World support shifts from Saudi Arabia to Iran

Bruce Riedel, the author of the following article, has had a distinguished carer in war and war-related activities and hiss views are worthy of cautious and respectful attention.


I agree with Riedel's main point -- international attention is shifting from Saudi Arabia to Iran and Saudi Arabia is troubled by the shift.


Some quotations from the article:

Saudis from the royals to the general population believe America and the world have betrayed the Sunni majority in Syria, tacitly tolerating genocide by a Shiite-Alawite-Russian axis.  [This is an accurate description of Saudi official and popular sentiment, despite many wealthy Saudi having contributed billions of dollars to finance murderous Salafi Jihadists, recruited from Afghanistan and Pakistan, to fight Assad's troops, hoping to establish a Wahhabi government in Damascus.  That hope is now diminished, and deeply disappointing to  Riyadh.] 

  

Of course Saudi Arabia's top priority [fn in original] lies in Yemen, where its own war is escalating again. The Shiite [Zaydi] Houthis
[sp. ] claim to  keep up the pressure on Saudi border towns, some of which have been forcibly evacuated by the Saudi army. Houthi spokesmen have described the Saudi border regions as occupied territory, suggesting the Shiite-inhabited areas lost in a war in the 1930s still belong to Sanaa  [This is not historically accurate (see, e.g., Saudi–Yemeni War (1934) - Wikipedia) and is Saudi propaganda and an embarrassing for a prominent expert to maintainn.  The Saudi genocide in Yemen is designed to persuade the Saudi clergy that the new King and his relatives are firm enough in theirWahhabi beliefs that they can defend Mecca and Medina from the Islamic State, which aims to capture them, cementing the Islamic State's claim to be the Caliphate.  See the Carnegie Foundation, The-ideology-of-the-Islamic-State.pdf.  Highly recommended.]

 Riedel's analysis of the current presidential candidates foreign policy positions is spot on and recommended.

Thanks, Rik, for the heads-up!

US President Barack Obama and Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud walk together following their meeting at Erga Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 20, 2016.  (photo by REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

Saudis expect little from next US leader

August 19, 2016

The Russian deployment of combat aircraft into Iran to bomb Sunni targets in Syria is the latest step in what Saudi Arabia perceives as a steadily deteriorating regional security environment. The Saudis have little hope that either of the two main US presidential candidates, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, will turn things around.


Author Bruce RiedelPosted August 19, 2016
Riyadh sees the ever closer relations between Iran, Russia, Syria, Hezbollah and Shiite Iraqis as a fundamental shift in the strategic environment in the Middle East. One Saudi commentator with close connections to the royal family labeled the Russian deployment a strategic "shock" that demonstrates how badly the United States underestimated Iranian and Russian aggressive intentions.

The Saudis always feared the Iran nuclear deal would end Tehran's pariah status and give it more strategic options. Saudi efforts to buy off Moscow have been a failure. With international sanctions lifted for the most part, Iran is a strategic partner more attractive than the kingdom. The deployment of Russian bombers is the first foreign military presence in Iran since the fall of the Shah. It's a nightmare for the royals.

Turkey's rapprochement with Russia adds to Saudi concerns. Ankara has been a strong opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Riyadh's bete noire. For Riyadh, it is more important to get rid of the Assad regime than to combat the Islamic State. The Saudis have been frustrated for years by US President Barack Obama's unwillingness to put more effort into eliminating Assad. Now the Syrian president seems more secure than ever. Saudis from the royals to the general population believe America and the world have betrayed the Sunni majority in Syria, tacitly tolerating genocide by a Shiite-Alawite-Russian axis.

Of course Saudi Arabia's top priority lies in Yemen, where its own war is escalating again. The Shiite Houthis keep up the pressure on Saudi border towns, some of which have been forcibly evacuated by the Saudi army. Houthi spokesmen have described the Saudi border regions as occupied territory, suggesting the Shiite-inhabited areas lost in a war in the 1930s still belong to Sanaa.

Riyadh blames Iran for arming the Houthis despite the Saudi blockade of Yemen. The Saudis remember that Moscow was the only member of the UN Security Council not to vote in favor of the resolution Riyadh cites as justifying its Operation Decisive Storm last year. The Russians said it was one-sided and unlikely to bring peace. It hasn't.

King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud and his inner circle are looking beyond Obama now. They know he is a lame duck. But the two contenders for his job are not seen in the palace as the solution to Riyadh's angst.

Trump is a scary unknown for the Saudis. His vitriolic anti-Muslim rhetoric and tough talk about countries that preach radical Islam is seen as a threat. They noticed that in his foreign policy speech last week, Saudi Arabia was not included in the list of friends of America (Trump listed Israel, Egypt and Jordan but none of the Gulf states). He did talk about how poor Saudi visa vetting let al-Qaeda extremists into the United States before 9/11.

Trump promises to tear up the Iran deal but he seems to be in cahoots with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has no foreign policy experience and his advisers aren't known for their expertise on the Gulf. Trump has also said that the United States should have kept Iraq's oil wealth after the 2003 invasion, a very alarming precedent for the kingdom.

Clinton, as secretary of state, is a well-known figure in Riyadh. The Saudis are much more comfortable with her and her advisers, and have a long history with the Clintons. They were extremely disappointed that Bill didn't press Israel harder and tougher in 2000 to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict when they thought he would. Instead, he blamed the Palestinians.

Clinton sought to advance political reform in Bahrain during the Arab Spring, which helped prompt the Saudi intervention on the island. She was part of the Obama team that dumped Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. She backed the Iran deal. Riyadh expects a Clinton White House to be a continuation of Obama, whom they soured on years ago. Continuity is not what the Saudis are hoping for in US policy.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir is a veteran America watcher. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef is the most pro-American prince since King Fahd. As defense minister, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has sought to reassure Washington that he is ready for prime time despite his inexperience. Riyadh has bought over $110 billion in arms from Obama. But there is no confidence in the Saudi leadership about the future of American leadership. Meanwhile, Putin and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are growing closer. Saudi paranoia about Iran is exaggerated but nonetheless a reality unlikely to change.

__________
p.s.


These maps may make the 1930s history easier to follow.

Hundreds of Thousands in Yemen March in Support of Rebels

So much for the Saudi claim that it represent the "government" of Yemen.

Pleas ask Congress to block the 1.5 B grant of bombs to Saudi Arabia.


ABC News
Hundreds of Thousands in Yemen March in Support of Rebels

By AHMED AL-HAJ, ASSOCIATED PRESS

SANAA, Yemen — Aug 20, 2016, 11:32 AM ET

Hundreds of thousands of Yemenis marched on Saturday in support of Shiite Houthi rebels and their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The march in the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, was in support of a new combined governing council the rebels and Saleh announced late last month, but which was immediately rejected by the internationally recognized government and the United Nations. Saleh was forced to step down in 2012 amid Arab Spring protests after more than three decades in power.

Yemen's war pits troops and militiamen loyal to the government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, against the Shiite rebels and Saleh loyalists. The Houthis captured Sanaa in 2014, and the U.S.-backed coalition began its offensive against them in March 2015.

Later in the day, coalition airstrikes hit the presidential palace in Sanaa and other areas in the city, leaving an unknown number of casualties, security officials said. Saudi Arabia's civil defense directorate said that the Houthis had launched a missile over the border into the Najran region, killing a Saudi and wounding five Yemenis and a Pakistani who were residents there.

Peace talks collapsed earlier this month, and the Saudi-led forces resumed heavy airstrikes shortly thereafter.

In Oman, one of the locations used for peace talks, Houthi negotiators said that Saudi forces were preventing them from returning to Yemen by blocking international flights to Sanaa's airport.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief journalists.


______________

Hundreds of Thousands in Yemen March in Support of Rebels

Assad should be blocked from fighting Syrian Kurds

Two things would happen, if I were President:

• Syrian Kurds should be represented in peace talks in Geneva;
• it's time for the United States to destroy the runways from which Syria bombs Kurdish fighters.

Reutteres

WORLD NEWS | Fri Aug 19, 2016 6:52pm EDT

Civilians flee Syrian city as Kurdish forces fight government

By Tom Perry | BEIRUT

Civilians fled a city in northeastern Syria where government warplanes bombed Kurdish-held areas for a second day on Friday, as the Syrian army accused Kurdish forces of igniting the conflict by trying to take over the area.

The fighting this week in Hasaka, which is divided into zones of Kurdish and Syrian government control, marks the most violent confrontation between the Kurdish YPG militia and Damascus in more than five years of civil war.

The YPG is at the heart of a U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State in Syria, and controls swathes of the north where Kurdish groups have set up their own government since the Syrian war began in 2011.

A Pentagon official said U.S.-led coalition aircraft were sent near Hasaka on Thursday to protect coalition special operation ground forces in response to bombing by Syrian jets, and additional combat air patrols were being sent to the area.

The government air strikes on Hasaka mark the first time the Syrian military has deployed its warplanes against Kurdish groups during the war.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the incident was not an intercept and the coalition aircraft reached the area by the time the Syrian government warplanes were leaving.

YPG spokesman Redur Xelil told Reuters that Kurdish authorities had evacuated thousands of civilians from their area of control. "Whoever can bear arms is fighting the regime and its gangs," Xelil said. "Our situation is so far defensive but it will change all the while the regime escalates in this way."

In its first comment on the situation, the Syrian army accused a YPG-affiliated security force known as the Asayish of igniting the violence through escalating "provocations" including the bombardment of army positions in Hasaka that had killed a number of soldiers and civilians.

In a statement, the military command said the Asayish were aiming to take control of Hasaka city, and the army had responded appropriately by firing at armed groups' "sources of fire".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the war using a network of activists, said civilians were using lulls in the fighting to flee the city. Xelil said dozens of civilians had been killed over the past two days.

The YPG and Syrian government have mostly avoided confrontation during the multi-sided war that has turned Syria into a patchwork of areas held by the state and an array of armed factions.

Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has focused mostly on fighting Sunni Arab rebels who have been battling to oust him in western Syria with support from countries including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United States. The Syrian and Russian air forces are routinely deployed in the war in western Syria.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Coalition jets scrambled to defend U.S. forces from Syrian bombing

The YPG, or People's Protection Units, has meanwhile prioritized carving out and safeguarding predominantly Kurdish regions of northern Syria. The group has ties to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey.

While the YPG controls most of the northeast, the Syrian government has maintained footholds in the cities of Hasaka and Qamishli at the border with Turkey. The YPG has controlled most of Hasaka city since last year.

It is the second major eruption of fighting between the YPG and Syrian government fighters this year. In April, they fought several days of lethal battles in Qamishli, north of Hasaka city and also mostly YPG-held.

The Observatory said Kurdish forces had gained ground in the southern part of Hasaka.

Rami Abdulrahman, Observatory director, said the fighting began this week after pro-government militiamen detained a number of Kurdish youths, a step that had followed advances by Kurdish security forces towards government-held areas.

(Additional reporting by Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

_______________

YPG fight45w

Hasaka

Wikipedia,map

Worth a read:

It is now way past time that the United States withdraws its opposition to the IP Pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and India.  We are creating enemies for no gain.  We could be creating friends.

And we quibble over fixing crumbling bridges.

  the nation

China on road to economic turnaround

August 17, 2016

Shahbaz Bhatti - The perception that strength of a state can be gauged with the volume of its military might has become part of the past in the present world.

The economic stability has dominantly replaced this thousands of years of notion.

The more a state has economic stability the more it is strong.

China has emerged as a leading potential state who puts economic stability as the top priority for national strength.

China though surfaced as a state on the world horizon in 1949, a very little age, yet it soon after inception made economic stability as a yardstick to make the world powers realize

its undeniable presence as a nation.

Passing through a trail of achievements in diversified fields from strong national defence, information technology, construction, science and technology, education, medicine, etc.

to the present times, China has come up with an ambitious plan of economic revolution with the revival of Silk Road Economic Belt.

Purpose of this unparallel initiative is to economically rope in all states in major parts of the world particularly Asia, South Asia, South East Asia, Middle East, Africa and Turkey (the only gateway to Europe), Italy, Netherlands, Germany and Russia.

Drafted in 2013 by the Chinese President Xi Pinging, the Silk Road Economic Belt was aimed to revive the sleeping borders of China along the old Silk Route to connect the states in four continents of Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe.

The coverage area of this mega initiative is Asia and Europe encompassing about 60 countries with an anticipated cumulative investment of $4 trillion or $8 trillion.

Under the project, the Chinese government has planned to vigorously develop land, air and sea routes by constructing railways as well as roads networks, new airports and sea ports in these countries.

Through sea routes like South China Sea, South Pacific Ocean and Indian Sea, China is going to connect the states that come along these water channels with the aim of investing and fostering collaboration in Southeast Asia, Oceania and North Africa.

The CPEC enjoys a pivotal position in the overall Silk Road Economic Belt.

The project starts from Chinese border to Pakistan’s sea waters using the existing Karakoram Highway and constructing a roads network connecting almost big trade zones of the country.

The infrastructure under the CPEC comprises projects of Gwadar port, roadways, railways, energy sector projects particularly renewable energy operations, science & technology, oil and gas pipelines as well as projects financing.

Initial estimates suggest that once completed, the CPEC would connect China to Asia, Middle East and rest of the western states with Pakistan being the main beneficiary.

Considered as the game changer in the region due to the Pakistan’s geographical location in South Asia and its decades old time-tested friendship with China, CPEC is destined to play as the main trade artery of the ‘Belt and Road’ project.

Similarly, Gwadar deep sea port, being the front gate to Middle East and Europe, is set to be equipped with the international trade and shipping facilities.

The port will develop multi-layer operational mechanisms to accommodate high class ships carrying upto 18,000 containers, transport 500 million cubic feet liquefied gas to Nawabshah through 711-kilometer long pipeline which would be part of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline.

The Chinese leadership specifically is according high importance to the CPEC as Pakistan is the core of its vision about peaceful economic revolution across the world.

Currently, the Chinese leadership is aggressively engaged in holding high profile meetings with the leaderships from across the world and summit level dialogues to enter billions of dollars trade and other agreements.

They term it a win-win situation for China and the states of South Asia, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe as it would trigger their economic activities, promote industries, create job markets and improve living standards of the people of these states.

The Chinese leadership believes in peaceful world economic revolution having no aggressive policies against any state across the world.

As part of this vision, the Chinese government in close collaboration with the provincial governments is exploiting all available options like holding of international trade expos, trade as well as cultural fairs, regional conferences, high profile seminars and increased government to government contacts.

Even many states especially from Central Asia have evinced interest to get connected with the CPEC to grab huge trade benefits out of the China’s international trade strategy.

More recently, the Beijing government in collaboration with the Yunnan provincial government has held the 6th China-South Asia Expo and the 24th Kunming Import and Export Fair in Kunming, the spring city of Yunnan province.

Multi-national companies, giant organizations and business groups from over 80 countries including Pakistan participated in this international event.

The Chinese government is using such events as potent tools to trigger economic activities not only for its own people but also all regional states and their over three billion population that constitute about 43 per cent of the whole world.

From Pakistan, over 200 individuals, business groups and government departments established their stalls of various products ranging from leather garments, traditional wooden furniture, textiles, marble, gyms, embroidery, etc.

China, by embarking on the Silk Road Economic Belt, has unfolded its mega but peaceful ambitions of economic progress engaging with the other regional states.

However, other economic powers of the other world bloc see this China-led economic paradigm change as a direct threat to their economic monopolies.

At this stage, Pakistan fortunately enjoys a pivotal geographical position in the region as it can play as an economic bridge between China and rest of the states particularly in Central Asia and Middle East.

The leaderships of both China and Pakistan are on the same page in terms of making economic progress.

Success lies only in turning this opportunity into economic turnaround.

Suspend Turkey from NATO

. . . and read Human Rights Watch:

and consider whether you think any person disliked by Erdoğan can receive fair trial in Turkey today.

Turkey should be suspended from NATO so long as Erdoğan remains it's president.

AUGUST 5, 2016 1:01AM EDT

Turkey: Judges, Prosecutors Unfairly Jailed

Pretrial Detention, Unfair Dismissals, Asset Freezes Follow Failed Coup

Languages

Available InEnglish Türkçe

 

Members of police special forces keep watch from an armored vehicle in front of the Justice Palace in Ankara, Turkey, July 18, 2016. © 2016 Baz Ratner/Reuters

(Istanbul) – Turkey’s courts have placed at least 1,684 judges and prosecutors in pretrial detention in the aftermath of the failed July 15, 2016 coup, Human Rights Watch said today. They are detained on suspicion that they are members of a terrorist organization or were involved in the coup attempt. Some lawyers have been reluctant to represent the judges for fear that they would be tainted by association.

In cases Human Rights Watch examined, decisions to arrest and detain someone pending investigation appear to have been made simply because their names appear on a list of alleged suspects, or because of alleged associations with a terrorist organization and “national security threats.” The authorities have presented no evidence in courts to substantiate any alleged criminal conduct by those arrested.

“Jailing judges without even the pretence of due process will cause profound damage to Turkey’s justice system for years to come,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey director at Human Rights Watch. “Bypassing the rule of law is no way to protect it.”

Under human rights law, in determining whether to keep anyone in pretrial detention, courts must, at a bare minimum, have enough evidence to establish a reasonable suspicion that the person committed an offense. To justify an extended period of detention, courts need evidence of specific facts and personal circumstances relevant to the accused justifying the detention, and cannot rely on what the European Court of Human Rights has referred to as “general and abstract” reasons for detention.

Under a July 23 government decree, judges and prosecutors “assessed to be members of terrorist organizations or a structure, entity or groups that carry out activities that the National Security Council has ruled are against national security or assessed to be in connected or in contact with them” will be permanently discharged from their posts and banned permanently from practicing as a judge or prosecutor. A July 31 court decision freezes the assets of 3,048 judges and prosecutors under investigation.

The purge of judges and prosecutors comes in the context of the widespread crackdown on alleged supporters of the US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom the government accuses of organizing the failed military coup. The Gülen movement, known for its network of schools in Turkey and internationally, was the erstwhile ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.

Following corruption allegations implicating government ministers and Erdoğan’s own family in December 2013, the government in 2014 embarked on dramatic moves to demote and discharge the alleged followers of the Gülen movement in the judiciary, police, and bureaucracy. The arrest of thousands of judges and prosecutors as well as police officers since July 15 intensifies the government’s efforts to purge those it suspects of connections with the movement that it labels as a terrorist organization.

On July 16, the day after the attempted coup, the Higher Council of Judges and Prosecutors issued a list of 2,745 judges and prosecutors who were to be suspended on the grounds that they were suspected of being “members of the Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Group/Parallel state structure (FETÖ/PYD).” The council is charged with administering the justice system, including the appointments, assignments, and oversight of judges and prosecutors. Versions of these lists were published in the media that day, and police began to arrest those named. In addition to the 2,745 judges and prosecutors from lower courts, the investigation includes 48 members of the Council of State, Turkey’s highest administrative court, two members of the Constitutional Court, 140 members of the Court of Cassation, and four members of the Higher Council of Judges and Prosecutors.

At a July 19 news conference, Mehmet Yılmaz, the deputy head of the Higher Council, indicated that the Ankara prosecutors’ office had issued a decision to detain 2,740 judges and prosecutors.

“An investigation has been going on for two years,” he said. “The number of 2,740 judges and prosecutors is not a figure that has come out of the blue. This investigation is now taking shape. The investigation will continue. The number may increase, and quite the reverse there may be innocent ones. It will proceed fast. We will work with all our power within a legal framework without making anyone the victim.”

On July 24, Yılmaz compared the Gülen movement with secretive organizations like the Freemasons, the Illuminati, or the Catholic Church’s Opus Dei. The attempt to draw comparisons with other movements may reflect the difficulty the Turkish government has faced in attempting to explain its concern about the Gülen movement to European and US governments and media.

The Minister of the Interior announced that, by July 27, 1,684 judges and prosecutors had been jailed.

In a 2014 report Human Rights Watch raised concerns about lack of independence of the judiciary in Turkey and about judicial decisions that appeared to be politicized and open to influence by powerful factions. But the solution to those concerns is to strengthen the independence of the judicial oversight body and judges, not to bring them under tighter executive control, as the government has done in the past two years, Human Rights Watch said.

“The government is right to be concerned if judges act on behalf of other interests besides justice, but the judiciary needs to be independent and apply the law fairly without fear or favor,” Sinclair-Webb said. “Genuine concerns about politicized decision-making in Turkey’s courts can’t be solved by a witch hunt against judges and prosecutors.”

Arrests of Judges, Prosecutors

Human Rights Watch interviewed three judges, two lawyers, and two spouses of detained judges and prosecutors about the detentions, the evidence presented against detainees, the interrogations, adherence to procedure, and the courts’ reasoning for placing them in detention.

Human Rights Watch also examined the records of prosecutors’ interrogations of three judges and court decisions ordering the detention of eight judges and two prosecutors. Beyond those interviewed, many people were unwilling to speak about the details of the detentions and legal process for fear of reprisals. For the same reason, all names and locations of judges, prosecutors, their lawyers, and spouses interviewed are withheld for their protection.

Taken to Court Without Evidence of Individual Criminal Guilt

Human Rights Watch documented several cases in which judges and prosecutors were subject to criminal proceedings despite the absence of any evidence establishing criminal wrongdoing.

A judge who had been held by police, detained by a court, then released on appeal a few days later, told Human Rights Watch:

The day after the attempted coup we were informed by an SMS message from the Higher Council of Judges and Prosecutors that our annual leave was cancelled. I bought a bus ticket and travelled back to the province where I work. I was detained when the police checked everyone’s IDs. The peculiar part was that there was an order to capture me but not a warrant to detain me. The police were puzzled by this and it meant that I was held at a police station for many hours unlawfully. If there isn’t an order to detain someone then it’s an unlawful detention.

When brought before the prosecutor I asked what the evidence against me was. He said there was a list of names from the Higher Council of Judges and Prosecutors and a secrecy order on the investigation. I said, “What do you mean there’s a list, what about evidence against me personally?”

A lawyer for another judge said:

My client was told he was suspected of [involvement in] an attempted coup and membership of the “Fethullah Gülen terrorist organization (FETO/PYD).” I had a chance to talk to him for a few minutes in the corridor of the courthouse. The prosecutor said they were expecting a report from the Higher Council of Judges and Prosecutors but no such report came. My client was not asked a single question of any relevance to the crimes he is suspected of.

When we got before the judge, that judge said openly to everyone in the hearing:

“There is no limit to the number of calls we’ve been getting from morning on. We are under incredible pressure. In this country they don’t let you be a judge. That’s the way it’s always been.”

The 13-page written decision putting my client and others in pretrial detention appeared 10 minutes after the judge had pronounced it. It was clearly entirely drawn up in advance and contained no evidence of individual guilt.

Guilt by Association

In each of the criminal investigations into judges and prosecutors that Human Rights Watch has examined, the prosecution’s investigation seems to be based only on alleged association.

One judge who was released said:

The prosecutor had a list of 10 or 15 questions along the lines of: which high school and private prep school [to supplement state education system] did you go to; where did you live during high school and university years; were you encouraged not to vote for the AKP during the elections; which candidates did you support in the Higher Council of Judges and Prosecutors election in 2014; during the council election were you on duty and there when the votes were counted? Did you make election propaganda for any name during the election period? Do you send your children to any prep school connected with the FETÖ/PYD? Have you participated in programs at your children’s school? Which school did your wife go to? Have you ever paid money as charity? Beyond that I was informed there was a secrecy order on the investigation.

A lawyer who is representing another judge mentioned that his client was asked many of the same questions. A second court had turned down his appeal against his client’s imprisonment. He said:

I have worked as a lawyer for many years. I lived through the September 12, 1980 coup and the martial law courts that were set up in 1978 before the coup. In the martial law courts where the big trials of the leftist groups and the trade union confederation DİSK were held I never encountered such abstract and unfounded charges as these. There really was nothing like this even in that period!

The wife of a judge who was held by police and then placed in pretrial detention said:

I was not present when the police came to detain my husband from our home. He was among around 50 who were detained from the lodgings where we lived on July 16. The police searched our home and took away my computer. A neighbor told me that they were all taken down to the street below and made to wait in an armored vehicle until everyone had been detained.

I was able to speak to my husband very briefly on the lawyer’s phone after he was questioned. My husband told me that there was a two-page list of questions in front of the prosecutor who interrogated him and the prosecutor was following that list and asked questions like, “Who were you sitting with in the garden of the lodgings where you live on the evening of the coup attempt? What school did you go to?”

Decisions to Detain Judges and Prosecutors Without Justification

Human Rights Watch examined court decisions to place eight judges and two prosecutors in pretrial detention. The decisions cited the decision of the Higher Council of Judges and Prosecutors to remove the judges and prosecutors from their positions and to permit a criminal investigation as the reason for imposing the detention and restriction orders.

Flouting the presumption of innocence, the decisions stated that in the Higher Council decision “they were judged to be members of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization/parallel state structure, which was judged to be a terrorist organization because of the July 15, 2016 attempted uprising.” Formulaic mention of the risk of suspects fleeing, tampering with evidence, plus “the evidence in the file” were provided as the further grounds for imprisonment.

One decision included two pages describing in generalized and highly emotive terms the danger posed by those in the “Fethullah Terrorist Organization” and listed their alleged practices and crimes, with no specific citation of any criminal activity by the affected individuals.

In one case an appeal court overturned a decision to jail a judge on grounds that it was “a disproportionate measure,” that no evidence had been found after a search of the suspect’s home and workplace, that the suspect had a fixed address, and so forth. But in most similar cases, the orders to place judges and prosecutors in pretrial detention have been upheld or an appeal is pending.

Pressure on Lawyers and Limitations on the Right to a Defense

Some lawyers asked to represent judges and prosecutors accused of links to the coup or Gülen movement said they felt pressure not to represent those clients or feared being associated with Gülenists if they did. Given that dozens of lawyers have been detained for alleged association with the Gülen movement in Istanbul, Konya, Izmir, and other cities, concerns about the risk of being associated with the movement are understandable.

The Adana Bar Association on July 26 made a public statement referring to the “fear” and “concern” about possible reprisals felt by lawyers in Adana, the decision by some not to provide legal aid to people detained in relation to the failed coup attempt, and the negative treatment they faced from the police and prosecutors if they did represent the detainees. The statement called on the Ministries of Justice and Interior to remind the relevant authorities of the right of all detainees to a defense, the principles of fair trial, and the presumption of innocence. The bar association stressed the importance of not associating lawyers with the crimes their clients were suspected of committing.

A lawyer said that he agreed to help only because one judge was a relative:

I agreed to help because we are relatives though I have no expertise in criminal law. I certainly don’t want my name published as lawyers are being arrested and heavily pressurized not to take on these cases.

We spent hours waiting for lawyers to turn up at the courthouse to act on behalf of close to 100 judges and prosecutors who had been detained. Many of those appointed by the bar association to provide legal aid to the detainees refused to do so, which is their right, out of fear.

The wife of one judge said: “The lawyer who initially agreed to represent my husband when he was detained later didn’t return my calls. He sent an indirect message saying that a partner of his would take on the case and that he had been threatened and was going to take a break for some time.”

Beyond the issue of pressure on lawyers, in practice there have been restrictions on the right of lawyers to meet with people in police custody and pretrial detention. The restrictions were made law in a government decree on July 27, allowing prosecutors to bar detainees from meeting with a lawyer during the first five days of police custody. A July 23 decree extended police custody to up to 30 days. The July 23 decree had also placed restrictions on the right to private communications with lawyers for suspects in pretrial detention. It is too early to assess the extent to which the restrictions have been carried out, but the wife of one detained judge reported that the first meeting in prison with his lawyer was monitored by prison guards and filmed. She told Human Rights Watch that she was concerned by the restrictions in the July 23 decree:

We were able to visit my husband in prison. The conditions are okay but since it was a “closed meeting” and we could only communicate by telephone from the other side of a glass window we assume that the conversation was monitored because the decree allows for such monitoring. That made us very worried that if we spoke openly restrictions might be placed on our visiting rights. During the first meeting in prison my husband had with his lawyer prison guards attended and the meeting was filmed. Our greatest concern is that pretrial detention will be extended, that our appeal against the detention will be rejected.

 

Deny Turkish demands to extradite Gülen

From the news article below:

Turkish officials, including Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, have warned that ties with the United States will be affected if it fails to extradite Gulen.

Extradition is a judicial process subject to the requirements of the US Constitution.  A threat of retaliation against the United States for providing Muhammed Fethullah Gülen those protections afforded to any resident of the United States is an insult.

The United States should resist any such threat.

Surely Turkey, which is now a  pariah nation, needs the United States much more than the United States needs Turkey. Turkey is now no more than a paper tiger, dangerous only to its own people and ruthless toward them.

This image published in The Sun is republished endlessly on the web by Turkish and Arabic writers as representative  of the way Turkey turrets respected persons (judges, generals, prosecutors) suspected of opposing Erdoğan:  Five Turkey coup plotters ‘commit suicide’ as experts warn 10,000 detainees are being ‘tortured, beaten and RAPED’ – The Sun

I have not found the original source for the image, and it nevertheless represents the way many view Turkish justice. There is no  way Gülen could receive a fair trial in Turkey given the current hysteria.  Urge SecretaryKerry to decline the extradition request.


The Indian EXPRESS
WorldWorld News
By: Reuters | Washington | Published:August 5, 2016 6:03 am

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accuses Gulen of orchestrating the failed putsch and harnessing an extensive network of schools, charities and businesses in Turkey and abroad to infiltrate state institutions. File Photo/Agencies

US evaluating Turkish charges against alleged coup mastermind Fethullah Gulen

The United States is evaluating new documents sent by Turkey to push for the extradition of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, the alleged mastermind of the country’s recent failed coup, a State Department spokesman said on Thursday. “The Turkish authorities (made) several deliveries of documents to us and we’re in the process of going through those documents,” spokesman Mark Toner told a daily news briefing. Toner said the first batch “did not, we believe, constitute a formal extradition request.”
He added: “We subsequently received more documents. We’re looking through them … and I don’t think they’ve reached that determination yet.” The U.S. Justice Department is the main agency poring over the documents to see whether they amount to a formal extradition request for Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999.

Turkish officials, including Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, have warned that ties with the United States will be affected if it fails to extradite Gulen. The NATO member plays an important role in the US-led fight against Islamic State. But Washington has said Ankara must provide clear evidence of Gulen’s involvement in the failed military coup before any extradition process can move forward. Gulen has denied plotting against Turkey and has condemned the coup attempt.

Toner said the United States had offered to help Turkey with investigating the coup. He did not say whether Turkey had responded to the offer. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accuses Gulen of orchestrating the failed putsch and harnessing an extensive network of schools, charities and businesses in Turkey and abroad to infiltrate state institutions.

Erdogan vowed on Thursday to choke off the businesses, while an Istanbul court issued an arrest warrant for Gulen for “giving the instructions” for the coup attempt, in which more than 230 people were killed. In New York, Kamil Aydin, a Turkish member of parliament from Erzurum, said the U.S. Justice Department had received 85 boxes of documents from Turkey related to Gulen so far. “They are in the process of evaluating these documents,” he said, without giving any details on the files.