Turkish Forum

Tag: Muammar Gaddafi

  • Full text of a CIA document indicating UK role in rendition of a terror suspect

    Full text of a CIA document indicating UK role in rendition of a terror suspect

    renditionWe are aware that your service has been cooperating with the British to effect Abu Munthir’s removal to Tripoli’

    “Our service has become aware that last weekend LIFG deputy Emir Abu Munthir and his spouse and children were being held in Hong Kong detention for immigration/passport violations. We are also aware that your service has been cooperating with the British to effect Abu Munthir’s removal to Tripoli, and that you had an aircraft available for this purpose in the Maldives.

    Our understanding is that the Hong Kong special wing (SW) originally denied permission for your aircraft to land in Hong Kong to enable you to assume control of Abu Munthir and his family. However, we believe that the reason for the refusal was based on international concerns over having a Libyan-registered aircraft land in Hong Kong. Accordingly, if your government were to charter a foreign aircraft from a third country, the Hong Kong government may be able to coordinate with you to render Abu Munthir and his family into your custody.

    If payment of a charter aircraft is an issue, our service would be willing to assist financially to help underwrite those costs. Please be advised that if we pursue that option, we must have assurances from your government that Abu Munthir and his family will be treated humanely and that his human rights will be respected; we must receive such assurances prior to any assistance being provided.

    For your information, the Hong Kong special administrative region is governed by a variety of legal constraints regarding deportation and custody of aliens. Accordingly, we believe that you will need to provide significant detail on Abu Munthir (eg, his terrorist/criminal acts, why he is wanted, perhaps proof of citizenship). It is also our understanding that Hong Kong officials have insisted that prior to turning Abu Munthir over to your custody, they must receive clear assurances from your government that Abu Munthir and his family will be treated humanely and in accordance with human rights.”

    guardian.co.uk, 4 September 2011

  • 168 people brought from Libya to Turkey

    168 people brought from Libya to Turkey

    plane thy168 people, who left Libya due to upheaval in the country and proceeded to Tunisia, were brought to Turkey on Friday.

    168 people, who left Libya due to upheaval in the country and proceeded to Tunisia, were brought to Turkey on Friday.

    168 people most of whom are Turks arrived at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul by a plane of Turkish Airlines (THY) within the scope of evacuation conducted by Turkish Embassy in Tunisia.

    Turkey has so far evacuated at least 21,000 people including foreign nationals from Libya, since the beginning of the protests against Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year reign.

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  • Turkey to represent US interests in Libya

    Turkey to represent US interests in Libya

    Washington – The Turkish government has agreed to represent US diplomatic interests in Libya, the US State Department said Tuesday.

    ‘mark tonerTurkey has agreed to be our protecting power in Libya. And we’re, indeed, very grateful for Turkey for accepting that role,’ spokesman Mark Toner said.

    The United States closed its embassy after Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi launched a massive crackdown against dissidents last month. In March, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the US was cutting ties to the Libyan embassy in Washington and expected it to shut down.

    via Turkey to represent US interests in Libya – Monsters and Critics.

  • Turkish PM Erdogan says Israel is ‘threat to peace’

    Turkish PM Erdogan says Israel is ‘threat to peace’

    Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Elycee Palace in Paris 7 April 2010
    Erdogan’s comments will further deepen mistrust

    Turkey’s Prime Minister has described Israel as the “main threat to peace” in the Middle East.

    Recep Tayyip Erdogan was speaking during a visit to Paris.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded saying he regretted Turkey’s “repeated attacks” on Israel.

    Relations between the two countries have been worsening since the Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip in 2009, made worse by a recent diplomatic row.

    Mr Erdogan was speaking to journalists before meeting the French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

    “It is Israel that is the main threat to regional peace,” he said.

    “If a country uses disproportionate force, in Palestine, in Gaza, uses phosphorus bombs we are not going to say ‘well done.’”

    Both Israel and Hamas, which control the Gaza Strip, have been accused by the UN of war crimes during the 22-day offensive in December 2008 and January 2009.

    Humiliation

    Mr Netanyahu said he regretted the Turkish prime minister’s comments.

    Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon meeting Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Oguz Celikkol, captioned "the height of humiliation" in Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom [Image: Lior Mizrahi/Israel Hayom]
    The Turkish envoy was made to sit lower than the Israeli deputy minister

    “We are interested in good relations with Turkey and regret that Mr Erdogan chooses time after time to attack Israel,” he told reporters in Israel.

    The countries have been allies in the past.

    But earlier this week, the Turkish ambassador to Israel was recalled by Ankara, weeks after being humiliated in public by the Israeli deputy foreign minister.

    Ambassador Oguz Celikkol was called into the Israeli foreign ministry in January and rebuked over a Turkish television series that showed Israeli intelligence agents kidnapping children.

    Mr Celikkol was made to sit on a low chair while being lectured by Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.

    Mr Ayalon later apologised for the rebuke.

    Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has compared Mr Erdogan to Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Libya’s leader Muammar Gaddafi.

    BBC