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Turkish journalist Arzu Yıldız, who had to flee Turkey in 2016 to avoid a still-ongoing persecution of journalists critical of the government, has been reunited with her daughter, who was seven months old when she left Turkey

Yıldız, an outspoken journalist, had to leave Turkey due to a number of cases filed against her concerning reports she wrote that apparently disturbed the Turkish government. In one case she was handed down a prison sentence of 20 months, in May 2016, due to a report about trucks allegedly belonging to the Turkish intelligence service that in 2014 transferred weapons to radical groups in Syria.

Yıldız was one of hundreds of journalists who decided to flee Turkey as the Turkish government launched a massive crackdown on critical journalists and media outlets in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

The journalist, who divorced her husband and left her two daughters in Turkey, wrote about her feelings and her daughter’s reaction when they met in Canada, where Yıldız is currently living in exile, three years after she left Turkey.

Yıldız wrote when she last saw her daughter before leaving the country, she was crawling and had a pacifier in her mouth, and that when they met three years later she still had a pacifier, was shy and behaved as if she was meeting a stranger.

The journalist said on their first night after being reunited, they slept together and that her daughter woke up in the middle of the night and began to kick her, saying she wanted her grandfather, who took care of her when she was in Turkey.

“During the three years I have spent here, I always wondered if I would be able to see my daughter again, who was seven months old when I left Turkey. A person should cling to life no matter what happens; I did not want to leave the story of a weak and ill mother as a legacy until the moment a pacifier I saw while walking on a bridge startled me. I cried on that bridge for hours holding that pacifier. It would have been easy to jump off the bridge. When a person has nothing to lose, they don’t get scared. But I don’t want to leave this world like a coward. What can a mother who gave in to such an impulse leave behind?” wrote Yıldız.

The journalist was able to reunite with her elder daughter two years after she left Turkey.

Yıldız said it has been 10 days since was reunited with her younger daughter, but she isn’t completely happy, thinking of other parents who were separated from their children.

There are in excess of 17,000 women in Turkish prisons, with some 800 children accompanying them. These women are among the more than 30,000 people who were jailed in Turkey on terrorism charges in the aftermath of the coup attempt due to their alleged links to the Gülen movement.

The Turkish government accuses the Gülen movement of masterminding the coup attempt and labels it a “terrorist organization,” although the movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.turkishminute

Amnesty International on Tuesday issued an urgent action document calling on human rights activists and concerned people to write letters urging Turkish authorities to investigate and explain the whereabouts of Gökhan Türkmen and Mustafa Yılmaz, who have been missing since February and were suspected to have been abducted by Turkish intelligence.

“The authorities have so far been denying that they are being held in official custody. On 29 July four men who had been missing since around the same time have resurfaced in detention,” the Amnesty document said.

The four men were arrested by a court on Friday evening over Gülen links.

Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, a Turkish deputy and human rights activist, called the court ruling a “scandal,” reporting that the detainees did not even know the names of their attorneys, who according to officials they hired.

“The authorities must promptly investigate to determine the whereabouts of Gökhan Türkmen and Mustafa Yılmaz and urgently inform their families,” Amnesty International said.

Turkey accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt, although it strongly denies any involvement.

Since 2016 at least 24 Gülen-linked individuals have gone missing.

Two of the abducted Gülen followers told Correctiv, a non-profit investigative newsroom in Europe, they had been subjected to torture and ill treatment by intelligence officers at a secret site in Ankara.

Four out of six men who were allegedly abducted by the Turkish intelligence agency in February and were missing for months were arrested by a court on Friday evening over Gülen links, according to Deutsche Welle Turkish service.

Yasin Ugan, Özgür Kaya, Erkan Irmak and Salim Zeybek have been in police custody since July 28.

Gökhan Türkmen and Mustafa Yılmaz, who were also abducted in February, are still missing.

Ömer Faruk Gergerlioğlu, a Turkish deputy and human rights activist, called the court ruling a “scandal,” reporting that the detainees did not even know the names of their attorneys, who according to officials they hired.

Lawyers from human rights organizations were removed from the corridors near the courtroom by the police, the DW report stated.

Turkey accuses the Gülen movement of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt, although it strongly denies any involvement.

Since 2016 at least 24 Gülen-linked individuals have gone missing.

Two of the abducted Gülen followers told Correctiv, a non-profit investigative newsroom in Europe, they had been subjected to torture and ill treatment by intelligence officers at a secret site in Ankara.

Hanife Çiftçi, who was jailed in June when she was seven weeks pregnant due to her alleged links to the Gülen movement, lost her unborn baby and was sent back to prison from the hospital on the same day, the tr724 news website reported on Wednesday.

Çiftçi, who was put in pre-trial detention on June 27 in Osmaniye in southern Turkey although she had complications and bleeding, was hospitalized on July 31. It turned out that the 12-week-old baby had no heartbeat and the doctors had to perform an abortion.

Although the woman had the risk of developing an infection following the abortion due to the unhygienic conditions in prison, she was jailed again despite several petitions demanding her release.

Çiftçi’s husband, Salih, tweeted, “It is hard to understand this lack of remorse.”

Hanife Çiftçi will appear in court for the first time on Oct. 2.

The Turkish government accuses the Gülen movement of masterminding a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016 and labels it a “terrorist organization,” although the movement strongly denies involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.

Turkish law requires postponement of the arrest of pregnant women until they give birth and the infant reaches the age of six months.

Since the failed coup attempt, Turkey has been conducting a massive witch-hunt against people from all walks of life on charges of “coup involvement.” Many women jailed with their young children, immediately after delivery or while pregnant, are believed to be linked to the Gülen movement.

At first glance, blocks of feta produced in Australia or in Greece are not as different as chalk and cheese. But for the European Union, they are.

The Australian ministry for trade on Tuesday released a list of 408 products — 172 foods and 236 spirits — the EU wants protected as Geographical Indications (GIs) as part of a trade deal between the two parties.

Among them: Feta, Gruyere, Manchego, Bleu d’Auvergne, Cantal, Gorgonzola, Roquefort, Nurnberger Bratwurste and Scotch beef.

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham told ABC television on Tuesday morning that the country “doesn’t like the idea of geographical indications but this is a non-negotiable element from the European Union.”

In a statement, he said the government’s consultation with farmers would “help us better understand the views of Australian industry, which will assist us in our ongoing discussion with the EU on why their requested protection of certain terms will not be acceptable in some cases.”

He added however that “there are enormous opportunities for Australian farmers and businesses if we can improve their access to markets across the EU” as the Old Continent “boasts more than 500 million consumers”. He then stressed that “ultimately, we will only do this deal if overall it is in Australia’s interests to do so.”

GIs certify that a product has been made in a specific place of origin according to certain quality requirements.

This token of quality — which can take up to four years to acquire in the EU — allows producers to market their product as premium and protect them from other manufacturers using the name but not complying with the necessary requirements.

The most famous examples include Parma ham, Feta Cheese and Champagne. In European supermarket aisles, it is not uncommon to see Feta next to identical-looking “salad cheese” and Champagne bottles on the same shelf as “sparkling wine” from other member states.

Wine, which was the subject of its own deal between Australia and the EU years ago, is not concerned and the list allows some leeway on certain items. Australian cheesemakers will still be able to produce camembert and brie — known the world over as French — as the EU GIs are for “Camembert de Normandie” and “Brie de Meaux.”

But Australian farmers are still cheesed off.

Tony Mahar, CEO of the National Farmer’s Federation said that “Australian farmers will be worse off should the Government ultimately agree to the EU’s demands that we extend protection for geographical indications to food and other wines and spirits.”

“If the EU truly believes in trade and open markets, then it’s time to end the hypocrisy and remove the barriers blocking Australian agricultural imports,” he added in a statement.

Australia ranked as the 18th-largest trade in goods partner of the EU, while the bloc represented Australia’s second-largest trading partner after China in 2017, according to the European Commission. euronews

New Zealand has become caught in the middle of the stoush brewing between Australia and Pacific leaders in Tuvalu over climate change.

Pacific countries want Australia to take stronger action on climate change domestically, a demand Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has so far rebuffed.

As the leaders meet for the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Tuvalu’s capital, Funafuti, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s position will be crucial to determining what the group of leaders can agree upon.

Mr Morrison yesterday announced a $500 million package of funding, redirected from aid spending, to help Pacific countries invest in renewable energy and become more resilient to climate and weather events.

But Tuvalu’s Prime Minister, Enele Sopoaga, warned that the climate money should not be used by Australia as an excuse to avoid reducing emissions and phasing out coal-fired power generation.

Today, Ms Ardern has backed calls by the leaders of Tuvalu and Fiji that every country must commit to greater cuts in carbon emissions.

“Like our Pacific Island neighbours, we will continue that international call,” she said.

“We will continue to say that New Zealand will do its bit and we have an expectation that everyone else will as well — we have to.

“New Zealand, relative to other nations, has a relatively small emissions profile, however, if we all took the perspective that if you’re small it doesn’t matter, we wouldn’t see change.

“Every single little bit matters.”

Ms Ardern would not give a direct answer when pressed on whether Australia’s commitment under the Paris Agreement to cut emissions by 26 to 28 per cent was adequate, as other Pacific leaders have said.The leaders at the PIF meeting in Funafuti are expected to come to a consensus on a statement on climate change, which is being negotiated over the course of the week.Australia is pushing back against plans to include in the statement a timeframe for phasing out the use of coal-fired power generation and committing more funding to the UN-backed Green Climate Fund that supports developing countries.

Ms Ardern did not rule out New Zealand making future contributions to the Green Climate Fund, but echoed concerns Australia has raised about its efficacy.

“Some of our Pacific neighbours haven’t been able to access climate finance,” she said.

“That some of the direct funding that we’re able to put in around protecting water supply, around costal hazards, that’s equally important too.

“So you’ll see from some our aid and development support, we’ve gone directly while also acknowledging the multilateral institutions and funds.”

At a function with the leaders of Tuvalu and Nauru, Mr Morrison committed to “talk[ing] about the future of the environment”.

“When families come together, they talk about the stuff that matters, what’s most important to them,” he said.

A prosecutor on Tuesday demanded lengthy prison sentences for Turkish businessman Cafer Tekin İpek and his mother, Melek İpek, on charges of membership in the faith-based Gülen movement and violating tax law, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The Turkish government seized İpek Holding in November 2015 over alleged irregularities in financial records and affiliation with the movement.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) launched a campaign against the movement after a corruption investigation implicating AKP cabinet members was exposed late in 2013.

Turkey also accuses Fethullah Gülen, a US-based Islamic cleric, and his followers of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt, although Gülen strongly denies any involvement.

The prosecutor demands 90 years for Tekin İpek and 20 years for his mother.

Akın İpek, the former CEO of İpek Holding and elder brother of Tekin İpek, has been living in the UK, which denied an extradition request from Ankara this year. Tekin İpek and his mother are resident in Turkey.