Erdogan sacks 107 judges/prosecutors in crazy crackdon

[Anthea]

Turkey suspends more than 9,000 police officers in new purge over 'Gulen links'

Turkey's police force has suspended more than 9,000 officers over alleged links to the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen.

It said the action had been taken on the grounds of national security.

President Tayyip Erdogan accuses Mr Gulen of instigating a failed coup against him last July - a charge the cleric denies.

Earlier, authorities detained more than 1,000 people in the latest operation against alleged Gulen supporters.

The nationwide sweep was one of the largest such operations carried out in Turkey in months.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said it had targeted a Gulen network "that infiltrated our police force, called 'secret imams'".

He said more than "secret imams" had been detained and the operation was continuing.

In the aftermath of the 15 July coup attempt, which was led by military officers, 40,000 people were arrested and 120,000 sacked or suspended.

They included soldiers, police, teachers, and public servants - all of whom were accused of having links with militant groups.

The latest purge comes just over a week after President Erdogan narrowly won a controversial referendum on increasing his powers.

Opponents fear the victory, which has bitterly divided Turkey, brings him closer to authoritarian rule.

Two days after the referendum, Turkey's parliament extended a nine-month state of emergency by a further three months.

Erdogan tightens grip - by Mark Lowen, BBC News, Istanbul

It was widely expected that the post-coup purge would accelerate once President Erdogan achieved the referendum victory he wanted.

He feels emboldened and there's no longer a risk of jeopardising potential referendum votes.

No matter that the opposition still contests the referendum results, and their claim of widespread fraud is backed by a scathing report from election observers. The president says the result is final.

So on Wednesday the police bore the brunt of the detentions, but other institutions are likely to follow suit.

The governing AKP party was full of Gulen supporters when Mr Erdogan and the cleric were staunch allies.

It hasn't yet been purged and could now be targeted. And even if not, the threat will be dangled over potential opponents like a sword of Damocles: speak out and your Gulen affiliation will be exposed.

The scale of the "anti-Gulen" arrests has raised alarm in Europe, and stalled Turkey's bid to join the EU.

After the latest sweep, Germany's foreign ministry said it had "taken note of the mass detentions with concern".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39723371

[Anthea]

Turkish authorities block Wikipedia without giving reason

Turkey has blocked all access inside the country to the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.

Officials said "an administrative measure" had been taken, but gave no reason why.

Turkish media said authorities had asked Wikipedia to remove content by writers "supporting terror".

Turkey has temporarily blocked social media sites including Facebook and Twitter in the past, usually following protests or terror attacks.

The Turkey Blocks monitoring group said Wikipedia was unreachable from 08:00 (05:00 GMT). People in Istanbul were unable to access any pages without using a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

"After technical analysis and legal consideration based on the Law Nr. 5651 [governing the internet], an administrative measure has been taken for this website," Turkey's Information and Communication Technologies Authority was quoted as saying, giving no further details.

However, the Hurriyet daily newspaper said Wikipedia had been asked to remove content by certain writers whom the authorities accuse of "supporting terror" and of linking Turkey to terror groups. The site had not responded to the demands, Hurriyet said, and the ban was imposed as a result.

Turkey Blocks and Turkish media, including Hurriyet, said the provisional order would need to be backed by a full court ruling in the next few days.

Another day, another outage - by Mark Lowen, BBC Turkey Correspondent

It's become all too familiar here: the endless "loading" icon followed by the message "server timed out".

Blocking websites is a common tool of the Turkish authorities: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have suffered the same fate several times, and numerous anti-government sites are inaccessible.

Critics say it smacks of Turkey's repression of free speech: over half of all requests to Twitter to remove content have come from Turkey, and the country now ranks 155 of 180 in the press freedom index of the watchdog Reporters without Borders.

Social media was in uproar as news of the ban emerged, with some users speculating that it might be a bid to suppress criticism on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Wikipedia page.

Mr Erdogan narrowly won a controversial 16 April referendum on increasing his powers, but the issue has deeply divided the country.

One Twitter user noted that the Wikipedia page on Turkey's referendum has a section on "controversies and electoral misconduct", and cites claims that the government suppressed the No campaign through "arrests, control of the media and political suppression".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39754909

Perhaps Erdogan is worried that Kurds will be able to look up Turkey's many and various attacks on them - about time Kurds learnt their history and the part Turkey played in the various attacks and slaughter of the innocent Kurdish popuation

[Anthea]

Turkey sacks yet another 4,000 officials in crackdown

The Turkish government has sacked almost 4,000 more public officials in what appears to be the latest purge related to a failed coup last July.

They include more than 1,000 justice ministry workers, a similar number of army staff and more than 100 air force pilots, officials said.

In a separate decree, Turkey banned TV dating shows - a move previously mooted by the government.

Earlier on Saturday, Turkey blocked the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia.

The latest sackings follow the suspension of more than 9,000 police officers and the arrest of 1,000 more last Wednesday on suspicion of having links to the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses Mr Gulen of instigating last year's coup attempt, a charge the cleric denies.

The government said in its Official Gazette that all those sacked were suspected of links to "terrorist organisations and structures presenting a threat to national security".
Court order due
The ban on TV dating programmes follows a warning in March by Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus that the shows do not fit in with Turkish traditions and customs.

"There are some strange programmes that would scrap the institution of family, take away its nobility and sanctity," he said at the time.

Critics of Turkey's governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) say they fear the country is sliding toward conservative Islam under Mr Erdogan.

However, AKP supporters say dating shows receive thousands of complaints and the ban is in the public interest.

Court order due

The block on Wikipedia was detected at about 08:00 (05:00 GMT) on Saturday, the Turkey Blocks monitoring group said.

Turkey's Information and Communication Technologies Authority said an "administrative measure" had been taken but did not give details.

Turkish media said Wikipedia had been asked to remove content by certain writers whom the authorities accuse of "supporting terror" and of linking Turkey to terror groups.

Link to Full Article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39759050

[Benny]

And now also banning dating shows on Tv

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/29/europ ... index.html

Have a nice Sunday,
B

[Anthea]

Erdogan is slowly turning Turkey into an Islamic State and there is nothing anyone will be able to do to stop him - he is ALL POWERFUL and CRAZY not a good combination in a political leader

I hope you have a lovely weekend Benny

We have a bank holiday so it will rain

[Benny]

More judges suspended:


https://www.google.se/amp/mobile.reuter ... SKBN1811P4

/B

[Anthea]

More judges suspended:


https://www.google.se/amp/mobile.reuter ... SKBN1811P4

/B

Turkey dismissed 107 judges and prosecutors over alleged links to a failed coup in July last year, Turkish television reported on Friday, in the third major purge since President Tayyip Erdogan was granted sweeping new powers.

Turkey has now fired about 145,000 civil servants, security personnel and academics, local media reported. The number of ousted judges and prosecutors has reached 4,238.

Ankara has blamed the network of the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen for a coup attempt last July in which he has denied all involvement.

Detention warrants were issued for the dismissed judges and prosecutors, Turkish TV said. More than 40,000 were arrested in the aftermath of the failed putsch in which 240 people were killed, mostly civilians.

Turkey on Saturday expelled more than 3,900 people from the civil service and military as threats to national security, after a referendum in April which rights groups and some Western allies say brought the country, a NATO member and European Union candidate, closer to one-man rule.

I thought it best to copy of the article and post the entire story

Sometimes links to articles do not work and I wish to keep a record of Erdogan's madness

'Absolute power corrupts absolutely'

Erdogan is following in the footsteps of his hero

ADOLF HITLER

When Erdogan built his FORTRESS people should have realised that he was no longer mentally stable

Erdogan is an extremely dangerous man - a megalomaniac with delusions of grandeur

Sadly no longer a mere delusion - he is in COMPLETE CONTROL of Turkey