News Scan for Turkey, Aug 06th 2016
Turkey’s FM brands Austria ‘capital of radical racism’
Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, has criticised Austria, calling it the “capital of radical racism”, following suggestions by Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern that the European Union end membership talks with Turkey.
European leaders have voiced concern over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ongoing crackdown following a failed coup attempt last month, warning that reintroduction of the death penalty for coup plotters would be a red line barring Turkey’s accession to the EU. Chancellor Kern intensified the debate on Wednesday, saying that he would start a discussion among European heads of government to end talks with Turkey because of the country’s democratic and economic deficits. “We know that the democratic standards are clearly not sufficient to justify (Turkey’s) accession,” Kern said in an interview with Austrian broadcaster ORF.
Cavusoglu hit back on Friday in an interview with broadcaster TGRT Haber, saying the “Austrian chancellor needs to take a look at his own country first”. “Today Austria is the capital of radical racism,” Cavusoglu said, adding that the chancellor’s comments were ugly. “It is ironic that a country in the middle of a racist stream like this is calling our citizens radicals,” he said.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/turkey-fm-brands-austria-capital-radical-racism-160805100527227.html
Feds don’t see extradition for Turkish cleric
The extradition of an elderly cleric living in Pennsylvania who Turkish officials allege orchestrated last month’s failed coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has not drawn serious consideration by U.S. officials, a federal law enforcement official said Friday.
Although Turkish authorities have requested the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, 75, the official said there is no evidence to indicate that Gulen directed the attempted overthrow. The official, who is not authorized to comment publicly, also said there were additional concerns about returning Gulen to an unsettled political environment in the aftermath of the failed coup.
The attempted coup on July 15 left hundreds dead and rocked a key NATO ally. The cleric denied involvement in the violence when he met with reporters on July 18 at his compound in the Pocono Mountains of eastern Pennsylvania. Gulen attorney Reid Weingarten told reporters Friday he was “not surprised” by reports that the U.S. was not likely to approve extradition. “We take great comfort from the (report),” he said.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/08/05/cleric-extradition-turkey-coup/88288220/
Turkey’s purge marks endgame in Islamist civil war
Last month’s failed coup brought into relief a bitter struggle at the heart of Turkish politics.
From his humble childhood in a working-class neighborhood of Istanbul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has steadily transformed the nation in his image over almost a decade and a half in power and become the Turkish republic’s most influential leader since its founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
Halfway around the world, Fethullah Gulen, a 77-year-old imam, presides over a somewhat opaque network of schools, charities and businesses in Turkey and more than 100 other countries. He has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1997 and has acted as a kind of global spiritual leader, advocating peace and tolerance.
Just years ago, the two devout rivals were locked in a tactical alliance against an old enemy — Turkey’s once-entrenched secularist establishment. But the understanding between their camps eventually crumbled into a fight for power, one that came dramatically to the surface in the July 15 coup attempt by a rebellious faction of the military. Some 270 people died during the 12-hour revolt, including 24 of the coup plotters. Now an enormous purge of suspected Gulenists is underway.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/turkeys-purge-marks-endgame-in-islamist-civil-war/2016/08/04/4d0a6128-5811-11e6-82ea-8af882a4d163_story.html
The EU, Turkey and the refugee standoff
Turkey’s Foreign Minister explicitly linked the viability of the deal with the EU fulfilling its pledge to grant Turks visa-free travel by October. In response, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel spoke of “visa blackmail.” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has warned that thousands of people could make their way into Europe again, should the deal collapse.
Yet on closer inspection this standoff is paradoxical. The two sides are squabbling over a deal that was difficult to implement from the outset, and that ultimately proved ineffective. The collapse of the EU-Turkey agreement constitutes neither a credible threat from Turkey nor an existential danger for the EU.
The refugee deal stipulated that Turkey would accept back migrants who had crossed into Greece, while the EU would resettle refugees directly from Turkey on a one-for-one basis. It was hoped that forced returns to Turkey and the promise of direct resettlement to the EU would dissuade people from making the dangerous crossing. Very soon, refugee flows decreased to the point of ceasing completely.
http://www.ktvz.com/news/the-eu-turkey-and-the-refugee-standoff/41066154
US Justice Department to send delegation to Turkey next week over Gülen’s extradition
The U.S. Justice Department will send a technical delegation to Turkey next week over the government’s request to extradite U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, the prime suspect behind the July 15 coup attempt according to Ankara.
The Turkish Justice Ministry had invited a delegation from Washington to come to Turkey first to discuss Gülen’s extradition. In return, a delegation from the Justice ministry will later depart for U.S. to discuss the extradition after the U.S. delegation’s visit.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/us-justice-department-to-send-delegation-to-turkey-next-week-over-gulens-extradition.aspx?pageID=238&nID=102547&NewsCatID=358
Moody’s stops short of Turkey ratings announcement
Global rating agency Moody’s on Aug. 5 avoided issuing a ratings statement for Turkey, saying its review of the country’s Baa3 rating remains ongoing.
The agency announced on July 18, three days after the failed coup attempt in Turkey, that it began a “review for downgrade” of the country’s credit rating. In Friday’s statement, Moody’s said it would complete its review within 90 days of the July 18 announcement. The statement said although the coup failed, Moody’s would continue to assess the medium-term effect of the crisis and its aftermath.
Speaking of the abortive coup, Moody’s said it “is likely that it will exacerbate existing challenges in” areas of Turkey’s policy-making institutions and business climate, the country’s external buffers to absorb potential shocks and its growth prospects.
Moody’s has a number of typical dates in a yearly calendar on which it announces ratings statements on Turkey, including one in the first week of August which has now passed.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/moodys-stops-short-of-turkey-ratings-announcement.aspx?pageID=238&nID=102543&NewsCatID=345
Experts: Erdoğan’s visit to Russia could speed up normalization process
Having bettered relations with Russia due to the normalization process that began in June when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed regret for the downing of a Russian military jet on Nov. 24 last year, relations between the two countries seem to have strengthened even more since Russian President Vladimir Putin called Erdoğan with a message of solidarity regarding the failed July 15 coup attempt.
Turkey is now looking forward to the meeting between Erdoğan and Putin on Aug. 9 in St. Petersburg, as the leaders are expected to discuss ways to restore bilateral relations.Commenting on the political background of the meeting, Dmitri Trenin, the director of the Moscow Center of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, stated, “Russia seeks a pragmatic yet solid relationship with Turkey as a serious regional player.” The relationship between the two countries will be directly based on each country’s interests and appropriately aligned wherever possible. While Trenin noted that the process of normalization between Russia and Turkey will not be quick and easy due to the jet crisis last November, Dimitar Bechev, a visiting scholar at Harvard’s Center for European Studies and the former senior policy fellow from the European Council on Foreign Relations, backed up the idea, saying that the “clock is turning back time to before [the Nov. 24 jet crisis]” between the two countries.
http://www.dailysabah.com/diplomacy/2016/08/06/experts-erdogans-visit-to-russia-could-speed-up-normalization-process
This is a news-scan from major Turkish papers and internet sites. However, we do not verify above stories neither do we vouch for their accuracy.
06.08.2016
compiled by Editor BTT
