Sweden to allow underwater investigation 

of Estonia wreck site

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden said on Friday it would allow an underwater examination of the ferry Estonia, which sank in the Baltic 26 years ago with the loss of 852 lives, after a documentary film showed previously unknown holes in the wreck’s hull.

The official investigation concluded in 1997 that the roll-on, roll-off ferry’s bow shield had failed, damaging the bow ramp and flooding the car deck.

However, a Discovery Network documentary shown earlier in the autumn about the disaster included new underwater video images from the wreck site showing two previously unknown holes on the starboard side of the ship’s hull.

“If there is new information, we need to look into it and clear up any questions,” Home Affairs Minister Mikael Damberg told a news conference.

Damberg said the government hoped to amend the law designating the site of the disaster as a maritime memorial in the first half of next year.

On the night of Sept. 28, 1994, the Estonia was sailing from Tallinn to Stockholm in bad weather. Winds were around 20 meters per second and the waves around 4 meters high, according to the official investigation.

After the bow shield failed, the ferry rapidly filled with water and most of those who died were trapped inside.

The ship sank about 22 nautical miles from Uto island in less than 85 metres of water.

Over the years, a number of theories have emerged about the sinking that reject the official explanation, including a collision with a submarine and an explosion inside the ship.

The head of Sweden’s Accident Investigation Authority, John Ahlberk, however, said a preliminary examination of footage from the documentary and previous material had not so far led to the conclusion that the 1997 official report had been wrong.

“What the investigation we are doing now is about is to find out, as far as possible, what made these holes and how they occurred, he said.


Reporting by Simon Johnson;

INDIA Supreme Court declines calls to ban farmers' protest



By Suchitra Mohanty, Mayank Bhardwaj


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India’s Supreme Court on Friday declined calls to ban a weeks-long farmers’ protest and asked the government and unions to help form a committee of experts to mediate between them.

“We make it clear that we recognise the fundamental right to protest against a law. There is no question of balancing or curtailing it. But it should not damage anyone’s life or property,” Chief Justice S. A. Bobde said.

Thousands of farmers angered by three agricultural laws that they say threaten their livelihoods have intensified their protests by blocking highways and camping out on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi.

Petitioners had approached the Supreme Court to complain that the protests had hampered drivers and making it difficult for people to access emergency medical services

“We are of the view at this stage that the farmers’ protest should be allowed to continue without impediment and without any breach of peace either by the protesters or the police,” Bobde said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration in September introduced the farm bills that the government says will unshackle farmers from having to sell their produce only at regulated wholesale markets and make contract farming easier.

Farmers insist that the new laws will leave them at the mercy of big corporations.

Six rounds of talks between government ministers and farmers’ union leaders have failed to resolve the situation.

The government has said while the laws can be amended, it is against repealing the bills. Farmers last week rejected a government’s proposal to amend the legislation.

India’s vast agriculture sector, which makes up nearly 15% of the country’s $2.9 trillion economy, employs about half of its 1.3 billion people.


Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Angus MacSwan

Sikh diaspora drums up global support for farmers' protest in India


By Mayank Bhardwaj, Manoj Kumar


NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Thousands of Indian farmers protesting against deregulation of agriculture markets are drawing strength from Sikhs around the world who are urging foreign governments to intercede with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


FILE PHOTO: Farmers take part in a protest against farm bills passed by India's parliament on the outskirts of Delhi, India, December 17, 2020. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

Farmers, mostly from the Sikh-dominated state of Punjab, have been camped on the borders of New Delhi since last month, demanding Modi roll back the reforms intended to bring investment in the antiquated farm sector but which the farmers say will leave them at the mercy of big corporations.

Sikhs living overseas, most of whom have families at home tied to the farms, have picked up the thread in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, demonstrating outside Indian embassies to draw attention.

On Thursday, 250 to 300 Sikhs and other overseas Indians took part in a rally in a Melbourne district to express their support for India’s farmers, said Rajbir Singh, who runs a small transport business in Melbourne.

On Saturday, people of Indian origin plan to carry out similar protests near the state parliament of Victoria in Melbourne, said Siftnoor Singh, a data scientist.

“The new laws will bring economic devastation to our motherland, and we can’t simply close our eyes and pretend that everything is alright back home,” he told Reuters by phone.

The farmers’ fear is that by allowing companies such as Walmart and India’s Reliance Industries Ltd’s retail arm to buy directly from farmers, the government intends to weaken the traditional markets where their rice and wheat are guaranteed a minimum price.

Sikhs and other Indian Punjabis overseas are estimated at 12 million. They form a tightly knit group and are vociferous in articulating the concerns of the community back home.

Since the farmers’ protest started more than two weeks ago in India, members of the diaspora have participated in protest marches - mostly consisting of 400 to 600 people - in nearly 50 different cities of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, protesters and their families said.

The government has declined comment on the protests overseas. But underlining India’s sensitivity about what it sees as foreign interference in its internal affairs, New Delhi summoned Canada’s ambassador this month to convey displeasure after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the farmers had a right to protest.

‘HAND THAT FEEDS YOU’

“I’ve been approached by many concerned people of Indian origin who are based in Victoria to speak about the issue,” Samantha Ratnam, parliamentary leader of Australia’s Victorian Greens party, recently told the state legislative council.

Relatives and supporters of the farmers gathered this month even in the small town of Canton, Michigan, in the United States, carrying placards saying “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” and “I stand with farmers”. Other protesters staged a demonstration outside the Indian embassy in Washington.

In Canada, home to a Sikh community that is politically influential, residents of Indian origin have vowed to step up their support for India’s protesting farmers.

“We are taking part in regular protests to bring it to the notice of local authorities who can help us amplify our voices,” said Amanpreet Singh Grewal, a resident of Brampton, Ontario, Canada. “We are committed to support our farmers in India.”

Many Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) own farmlands in Punjab and fear the sweeping changes that the government plans will hurt them economically.

“Punjabi NRIs are worried that if these laws are implemented, and result in fall in crop procurement prices, it would lead to substantial fall in the value of their farm lands and yearly income from land contracts,” said Avtar Singh Gill, 64, who is now settled in Punjab after four decades in the UK.

Mewa Singh, the chief of the NRI council in the Ropar district of Punjab, said organisations such as his that represent overseas Indians were helping farmers mobilise people in villages, arranging transport for them, and collecting milk and rations for supplying to the protesters sleeping out in the open near Delhi.

Singh said his son, the manager of a basketball team in Houston, Texas, was leading protests there.





“We can’t allow Prime Minister Modi to take away what we have gained over the years through hard work and political struggle,” Mewa Singh said.

In Britain, Sikh groups wield influence and have been making the case for British leaders to raise the issue with their Indian counterparts even if the Modi government baulks at such involvement.

Jas Singh, an adviser at the Sikh Foundation, said the community had written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer to lobby their case.

“Worried by the use of disproportionate force against many elderly protesters, we’ve also reached out to the United Nations to ask India to protect farmers’ right to peaceful protests,” Jas Singh said.


Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj and Manoj Kumar; editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Raju Gopalakrishnan

Rights group says Peru police committed 'multiple abuses' against protesters


LIMA (Reuters) - Peruvian national police committed "multiple abuses" against mostly peaceful demonstrators in November as they protested "the very questionable removal" of then-President Martin Vizcarra here, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.

The New York-based rights group urged interim President Francisco Sagasti, Congress and police commanders to adopt reforms to ensure officers respect the right of peaceful assembly. The interior ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Two protesters were killed and over 200 injured, some seriously, in demonstrations between Nov. 9 and 15, HRW said in a statement.

“Witness statements and other evidence Human Rights Watch collected indicate that police repeatedly used excessive force against protesters,” the rights group said.

The evidence includes videos showing police “recklessly” shooting teargas canisters directly into crowds, HRW said.

Vizcarra, who drove a tough anti-corruption campaign, was removed by the opposition Congress on Nov. 9 in an impeachment trial over allegations of bribery. He joins a long list of Peruvian politicians ensnared in allegations of corruption, and his ouster threw the world’s no. 2 copper producer into political turmoil ahead of planned elections next year.

In Sagasti’s inauguration speech on Nov. 17, he promised justice to the victims of abuse at the hands of police. The commission he created on Nov. 24 has 60 days to recommend measures aimed at modernizing and improving the police force.

“President Sagasti has taken an important step by convening a commission to improve police performance,” HRW Americas Director Jose Miguel Vivanco said in the statement.

HRW said it interviewed 76 people, including victims and their lawyers, during a visit to Lima as part of its probe. HRW also met with the justice minister and the police commander.

Sagasti told Reuters last month there would be “no impunity” for those responsible for the deaths and injuries, but he stopped short of committing to police reform.

“On November 9, Congress ousted Vizcarra from office through a questionable legal process, claiming that he lacked ‘moral capacity’ because there is an ongoing corruption investigation against him. He has not been charged with any crime,” HRW said.

Reporting by Marco Aquino, writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Bernadette Baum

Gas, marbles and lead pellets: Peru protest deaths turn spotlight on police violence

By Marcelo Rochabrun

LIMA (Reuters) - Ruben Guevara was marching in teargas-filled streets in Lima in November when he was hit in the face by what felt like a gas canister, severely damaging his right retina.

“We were protecting people who had already fallen to the ground and police kept moving forward and shooting straight at us,” said Guevara, 32, a father of two.

Guevara was one of millions of Peruvians who marched against interim President Manuel Merino last month. After just five days in power, and faced by intense protests in Lima that led to the deaths of two demonstrators and some 200 injuries, Merino resigned.

The reaction by police to the protests in the capital has ignited a debate about police brutality, which human rights advocates say has historically been more common in the country’s interior, where low-income Peruvians have a harder time demanding accountability.

At least 20 demonstrators were shot with lead pellets or glass marbles during the Lima protests, according to medical records, interviews and information compiled by the local Human Rights Coordinator. On Thursday, Human Rights Watch said there was “credible and solid” evidence that such ammunition had been used by the police.

At least half a dozen of those injured were hospitalized for over three weeks. A third person died in protests in northern Peru earlier this month.

Peru’s police declined to comment for this story. They have previously said they only used rubber bullets in counteracting protesters, and that any pellets or marbles must have been shot by the protesters instead.

Jorge Vasquez, a pathologist in Lima who examined the body of one of those killed in the protests, as well as victims of a deadly nightclub stampede in August that was sparked by a police raid, said the number of deaths he was seeing as a result of police actions had increased this year.

Police in Lima had caused “deaths that didn’t need to happen,” he said, adding that in his opinion police were “getting out of control.”

In the wake of U.S. demonstrations against racial injustice and police brutality this year, Latin America has also seen a wave of anger over perceived police impunity, with protests in Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Brazil.

In Peru, human rights advocates say police forces have been emboldened in part by a new ‘Police Protection Law’ passed in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic that backs officers who shoot on duty.

Peru’s new interim president Francisco Sagasti, a centrist who replaced Merino, has vowed there will be “no impunity” for violent officers, and removed 18 senior police chiefs from duty in the wake of the protests, citing the need to “strengthen” the police.

No police officer has been charged or named as a potential suspect for actions relating to the protests.

‘POLICE KILLED HIM’

Reuters TV footage filmed at the height of the protests in Lima showed how police fired tear gas without verbal warnings, aiming canisters either at body-height or at the sky, raising risk of injury.

It showed police opening fire on demonstrators who had previously thrown rocks and other implements. None of the demonstrators appeared to be armed with firing weapons.

Protester Jack Pintado died in Lima on Nov. 14, with 10 lead pellets lodged in his upper body, legal records show. Three weeks later, Jorge Munoz died on a sidewalk in Peru’s north after being hit by a “lead projectile.”

“Police killed him!,” bystanders shouted as they desperately poured water on Munoz’s injured skull, videos show. A row of riot police stood meters away.

Others survived, their bodies heavily maimed.

Lucio Suarez was hit in the head by three lead pellets which penetrated his skull and lodged into his brain, medical records show.

Andres Rivero was also hit in the head, fracturing his skull. He was hospitalized for weeks and needs another surgery in January.

“Police reform?,” asked his father Mario Rivero, outside the hospital where Andres spent more than three weeks. “Sure, but first I want to see the officer who did this to my son punished.”

In an interview with Reuters, Jose Luis Perez Guadalupe, who served as interior minister between 2015 and 2016, said he believed it was “highly likely” that the pellets that caused the injuries were shot by police.

Others protesters, like Guevara, suffered injuries from teargassing.

Reuters footage shows that at one point police shot a dozen canisters in the span of 10 seconds, forcing protesters to turn political cardboard signs into makeshift shields.

“A lot of unprotected people coupled with police who appear to not be particularly good at this: it’s kind of a recipe for disaster,” said Ed Maguire, a criminology professor at Arizona State University.

Several protesters recounted how police threw gas canisters at panicked crowds.

“When we tried to get through the gas, the police shot at us again,” said Cesar Lecarnaque, a medical student who said he tended to three pellet victims on Nov. 14. “I thought I was going to die.”

Alonso Chero, a photographer for daily El Comercio, was covering the protests in Lima when officers began firing, he said.

As he crouched and ran toward the protesters for safety he felt the impact of a shot in his back.

A doctor later filmed how he extracted a glass marble from Chero’s body that barely missed his spine.

“To me the decision to use a glass marble is no different than the decision to fire a regular gun,” said Maguire.


Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Rosalba O’Brien

Need a ventilator? Polish arms dealer has plenty

By Anna Koper

WARSAW (Reuters) - When the coronavirus pandemic surged across Europe in April and hospitals were desperate for ventilators, Poland’s government turned to an unlikely supplier: an arms dealer.


Andrzej Izdebski, 69, has helped smuggle rifles and ammunition across borders, worked for Poland’s Communist secret services, and claims to have sold dietary supplements to North Korea.

Months later, as a second coronavirus wave strains Poland’s hospitals and raises its COVID-19 death toll, Izdebski has provided less than a fifth of the 1,241 ventilators the government agreed to buy for about $53 million, the government and Izdebski say.

Izdebski’s struggle to deliver ventilators to Poland opens a window into the extraordinary lengths countries have gone to obtain the devices in the pandemic. While wealthier countries raced to secure the breathing machines from big manufacturers in China, Europe and the United States, poorer countries like Poland had a choice when the pandemic swept the globe: go on a waiting list that could delay shipments by months or turn to little-known third-party brokers.

Izdebski went with the brokers.

Under the deal, the Polish government expected Izdebski’s company to deliver the first 321 ventilators in April and May. But with buyers around the globe also scrambling for the devices, Izdebski struggled to secure them on time, he said in an interview. When they didn’t arrive, Warsaw cancelled those orders.

Warsaw expected the remaining 920 ventilators ordered through Izdebski to come in June.

But by early July, he had delivered just 200, according to the government official in charge of the deal.

The official didn’t blame Izdebski for failing to deliver the machines, which help patients breathe and can be the difference between life and death for those facing the most dire respiratory effects of the coronavirus. He said Izdebski produced documents showing that one of the manufacturers wasn’t able to deliver the ventilators on time. Izdebski corroborated the official’s account. Reuters was unable to view the documents.

But by then, Warsaw had turned to other suppliers and cancelled orders for 1,041 undelivered ventilators. Izdebski said he paid for more than half the original order with the money he received up-front from the government.

Today, he owes Warsaw millions of dollars and is seeking buyers for almost 500 ventilators.

His unwanted inventory is a predicament that caps a year of chaos worldwide, as authorities cast aside regular procedures to obtain medical equipment. This year, European countries and the United States agreed contracts for ventilators worth at least $5.3 billion, according to a Reuters tally of 106 deals. In at least 10 cases, as many as 43,000 ventilators failed to arrive.

In Poland, opposition politicians have criticized the government for relying on an arms dealer for urgent life-saving equipment and for agreeing to pay upfront. Michal Szczerba, a member of Civic Platform, the biggest opposition party in the parliament, called the ventilator deal “a gigantic scandal.”

Janusz Cieszynski, a former deputy health minister who agreed to pay Izdebski’s company a 35 million euro ($42 million) advance for the equipment, told Reuters Izdebski had received a “positive recommendation” from Poland’s Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, which did not respond to questions on the matter.

The health ministry said all of its deals underwent reviews by multiple government agencies but otherwise declined comment, saying “everything about this case has already been communicated.” Other government agencies involved in the deal either declined to comment or did not respond.

Izdebski says he is being unjustly scapegoated as having failed to provide the devices. The court granted a health ministry request to order him to repay 12 million euros of the advance as well as around 3.6 million euros in fines. He acknowledges the debt but is appealing the rulings.

The 200 ventilators that he delivered -- worth 9 million euros -- are in storage, according to the health ministry. Not one has reached a hospital. Asked why not, the ministry referred Reuters to Poland’s National Reserves Agency, which runs stores of strategic goods. The agency did not respond.

“This is a disaster for the pandemic fighting system,” Pawel Grzesiowski, a specialist in the fight against COVID-19 with Poland’s physicians’ association, the General Medical Council, told Reuters.

“The money was spent, and there is no equipment.”

Cieszynski, the deputy minister who signed the contract, resigned in August, followed by the minister, Lukasz Szumowski.

Both had faced calls to quit over alleged problems in buying masks and other medical equipment, including ventilators. They denied wrongdoing and said their resignations were unrelated to the ventilator deal. Szumowski did not respond to a request for comment for this story. He and Cieszynski have said they were already planning to leave but stayed on temporarily to help the pandemic effort.

Izdebski, who has already returned 14 million euros of the advance, said he had to commit millions of dollars of taxpayers’ cash upfront as demanded by the brokers. He has asked for more time to sell his stock so he can repay the rest.

THE SUPPLIER

Izdebski conducted the deal through his 27-year-old company, E&K Sp. z o.o. According to the most recent public disclosures, E&K had assets of 4.36 million zlotys ($1 million) at the end of 2018, lower than its liabilities of 5.77 million zlotys.

E&K initially in the 1990s specialized as a broker of air transport, chartering flights and providing other aviation services. Izdebski said he had separately been involved in trading medical equipment and designing a rescue helicopter for the Ministry of Health.

Unimesko, another Polish company he owns, listed weapons trading in the official registry among other business activities until this year. On Nov. 30, its description in the registry changed to “non-specialized wholesale trade,” but it lists arms and ammunition production as a secondary activity.

He said he once worked with Poland’s now-defunct Communist-era secret services and admitted to smuggling rifles and ammunition into Croatia despite an arms embargo in the 1990s using forged documents. In his interview with Reuters, he acknowledged that breaking the embargo “wasn’t totally legal” but said others were doing it and he was never charged.

In 1993, he was kidnapped in a dispute over money, court records show. Today, he describes himself as a trader in “special equipment” -- such as spare parts for the military -- as well as vitamins and nutrients to North Korea. He said he didn’t violate any embargoes with those trades.

Generally speaking, Izdebski said, weapons make up a very small proportion of his dealings, most of which have been legal.

Reuters couldn’t independently confirm certain aspects of his activities, including his involvement in the secret services.

THE DEAL

In early April, when Poland reported around 5,000 COVID-19 cases, Izdebski said he was sourcing protective masks for Polish companies when an official at one the companies asked if he could also supply ventilators. He said he had no experience in ventilators but spoke to the ministry and agreed to deliver some.

Normally, the authorities hold public tenders for such large deals. In March, Poland’s parliament passed a law saying that tenders are not necessary in COVID times.

Denmark strengthens rape laws, outlaws sex without explicit consent


COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark strengthened its rape laws on Thursday by criminalising sex without explicit consent.

The new law passed by parliament widened the circumstances that could constitute rape - under the old legislation, prosecutors had to show the rapist had used violence or attacked someone who was unable to resist.

“Now it will be clear, that if both parties do not consent to sex, then it’s rape,” justice minister Nick Haekkerup said in a statement

A similar law introduced in neighbouring Sweden in 2018 resulted in a 75% rise in rape convictions.

Around 11,400 women a year are raped or subjected to attempted rape in Denmark, according to the ministry’s figures.

Amnesty International said Denmark had become the 12th country in Europe to recognise non-consensual sex as rape.

“This is a great day for women in Denmark as it consigns outdated and dangerous rape laws to the dustbin of history and helps to end pervasive stigma and endemic impunity for this crime,” the campaign group’s Women’s Rights Researcher, Anna Blus, said.

The law will take effect on Jan. 1.

Reporting by Tim Barsoe; Editing by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Andrew Heavens

CLIMATE CHANGE

Fiji declares state of natural disaster as powerful cyclone hits

By Byron Kaye, Colin Packham


SYDNEY (Reuters) -Fiji ordered its entire population to take shelter on Thursday in the path of what is expected to be the worst storm in its recorded history.

VIDEO https://www.reuters.com/video/?videoId=OVD9EHI7F&jwsource=em

Cyclone Yasa, a top category five storm expected to bring winds of up to 250 km per hour (155 miles per hour) and torrential rain, made landfall over Bua province on the northern island of Vanua Levu at about 6 p.m. local time (0600 GMT).

“The impact for this super storm is more or less the entire country,” Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said in a video posted on Facebook. He told the country’s near 1 million population to find safe shelter ahead of a 14-hour nationwide curfew beginning 4 p.m. (0400 GMT).

Yasa would “easily surpass” the strength of 2016’s Cyclone Winston, he added, referring to the southern hemisphere’s most intense tropical storm on record, which killed more than 40 Fijians and left tens of thousands of people homeless.

More than 95% of the population live in the storm’s direct path, said Bainimarama. He said weather forecasts anticipated flash flooding and “severe coastal inundation” including waves up to 10 metres (33 ft) high.

Images shared on social media showed roads blocked by landslides, floodwaters and fallen trees. All roads in Rakiraki, a district on the main island with about 30,000 residents, were flooded, according to local media.

The curfew order was given as part of a declaration of a state of natural disaster, which will run for 30 days.

Residents in the areas deemed most at risk said the warnings were been heeded.

“The power is off, we don’t know about anybody, the winds are quite strong, but we are okay for the time being,” said a hotel worker in Bua who declined to give his name.

“When daylight comes, then we’ll know what damage has been done,” added the hotel worker by telephone.

Fiji banned the running of public transport, and was taking precautions with some 50 foreign yachts moored in the southern part of the island chain.

“The boats have been moved to mangrove shelter, which provide good protection against the winds,” said Cynthia Rasch, chief executive officer of Port Denarau Marina. Fiji reopened to foreign boats in October in a bid to revive a tourism industry hit hard by the coronavirus.

Reporting by Byron Kaye and colin packhamEditing by Michael Perry and Peter Graff

Vietnam arrests popular Facebook user for "anti-state" posts

HANOI (Reuters) - Police in Vietnam have arrested a well-known Facebook user over allegations of abusing democratic freedom and publishing posts against the state, state media reported on Thursday.

Truong Chau Huu Danh, 38, a former journalist, will be detained for three months for posts that the police said were abuses of freedom of speech and infringements on state interests, the Ho Chi Minh City police newspaper reported. UH THAT'S WHAT FREE SPEECH IS;

INFRINGEMENT ON STATE INTERESTS

“Danh owns a Facebook page with nearly 168,000 followers and has got several anti-state posts, causing division of national unity,” the report added.

Danh’s arrest comes as the Vietnam government steps p a crackdown on activists ahead of a key party congress in January next year. Despite sweeping economic reform and increasing openness to social change, Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party tolerates little criticism.

Facebook, which serves about 60 million users in Vietnam as the main platform for both e-commerce and expressions of political dissent, is under constant government scrutiny.

In November, Reuters exclusively reported Vietnam had threatened to shut down Facebook in the country if it did not bow to government pressure to censor more local political content on its platform.

Vietnam has been widely rebuked for its tough moves to curb online dissent as public appetite for the Internet soars and Web users turn to blogs to read about issues that state-controlled media avoids.


Reporting by Phuong Nguyen; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan

Erdogan ally calls for Turkey's pro-Kurdish party to be banned



By Daren Butler

DECEMBER 17, 2020

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan’s nationalist ally said Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP party, the country’s third biggest, should be banned for separatism - a move the HDP’s co-leader condemned on Thursday as a bid to silence six million voters.

Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahceli has long been a fierce critic of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and, like Erdogan, accuses it of ties to militants who have fought a 36-year-old insurgency in southeast Turkey.

“The HDP must be closed and not reopened. No tolerance should be shown to any party organisation that takes as its reference ethnic separatism and terrorism,” Bahceli said in a tweet on Wednesday, attacking the HDP for not signing a cross-party parliament statement condemning U.S sanctions on Turkey.

Turkish courts have banned pro-Kurdish parties in the past on charges of militant ties, drawing criticism from Turkey’s Western allies. But moves supported by Erdogan’s AKP have since made closing parties down more difficult.

Bahceli, whose party is the fourth biggest in parliament and whose comments in the past have appeared to influence government policy, suggested a change in the constitution, political parties law or the penal code if necessary.

“The fight with poisonous vermin is a wonderful service to national dignity. The fight with separatism is honourable support for our independence,” he said.

HDP co-leader Mithat Sancar responded on Thursday in an interview with Turkish broadcaster Fox TV, saying the HDP had the support of millions of people.

“Shutting the HDP means shutting down democracy in this country, it means silencing 6 million people,” Sancar said.

“In the past, six of our parties were closed down and what happened? If our party is closed we will come back stronger.”

Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants have fought against the state in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.

Ankara, the European Union and the United States designate the PKK as a terrorist organisation. The HDP, parliament’s third largest party, denies links to terrorism.

PKK ARE FREEDOM FIGHTERS WHO DECLARED A TEN YEAR LONG CEASEFIREAND ARE NOW FIGHTING DAESH IN IRAQ AND SYRIA 

HDP IS A SOCIALIST, FEMINIST, HUMAN RIGHTS PARTY ORGANIZED BY PROGRESSIVE KURDS AND THEIR TURKISH ALLIES

The HDP, founded in 2012, won 11.7% of the vote in the 2018 parliamentary election. It has been targeted by authorities in a crackdown in recent years under which thousands of party officials and members have been arrested and dozens of its mayors and lawmakers unseated.


Reporting by Daren Butler. Editing by Dominic Evans and Mark Potter

Turkey-backed fighters clash with Kurdish forces in north Syria town


BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian fighters backed by Turkey waged battles on Friday against Kurdish forces near the town of Ain Issa in northern Syria, where Russian and Turkish troops jointly patrol a key highway.

Turkish forces and their Syrian insurgent allies seized territory in the region in an offensive last year against the Kurdish YPG militia which holds swathes of north and east Syria.

Ankara’s Western allies widely condemned that incursion, which was halted when Turkey reached separate deals with Washington and Moscow, the second of which agreed to establish the joint Russian-Turkish patrols.

The YPG, which Turkey deems a terrorist group, forms the military backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance which defeated Islamic State in northeast Syria with the help of U.S. air power.

Ain Issa, where the clashes erupted overnight, sits along the M4 highway that links major Syrian cities and where the Russian-Turkish patrols usually take place.

A rebel source with the Turkey-backed National Army said the faction seized some farmland after mounting an attack at the edge of the town

A FORCE MADE UP OF DAESH/AL QUEDA/ETC.

The YPG, which Turkey deems a terrorist group, forms the military backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance which defeated Islamic State in northeast Syria with the help of U.S. air power.

Ain Issa, where the clashes erupted overnight, sits along the M4 highway that links major Syrian cities and where the Russian-Turkish patrols usually take place.

A rebel source with the Turkey-backed National Army said the faction seized some farmland after mounting an attack at the edge of the town.


An SDF commander told local Kurdish media that shelling hit parts of the town and highway but his forces were thwarting the attack.

Ain Issa, east of the Euphrates river, also has a sprawling camp for displaced people where the SDF has held families of Islamic State fighters, including foreigners.


Reporting by Khalil Ashawi in Istanbul and Ellen Francis in Beirut