Excerpts: New generation of al-Qaeda operatives. Erdogan;'no compromise' on
Turkish democracy. Israel's army radio station program on a Palestinian
national poet.Erdogan confronts fall-out from coup attempt July 21, 2016
+++SOURCE: Al Arabya News 21 July’16:”US places sanctions on 3 Al-Qaeda
officials in Iran”By Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: New generation of al-Qaeda operatives
FULL TEXT:The US Treasury announced Wednesday[20 July] sanctions on three
Iran-based senior Al-Qaeda officials allegedly involved in moving funds and
weapons around the Middle East for the group.
The Treasury said Faisal Jassim Mohammed al-Amri al-Khalidi, Yisra Muhammad
Ibrahim Bayumi and Abu Bakr Muhammad Muhammad Ghumayn have important
logistics roles in Al-Qaeda, which is officially designated by the United
States and the United Nations as a global terrorist organization.
The Treasury said Khalidi, a 31-year-old Kuwait-born Saudi national, was
“part of a new generation” of Qaeda operatives who in May 2015 participated
in a senior leadership meeting as the military commission chief.
Egyptian Bayumi, 48, is a Qaeda veteran involved recently in raising and
deploying funds for the group.
Ghumayn, a 35-year-old Algerian, took control of the financing and
organization of Iran-based Qaeda members last year.
The sanctions seize any assets located in US jurisdictions of those named,
and ban Americans and US-based companies from doing business with them -
effectively closing off their access to much of the global financial system.
“Treasury remains committed to targeting Al-Qaeda’s terrorist activity and
denying Al-Qaeda and its critical support networks access to the
international financial system,” Adam Szubin, acting under secretary for
terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.
+++SOURCE:Al Arabiya 21 July’16:”Erdogan vows ‘no compromise’ on Turkish
democracy”,by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT:Erdogan:’no compromise’ on Turkish democracy
FULL TEXT:Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday[20 July] vowed
that democracy would not be compromised in Turkey despite declaring a three
month state of emergency in the wake of a coup.
"We have never made compromises on democracy. And we will never make" them,
Erdogan told a news conference in Ankara.
He also said other countries could be involved in the coup attempt to
overthrow him, adding the organization of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen
who he blames for the coup was itself led by a "superior mind".
"There could be," Erdogan said, asked if other countries could have been
involved in the coup attempt last Friday[15July] .
"The Gulejuly ]n organization has another superior mind, if you will, and
the time will come when those connections will be deciphered," he said.
His comments comes as he declared a three-month state of emergency in Turkey
in order to hunt down all those deemed to be behind an attempted coup.
The state of emergency was needed “in order to remove swiftly all the
elements of the terrorist organization involved in the coup attempt,” he
said at the presidential palace in Ankara.
+++SOURCE: Naharnet(Lebanon) 21 July’16:”Israeli Minister Grills Army Radio
over Darwish Poetry”,by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT:Israel’s army radio station program on a Palestinian national poet
QUOTE: Defense Minister Lieberman summoned the head of the army radio
station for ‘clarifications’ over a program on a Palestinian nationalist
poet”
FULL TEXT:Hardline Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman on
Wednesday[20 July] summoned the head of the army radio station for
"clarifications" over a program on a Palestinian nationalist poet, the
minister's spokesman said.
The state-run nationwide station, which is hugely popular with the general
public, ran the item on the poet Mahmud Darwish on Tuesday as part of its
educational "university of the air" series.
Spokesman Tzachi Moshe's Hebrew-language statement quoted Lieberman as
saying that including Darwish and his works in the program was "a grave
matter."
It called the late poet "someone who has written texts against Zionism --
which to this day are used to fuel terror attacks against Israel."
Darwish, who died in the United States in 2008, was given a hero's funeral
when his body was brought to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Arab Israeli parliamentarians and
dozens of foreign dignitaries among the attendees.
Considered the Palestinian national poet, he authored their 1988 declaration
of independence, won a number of international prizes and is widely
considered one of the Arab world's greatest writers.
An army radio statement defended its broadcast on his work, saying that
"academic freedom and openness give us an obligation to give listeners
access to a wealth of ideas."
In the year 2000 left-wing education minister Yossi Sarid proposed adding
Darwish to the national school curriculum but was overruled by then-prime
minister Ehud Barak.
Israeli media reports say that Lieberman, who heads the ultra-nationalist
Yisrael Beitenu party, would like to shut down the army station which he
views as leaning too far to the left.
+++SOURCE: Naharnet(Lebanon)21 July’16:”Turkey Imposes 3-Month State of
Emergency to Catch Coup Plotters”,by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Erdogan confronts fall-out from coup attempt
FUL L TEXT:Turkish authorities Thursday[21 July] imposed a three-month state
of emergency, strengthening powers to round up suspects accused of staging
the failed military coup despite global alarm over a widening purge.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared the state of emergency, the first in
Turkey in one and a half decades, shortly before midnight after an almost
five-hour meeting of his national security council.
The decision was then published in the official gazette Thursday[21 July]
morning, meaning it has now officially entered into force.
He said the nationwide measure would allow Turkey to be cleared of
"terrorists" linked to U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom the
president accuses of masterminding the failed coup from his leafy compound
in Pennsylvania.
But with concern growing over respect of the rule of law in Turkey almost a
week after the coup that left over 300 dead and raised fears of chaos in the
key NATO member, Erdogan insisted that democracy would not be compromised.
The state of emergency was needed "in order to remove swiftly all the
elements of the terrorist organization involved in the coup attempt,"
Erdogan said at the presidential palace in Ankara.
But he added: "We have never made compromises on democracy. And we will
never make" them.
The state of emergency gives the government extra powers to restrict freedom
of movement, said an official, adding that it would not restrict financial
or commercial activities as "international law sets limits of restrictions".
Turkey in 2002 lifted its last state of emergency, which had been imposed in
southeastern provinces for the fight against Kurdish militants in 1987.
Article 120 of the constitution allows a state of emergency to be imposed
"at a time of serious deterioration of public order because of acts of
violence."
Erdogan vowed that work would now continue "to fight to clean out all those
viruses from the armed forces."
- 'Own the squares' -In a hugely unusual move after the state of emergency
was announced, Erdogan early on Thursday[21 July] read out the morning ezan
call to prayer through loudspeakers at the mosque inside his presidential
complex, the pro-government Yeni Safak daily said.
Meanwhile, mobile users across Turkey received text messages sent by
"RTErdogan" urging people to stay in the streets to resist "the terrorists".
"The owners of the squares are not the tanks. The owners are the nation,"
said Erdogan in the text message.
Warning that his opponents may launch new provocations, Erdogan has urged
his supporters to remain in squares across the country in what he calls a
"vigil" for democracy.
After announcing the state of emergency in his press conference, Erdogan
then spoke by video link to the crowds still filling squares nationwide at
midnight.
Erdogan also suggested that there would be further detentions in the
crackdown, which has already netted several widely known figures.
Late Wednesday[20 July], a court remanded in custody Ali Yazici, the
president's aide-de-camp who looked after military protocol on state
occasions and was regularly seen by his side, on charges of supporting the
coup.
The crackdown has been extraordinary in scope, taking in not just soldiers
but also judges, prosecutors and lawyers. Some 50,000 state employees have
either been detained or lost their jobs.
Over 20,000 people have been dismissed from their jobs in state education
and a similar number in the private sector have been stripped of their
licences.
Courts have remanded in custody 99 out of 118 generals and admirals detained
so far and also placing them in custody, with some later seen bruised and
wounded.
"Of course that does not mean we have come to the end of it," Erdogan told
Al-Jazeera in an interview before announcing the state of emergency.
- 'Mind your own business' -Earlier the Turkish leader lashed out at critics
of the sweeping purge, telling France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc
Ayrault -- who had warned Erdogan not to use the failed coup as a "blank
cheque" to silence his opponents -- to "mind his own business".
"Does he have the authority to make these declarations about my person? No,
he does not. If he wants a lesson in democracy, he can very easily get a
lesson in democracy from us," Erdogan told Al-Jazeera.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier stressed it was "vital that
the state of emergency is limited for the required time and then immediately
lifted.
"Only acts which are legally punishable can be targeted, not political
opinion."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, flanked by allied foreign ministers,
said that while "we condemn this coup", it was important that the response
to it "fully respects that democracy that we are supporting".
Turkey has stepped up pressure on Washington to extradite Gulen, sending
several "dossiers" it says are packed with evidence about his alleged
involvement.
Gulen has urged Washington to reject the extradition call and dismissed as
"ridiculous" the claim he was behind the botched coup.
Erdogan, asked if other countries could have been involved in the coup, told
Al-Jazeera: "There could be."
"The Gulen organisation has another superior mind, if you will, and the time
will come when those connections will be deciphered."
The government says 312 people were killed in the coup, including 145
civilians, 60 police, three soldiers and 104 plotters.
===============
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA
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