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Thursday, February 25, 2010

China snubs US call for harsher Iran sanctions

Beijing once again has shrugged off Washington's call for harsher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear activities.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently said she expects the UN Security Council to impose new sanctions against Iran within the “next 30 to 60 days.”

Clinton claimed that the US administration's overtures to Tehran have helped Washington gain greater international support for tougher sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

Clinton said, "Iran has left the international community little choice but to impose greater costs for its provocative steps."

However, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that his country believes diplomatic efforts have not yet been exhausted.

"We believe there is still diplomatic room for the Iranian nuclear issue," Qin said.

"We hope all parties concerned can put the overall interest in their mind and enhance consultation and dialogue so as to come to a peaceful solution," he added.

Qin said China would “continue to play a constructive role" in resolving the issue.

Aside from China, Russia — another veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council — has voiced opposition to new Iran sanctions proposed by Clinton.

Tehran has repeatedly declared that the Western-backed sanctions will not force it to give up the Iranian nation's legitimate nuclear rights.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119475§ionid=351020104.

Rigi: US promised military base and unlimited aid

Jundallah terrorist leader Abdolmalek Rigi confesses to offers of unlimited support by the US spy agency, the CIA.

In a televised confession on Press TV, Rigi said that in a Dubai meeting with CIA agents, he was promised unlimited support that included a military base anywhere near the Iranian border equipped with weaponry and training facilities.

Rigi added that he was to meet a top US intelligence official in the US military base of Manas in Kyrgyzstan to work the details of the support US will provide for his group.

The terrorist leader emphasized that the US operatives insisted in their meetings with him that Iran is their primary focus in the region, even more important than al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Rigi added that the CIA agents also explained to him that since a US military attack on Iran would be very difficult, they intend to support all anti-Iran groups that have the capability of waging war inside Iran and to destabilize the country.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119474§ionid=351020101.

OIC chief urges UNESCO to investigate annexation of Islamic sites

Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu urged on Wednesday the UNESCO to probe Israel's decision to incorporate Islamic sites into its heritage list, the Egyptian state-run MENA news agency reported.

Speaking to reporters in Cairo before heading to Tripoli, Ihsanoglu said he asked UNESCO and the ambassadors of the Arab and Islamic states to hold a meeting to probe Israeli practices including the incorporation of the Cave of Patriarchs (Sanctuary of Abraham) and Rachel's Tomb into its heritage sites list.

"We hold diplomatic contacts, especially with UNESCO to submit a draft bill to confront those Israeli practices," the OIC chief said.

Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved an Israeli government declaration, which considers Rachel 's Tomb in Bethlehem and the Cave of the Patriarchs (Sanctuary of Abraham) in Hebron as Jewish sites which are sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

Source: People's Daily.
Link: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90856/6902737.html.

Mossad Death Squad Operations in Austria

Kawther Salam

February 23, 2010

It is worth to mention that Austria, which recently the mossad use its territory as a base of operations for the assassination of al-Mabhouh, is considered a safe place for the mossad. The Israeli mossad continues to choose Austria, this beautiful and quite country, which appears to be safe for visitors and Austrian residents alike, as a central for its bloody terrorist operations. For decades, the mossad has been using Austrian territory as a base for carrying out assassinations in Arab countries. (Crowther H …), a Jewish nurse and double spy agent in Europe working for mossad and CIA, and also a prostitute who had lived in Vienna, was involved in 1964 together with Ezra Naji, a well-known mossad element in Iraq, in murdering the Iraqi air force officer Shaker Mahmoud Josef.

In the early nineties of the last century, on May 27, 1993, two elements of a mossad kidon unit (death squad) were killed in a motorcycle accident in Vienna while they were on a surveillance mission trailing the Iranian deputy minister of defense at that time, head of Iran’s "chemical warfare project", Dr. Majid Abasfur, who was in Vienna carrying documents for an impending the arms deal with an Israeli partner, Manbar, and a brief case with money and documents about the missing Israeli air force Ron Arad.

The plan of the mossad death squad was to kill Dr. Abasfur, to steal the documents and the money, and to prevent the signing of the agreement for supplying Iran with tanks and chemical substances, which was supposed to be signed at the Vienna Marriot hotel that day.

Nahum Manbar was a former IDF paratrooper officer who was in charge of the weapon sales to Iran. Manbar was commanded by the Israeli intelligence (Shin Bet), and his operator in the (Shin Bet) intelligence was Dan Milner. He encouraged him to expand the trade with Iran in order to find out more details about the intentions of the Iranians. While the kidon elements were trailing the car of Dr. Abasfur, Manbar asked him about Ron Arad, who had ejected from his plane in the skies over southern Lebanon in 1986. Manbar was in a hurry to hear further information before the meeting and murdering Absfur.

Dr. Abasfur did not answer the question of Manbar, as he saw the motorcycles with two riders which had been trailing his car since he left the airport. He grew suspicious of Manbar who tried to convince him that the Israeli authorities were not against the arm deal.

Dr. Absfur arrived at the Marriot, two Mossad agents followed him. He shouted angrily at Manbar and asked him to send his friends away. One of them was reading the Herald Tribune, and the other was drinking a big glass of beer. Manbar talked to Dan Milner from Shin Bet and told him that everything had been exposed, and that the meeting with Dr. Abasfur was canceled and the mossad elements should leave the hotel before bad things happen to them.

Until today, the full details of this horror meeting have not been revealed in the media. The Israeli authorities continue to forbid the publication of the names of the kidon agents who were killed in Vienna despite the passage of 17 years. The Austrian authorities have covered up the incident. The Austrian media reported briefly about the story as a traffic accident. Until today, the Austrian police and security have not released further information about the kidon elements which were killed during their dirty mission in Austria.

Thus, and after 17 years, the questions need to be answered by the Austrian authorities:

* Were the Austrian authorities informed of the plan of the Israeli Mossad back then to surveil and possibly murder the Iranian deputy minister of defense Dr. Majid Abasfur in order to steal his papers and money?
* Why was no Austrian security team assigned to protect this diplomatic delegation during their transit from the airport to the city?
* Were there any legal measures taken by the Austrian authorities against Israel after they found that the motorcycle incident was not normal, but occurred as a consequence of the death squad units persecuting the car of the Iranian official, with intent to kill him and steal documents about Ron Arad and money?

On 20 July 2008, Benjamin Netanyahu turned the facts upside down and stated instead that the kidon agents killed in Vienna in 1993 had been trailing Nahum Manbar at high-speed. Manbar was suspected of selling weapons to Iran, but the truth was different, the mossad people were trailing Majed Abasfur, who had come to Vienna to meet Nahum Manbar in what he thought was to be an arms deal.

In 1984 Manbar left Israel to work in business ventures. He entered the arms trade, setting up companies in Poland and France, he lived in France and Switzerland. On July 16 1998 he was convicted of collaboration with Israels enemies, selling substances to Iran which could be used to make chemical weapons, providing them with information and selling them weapons. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

The Al-Bayan newspaper in Dubai published on its Sunday edition that police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim had stated: "The assassins of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai used diplomatic passports to commit their crime".

UAE Summons the EU Ambassadors
On Sunday, the UAE foreign ministry summoned the ambassadors of European Union to express concern about the misuse of the privilege of access without visa for Europeans, before the background of the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, which was carried out by a mossad death squad which entered Dubai from Europe and with European passports.

UAE foreign Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr. Anwar Mohammed Gargash said: "the Gulf country is deeply concerned that the suspected assassins of al-Mabhouh in Dubai used expertly doctored passports from nations which do not require advance UAE visas". He urged European investigators to launch full-scale probes into how the fraudulent passports were used by the death squads to assassinate Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, in the Al-Bustan hotel in Dubai.

The Emirates state-run news agency WAM reported that State Minister Gargash said: "The UAE is deeply concerned by the fact that passports of close allies, whose nationals currently enjoy preferential visa waivers, were illegally used to commit this crime".

United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said: "The abuse of passports poses a global threat, affecting all countries’ national security, as well as the personal security of travelers".

The UAE authorities remain in close contact with the concerned European governments, the statement added, and listed the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany and Austria. Earlier this week, police chief Tamim told journalists in Dubai that the alleged assassins used foreign cell phone cards in order to avoid being traced, while calling a command center in Austria.

For its part, Hamas appealed to Dubai to submit the assassination of al-Mabhouh to the United Nation in order to try Israel for this act of terrorism, and not only to distribute the names of murderer to the Interpol. The Hamas appeal came in the wake of a comment of Chief Dahi Khalfan released to the press, in which he said: "a collaborator of Mossad inside Hamas leaked the information about the access of al-Mabhouh leader to Dubai ", saying that this Mossad agent was "the real killer" of the leader. Hamas has strongly denied this allegation.

Mossad Disappeared

The Mossad had been preparing the assassination for many months, and the members of the hit squad had already arrived in Dubai from Paris, Frankfurt, Rome and Zurich, using their fake passports. They also obtained credit cards with their stolen identities. An Israeli suspect, whose name was among the members of the death squad, has disappeared. Michael Bodenheimer, who used a German passport, was among the eleven suspects who the Dubai police believe are responsible for assassinating al-Mabhouh on past January 20 2010.

Another Michael Bodenheimer, an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva school Jew who lives in the Bnei Brak squatter colony was interviewed by Haaretz. He denied any involvement in the al-Mabhouh assassination. Bodenheimer’s grandparents were born in Germany, they emigrated to the United States, from where he immigrated to Israel 30 years ago. He never visited Germany, except perhaps in transit on the way to the United States. The ultra-Orthodox Bodenheimer family does not have any relatives in Herzliya.

According to German weekly Der Spiegel, Bodenheimer, an Israeli, applied for a German passport with the Cologne authorities. Bodenheimer presented documents that proved German lineage, including his grandparents’ marriage certificate. He also showed his Israeli passport which had been issued to him a year earlier in Tel Aviv. The German passport was issued on June 18, 2009. That document was used by one of the assassination suspects in Dubai on January 19, a day before the killing. According to Der Spiegel, Bodenheimer does not live in Cologne, as he had claimed in his application, and no other person by that name lives there. The magazine claims that a man by that name lived in Herzliya until June last year.

Source: Uruknet.
Link: http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=63593&s2=24.

Fes celebrates Andalusian music

2010-02-24

Morocco's 15th National Andalusian Music Festival will open Wednesday night (February 24th) in Fes, MAP reported. The four-day event features a full schedule of musical performances, art exhibitions, a tribute to Moulay Larbi Ouazzani and conferences on preserving Moroccan-Andalusian cultural history.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/02/24/newsbrief-06.

OIC countries mull export strategies at Tunis forum

2010-02-24

Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) member states met in Tunis on Monday (February 22nd) to discuss competition law, improved co-operation and an Islamic free trade exchange area, Tunisia Online reported. According to Tunisian Trade and Handicrafts Minister Ridha Ben Mosbah, the forum is an opportunity to set up a favorable environment for investment and export "through harmonization of laws and their adaptation to international standards". Representatives of the European Commission and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) are also attending the 3-day event.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/02/24/newsbrief-05.

Bouteflika assails Algerian corruption

2010-02-24

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Tuesday (February 23rd) voiced his determination to continue fighting against corruption. In a message marking the February 24th double anniversary of the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA) creation and the nationalization of hydrocarbons, Bouteflika said that to protect the national economy, the state "has set up legal frameworks and prevention mechanisms against parasitic practices and fraud".

The president, who has attended nearly all February 24th official celebrations since 1999, will boycott this year's events, Tout sur l'Algerie reported, to show his disapproval of public fund mismanagement and the recent scandals involving Sonatrach and other state-run companies.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/02/24/newsbrief-02.

Algeria targets inflation with subsidies, price controls

A ceiling will be imposed on the price of essential foodstuffs like lentils and flour in order to maximize Algerians' purchasing power.

By Nazim Fethi for Magharebia in Algiers – 24/02/10

Algeria will subsidize 15 basic food products and limit their price in an effort to cope with runaway inflation, Commerce Minister El Hachemi Djaâboub announced last week.

"We've found that some traders are abusing the system and taking advantage of their dominance," Djaâboub said on national radio on February 13th. "Enforcement officers are aware of these practices and can do nothing. We've decided to intervene to bring order to the market." Price ceilings will be placed on dried legumes, sugar, tea and coffee, as well as other groceries, whose prices soared in recent months, Djaâboub said.

Lentils, on which many families depend for sustenance, have reached 140 dinars per kilogram, while the price of sardines has soared from 250 to 400 dinars per kilo.

"The state can intervene and fix prices of certain products" in accordance with the existing Competition Act, Minister Djaâboub told APS on February 10th. "Unreasonable increases" in the price of essential products, such as milk and flour, allow the government to intervene, he added.

A new law is also in the works to expand the list of subsidized products.

"Currently, we're working on a new law to modify, amend and complete the Competition Act," the general director of the Trade Ministry's economic control and fraud repression department, Hamid Boukahnoune, said at a seminar on February 4th.

Revising the law will allow the state to intervene in situations of unjustified price increases to guarantee regulation and prevent monopolies from arising.

"We must be aware that the current law allows the state to intervene to fix only the price of certain products…The new bill will allow the state … to intervene [and] fix the profit margins and prices for all products, especially those currently facing problems, such as fruit and dried legumes", added Boukahnoune.

Under the proposed law, the Commerce Ministry will have the authority to fix the profit margins and prices of products and services through an executive decree, determined on the basis of price margins suggested by relevant experts and the as-yet-unformed Competition Council, Djaâboub told APS.

Food importer Hamid Soltani is outraged by the new measures and claimed that Algeria is returning to a state-controlled economy.

"This 'profit margins' excuse is a cover-up to prevent us from working freely," he told Magharebia on February 14th.

"I used to import dried legumes from Turkey, and they were sold at a reasonable price (less than 80 dinars a kilo)," he said. "The Turks decided to grow something other than dried legumes, which explains their scarcity and high price at the moment. If sugar is expensive on the global market, is it the Algerian traders' fault?"

Retailer Said Kharroubi is also frustrated by the government's response to high prices.

"Instead of encouraging Algerians to grow these products locally, the government wants to impose prices in exchange for social peace," he told Magharebia on the same day. "We will not sell for a loss."

Halim, a student, said the problem of regulating food costs cannot be easily solved by a price ceiling.

"The government often reacts with laws that are never implemented. The traders always find excuses to increase prices…I think the government has no political will to put an end to the parallel economy, which satisfies the consumption of millions of Algerians neglected by the government."

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2010/02/24/feature-03.

Indian court stops sale of Montblanc's luxury Gandhi pen

New Delhi - German pen manufacturer Montblanc International GmbH has apologized and assured a court in southern India that it will not sell its luxury pen with images of the country's freedom icon Mahatma Gandhi, news reports said Thursday. The high court in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala, asked the Hamburg, Germany-based company to suspend sales of its limited-edition pen costing 1.4 million rupees (30,200 dollars), the Times of India newspaper said,

The judges ruled in favor of a local consumer rights organization which said the pens were an attempt to degrade Gandhi, known for his austerity, and to mock the country.

The Center for Consumer Education in Kerala argued that the pen is in breach of an Indian law prohibiting improper use of emblems and names.

The court gave only an interim order while it considers the case, the report said.

"Mahatma Gandhi is ... considered the epitome of simplicity. Making him a symbol of a 1.4-million-rupee pen is nothing but an attempt to degrade everything that he symbolized," the petition said.

Several Indian groups have criticized the pen, saying it was an inappropriate way to honor Gandhi, father of India's independence and a global spiritual leader.

In an affidavit filed earlier, the pen manufacturer Montblanc and its distributor tendered an unconditional apology for hurting sentiments in the country, the Hindu newspaper reported.

It said they had no intention to exploit the name of Mahatma Gandhi or to bring any disrepute on him.

Montblanc launched the gold-and-silver pen series Mahatma Gandhi Limited Edition-241 in September.

The 241 pens in the series were made to signify the 241 miles traveled by Gandhi during his famous Dandi March against British rule. The nibs show an image of Gandhi walking with a stick.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311196,indian-court-stops-sale-of-montblancs-luxury-gandhi-pen.html.

Ahmadinejad: The 'Zionist entity will disappear' - Update

Damascus - The state of Israel is "heading towards disappearance," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday during a visit to the Syrian capital Damascus. "The Zionist entity is heading for disappearance. The philosophy of its existence is over, and time is not running in the favor of the occupiers," he said.

"They have reached a dead end. All of their threats are the result of their weakness," Ahmadinejad told a joint press conference with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Israel regards Iran under Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly denied the Holocaust and challenged the right of the Jewish state to exist, as an existential threat.

Ahmadinejad, who arrived in Damascus earlier on Thursday for talks with with ally Assad, warned against any military action from Israel.

Israeli hawks have argued in favor of a preemptive strike on Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program.

"And we know - both our peoples know, and the whole region knows - that if the Zionist entity repeated the same mistakes, it would mean its inevitable end," he said.

Al-Assad said that they discussed "Israeli terrorism and crimes," as well as the resistance in the region and how to support it.

He added that talks dealt with the upcoming Iraqi elections and how it would affect the region, as well as the US withdrawal from Iraq.

The two leaders are expected to attend a religious ceremony to mark the Prophet Mohammed's birthday.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311216,1st-lead-ahmadinejad-the-zionist-entity-will-disappear--update.html.

Kurdish satellite TV channel overturns German ban

Leipzig, Germany - A Kurdish satellite television channel won its court case Thursday against the German government, which had tried to close down the channel, Roj TV, after a request from the Turkish government. A tribunal in Leipzig effectively suspended the ban, asking the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to rule on the case instead. Roj TV is based in Denmark, but its main audience comprises immigrants in Germany.

Germany's Interior Ministry had earlier warned Roj TV it had no legal right to beam its satellite broadcasts down into the country because it backs the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), a group defined as terrorist under both Turkish and German law.

The tribunal said those allegations were valid - but it transpired Germany had no power under European Union law to interfere in operations of a broadcasting enterprise incorporated in Denmark.

Judges said EU broadcasting law meant that it was up to Denmark to supervise Roj, which means "day" in the Kurdish language. Germany could only have shut down the channel if it had issued the broadcast license in the first place.

The interior ministry had argued that legislation outlawing associations of terrorists made it possible for Berlin to seize the channel's German assets and prevent its camera teams filming ethnic Kurdish rallies in Germany.

Authorities charged that Roj regularly gave blanket coverage to cultural festivals organized by PKK front organizations.

Turkey, which fought a long and bloody war against Kurdish separatists in the 1990s, has been urging EU nations to crack down harder on offshoots of the PKK, which draws a significant part of its funding from Kurdish migrants working in rich nations.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311223,kurdish-satellite-tv-channel-overturns-german-ban.html.

Unease over Egyptian women in top jobs

2010-02-25

General sense of malaise over appointment of female judges to influential Egyptian court.

By Jailan Zayan - CAIRO

A row over the appointment of female judges to an influential court which governs matters of administrative law in Egypt has highlighted a general sense of malaise over women holding top jobs.

On Monday Mohammed al-Husseini, the head of the Egyptian State Council, overturned a decision by its general assembly which voted by overwhelming majority last week against appointing women judges to the council.

The State Council or Maglis al-Dawla is the court that is authorized to settle administrative disputes concerning the exercise of public power.

Husseini, who said his ruling was supported by the constitution, has since faced a barrage of criticism from fellow judges who want an emergency meeting to overturn his decision.

Some have even sought legal proceedings to have him removed from his post.

The decision to bar women from sitting on the State Council is "unconstitutional," said Judge Noha al-Zeini of the Administrative Prosecution Authority, one of only 42 women judges out of the country's 12,000 in total.

She said she was "shocked" by the ban on women sitting on the bench, but conceded that it was a reflection of society's unease with women holding positions of power.

"It shows society's rejection of women's progress. But the decision strips women of their rights," she said.

Despite steps to avoid gender-based discrimination, the idea that a woman's place is in the home is deeply rooted.

"The circumstances are currently unsuitable for women to be judges," said Judge Mahmud al-Khodeiri.

"It's a difficult job, we work in difficult conditions," he said.

Khodeiri said judges are not allowed to preside over courts in their place of residence, "so how is a woman supposed to abandon her husband and her children and go and work somewhere else?

"Motherhood is something that carries all of society -- it can't be ignored."

The New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned the State Council general assembly's decision and urged the government to end discrimination against women in judicial positions.

"The continuing discrimination insults the many Egyptian women who are fully qualified to serve as judges," Nadya Khalife, women's rights researcher for the Middle East and North Africa at HRW, said.

Currently, only three women serve as ministers in Egypt's 27-member cabinet.

A quota was imposed by law in 2009 requiring women to hold at least 12 percent of the seats in the lower house of parliament, or 64 seats.

Khodeiri, who resigned last year as deputy chief justice of the Court of Cassation in protest at the lack of judicial independence, said priorities needed to be revised.

"It is a bad time for judges in general right now. Let us first fix that, then we can look into the position of women," he said.

"In Egypt, judges' rulings are not respected. I used to hand out a ruling and then a police officer would throw that decision into the bin. We have a lot of work to do, and now is not the time for the women."

But Zeini, who waged an unprecedented public campaign against electoral fraud after witnessing vote rigging in the polling station she supervised in 2005 parliamentary elections, said the two ideas were not mutually exclusive.

"There is no reason why the reform of the judiciary and appointing female judges cannot go hand in hand," she said.

But she said the concept of women's rights is often perceived as an imported idea in Egypt's conservative society. "By opposing it, the judges feel they are maintaining their independence."

Last week, 380 judges took part in the State Council general assembly -- and 334 rejected the appointment of females to judicial posts.

Until 2007, when 31 female judges were appointed by presidential decree, only one woman was a judge in Egypt, a country of more than 80 million people.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=37480.

Iran, Syria shrug off US call to weaken alliance

Syria, Iran consult on how to face 'Zionist threats' against peoples of Mideast region.

DAMASCUS - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Iranian counterpart President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday publicly shrugged off US efforts to drive a wedge between the two Middle East allies.

"I am surprised by their call to keep a distance between the countries ... when they raise the issue of stability and peace in the Middle East, and all the other beautiful principles," Assad said.

"We need to further reinforce relations if the true objective is stability. We do not want others to give us lessons on our region, our history," the Syrian leader told a joint media conference with Ahmadinejad.

The Iranian president, who flew in to Damascus earlier in the day, stressed that ties between the two states were as "solid" as ever.

"Relations between Syria and Iran are brotherly, deep, solid and permanent ... Nothing can damage these relations," he said.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Washington has been pressing Syria -- amid steps toward a normalization of US-Syria ties -- to move away from Iran.

Ahmadinejad also renewed his prediction that Israel was "on the path to disappearing," meaning it would be dismantled like the former Soviet Union.

Iran believes in the one-state solution, where Palestinians and Jews live in peace side by side in one democratic state that would not be called Israel, as Palestinians would constitute a majority.

Ahmadinejad said on leaving Iran headed for Syria that the two countries would not be deterred.

"While the Zionists make permanent threats against my country and peoples of the region ... Syria and Iran must consult and take decisions to confront these threats," he said, quoted by Iran's Fars news agency.

Assad, for his part, also defended Iran's right to pursue uranium enrichment, despite the threat of new sanctions against Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.

"To forbid an independent state the right to enrichment amounts to a new colonialist process in the region," he said.

The visit comes after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Damascus was determined to help Iran and the West engage in a "constructive" dialogue over Tehran's nuclear program.

Some governments charge that the nuclear program in Iran -- which earlier this month started higher grade uranium enrichment -- is cover for a drive to produce a bomb.

Tehran vehemently denies the allegation, arguing that it needs to generate nuclear energy for its growing population which is already dependent on importing 40% of its gasoline needs.

Iran also cites the need to develop nuclear technology for medical purposes to treat its cancer patients.

The Iranian president's last visit to Syria, a close ally of Tehran for the past 30 years, dates back to May 2009.

On the eve of the visit, President Barack Obama's administration said it has been pressing Damascus -- amid steps toward a normalization of US-Syria ties -- to move away from Iran.

Testifying in the Senate, Clinton was blunter than ever about Washington's bid to drive a wedge between Damascus and Tehran.

Clinton said William Burns, the third-ranking US diplomat, "had very intense, substantive talks in Damascus" when he visited Syria last week, in the highest-level such US mission for five years.

Syria is being asked "generally to begin to move away from the relationship with Iran," she said.

Washington accuses Syria and Iran of supporting the liberation movements Hezbollah in Lebanon and democratically elected Hamas in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

In addition to the Palestinian territories (Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem), the Syrian Golan Heights and the Lebanese Shabaa Farms have been under illegal Israeli occupation since 1967.

Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=37479.

Algeria's Unauthorized Boomtown

2010-02-25

How can real jobs be found for the thousands of young people who survive by dealing and scheming? How can the informal sector be regularized, so it respects the law, creates the businesses and jobs so needed, and serves local development? Only the government in Algiers, 500km away, can provide the answer, says Jean-Pierre Séréni.

Djamel Bendimered, veteran of the war of independence and owner of the biggest brickyard in western Algeria, asked: “What crisis?” and said: “There’s work and money here for a long time to come.” Before him sprawled 20km of Tlemcen and its outskirts, 250,000 people. Grey concrete absorbs the plains that were covered in orchards and olive groves until the 1970s. Property developers and private individuals build as they please, according to their means. Tlemcen is accumulating dusty neighborhoods and dormitory suburbs: Kiffane has been home to professionals and civil servants since the 1980s, and Imama, with its office blocks, is the new town center.

Growth has accelerated since 2000: 35,000 people already live in the suburb of Oulidja; Boulidja on the opposite hill has 25,000. You can spot the public housing of the Algerian agency for housing development and improvement (AADL), its owner-occupied homes are four or five stories high with small neat gardens. The owners get a good deal, with the government paying half the sale price. The rented council flats are cheap but not so good, although you need connections to get one.

People building their own homes construct a garage on the ground floor to use as a shop while they wait to build one or two stories above, more in a good year. Metal juts out from unfinished brick and breeze-block walls.

The housing boom is self-perpetuating. Construction workers come to Tlemcen from all over Algeria -- to build homes for new arrivals. The authorities have tried but failed to eliminate shantytowns, renamed “spontaneous living areas” in the official jargon. The biggest, Boudghane, sits at the foot of the cliffs of the Lalla-Setti plateau overlooking the town, and is now home to 25,000, compared with 3,000 at the time of independence in 1962. Boudghane swelled with the rural exodus and by the civil war of the 1990s. The authorities have given up the idea of pulling it down and are trying to improve it. The houses have been made permanent, with TV aerials and terraces. The locals built four mosques, which the town council whitewashed. With its narrow winding streets, it attracts artisans and people providing services who want to keep out of sight of the authorities.

Because of the rise in the price of oil and gas over the last decade, Algeria, a major exporter, has had a lot of money to spend on improving Tlemcen and the province: It was badly needed after the black decade of the civil war. There was a lack of clean drinking water, hospitals were under-equipped, classrooms overcrowded, and many municipal buildings on the verge of collapse. In 2004 President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who comes from the region, appointed a new wali (prefect, or state representative) Abdelwahab Noury, to shake things up. He had been the wali of Ain-Defla in central Algeria, a stronghold of Islamist fighters. His new mission was to restore Tlemcen’s former glory.

Glory restored

The results have been spectacular. A two-lane avenue, illuminated at night, leads from Zenata airport 30km away to the monumental entrance to the town, its ring road, multi-colored fountains and tiled pavements, their edges painted red and white. A cable car links the neighborhoods in the west with the Lalla-Setti plateau, more than 1,200 meters high, spruced up and now very popular with families at the weekend. Two huge water desalination plants are under construction, and trenches are being cut in the roads to lay pipes and cables for water, electricity, natural gas and sewage, to almost all homes. “We will cable electricity 2km to supply one family!” says the wali, indifferent to the financial difficulties of the state electricity and gas company, Sonelgaz, which is heavily in debt because it refuses to raise its tariffs. For the first time in 30 years, the people of Tlemcen enjoy peace and a slightly better way of life, despite high inflation.

There is more construction to come. The Islamic educational, scientific and cultural organization (Isesco) has named Tlemcen Capital of Islamic Culture for 2011, after Alexandria, Aleppo, Lahore and Fez. The town has decided on an ambitious program and launched 15 construction projects, including a big hotel on Lalla-Setti being built by a Chinese company. The locals marvel at the pace of the Chinese workers, who toil 24 hours a day. The religious content of the year remains hazy: Each of Isesco’s 49 member countries will have a week to present its version of Islamic culture, but it’s not yet clear what Algeria will do.

Sari-Ali Hikmet, a doctor, and founding member of the Algerian National Union of Zawiyas (UNZA) hopes to use the opportunity to promote his ideas about secular North African Islam: “Unlike the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia, we have always preached the separation of religious and state power. The town’s patron saint, Sidi Boumediene, taught in the 12th century that we should respect the king,” said Hikmet, whose grandfather was the town’s first Muslim doctor. Most zawiya leaders refused to support the FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) between 1989 and 1992; many were killed. The government helps their many philanthropic activities, from distributing charity at Ramadan to running soup kitchens. But that does not mean the zawiyas will be allowed to play a role in national education, as UNZA wants. The union claims to represent 8,900 zawiyas affiliated to nine religious fraternities, to which they say a majority of the Algerian population belong.

“They are opportunists. They pretend to be moderate but their real goal is an Islamic state,” said a farmer on the Terni plateau. “We don’t want Tlemcen to become an Islamic town.” There are no cinemas or theaters and few restaurants, and in the last year all but one of the 16 shops selling alcohol have been closed down.

We have taken control

Religion remains at the center of social life, and the mosque sets the rhythm of the day, occupies minds and dominates conversation. Young men fight over the honor of delivering the call to prayer from the minaret, others demand extra loudspeakers so they can hear the sacred words better, even if light sleepers complain about being woken. “Outside work, I devote myself to Islam,” said a shy plumber. The wilaya (prefecture) maintains a strict surveillance of Tlemcen’s 34 mosques. “We have taken back control,” said an official. “The imam is appointed by the state, and we give him the broad lines of his Friday sermon, which must not last more than 20 minutes. In the past anyone could turn up and preach.” The official had in his pocket the keys to the main mosque, where the opening hours are set by the government: one hour before lunch for the midday prayer, from 4pm to 10pm for the last prayer. “In the past too many people spent the night here and damaged the place.”

The government believes the ministry of religious affairs’ lack of control over the mosques 20 years ago helped the FIS to grow. The “little brothers,” as radical Islamist militants are nicknamed, are still around but they keep quiet, and fewer are willing to wear white robes. The full veil for women has gone out of fashion in favor of a lighter scarf, and many female students in this university town keep their heads uncovered. “How will I find a husband if I keep my face hidden?” asked one.

The building of mosques is also tightly controlled. They must be built on state land by an approved contractor, and the money collected at Friday prayers in the main mosques is redistributed between them by the wali.

The wali is in charge of every aspect of town and provincial life. Nothing gets done without his approval, and there is no one to stand in his way. He has power because the money comes from central government in Algiers, whose coffers are swollen by oil revenue. Local elected officials lack resources and legitimacy, and traditional leaders are absent from official bodies. Many feel a vague sense of having been cheated. Tlemcen was one of three cities in French Algeria with a Franco-Muslim secondary school providing a solid education in Arabic and French. It produced bright young graduates who played an important role in the war of independence and setting up the new state. Graduates of the school and of another Tlemcen institution, Slane College, have for a long time occupied key posts in the government, the civil service and business, as well as the army and security services.

Algeria’s chaotic conversion in the 1990s from socialism to a market economy weakened the public sector. State-owned businesses were closed or mothballed, their bosses eclipsed by the rise of the private sector and a new kind of businessman who had money, if not always the right manner. Only doctors avoided a drop in status because, even though healthcare has officially been free in Algeria since 1974, in practice patients often have to open their wallets. There are 10 private clinics in the town, attracting wealthy patients away from the dilapidated colonial hospital built in 1947. A new hospital is scheduled for the campus being built at Abou Bekr Belkaid university, which already has 35,000 students, 58% of them female. “They want to succeed, they work harder than boys, and their families no longer mind them finishing their studies before marrying a man who will let them work,” said the university rector, Nourredine Ghouali, a mathematician from Tlemcen.

A town divided

But many of Tlemcen’s original inhabitants, proud of their lineage, feel overwhelmed by the incomers, especially from the countryside. Incomers outnumber locals five to one. Their shops clutter the pavements in the center, where they buy up old houses, demolish them and replace them with ugly concrete boxes. Marriages symbolize the division. “There’s no question of my daughter marrying one of them,” said a woman, recounting how the daughter of a friend had run off with a boy from Ain-Sefra, 300 km away, and been disowned by her father. The woman’s husband was more diplomatic: “If the marriage goes wrong, the old Tlemcen families, who are often related, know how to arrange things between themselves without too much damage, but they wouldn’t know how to go about it with outsiders.”

Decrees by central government have destroyed the economic base of local families: President Ahmed Ben Bella nationalized the sale of agricultural produce in the 1960s, and President Houari Boumedienne collectivized land in the 1970s. An overzealous and unpredictable bureaucracy has discouraged artisans: weavers, copperware manufacturers, shoemakers and silversmiths. Their workshops created wealth but have now disappeared. “There are only around 40 small businesses left, and fewer than 10 are up to standard,” said Chekib Mered, a drug manufacturer.

The two largest industrial groups employ 1,000 people each and work mostly for the state. “But the return on your investment here is considerable,” said the director of the local branch of Natexis, a French commercial bank. Even so, investment in industry is rare. “We lack capital, managers and qualified staff,” said Abdelhak Boublenza, who exports carob and is setting up a business school in Tlemcen. Sid-Ahmed Kamel Habri, head of a stationery company, Mega Papers, says: “The problem is the unfair competition of the black market.”

The black market has certainly taken off. The informal sector produces nothing: It imports. With no social security contributions, tax or import duty to pay, or regulations to comply with, it thrives with impunity. It affects the whole country, but is particularly acute here, so close to the frontier with Morocco. The border may have been closed for more than 15 years, but it is porous. On the road from Maghnia to the Mediterranean, runs a steady stream of ancient lorries and cars, with their special cargo: domestic fuel oil hidden in extra tanks, which any mechanic from Soudani to Boukanoun is happy to fit.

The obstinacy of Algerian politicians means the price of oil has not risen in 10 years, while in Morocco it has been gradually aligned to the European price: The difference is tenfold, creating a lucrative business. It is decanted into tanks the size of underground car parks dug close to the border. At night it is channeled across the border through irrigation pipes, or carried by donkeys, which know the road so well they can make the journey on their own.

Open borders

It doesn’t matter how many border checkpoints are set up, the pipeline flows. The “businessmen” who buy oil in one of the 17 state-owned Naftal filling stations along the border earn at least four times the minimum Algerian monthly salary of $173. “Some do 14 trips a day,” according to a customs official.

Morocco exports hashish, produced in the nearby Rif mountains, and carefully graded: Blocks marked with the Mercedes three-pointed star are exported to Europe, those with a picture of a bee are for East Africa and the Middle East, and the rest goes to Algeria, where the number of users in major towns is growing.

The profit from this can be seen throughout the area, particularly in Maghnia, which should be suffering from the closed border, but is thriving. Its population has multiplied 13 times since independence. Investment properties and luxury hotels abound, and the housing boom is even more spectacular than in Tlemcen, its rival. The richest traffickers build four- or five-storey villas adorned with turrets and brightly painted cupolas.

Last August a lorry carrying smuggled oil exploded at Ghazaouet, killing 20 people. People were angry and the government clamped down on the traffic. A mini riot broke out, with smugglers protesting they needed work. Within days the traffic was back to normal. “Whenever we clamp down there is unrest, so we let things be to keep the peace,” said a customs officer. That is Tlemcen’s problem, and perhaps that of all Algeria: How can real jobs be found for the thousands of young people who survive by dealing and scheming? How can the informal sector be regularized, so it respects the law, creates the businesses and jobs so needed, and serves local development? Only the government in Algiers, 500km away, can provide the answer.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=37477.

Why Does the Maghreb Refuse to Share?

2010-02-25

Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia have a common culture and cuisine, an oversupply of educated young people, and an undersupply of capital investment. Together, they would prosper, but their governments don’t see it that way, says Francis Ghiles.

Anyone visiting the eastern Moroccan city of Oujda encounters a bizarre sight: The nearby crossing point into Algeria, which should be bustling, is oddly calm, with only a few policemen wandering around and construction works blocking the road. The silence of the closed border reflects the generation-long enmity between Rabat and Algiers.

The failure of the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) to create a common market has cost the region dearly in energy, banking, transport, agribusiness, education, culture and tourism. Trade between North African countries is only 1.3% of their foreign exchange, the lowest rate for a region in the world. Two conferences on “The cost to the North African Tiger of the lack of economic integration” and a report by the Peterson Institute have demonstrated the benefits that open borders would have for people there. Most North African business leaders say they would like nothing more than to be able to operate freely across frontiers. Both rich and poor suffer from the inability of the region’s political leaders to work together. The Maghreb showed little enthusiasm for the Barcelona Process, and it is doubtful it will be any more proactive with its successor, the Union for the Mediterranean.

The Maghreb has many natural resources: oil, gas, phosphates, agricultural land (although it suffers from a worsening shortage of grain); a beautiful landscape that attracts millions of foreign visitors; and a youthful population that has become much better qualified since the countries gained independence. The problem is that with so many young people entering the job market, half are now unemployed. The region would need a higher growth rate than China over the next two decades to accommodate them -- and not trading with its neighbors costs each Maghreb country two percentage points of growth.

Every year thousands of migrants drown in the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe. Graduates leave because there are so few opportunities at home, where the best jobs are given to family members of the elite. Eight billion dollars of private capital leaves the region every year, adding to an estimated total of $200bn already gone. As the former governor of the Bank of Algeria, Abderrahmane Hadj Nacer, put it, North Africa’s middle class is being formed outside its borders.

Ever since Carthage was founded in the 7th century BC, North Africa has taken advantage of its strategic position: The ships that sailed from the ports of Salé, Algiers and Tunis in the 17th century were renowned; there were more English people living in Morocco and Algeria in 1660 than in the colonies of the New World; and European heads of state treated North African leaders as equals. Now the Maghreb is isolated not only from Europe but the rest of the world.

The lack of economic integration in the Maghreb has a major impact on the energy sector. Algeria is the third-largest provider of gas to Europe, after Russia and Norway. Morocco has almost half the world’s reserves of phosphate but to turn it into fertilizer, it needs energy, sulfur and ammonia: three things Algeria has in abundance, and at competitive prices. Morocco’s huge phosphate company, OCP, exports most of its fertilizer to India, Brazil and China. A partnership between OCP and the Algerian state-owned oil company Sonatrach could turn the Maghreb into the most competitive center of fertilizer production in the world, attracting foreign investment, supporting subcontractors and creating a huge number of jobs. But the only cooperation that exists between the countries is the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline that crosses Morocco from Algeria to Spain -- and even that will soon be replaced by a new pipeline, Medgaz, which will link Algeria and Spain directly.

It is a similar story with the car industry. Renault has invested in a new car plant near Tangiers to produce 400,000 vehicles a year by 2012. But it would never occur to the Algerian leadership to negotiate with Morocco to be part of that venture, or to set up a sovereign wealth fund to invest in Renault, or in another multinational company, so that it could get much needed new technology. Algeria’s leadership lacks the vision to make strategic investments of this kind. It is also unwilling to give up absolute control of the country’s resources and take part in any transaction that would require transparency and the application of internationally recognized rules. Morocco’s leadership is making no effort for greater cooperation either.

The cost of this lack of economic integration can also be seen in the agribusiness sector. For a long time the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) restricted the export of citrus fruits and tomatoes from North Africa to Europe. But various factors have combined to revolutionize this situation: the lifting of these restrictions, changes in eating habits among North Africans, new strategies by agribusiness multinationals, the ending of western subsidies for grain exports, and the emergence in the Maghreb of a new generation of ambitious private entrepreneurs.

Trade within an industrial sector such as agribusiness can contribute substantially to economic growth. Such trade would be ideal for the Maghreb, especially since agribusiness uses a lot of manpower. The extraordinary growth in the export of Tunisian olive oil, and the partnership between Tunisian and Spanish businesses in this sector, along with the revival of long abandoned vineyards in the region, demonstrate the benefits of creating links between private companies in the Maghreb and Europe in terms of the transfer of technology, markets and wealth.

Without opening its borders, how can this region make the most of its assets, protect its fishing and agricultural resources, manage its water resources and become less dependent on grain imports? Globalization has created a world of uncertainty, with genetically modified organisms, climate change, the rising cost of energy, and pandemics. As a net importer of grain, the Maghreb is vulnerable to the rise in food prices. It must take advantage of the opportunities provided by globalization while avoiding its negative effects, if it is to help its rural poor -- any progress in the agricultural sector would reduce the economic gulf between the town and the countryside. Morocco and Tunisia export food to Europe and beyond, and in Algeria, private investment in this area is growing rapidly. But this contrasts sharply with a very low volume of agricultural trade within the region (unless we include cannabis). Most North African businessmen are desperate to build partnerships both within the region and internationally, but have huge obstacles to overcome.

If the countries of the Maghreb do not improve their relations, Morocco and Tunisia will continue to go their own way, exporting abroad, and many of the challenges facing the region will remain. This inability to work together is all the more ironic, considering that the Maghreb shares a cuisine that is becoming more appreciated internationally. The region has a common history and culture, but it cannot benefit from this, in investment, production and employment, unless businesses are set up across the Maghreb, and in cooperation with multinationals already active in the region.

In contrast with China and India, North Africa makes little use of the talent within its large diaspora in Europe, the United States and the Middle East. Remittances sent home by Moroccans abroad are worth twice as much as direct foreign investment: $8.8 billion deposited in Moroccan bank accounts every year, 38% of the total. These young people could act as bridges to the rest of the world. When will Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia ask their diaspora to be ambassadors for the modernization of their home countries? When will the Maghreb have an equivalent to the Indus Entrepreneurs, an Indian network set up in 1992 in Silicon Valley, bringing together 12,000 people from 12 countries?

Europe is reluctant to offer its southern neighbors ambitious partnership projects, and its leaders and media too often cultivate a fear of the other, linked to Islamophobia. Europe has brought in a Kafkaesque visa policy, which even restricts the movements of North Africa’s elite. It refuses to believe North Africa could be part of the solution to its own problems, such as an aging population and the growing strength of China.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=37478.

Iran to make a movie about Rigi's arrest

Iran will make a movie about the operation that led to the arrest of Abdolmalek Rigi, the ringleader of the Jundallah terrorist group.

Soureh Cinema Institute and Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance have agreed to make the feature film in the next Iranian year which begins on March 21, Fars new agency reported on Wednesday.

The film will also feature the supports that some countries' spy agencies offered to Rigi.

The details of the film's cast will be determined on the coming days, the news agency said.

Iran's security forces arrested Rigi on Tuesday when he was on a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Kyrgyzstan.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119433§ionid=351020105.

Tehran-Damascus ties as 'solid' as ever

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Tehran-Damascus ties are as "solid" as ever despite the US calls on Syria to distance itself from the Islamic Republic.

"Relations between Syria and Iran are brotherly, deep, solid and permanent ... Nothing can damage these relations," President Ahmadinejad said at a joint press conference with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Thursday.

The Iranian president further pointed out that Israel was "on the path to disappearing."

"If the Zionist entity wants to repeats its past errors, its death will be inevitable," Ahmadinejad said.

The Syrian president said at the joint news conference that he was "surprised" at US calls for Syria to stop its relations with Iran.

"I am surprised by their call to keep a distance between the countries ... when they raise the issue of stability and peace in the Middle East, and all the other beautiful principles," al-Assad told reporters.

"We need to further reinforce relations if the true objective is stability. We do not want others to give us lessons on our region, our history," he added.

The Syrian leader also defended Iran's right to pursue uranium enrichment, despite the threat of new sanctions against Tehran over the country's nuclear program.

"To forbid an independent state the right to enrichment amounts to a new colonialist process in the region," the Syrian president concluded.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119464§ionid=351020101.

S Korea to send troops to Afghanistan

South Korea has ignored Taliban threats over sending troops back to war-ravaged Afghanistan, saying Seoul will deploy about 350 more soldiers in July.

The parliament approved the deployment by 148 votes to five on Thursday.

Many opposition legislators boycotted the vote, saying that a majority of Korean people oppose the mission.

South Korean opposition Democratic Labor Party members and Korean protesters on Thursday staged a rally in front of the National Assembly in Seoul to oppose the dispatch of troops.

The soldiers will protect a 140-strong South Korean aid and reconstruction team, which also includes police offers, and will be based in Parwan province just north of Kabul for 30 months.

Taliban had earlier warned that South Koreans "should be prepared for the consequences" if they dispatch a contingent, accusing Seoul of breaking a promise not to send troops back to Afghanistan.

As a close ally of the United States, Seoul sent 210 engineering and medical troops to Afghanistan in 2002.

The Asian country withdrew them in 2007 after Taliban militants took 23 South Korean church volunteers hostage and murdered two of them.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119457§ionid=351020403.

Iran launches Saeqeh fighter-bomber squadron

The Iranian military has introduced a new squadron of domestically-manufactured Saeqeh fighter-bombers to the country's Air Force to strengthen its deterrence power.

“This fleet is the first fighter-bomber squadron made up of domestically manufactured aircraft,” a top Air Force officer, Seyyed Mohammad Alavi, explained on Wednesday.

“The plane's parts have all been produced inside the country in a joint project between the Defense Ministry and the Air Force,” he added.

Alavi did not elaborate on the number of aircraft in the squadron, but said that several new Saeqeh fighters would be added at a later date making a full fleet of 24 aircraft.

The senior Air Force officer also said that all the pilots that were to fly the planes had been trained in Iran.

Alavi went into further detail about the Saeqeh aircraft, pointing out that the fighter-bomber had the ability to track down enemy aircraft, engage in combat, target locations on the ground, and carry an assortment of weapons and ammunition.

Finally, Alavi said that in the coming years, the Air Force also plans to produce new generations of the Saeqeh with enhanced features.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119463§ionid=351020101.

Turkey charges more officers over coup plot

A Turkish court has charged eight more officers for tying to topple the Ankara government in 2003, bringing the number of coup suspects under investigation to 20.

The eight suspects, including two serving admirals, three retired admirals and a retired one-star general, were grilled several hours overnight and were remanded in custody in military and civilian prisons in Istanbul.

On Wednesday, the Istanbul court handling the probe ordered that 12 suspects questioned by prosecutors earlier should be kept in jail pending trial, but also decided to release around 10 other suspects.

Turkey's anti-terrorism police on Monday arrested about 50 serving and retired military figures, including the former chiefs of the navy and air force, Ozden Ornek and Ibrahim Firtina, in what the country's army described "a serious situation."

The army said top commanders held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation, prompting a warning from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) against any moves to influence the judiciary.

Turkey's military which traditionally carries a great political weight has unseated four governments in the country.

The 2003 coup plot in question was codenamed "Operation Sledgehammer" and was allegedly planned and discussed in 2003 within the Istanbul-based First Army, soon after the AKP came to power in 2002.

The plot allegedly involved plans to bomb mosques and provoke tensions with Greece in a bid to force the targeting of a Turkish jet, and thus discrediting the government and leading to its collapse.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119460§ionid=351020204.

Australia warns Israel over 'fraud'

Australia has delivered a stark diplomatic warning to Israel, demanding its full cooperation with an investigation into the reported use of three Australian passports by the alleged assassins involved in last month's killing of a top Hamas commander in Dubai.

Speaking on Thursday after summoning the Israeli ambassador, Australia's foreign minister said he had warned Israel that if it was involved in the passport abuse, it would not be seen as a friendly act.

"We have made no conclusion about what to us, from our preliminary investigation, seems to be a serious abuse of three Australian passports either through forgery or identity fraud," he said.

"But I made it crystal clear to the ambassador that if the results of that investigation cause us to come to the conclusion that the abuse of Australian passports was in any way sponsored or condoned by Israeli officials, then Australia would not regard that as the act of a friend."

On Wednesday Dubai police revealed that a woman and two men, holding apparently fake Australian passports, were among 15 new suspects in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.

Smith said initial investigations conducted following the Dubai police announcement showed the Australian passports were probably "duplicated or altered".

Full cooperation

He said Australia expected Israel to "co-operate fully and transparently" with its own investigation into the incident.

Smith added that Australian officials had contacted reached the three passport-holders – Bruce Joshua Daniel, Nicole Sandra McCabe and Adam Korman - who all live in Israel.

"At this stage Australian officials have no information to suggest the three Australian passport-holders were involved in any way other than as victims of passport or identity fraud," he told parliament.

Australia's ambassador in Tel Aviv was also reportedly seeking a meeting with Israeli officials.

Dubai police strongly suspect Mossad, the Israeli spy agency, of carrying out the assassination in a luxury Dubai hotel where Mabhouh was found dead in his room on January 20.

"The new list of suspects includes people who offered prior logistical support and preparations to facilitate the crime, and others who played a central role," the emirate's police force said in a statement.

Forged passports

Investigators in the United Arab Emirates earlier said they had 12 British, six Irish, three French, three Australian and one German passports allegedly connected to the hit.

The latest suspects raise the total number believed involved in the murder to 26.

For its part Israel has maintained there is no evidence of its involvement and has described calls from the Dubai police for the arrest of Mossad chief Meir Dagan as "baseless" and "absurd".

Britain's Sunday Times newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, has reported that Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, authorised the mission and met members of the hit squad shortly before their departure.

Commenting on the new Australian links to the killing, Kevin Rudd, the Australian prime minister, said his country would "not be silent on the matter".

"If Australian passports are being used or forged by any state, let alone for the purpose of assassination, this is of the deepest concern and we are getting to the bottom of this now," he told public broadcaster ABC.

"We will not leave a single stone unturned."

'Deepest concern'

Rudd said Australian officials had worked through the night after Dubai police named the new suspects.

Rudd said he had discussed the latest development "at length" with Smith, describing it as "a matter of the deepest concern to Australia".

The European Union has also voiced outrage over the use of fake passports after an earlier list of 11 people, including a woman, was released.

Israeli ambassadors in four European countries have been summoned for talks.

Israeli media reported that Australian-born Adam Korman, 34, who works in Tel Aviv, had already voiced "shock" at the news after being named as one of the passport-holders involved.

"I am shocked, it's identity theft - simply unbelievable," Korman told the Ynetnews.com website.

"I have been frightened and shocked since receiving the news," he added.

"It's irresponsible and a violation of human and individual rights to do such a thing."

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/02/20102254852185828.html.

Interview with Qari M. Yousaf Ahmadi, spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, about the general jihadic situation in Helmand and the neighboring provinces

Interview by Hekmat

Q: How do you see the current Jihadic situation in Helmand province and other surrounding provinces?

A: Mujahideen’s resistance against the enemy attacks in Marjah, Nad Ali district, has been continuing as per the plan. According to our previous predictions and assessment, the enemy has now been entangled in battles in accordance with our tactical plan and the enemy losses have been spiraling up with the passage of time. The Mujahideen have destroyed a great number of the invading enemy tanks in various tip-and-run attacks. In addition to this, they have lost several soldiers. Reports from the battlefield of Marjah indicate, that the enemy forces are suffering from sagging morale. They are trying to take out their besieged soldiers from the area where they were deployed on the first day of the operation. However, the enemy infantry and tanks are under constant siege wherever they are stationed. Whenever they try to wriggle off from the tangle of the siege, they come under attacks and ambushes of Mujahideen or hit by planted mines. Similarly, Mujahideen constantly launch missiles attacks against the invaders. The invading foreign forces have not made any advancement despite great material and life losses inflicted on them and seem to be trying to retreat from the areas. Two days ago, the invading enemy airlifted their soldiers from Qari Sadi, evacuating the area.

Q: At the beginning of the enemy attack, the enemy was speaking of their victories and advancement. Reports said that they had taken some areas. Western media also were repeatedly reporting their victories. What is the reality?

A: All that which happened on the first day of the operations were in accordance with our tactical plan. We wanted to deal a crushing a blow at the enemy, so we allowed enemy forces enter some areas without any resistance. The enemy thought, it was their remarkable advancement in the battle filed. So they boastfully claimed of having captured Marjah. Even some high-ranking official of the Kabul Administration held celebration of victory in Marjah. The enemy has no advancement at the battlefield throughout the past two weeks except heavy losses and casualties. They know now that their claim about capturing Marjah was not at proper time or before time. The enemy infantry are under siege in areas where they were airdropped on the second day of the operations. Enemy tanks and military vehicles do not find any way to go out of the villages where they have entered. The enemy now uses pedestrians’ paths because Mujahideen have mined the main road with IEDs. There are deep-water canals on both sides of the main roads, which are not passable for enemy tanks and vehicles. Mujahideen snipers are targeting and ambushing them constantly. Wherever, the enemy intends to move, they face attacks and ambushes, mine explosions etc.

Q: In the past few days, the enemy had material and soul losses in Marjah. Please share with us enemy loss figures.

A: It is now two weeks since the inception of Marjah operations. According to reports from the battlefield, the following are enemy losses. We have given these figures at the disposal of mass media outlets from time to time.

-Destroyed tanks 78
-Foreign troops killed 382
-Destroyed ranger vehicles 4
-Domestic soldiers killed 36.

Similarly, Mujahideen in other areas of Helmand province have stepped up their attacks on the invading enemy simultaneously. According to data on our hand, 51 foreign and 23 domestic soldiers have been killed as yet. 17 tanks and 6 military vehicles of the enemy have been destroyed in the said areas.

Q: What is your opinion about the Jihadic situation in other neighboring provinces of Helmand. Reports say that high momentum is seen in Jihadic activities in this year particularly in this severe winter in comparison with other previous years.

A: Yes, You are right. In the current year, Mujahideen of neighboring provinces of Helmand, launched devastative attacks against the enemy causing great losses to them. We have been witnessing simultaneous attacks of Mujahideen on the invading foreign forces. This has given the enemy the jitters and diluted their manpower to focus only on one area. Despite the harsh winter, enemy had great losses. Figures about the invaders losses indicate that Mujahideen activities have spiraled up in these province as follows.

Kandahar:
-Foreign troops killed 28.
-Domestic troops killed 33.
-Destroyed tanks 5.
-Destroyed ranger vehicles 5.

Farah:
-Foreign troops killed 29.
-Domestic troops killed 17.
-Destroyed tanks 8.
-Destroyed military vehicles 3.

Zabul:
-Foreign troops killed 3.
-Domestic troops killed 26.
-Destroyed tanks 1.
-Destroyed military vehicles 4.

Uruzgan:
-Foreign troops killed 5.
-Domestic troops killed 19.
-Destroyed tanks 1.
-Destroyed military vehicles 3.

These figures of enemy losses show their losses occurred in a few provinces. If we count enemy losses at country level, we see clear impetus of Jihadic activities and escalation of the invaders casualties and materials losses. Even some high-ranking enemy officials admit the achievements of the Mujahideen. So we can say as a whole, the Jihadic situation is convincing. With the help of Allah, we are not facing any obstacle that could not be overcome.

Q: Dear Mr. Ahmadi! The Marjah operation is believed to be an experimental operation to test the new American strategy. Do you think the enemy would be able to reach their goal by launching such operations?

A: It is experimental operation. This is true. The enemy openly admits that Marjah operations were a test for the new strategy. If this is true, the enemy should have known by now that their defeat is definitely a certainty. We see the situation of the battlefields in Marjah is going against the wishes of the enemy and they have no gains. They resorted to every kind of propaganda stunts to boost their position but have no advancement for the last two weeks. The reason for the enemy’s failure is that they have not learnt from the past eight years’ experiences. They want to show their muscles once again under the name of new strategy and prolong their occupation of the country. However, such adventures only add to the enemy losses. They have to face life and material losses. On the other hand, the civilian casualties and their compelling of common people to leave their homes cause deep anger and resentments among the masses. The enemy has to review their policies as regards to our country. This is now an accepted fact, that Americans and other invaders are not able to continue occupation of Afghanistan through military means. It will be better for them to pull their forces out of our country and leave the Afghans to live under the shade of an Islamic system.

Hekmat: Thank you for the time to give interview.

Ahmadi: Thank you.

Source: Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Link: http://www.alemarah.info/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1217:interview-with-qari-m-yousaf-ahmadi-spokesman-of-the-islamic-emirate-of-afghanistan-about-the-general-jihadic-situation-in-helmand-and-the-neighboring-provinces.

NATO 'losing Afghan support'

Tuesday, February 23, 2010



Hamidullah says he is a member of the Taliban fighting against Operation Moshtarak - a joint Afghan-NATO offensive centered around Marjah, in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province.

He told Al Jazeera that the foreign troops' offensive is not succeeding, as they often kill civilians instead of Taliban fighters.

As a result, he says the Afghan people now support the Taliban more than before.

His statements come after a NATO air strike on what was assumed to be a bus carrying Taliban fighters on Sunday, killed 33 Afghan civilians.

Al Jazeera spoke to Hamidullah in an exclusive interview in Lashkar Gar, Helmand's capital city.

Source: Al-Jazeera.
Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/02/2010222131354638461.html.

Berri calls for Egypt summit to address Israeli threats

BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri called Tuesday for an Arab League summit in Egypt for a unified response to Israeli threats as he stressed the need to boycott Israel and end all forms of normalization with Tel Aviv.

“A response to Israeli crimes against humanity cannot be faced with statements of condemnation but calls for a united Arab stance to re-establish the decision of the Arab League boycott office and abolish all measures for normalization of ties with Israel,” Berri said.

“The Arab stance should also restore to the Palestinian cause its political and historical roots as a cause of people and rights starting with an Arab founding summit at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo rather than anywhere else to achieve Arab consensus to face Israeli challenges,” Berri added.

Earlier this month, Berri called for boycotting the upcoming Arab League summit scheduled to be held in Libya next March.

He said Lebanon should not send a delegation to the Arab League summit in Libya since it could not host such a meeting as it fueled numerous crises “from Chad to Darfur.”

The Lebanese widely blame Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for ordering the abduction of Iranian-born Lebanese Imam Moussa al-Sadr, together with his two companions, during an official trip to Libya in August 1978.

Tripoli has denied the allegations and claimed that Sadr, also the spiritual and political leader of the Movement of the Deprived (Amal) in Lebanon that is headed currently by Berri, had already left for Italy before his disappearance.

The speaker also stressed that “Israeli threats of war against Arab states as well as beyond Arab borders, [a reference to Iran] have reached their peak after attempts to rip off the Palestinian people from their land.”

Israel has lately been hurling threats of war against Lebanon, Syria and Iran with Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem and Iranian President Ahmadinejad warning Israel that they would retaliate strongly if attacked.

Commenting on Hamas official Mohammad Mabhouh’s assassination, Berri said Israel proved that it represented “the peak of official terrorism.”

After the incident, the Dubai police released names and photos of an alleged 11-member hit squad accused of stalking and killing Mabhouh.

The police appealed for an international manhunt, saying the assailants forged European passports to enter the emirates.

Hamas has accused Israel’s Mossad secret service of masterminding the slaying and has vowed revenge.

“Israel proved in sound and picture that it represented without a doubt the peak of official terrorism after the execution of the assassination operation of Mabhouh in Dubai through forgery,” the speaker said.

Berri added that the operation had been followed by another decision by Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu to annex Ibrahim Al-Khalil and Bilal Ben Rabah Mosques respectively in the cities Al-Khalil and Bethlehem to Israeli historic tourist sites.

“Israeli crimes are a continuation of a series of attempts targeted against the Palestinian people, their land, trees and history in parallel with the Israeli siege on Gaza and the rise of new settlements to suffocate Jerusalem as well as attempts to Judaize Al-Aqsa Mosque,” the speaker said.

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=112079.

UN: Haiti quake problems overwhelm world response

New York - The giant earthquake that hit Haiti has caused "huge, difficult and complex" challenges never encountered by the United Nations before, which will affect and delay the world relief to the underdeveloped Caribbean nation, a UN official said Wednesday. Not all of the 1 million Haitians who have lost their homes to the magnitude-7 quake that struck Port-au-Prince on January 12 will be sheltered when the rainy season hits in coming weeks, said Anthony Banburry.

Some 350,000 homeless have so far received shelter, living in tent cities, while a current plan calls for providing shelter to all homeless people.

"It's not going to be easy for the quake victims and we have to be realistic," said Banburry, the acting principal deputy UN special envoy for Haiti. He was sent to Haiti five days after the earthquake and has remained there with the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti.

"In Haiti, the UN response is not perfect and we still have a long way to go," he said.

Banburry said the Haitian earthquake and the massive loss of lives and buildings have created problems with a magnitude that far surpasses the humanitarian crises when the tsunami hit Indonesia in 2004 and Cyclone Nargis destroyed the delta in Myanmar in 2008.

"The earthquake was like a dagger in the heart of Haiti," Banburry said.

He cited the destruction of most major government buildings in Port-au-Prince, particularly the ministry of justice, the Supreme Court and police headquarters, which robbed the country of its judiciary system and crippled the government of President Rene Preval.

UN and Haitian officials said Wednesday the death toll from the mammoth earthquake has climbed to 222,517 and the number of injured to 310,000.

Banburry said the UN-led relief campaign to assist the 3 million people affected by the quake, including the 1 million homeless people, is "not perfect" because of the overwhelming and complex problems.

He cited the problem of shelter for the homeless. Finding a site to set up tents means clarifying land ownership and providing or certifying sanitation. Sanitation can be made worse during the rainy season because of the lack of facilities and the threat of diseases spreading among the population.

"We have to solve all those problems simultaneously," Banburry said. He said the Haitian crisis is totally different from previous humanitarian crises in which relief was handled in clusters that were not totally dependent on each other to make them work.

In Haiti, shelter and sanitation, which is a major problem, is linked with the resolution of land ownership, he said as an example.

Haiti's judiciary and police systems are overwhelmed by criminals who escaped prisons destroyed by the earthquake. About 7,000 prisoners walked out of their collapsed prisons, including an estimated 300 hardcore criminals who have regrouped into gangs, the UN said.

Banburry said the UN peacekeepers in Haiti had not been prepared to face earthquake problems and suffered the trauma of losing some of their own people to the quake.

Ninety-nine UN personnel were killed and seven are still unaccounted for, he said.

In Washington, the International Monetary Fund said it was working with Haiti's central bank to design a partial credit guarantee fund aimed at maintaining financial stability and restarting private sector credit.

"This proposal will be critical to allowing the private sector to fully play its role in rebuilding the economy and providing jobs, in the context of the broader reconstruction and economic recovery," the IMF said in a statement.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311089,un-haiti-quake-problems-overwhelm-world-response.html.

At least two of new Dubai suspects have namesakes in Israel

Tel Aviv - At least two of the 15 new suspects named by Dubai police as part of their investigation into the January murder of a Palestinian militant commander have namesakes in Israel, Israeli television reported Wednesday. A father of five from the town of Ben Shemesh, near Jerusalem, with the name of Philip Carr said he was "in shock" on hearing the news that one of the suspects had allegedly used his identity.

Carr confirmed he had a British passport, which he said he had only used once to travel abroad, because he also had Israeli and South African passports. He said he was born in Britain, but grew up in South Africa, before immigrating to Israel.

"I'm still a little in shock that I heard such a thing today. I'm simply a little in shock," he told Israel's Channel 10 news.

"It surprises me."

Mark Daniel Sklar, whose name was also on a British passport used, according to Dubai police, by one of the suspects, too said he had nothing to do with the Dubai operation.

"Of course I don't. No! No! No!," he told the channel.

"In a while it'll be 7 million, all of Israel's inhabitants," he quipped.

An Israeli man named Stephen Kayat, meanwhile, said he only had one passport, an Israeli one, with that name and that he was not the Stephen Keith Drake whose name was used in one of the allegedly fake British passports.

Some seven of the 11 suspects earlier named by Dubai police are also said to have namesakes in Israel.

Dubai authorities have said they are "99 per cent" certain the Mossad, Israel's spy agency, was behind the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a senior Hamas commander from Gaza allegedly suffocated to death in his Dubai hotel room, most likely with a pillow.

Hamas and Israel said al-Mabhouh was charged with smuggling rockets from Iran to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

The 15 new names brought to 26 the number of suspects in the case after police had identified 11 suspects earlier this month.

Twelve held British passports, six had Irish ones, four French, three Australian and one suspect carried German documents.

Channel 10's military affairs correspondent, Alon Ben-David, said it seemed unlikely to him that 26 people would have participated in the assassination of one man.

"Even if you combine together, according to the theory of espionage, according to espionage books, the team which followed him, the assassination team, those in charge of the escape and logistics, 26 sounds like a lot," he said.

He suggested some of the assassins could have used more than one identity, or some of those exposed by Dubai police as having used forged passports, following the investigation of the al-Mabhouh murder, could have been involved in an entirely unrelated mission.

"I remind you that Dubai is a center for a lot of Iranian and of terrorist activity, a place which Israel - and also the rest of the world - is very much interested in," he said.

Dubai police said 14 of the new suspects used credit cards issued by the same US bank.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311106,at-least-two-of-new-dubai-suspects-have-namesakes-in-israel.html.

First Guantanamo prisoner arrives in Spain - Summary

Madrid - An inmate from the US detention facility in Guantanamo, Cuba, arrived Wednesday in Spain, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said. The Palestinian man was the first of up to five inmates Spain has agreed to receive, in an attempt to help US President Barack Obama close the prison camp.

Rubalcaba did not give details about the prisoner's arrival, but the daily El Periodico de Catalunya said he was due to be flown in on a US military plane. An additional three Guantanamo detainees were taken on the same plane to Albania.

US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley confirmed the transfers, telling reporters in Washington the number of prisoners remaining at Guantanamo had been reduced to 188.

"We are grateful to both nations and their governments for their willingness to support US efforts to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay," he said.

The Palestinian from Gaza had lived in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, where he was detained and handed over to the United States, Palestinian officials said earlier.

Rubalcaba declined to reveal the man's identity for what he described as security reasons and to protect his privacy.

The daily El Mundo, however, identified the man as 29-year-old Walid Hijazi.

The United States believes Hijazi to have received military training at the same al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan as several of the perpetrators of the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the US, according to the daily.

Hijazi denies having links with terrorism.

Rubalcaba said the Palestinian would get a residence permit, the possibility to work and freedom of movement within Spain, though Guantanamo prisoners taken by European countries could not leave those countries.

Spain only accepted prisoners with no criminal charges in the European Union, the United States or their countries of origin, the minister said.

Other Guantanamo inmates were also expected to arrive in Spain shortly, Periodico said. They were believed to include a Syrian and a Yemeni citizen.

The prisoners will be placed under surveillance not only to protect the Spanish public, but also to protect the individuals from eventual al-Qaeda reprisals over their possible revelations to US intelligence services, according to the daily.

The inmates were to be placed in different locations under the care of non-governmental organizations.

Spain is among the European countries to accept the most prisoners from Guantanamo. Obama's self-imposed deadline for its closure passed in January.

The Spanish EU presidency has encouraged other EU countries to take detainees from the prison camp.

Spanish-US relations have improved after cooling under Obama's predecessor George W Bush, who was angered by Spain's decision to recall its troops from Iraq.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311129,first-guantanamo-prisoner-arrives-in-spain--summary.html.

Albania takes three more former Guantanamo detainees - Summary

Tirana - Albania has taken three former prisoners from the controversial US detention center for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay, the Interior Ministry confirmed Wednesday. The three men - Tunisian, Egyptian and Libyan nationals - arrived in Albania on Tuesday, following separate agreements between Tirana and Washington for each of them, the ministry said in a statement.

The three new prisoners bring to 11 those to whom Albania is providing shelter within the program to relocate freed suspects from detention to safe places in third countries. A fourth detainee, a Palestinian, was also dropped off in Spain, which has agreed to take five prisoners.

"We are grateful to both nations and their governments for their willingness to support US efforts to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay," US State Department spokesman told reporters in Washington.

The US has been harshly criticized by human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International, over the treatment of Guantanamo prisoners. Transferring prisoners to third countries is part of President Barack Obama's plan to shutter the facility. Crowley said there are now 188 prisoners still at Guantanamo.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311130,albania-takes-three-more-former-guantanamo-detainees--summary.html.

Kadyrov blames Chechens for deportation to Siberia

A puppet TV channel in the occupied Province of Nokhchicho (AKA Ichkeria) aired a program on February 23 in which Kadyrov said that Chechens were themselves responsible for the deportation of 1944, as well as for the internal exile during the present war.

He said that "the Chechens should not make similar mistakes any more".

A statement in the Chechen language, dated February 23, was read after his speech, where Kadyrov used the phrase - "Let Almighty have mercy on those who died leaving their homes ..." instead of saying "... on those who had killed by being expelled from their homes ... ".
According to the Kadyrov's statement, it seems that the Chechens went to Siberia by their own free will and were not forcibly deported.

Residents of Chechnya say that Kadyrov now seems to be very nervous. He is afraid to utter even a word that might be misinterpreted in Moscow. That is why he made this blasphemous statement that the Chechens are responsible themselves for the deportation and that they "voluntarily left their homes."

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/02/24/11493.shtml.

Tensions rise as Turkish military chiefs meet over coup plot arrests

Turkey's military has described the detention of scores of retired officers over an alleged plot to topple the government as a ''serious situation''.

All serving generals and admirals met at the headquarters of the chiefs of staff in Ankara on Tuesday to evaluate the arrest of more than 40 former officers, the army said on its website. The former officers, including previous heads of the air force and navy, were detained by police on Monday in raids across the country.

The arrests were the latest escalation of tensions between the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the military. Erdogan has taken measures to curtail the military's role in politics as Turkey chases European Union membership.

The secular military has toppled four governments since 1960, including a predecessor of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, which it suspects of introducing Islam into politics.

Possible military responses may range from mass resignation to a statement expressing faith in the judicial process, said Etyen Mahcupyan, the director of the democratization program at Tesev, an Istanbul research institute. ''For the General Staff the situation is extremely serious and this meeting reflects their need to decide on some kind of stance to adopt,'' he said.

On Tuesday seven former officers were remanded in custody in connection with the alleged plot, the Anatolia news agency reported.

They included two active-duty admirals, two retired admirals, a retired one-star general and two retired colonels. Six other suspects were released after questioning, Anatolia said.

The detentions follow a report in Taraf newspaper on January 21 that army officers drafted a plan in 2003 to stage bombings that would undermine confidence in Erdogan's government.

The Chief of General Staff, Ilker Basbug, called the allegations in Taraf ''unconscionable''.

Source: Kavkaz Center.
Link: http://kavkazcenter.com/eng/content/2010/02/24/11488.shtml.