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  • NSW Premier Berejiklian apologises ‘unreservedly’ over Ruby Princess mistakes that led to coronavirus outbreak

    Premier Gladys Berejiklian has apologised “unreservedly” for the “unimaginable loss” suffered by people because of NSW Health’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak on the Ruby Princess cruise ship.

    A report handed to the NSW Government on Friday identified “serious”, “inexcusable” and “inexplicable” oversights by NSW Health.

    The Premier said she was sorry for those who continue to suffer loss or trauma as a result of the outbreak on board the cruise ship.

    Ms Berejiklian claimed the incident was isolated.

    “I say not only have lessons been learnt, but clearly those circumstances should and will never happen again in New South Wales,” she said.

    The Ruby Princess docked at Circular Quay in March, and passengers were allowed to disembark despite several passengers exhibiting flu-like symptoms.

    “I can’t imagine what it would be like having a loved one or being someone yourself who continues to suffer and experience trauma as a result,” she said.

    “I want to apologise unreservedly to anybody who is continuing to suffer, or has suffered unimaginable loss because of mistakes that were made within our health agencies.”

    The Premier was responding for the first time to the report from the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Ruby Princess which identified “serious”, “inexcusable” and “inexplicable” mistakes by NSW Health.

    But the report by Bret Walker SC made few recommendations saying health authorities had recognised mistakes made, and would “do things differently if they had their time again”.

    The Premier said all of the recommendations would be implemented and that the NSW Government would work with federal agencies involved to strengthen protocols.

    Ms Berejiklian said she wanted to stress that Mr Walker’s report found there weren’t systemic issues and had there been, she would have taken action.

    “He has full confidence in those agencies continuing to work on the pandemic and I think we can say, since that time we have learnt a lot,” she said.

    The inquiry was established in April after thousands of passengers were allowed to leave the cruise liner at the conclusion of two separate voyages in March.

    In the weeks that followed, 663 passengers tested positive to COVID-19 in Australia and overseas and 28 people died.

    NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said staff from her office had given evidence “frankly” to the inquiry and had “identified in hindsight they would have made a different decision”.

    She staff at the time were under “immense stress” and were dealing with a large number of locally acquired COVID-19 cases at the time.

    “It was a very, very busy time and … I don’t provide that as an excuse for the actions, but I think that it is important that we understand the context at the time.”

    NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said that a criminal investigation into what happened was still underway.

    But he hasn’t given any timeframe as to if and when charges will be laid.

    “There are tens of thousands of documents that have been sourced. There are surveys and interviews. I think there’s 1,200 people so far that have given interviews.”abcnews

     

  • ECtHR has let Turkey’s dissidents down, says jailed Kurdish leader

    Selahattin Demirtaş, the jailed ex-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), has said the ineptness of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in preventing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from abusing the country’s courts had left him and thousands of others languishing in jail, Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

    Demirtaş was arrested over links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in November 2016 and has been in prison ever since.

    Speaking to Laura Pitel from Financial Times, Demirtaş said despite the warnings from acclaimed watchdogs pointing to the sway held by the executive branch over Turkey’s judiciary, the ECtHR had made him and other high-profile detainees wait for years to have their cases heard.

    The ECtHR on Nov. 20, 2018 ruled that Demirtaş’s pre-trial detention had violated the European Convention on Human Rights, calling for his release.

    Erdoğan said in his response to the decision that the European court’s rulings did not bind Turkey.

    Following Erdoğan’s remarks, local courts rejected several applications for Demirtaş’s release filed by his lawyers.

    “The European Court of Human Rights takes a long time to make decisions and, in the end, even if they rule that there has been a violation [of human rights], it doesn’t produce any practical results,” the Financial Times quoted Demirtaş as saying.

    A court in 2018 convicted the Kurdish leader of disseminating terrorist propaganda, and along with several other terrorism-related charges, he faces a sentence of 142 years in prison.

    WHY is highest judge of European Court of Human Rights meeting with Pres. Erdogan?

    🇹🇷 has most cases in front of @ECHR_CEDH and thousands of people expect to have impartial hearing at judge Spano’s court.

    This visit has politicized ECtHR & greatly damaged its reputation. https://t.co/5bBO4dN4Kh

    — Kati Piri (@KatiPiri) September 3, 2020

    ECtHR President Róbert Ragnar Spanó had paid a two-day visit to Turkey on Sept. 3, becoming the first president of the rights court to pay an official visit to Turkey, the government of which is a party to more than 16 percent of the cases before the Strasbourg court.

    Spanó met with Erdoğan at the presidential palace, drawing backlash from critics.

  • Turkish migrant left stranded by Greek border guards goes missing

    A Turkish migrant who fled Ankara’s crackdown on dissent disappeared just hours after Greek border guards left him stranded in the Evros River, Euronews reported on Friday.

    My brother Umit Şakır has been lost since September 3 in the Maritsa River. He went to Greece and the Greek police left him in the waters and he can’t swim well. I request Turkish and Greek authorities to start a search for my brother. Please find my brother. pic.twitter.com/NaRXFtqwcO

    — Murat Şakır (@Muratak59736171) September 10, 2020

    According a report by Zübeyir Koçulu from Euronews, Ümit Şakır has been missing for one week since being left in the Evros River, which marks the Greek-Turkish border.

    Şakır’s family said they haven’t heard from him for the past week.

    Salih A., who was with Ümit and another Turkish asylum seeker during their journey across the Evros River, said they were pushed back by Greek border units on Sept. 3.

    According to Salih’s account, the Greek soldiers collected the three upon their arrival in Greece near the town of Kastenies. Ten policemen strip-searched them and seized their identity cards and phones before a blue police van took them to “what appeared to be” a police station around the town of Vyssa.

    “An insignia on their uniforms read ‘Border Police.’ They showed up in two cars. We told them we wanted to see a lawyer and apply for asylum. They said nothing, just laughed.”

    Salih said the van drove for an hour, when he saw a sign saying “Rizia,” a small town in the area. There were uniformed police officers and a Greek flag at the entrance to the building where they stopped.

    The three men witnessed dozens of refugees from various countries including Syria, Afghanistan and Iran being brought to their cell in the police station once dark fell on Sept. 3.

    “The cell was packed, bursting at the seams. A Syrian man with good Turkish explained to us that he had been pushed back twice by the Greek police. Then an officer with a baton in his hand opened the door. He led us out of the cell, counting and hitting each of us with his baton. He counted us by striking us with his baton. I remember he counted 65 in the end.”

    The witness stated that the police loaded the 65 refugees onto a truck parked in front of the detention center, again hitting each one.

    “We said we were Turkish political asylum seekers. A policeman said ‘Sorry’ and forced us onto the back of the truck. We understood at that moment that they were returning us to Turkey.”

    “The police kept hitting us. I saw Ümit there for the last time.”

    Twenty-six-year-old Salih A. said they found themselves near the Turkish border when the policemen opened the back of the truck.

    A number of masked men in military uniforms with long-barreled rifles and police dogs were waiting there.

    “They started to hit us with their batons and belts. They were asking everyone’s nationality. Each answer, such as ‘Pakistani’ or ‘Afghan,’ drew another blow.”

    He reiterated to the police that they were Turks fleeing persecution in their homeland. The police put them into a line, this time without hitting them. Ümit was behind the line — the last time the missing man was seen.

    The police did not give them back their belongings.

    “I had 650 euros and 1,200 Turkish lira in my wallet. I asked for them [back]. One of the policemen said in broken Turkish, ‘Para yok [No money]’,” he said.

    Salih A. recalled that one of the masked men in military uniform launched a boat into the river; he called out to three colleagues by the names of Ibrahim, Ahmet and Mehmet — very common Turkish names.

    The masked men were speaking Greek and uttered some broken Turkish words, but the pronunciation of their names was exactly the way a Turk would pronounce them, said Salih A.

    “The police threw some refugees out of the boat in the middle of the river,” he said.

    According to him, the masked men forced people onto the boat, with 10 in each group, and the men in the military uniforms rowed the boat.

    They made the refugees get out of the boat before it arrived at the riverbank in Turkish territory.

    “I said I didn’t know how to swim. They said in English, ‘Jump.’ When we hesitated, they started to hit us with batons. We jumped, and the water dragged me down. I remember a young Afghan man pulled me out of the water and saved my life.”

    According to the witness, the refugees sent back to the Turkish side of the river started shouting at the masked men, who then began to throw refugees out of the boat in the middle of the river.

    “I saw some people floating away.”

    The survivors searched for them for more than an hour.

    “We called to them for a long time thinking they might have managed to hold onto a tree or something. No one responded.”

    Call by the family for a search

    Murat Şakır, who lives in Turkey, said he has not heard from his elder brother Ümit since Sept. 3.

    He said they had appealed to Turkish authorities to launch a search but that their plea was rejected due to the “tense situation at the Turkish-Greek border.”

  • Ankara’s detention of lawyers draws global outcry

    International lawyers associations and rights groups have voiced concern over the recent detention of 60 lawyers by Ankara, saying they had been doing their job when defending clients accused of links to the Gülen movement.

    The Turkish government accuses the Gülen movement, a faith-based group inspired by Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, of orchestrating a failed coup in 2016 and designates it as a terrorist organization.

    The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Friday issued detention warrants for 60 lawyers on terror charges.

    According to a statement released by the office, detention warrants were issued for 48 lawyers, seven trainee lawyers, four dismissed judges and a law school graduate over their alleged affiliation with the Gülen movement.

    The lawyers followed up on “cases of Gülen-affiliated defendants” and “tried to manipulate the trials to the benefit of the terrorist organization under the guise of the practice of law,” the prosecutor’s statement read.

    The Istanbul Bar Association labeled the detentions as intimidation.

    “The charge of membership in a terrorist organization stems from the [lawyers’] practice of their profession,” said a statement issued by the bar. “This situation is new, with the exception of one or two cases, and tells of a dystopia under construction.”

    “A lawyer cannot be identified with their client,” the association said.

    The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) also denounced Ankara’s move, saying the arrests breached Turkey’s obligations under international law.

    “Lawyers should never be arrested or sanctioned for representing their clients, or identified with their clients’ causes,” said Roisin Pillay, director of the ICJ Europe and Central Asia Program.

    “This is a basic principle of the independence of the legal profession and international law, and its respect is essential to ensure that everyone has the right to a fair trial.”

    The Human Rights Association (İHD) said it is unacceptable to criminalize lawyers who represent their clients through the use of the counterterrorism law (TMK).

    “It cannot be a subject of criminal investigation whom a lawyer represents or what a lawyer discusses with his clients or what tactics he might opt to use while defending a client,” the İHD’s statement said.

    “Lawyers can choose their clients from among persons the state views as the most dangerous and are absolutely free to determine various strategies to defend that person assuming they abide by professional ethics.”

  • Turkish soldiers tortured Kurdish villagers, threw them from helicopter, locals say

    Turkish soldiers tortured two Kurdish villagers they had detained, throwing them from a helicopter after battering them, eyewitnesses claim.

    A medical report for one of the villagers states that he suffered injuries consistent with a fall from a height.Military forces reportedly detained Osman Şiban, 50, and Servet Turgut, 55, on Sept. 11 while working on a farm in the eastern city of Van.

    According to a parliamentary question directed to Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu by Murat Sarısaç, a deputy from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, the villagers were detained by soldiers and taken away in a helicopter, then were admitted to a hospital in serious condition two days after their detention.The soldiers interrogated the two villagers under torture and threw them from the helicopter, Sarısaç claims, citing their families.The two were put in intensive care. Şiban was discharged on Friday but is reportedly suffering from memory loss due to his injuries, while Turgut is still in intensive care.The Mezopotamya news agency tweeted a photo of Şiban with bloodshot eyes and bruises on his face.Lawyers for the villagers filed a criminal complaint against the soldiers, Mezopotamya reported.According to the report villagers on the scene while the two were being detained allege that the soldiers threatened to shoot them when they protested the detention.

  • The Prime Minister who sympathises with the Muslim community, and the minster who claims innocents as terrorists

    By Enes Cansever

    The gut-wrenching brutality that took place in New Zealand broke everyone’s heart.  50 innocent lives were brutally massacred in a house of worship.

    This pain occurred in a relatively safe place, far from the conflict of the world. 

    New Zealand is rightly regarded as the ‘safe haven’ of the immigrant home.

    New Zealand, the country of partnership and multiculturalism rather than conflicts. 

    Such a savagery that on a day when believers come together and turn to God, the murderer Brenton Tarrant, without blinking an eye, commits a mass murder.

    Among those who died there is young sinless, Mucahit Ibrahim, who was only 3 years old. 

    The criminal is of Scottish descent but born and raised in Australia. 

    Receiving this bitter news while sipping a cup of Turkish tea with my Christian Friends

    Receiving this news with grief with my close friends from the Christian Community, Sam and Joseph, while sipping a cup Turkish tea with them…

    Receiving this new while talking about the importance of living together in peace and harmony between different religious associates and discussing the sad state of the world and in particular the Islamic world…

    Receiving this news while we were talking about living together, as popular leaders were trying to bring the conflicts to the forefront and make some of the people hostile to the other…

    During our deep conversation, we were also admiring the beauties of wide tolerance which is engrave in the roots of the countries like Australia and New Zealand.
    I was telling the names of Isa (Jesus) and Meryem (Eva) in Anatolia to my friends by giving examples from my relatives…

    Topic was opened about sweets, Ashure is a dessert which is made out of mixing different pulses with each other and making something new out of those but it still preserves its own taste and I’m telling this to you guys while sipping on my lovely tea…

    We were talking about the beauties of unity but unfortunately it didn’t take long because of what happened in New Zealand, pure barbarism…  this news made our dessert taste bitter.

    Brenton Tarrant said ‘best timing/day to attack was yesterday and the best timing after that was today. Normally the main target was the mosque at Dunedin but I changed my mind when I see the church at ashburton was turned into mosque”. By saying these, he was showing his hatred towards Islam.

    Most of the good hearted people on the earth was shocked by these sentences.

    They’ve lost more people than they lose over a year.

    Third biggest city Christchurch (messiah church) was different than other cities not by just its name, but also it was a place where religious people live in peace. Messiah church also as known as Christchurch lost 50 innocent people in day that.

    THEIR STORIES ARE JUST AS UNIQUE AS THEY ARE…

    Every life that flies away also takes with it a story.

    As much as it takes with it a story, it also leaves one behind.

    There are those that have escaped the Syrian civil war, and there are those that sought refuge in New Zealand from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan…

    Like three-year-old Mucat Ibrahim who went to the mosque with his father and brother, both of whom had to pretend to be dead to stay alive, while little Mucat was killed.

    Like Naim from Pakistan, who lost his life together with his son.

    Like Husna from Bangladesh, who lost her life trying to find her crippled husband amongst all the chaos.

    Like Halit Mustafa from Syria, who escaped the oppression of the tyrant Assad with his family in search of a “safe haven”, only to be the target of bullets in that very land.

    Those that have escaped from tyrants and tyranny to an island of relief and safety, only to walk to the horizon of their spirits under the shadows of their place of worship, and all the eye watering stories that they have left behind…

    Despite all the pain and tribulation, despite being of different colours and  patterns, the people of Christchurch, the gate of the South Islands, became like one beating heart of a single body. They have become one, and see with every passing that “pain withers away as it is shared”

    A MOTHER WHO IS A PRIME MINISTER, HER TEARS AND WARM DISPOSITION

    The footage of The Prime Minister of the country described as the ‘home of the long white cloud’ Jacinda Ardern, sincerely hugging a coloured lady who had just lost her husband and sharing her sorrow brought tears to the eyes of all who watched. The way she hugged closely Muslims in pain, her declaration ‘you are us’ contained a very important message especially to the backward leaders in some Muslim countries and the some of the intolerant leaders of the Christian world.

    Prime Minister Ardern’s statement ‘my message is sympathy and love to all Muslim communities’ was a timely and perfect response to USA President Trumps question of how he could assist New Zealand.

    The Prime Ministers respect and love, her emphasis of unity, her symbolic wearing of the hijab on her visit to the Muslim households to express her condolences was a great and historical example to all leaders of the world.

    Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrisons embracing of muslim leaders was another act that was deserved of praise.

    The show of support by non-muslims in New Zealand and in my country Australia, their carrying of banners stating ‘we are with you’, for them to join the muslim faithful, to unite and join with muslims in Sydney, Melbourne and all other cities was a solid stance to those looking for “muslim and christian tension”.

    The showering of the two mosques where blood was shed with thousands of bunches of flowers, the many poems and letters that were expressing the flood of emotions was like the animation of unity. The disposition of such sincerity, the tear flooded apologies, the overwhelming expression of condolences all have taught us we need to keep our hope for a beautiful, virtuous and just world.  

    THE LESSON A 17-YEAR-OLD GAVE TO LEADERS WHO PRESS SALT ON WOUNDS

    A young Australian teenager gave an unforgettable lesson to racist Senator Fraser Anning who tried to overshadow the atmosphere of unity with hatred and to those leaders of Muslim countries who aired the footage of the blood bath of the two mosques in election campaigns, encouraging thousands of people to view to encourage hate and division.

    In a way Will Connolly was egging all divise leaders when he egged the head of Fraser Anning who was claiming that the reason of the mosque attacks was the ‘Muslim migration’ to their countries.

    17 year old Connolly who was exposed to the attack through the slaps, kicks and punches of the racist senator Anning after breaking an egg on his head shared the following message on social media which brought as much attention as the egg he cracked:

    “My mother was always a big supporter of me and she always empowered me to stand up against oppression. That moment was one where I felt proud to be a human. Muslims are not terrorists and terrorism has no religion. The mind of those that characterise Muslims as terrorists are as empty as the mind of Anning”.

    For a moment I thought: The youth and these young minds should rule the world, the disjunuctive populist leaders must be pushed aside to the dusty shelves of history.

    A formula must be found to this.

    Those ambitious for power and exploit every suffering to extend their reign must move out of humanities’s luminous path… 

    The youth or women who internalise compassion, mercy, the valiant women like the Prime Minister of New Zealand will perhaps open these roads to us.

     The roads that lead to beauty, virtue and honesty…

    Those leaders who always boast their manhood, authority, regime voicing bullet-like words and sentences, must retreat from the roads of this uniting youth and women”.

     Same pain at the anniversary date of Kurdish (Halepce) Genocide

     The violent attacks in New Zealand occured on the 31st anniversary of the Halabja Massacre that was orchestrated by the dictator Saddam Hussain. On the 16th of March, 1988, 5 thousand people were killed, and 7 thousand people left injured in a chemical attack that entered history as the “Kurdish genocide”. This was the most devastating attempt amongst the systematic genocide that the Ba’ath Regime had initiated against the Kurdish people. On the 16th of March this year, as bouqets of cloves and colourful flowers were offered in regard of those that passed on due to the terrorist actions of a Christian man by the name of Brenton Tarrant. While on the other corner of the globe, 5 thousand colourful balloons were left free to fly into the sky in honour of the thousands that lost their lives by the order of a Muslim dictator. As can be seen, it is not the religion of an oppressor and murderer that matters, nor is it the nationality of those that show mercy, love, and compassion.

    We must always hope for a world purified of tyrants and criminals; and we must strive altogether to get there.

  • Jailed Kurdish politician has no life-threatening condition, hospital says

    Selahattin Demirtaş, the imprisoned former co-leader of Turkey’s Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), who was taken to a hospital for an examination on Monday, nearly a week after he fainted in his prison cell, has no life-threatening medical condition, according to a statement from the Trakya University Hospital in Turkey’s Edirne province.

    Earlier on Monday, lawyer Aygül Demirtaş said her brother and client Demirtaş, 46, lost consciousness in prison in Edirne last Tuesday and had still not been fully evaluated by medical authorities.

    Just hours after Aygül tweeted the information, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement: “Upon receiving a complaint by Selahattin Demirtaş, who said he fell ill last Tuesday, [the prison management] had called an ambulance and a doctor conducted the necessary examination.”

    “Even though there was no health issue detected, he was today [Monday] transported to Trakya University Medical School Hospital for further evaluation.”

    Following tests at the university hospital, a statement from the chief physician’s office said Demirtaş was examined by the cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology and pulmonology departments and that the relevant lab tests and screenings were carried out, as a result of which no acute or life-threatening conditions were detected.

    The statement said Demirtaş had left the hospital with a recommendation to have polyclinic check-ups.

    The Kurdish politician was an outspoken critic of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, before he was jailed. He ran twice against Erdoğan in presidential elections held in 2014 and 2018. Demirtaş conducted his election campaign from jail for the 2018 presidential election.

    A Turkish court found Demirtaş guilty in September 2018 of disseminating terrorist propaganda and sentenced him to four years, eight months in prison.

    The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in November of the same year that Demirtaş’s pre-trial detention was a political act and ordered his release. Turkish courts refused to implement the European court’s ruling, and a regional appeals court in Turkey on Dec. 4 upheld Demirtaş’s sentence for disseminating terrorist propaganda.

    In September, a high criminal court in Ankara ruled to release Demirtaş pending trial, but he was not allowed to leave prison since he had been convicted in another case.

  • Ex-officer testified Turkish general was killed after discovering Qatari funding of extremists

    A Turkish general was executed during a failed coup after he found out Qatar was funneling money to extremist groups in Syria through Turkey, according to explosive courtroom claims made by a former officer, the Arab News website reported.

    Brig. Gen. Semih Terzi was shot dead in July 2016 during an attempt by some military officers to overthrow the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The alleged plotters were accused of being followers of the exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen, who strongly denies any involvement.

    According to a courtroom transcript obtained by the Nordic Monitor website, Terzi’s killing was ordered by Lt. Gen. Zekai Aksakallı, the then-head of Turkey’s Special Forces Command.

    The website claims the testimony came from Col. Fırat Alakuş, who worked in the intelligence section of the Special Forces Command, during a hearing at the Ankara 17th High Criminal Court in March 2019.

    Alakuş said Terzi had discovered that Aksakallı was working secretly with the Turkish intelligence agency (MIT) in running illegal operations in Syria for personal gain.

    “[Terzi] knew how much of the funding delivered [to Turkey] by Qatar for the purpose of purchasing weapons and ammunition for the opposition was actually used for that and how much of it was actually used by public officials, how much was embezzled,” Alakuş said.

    He added that Terzi’s knowledge of Aksakallı’s murky dealings was the real reason Aksakallı ordered his execution.

    Terzi was killed after Aksakallı ordered him back to Ankara from a border province as the failed coup attempt unfolded, Alakuş said.

    Other accounts say Terzi was one of the main coup plotters and was killed leading an attempt to capture the special forces headquarters in the capital.

    Along with the Qatari claim, Alakuş said Terzi also knew the details of Turkey’s involvement in oil smuggling from Syria and how government officials aided extremist militant commanders.

    He also objected to Turkish intelligence supplying weapons and training to extremist Syrian factions who were passed off as moderate opposition fighters.

    “[Terzi’s murder] had to do with a trap devised by Zekai Aksakallı, who did not want such facts to come out into the open,” Alakuş said.

    Alakuş was jailed for life in June 2019 after being convicted of taking part in the coup.stockholmcf

  • Thank you, Canada, for letting me play basketball – despite Turkey’s threats against me

    ENES KANTER/CONTRIBUTED TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL

    Staunchly pro-government Turkish journalist Cem Küçük has complained about Turkish authorities’ not forcing jailed Gülen movement followers to speak about the group’s activities, suggesting that various kinds of torture could be used to make them talk, the Aktif Haber news website reported.

    Küçük’s controversial remarks came during a recent segment of “Media Critic” on TGRT TV, which he co-hosts with journalist Fuat Uğur.

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

    “We have several Fetö

    [a term used by the Turkish government to refer to the Gülen movement as a
    terrorist organization]

    members in our hands such as Ali Fuat Yılmazer, Mehmet Partigöç and Alaaddin Kaya. Why don’t you make them talk? They know many things. Our prosecutor is acting like this: Oh, Fuat, welcome. What is your name and surname? Where did you work, did you do this? He says, ‘No.’ Like this. There are other ways to make them talk. For instance, you can swing them from a window,” said Küçük.

    Following the coup attempt, the Turkish government launched a massive crackdown on followers of the movement under the pretext of an anti-coup fight as a result of which more than 130,000 people were removed from state jobs while in excess of 30,000 others are still in jail and some 600,000 people have been investigated on allegations of terrorism.

    Yılmazer is a former police chief and Partigöç is a former brigadier general, while Kaya is the former owner of the now-closed Zaman daily. They are all in jail on terrorism or coup charges due to their alleged links to the Gülen movement.

    Küçük also said Turkish authorities could use methods of torture employed by Israeli intelligence agency MOSSAD on Gülen followers and kill their family members to force them to talk.

    “Let me tell you about a MOSSAD technique mentioned in the ‘Gideon’s Spies’ book. For example, they want to make a Palestinian, Jordanian or Egyptian a spy and they say no. So they kill a family member. They decline again, they kill another family member, and then they have to agree. They have many such spies,” said Küçük.

    Küçük’s remarks sparked outrage on social media, with many calling on prosecutors to take legal action against him for openly talking about torturing people.turkishminute

  • Turkish brides start wearing golden face masks amid coronavirus pandemic

    As the global coronavirus outbreak forces world governments to impose the use of face masks for protection, some artisans in Turkey’s southeastern city of Kahramanmaraş have turned this necessity into a wedding accessory, gilding masks with gold for Turkish brides.

    It is customary to present a set of gold jewelry to the bride at Turkish weddings.

    These new masks, featuring 14 or 22 carat gold, are priced at between TL 8,000 ($1,150) and TL 75,000 ($10,750), according to the Turkish media.

    Under coronavirus measures, wedding ceremonies have also been changed to require social distancing and face masks.

    Mustafa Öz, chairman of the Kahramanmaraş Chamber of Jewelers, said demand for the masks has increased, according to Daily Sabah.

    “We hope to see gold masks on the faces of brides at all weddings,” he told the Ihlas News Agency (IHA).