More officers jailed in Turkey coup plot investigation

Istanbul - A Turkish court Friday jailed, pending trial, 11 more high-ranking military officers as part of an ongoing investigation into an alleged plot to topple the country's liberal Islamic government. A total of 31 officers, both serving and retired, have now been jailed in the investigation, among them several admirals and generals.

At the same time, the court released the former chiefs of the Navy and Air Force, who had been arrested on Monday as part of a group of 49 high-ranking military commanders who were rounded up on Monday in connection with the alleged coup plan.

The plot, dubbed "Sledgehammer," allegedly aimed to create chaos and political turbulence in the hopes of removing the liberal Islamic government of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The 2003 plan possibly included the bombing of popular mosques and the ratcheting up of military tensions with Aegean neighbor Greece. It was never carried out.

The coup allegations, which the military rejects, have led to increased tension between the government and the armed forces. Turkey's President, Prime Minister and its Chief of Staff met yesterday in Ankara in an effort to defuse the situation.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311418,more-officers-jailed-in-turkey-coup-plot-investigation.html.

Israel seals off West Bank for Jewish holiday

Tel Aviv - The Israeli military announced it had shut key military checkpoints in the occupied West Bank and around Jerusalem for the coming four days, starting Friday. The move aims at preventing potential Palestinian militants from reaching Israeli cities or Jewish settlements and carrying out attacks during the Jewish holiday of Purim.

A military statement said the "general closure" began at midnight Thursday and would be in place until Monday night.

No Palestinian workers would be allowed to enter Israel, although there would be exceptions for medical personnel, NGO members, lawyers, religious workers and journalists, provided they used checkpoints.

Many Palestinians work in Israel's construction industry.

Sealing off the West Bank for the duration of Jewish holidays has become a habit since a wave of deadly suicide bombings in Israeli cities, which peaked in 2002.

The Purim holiday starts at nightfall Saturday and ends at sunset Sunday. However, many towns and cities organize parades on Friday. Schools and kindergarten also have costume parties.

The holiday marks the deliverance of the Jewish people from a plot to annihilate them when they lived in exile in the ancient Persian Empire. The story is recorded in the biblical Book of Esther.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311420,israel-seals-off-west-bank-for-jewish-holiday.html.

Leader of Kurdish organization arrested trying to enter Netherlands

Amsterdam - Dutch police arrested an alleged top member of the Kurdish resistance movement PKK as he tried to enter the Netherlands, his lawyer told local media Friday. Hasan Adir, who allegedly heads PKK operations in Germany, was arrested while driving from Germany to Venlo, a town in the south- east of the country near the Dutch-German border.

Turkey claims Adir, who resides in Germany, is a leading figure in the PKK or Kurdistan Workers Party, a separatist movement defined as terrorist under Turkish law.

The arrest took already place on January 19, his lawyer Bart Nooitgedacht said. Turkey has meanwhile asked for Adir's extradition.

The Dutch Justice Ministry confirmed Adir's arrest and said an extradition hearing is due to take place in the court in the southern town of Roermond on March 18.

Nooitgedacht says his client will protest extradition because he fears he would be tortured or killed in Turkey. He claims Turkish officials already tortured him before and that he fled to Germany after Turkish officials killed several of his relatives.

Nooitgedacht also says Germany has effectively acknowledged his client's fears are legitimate and that this is why his current country of residence also refused to extradite him.

"A German court has already established my client runs the risk of being tortured. Turkey considers him to be a state risk and as someone who can provide information about a terrorist organization," Nooitgedacht said.

The lawyer added Adir was "never involved in illegal business. He is a political activist and protests the fact the Dutch are treating him like a terrorist."

Turkey claims Adir is an important and leading figure in the PKK. In 2004, a German court sentenced him to two years and eight months imprisonment for involvement in PKK-related violent activities.

The Kurdish Workers Party PKK is listed as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States.

The PKK, formed in the late 1970s with the aim of creating an independent Kurdistan, has been engaged in an armed struggle against Turkey that has claimed thousands of lives.

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

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311424,leader-of-kurdish-organization-arrested-trying-to-enter-netherlands.html.

Turkish pop star detained in drug bust

Istanbul - One of Turkey's leading pop stars has been arrested in a police drug sweep, local media reported on Friday. Singer Tarkan Tevetoglu, popularly known only by his first name, was detained in Istanbul late Thursday along with several others, reports said.

The German-born Tarkan, 37, is one of Turkey's most popular performers, scoring several chart-topping hits over the last several years. He was recently one of the headline performers at an event kicking off the celebrations of Istanbul's year as a "European Capital of Culture."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/311422,turkish-pop-star-detained-in-drug-bust.html.

Algeria launches first Maghreb visual arts expo

2010-02-26

Painters and sculptors from Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania and Libya are showing their works this week in Bordj Bou Arreridj at the first Maghreb Visual Arts Exhibition, APS reported on Friday (February 26th). The event, which runs through Saturday, aims to make Kabylie's Bibans region a "Maghreb land for the arts".

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/02/26/newsbrief-04.

Algeria supports death penalty abolition

2010-02-26

Algeria plans to support Spain's proposal to set up an international commission against the death penalty, El Watan quoted the chief of the National Consultative Committee for Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (CNCPPDH) as saying on Thursday (February 25th). Farouk Ksentini was speaking on the sidelines of the 4th Congress against the Death Penalty, held February 24th-26th in Geneva.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/02/26/newsbrief-02.

Colleague kills Algerian police chief in murder-suicide attempt

2010-02-26

Slain Algerian national police chief Ali Tounsi, 73, was buried at Algiers's El Alia cemetery on Friday (February 26th), one day after he was shot by a colleague at DGSN headquarters.

"Ali Tounsi died at 10:45 a.m. during a working session, during which a police official, apparently having a fit of madness, used his weapon and killed Colonel Ali Tounsi, then injured himself very seriously", an official statement said about the apparent murder-suicide attempt.

According to Algerian media reports, witnesses identified the alleged assassin as retired Army colonel and DGSN helicopter unit chief Chaib Oueltache, 64. He is reportedly in a coma at Algiers' Ain Naadja hospital.

Tounsi recently ordered an investigation into contracts for helicopter parts that had uncovered suspicious transactions by Oueltache. According to El Khabar, the shooting occurred after the DGSN director fired Oueltache for suspected involvement in a corruption case.

In a statement offering condolences to Tounsi's family and his National Security colleagues, Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni stressed the patriotism of the late DGSN chief. "Ali Tounsi devoted all his life to the service of the Algerian nation, to the sustained struggle against terrorism over the past 16 years, as well as to the modernization of the national police forces," Zerhouni said. On Friday, the ministry announced that a judicial probe has been opened into the case.

Source: Magharebia.com
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2010/02/26/newsbrief-01.