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Saturday, May 14, 2011

6 killed in south Yemen strike

May 1, 2011

ADEN: Two servicemen and four civilians were killed and at least another 23 were wounded in south Yemen during a shutdown called by anti-government protesters on Saturday, officials said.

The defense ministry said an officer and a soldier were killed and two more soldiers were wounded, but gave no details as tension mounted in the restive region.

Local officials said protesters opened fire on troops as they tried to dismantle roadblocks set up near Al-Mansura neighborhood in Aden to demonstrate against the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Two soldiers and a civilian were wounded there, they said. They said troops moved into the area from where they suspected the attack was launched and opened fire, killing at least three civilians and wounding at least another 15 more.

The casualties were taken to a hospital in Aden, a medical source said.

Source: The Times of India.
Link: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-01/middle-east/29493255_1_three-civilians-yemen-defence-ministry.

Turkish Ambassador to Libya back at home

04 May 2011 Wednesday

Turkey's ambassador in Libya returned to Istanbul on Tuesday, one day after Turkish government announced that it temporarily closed its embassy in Tripoli.

Ambassador Salim Levent Sahinkaya and a 12-man embassy staff arrived in Istanbul after a flight from Tunisia. First group of embassy personnel had returned to Turkey last week.

Ambassador Sahinkaya said security risks had increased recently in Libya because of international military operation in Libya and the rise of armed people in streets of Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata.

He said Turkey's policy on Libya insists on stopping bloodshed and restoring peace through dialogue.

Earlier in the day, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to immediately step down "for the sake of his country's future."

"Gaddafi has ignored calls for change in Libya and instead preferred blood, tears and pressure against his own people," Erdogan told a news conference in Istanbul. "We wish that the Libyan leader immediately withdraw from the administration and leave Libya for his own sake and the sake of his country's future without leading to further destruction."

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=73302.

FM Davutoğlu to attend Cairo ceremony for Palestinian unity deal

03 May 2011, Tuesday / CUMALİ ÖNAL, CAIRO

Turkey’s foreign minister will be among dignitaries attending a signing ceremony for a reconciliation deal between rival Palestinian factions being hosted in Cairo on Wednesday.

The deal will be signed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas political bureau chief, Khaled Meshaal. In addition to Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, dignitaries attending the signing ceremony will include Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi, Egyptian intelligence Chief General Murad Muwafi, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and former US President Jimmy Carter.

This deal is intended to repair ties between Hamas and Fatah and end a bitter divide between the West Bank and Gaza. It was announced last week sending shockwaves all around the world. This reconciliation was reached less than two months after a regime change in Egypt and has been interpreted as a sign that Egypt has gained leverage in the Middle East again. It has also been considered as an indication that Israel will no longer be able to act as it wishes.

Meshaal arrived in Cairo on Sunday to sign the Egyptian-brokered deal to end the rift between his Palestinian group and Abbas’s rival Fatah. Abbas was set to arrive in the Egyptian capital on Tuesday night. The last time the two had met was in April 2007. Harshly reacting to the reconciliation, Israel suggested that Fatah should make a choice between peace and Hamas.

During the meetings in Cairo, Palestinians are expected to ask Egypt to unconditionally keep the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip open. Egypt closed the Rafah crossing following the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 and it has remained shut except for short intervals, humanitarian emergencies or high ranking officials with special permits.

On Monday Egypt said it has decided to open the Rafah crossing and indicated an opening of the crossing permanently in both directions as part of its plan to alleviate the effects of the Israeli blockade on residents of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli authorities have expressed concerns about Egypt’s decision to reopen the Rafah border crossing permanently, claiming that Palestinian militants will attempt to smuggle fighters and weapons for terrorist attacks against Israeli settlements.

Egypt, meanwhile, has warned Israeli authorities not to interfere with the decision or prevent the reopening of the Rafah crossing.

Turkey, which has maintained very close ties with Palestinian groups since Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip that started in late 2008, has exerted intense efforts aimed at stopping the Israeli attacks. It has also shuffled diplomatically between the rival Palestinian groups in order to maintain reconciliation, which it sees as a must for the prevalence of the Palestinian cause. While Fatah had constantly distanced itself from Turkey’s diplomatic efforts, Hamas had declared Turkey as fair mediator.

Last Friday Davutoğlu warned the international community not to repeat past mistakes by not lending sufficient support to the reconciliation agreement reached on Wednesday after years of bitter infighting. He called the agreement “a key window of opportunity” for an entire region that has been experiencing “an earthquake.”

On Wednesday night US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton initiated a telephone call with Davutoğlu and the two focused on the Palestinian reconciliation in their talk.

“I underlined that this reconciliation should be supported by the international community in the strongest way,” Davutoğlu said. “It is not right to hesitate here. Back in 2007, the Mecca agreement was made. Palestine has passed through a very long, troubled and painful period as the international community unfortunately did not sufficiently support the [Mecca] deal. Now, support has to be given to this [Wednesday’s] agreement,” Davutoğlu elaborated, referring to an earlier agreement signed by Hamas and Fatah in March 2007 in Mecca.

The Mecca agreement lasted for three months until the outbreak of a five-day war in Gaza, which ended with Hamas taking complete control of the territory.

Davutoğlu was reminded by reporters of Israel’s reaction to the reconciliation deal. “Unfortunately, a negative reaction has come at the first stage,” Davutoğlu said, noting that he had also shared his views on Israel’s reaction with Clinton.

“Israel should also see the Palestine reconciliation as a positive development. Up until this very moment, the Israeli side has always complained that they haven’t been able to find a counterpart on the Palestinian side; they have complained about the split. Now given that the Palestinians have this unity, everybody should feel happy about it. This [reconciliation] should not be hindered,” Davutoğlu said. “Those who hinder it will have to bear the responsibility of negative developments.”

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-242720-fm-davutoglu-to-attend-cairo-ceremony-for-palestinian-unity-deal.html.

Changing Turkish misconceptions on Kurds critical for Kurdish solution

02 May 2011, Monday
LALE KEMAL

The Turkish government deserves all the credit for initiating a Kurdish solution process back in 2009. This is despite the fact that it has not yielded much in the way of results, such as introducing legal measures to ease the problem, but this process has, for the first time, raised public awareness of the necessity to resolve the issue through non-military means.

In the meantime, expecting a quick solution to this centuries-old problem would be too optimistic as well, but if all political parties had been more determined to resolve the question, the issue would have been eased by now.

One of the main underlying causes of obstacles to the solution of the Kurdish question hindering Turkey's democratization process is the Turkish public's misconceptions about Kurds and the Kurdish armed uprising.

A British diplomat who used to serve at the British Embassy in Ankara told me that one of the difficulties in solving the problem has been the fact that, beyond the Kurdish-dominated southeastern parts of Turkey, where most of the 26-year fight against terror has taken place, most of the country has not felt the heat.

“The devastating effects of the fight have mostly been felt in the southeastern parts of Turkey. This prevents the population as a whole from understanding the essence of the problem,” he said.

Added to the problem is the state's centuries-old practice of brainwashing people in the Western parts of the country about the Kurds, who have been remembered for their uprisings since Ottoman times and portrayed negatively out of fear of Turkey's disintegration.

The emergence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) back in 1984, was the product of ill-conceived government policies that left the solution to the military, which can only solve the issue through the perspective of security.

Fifty-thousand people, mainly security forces and PKK militants, have died as a result of the fight against the outlawed group.

Solving the terrorism angle of the issue through non-military means is perhaps one of the most critical elements in resolving the problem as a whole. However, it requires courageous policies, such as introducing general amnesty for the militants in order to allow them to lay down their arms. None of the political parties appear to have come to the point of making such concessions over the terror aspect of the problem.

How Turkey's Western regions perceive the Kurds also stands as an important question to be answered in resolving the problem. In this sense, a study conducted by the İstanbul-based Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) can contribute to changing misperceptions in the Western parts of Turkey.

Positively changing the Turkish mindset on Kurds and the Kurdish question will facilitate the work of decision makers and opposition parties in taking legal steps to solve the problems, including education in the Kurdish language.

As part of its democratization program, the liberal think tank TESEV on April 25 published a new addition of their Kurdish report called, “How Legitimate Are The Kurds' Demands? The Kurdish Question Through The Lens Of Turkey's West,” written by Yılmaz Ensaroğlu and Dilek Kurban. The report was prepared after several roundtable discussions held in İzmir, Ankara, Mersin and Trabzon, all cities where Kurds do not constitute the majority of the population.

“The path to a solution will not be cleared if the social dimension of the problem is neglected, if the non-Turkish members and segments of society residing in Turkey are not taken into consideration and if a blind eye is turned to those segments' perceptions of the problem and the demands of Kurds,” the report stresses.

It goes on to say: “Thus, with the exception of a few individuals and organizations that closely monitor the Kurdish question, Turks build their understanding and opinions on the issue through the mainstream media and address the question itself only when a soldier's funeral is held in their respective village or town. This sort of engagement with the Kurdish question, needless to say, is not only problematic, but also presents serious risks for social peace. Moreover, the open exchange and discussion of opinions between different segments of society will also help establish a democratic culture and create the necessary conditions for coexistence. Only with this and similar methods can policy proposals for decision-makers have public legitimacy.”

Those who participated in TESEV meetings concluded that, just like many other problems that that have become severe, the Kurdish question stems from the state's seeking to homogenize society. Therefore, the statist discourse is what needs to be targeted first in order to solve the Kurdish question.

“All told, however, the path to a lasting solution is easy to follow: We must manage to be fair, want for ourselves what we would have wanted for others, and not do unto others what we do not want others do unto us,” the TESEV report concludes.

There is no need to add anything to the above quote.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-242578-changing-turkish-misconceptions-on-kurds-critical-for-kurdish-solution.html.

President Gül: Turkish people 'may say no' to EU membership

Sunday, May 1, 2011
ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The Turkish people might say “no” to European Union membership, just as the Norwegian public did, President Abdullah Gül told Austrian media ahead of his scheduled visit Monday to the European country.

The president discussed Turkey’s EU membership bid, Turkish foreign policy, domestic political developments and the vision for the country in an interview with Kurier, Die Presse and Der Standard, Austria’s three leading newspapers.

Der Standard published Gül’s interview in its April 29 edition with the headline, “Maybe Turkish people would say ‘no’ to EU membership.”

Told by the reporters that there is much suspicion in Austria about Turkey’s potential membership in the European bloc, Gül said: “Austrian citizens may have a different point of view against Turkey. What we should do is to introduce Turkey better in Austria. We should also explain to them that Turkey will not be a burden on Austria when it becomes an EU member. On the contrary, this will be advantageous for both parties.”

Asked his opinion about an ongoing discussion on giving lessons in Turkish in Austria schools, the president said he believes Turkish nationals living in Austria have to have two main languages and be able to speak fluently.

Noting that a common decision was made in 2005 for Turkey to start accession talks, Gül said the EU “should be true to this.”

“Referendums will take place when Turkey comes to the point of becoming a member. We respect referendums. The path leading to the EU is a long process,” he said.

The millions of Muslims in Europe cannot and should not be disregarded, Gül added, saying: “Such a thing will mean religious discrimination. It is not important whether a person is Muslim, Christian or Jewish. It is important that this person has to support fundamental principles of democracy and human rights.”

In his interview, Gül said both Turkey and Austria are the inheritors of important states and empires. “I believe we will be able to deepen economic and political relations during [my] visit,” he said. “Around 200,000 Turkish nationals are living in Austria. 100,000 of them are Austrian nationals. They are a part of Austrian society and very important for Turkish-Austrian relations.”

Source: Hürriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=gul-says-turkish-people-may-say-no-to-eu-membership-2011-05-01.

Turkish President Gül elects chief prosecutor with most votes

Sunday, May 1, 2011

President Abdullah Gül on Saturday selected Hasan Erbil, the candidate who received the highest number of votes, as the new chief prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Appeals.

Elections for the new chief prosecutor were held Thursday to replace Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya, who launched a closure case against the ruling party in 2008. The names of four candidates who ranked lower than Erbil in the elections were also sent to Gül for his consideration.

It was speculated before the election that Hakkı Manav, who has long served in the Justice Ministry in different senior positions and was perceived to be the government-backed candidate, was likely to assume the position.

Gül, who had the right to elect the new chief prosecutor from any of the five candidate members irrespective of the number of votes they received, chose Erbil instead.

The new chief prosecutor will serve for a period of four years.

Source: Hürriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=gul-elects-chief-prosecutor-with-most-votes-2011-05-01.

Prototype of first Turkish tank to be unveiled, Minister says

Sunday, May 1, 2011
ANTALYA - Anatoila News Agency

The prototype of Altay, Turkey's first national tank, is ready, announced Minister of National Defense Vecdi Gönül on Saturday evening.

Speaking to reporters in the town of Manavgat in the southern province of Antalya, Gönül said a prototype of the soon to be developed tank would be on display at a fair in Istanbul on May 10, without mentioning how much the current designs would represent the final look or technical features of the fighting vehicle.

Still, Gönül said the first Turkish tank would be better-equipped compared with all the other tanks currently used by the Turkish military.

Under a $500 million contract, Turkey’s Otokar, an automobile company and major supplier of the Turkish Military Forces, and its partners have been tasked with delivering four prototypes for the next generation of tanks by 2015. In agreement with South Korea's Hyundai Rotem, Otokar is obtaining technology transfers from the company that produced South Korea's K1 and K2 main battle tanks.

The number of Altay tanks that will be produced will be determined according to needs, Gönül said.

Source: Hürriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=outlook-of-first-turkish-tank-to-be-unveiled-minister-says-2011-05-01.

Turkey formulates 'Plan B' for refugees: making safe havens in Syria

Sunday, May 1, 2011
SEVİL KÜÇÜKKOŞUM
KONYA - Hürriyet Daily News

Establishing safe havens in Syrian territory is part of Turkey's plan to respond to a potential influx of refugees from the unrest-hit country, diplomatic sources say. Foreign Minister Davutoğlu is meanwhile urging the international community against a possible military intervention against the al-Assad regime. Describing Syria as the 'summary' of the Middle East, he has also urged the country's leader 'not to miss the chance to fix problems in Syria'.

Turkey is considering establishing safe havens on the Syrian side of the border to cope with a potential massive influx of refugees from the unrest-hit neighboring country, the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review has learned.

This “Plan B,” formulated in light of past experiences with fleeing Iraqis in the 1990s, was discussed by top government and military officials late Friday after a group of nearly 250 Syrian citizens crossed the border into Turkey.

Though the group was allowed to enter Turkey to seek asylum, the development alarmed officials about the potential for a massive influx that would carry tens of thousands to the Turkish border.

If the scale of Syrian asylum seekers remains small, as envisioned in Ankara’s “Plan A,” there will be little problem with allowing them to cross the border and receive humanitarian aid, diplomatic sources said. But if the flow turns into an influx similar to what the country faced in the early 1990s during the first Gulf War, they said, a more substantial project, described as “Plan B,” could be implemented.

This plan envisions the establishment of some safe havens on the Syrian side of the border whose security and humanitarian needs would be provided by Turkey. This would keep Turkey from permanently hosting tens of thousands of people who could return to their homes after the tension in Syria is defused.

In late 1990, nearly half a million Iraqi people crossed into Turkey, fleeing the war between the U.S.-led international community and the Saddam Hussein regime. Despite Turkey’s calls for help, it received no substantial support from the international community in extending humanitarian aid to the migrants. The potential for another massive influx across its borders during the second Iraq War in 2003 pushed Ankara to come up with the idea of establishing safe havens on the Iraqi side of the border.

The presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq was an additional reason for crafting this plan at that time. But the expected flood of migrants did not materialize and no safe havens were created.

A similar plan is being mulled by Ankara in the Syrian case, but its implementation requires compatibility with international law. Sources noted that the resolution approved by the United Nations Security Council on Libya constituted the legal basis for international humanitarian assistance to the North African country, saying a similar move for Syria could legitimize Turkey’s plans to establish such secure zones in Syrian territory.

As a sovereign state, Syria would likely oppose the idea of forming such safe havens, which would be protected by Turkish troops, within its territory. “Unless the United Nations Security Council demands such interventions, this move could be interpreted as an attempt at occupation,” an expert on international migration told the Daily News on Sunday.

The assumption Sunday of the presidency of the U.N. Security Council by France has raised expectations in the international community for a swift U.N. resolution. Earlier attempts failed due to Russia’s veto.

Politically oppressed people who are escaping from non-European countries are not accepted as “refugees” by Turkey due to its geographical limitation to the 1967-dated additional protocol of the Geneva Convention. However, it considers them as asylum seekers and meets their basic needs before they are accepted by a third country.

Dialogue with Damascus continues

In the wake of Friday’s border crossing, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu called Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallim twice late Friday to discuss the developments in the neighboring country, sources said.

Speaking to reporters Saturday, Davutoğlu dismissed the idea that Turkey would reintroduce recently lifted visa requirements for Syrian citizens, saying the country would always do its best to protect its Syrian brothers. Though Davutoğlu signaled that Turkey’s doors would be open for those who feel unsafe, he also expressed his hope that Syrian people would not need to cross into Turkey due to the ongoing turmoil in their country.

“Everybody should be able to live in his homeland in peace. This is what we want,” Davutoğlu said, urging Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to establish proper dialogue with his people.

Military intervention would harm

Davutoğlu also warned the international community not to intervene militarily in Syria. “We have to work to nullify such an option. An international intervention could cause unwanted consequences in a country like Syria, a sociologically heterogeneous society,” the foreign minister said Sunday in an interview with a private television channel.

He said there was still an opportunity for the Syrian leadership to find a solution internally but urged Damascus “not to miss this chance.”

Drawing a distinction between Syria and Egypt or other regional countries, Davutoğlu described Turkey’s neighbor as the “summary” of the Middle East. “We do not want to see a cracking of the Syrian mosaic,” he said. “We will consistently continue to advise [Syria]. We hope they will respond.”

Source: Hürriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=turkey8217s-plan-b-is-to-form-safe-havens-in-syrian-side-of-the-border-2011-05-01.

Turkey no longer has Kurdish issue, says PM Erdoğan

01 May 2011, Sunday

Turkey no longer has a Kurdish problem, and what currently remains to be addressed are the problems of individual Kurdish citizens, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Saturday during a rally at a central square in the eastern city of Muş.

Erdoğan has been holding rallies in various cities of the East and the Southeast as part of his election campaign. In the Muş rally on Saturday, tens of thousands showed up to hear Erdoğan, the prime minister and leader of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). His speech in this Kurdish-dominated city included harsh criticism of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its jailed leader Abdulah Öcalan.

He criticized the BDP, one of whose members earlier referred to Öcalan as “the Kurdish prophet,” saying: “We don’t have anything to do with those who declare Apo [how most people in Turkey refer to Öcalan] a prophet. We will be together with you against those who cheat my Kurdish brothers and sisters. We will give them the appropriate response at the ballot box.”

Erdoğan criticized the separatist PKK and the BDP, saying: “We can’t get anywhere with those who try to set one brother against another. We can’t get anywhere with those who are trying to divide this country. We can’t get our country up on its feet with the separatist terrorist organization [PKK]. We can’t get anywhere with those who try to undermine the democratic will of the people.

He recalled in his speech that the last time he had visited Muş was on Dec. 18, 2010, when he attended the opening ceremony for 106 different public facilities. He said he has visited Muş eight times since 2002, when the AK Party was first elected to power.

“This land is our land. This is our motherland. There is no discrimination, no separatism. We are one, and we are together. We will be one, we will be united, we will be big and fresh. We are like the teeth of a comb. We are like nail and cuticle. We are not friends or relatives; we are eternal brothers. We are as much as brothers as the Euphrates and the Tigris. We are as brothers as the Süphan and Ağrı [Mountains] are. We are as inseparable as the sky and the earth. Whoever says the opposite, you should know, denies history, murders truth and denies himself.”

Erdoğan said the services provided to Muş under the AK Party government had restored the city’s pride. “We are not after votes; we are not like those who become democratic all of a sudden, who suddenly remember Muş when elections are around the corner. … The pain and troubles of this region have always been our pains, too. We feel like we lost a part of our selves every time someone here died. Every tear shed in this region seeped into our hearts, conscience and soul. As weapons spoke, as bullets flew in the air, as young men died up in the mountains, our hearts burned. We have been fighting to end this pain for the past eight-and-a-half years.”

“There is no longer a Kurdish question in this country. I do not accept this. There are problems of my Kurdish brothers, but no longer a Kurdish question. …. Tayyip Erdoğan is not your master, he is your servant.” He criticized the BDP for exploiting religion, as that party has recently been calling on its supporters to refuse to pray behind imams appointed by the Turkish state during Friday prayers. He said, referring to BDP politicians: “Now they are saying, ‘Don’t pray behind a state imam.’ There are people praying here, and then those who listen to the terrorist organization [PKK] go to pray somewhere else. This is separatism. We have nothing to do with those who declare Apo a prophet. We will stand together against those who try to deceive my Kurdish brothers.”

Religious specialization center in Diyarbakır

Head of the Religious Affairs Directorate Mehmet Görmez on Saturday announced that the directorate had plans to set up a Supreme Religious Specialization Center in Diyarbakır.

He said Turkey’s Kurdish problem could not be solved by talking about brotherhood but only by “the law of brotherhood.” Görmez said: “Saying we are brothers doesn’t solve the problem. We need to emphasize the law of brotherhood. I mean there is an ethical obligation we have to each other based in our brotherhood in religion. Both they and we know that we are brothers; there is no need to declare that.”

Görmez said a State Waterworks Authority (DSİ) building that is no longer used by the agency would host the center. He said they hoped to open the center soon.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-242523-turkey-no-longer-has-kurdish-issue-says-pm-erdogan.html.

Fiercest competition to be between A-teams of AK Party and CHP

01 May 2011, Sunday / ERCAN YAVUZ, ANKARA

The leaders of Turkey’s main political parties have placed figures from their A-teams in the top positions of their deputy candidate lists for the upcoming June 12 elections.

There seems to be strong competition between the A-teams of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). AK Party leader and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu included more figures with expertise in various issues than the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).

It is in fact difficult to mention a single Erdoğan A-team as he has more than one. However, the figures that are supposed to come to the fore after the June 12 elections are Deputy Prime Ministers Cemil Çiçek and Bülent Arınç as well as Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Professor Nabi Avcı, who has been serving as the prime minister’s aide for eight years. Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin and Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergün are also expected to be Erdoğan’s favorites in the new parliamentary term.

Çiçek is expected to take an active role in the AK Party’s efforts to make a new constitution. A graduate of İstanbul University’s School of Law, Çiçek was a leading figure in late Prime Minister and President Turgut Özal’s Motherland Party (ANAP). He is among the founding members of the AK Party and served as justice minister before Ergin. He was regarded as successful during his term for managing to prepare and pass nine EU harmonization packages. He was also lauded for reaching a consensus on these amendments with the opposition parties in Parliament. Erdoğan reportedly expects a similar performance from Çiçek in efforts to make a new constitution.

Foreign Minister Davutoğlu, set to enter Parliament for the first time this year, previously served as Erdoğan’s aide. He became the first non-deputy minister to be approved for the Cabinet after the July 22, 2007 elections. Davutoğlu, who will run as a deputy candidate from Konya, is expected to continue as the foreign minister in the new Cabinet as well.

As for Arınç, he has been involved in politics since 1991 and was among the three leading figures who along with President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Erdoğan laid the foundation of the AK Party. He served as parliament speaker after the AK Party came to power in 2002 and became the deputy prime minister after the July 22 elections. He is known as the figure who changed the course of the 2007 presidential elections, when he insisted on Gül’s nomination. He is also known as a person whom Erdoğan respects very much. As a person who can even criticize the government’s actions, he is referred to as the “AK Party’s conscience.”

Erdoğan’s new favorite after the elections is expected to be his long-time aide Avcı. A graduate of Middle East Technical University’s (ODTÜ) department of international relations and political science, he served as an instructor at various universities. Avcı will run as a deputy candidate from Eskişehir, where the ruling party has not nominated any of the current deputies.

CHP’s A-team

CHP Deputy Chairman Gürsel Tekin and professors Sencer Ayata and Binnaz Toprak are the most noteworthy figures on Kılıçdaroğlu’s A-team. Tekin, who had a major role in the CHP’s elimination of the influence of former CHP Secretary-General Önder Sav, is a politician who entered politics through the Social Democratic People’s Party (SHP). He was brought to the leadership of the CHP’s İstanbul branch in 2007 and came to the fore during the March 2009 local elections. During the election campaign, he worked with Kılıçdaroğlu, the CHP’s mayoral candidate for İstanbul at the time, and increased the number of CHP votes in İstanbul when compared to other elections. He is now responsible for the CHP’s local party branches, which were once under Sav’s influence.

Another figure expected to be on Kılıçdaroğlu’s A-team after the elections is Toprak. She worked as a professor at Boğaziçi University’s department of international relations and political science before joining the CHP. Still a lecturer at Bahçeşehir University, Toprak represents the democratic and leftist face of the CHP. She is known to be the only person within the CHP to oppose the nomination of a number of suspects in the ongoing Ergenekon trial, who would run from the CHP in the elections. Ergenekon is a clandestine criminal network charged with plotting to overthrow the government.

If the CHP comes to power in the elections, the architect of the party’s social projects is expected to be Ayata. He is the son-in-law of former Foreign Minister Turan Güneş, who served in this post during Turkey’s 1974 intervention in Cyprus to protect Turkish Cypriots from Greek Cypriot attacks.

Ayata, who has given lectures at Manchester University, Harvard University and Oxford University, is the architect of Kılıçdaroğlu’s “Family Insurance Project,” through which the party will provide at least TL 600 per month to disadvantaged families. He is currently the head of the CHP’s Science, Administration and Culture Platform.

Halaçoğlu added to Bahçeli’s A-team

There is little change to the A-team of MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli. Current MHP parliamentary group deputy chairmen Oktay Vural and Mehmet Şandır and MHP Ankara deputy Deniz Bölükbaşı are expected to again be on Bahçeli’s A-team. Vural entered Parliament for the first time in 1999 while serving as the general director of the state-owned Turkish Pipeline Corporation (BOTAŞ). He served as transportation minister during the 57th government.

One of the figures the MHP seeks to use in the elections to get more votes is former Turkish Historical Society (TTK) President Professor Yusuf Halaçoğlu. He is known to be a strong denier of allegations that Armenians were subjected to genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks during World War I. In conferences and panel discussions organized by his organization, Halaçoğlu asserted that claims of genocide were completely false and that the TTK has 100,000 pages of archived documents that serve as proof, refuting allegations that Armenians faced genocide in 1915.

As for the BDP, which will run in the elections with independent candidates, the party’s backbone is to be made up of Selahattin Demirtaş, Murat Bozlak, Gülten Kışanak and Ertuğrul Kürkçü. Demirtaş, who has served as BDP co-chairman, is known for his background in law. He has worked for associations defending human rights for many years. Demirtaş entered Parliament in 2007 and is the brother of Nurettin Demirtaş, the chairman of the now-defunct Democratic Society Party (DTP).

Bozlak, a former chairman of the People’s Democracy Party (HADEP) -- yet another Kurdish party shut down by the Constitutional Court -- is expected to be the leader of the BDP if elected. He was banned from politics for five years after HADEP was shut down in 2002 and is known for criticizing Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Kürkçü is known as a human rights activist and a socialist. He is a prominent name from Turkey’s armed 1968 leftist movement. He was among the seven independent deputy candidates supported by the BDP who were disqualified by a Supreme Election Board (YSK) decision. In its decision, the YSK said the nominees who were disqualified from running in the June elections had past convictions in terrorism-related crimes. However, mounting negative reactions worked and the YSK reversed its decision three days later. In its new decision, the election board said six of the candidates were eligible to run in the elections.

The BDP also seeks to get the support of religious Kurds through journalist Altan Tan, who is close to religious groups in the region. He is also an independent candidate for the BDP from Diyarbakır and is expected to be an influential BDP figure.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-242448-fiercest-competition-to-be-between-a-teams-of-ak-party-and-chp.html.

Erdogan's Party Set for More Impressive Election Win than in 2007

April 30, 2011, Saturday

Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is likely to win more votes in the upcoming general elections than it had in 2007, a poll shows.

According to a public opinion survey published Saturday in the Turkish daily Sabah, Erdogan will win a third consecutive term in the elections on June 12, 2011.

The poll carried out between April 12 and April 27, shows that the Justice and Development Party will get 48.7% of the votes in Turkey, a better result than the 46.6% it received four years ago.

A total of 2 250 votes in 60 Turkish districts were polled. The opposition Republican People's Party is predicted to get 25% of the votes, the conservative Party of the Nationalist Movement – 11.9%, and the ethnic Kurdish party for Peace and Democracy – 6.4%, below the 10% threshold for entering Parliament.

The estimates take into account the Turkish electoral system, which redistributes the votes for parties that get fewer than 10% of the cast votes.

Source: Sofia News Agency.
Link: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=127801.

Global summit for women to be held in Istanbul

Saturday, April 30, 2011

The so-called Davos Summit for women, the Global Summit of Women will take place next week in Istanbul with the participation of Emine Erdoğan, wife of the Turkish prime minister.

The Global Summit of Women was conceived as the nexus at which all sectors – public, private and nonprofit – can come together under the common vision of dramatically expanding women’s economic opportunities globally through exchanges of working solutions and creative strategies forged by female leaders in different parts of the world. It is a business summit whose “business” focus is women’s advancement in the global economy.

This year’s summit which will take place May 5-7 will be attended by Joyce Banda, the vice president of Malawi, Nguyen Thi Doan, vice president of Vietnam, as well as the first ladies of Namibia and Malaysia.

A youth forum will also be organized during the summit, where successful young businesswomen will share their experiences with at least 150 university students.

“I wanted university students to see that they don’t have to reach mid age in order to come to prominent positions in the business world. The panelists are businesswomen aged between 20 and 30 who are leading successful businesses in various parts of the world,” said Irene Natividad, the summit president.

Tülin Akın, the owner of a website on agricultural products, is among the speakers of the panel that will be moderated by Cathy Martin, an executive from McDonald’s.

Ümit Boyner, the head of Turkish Industry and Business Association, or TÜSİAD, Suzan Sabancı, chairwoman of Akbank, and Serpil Timuray, the chief executive officer of Vodafone Turkey, are among the participants from the Turkish business world. There will also be a special session on doing business in Turkey.

There will be a session forum for first ladies and deputy prime ministers, as well as a forum for female CEOs during which trends set to affect the 21st-century workplace will be discussed.

“Building a business using technology” and “Water – The ‘Oil’ of the 21st Century – and Women” are some of the themes of the summit.

In the Leadership Development Track session, participants will discuss issues like how work/life policies and practices can improve the economic life of women, communicating effectively in the workplace and leading teams effectively.

Turkish ministers Mehmet Şimşek, Nimet Çubukçu and Selma Aliye Kavaf will also attend the summit.

Source: Hürriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=davos-for-women-to-meet-in-istanbul-2011-04-27.

Turkey demolishes Armenia peace statue

KARS, Turkey, April 28 (UPI) -- Turkey has begun demolishing a statue meant to celebrate reconciliation with Armenia a few months after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced it as a "freak," in a sign that the peace process between both nations has hit a roadblock.

The 100-foot-high statue depicts two men facing each other, with one extending a hand to the other. It was erected on a hill in the Turkish city of Kars, near the Armenian border.

As Kars once was home to a large Armenian community, local authorities commissioned the statue a few years ago when Turkey and Armenia tried to reconcile after a conflict that dates back several decades.

Armenia has long accused Turkey of committing genocide against its population during the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of the 20th century. Ties are strained further over a recent territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a close Turkish ally.

When the Turkish-Armenian peace process began to stall last year, Turkish nationalists and officials from Azerbaijan denounced the statue.

The most prominent critic was Erdogan, who during a visit to Kars in January called the so-called Statue of Humanity "a freak," adding it was an insult to a nearby shrine from the 11th century.

Artists tried to save the statue but failed. Preparations for the dismantling began April 24, the day Armenians usually remember the alleged genocide.

"I am really sorry, sorry on behalf of Turkey," the Anatolia news agency quoted the statue's sculptor Mehmet Aksoy as saying. "They can demolish it, we will remake it."

The conflict over the statue is the latest sign that the Turkish-Armenian peace process has come to a standstill.

Many Armenians -- mainly those living abroad -- are against normalizing relations because they are descendants of families that experienced the 1915-23 violence that killed up to 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.

Armenia has tried to convince European allies that genocide took place, a charge Turkey vehemently denies. Ankara describes the killing as a civil war, saying that people on both sides died.

In Turkey, people are also critical of Armenia's occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave in neighboring Azerbaijan. In 1993 Ankara severed ties with Armenia when it fought a war with Azerbaijan, a close Turkish ally.

In October 2009, the peace process had hit its high, when Turkey and Armenia after decades of conflict signed documents to re-establish ties and reopen the countries' mutual border. Yet disagreements over the ratification of the accords resulted in a stalemate that hasn't been resolved.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/04/28/Turkey-demolishes-Armenia-peace-statue/UPI-83551303992603/.

Erdoğan's 'crazy' canal

Thursday, April 28, 2011
SEMİH İDİZ

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan finally announced his “crazy project” on Wednesday. For weeks he has been “teasing” the public by saying, in effect, “we have a project that will blow everyone’s mind.” Well it is indeed a “crazy” project he has unveiled. He plans to join the Black and Marmara Seas with a 45-kilometer canal, which will amount to a new Bosphorus west of the existing one.

Erdoğan did not mention it of course, but the fact is, this project is not his or the Justice and Development Party, or AKP’s, brainchild. Not only has it been discussed since the early years of the Ottoman Empire, but it was also proposed in 1994 by the late Bülent Ecevit, a former prime minister and founder and head of the Democratic Left Party, or DSP.

It would have been proper for Erdoğan to pay tribute to Ecevit, but given Turkey’s current vitriolic political environment, this would also have been “magnanimity beyond the call of political expediency,” at a time when the general elections are so close. AKP supporters are now saying even if it was Ecevit’s idea; it is Erdoğan who will realize it.

Critics point out that the AKP mayor of Ankara could not even complete the metro line that will connect the center of the city with the new suburbs that emerged in the Eskişehir highway direction. They said the AKP’s minister for transportation had to take this project away from the Ankara mayor to expedite its completion, but has done little yet.

This may be splitting hairs, but it is a fact that Erdoğan’s “crazy project,” as he himself dubbed it using the term “crazy” in a positive sense of course, does in fact have to be seen to take off first before any hope can be invested in its completion. And even that may not be enough since Turkey is full of half-finished projects.

None of this should lead anyone to think Turkey can not undertake such a massive project, which it is said will outdo the Panama Canal. The same skepticism was expressed at the time when the Southeastern Anatolian Project, known as GAP and involving a network of massive dams, was initially announced.

Turkish contractors, engineers and architects also proved their mettle in Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. Erdoğan’s “crazy project” is therefore “feasible” as far as Turkish engineering and building capacity is concerned.

There also appears to be valid arguments about increasing shipping safety in the congested Bosphorus, one of the busiest waterways in the world running through the middle of a major city, by channeling shipping, especially oil tankers, through the new canal, which has been given the name “Kanal Istanbul.”

This, they argue, with reason, will reduce the risk of a major disaster in metropolitan Istanbul, which has already seen major tanker accidents and explosions in the past. The biggest and most dangerous one was the Independenta accident in 1979 when the Bosphorus was much less congested than it is today.

There is also the argument that a new waterway will also serve the whole Balkan region, and all the countries with a Black Sea coast, thus increasing Istanbul’s importance in international trade. Neither can the fact that this project will generate fresh money and jobs be overlooked it is said.

Politically speaking, on the other hand, the new canal will also be free of any encumbrances that the Bosphorus is subject to due to the Montreux Treaty. This will after all be a Turkish project, executed by Turks and owned and run by Turkey. There is also the promise of a new satellite city that will emerge as a result of this project, reducing, it is said, the demographic pressures on metropolitan Istanbul.

All of this, when put together, indeed makes the project sound feasible. But whether it is also “reasonable” at this point in time is another matter. Already there are well known architects, engineers and social scientist who say the whole thing sounds nice to the ear, but there are major environmental, climactic, demographic and social implications which should not be whitewashed.

They indicate that because of these implications such a massive project should be debated democratically by the public first before any final commitment is made. The major critics of the project appear, therefore, to have equally valid points. Turkey may be the 16th largest economy in the world, and it is more than conceivable it will be within the first 10 economies by 2050, if not sooner.

The fact is, however, there are major issues of social inequality and regional disparity that have to be address urgently. When looked at Turkey from the perspective of per capita income it certainly does no justice to the fact that it is the 16th largest economy in the world.

Southeast Anatolia is a case in point, being a region that requires massive investments in order to catch up with the Western Anatolia. Neither does this mean there are no poverty stricken regions in Western or Central Anatolia. Istanbul being a microcosm of Turkey, the same disparities can be seen within that city alone.

In addition to this Istanbul, one of the largest cities in the world in terms of population is also a city facing the threat of a major earthquake. Scientists tell us it is imminent that an earthquake will hit the city, even if the time cannot be predicted.

Given the shabby quality of much of the buildings of “old Istanbul,” which represents large swathes of the city, and the equally shabby construction practices in large parts of new Istanbul, it is clear the city needs major rehabilitation and reinforcement projects to increase public security.

It is being said Erdoğan’s “crazy project” will cost at least $10 billion to build, and probably much more than that. It will also use up major resources given the AKP plans for the project to be completed by 2023, the centenary of the Turkish Republic. This race against time will be politicized in Turkey so there is the risk that other major public works will be neglected in order to finish “Canal Istanbul.”

At the end of the day it is all in the “eye of the beholder” whether this canal project is a good or a bad one. There are arguments both ways. There are also those who remind us of Roosevelt’s “New Deal” that involved such massive projects helped the country out of recession. Turkey is not in recession but it does have mass unemployment. Therefore this project can help alleviate this.

But there are other massive projects in the area of housing, healthcare, better education, reforming the agriculture sector, modernizing Turkey’s army, mainly by moving to a professional army, rather than a conscript one, that perhaps need much more urgent attention.

Looked from this perspective, Republican People’s Party, or CHP, leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu seems to be speaking the truth when he says this massive project of Erdoğan’s, similar to all his other projects, has a missing link, namely the “human component.”

It is also a fact, however, Erdoğan has dazzled many with his “crazy project,” but whether he will benefit from this in term of the elections to the extent he wants, and whether he can even start the project remains very much to be seen.

Source: Hurriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=erdogan8217s-8216mad-project8217-2011-04-28.

Turkish activists prepare new Gaza flotilla

Wednesday, April 27, 2011
ISTANBUL – The Associated Press

Pro-Palestinian activists are in the final stages of organizing a sea convoy to Gaza that will likely be much bigger than a similar flotilla that was raided by Israeli forces last year, according to organizers.

The campaign sets up the possibility of another showdown with Israel, which eased its land blockade of Gaza following the international furor over last May’s raid that left nine activists dead, as it gears up to thwart any attempt to breach its blockade off the Gaza coast.

Eight Turks and one Turkish-American died in the botched commando operation on a Turkish boat, the Mavi Marmara, which was part of the flotilla in May 2010. The incident drew world attention to the humanitarian situation in Gaza and sent ties between former allies Israel and Turkey plummeting to a new low.

Activists on the boat said they acted in self-defense in international waters during the melee, but Israel said troops opened fire after coming under assault by men with clubs and axes as they rappelled from helicopters during the nighttime raid onto the ship's deck. Seven Israeli soldiers were wounded.

Hüseyin Oruç, a spokesman for İHH, an Islamic aid group that operates the Mavi Marmara, said an international coalition of 22 non-governmental groups hope to send 15 vessels with up to 1,500 people in this year’s flotilla. Last year, six ships and about half that number participated.

The target date for the departure of the new flotilla is the first anniversary of the raid, May 31, but it could be delayed, partly because it clashes with campaigning for Turkey’s election on June 12. Organizers said the new effort included activists from Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Canada and the United States.

The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, or İHH, conducts many of its regional missions to help Palestinian refugees. Israel has accused the group of terrorist links, though it is not on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

Source: Hurriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=activists-prepare-new-gaza-flotilla-2011-04-27.

Iraq plans to nominate candidate to head Arab League

By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
April 30, 2011

Iraq is considering nominating an Iraqi candidate for the post of Arab League secretary general.

Manama: Baghdad is mulling the nomination of an Iraqi candidate for the position of Arab League secretary general, a lawmaker has said.

Two weeks before the Arab states choose a new secretary general to replace Amr Moussa who is leaving to contest in the presidential elections in Egypt later this year, only Qatari Abdul Rahman Al Atiyyah and Egyptian Mustafa Al Fiqi have submitted their candidacies.

"We have floated the idea of selecting an Iraqi personality to head the Arab League," Rafaa Abdul Jabbar Nooshi, member of the parliament's foreign affairs committee, said. "Iraq has a number of competent personalities who can manage the Arab League," he said, quoted by Qatar News Agency. The MP did not, however, mention any names.

Iraqi political formations have nominated Eyad Allawi to replace Amr Moussa when he steps down next month.

British-educated neurologist Allawi, 66, left Iraq after turning against Saddam Hussain in the 1970s, but became interim prime minister in 2004. Last year, his bloc won the most votes in Iraq's general elections.

Al Atiyyah was the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council and left it in March at the end of his third term.

Mustafa Al Fiqi is a former presidential aide.

Source: Gulf News.
Link: http://gulfnews.com/news/region/iraq/iraq-plans-to-nominate-candidate-to-head-arab-league-1.801351.

Emirates lofts satellite to boost military

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UPI) May 2, 2011

The United Arab Emirates has launched its fifth communications satellite, the first to provide secure and independent telecommunications for its armed forces as Persian Gulf Arab state boost their military capabilities against Iran.

The Emirates spearhead efforts by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council to acquire its own military surveillance satellite system to bolster the early warning system they have been seeking to develop for several years.

The next step is likely to be the launch of a military spy satellite, although there have been no definite indications that such a step is in the offing.

The GCC states -- the others are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain -- have been talking about a joint early warning system for a decade but, largely due to dynastic squabbles within the alliance established in 1982 at the height of the Iran-Iraq war, this and other GCC military aims remain unfulfilled.

However, the growing tension between the GCC states and Iran could provide the spur to set aside their differences and work together to develop their common military capabilities and lessen their dependence on the United States for early warning.

The Emirates' Y1A satellite was launched April 24 from the European Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana atop an Ariane 5 rocket.

It was built by Yahsat, the Emirates' Al Yah Satellite Communication Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mubadala Development Co., in Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich economic powerhouse of the seven-member federation.

Mubadala, the government's investment arm, is heavily involved in the Emirates' drive to build up its defense industry.

The satellite was developed and built by Astrium, the aerospace subsidiary of the European Aeronautics Defense and Space Co. and Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France. That's owned by Thales Aerospace of France and Finmeccanica of Italy.

The satellite, based on Astrium's highly successful Eurostar E3000 platform, had been scheduled for launch March 31 but that was delayed for technical reasons.

A second satellite, Y1B, is scheduled for launch in the last quarter of the year to complete the $1.6 billion Yahsat program.

Y1A and Y1B will also provide commercial communications across the Middle East, Africa, South West Asia and Europe.

The development of the Emirates satellite has strategic implications for the Gulf Arab states.

The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology runs the satellite program.

The Emirates, a regional leader in the telecommunications sector, launched its first satellite, the 419-pound DubaiSat-1, July 29, 2001, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, former center of the Soviet space program.

The remote sensing satellite, carried in the nose cone of a Russian Dnepr rocket, was lofted into orbit 425 miles above the Earth and had an operating life of five years.

DubaiSat-1 was built by a South Korean company, Satrec Initiative, aided by 16 Emirates engineers. DubaiSat-2, scheduled for launch in 2012, is being built at a new facility in the emirates.

The United Arab Emirates has established itself as the space technology hub in the region and has had dealings with foreign companies that specialize in military satellites.

In September 1997, Hughes Space and Communications International of the United States signed a $1 billion communications satellite deal, at that time the Arab world's largest satellite contract, with Abu Dhabi's Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Organization, which groups investors in 14 Arab states.

Thuraya has placed three communications into orbit. It's one of the biggest telecommunications companies in the Middle East. Its main shareholder is the state-run Emirates Telecommunications Co.

That deal, Hughes' first in the Arab world, edged out Lockheed Martin and France's industrial giant Aerospatiale, ended the monopoly of the Middle East's satellite industry which had been held by Aerospatiale.

The French company had launched the Arab world's five communications satellites operated by the Arab Space Telecommunications Corporation, known as Arabsat.

Other international companies are also zeroing in on the Emirates to develop satellite business in the Persian Gulf.

These include 4C Controls, a New Jersey satellite concern established by several French space industry executives. Among its executives is Philippe Aubrey, one of the architects of France's Helios military surveillance satellite.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Emirates_lofts_satellite_to_boost_military_999.html.

Qatar Charity to launch QR11m educational projects in Gaza

Monday, 02 May 2011

Gaza: Qatar Charity, and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and the University of Al Azhar, and the Islamic University in Gaza Strip have signed a memoranda of understanding on cooperation for the establishment of projects to support the basic and higher education sector in Palestine.

The projects are funded by a GCC countries program and is managed by the Islamic Development Bank.

They include repair of school buildings and import of equipment for laboratories as well as setting up of three teacher training centers.

The projects are expected to be completed by end of 2011. The memoranda of understanding were signed at the premises of authorities concerned.

The Charity said it had signed contracts with the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to repair 18 school buildings and refurbish the science and engineering laboratories at the Palestine University in Gaza. QNA

Source: The Peninsula.
Link: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/150839-qatar-charity-to-launch-qr11m-educational-projects-in-gaza.html.

Syria: Freedom Rap Denouncing Corruptive al-Assad Regime

Thursday, 28 April 2011

Global Arab Network - A rap about desire for freedom, denouncing the corruptive regime of Bashar al-Assad: this song was uploaded by an anonymous artist to encourage Syrians to join the anti-government movement currently taking place in the country. Local musicians have been inspired by the uprising and are sharing their works online.

songs are often illustrated with amateur footage of the protests and the repression by the authorities. Like in this video clip for example, which calls upon the people to break the chains of tyranny.

The same message is put forward in this song called "Raise your head" which encourages citizens to take a stand against the government by taking to the streets.

The singer Samih Choucair has composed this song which pays tribute to the many protesters killed over recent weeks, in Deraa, where the uprising began over a month ago.

It is a way of denouncing the violent repression in this southern Syrian city: soldiers backed up by tanks arrived in Deraa on Monday, as we can see in these amateur videos which have been posted online.

Source: Global Arab Network.
Link: http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/2011042810844/Entertainment/songs-of-the-syrian-uprising.html.

Syrian troops said to enter northern Lebanon; Muslim Brotherhood issues statement

Monday, May 2, 2011

NICOSIA — The Syrian Army has begun to enter neighboring Lebanon as part of efforts to quell the revolt against the regime of President Bashar Assad.

Opposition sources said Syrian troops have been seen in northern Lebanon in pursuit of alleged Islamic insurgents. They said the Syrian Army has been deployed on both sides of the border in an effort to stop people from fleeing to Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood issued a rare statement: "You were born free, so don't let a tyrant enslave you."

"Syrians escaping oppression in Latakia and Banias are heading to Wadi Khalid considered a no-man's land in Lebanon," the opposition Reform Party of Syria said.

The Washington-based RPS did not say how many Syrians fled to northern Lebanon, Middle East Newsline reported. But the opposition group said Syrian troops already entered the territory of their eastern neighbor in search for anti-Assad activists.

"Unless the Lebanese media heads to the region to cover why the Syrian army is on Lebanese soil, RPS expects a large scale massacre in this remote region," the opposition group, regarded as authoritative, said.

This was believed to have marked the first Syrian Army incursion into Lebanon since Assad's troops withdrew from that country in 2005. Damascus retains a huge intelligence presence among the more than 1.2 million Syrian laborers in Lebanon.

The Assad regime has confirmed that the Army was searching border areas for what it called "armed terrorist gangs." Officials said Syrian troops were hunting for anti-Assad fighters along the borders of Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. They said a Syrian Army outpost near the Jordanian border was captured by unidentified fighters.

"We stress that the number of the Army and police martyrs reached 78, and the number of civilians reached 70 since the eruption of the mercenary violence that targeted the safety of citizens and homeland," a Syrian military source told the official Sana news agency.

The revolt has spread to most major cities in Syria but appeared strongest in Dera, near the Jordanian border, where thousands of Syrian troops and scores of main battle tanks were deployed. Nearly 300 people have been killed by Syrian Army and police fire in Dera since March.

Source: World Tribune.
Link: http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2011/me_terror0520_05_02.asp.

Syria arrests women, opposition figures-rights groups

Sat Apr 30, 2011

(Reuters) - Syrian security forces on Saturday arrested two veteran opposition figures and a group of female protesters as part of a crackdown on pro-democracy campaigners, rights groups said.

The reports came as the Syrian human rights organization Sawasiah said security forces had killed at least 560 civilians since protests started just over six week ago.

Security agents detained Hassan Abdel Azim, 81, in Damascus, and Omar Qashash, 85, in Aleppo, said the Syrian Center for the Defense of Prisoners of Conscious.

Other rights campaigners said security forces arrested 11 women who marched in a silent all-women demonstration in the Salhyia district of Damascus on Saturday.

The march was in support of residents of the city of Deraa, where President Bashar al-Assad has sent tanks to crush an uprising against his rule. (Reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/30/syria-arrests-urgent-idUSLDE73T0AU20110430.

Muslim Brotherhood cries genocide in Syria

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 (UPI) -- The exiled Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood described alleged attacks by Syrian forces on protesters as an act of genocide.

The U.N. Human Rights Council passed a measure Friday condemning the Syrian government for its brutal crackdown on pro-reform demonstrators.

"Significantly, today's resolution mandates an urgent mission by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law, with the goal of ensuring full accountability for the perpetrators of the violence," said Susan Rice, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations, in a statement. "The United States strongly supports this decision."

Syria's Muslim Brotherhood group in a statement expressed its support for demonstrators in Syria and called on them to unite in a singular voice of freedom, a posting on the main group's official Ikhwanweb site states.

The movement said the attacks on protesters in Syria was an act of genocide and dismissed the official Syrian narrative that outsiders and thugs were behind the violence.

If the regime in Damascus was serious about reforms, the group said, it would put an end to the violence.

Syrian President Bashar Assad enacted a serious of reforms in an apparent attempt to address protester demands. Rice in comments earlier this week suggested that, given the level of violence in Syria, those reforms were a sham.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/04/29/Muslim-Brotherhood-cries-genocide-in-Syria/UPI-48211304108193/.

Hamas leadership denies move from Damascus to Qatar

Apr 30, 2011

Gaza City/Cairo - Hamas's exiled leadership is not planning to move its headquarters from Syria to Qatar, a senior official from the group said Saturday, denying earlier media reports.

The group's political leaders have been based in Syria since 1999.

'Our bureau is still working and being supported by the government in Damascus,' Doctor Ahmad Yousef, political adviser of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, told the German Press Agency dpa.

According to the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat, Hamas leaders are to leave Syria and relocate to the Gulf state.

But Yousef told dpa the report was 'completely nonsense.'

Izzat al-Rishq, a Syria-based member of the politburo, also said that the movement 'still manages its political and media activities from Damascus' and said 'there is no change to Hamas' presence in Damascus.'

Qatar has reportedly agreed to a request to host the politburo, led by Khaled Meshaal, but has refused to host the group's military wing.

The London-based daily also reported that Jordan and Egypt had rejected a similar request, though Egypt has allowed Hamas to open a bureau.

Saturday's report came after representatives from Hamas and Fatah announced in Cairo their intention to reconcile after a four-year bitter and at times violent rift that has seen Hamas administer the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the control of the Fatah dominated Palestinian Authority.

It also comes amid a bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters in Syria that has left more than 450 killed since mid-March.

Over the past decade, Qatar has been a key United States ally as it hosts the largest US military base in the Middle East as well as being a growing force in the region.

However, leaked cables have shown that the United States was concerned with Qatar's continuing support of Hamas via charity organizations.

Reports said that Qatar has channeled around 50 million dollars to Hamas over the past five years.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1636131.php/Hamas-leadership-denies-move-from-Damascus-to-Qatar.

In Syria's rebel city 'they will shoot anything that moves'

Sunday 1 May 2011

Deraa is the center of the revolt against the Assad regime. Here, a resident of a village on its outskirts describes life under siege.

There was shooting again last night. It has become routine. We haven't slept more than two hours at a time since the shooting began. It stops and then starts again. There is maybe one hour break between shooting.

We are like hostages in our homes. We are surrounded by tanks.

Yesterday we heard another three were killed. They were trying to go out to support the martyrs from Deraa, and the army shot them. They were only young; 18, 19, 22. There were more injured as well – 16 more from here but I don't know how many more nearby, because we can't communicate.

We are distributing all the injured among the houses because we are not allowed to take them to hospitals. We are trying to treat them for gunshot wounds inside the houses, but we don't have any medical equipment, we don't have any anesthetics or even enough bandages– just basic first aid. Some of them are critical. There is no medical aid at all, and the doctors who try to treat the wounded are being arrested or shot.

We haven't had any electricity for five days now, and no water. There's no gas. We are living by candlelight at night. We don't have any food. We are surviving on the pickled vegetables that we store over the year, that's all we have left to eat. We had tank water but today we heard the army has shot the tanks.

Yesterday the army came to the houses and ordered the women to come out. They handed them loaves of bread and held guns to their heads then made them hand them to people in front of the state television cameras, so it looked like we had food and that everything is fine here. It's not and we don't have any food. I don't know what happened to the bread.

Anyone here who leaves the house is being shot. There are snipers on every building and the army is in the streets. We are just staying inside now, because you know now that if you try to leave the house, you are already a dead man. They will shoot anything that moves. And if soldiers refuse to fire on people, they are executed. These are all the fourth division soldiers in uniform.

They even shot a little girl, Shiraz. She was just playing in front of her house and they shot her. We still have not been able to bury her because they are shooting at the funerals.

Another pregnant woman was killed. She was in her eighth month and they shot her. She was just trying to get to the doctor. This is how brutal they are.

There are still 37 people that we haven't buried. We have had to store them in refrigerators or in the houses. We can't bury them because they are shooting on the funerals. We can't take them to the cemetery, so we built a small cemetery close to my village here where we are burying some of the dead. I heard that in the town center there are still corpses in the street.

Today the soldiers have been coming from house to house and arresting a lot of the men. We have nowhere to go.

The kids are not going to school. They are afraid, of course, but I am telling them the truth, that we are doing this for freedom. We have been 40 years without freedom under this regime and we need to fight. This president is worse than Hitler.

It's dangerous for me to talk on the phone, but we need to do this. We will do whatever it takes for the world to hear our stories and hear what is really happening here.

We need people to know that the rumors that the state television is saying, that there are terrorists and Salafi groups are not true. We are all one family here.

There is no difference between us, whether we are Christian, Muslim, Druze, Shia, Sunni, it doesn't matter. We need people to know this – come and see how the army is killing our children, our women and parents. If the rumors were true, why don't they let the world come in and see?

We want to send our message to the whole world to stand with us. They are sending messages from the UN and the EU, and we thank the countries that are standing with the Syrian people for what we are asking for. But we need more help from the Arab leaders to have the courage to stand with us.

We need an investigation into the killing. We need people to see with their own eyes what is happening here.

We want to thank all the European countries and the US and the UK and we ask the Russians not to stand with the regime by supporting them and supplying them with weapons.

We also want to thank the King of Jordan for keeping the mobile phones from Jordan open, which has been the only way we can communicate.

We don't need anything, but a safe passage out of here and for the world to hear the truth. Thank you for listening to our story.

Source: The Guardian.
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/01/syria-middleeast.

Turkish activists prepare new Gaza flotilla

Wednesday, April 27, 2011
ISTANBUL – The Associated Press

Pro-Palestinian activists are in the final stages of organizing a sea convoy to Gaza that will likely be much bigger than a similar flotilla that was raided by Israeli forces last year, according to organizers.

The campaign sets up the possibility of another showdown with Israel, which eased its land blockade of Gaza following the international furor over last May’s raid that left nine activists dead, as it gears up to thwart any attempt to breach its blockade off the Gaza coast.

Eight Turks and one Turkish-American died in the botched commando operation on a Turkish boat, the Mavi Marmara, which was part of the flotilla in May 2010. The incident drew world attention to the humanitarian situation in Gaza and sent ties between former allies Israel and Turkey plummeting to a new low.

Activists on the boat said they acted in self-defense in international waters during the melee, but Israel said troops opened fire after coming under assault by men with clubs and axes as they rappelled from helicopters during the nighttime raid onto the ship's deck. Seven Israeli soldiers were wounded.

Hüseyin Oruç, a spokesman for İHH, an Islamic aid group that operates the Mavi Marmara, said an international coalition of 22 non-governmental groups hope to send 15 vessels with up to 1,500 people in this year’s flotilla. Last year, six ships and about half that number participated.

The target date for the departure of the new flotilla is the first anniversary of the raid, May 31, but it could be delayed, partly because it clashes with campaigning for Turkey’s election on June 12. Organizers said the new effort included activists from Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Latin America, Canada and the United States.

The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, or İHH, conducts many of its regional missions to help Palestinian refugees. Israel has accused the group of terrorist links, though it is not on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

Source: Hurriyet.
Link: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=activists-prepare-new-gaza-flotilla-2011-04-27.

Syria arrests hundreds, shells Deraa into submission

By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
Sun May 1, 2011

(Reuters) - Security forces arrested hundreds of pro-democracy sympathizers in cities across Syria after taking control of the city of Deraa, cradle of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's autocratic rule.

Looking for men under 40 years old, security forces broke into houses Sunday in the old quarter of Deraa, which a tank-backed force led by Assad's brother Maher shelled into submission the day before, witnesses told Reuters by telephone.

Prominent rights campaigners were also arrested in the eastern cities of Qamishli, Raqqa and in suburbs of Damascus, along with scores of ordinary Syrians active in mass protests demanding political freedoms and an end to corruption.

Syrians kept up the protests despite the arrests and violent repression that has resulted in the killing of at least 560 civilians by Assad's security forces, human rights groups say.

In the central city of Homs thousands marched chanting "downfall of the regime."

In the town of Rastan to the north a funeral was held for 17 men killed when military intelligence agents fired at a protest Friday during which the names of 50 resigning ruling Baath Party members were being read.

Signs of discontent have been also emerging in the majority Sunni army, which is controlled by minority Alawite officers, the same sect as Assad.

Two thousand Kurds in the village of Karbawi near Qamishli attended the funeral of 20-year-old conscript Ahmad Fanar Mustafa, whose father accused security forces of killing for refusing to take part in the repression.

Fanar Mustafa refused to let the governor of the province attend the funeral of his son.

"They kill and then they want to march in the funeral of the murdered," the father was quoted as saying by a witness at the funeral.

In Deraa, where the protests first erupted on March 18, a witness said young men in the old quarter fled to safety in neighboring villages to the west as 450 men under the age of 40 were dragged from their homes.

The witness, a trader who ducked Syrian security and crossed into the Jordanian city of Ramtha Sunday said the authorities were cleaning Deraa of blood from dozens of youths killed by machinegun fire.

Security forces drove away two trucks with the bodies of 68 civilians killed since Assad sent tanks into Deraa Monday.

"Bullets are their response to the people's revolt. The security forces who came to Deraa told us 'Go buy bread from a bakery called Freedom. Let's see if it feeds you'," said a prominent lawyer in Deraa who declined to be identified further.

Foreign media are banned from Syria.

(Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/01/us-syria-idUSLDE73N02P20110501.

Hamas wants Palestinian state in West Bank, Gaza

CAIRO | Wed May 4, 2011

(Reuters) - Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said on Wednesday that the Islamist group wanted the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state on land of the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Jerusalem as its capital.

"Our aim is to establish a free and completely sovereign Palestinian state on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, whose capital is Jerusalem, without any settlers and without giving up a single inch of land and without giving up on the right of return (of Palestinian refugees)," Meshaal told a ceremony in Egypt to endorse a reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah movement.

(Reporting by Marwa Awad, Writing by Sami Aboudi)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/04/us-palestinians-reconciliation-hamas-idUSTRE7432Q220110504.

Syria shockwaves sweep across Middle East

Peter Beaumont, foreign affairs editor
Saturday 30 April 2011

The Observer's encounter with Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, was an oddly informal one in a country deeply suspicious of the foreign media. An interview with his British-born wife, Asma, had been arranged, but as it ended, an aide to the president invited me to coffee with Assad himself.

Sitting somewhat awkwardly on the vast plush sofas of his reception room in the "official palace" – a place, he explained, where he did not actually live – he asked as many questions as he answered. In a conversational tone, Assad said he wanted peace with Israel, talked about reform, discussed relations with the US, and reflected on his father's harsh line on Islamists.

Syria's new president seemed then, almost a decade ago, a plausible figure, uncertain and almost modest, an impression encouraged by the marketing of him in the west by the British PR agency Bell Pottinger. He had been president for two years, having in 2000 succeeded his authoritarian father Hafez al-Assad, the man who had founded Syria's Ba'athist republic after seizing power during a coup d'etat in 1970. That early image is one that Assad and his wife have continued to promote assiduously, most recently in an interview given by Syria's first lady to a gushing Vogue magazine, which included pictures of Assad playing with his sons.

It is an image that served the London-trained ophthalmologist well, securing him a state visit to London at a time when the government of Tony Blair – as well as other European governments – thought he was a different proposition to his father, who gained notoriety for ordering the deaths in 1982 of up to 20,000 in the town of Hama during a revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood.

But in the last few weeks that early image has seemed sharply at odds with the acts carried out in Assad's name in a murderous clampdown on those demonstrating against the regime, which has so far claimed more than 400 lives as Syrian towns have been put under siege – an entire country locked down.

What is less clear now is who Assad really is and what he represents. Indeed, how powerful he really is. On Friday, when a "day of rage" was called to follow Friday prayers – this time endorsed by the banned Muslim Brotherhood – Assad had taken a leaf out of the book of deposed President Mubarak of Egypt and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, flooding the streets with armed security forces even as his opponents demonstrated in more than 50 locations.

Although protests have been taking place weekly after Friday prayers, last week felt different because for the first time, the Assad regime had offered no concessions the day before. There were also the resignations of several hundred members of Assad's Ba'ath party, and reports of clashes between members of the Syrian army's 4th Brigade, commanded by the president's younger brother Maher, and the 5th Brigade outside Deraa, the besieged town that has become the symbol of the Syrian uprising. And last week felt different because of the horrors that have taken place as the regime of Bashar al-Assad has opted for repression rather than concession.

As it has cracked down, so the regime has blamed the violence on a farcically broad range of culprits: armed gangs, Lebanese legislators, Saudis, Palestinian extremists – all with ominous overtones of the 1980s and Assad's father's most infamous massacre.

To underline the message of what might happen should the regime fall, state media and newly printed posters on the streets have pushed fears of chaos, especially of a sectarian nature.

In the coastal city of Latakia, gunmen believed to belong to the shabiha, an Alawite smuggling gang drawn from the extended Assad clan, have shot at Christian neighborhoods with warnings of a Sunni takeover, before going to Alawite neighborhoods and warning of Sunni revenge. (The minority Alawite sect, to which the Assads belong, is generally regarded as a branch of Shia Islam.)

But if the tactics used by the regime appear largely identical to that used by Gaddafi, the response by the international community has been markedly different. On Friday, as the US moved to apply sanctions, Assad was noticeably absent from the list of targets, although it named his younger brother Maher as well as his cousin Atif Najib and the Iranian al-Quds forces which the US accuses of channeling riot equipment to the regime. Noticeably absent too has been any threat of military action against a country which – unlike Libya – is seen as having a very well-equipped and trained army and powerful friends, not least Iran.

Officially, the opinion offered by analysts and diplomats in the last few days to explain this difference is that Syria matters in a way that Libya does not in regional and international affairs.

It is for that reason, perhaps, that Qatar, which led the charge against Libya, on Friday quietly absented itself from the UN Human Rights Council's deliberations on Syria.

For Assad, the survival of the police state founded by his father is a very personal affair which he has dressed up as a national necessity to "prevent" his country from slipping into civil war. For the wider region, how events will unfold in Syria is becoming equally pressing.

Gaddafi's regime in Libya has over the decades antagonized most in the Arab region. Syria, however, despite its poverty and waning importance as a leader in regional affairs – not least since its humiliating retreat from Lebanon in 2005 – remains a presence that has to be acknowledged.

It occupies a crucial location, bordering Iraq, Israel and Lebanon. And a Syria plunged into chaos, diplomats fear, would have profound consequences for all of those countries as well as for the Middle East peace process.

Damascus hosts the political bureau of Hamas, including its political leader Khaled Meshaal, although reports emerged yesterday – denied by Hamas – that it is now planning to relocate. Indeed, some have argued that Hamas's peace deal with its Palestinian rival Fatah was prompted by the fear of losing Syria as a patron.

Assad has also allowed weapons to pass over Syria's borders for the rearming of Hezbollah after the 2006 war between that group and Israel.

Despite western efforts to prise it apart from its alliance with Iran, Syria remains close to Tehran. And while Syria played host to a large number of Iraqis fleeing violence, it also allowed passage for foreign fighters traveling to fight the US-led coalition in Iraq.

Joshua Landis of the Middle East Center at the University of Oklahoma told the Christian Science Monitor last week that Syria epitomized the split nature of the region, describing it as "the cockpit of the Middle East".

"On the one hand," he said, "it has always made a claim to be the beating heart of Arabism, calling for unity and secularism, and on the other, it is a deeply fragmented nation with a regime dominated by a religious minority."

Of most immediate concern to neighboring countries last week was fear of a flood of migrants fleeing the violence. Cyprus's foreign minister, Markos Kyprianou, announced on Friday that the authorities there are drawing up plans on how to cope with a possible wave of migrants from crisis-hit Syria – a contingency being prepared by other nearby territories.

For others, such as Turkey, with which Syria came close to war at the end of the 1990s over Damascus providing a safe haven for Kurdish separatists, the violence in Syria is deeply embarrassing. These days, the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is personally close to Assad, their families have holidayed together, and visa restrictions were lifted for Syrians traveling to Turkey under Ankara's "Zero Problems" foreign policy.

Mubarak and Gaddafi also tried to play on fear of the chaos that might follow the fall of their regimes, but Assad's warnings appear to have found a more receptive audience.

"It's messy," says Jane Kinninmont, researcher at the foreign affairs thinktank Chatham House. "What makes it different, I think, is the particular nature of the uncertainty over what might follow Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.

"In Tunisia and Egypt it was known who the opposition were, although it is true that in Libya a recognizable opposition pulled itself together pretty quickly. What is more worrying in Syria, given its geographic position, is the prospect of civil war."

It is a fear that is shared by Syrians themselves. "No one can predict with certainty what would happen if Assad fell," says one Syrian analyst in the capital Damascus who asked for anonymity. "Those suspicions have been stoked by the government alone. We don't trust our neighbors not to be members of the security forces. But the conclusion that there will be chaos is an under-analyzed scare tactic. The majority of Syrians want to live together in peace."

The fear of internal violence has been raised by rumors of clashes between different army units outside the key town of Deraa, which has become the symbol of Syria's uprising.

There are some in the region who might actually prefer that to a quick transition to majority – and therefore Sunni – rule, not least Iran, which would see not only the loss of an important ally but also potentially a transit route for weapons to Hezbollah to maintain a kind of proxy strategic balance that threatens Israel's border.

And, unlike Gaddafi, Syria has split international opinion as to the nature of both the regime under Assad and the character of Assad himself, with a significant minority still believing that, despite everything, he can be maneuvered on to the course of genuine reform that he has spoken about but never delivered.

It is this that explains the absence of Assad himself from the newly announced US sanctions against his state, explained officially as targeting those directly responsible for the violence.

It is a judgment predicated on one reading of Syria's dynamics – that Bashar al-Assad is less powerful than other figures around him, including his brother Maher.

Others, however, believe that, far from being the weak link, Bashar al-Assad is as powerful as his father in a regime which is no longer truly Ba'athist but – like Hosni Mubarak's was in Egypt – one bound together by close and corrupt financial interest.

And whatever the reality, by yesterday there was little evidence that the tactic of selective sanctions was working. A resident of the besieged southern Syrian city of Deraa said yesterday that more troops were being brought in a day after security forces reportedly shot dead dozens.

All of which confirms, for the likes of the Lebanese journalist Hisham Melhem, the naivety that has driven western foreign policy towards Syria for more than a decade.

Writing in Foreign Policy last week, he said: "Over the last 10 years many western politicians and scholars took the road to Damascus, holding out hope that the young Syrian president Bashar al-Assad would lead Syria out of the political wilderness and place it on the path of political and economic reform.

"There was a naive assumption that Bashar had the makings of a modern leader because he was in part western-educated, spoke relatively good English, and married a professional woman who worked as an investment banker in London."

It is the outcome the west is still betting on as the odds get daily longer.

Source: The Guardian.
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/30/syria-shockwaves-sweep-middle-east.

AL chief hails Palestinian unity deal

Tue May 3, 2011
Karim Gamal el-Deen, Press TV, Cairo

After years of conflict, finally a unity deal was signed between Palestinian movements of Hamas and Fatah in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo.

During the annual meeting of the Yasser Arafat Foundation in Cairo, Arab league secretary general Amr Moussa congratulated the Palestinian people for the reconciliation signed between the Hamas and Fatah factions. According to Moussa, the agreement will end the political divisions between the two sides.

During the meeting, both parties praised the Palestinian reconciliation asserting that it will hasten developments and will inevitably bring victory over the occupiers. They also said that the new pact ended the four year old rift that has divided the rival faction.

The officials also stressed on the pivotal role of the Arab league to translate this agreement on the ground, and to provide all necessary support to restore the unity of the Palestinian decision.

Observers say the agreement signed by Fatah & Hamas, covers all points of contention, including forming a transitional government, and the restructuring of the Palestine Liberation Organization in order to allow Hamas to join it.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/178114.html.

Islamic Jihad mourns West Bank leader

Saturday 30/04/2011

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Islamic Jihad mourned the death of leader Raed Aref Faid Al-Mugheir on Saturday.

Al-Mugheir, from Araba near Jenin, died aged 39 from kidney failure, a statement from the movement said.

He suffered a kidney infection while detained in Israel's Ad-Damon prison in 2000 and had ongoing kidney problems since then.

Israel had imprisoned Al-Mugheir three times.

He was one of Islamic Jihad's pioneering fighters in the West Bank, along with Isam Baramah, Iyad Al-Hardan and Anwar Hamaran, all of whom were killed by Israeli forces, the statement said.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=383536.

A Relief Organization in South Africa to stage a land Convoy to Gaza Via Sudan

Khartoum- 4 May 2011 (SUNA): The Relief Organization in South Africa is to sage the first land convoy via Botswana, Zambia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt to support the Palestinian People in Gaza Strip.

The Convoy will pass through 10000 Kilometers in the African Land aiming to raise the African Nation Awareness to interact with the Palestinian People Issue and their Struggle against the Israeli Occupation.

The Convoy includes tipcarts used in constructing buildings in Gaza, Medical and Humanitarian Aids and Electric Generators also aimed at delivering the quick and necessary aids to the besieged civilians in Gaza.

On its side; the Office of Al-Quds International Organization in Sudan called the Whole Sudanese people to support and give hands during the convoy passing the Sudanese Cities on its way to Gaza.

It is to mention that a number of voluntary work leaders and activists in Human Rights organizations will fly to Egypt to join the convoy in the last terminal before reaching Gaza.

Source: Sudan News Agency (SUNA).
Link: http://www.sunanews.net/english-latest-news/19254-a-relief-organization-in-south-africa-to-stage-a-land-convoy-to-gaza-via-sudan-.html.