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Author: Zaman Australia

  • Journalist Hasan Cemal faces 8 years in prison on Erdoğan insult charges

    Veteran journalist Hasan Cemal is facing eight years in prison charges of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for two tweets he posted in 2016 and 2020, the T24 news website reported on Friday.

    The first tweet mentioned in the indictment was shared four days after a controversial coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016. In the tweet Cemal had said, “The criterion for being a democrat is not only to stand against a military coup. It is also to say no to a deepening ‘ERDOĞAN COUP’.”

    The second tweet referenced in the indictment is a comment on an opinion piece by Professor Murat Belge titled “The Caliphate.” Sharing the link to the piece, Cemal had said, “If the caliphate is to return, I suppose the caliph will be Tayyip Erdoğan.”

    In his first testimony in October, Cemal, who writes for T24 news website, said the tweets do not contain any insults and that he was exercising his right to freedom of expression.

    In addition to a prison sentence, the prosecutor also demanded a ban on certain civil rights including voting and running for office.

    Insulting the president is subject to criminal charges under the controversial Article 299 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), and thousands of people in the country are under investigation, with most of them facing the threat of imprisonment over alleged insults of Erdoğan. Whoever insults the president can face up to four years in prison, a sentence that can be increased if the crime was committed through the mass media.

    The insult cases generally stem from social media posts shared by Erdoğan opponents. The Turkish police and judiciary perceive even the most minor criticism of Erdoğan or his government as an insult. SCF

  • Turkish prosecutors ordered detention of 149 people over alleged Gülen links in a week

    Turkish prosecutors ordered detention of 149 people over alleged Gülen links in a week

    Turkish prosecutors have over the past week ordered the detention of 149 people on terrorism charges due to their alleged links to the faith-based Gülen movement, local media reported.

    On Monday the İstanbul and Kars public prosecutors issued detention warrants for 51 suspects, including active duty officers, noncommissioned officers and former military cadets.

    On Tuesday prosecutors in Ankara issued detention warrants for 37, including officers and former military cadets, on accusations of secretly communicating with their contacts within the Gülen movement via payphones.

    An additional 32 detention warrants were issued in Kayseri, Samsun, Edirne, Bursa and Manisa provinces on Wednesday.

    On Friday detention warrants were issued for 29 individuals by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and 24 were detained for alleged links to the Gülen movement.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, inspired by Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-prime minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.

    Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following an abortive putsch that he accused Gülen of masterminding.

    The so-called “payphone investigations” are based on call records. The prosecutors assume that a member of the Gülen movement used the same payphone to call all his contacts consecutively. Based on that assumption, when an alleged member of the movement is found in call records, it is assumed that other numbers called right before or after that call also belong to people with Gülen links. Receiving calls from a payphone periodically is also considered a red flag.

    Following the abortive putsch, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency and carried out a massive purge of state institutions under the pretext of an anti-coup fight. More than 130,000 public servants were summarily removed from their jobs for alleged membership in or relationships with “terrorist organizations” by emergency decree-laws subject to neither judicial nor parliamentary scrutiny.

    A total of 319,587 people have been detained and 99,962 arrested in operations against supporters of the Gülen movement since the coup attempt, Turkey’s Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said on Nov. 22.

    In addition to the thousands who were jailed, scores of other Gülen movement followers had to flee Turkey to avoid the government crackdown. SCF

  • Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce tests positive for COVID-19 in US

    Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce has tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in the United States.

    Mr Joyce told ABC Radio New England he had been experiencing mild symptoms and chose to get tested.

    “Look, obviously [I am] very frustrated I’m going to be locked up in a room by myself for 10 days, but that’s part of the process,” he said.

    “It’s probably developing, I’m probably very much in the early stages — but I’m more worried about being in a room by myself to be honest.”

    Mr Joyce is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

    He said he had felt tired and pain in his legs, but that the illness was so mild he was uncertain whether he was even sick.

    “I don’t feel that bad, that’s the crazy thing,” Mr Joyce told Sky.

    “If I can just work out which channel has the cricket on it, I’ll be so much better.”
    The Deputy Prime Minister was in Washington DC for work relating to the government’s plan for new social media regulations, and was previously in the United Kingdom before arriving in the US.

    Mr Joyce said he was disappointed he would be unable to consult with his US counterparts on the matter.

    “Part of your job is you have got to travel … I really wanted to follow up on some of this online stuff, try to get better online protection laws and see where the United States are,” he said.

    “But that’s the way the cookie crumbles.”
    Mr Joyce said that, despite his infection, he would continue to advocate for a return to normalcy where COVID-19 could be treated like the flu through regular vaccinations.

    Asked whether he knew which variant of COVID-19 he was infected with, Mr Joyce joked he would “have to talk to it tonight and find out which one it is”.

    “It’s just me and Omicron in this room, I’ll have a yarn to it tonight.”

    Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he had spoken to Mr Joyce this morning and wished him well.

    “He tells me he’s feeling all right, apart from the mild illness, and he has been vaccinated — what we do know already is that the vaccinations do have an impact on the seriousness of the disease,” Mr Morrison said.

    “And that’s why it’s so important to get vaccinated.

    “We look forward to his recovery.”

    Australia’s ambassador in Washington, Arthur Sinodinos, met with Mr Joyce at his hotel last night and is now self-isolating.

    He said Mr Joyce had not appeared unwell.

    Mr Joyce said other members of the delegation had all tested negative for COVID-19. ABC

  • Main opposition leader visits Şenyaşar family members, who have been demanding justice in political murder case

    The leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, on Thursday visited members of the Şenyaşar family, who have been demanding justice for three of their relatives murdered by people connected to a lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Turkish media reported.

    Kılıçdaroğlu visited the family in front of a courthouse in Şanlıurfa province where they have been staging a sit-in for the past 276 days. Speaking to the press next to Emine Şenyaşar, the mother of some of the victims, Kılıçdaroğlu said this wasn’t an ordinary case.

    “This is the struggle of a mother who lost her husband and children,” he said. “Everyone needs to support this mother. How can we be deaf to the cries of a mother?”

    Kılıçdaroğlu promised Emine Şenyaşar that he and his party would be following the case until justice is served.

    Emine’s husband, Esvet Şenyaşar, and two of their sons, Adil and Celal, were brutally murdered on June 14, 2018 in Şanlıurfa province.

    They were initially attacked in their store and taken to a hospital. However, they were followed by the family of AKP deputy İbrahim Halil Yıldız to the hospital, where they were ultimately murdered. Eight more people were injured during clashes between the two groups. An older brother of Yıldız was also killed.

    According to Ferit Şenyaşar, bullets from 17 different guns were retrieved from the body of one of his brothers.

    Two Şenyaşar brothers, Ferit and Fadıl, who were injured but survived, were later detained, and Fadıl Şenyaşar was arrested. However, none of Yıldız’s relatives or his bodyguards were detained despite the fact that three people had died.

    Only 15 months later, on September 18, 2020, was Yıldız’s older brother Enver Yıldız arrested.

    The Yıldız family claimed the Kurdish Şenyaşar family had links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and that they had been victims of terrorism. SCF

  • 415 people tortured, 17 abducted in Turkey in 2021: report

    Four hundred fifteen people were tortured in prisons and detention centers in Turkey and 17 were abducted in the first 11 months of 2021, Turkish Minute reported, citing a report released by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV) and the Human Rights Association (İHD).

    According to TİHV data, 3,540 people, including 28 minors, were also subjected to ill-treatment as a result of security force intervention in peaceful protests and gatherings this year, while the İHD data showed the same figure to be 3,671.

    Among the 17 people who were abducted in 2021, 16 were released on the same day while one was released after five days, the report said, adding that 11 of them were subjected to torture or ill-treatment.

    The human rights report pointed out the disappearance of Yusuf Bilge Tunç in broad daylight on August 8, 2019, saying he has not been heard from since.

    Tunç’s family has consistently complained about the lack of cooperation from officials to find him after his wife unearthed details indicating that Tunç had been abducted.

    According to the report, at least 22 people died behind bars due to negligence, suicide, illness or violence, and 290 women died as a result of domestic violence in the first 11 months of 2021, while 1,853 workers were killed in workplace accidents in Turkey in the first 10 months of the year.

    A total of 119 people, including 36 security officers, 80 militants and three civilians, died in armed conflict in the country this year, and security forces killed nine people in raids and by firing arbitrarily into a crowd on the pretext that they did not obey an order to stop, the report also showed.

    Six people, including four children, were killed in accidents involving armored security vehicles in the country; nine people died as a result of racist or hate attacks; and 55.961 people, including 180 healthcare workers, died of COVID-19 in 2021, the organizations noted.

    The report further showed that investigations were launched into 36 members of the press, 45 journalists were detained and two were arrested this year, with 59 currently behind bars.

    Turkish courts blocked access to at least 945 online news articles and 53 websites belonging to seven media outlets, at least 41 social media posts and five social media accounts, the organizations further stated.

    Out of 14 people, including one minor, who were detained for insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2021, seven were arrested while one was placed under judicial supervision. SCF

  • Venomous snakes and spiders to increase in NSW with wet weather this summer

    Venomous snakes and spiders to increase in NSW with wet weather this summer

    Experts warn run-ins with venomous snakes and spiders will continue to rise after recent wild weather and Australia’s ongoing mouse plague.
    Millions of mice have created havoc for Aussie farmers across New South Wales, South Queensland, Northern Victoria and South Australia over the last year.
    The nation has also recorded its wettest November on record, with the humid conditions and rodent plague creating a perfect storm for a boom in snake and spider numbers.
    Snakes prey on mice and have attracted a significant number to the communities impacted by the plague.
    Wet weather is also the perfect climate to encourage movement of bugs and frogs – another drawcard for a hungry snake or spider.
    People in NSW have been identified as the most likely to be bitten by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
    Genevieve Adamo is a senior poisons specialist at the Poisons Information Centre.
    She said snake season usually peaks in late December and January, but there has already been an increase in bite reports since this time last year.
    “We have some of the most venomous critters in the world, from the brown snake to the funnel-web spider,” Ms Adamo said.
    “While bites from these types of creatures are rare, it’s important to know what to do and act quickly, as it could just save your life or the life of a friend or loved one.”
    What to do if someone is bitten by a snake?
    NSW Health warns even if you just suspect a loved one has suffered a snake bite, it is essential you act immediately.
    “If someone has collapsed following a snake bite start CPR immediately, this can be lifesaving,” NSW Health warned.
    “If someone is bitten you should keep them still, call an ambulance and apply a pressure immobilisation bandage.”
    Symptoms from a venomous bite can include nausea, vomiting and a headache, however, first aid should be applied regardless of whether these symptoms are present, NSW Health advises.
    What should you do if someone is bitten by a spider?
    While most spider bites are harmless, if someone is bitten by a big black spider or funnel-web, this is a medical emergency.
    NSW Health warns a bite from a funnel-web can cause severe pain, sweating, vomiting, difficulty breathing and muscle twitching.
    A redback spider bite may result in pain and redness, but it is not considered life threatening so does not require bandaging.
    “The most important thing to know in a situation like this is how to perform the correct first aid. This can make a significant difference to treatment and outcomes,” Ms Adamo said. 9News

  • Flood levels continue rising in Queensland, residents on standby to evacuate

    Flood levels are expected to continue rising in Queensland today as residents prepare to evacuate.
    Warnings are in place that the river level could peak at 10.7 metres in the border town of Goondiwindi this morning – breaking records set in the town’s 2011 floods.
    Vulnerable residents have already been airlifted out.
    More than 10,000 locals are on standby to evacuate as the river levels rise.
    The town has been cut off, and homes flooded, as many prepare for days or potentially weeks of isolation.
    Goondiwindi Mayor Lawrence Springborg urged the community to stay up to date with emergency flood plans and to remain cautious.
    “Watch and act, and make sure you’re prepared, and this community is prepared if we need to come together – that’s just a normal thing we do,” he said.
    Neighbouring towns around Goondiwindi may be the hardest hit.
    Roads in Inglewood and Goondiwindi have been cut by flooding, with Coolmunda Dam already overflowing.

    A major flood warning is in place for the Macintyre and Weir rivers.
    No significant rainfall has been recorded since 9am Friday. However, flood levels continue to rise despite the lack of rain. 9News, ABC

  • Ex-prosecutor, former judge wife fleeing Turkey’s crackdown perish in Aegean

    A former public prosecutor and his wife, a former judge, died after a speedboat carrying them overturned in the Aegean Sea as they were trying to flee to Greece to avoid a government-led crackdown in Turkey, Turkish Minute reported on Friday, citing Greek media outlets.

    Two other former judges and one smuggler in the speedboat were able to survive, according to the Greek media. The incident, which is thought to have been caused by excessive speed, took place northeast of the Greek island of Kos on Thursday night, according to the Greek coast guard authorities.

    The three other people in the boat were rescued by the Greek coast guard, while the man and the woman appeared lifeless as they were taken out of the water. They were pronounced dead at a hospital in Kos.

    The couple, İbrahim Gündüz and his wife E. Gündüz, along with the two other surviving judges, identified as M.Ç. and İ.T.A., were among the thousands of civil servants who were expelled from public service in Turkey in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt in the country in July 2016, according to the Kronos news website.

    Following the abortive putsch, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency and carried out a massive purge of state institutions under the pretext of an anti-coup fight. More than 130,000 public servants, including 4,156 judges and prosecutors, as well as 29,444 members of the armed forces, were summarily removed from their jobs for alleged membership in or relationships with “terrorist organizations” by emergency decree-laws subject to neither judicial nor parliamentary scrutiny.

    In addition to the thousands who were jailed, thousands of people have fled Turkey since the coup attempt due to the massive witch-hunt carried out by the Turkish government against alleged members of the Gülen movement, inspired by US-based Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen. Many have tried to illegally flee Turkey as the government had canceled the passports of thousands of people.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting followers of the Gülen movement, a faith-based group inspired by Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, since the corruption investigations of December 17-25, 2013, which implicated then-Prime Minister Erdoğan, his family members and his inner circle.

    Dismissing the investigations as a Gülenist coup and conspiracy against his government, Erdoğan designated the movement as a terrorist organization and began to target its members. He intensified the crackdown on the movement following a coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that he accused Gülen of masterminding. Gülen and the movement strongly deny involvement in the abortive putsch or any terrorist activity.

    A total of 319,587 people were detained and 99,962 arrested in operations against supporters of the Gülen movement since the coup attempt, Turkey’s Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said in November. SCF

  • Ex-soldier walks free as sentence suspended in rape case

    A Turkish court has handed down a suspended sentence to a former noncommissioned officer standing trial for raping İpek Er, an 18-year-old Kurdish woman who later committed suicide, Turkish Minute reported on Friday.

    In the sixth and final hearing of his trial on Friday, former soldier Musa Orhan was given a suspended sentence of 10 years by the Siirt 1st High Criminal Court on conviction of sexual assault.

    Since the sentence was suspended, Orhan wasn’t arrested but was rather placed under judicial supervision, Turkish media reports said.

    Human Rights Association (İHD) co-chair and lawyer Eren Keskin on Friday condemned Turkish judiciary for letting Orhan walk free.

    “İpek Er ended her life after the sexual assault she experienced. The attacker is free and most likely will flee in order to not ‘serve’ the sentence he was given. This is a place where a uniform and a wolf sign are held as ‘superior’ to both domestic and international law,” Keskin tweeted, referring to a photo of Orhan released by the Turkish media showing him making a hand sign of the Grey Wolves, representing a wolf’s head.

    The Grey Wolves are seen as the militant wing of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and their ideology is mainly based on Turkish nationalism. Therefore, Kurds and other minorities in Turkey have occasionally been their targets.

    The ordeal of Er, a Kurdish woman who died in a hospital on August 18, 2020, 33 days after she tried to take her own life, was discovered in a letter she wrote on July 16, 2020, before her suicide attempt. She said in the letter that she was abducted and raped by Orhan for 20 days in the southeastern city of Batman.

    Orhan was detained the following day after the rape allegation was confirmed by a report from the Council of Forensic Medicine but was later released under judicial supervision.

    Many women’s associations in Turkey criticized the decision, saying the judicial system was “protecting a rapist” by allowing him to walk free.

    In early October popular Turkish actress Ezgi Mola was convicted on insult charges and ordered to pay a fine of TL 5,200 ($377) for protesting Orhan’s release in a tweet in August 2020.

    “Drown in the conscience that let you release this rapist low-life,” Mola had tweeted, after the former soldier was released pending trial after six days behind bars, despite a forensics report confirming that he raped Er.

    Femicides and violence against women are serious problems in Turkey, where women are killed, raped or beaten every day. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government’s policies that protect men by granting them impunity is the main cause of the situation, critics say.

    In late May Minister of Family and Social Services Derya Yanık attracted widespread criticism due to remarks suggesting that the country has experienced “tolerable levels” of domestic violence during the coronavirus pandemic while speaking to members of a committee investigating violence against women.

    Early in 2020 President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sparked outrage in Turkey and the international community after he pulled the country out of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, an international accord designed to protect women’s rights and prevent domestic violence in societies. SCF

  • Education Minister Alan Tudge stands aside amid abuse allegations, PM tells parliament

    Education Minister Alan Tudge will stand aside pending an investigation into allegations made by former staffer Rachelle Miller about their relationship.
    Ms Miller, a former media adviser to Mr Tudge, today alleged the affair they had was emotionally and, on one occasion, physically abusive.
    Ms Miller came forward a year ago, revealing she’d been involved in a consensual relationship with her former boss.
    Today, she returned to Parliament House, accusing Mr Tudge of being “abusive,” an allegation he strongly denies.
    Addressing Question Time today, Prime Minister Scott Morrison described the allegations as “deeply concerning” and “deeply distressing”.
    “I have discussed Ms Miller’s statement with Mr Tudge, who refuted the allegations made,” Mr Morrison said.
    “Given the seriousness of the claims made by Ms Miller, it’s important these matters be resolved fairly and expeditiously.
    “To this end, the minister has agreed to my request to stand aside while these issues are addressed by my department, through an independent and fair process, to ensure that the matters that have been raised can be properly assessed.”
    Mr Tudge has issued a statement saying he “completely and utterly rejected” his former adviser’s version of events.
    “Ms Miller and I had a consensual affair in 2017, as both of us have publicly acknowledged. This is something I deeply regret,” Mr Tudge said.
    Two days ago, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner released a report on the workplace culture at Parliament House, finding sexual harassment and bullying is rife and making 28 recommendations for reform.
    “This is not about revenge… it’s about ensuring that no one else goes through this in this workplace,” Ms Miller said.
    “It’s about changing a system that allowed this to happen.” ABC, 9News