Category: Politics

Defeating the government, 328 MPs have voted to take control of the parliamentary agenda in a bid to stop a no-deal Brexit, while 301 voted against.

In response, Prime Minister Boris Johnson tabled a motion for early general elections.

“I don’t want an election but if MPs vote tomorrow to stop negotiations and to compel another pointless delay to Brexit potentially for years then that will be the only way to resolve this,” Johnson said immediately after the vote.

Johnson said he would on Tuesday take the first step towards asking lawmakers to approve an early election.

The victory is the first hurdle for lawmakers who will on Wednesday seek to pass a law forcing Johnson to ask the EU to delay Brexit until January 31 unless he has a deal approved by parliament beforehand on the terms of the exit.

A spokesman from Johnson’s office said the Tory MPs who voted in favour of the move to try and stop a no-deal Brexit will be expelled from the party. Prominent figures include Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Britain’s World War Two leader Winston Churchill, and two former finance ministers – Philip Hammond and Kenneth Clarke.

Sir Oliver Letwin said the motion was being put forth because the government had not put forward any new proposals on Brexit; it had shut down parliament; it would consider a no-deal Brexit, and that no-deal would be a serious threat to the UK.

Throughout the debate, Johnson’s opponents have argued that nothing can justify the risk of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit that would cut economic ties overnight with Britain’s biggest export market and inevitably bring huge economic disruption.

Johnson cast the challenge as an attempt to force Britain to surrender to the EU just as he hopes to secure concessions on the terms of the divorce, helped by the threat to walk out without one. Ahead of the vote, he said would never accept another delay to Brexit beyond October 31.

Johnson’s government will now seek to hold a vote on Wednesday to approve an early election, most likely to be held on October 14. An election would pit the avowed Brexiteer against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Yet it was unclear whether opposition parties would support such a move – which requires the support of two-thirds of the 650-seat House of Commons.

After the vote, Corbyn told Johnson that he must get the Brexit delay bill that will be discussed on Wednesday passed before trying to call an election.

Johnson lost his majority in parliament on Tuesday when Dr Phillip Lee, the MP from Bracknell, defected to the Lib Dems.euronews

Mehmet Emin Bilmez , the former governor of the eastern Turkish province of Van who was appointed on Monday as trustee for the Van Municipality after the city’s elected mayor was removed from office, hung a photo of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the mayor’s office as his first act as trustee, Turkish media reports said. 

In a controversial move on Monday, the Turkish Interior Ministry removed three elected mayors in Van, Mardin and Diyarbakır from the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) claiming that they have links to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

In his first hours as trustee, Bilmez hung a photo of Erdoğan in the mayor’s office in the Van municipal building. A photo showing Bilmez hanging Erdoğan’s picture on the wall was shared by the Van Governor’s Office on social media.

Bilmez said previously photos of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, and Erdoğan were hung on the walls of the mayor’s office but that Erdoğan’s picture was later taken down.

“We put it up again,” he said.

Many have said the Erdoğan photo on the wall actually shows who was behind the anti-democratic decision to remove the democratically elected mayors from office.

Erdoğan had warned before local elections on March 31 that his government would not hesitate to replace mayors from the HDP if they were deemed to be linked to the PKK. The HDP has experienced a wide-ranging crackdown since it won enough votes to enter parliament in 2015. Since then, the government has jailed hundreds of Kurdish politicians and seized about 100 municipalities in Turkey’s Southeast.

Turkish police on Monday intervened with force in demonstrations in several cities protesting a government decision to remove the mayors of Diyarbakır, Mardin and Van, according to Turkish media.

The Mardin Governor’s Office issued a ban on protests and demonstrations in the province for a month.

The reports said some protestors were briefly detained by the police, while others were dispersed by pepper spray and water cannon.

The Interior Ministry on Monday removed the mayors of Diyarbakır, Mardin and Van for alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the US. The PKK has been waging a bloody war in Turkey’s Southeast for more than three decades.

Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputies attended protests in İstanbul, Ankara and Diyarbakır.

Protests were held in at least five cities.

All three mayors were elected with a majority of votes in the March 31 election. Diyarbakır Mayor Adnan Selcuk Mızraklı garnered 63 percent of the vote, while Mardin Mayor Ahmet Türk had 56 percent and Van mayor Bedia Özgökçe Ertan received 54 percent.

HDP Co-chairperson Sezai Temelli said in a statement that his party would not abandon the use of democratic means and would continue their fight for democracy.

“It is time to take the side of democracy and democratic politics. It is time to stand behind the will of the nation. Let’s stand side-by-side against this ignoble way of doing politics,” he said.

Three universities in Turkey have launched a petition campaign against a Constitutional Court ruling in favor of academics who were dismissed or prosecuted for signing a “peace petition,” the Gazete Duvar news website reported on Sunday.

İbrahim Çeçen University in Ağrı and the Aydın and Medeniyet universities in İstanbul released a declaration titled “The Constitutional Court cannot legitimize terrorism,” condemning the top court’s decision on Friday that the peace academics’ rights had been violated.

“The Constitutional Court has made a scandalous decision,” the declaration said. “This ruling has offended the memory of our martyrs and veterans as well as damaged the public conscience.”

“Nowhere in the world can blaming the state for fighting against terrorism be viewed as free speech. … It is particularly noteworthy that this decision should be made at a time when effective operations are being conducted against terrorist groups.”

In addition to universities, pro-government media also criticized the Constitutional Court’s ruling in favor of academics, who were targeted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in several occasions.

The Constitutional Court on Friday ordered the government to pay TL 9,000 in damages to each of the nine academics who appealed.

Many of the 1,128 Turkish academics who signed the petition calling on the Turkish government to halt military operations in the predominantly Kurdish southeastern region of the country in 2016 have been dismissed from their positions, sentenced to prison or faced an overseas travel ban.

After the academics were targeted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for having signed the petition, more academics decided to sign it in an act of solidarity.

According to the Evrensel daily, 784 of the academics currently have trials pending.

A US delegation has arrived in Turkey’s southern province of Şanlıurfa to start work on the establishment of a joint operations center to coordinate a planned safe zone in neighboring Syria, Reuters reported on Monday, citing Turkish authorities.

The two NATO allies agreed in talks last week to establish the center that would manage the zone in northern Syria, though no agreement has been announced on key details of the zone, including the size of the area in question and the command structure of joint patrols that would be conducted there.

There has been cautious progress on the center despite other disputes straining bilateral relations, including Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system as well as trials of local US consulate employees in Turkey on terrorism charges.

Work to establish the center has begun, and it is expected to become active in the coming days, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Twitter. “Within this context, a six-person US delegation has arrived in Şanlıurfa with the purpose of preliminary preparation,” it said.

The allies have been discussing a safe zone near the Turkish frontier that would be kept free of Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militants and heavy weapons, but Turkey wants it to extend more than twice as far into Syrian territory as the United States has proposed.

Turkey has suggested it will act militarily if the United States fails to agree to a solution that will safeguard the border.

Turkey says the YPG is an extension in Syria of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since the 1980s.

Turkey’s former deputy prime minister Ali Babacan released a statement on Thursday overtly signaling his intention to establish a new political party to rival President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Deutsche Welle Turkish service reported.

In his message delivered on the occasion of the upcoming Eid religious holiday, Babacan said he is working with colleagues to bring together a staff that is strongly representative and inclusive, underlining the need for new strategies and plans required to overcome the problems the country is facing.

A founding member of the AKP, Babacan recently announced his resignation from the ruling party, which he said has moved away from its founding principles.

Erdoğan accused him of abandoning the Islamist cause. “Those who betray will pay a heavy price,” he said, referring to Babacan and former prime minister Ahmet Davutoğlu who has also been expressing his intention to establish a new party.

While keeping Davutoğlu out of the picture, Babacan is accepting support from former President Abdullah Gül, who has long been critical of Erdoğan.

Former US Federal Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a frequent target of President Donald Trump’s criticism, has sued the bureau and the Justice Department over his firing.

Thursday’s (local time) lawsuit, the second this week from an ex-FBI official challenging the circumstances of his termination, said the firing was part of Mr Trump’s plan to rid the bureau of leaders he perceived as disloyal to him.

The complaint contends that the two officials responsible for demoting and then firing Mr McCabe — FBI Director Chris Wray and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions — created a pretext to force him out in accordance with the President’s wishes.

The federal complaint also contended the FBI and Justice Department strayed from established policies, with Mr Wray refusing to tell Mr McCabe why he was being fired and a senior Justice Department lawyer telling Mr McCabe’s lawyer that they were “making it up as we go along.”

The federal complaint also contended the FBI and Justice Department strayed from established policies, with Mr Wray refusing to tell Mr McCabe why he was being fired and a senior Justice Department lawyer telling Mr McCabe’s lawyer that they were “making it up as we go along.”

Spokespeople for the FBI and Justice Department declined to comment.

The former deputy director was fired in March 2018 after a Justice Department inspector general report found Mr McCabe had repeatedly misstated his involvement in a news media disclosure regarding an FBI investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

The watchdog office referred the matter to the US Attorney’s Office in Washington, which has been investigating.

Mr McCabe has denied any wrongdoing, and said that when he felt his answers were being misunderstood, he tried to correct them.

On Tuesday, former FBI agent Peter Strzok, who was fired over derogatory text messages he sent about Mr Trump, also sued.

He said the FBI had been influenced by “unrelenting pressure” from the president when it fired him.AP

Almazbek Atambayev, who ruled the Asian state from 2011 to 2017, was detained after raids on his residence. Troops stormed his home the previous day in a failed attempt that saw one commando lose his life.

Kyrgyzstan’s former President Almazbek Atambayev surrendered to security forces at his residence near the capital city of Bishkek on Thursday.

Outbreaks of violence occurred on Wednesday after a soldier was killed in a botched effort to arrest him.

Atambayev was eventually detained by security forces at his home in the village of Koi-Tash just 23 kilometers (14 miles) from Bishkek. A police statement said Atambayev “will be delivered to the relevant authorities for further investigative measures.”

President Sooronbai Jeenbekov claimed Atambayev was to blame for a “grave crime” after violent clashes were provoked by the previous day’s events.

Parliament took away Atambayev’s right to immunity from prosecution earlier this year, in the midst of allegations of corruption. However, the former president says those accusations are politically motivated.

Background to the feud

Atambayev is a former ally of Jeenbekov and even aided the current imbumbent’s rise to power, but their relationship has since turned sour as expert for the region Arkadij Dubnow, explains the battle of wills.

“The two proud men should finally clarify among themselves who stands above whom — the former president, who brought the current president to power, or the current president, who does not want to listen to the previous one. The whole country is at stake.”

“He [Atambayev] invented for himself the sacred status of the father of the nation. He sees himself as a kind of Kyrgyz Türkmenbasy [Turkmenistan’s autocratic leader from 1985 to 2006, Saparmurat Niyazov — editor’s note]. And this is reinforced by his not exactly balanced mental state,” Dubnov tells DW. “He is a person who does not react appropriately to developments around him, and who overestimates his own importance in his country’s post-Soviet era. He talks faster than he thinks. I have known him for many years, at least 10 or more.”

Almasbek Atambayev is considered the representative of the northern region and Sooronbay Sheenbekov of the southern.

“Another problem is that Kyrgyzstan is a tribalist country and behind all the personal antipathies there is, in one way or another, the opposition of the northern and southern clans.”jsi/msh (Reuters, AFP)

Euronews took to the streets of Istanbul to ask residents what they thought about officials ordering a re-run of mayoral elections in the city.

One Istanbulian echoed a common discourse among pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP) Turks, saying: “The AKP won the elections in all boroughs of Istanbul, so I don’t think they need to rerun the elections there.

“It would be enough just to repeat them in the metropolitan district.”

The AKP won 24 boroughs out of 39 but lost overall — in many of the most populated areas — which is why some of their supporters are calling for a re-run.

Other residents questioned the decision to hold a re-vote only for the metropolitan mayoral election and not the local assembly.

“There is something dodgy going on here,” said one resident. “For me, Imamoglu is not just the Republican People’s party (CHP) candidate but the candidate of 16 million people (in Turkey).”

Turkey’s main opposition the CHP on Monday accused authorities of “plain dictatorship” after the electoral board annulled the March 31 result and announced a re-run of the mayoral elections following complaints of corruption.

READ MORE: Turkey orders re-run of Istanbul election after Erdogan party defeat

CHP Deputy Chairman Onursal Adiguzel said it appeared “illegal” to defeat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party AK Party, which suffered a surprise defeat in the vote.

Erdogan welcomed the order claiming a new poll was the “best step” for the country.

The CHP said on Wednesday it asked authorities to annul 2018’s national elections as well as elections in March for Istanbul mayor and other local posts in the wake of the re-run ruling.

The Şanlıurfa Bar Association claimed that 38 people who were detained on Monday were subjected to ill treatment and torture, the Evrensel daily reported.

One police officer died in a skirmish with outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants on May 18 in the Halfeti district of Şanlıurfa. Following the incident police accused some residents of helping the terrorist group.

Police operations on Monday drew criticism on social media from human rights defenders as some photos showed that the detainees were handcuffed from behind and laid down on the ground side by side.

The Şanlurfa Bar Association’s Human Rights Center on Tuesday reported that the detainees were subjected to ill treatment and torture during interrogation and forced under duress to sign false testimonies.

According to the Mezopotamya news agency, detainee Mehmet Alakuş admitted in testimony submitted to the prosecutor’s office that he had helped the terrorists.

Later his lawyers told the agency that Alakuş was forced to sign the false testimony and threatened with harm to his family.

Some lawyers also claimed that the suspects were prohibited from seeing a doctor. The Şanlıurfa Chief Public Prosecutor’s office denied the claims of ill treatment and torture.