GERMANY EXPECTS TURKİSH COUP

Germany Expects Rise İn Political Asylum Claims After Turkish Coup Attempt

Rights groups say academics may flee, and government says apparent mistreatment of detainees raises troubling questions

German authorities believe there is a growing likelihood that thousands of Turks could apply for political asylum in the coming weeks or months, potentially creating a new influx of refugees this summer.

Following a crackdown in Turkey in the wake of last week’s failed coup attempt, rights charities such as Germany’s Pro Asyl predict there will be a significant increase in the number of intellectuals and scientists leaving posts at Turkish universities and moving to Germany.

“We are looking at the imprisonment of 6,000 people, mass suspensions and a debate about the  reintroduction  of the death penalty.

If things continue in that vein, many Turkish citizens will leave the country, as they did after the military coup in 1980,” Bilgin Ayata, a political scientist, told the German news agency dpa.

On Friday Turkey’s prime minister, Binali Yıldırım, said a second coup attempt was possible because not all those responsible for the last one had been apprehended, raising fears that the crackdown would continue.

Yıldırım criticised the United States for demanding evidence before it agrees to extradite Fethullah Gülen, an Islamic scholar who Ankara claims is responsible for the coup attempt. “Stop standing up for savages who run over citizens with tanks, who strafe people from land and the air,” he said.

Germany urged Turkey to respect the rule of law. The government spokesman Steffen Seibert said several people who had been detained in the wake of the coup attempt and had subsequently appeared on camera seemed to have been mistreated.

He said it “raises troubling questions if accused people are seen on television or photos bearing clear traces of physical violence. If individual people are humiliated or denigrated in front of the camera.”

Seibert said Germany hoped the state of emergency would be as short as possible and that it would have no impact on a deal between the European Union and Ankara to halt the flow of migrants crossing to Europe.

Insecurity among the academic community in Turkey is particularly high as Gülen helped boost participation in Turkish higher education in the 1970s and 80s, meaning many now find themselves accused of harbouring sympathies for his Hizmet movement.

“A campaign against intellectuals has been growing since 2013, but people used to believe it would blow over,” said a spokesperson for Germany’s Foundation for Dialogue and Education, an institute with close ties to the Hizmet movement. “Now many of them are fearing for their lives.”

An unlikely political alliance of the German Green party and Bavaria’s conservative Christian Social Union has proposed that Germany should offer asylum to political refugees from Turkey. The CSU’s Andreas Scheuer said: “We expect that people will come here who are persecuted by the reign of [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan and his party.”

Germany’s interior minister, Thomas de Maiziere, has expressed concern that the civil unrest in Turkey is in danger of spilling over into Germany, noting that the 3 million Turks living in Germany were just as split as Turkey itself and tensions within Turkish communities were high.

In Austria, meanwhile, the foreign minister, Sebastian Kurz, took the unusual step of appealing to Erdoğan supporters there to move back to Turkey. “Those who want to get involved in Turkish interior politics are free to leave our country”, Kurz told Der Standard newspaper.

TURKEY AFTER FAİLED COUP

Turkey Sacks 15,000 Education Workers İn Purge After Failed Coup

More than 1,500 university deans asked to resign and 257 PM’s office staff dismissed, with 35,000 public servants now affected

Turkish government supporters protest against the attempted coup.

Photograph: Lefteris Pitarakis/AP

Turkey has escalated its purge of government officials in the aftermath of the failed coup, with about 35,000 public servants affected by the end of the day despite a government spokesman insisting that the crackdown was being carried out in accordance with the rule of law.

In the latest developments on Tuesday, the government fired more than 15,000 employees at the education ministry, sacked 257 officials at the prime minister’s office and 492 clerics at the directorate for religious affairs. Additionally, more than 1,500 university deans were asked to resign.

It followed the firing of nearly 8,800 policemen, and the arrests of 6,000 soldiers, 2,700 judges and prosecutors, dozens of governors, and more than 100 generals – or just under one-third of the general corps. Some 20 news websites critical of the government have also been blocked.

The Turkish government says it is carrying out a legitimate security operation to safeguard the country in the aftermath of a failed coup that came close to toppling the elected president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The government claims those arrested or fired had links to Fethullah Gülen, the US-based Islamic cleric whom Turkey accuses of orchestrating the coup, which left more than 300 dead at the weekend. On Tuesday it announced it had prepared a dossier to send to the US in expectation of Gülen’s extradition.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the documents would be reviewed to determine whether they met the requirements for a formal extradition request for Gülen, who lives in exile in Pennsylvania.

Barack Obama and Erdoğan discussed the cleric’s status during a telephone conversation on Tuesday, Earnest said, adding that the US president pledged to provide any assistance needed, but urged his counterpart to follow due process as his government pursues those responsible for the coup.

But the scale of the arrests and firings led to fears that Erdoğan is using the situation to settle scores with anyone perceived to pose any kind of threat to the government, whether or not they were involved in the coup.

Supporters of Erdoğan hold up a banner during a rally in Istanbul on Tuesday. Photograph: Kursat Bayhan/Getty Images

Two of the world’s leading human rights organisations joined a chorus of international leaders in calling on Turkey to abide by the rule of law as it dealt with the coup’s perpetrators.

“The sheer number of arrests and suspensions since Friday is alarming and we are monitoring the situation very closely,” Amnesty International said in a statement. “The coup attempt unleashed appalling violence and those responsible for unlawful killings and other human rights abuses must be brought to justice, but cracking down on dissent and threatening to bring back the death penalty are not justice.”

Human Rights Watch said: “While the government has the complete right to hold to account those involved in the coup, the speed and scale of the arrests, including of top judges, suggests a purge rather than a process based on any evidence. Turkey’s citizens who took to the streets to defend democracy deserve a response that upholds the rule of law and protects media freedom.”

In response, Erdoğan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said all those arrested had been detained according to laws “enshrined in our constitution and our penal law. There’s nothing exceptional or surprising that several thousand people would be arrested.”

Expressing irritation at the many international calls for Turkey to respect the rule of law, Kalin added: “We are the ones who got on the streets and shed our blood for democracy and the rule of law.”

Kalin confirmed Turkey was preparing a dossier of evidence for the US in order to request Gülen’s extradition. Some of the arrested generals had already admitted their connection to Gülen’s dissident movement during interrogations this week. Kalin said he saw no reason why the US would turn the request down, and warned that Turks might get the wrong impression if it was rejected.

“On grounds of suspicion he can easily be extradited,” said Kalin. “If they insist on keeping him then a lot of people here will think he is assisted by the US.”

Turkey was braced for more stringent measures on Thursday, with the country’s national security council expected to meet for the first time since the coup attempt. There are fears that Turkey could enact a state of emergency that might make it easier for Erdoğan to go after his opponents, though nothing has been confirmed.

While a broad coalition of political forces united with Erdoğan to oppose the coup at the weekend, many now fear this will be no protection against the president’s widening crackdown.

But large swaths of the population back the actions by the president, whom they idolise for boosting Turkey’s economy and representing the country’s lower classes. Thousands have turned out in pro-Erdoğan rallies since the weekend.

“This country has never seen this kind of president or prime minister,” one supporter, standing outside Istanbul’s city hall, argued, before listing Erdoğan’s perceived achievements since reaching power in 2003.

“No other president or prime minister achieved what he has done – in economic terms, in charitable terms, and in patriotic terms. There’s such a difference, a world of difference, in our lifestyle. Healthcare has especially improved. We have opportunities, and we have options.”

Additional reporting by Mazin Sidahmed in New York

DARBENİN HER TÜRLÜSÜNE KARŞIYIZ..

Gelmiş Geçmiş Bütün Darbelere ve Darbenin Her Türlüsüne Karşıyız, Reddediyoruz, Kabul Etmiyoruz.!

Biz; 12 Eylül Darbesini Kanlı, Canlı Yaşayan Ve Her Türlü Sıkıntısını Hala Çekmekte Olan Garibanlar Olarak Darbelere ve Darbecilere Karşıyız, Onlarla İşimiz Olmaz.

DARBELERE TARAF OLAMAYIZ.

Bizim Sağcılığımız, Solculuğumuz, İlericiliğimiz, Gericiliğimiz, Sosyalistliğimiz, Komünistliğimiz, Anarşistliğimiz Tamamen Vatanseverlik Ölçüsündedir. Atalarımızdan Gelen Geleneğimiz Gereği -*At, Avrat, Silah*- Gibi -*Vatan, Bayrak, İnanç*- Değerlerimizin Dışına Çıkarak Yerli Ve Yabancı Güçlerin, Ülkelerin, Resmi Veya Gayrı resmi Odakların, İç Ve Dış Güce Sahip Kişilerin Hükümranlıklarını, Dürtmelerini, Darbelerini Kabullenmemiz Mümkün Değildir.

BU MEMLEKET BİZİM

Ata Yadigarı Bu Memleket Bizim, Buradan Başka Türkiye Yok. Ve Elhamdülillah Biz Önce Türk, Sonra Müslüman Bir Toplum Olarak, Bu Topraklar Üzerinde Yaşayan Ve Vatan Bellemiş Olanları Da Birer Kardeş Kabul Ederek, Her Türü Farklılıklarımıza, Karşıt Düşüncelerimize, Kendisine Özgü Gelenek, Görenek Ve Kültür Çeşitliliklerimizle Birlikte, Beraber Yaşamayı Kabul Ediyoruz. Ancak Bu Çerçevenin Dışında Herhangi Bir Yol Ve Yöntemi Dayatma Ve Darbeleri Kesinlikle Reddediyoruz.  

Ökkeş Bölükbaşı, İstanbul – Nisan.2016 - okkesb61@gmail.com,