Tag: London
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Turkey’s President opens Embassy, Culture Center in Kazakhstan
Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul inaugurated Turkey’s Embassy and a Turkish Culture Center in the Kazakh capital Astana on Wednesday.Delivering a speech in the inauguration ceremony, Gul said, “we are very happy because we are opening the new building of the Turkish embassy.”
Gul recalled that Turkey was the first country that recognized the independence of Kazakhstan.
Later Gul and Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev visited the International Exhibition of Arms and Military-Technical Equipment KADEX-2010 in Astana.
President Gul also met with Kazakh and Turkish businessmen over a luncheon.
Yunus Emre Culture Center, named after a 13th century Turkish poet and Sufi mystic, has become the fifth culture center opened abroad. Yunus Emre Foundation had earlier opened centers in Sarajevo, Tirana, Cairo and Skopje. The foundation plans to open new culture centers in Cologne, London, Moscow, Paris and Damascus this year.
President Gul also said that Yunus Emre Culture Center aims to keep Turkish language and culture alive, and also to spread it.
He said that Turkish culture prevailed in the Balkans and Central Asia, adding that these culture centers would help those who want to learn Turkish.
Following the inauguration ceremony, Gul also visited a Turkish-Kazakh high school in Astana.Later, Gul departed from Kazakhstan to return home.
AA
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London policeman on child sex charge
A Metropolitan Police (Met) officer has been charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl.
Pc Robert Nicholson, 27, who is based at Limehouse police station in east London faces one charge of sexual activity with a child.
An inquiry began in December 2009 after police found the girl had spent time with the officer during a period that she was reported missing by her family.
He was bailed to appear on 2 June at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
An investigation, which began in December 2009, led to the arrest of Pc Nicholson on 18 December.
The matter was then referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), by the Met’s directorate of professional standards.
The officer, who was charged under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, has been suspended from duty.
BBC
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Plans for Turkish Cultural Centre
News Release 19th May 2010
Turkish NGOs joined to discuss plans for Turkish Cultural Centre
Turkish NGO’s attended a meeting which was held in London’s Pasha Hotel on Sunday 9th May 2010 to discuss the plans for Turkish Cultural Centre. Many Turkish NGOs attended the meeting which was organised by Filiz Kirim to brainstorm a plan for Turkish Cultural Centre where Turkish arts, music and culture can be performed and promoted.
The organiser of the meeting Filiz Kirim, highlighted that their intentions are non political and solely to unite Turkish NGOs to conceptualize a plan for pulchritudinous Turkish Cultural Centre, located centrally in London, a centre that Turkish Community really deserves.
The meeting developed into general discussion points on the mission and the structure of The Turkish Cultural Centre. The Representatives of the Turkish NGOs highlighted that they have organised a Turkish Day which many British people attended to discover Turkish Culture. The Turkish NGOs declared that they will do all they can, including sharing their past experiences so that past failures do not occur in the future.
At the meeting it was unanimously agreed that the proposed Turkish Cultural Centre should be named as “Turkish World Arts and Cultural Centre” so that this could enable artists from all around the Turkish World to participate, perform and promote their art, pictures, music, cinema, and theatre. It was also agreed that the organisation should be a Non-Profit organisation. Furthermore at the meeting it was agreed by participants that The Yunus Emre Charity and Goethe Institute organisations examples should be looked into detail and used as an example case for the proposal.
Londra Türk sivil toplum örgütleri temsilcileri Türk Kültür Merkezi hazırlık çalışmaları amacı ile toplandı
Londra sivil toplum örgütleri, İngilteredeki yabancılara Türk sanatını, müziğini ve kültürünü tanıtacak, bir Türk Kültür Merkezi kurmak amacı ile 16 Mayıs 2010 Pasha Hotelde toplandı. Toplatıya birçok Türk sivil toplum örgütleri temsilcisi katıldı.
Toplantıda, daveti düzenleyen Filiz Kırım, amaçlarının siyasi olmadığını, tek amaçlarının İngilterede bireylerimizi ve sivil toplum kuruluşlarımızı bir araya toplayarak, Türkiye’nin adına yaraşacak, Londra’nın merkezinde ve güzel bir binada bir Türk Kültür Merkezi kurmak olduğunu ifade etti.
Toplantının ana temasını, kurulacak Kültür Merkezi için öncelikle misyonunun ne olacağı ve bununla birlikte nasıl bir yapılanma içerisinde olacağı oldu.
Toplantıda söz alan sivil toplum örgütleri temsilcileri, yakın geçmişte Türk günü düzenlendiğinin, bunun İngiliz toplumunda büyük bir ilgi uyandırdığını ifade ettiler. Sivil toplum örgütleri ayrıca bu konuda, senelere dayanan tecrübelerini paylaşacaklarını ifade edip, “böylece geçmişte yaşanan aksilikler yaşanmaz” diyerek görüşlerini bildirdiler.
Toplantıda kurulması düşünülen,Türk Kültür merkezinin, tüm Türk Dünyasına hitap etmesi açısından, isminin Turkish World Arts and Cultural Centre olmasına oy birliği ile karar verildi. Beş kıtaya yayılmış Türk dünyasıdan gelen sanatçıların, resim, fotoğraf sergilerinin, müzik, sinema ve tiyatro yapılacağı Kültür merkezinin, ileride, kar gütmeyen Non-Profit bir kurum olarak kurumsallaşmasına karar verildi. Sonuç itibari ile Yunus Emre Vakfının ve Goethe Institute gibi kültür merkezlerinin örnek olarak incelenmesine, gerekli gördüğü takdirde örnek alınmasına karar verildi.
Ends/
Notes to editors
If you want more information on Turkish Cultural Centre please contact Filiz Kirim.
Contact : Ms. Filiz Kırım T:+44 (0) 7986851828 E:fkirim@hotmail.com
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UK ‘will not allow Mossad representative in London’
By Jessica Elgot, May 4, 2010
A new Mossad representative in London will not be allowed into the United Kingdom, it is claimed, until Israel pledges that British passports will never be used by Mossad agents.
Britain expelled a senior Israeli diplomat over the use of British passports by a team of assassins who killed Hamas terrorist Mahmouh al-Mabhouh in Dubai in January.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was satisfied that Israeli intelligence agency Mossad had forged British passports for the assassins.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman told the JC: “We have had no approach from the Israelis about a replacement. However we look to Israel to rebuild the trust we believe is required for the full and open relationship we would like.
“We have asked for specific assurances from Israel, which would clearly be a positive step towards rebuilding that trust.
“Any Israeli request for the diplomat to be replaced would be considered against the context of these UK requests.”
It is widely believed that the senior diplomat expelled from London was a Mossad representative.
Israel has never admitted any role in the Dubai assassination and therefore has abstained from signing any material which might be construed as a confession.
The Jewish Chronicle
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Spy movie tussle with Israeli security services by journalist in shoot to kill inquiry
by Mark Weiss in Jerusalem
The Israeli journalist forced into exile in London after the military launched an investigation into leaked documents has said his life now resembles a “spy movie.”
Uri Blau, who acquired 2,000 military documents, including 700 classified as ‘top secret’, claimed in an article for the Haaretz newspaper that he was scared to leave Britain to return home where he faces the threat of arrest.
A Tel Aviv court lifted a gag order on Tuesday over a case against Anat Kam, a 23-year old female soldier who has been charged with national security offences for passing the documents revealing the military targetted assasination policy to Mr Blau.
Mr Blau claimed he was being targeted by the Israeli authorities for doing his job as an investigative journalist.
“When I left Israel I had no reason to believe our planned trip would suddenly turn into a spy movie whose end is not clear,” he wrote. “I certainly didn’t think I’d have to stay in London and wouldn’t be able to return to Tel Aviv as a journalist and a free man, only because I published reports that were inconvenient to the establishment.”
Mr Blau said he decided to stay abroad after hearing that his Tel Aviv apartment had been broken into, and being informed that his telephone and e mails were being monitored. “Experiences I had read about in suspense novels have become my reality in recent months,” he said. “When you’re warned “they know much more than you think,” and are told that your telephone line, e-mail and computer have been monitored for a long time and still are, then someone up there doesn’t really understand what democracy is all about, and the importance of freedom of the press in preserving it.”
The reporter received the classified documents from Anat Kam, who served at the army’s Central Command headquarters, and who has been under house arrest since December.
Talks between Mr Blau and Israeli intelligence, whereby he would hand over all the documents in his procession, broke down last week. Each side has accused the other of reneging on the terms of the agreement.
Mr Blau is now wanted for questioning by both the Israeli police and the security services.
Yuval Diskin , head of the Shin Bet security agency , warned that “the kid gloves will now be taken off” as the intelligence community steps up its efforts to retrieve the sensitive information.
The stolen documents include details of Israeli troop deployments and contingency plans for emergencies. Israeli media reported that the operational plans for Israel’s invasion of Gaza last winter were altered because the original blueprint was amongst the top secret information transferred to Blau.
Miss Kam, who goes on trial next week ,will be charged with espionage, an offense which carries a maximum life sentence. Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu , who was tried on similar charges , served 18 years in prison.
The Telegraph