Turkey: At least 6 security personnel killed in attacks in Istanbul, southeast region

Turkey: At least 6 security personnel killed in attacks in Istanbul, southeast region

    Monday, August 10, 2015   No comments

comment: AK Party leaders decided to put their weight behind the Syrian opposition and allow money, arms, and fighters to enter that country to speed up the fall of Assad. Five years later, Turkey is facing its own security threats. Some of the deadliest attacks are carried out by the same extremist groups the Turkish governing authorities armed and trained: ISIL. Now Turkey is facing the prediction it was warned about since the early days of Syrian crisis: being Pakistanized.

Read news stories about recent attacks in Turkey

watch a video of a recent attack: 

Turkey’s top religious body releases report on ISIL, names it ‘terrorist organization’

Turkey’s top religious body releases report on ISIL, names it ‘terrorist organization’

    Sunday, August 09, 2015   No comments

Turkey’s top religious affairs body has released a report on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), where it defined the group as a terror organization for the first time.

The report, which was prepared by Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), was highly critical of ISIL, denouncing its actions.

“All the deeds of this anomalous armed group which is targeting non-Muslims and the rules of Islam is terrorism,” a part of the report said, adding people who conducted the acts of threatening, killing, injuring and abducting were terrorists.

Diyanet also described ISIL’s “twisted” portrayal of Islam and the Quran to further its violent agenda in the Middle East.

Diyanet head Mehmet Görmez said Aug. 8 the new research was aimed at informing the public about ISIL’s tactics, slogans, operations and interpretation of Islam.

Calling all Islamic scholars and institutions to stand against ISIL, Görmez said, “The Islamic world should focus on nothing but this group who uses Islam as a tool [but] ignores Islamic methodology and principles.”

read more >>

The U.S. picked the wrong ally in the fight against Islamic State

The U.S. picked the wrong ally in the fight against Islamic State

    Friday, August 07, 2015   No comments

Selahattin Demirtas

When Turkey finally agreed to join U.S.-led efforts to fight Islamic State, Ankara was supposed to make the battle against the extremist group more effective. Yet within days, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, bombed not just Islamic State forces but also, with even greater fervor, the one group showing some success in keeping them at bay: the Kurds.

The United States miscalculated by bringing in Erdogan. Turkey’s embattled and volatile leader looks far less interested in combating Islamic State than in reclaiming his power at home. Erdogan’s personal agenda, however, cannot be allowed to alienate U.S. partners and prolong the conflict.

Washington’s first priority here should be to preserve its constructive alliances with Kurdish groups in the fight against Islamic State. It must also prevent Turkey from further undermining the key strategic goal of defeating the jihadists.

So U.S. officials should be taking a far stronger stance against Erdogan’s attacks on the Kurds. One complicating factor is that both Ankara and Washington have labeled the target of Turkish operations — the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) — a terrorist organization. But there are related Kurdish organizations that U.S. leaders can and should approach, publicly reassure and privately work with to maintain their cooperation against Islamic State.

First, the Syrian Kurdish political movement, the Democratic Union Party, though ideologically related to the PKK, is considered a separate organization and not designated as a terrorist group under U.S. law. Its leader, Saleh Muslim, should be invited to Washington expeditiously for high-level consultations with government officials. These meetings could publicly demonstrate Washington’s continued commitment to the Syrian Kurds.

read more >>

Judge Permits Professor Steven Salaita's Free Speech Case Against University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to Proceed

Judge Permits Professor Steven Salaita's Free Speech Case Against University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to Proceed

    Friday, August 07, 2015   No comments

University’s Attempt to Dismiss Salaita Suit Over “Uncivil” Tweets Rejected by Court                    

August 6, 2015, Chicago, a federal judge rejected efforts to throw out a lawsuit against the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) for firing Professor Steven Salaita from a tenured position based on his personal tweets criticizing Israel’s military assault on Gaza last summer.  The university has admitted that it based its decision on Salaita’s tweets, calling them “uncivil.”   The court firmly rejected the university’s claim that it did not have a contract with Professor Salaita, stating, “If the Court accepted the University’s argument, the entire American academic hiring process as it now operates would cease to exist.” The court further rejected the university’s attempt to dismiss Professor Salaita’s First Amendment claims, finding that his tweets “implicate every ‘central concern’ of the First Amendment.”

“Given the serious ramifications of my termination from a tenured professorship to a wide range of people, I am happy to move forward with this suit in the hope that restrictions on academic freedom, free speech, and shared governance will not become further entrenched because of UIUC's behavior,” said Steven Salaita.

The lawsuit, brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights and Loevy & Loevy on Prof. Salaita’s behalf, argues that UIUC violated Salaita’s rights to free speech and due process and breached its employment contract with him. It seeks Professor Salaita’s reinstatement and monetary relief, including compensation for the economic hardship and reputational damage he suffered as a result of the university’s actions. Shortly before the lawsuit was filed, UIUC rejected a recommendation from the university’s own Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure (CAFT) that the university reconsider its decision.

“The court’s ruling clears the way for Professor Salaita to seek redress for the wrongs done by the university, including violating his right to speak freely on issues of public concern without being fired,” said Center for Constitutional Rights Deputy Legal Director Maria LaHood. “The university must finally face the facts of what it has done to Professor Salaita and principles of academic freedom.”  

Today’s ruling comes on the heels of an Illinois state court’s decision in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit on June 12 ordering university officials to turn over emails related to Professor Salaita’s firing that they had refused to divulge, as well as a vote by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) to censure the university on June 13. The AAUP issued a report in April that concluded UIUC had violated academic freedom and due process.

The university’s leadership has faced increasing nationwide criticism over Salaita’s firing, particularly within the academic community.  Sixteen academic departments of the university have voted no confidence in the UIUC administration, and prominent academic organizations, including the American Historical Association, the Modern Language Association and the Society of American Law Teachers, have publicly condemned the university’s actions. More than 5,000 academics from around the country, including Dr. Cornel West and Angela Davis, have pledged to boycott UIUC, resulting in the cancellation of more than three dozen scheduled talks and conferences at the school. Last September, UIUC students staged a silent walk-out to protest what they said was the university’s silencing of Salaita.

“In its effort to have Professor Salaita’s lawsuit thrown out before discovery into the reasons for its decision, the university’s administration took a number of positions that showed contempt for its constitutional obligations, and raise serious doubts about the university’s commitment to academic freedom and its willingness to honor contractual commitments to its scholars,” said Anand Swaminathan of Loevy & Loevy. “We are extremely pleased that the court has rejected the university’s dubious arguments.”

After a rigorous year-long national search and interview process, the American Indian Studies program at UIUC offered Professor Salaita a tenured faculty position in Fall 2013, which he promptly accepted. Relying on UIUC’s contractual promise, Professor Salaita resigned from his tenured faculty position at Virginia Tech and prepared to move to Champaign. In August 2014, just two weeks before he was due to begin teaching, UIUC Chancellor Phyllis Wise and Vice President Christophe Pierre informed Professor Salaita that it had terminated his appointment. He was not given an opportunity to object or be heard.

Read the Ruling; learn more about the Salaita v. Kennedy, et al.
case.

_________________

Source: CCR Press release

Obama gives a speech about the Iran nuclear deal (Full text)

Obama gives a speech about the Iran nuclear deal (Full text)

    Wednesday, August 05, 2015   No comments

President Obama is continuing his push for the Iran nuclear deal, giving a speech at American University. Here is a complete transcript of his remarks.

OBAMA: Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you so much. Thank you. Everybody, please have a seat. Thank you very much.

I apologize for the slight delay; even presidents have a problem with toner.

(LAUGHTER)

It is a great honor to be back at American University, which has prepared generations of young people for service and public life.

I want to thank President Kerwin and the American University family for hosting us here today.

Fifty-two years ago, President Kennedy, at the height of the Cold War, addressed this same university on the subject of peace. The Berlin Wall had just been built. The Soviet Union had tested the most powerful weapons ever developed. China was on the verge of acquiring the nuclear bomb. Less than 20 years after the end of World War II, the prospect of nuclear war was all too real.


With all of the threats that we face today, it is hard to appreciate how much more dangerous the world was at that time. In light of these mounting threats, a number of strategists here in the United States argued we had to take military action against the Soviets, to hasten what they saw as inevitable confrontation. But the young president offered a different vision.

OBAMA: Strength, in his view, included powerful armed forces and a willingness to stand up for our values around the world. But he rejected the prevailing attitude among some foreign-policy circles that equated security with a perpetual war footing.

read more >>

Saudi rulers' strategy is to be against Iran at every turn and to presume that Iran's hand is behind every negative act... this could really come back to haunt them

Saudi rulers' strategy is to be against Iran at every turn and to presume that Iran's hand is behind every negative act... this could really come back to haunt them

    Wednesday, August 05, 2015   No comments

TEXT HIGHLIGHTS

Jordan on the motivation behind Saudi Arabia’s recent military actions: “They have not articulated a strategy.  It does appear that they have - their strategy is to be against Iran at every turn and to presume that Iran's hand is behind every negative act, certainly in their eastern province in Bahrain and now in Yemen.  We haven't seen what the political objective is of the adventure in Yemen, and I think this could really come back to haunt them.”

Jordan’s description of Saudi Arabia’s new king, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud: “He was governor for almost 50 years.  Um, and so he had them started in his 20s.  He was and has been considered one of the least corrupt leaders.  He has been considered probably the hardest working member of the cabinet.  He would be in his office at 8 o'clock every morning.  The story goes that when he was appointed defense minister, he went over to the Ministry of Defense at 8 o'clock and the only person there was the gate guard. The next day, everyone was there at 8 o'clock.”

Jordan on how he ended up as the U.S. Amb to Saudi Arabia: “I asked myself that a number of times.  But as it turns out, the Saudis refused to give diplomatic credentials to a career foreign service officer as Amb to the kingdom.  They want someone who is a friend of the president, who can go over the heads of the bureaucracy, who doesn't have a career to protect and who can actually speak for the president with the king and his leadership.”

FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Read more >>

Erdoğan is blocking the formation of coalition government to force an early elections that might give his AKP a majority this time

Erdoğan is blocking the formation of coalition government to force an early elections that might give his AKP a majority this time

    Monday, August 03, 2015   No comments

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is blocking efforts by political parties to form a coalition, even though Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu genuinely wants to create a government, according to the head of the Republican People’s Party (CHP).

“I am saying with all my sincerity: Mr. Davutoğlu really wants to form a government and solve the problems of the country. I sincerely sense it. But the person occupying the presidential seat is not allowing this. He is stirring up trouble,” CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu told private broadcaster Habertürk TV late Aug. 2.

“Are you the prime minister or the president?” asked Kılıçdaroğlu, referring to Erdoğan’s recent statements allegedly infringing on areas of responsibility of the prime minister. 

“It’s the prime minister who is ruling the country. Let him do his job, let him speak. Why are you talking all the time, day and night? He has arrived at such a point that he has become the source of all problems,” he said. “He’s throwing the country into the fire for his own power, for his position. Have a heart!”


read more >>

Reports: Assad’s Security Adviser, Ali Mamlouk met Saudi Deputy Crown Prince, Mohammad Ibn Salman, in Riyadh

Reports: Assad’s Security Adviser, Ali Mamlouk met Saudi Deputy Crown Prince, Mohammad Ibn Salman, in Riyadh

    Thursday, July 30, 2015   No comments

Russian President Vladimir Putin brokered the sit-down between Mamlouk—who is one of Assad’s top advisors—and Prince Mohammad Ibn Salman, who also serves as Saudi Arabia’s defense minister and is the son of King Salman.

 Russia then proceeded to fly Mamlouk to Riyadh, where he held an ice-breaking meeting with Prince Mohammad in which the two agreed to keep the newly established channel of communication open.

According to al-Safir Report, Mamlouk appealed for Saudi Arabia to change its policy on Syria, while the Saudi deputy crown prince voiced Saudi fears over Iran’s rising influence on the Assad regime.  The report in Al-Safir mirrored an account published  by Al-Akhbar—a left-leaning Lebanese daily—which said that Russia was working to open talks between Riyadh and Damascus, with Mamlouk serving as an envoy.

Syrian regime and Saudi news outlets have made no mention of the reported meeting.

Putin brokers meeting

The Lebanese dailies reported that Putin had broached opening the Damascus-Riyadh line of communication during his June 19 meeting with Prince Mohammad, who assented to the proposal.

 Al-Akhbar claimed that Prince Mohammad had agreed “albeit reluctantly” with Putin’s assertion that
the Syrian regime could not be toppled militarily, paving the way for an unprecedented meeting between top officials from the arch-foes Riyadh and Damascus.

Ten days later, the Russian president met in Moscow with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, his deputy Faisal Mekdad, and Syrian presidential advisor Buthaina Shaaban in a bid to further his initiative.

“[Putin] proposed a quadripartite anti-terror alliance uniting Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Jordan. Iran was excluded because the Russians were keen not to provoke the Saudis,” Al-Akhbar reported.

Although Syria’s foreign minister poured cold water over the initiative in a press conference, the Lebanese daily said that Assad agreed to the Russian proposal and it remained a secret between Assad, Muallem and Mamlouk.

“Russian intelligence was tasked with maintaining contact with Mamlouk until the idea came to fruition,” Al-Akbhar added.

“Another call [then] took place, in which the Russians relayed the Saudis’ condition that the meeting [with Mamluk] should be held in Riyadh, and Damascus made no objection.”

“Within a few weeks a Russian private plane… landed in Damascus International Airport and took Mamluk to Mohammad bin Salman’s office in the Saudi capital.”

Mamlouk appeals for Saudis to change Syria policy

During their sit-down, Mamlouk appealed to Prince Mohammad for Saudi Arabia to change its policy regarding Syria, saying that Qatar was unduly influencing Riyadh, according to the Al-Akhbar report.



The Lebanese daily said that during the sit-down Mamlouk thanked the Russia for its “noble initiative” and expressed his regret that “communication between our two countries [Saudi Arabia and Syria] now requires mediation.”

Syria and Saudi Arabia, as well as Egypt, have always been “influential in the Arab system, and our relations were always good,” the Syrian official reportedly told the Saudi deputy crown prince.

 The report went on to cite him as attributing “full responsibility for everything that has happened in Syria” to Saudi Arabia, before accusing the Kingdom of submitting itself to the will of Qatar’s ruling elite.

 “Saudi politics has always been marked by wisdom and rationality, so how can you let yourselves be led by Qatar’s sheikhdom, which has played a subversive role in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and elsewhere.”

 “Who is Qatar to run Saudi politics and Arab politics?”

Al-Akhbar added that Mamlouk had told Prince Mohammad Damascus has cooperated with Riyadh “on many issues, especially in Lebanon. This even continued after our dispute following the assassination of former Premier Rafiq Hariri.”

 “Despite your responsibility for everything that has happened in Syria, we have not attacked the Saudi state in our political and media actions.”

 “Our situation in Syria is strong. Undoubtedly, reports have reached you about the Syrian army’s advances at many locations.”

 “I hope that you will change your view and the way you are dealing with what is happening.”

Prince Mohammad voices fears over Iran’s influence

 The Saudi deputy crown prince, in turn, voiced his fears to Mamlouk that Iran was exercising too much influence in Syria.

 Addressing tensions between Syrian and the Kingdom, he explained: “Our main issue with you, for some time, has been that you let yourselves be led by Iran, which is involved in a large [scale] conflict with us on the level of the [entire] region.”

“In Lebanon you allowed yourselves to be led by Hezbollah, which is aligned with Iran, and wants to control Lebanon and turn it in to an Iranian protectorate,” Prince Mohammad reportedly added.

“May this meeting be an opening for us to listen to one another.”

 According to Al-Akhbar, the two parties agreed to maintain communication but did not set a date for another meeting.

Senior Western official: Links between Turkey and ISIS are now 'undeniable'

Senior Western official: Links between Turkey and ISIS are now 'undeniable'

    Wednesday, July 29, 2015   No comments

Comment: This connection might explain why Erdogan and his current caretaker government is now attack Kurds, not ISIL, which was behind the attack on Turkish civilians. 

A US-led raid on the compound housing the Islamic State's "chief financial officer" produced evidence that Turkish officials directly dealt with ranking ISIL members, Martin Chulov of the Guardian reported recently.

The officer killed in the raid, Islamic State official Abu Sayyaf, was responsible for directing the terror army's oil and gas operations in Syria. The Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh) earns up to $10 million a month selling oil on black markets.

Documents and flash drives seized during the Sayyaf raid reportedly revealed links "so clear" and "undeniable" between Turkey and ISIL "that they could end up having profound policy implications for the relationship between us and Ankara," senior Western official familiar with the captured intelligence told the Guardian.

NATO member Turkey has long been accused by experts, Kurds, and even Joe Biden of enabling ISIL by turning a blind eye to the vast smuggling networks of weapons and fighters during the ongoing Syrian war.

read more >>

Seattle mayor proposes sharia-compliant loans for Muslim home buyers

Seattle mayor proposes sharia-compliant loans for Muslim home buyers

    Tuesday, July 28, 2015   No comments

The mayor of Seattle and his housing committee are exploring options to make home loans accessible to Muslims who are unable to participate in standard mortgage programs due to religious prohibitions.

In an effort to address housing affordability in Seattle, Mayor Ed Murray has released a proposal which calls for community leaders and lenders to collaborate on exploring different options.

Among the ideas suggested to make housing more affordable for Seattle residents is a segment that will allow Muslims to obtain home loans that are compliant with sharia law.

“For our low- and moderate-income Muslim neighbors who follow Sharia law – which prohibits the payment of interest or fees for loans of money – there are limited options for financing a home,” the proposed plan reads. “Some Muslims are unable to use conventional mortgage products due to religious convictions.”

“The City will convene lenders, housing nonprofits and community leaders to explore the best options for increasing access to Sharia-compliant loan products to help these residents become homeowners in Seattle,” it says.

Under Sharia law, Muslims are prohibited from paying interest on loans. So traditional mortgages are out of reach for people who adhere strictly to Sharia law.

read more >>