnesty would include passing a background check, paying taxes, “going to the back of the line” and learning to speak English so that “they can earn their way to a green card and eventually citizenship.”

He also adds the nation needs to keep up enforcement and create a national system to figure out who is eligible to work and who is not.

Though the president promised to enact comprehensive immigration reform and never did, he still said in his first administration he worked to “patch up the worst cracks in the immigration system.”

The push for “comprehensive immigration reform” has not been without opposition. U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said yesterday, “The president has demonstrated he will only enforce the laws that he likes.”

Additionally, Congressman Steve Stockman, R-Texas, said, “I will not be supporting the Senate’s proposed ‘immigration reform’ should it reach the House. I cannot and will not support any immigration reform proposal that institutes an amnesty program or does not begin with a comprehensive plan to secure the borders.”

He continued, “It rewards law breaking and encourages a new flood of illegals, perpetuating the very problems it claims to solve.”

He also echoed the point of many other anti-illegal immigration activists by saying, “Our nation’s failed experiments with amnesty have proven it only encourages more illegals willing to wait it out for their turn at free citizenship.”

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Immigration Reform Could Raise Cost Of ObamaCare By Hundreds Of Billions

Posted on January 30, 2013

Earlier today, I posted on why I thought it was unlikely that immigration reform would actually pass this year. But there’s another reason why it will be difficult for Republicans to back legislation as currently outlined – immigration reform could represent a massive expansion of Obamacare, potentially costing hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.

As the Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff details, legalizing immigrants who are currently in the country illegally could make millions of them eligible for Obamacare. Though the exact number is difficult to pin down for a number of reasons, and we don’t know how many immigrants would obtain legal status as a result of any reform package, one Congressional Budget Office report estimated that 7 million to 8 million illegal immigrants would be uninsured after Obamacare because they won’t qualify for benefits. If this population were legalized and became eligible, it would mean increasing the number of Obamacare beneficiaries by over 20 percent. (The CBO has estimated that Obamacare would cover 36 million people either through the Medicaid expansion or the exchanges.)

My very rough estimate based on existing CBO analysis is that an expansion of Obamacare on that scale could easily cost several hundred billion dollars over a decade – maybe more than a half trillion. The reason why it’s difficult to make a projection is that it’s hard to say who would qualify for Medicaid and who would qualify for subsidies. Also, given that the subsidies vary by income level, it’s hard to say (beyond educated guessing) where on the scale this newly eligible population would fall and thus how generous their subsidies would be. Also, it’s hard to say how many of them would have incomes low enough to qualify for existing Medicaid benefits anyway, which they would have been able to claim with or without Obamacare.

Having made these caveats, here are some ways of looking at what it could cost to insure newly eligible immigrants under various assumptions. After the Supreme Court’s Obamacare decision, the CBO estimated that the law would cover an additional 11 million people on Medicaid (at a cost of $643 billion from 2013 through 2022) and 25 million through the exchanges (at a cost of just over $1 trillion over the same period). So, for every additional 1 million people on Medicaid, the federal government will be spending about $58 billion over the next decade and for every 1 million people on the exchange, taxpayers would be spending about $41 billion. Projecting this out for 8 million new beneficiaries would give a range of $328 billion to $464 billion. This would be conservative, however, because the current 10-year CBO estimate includes fiscal year 2013, though the law isn’t going to be implemented until 2014 – thus the actual 10-year cost is understated. Also, this method understates the per capita cost, because I’m dividing for the decade as a whole, even though the population covered by Obamacare grows over time.

January 30, 2013
Brother, husband to search for New York woman reported missing in Turkey

In this image provided by the family, Sarai Sierra is shown in an undated family photo, in New York. Sierra has reportedly gone missing during a trip to Turkey. (AP/Family Photo)

NEW YORK – Relatives of a missing New York City woman who disappeared while on vacation in Turkey, her first trip outside the U.S., are heading to Istanbul to look for her, her brother said Sunday.

Sarai Sierra’s family was last in touch with her on Monday, the day she was supposed to start her journey home. The 33-year-old mother of two had been in Turkey on her own since Jan. 7.

Her brother David Jimenez told The Associated Press that he and Sierra’s husband, Steven, were planning to leave for Turkey on Sunday night. He said he had no return date planned.

“I don’t want to come home without my sister,” Jimenez said.

Sierra planned to head to the Galata Bridge, a well-known tourist destination that spans the Golden Horn waterway, to take some photographs, said her mother, Betzaida Jimenez. Her daughter was then supposed to begin traveling home and was scheduled to arrive in New York City on Tuesday afternoon.

Sierra’s father went to pick her up at the airport and “waited there for hours” with no sign of his daughter, Jimenez said.

Sierra had planned to go on the trip with a friend but ended up going by herself when the friend couldn’t make it. She was looking forward to exploring her hobby of photography, her family said.

“I was nervous. I didn’t want my daughter to go,” Jimenez said, but the trip had passed smoothly with Sierra in regular contact with her family and friends through text messaging and phone calls.

“She would always call and let us know, `This is what I did today,”‘ Jimenez said.

When she didn’t show up in New York City, her husband called the place where she had been staying, David Jimenez said. The owner of the hostel checked her room and saw that her passport, equipment chargers and other items were still there.

“It looked like she was just stepping out,” he said.

The family has been in touch with authorities in their efforts to find her. No one was available to comment after hours Sunday at Istanbul police headquarters. Crime in Turkey is generally low and Istanbul is a relatively safe city for travelers, though there are areas where women would be advised to avoid going alone at night. The Galata and the nearby Galata Bridge areas have been gentrified and are home to fish restaurants, cafes and boutiques.

Sierra’s children, ages 11 and 9, do not know their mother is missing, her brother said. Betzaida Jimenez said the situation has “been a nightmare.”

“I’m forcing myself to get up because I have to get up,” she said.

But she said the tight-knit family was holding onto their faith.

“We’re praying and trusting God that she’s safe somewhere and we’re going to find her,” she said.

via Brother, husband to search for New York woman reported missing in Turkey | Fox News.

January 28, 2013