ANOTHER P3 FAIL

Canada’s Slow and Troubled Path to Rapid Transit

Partnerships with the private sector were supposed to protect cities from cost overruns and delays. That hasn’t always worked out.

By Ian Austen

The New York Times
July 9, 2022

Canada is on a mass transit building spree. But to say that things are not going according to plan would be an understatement.

After more than a decade of construction, a major intersection in Toronto remains a chasm from a light rail project.

Credit...Ian Austen/The New York Times

On Thursday, a justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario leading a provincial inquiry wrapped up three weeks of testimony on Ottawa’s light rail system. The project has been described as a debacle after being plagued with delays, repeated shutdowns, equipment failures and a destructive derailment that closed the entire system for seven weeks

In Toronto, a 19-kilometer stretch of Eglinton Avenue is still a mess, 11 years on, with a giant excavation where it crosses Yonge Street. Bus trips along the major artery remain jarring as construction continues on a rail system that was supposed to open two years ago. That may not happen until next year.

Last month, an elevated rail network in Montreal known as the Réseau Express Métropolitain delayed some of its openings until 2024. And earlier plans for another network costing 10 billion Canadian dollars were set back when the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec, the province’s pension and investment fund, left the project after many residents said that its downtown portion would disfigure the city and after the transit authority said that it would siphon too much business from its existing routes.

Aside from delays, cost overruns and all-around headaches, what these projects have in common is that they were structured as public-private partnerships, an approach that first gained momentum in Canada during the 1990s. Rather than follow the traditional route of managing, owning and maintaining the project, governments strike a deal with a business — most often a special company formed by several corporations — to handle the work under contract.

But the struggles in those transit projects have now taken the shine off such partnerships.

“There is definitely a rethinking on public-private partnerships in Canada, and it’s been precipitated by the transit sector,” said Matti Siemiatycki, the director of the Infrastructure Institute at the School of Cities at the University of Toronto. “Transit has just added a whole other level of complexity, and the record is decidedly mixed.”

An inquiry is examining the myriad troubles plaguing Ottawa’s light rail system.

Credit...Ian Austen/The New York Times

At first, the partnerships were mostly used to build and maintain large public buildings like hospitals. For the most part, Professor Siemiatycki said, they generally worked out well.

In theory, collaborating with a group of companies can bring expertise and skills that governments lack to get the project done efficiently and on time.

And while it costs cities more to use partnerships, those extra costs on the front end mean overruns can be unloaded onto the private-sector partners and penalties can be set up that discourage or prevent delays.

“It’s like an insurance policy that if things go wrong down the road, then they are the private sector’s responsibility,” Professor Siemiatycki said.

That idea, he said, has been badly shaken. In 2020, Crosslinx, the private consortium behind the Toronto rail project, sued the local transit body for 134 million Canadian dollars in extra costs it claimed were related to the pandemic. The two sides reached an out-of-court settlement, with the transit authority agreeing to reimburse Crosslinx an undisclosed amount.

“Governments used to say they were paying more upfront, but they were well protected in the case of a large cost overrun or delays or poor delivery,” Professor Siemiatycki said. “What’s happened in practice is that many of those risks and the cost of those risks have boomeranged back to governments. It’s becoming clear that government is the risk holder of last resort.”

And the contractual nature of the partnerships has often left the public and even politicians in the dark about exactly what’s going on.

Not all of the public-private transit partnerships have turned sour. Professor Siemiatycki said that Vancouver’s Canada Line train system was generally a success, as was a light rail system in the twin Ontario cities of Kitchener and Waterloo.

Several cities have struggled with private sector transit partnerships

Credit...Ian Austen/The New York Times

It’s also unclear whether using the old-fashioned approach would have kept the projects on track with their timelines and budgets. For years, for instance, the Toronto Transit Commission managed a major extension of one of its subway lines. It opened in 2017 — two years later than expected. Its budget of 1.5 billion Canadian dollars had more than doubled.

It’s not just governments that are questioning the value of the partnerships. SNC-Lavalin, an engineering firm in Montreal that is a major partner in the Toronto and Ottawa projects, has sworn off public-private partnerships for the foreseeable future.

Transit projects, however, are clearly a major priority for Canada. Among other things, the federal government views them as important tools for meeting the country’s carbon emissions reduction goals.

With more projects on the way, Professor Siemiatycki said it would be critical for the country to figure out a better way to build them.

“It continues to be a really big issue in Canada,” he said. “There’s a lot of hope and aspirations being connected with major public transit investment. But it really, really isn’t common to get the delivery right.”

Lynching of migrants in southern Turkey triggered by ‘unease’, says local journalist



Jul 03 2022 

Friday's attacks against undocumented migrants who escaped from a holding facility in Turkey’s southern Osmaniye province were triggered by locals feeling uneasy, owner of local Osmaniye Newspaper İsmail Karadağ said.

“Shots were fired by security forces to scare people off,” daily BirGün cited Karadağ as saying.

According to Karadağ, a group of mostly Afgan nationals were brought to Osmaniye by authorities to be housed in the migrant centre in the province close to the Syrian border two weeks ago. Most of the migrants were undocumented and had entered the country illegally, he said.

“They petitioned to have permits to leave the centre for the day, but were refused. They then staged a hunger strike and protested by banging on pots and pans at night. Some escaped by jumping over the fence, and hid in corn fields,” Karadağ said.

Some migrants entered locals’ homes to hide, which was the main source of the unrest, the local journalist said.

On Friday videos were posted on social media showing locals chasing migrants on the streets. In some videos, there were migrants with blood on their faces and bodies. In others, gunshots were seen and heard, and several people were beaten.

A total of 35 foreigners jumped the fence, and the local gendarmerie captured 24 of them, the Osmaniye governor’s office said in a statement later on Friday night.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Osmaniye deputy Baha Ünlü said the total number was 55, with another 20 people escaping earlier in the day. Ünlü said all 55 migrants had been caught.

In photos reportedly taken in the province, a Turkish man is seen wearing what looks like a uniform that says “Refugee Hunter” on the back, accompanied by racist imagery.

“There is great anger against refugees who fled the camp in Osmaniye and disrupted the peace for our citizens,” right-wing anti-immigrant Victory Party said in a tweet. “Direct your anger to the ballot in 2023 elections and there will be no refugees or illegals left in Turkey.”

The Victory Party is led by Ümit Özdağ, who left the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) to join the more moderate Good Party (İYİP) as a founding member. Özdağ later left the İYİP to establish his own party, which has focused on an anti-immigrant and anti-refugee platform.

“Attacks by foreigners will increase. These attacks aim to terrorise the Turkish people and take control of the streets,” Özdağ said in a recent tweet targeting migrants and refugees in the country.

Turkey records at least 31 femicides, 22 suspicious deaths in June

Jul 03 2022 

At least 31 women have been murdered in Turkey in June, with another 22 dying under suspicious circumstances, according to advocacy group We Will Stop Femicides.

The group’s June report found that the most murders were committed in megacity Istanbul, followed by northern Zonguldak and capital Ankara. Women were murdered in at least 21 provinces.

Ten women were murdered by their husbands, seven by their boyfriends, two by their former boyfriends, and one by her ex-husband. Another woman was killed by her son, while four more were killed by their fathers. Three women were killed by an acquaintance, and one was killed by a relative.

Some 74 percent of the women were killed in their homes. Two women were killed on the street, one by a secluded roadside, and one in an open field.

Eleven of the 31 women were murdered for either wanting a divorce, refusing to reconcile with a partner, rejecting a proposal, or refusing to date a man.

Seventeen women were killed by firearms and six others by knives. Four women were strangled, while one was beaten to death and another burned.

In five of the 31 murders, the women were killed alongside their children.

Forty percent of the women were between the ages of 36 and 65, while another 19 percent were 25 to 35 years old.

Since Turkey left the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention on July 1 last year, losing one of its most significant tools to combat violence against women, at least 259 women have been murdered by men while another 239 were found dead under suspicious circumstances, the group said.

Several groups in Turkey keep their own tallies on violence against women as Turkish authorities do not make public statistics on domestic violence crimes.

Turkey’s disinformation law tightens Erdoğan’s grip on social media


 Jun 30 2022

Turkey’s new disinformation law, which is pending for a vote in parliament, will tighten President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s grip on social media ahead of next year’s elections, said

Süleyman Özeren, an adjunct professor at George Mason University and senior expert at the Orion Policy Institute, and Suat Çubukçu, a lecturer at the American University.

To win the upcoming elections, Erdoğan has two options: Find a quick fix for the Turkish economy or resort to heavy-handed tactics against the opposition, Özeren and Çubukçu said in an article for the National Interest on Wednesday.

As Erdoğan has no viable solution to address the country’s economic woes, he has resorted to the only “tool” left: “cracking down on the opposition,” they said.

“Intensifying the government’s crackdown on the leaders of the main opposition bloc, stepping up the repressive measures taken against dissident voices, and controlling the narrative on social media under the pretext of fighting against disinformation. These are the moves of a desperate leader who falsely claims that social media is one of the main threats to the survival of democracy in Turkey,” Özeren and Çubukçu said.

A full reproduction of the article follows below:

Unwilling or unable to address economic woes in his country, Turkey’s [Justice and Development Party] AKP is resorting to a familiar political tool: cracking down on the opposition.

Turkey’s ruling coalition, the AKP and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), is pursuing new legislation that muzzles dissident voices on the internet and social media as Turkey heads into another election cycle. Contrary to how the bill is presented as a legal framework against disinformation and misinformation, it will further empower AKP troll armies and dominate the social media domain.

The parliament’s Justice Committee has recently approved the so-called “disinformation” bill, which now awaits a vote in the general assembly and is expected to pass with a simple majority. The government claims that the new legislation is needed to prevent “fake news, disinformation, provocation and lynch justice in the social networks,” while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan portrays social media as a “threat to democracy.” Never one to countenance criticism of himself or the government, Erdoğan’s concerns about the content spread through social media. The bill was announced just as the country braces for a critical election next year.

Erdoğan’s twenty-year tenure as president of Turkey and head of the AKP has been marked by the creation of a government monopoly over the traditional media. According to a Freedom House report published this year, “more than 90 percent of Turkish media networks depend on public tenders and are owned by large businesses with close personal ties to President Erdoğan.” Opposition politicians and government critics, who have found limited or no public space in newspapers and on TV channels, have had to move their critical voices to alternative digital and social media platforms. These platforms, such as Twitter and YouTube, have enabled the opposition to circumvent (though in a very limited way) the AKP’s censorship of media and other information platforms that dare to tell the public about the party’s transgressions or express opinions that run counter to the government’s propaganda.

The AKP government has already enacted laws “to censor and block access to online media that are critical of the government’s policies.” The Freedom House report notes that after “the passage of a restrictive new law in 2020, major social media companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were forced to open offices in Turkey that would comply with government content takedown demands.” With the new legislation, the government aims to further restrain the freedom of speech on social media and bring harsh penalties for those who publicly disseminate false information regarding national security and public order with the motive of creating fear and anxiety by sentencing those convicted from one to three years in prison.

With general elections around the corner, Turkey is struggling with a deepening economic crisis and growing public dissatisfaction. Public trust in Erdoğan and his policies has eroded because of rising inflation, devaluation of the Turkish lira, and rising unemployment. Controlling the narrative and dominating the public debate has never been more critical for Erdoğan and his party.

To win the upcoming elections and maintain power, Erdoğan has two options: find a quick fix for the Turkish economy or resort to heavy-handed tactics against the opposition. Because Erdogan lacks a viable solution for ending the country’s economic crisis, he has resorted to the only tools he has left in his toolbox: intensifying the government’s crackdown on the leaders of the main opposition bloc, stepping up the repressive measures taken against dissident voices, and controlling the narrative on social media under the pretext of fighting against disinformation. These are the moves of a desperate leader who falsely claims that social media is one of the main threats to the survival of democracy in Turkey.

In Erdoğan’s words, the bill aims to “prevent the spread and systematic spread of fake news and disinformation” and bring “new regulations and responsibilities for social network providers, social media companies and users against disinformation activities.” Yet, ironically, the AKP has been operating one of the largest state-backed troll armies, the so-called AK-trolls, since early 2012 to manipulate the public through disinformation campaigns and fake news. In June 2020, Twitter took down more than 7,000 AKP-backed troll accounts.

As social scientists, we analysed the archive of Turkish state-backed troll accounts identified by the Twitter Transparency Center. We examined the account characteristics and their narratives and found an increasing trend of creating AK-troll accounts before elections. The 2019 local elections, for example, coincided with the largest surge in the number of new troll accounts. In addition, the AKP ramped up the size of its troll army in response to major events that posed extraordinary challenges to the AKP government, such as the Gezi Park protests (2013), the government corruption investigations (2013), the Kobani protests (2014), and the July 2016 coup attempt. The operators of the troll accounts coordinated their efforts to dominate the public discourse, set the public agenda in accordance with the best interests of the AKP administration, and vilify and discredit political discontents. To disseminate their messages across the political spectrum of Turkish society, many of these troll accounts were given a variety of political identities, including pro-Erdoğan, Kemalist, nationalist, and pro-Kurdish.

The AKP’s disinformation bill mimics Russia’s attempt to clamp down on social media in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine. The Russian government, the biggest spreader of disinformation, unleashed draconian legislation against fake news, which led to an all-out assault against critics of the war and criminalised “public dissemination of false information under the guise of truthful messages” about the Russian military and officials serving abroad. Violations of the law are punishable by a prison sentence of up to fifteen years. The proposed law is intentionally vague, thereby enabling the government to decide whether someone is guilty of spreading falsehoods, and severe measures are adopted in the punishment of violators, typically dissident voices the government wants to silence.

The proposed law also implicitly allows the AKP-troll armies to dominate the public discourse on social media, even when trolls intentionally spread lies. The AKP will not shut down these social media accounts and instead will use the proposed law to justify the creation of a state censorship mechanism that it can weaponise for partisan advantage and control the agenda before and during next year’s elections. The aim is to deprive the opposition of access to media platforms they could use to inform the public about the wrongdoings and irregularities of Erdoğan and his party throughout the elections process.

The question that begs an answer is: Why is Erdoğan so touchy about social media? Political survival. In his own words: “Media and communication issues and the fight against social media and disinformation are of vital importance in terms of ensuring our political and social survival.”

(The original. Version of the article can be found here.)

TURKISH IMPERIALISM
Syrian Kurds, Damascus gov’t discuss border protection amid Turkey offensive threat

Last Updated On: Jul 02 2022 

The Kurdish groups who control part of northern and eastern Syria, a region they refer to as Rojava, have held meetings with the government in Damascus to discuss how to protect the Syrian-Turkish borders, London-based Asharq al-Awsat reported on Saturday, citing a Kurdish official.

Russia sponsored the talks as Turkey appears to prepare for another incursion into Kurdish-held areas to the east of the River Euphrates.

Syrian forces are already present at the border areas in a limited capacity, having moved in after Turkey took control of significant territory away from Syrian Kurds. Damascus has recently reinforced its positions in northern Raqqa and eastern Aleppo, Asharq al-Awsat said.

Badran Jia Kurd, a vice president in the autonomous administration in Kurdish-held Syrian territory, told reporters that the agreement with regime forces had been in place since 2019.

Damascus must have a clear stance on the Turkish threat and confront any incursion, as it jeopardises stability, unity and the future of the whole country, he said.

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the military element controlling the region, hopes to avoid a Turkish offensive by giving the task of protecting the border to the government.

Damascus is also interested in the Kurdish region, which contains deposits of oil and is home to many wheat fields.

Turkey considers the SDF, the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the People’s Protection Units (YPG) to be terrorist groups, and is working to get its Western allies on board with the idea. Earlier in the week, Ankara secured a memorandum with Stockholm and Helsinki that Sweden and Finland would stop aiding YPG or other similar groups.

The agreement reached in the NATO accession negotiations for the two Nordic countries has been considered by some to be a signal that the operation will begin soon.

HUMAN RIGHTS PARTY



Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP ‘open to joint presidential candidate’, says co-chair

 Jul 04 2022 

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) is open to negotiations over the party’s principles and the idea of supporting a joint opposition candidate for the 2023 presidential elections but will also consider putting up its own candidate if its concerns are not addressed, co-chair Mithat Sancar said in the party’s annual congress on Sunday, news website Artı Gerçek reported.

Outside of the HDP, a pro-Kurdish left-wing party that forms the second largest opposition bloc in Turkey, several elements of mainstream opposition have come together in what is known as the six-party table that make up the vast majority of the remaining opposition to the country’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which will celebrate its 20th year in power in November.

The six parties that make up the Nation Alliance are expected to put up a single joint candidate to run against incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the elections next year, which will coincide with Turkey’s centennial celebrations, but the HDP has not made a definitive declaration yet.

“We may determine our candidate after consulting with our voter base, constituents of our democracy alliance, and all sections of society that we can reach. Our goal would be to make it to the second round of election in the very least,” Sancar said at the congress.

“We believe a common will should be developed to take steps towards solutions. Millions of people demand change, they say they have had enough and that they want out of this tyrannical order,” he continued.

HDP’s decision will be shaped by whether the party’s supporters and ideas are heeded or ignored, Sancar said. “We aim to show in the clearest terms that no advance can be made while ignoring us in decision making mechanisms and processes.”

In the congress HDP Deputy Group Chairman Saruhan Oluç spoke against what the party calls the İmralı Isolation, the imprisonment of Abdullah Öcalan in a secluded prison on the İmralı Island off the coast of Bursa province.

Öcalan, the founding leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), was captured in 1999 and sentenced to life in prison for treason and terrorism over his leading role in the PKK’s decades-long fight against Turkey for Kurdish rights. During Turkey’s peace talks with the PKK between 2013 and 2015, Öcalan played a leading role as the PKK still considers him their leader. After the collapse of the peace process, Öcalan was placed under a strict solitary confinement where his lawyers or family have not been allowed to visit or speak to him for several years to date.

“The Kurdish issue has cost this country a century of progress, and it remains unsolved. This insolubility is what stands between the republic and democratisation,” HDP Co-chair Pervin Buldan said.

“Öcalan had promised to solve the Kurdish issue and end the armed conflict. Responding to that with a severe isolation increased insolubility and the chaos,” Buldan continued. “The isolation must end. Another century should not go by under the same pains.”

Since peace talks ended in 2015, at least 490 civilians, 1,200 members of Turkish security forces, and 2,750 PKK militants lost their lives according to a 2019 study by the International Crisis Group. The total deaths in the forty-year conflict surpass 40,000.

“Steps towards a solution include equal citizenship, education in the mother tongue, and the healing of the damage done to democracy and the judiciary. The solution will be in parliament,” Buldan said.

Sancar added that local governments must be empowered, and politically-motivated lawsuits must be ended.

The Kurdish issue must not be instrumentalised for elections, Sancar said. “Whoever thinks to use this matter to their political ends will lose big. Whoever enters a nationalist race for votes over this matter and ignores the people’s demand for a solution will eliminate itself.”

“We insist ton dialogue, democratic negotiations, democratic politics and societal accord to solve the Kurdish issue. We believe we will prevail,” Sancar said. “We will not let insolubility take this country hostage for another century.”

HDP’s former co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş, who has been behind bars over terrorism charges since November 2016, sent a message to the congress together with Selçuk Mızraklı, HDP’s imprisoned mayor of southeastern Diyarbakır province, where the pair called for a “free and democratic future”.

“To win in the second century of the republic, Turkey must ask what kind of a country people wish to live in. A political will to resolve the Kurdish issue in a democratic manner must be put forth and a path must be cleared towards a lasting peace,” Demirtaş and Mızraklı said in their message, Yeni Yaşam newspaper reported.

As NATO capitulates before Turkey, western hypocrisy on human rights enters new low

Last Updated On: Jul 03 2022 

Concessions made to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to get him to support Sweden and Finland’s bids to join NATO have been a “major diplomatic and strategic victory” for him and “(show) how Sweden and turkey folded with the blessings of the United States and other NATO members”, wrote chief sub-editor Shubhangi Sharma in an article for India-based News 18 on Saturday.

Turkey may demand further concessions still, she said.

“Seen as a rogue outlier in NATO, Turkey found and acted upon the opportunity to get the West to support its military operation in northern Syria,” Sharma said.

The West has chosen to overlook Turkey’s “excesses”, she continued, and the negative stance from fellow NATO members turkey has dealt with in recent years seems to be changing due to the country’s new-found leverage.

All concerns regarding Turkey “seem to have evaporated into thin air as the U.S.-led NATO endorses Sweden and Finland’s concessions”, she said. “The Western world and brazen hypocrisy are no strangers, but this new low really takes the cake.”

A full reproduction of the article follows below.

Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, Sweden and Finland are all set to join the NATO alliance overcoming a major hurdle. Sweden and Finland’s NATO bid was nearly torpedoed by Turkey, a NATO member itself, which used its veto powers to block their entry. Now, however, Turkey has lifted the veto but only after imposing humiliating conditions on the two Nordic nations.

NATO members are in a celebratory mood ever since this “breakthrough” but tough questions are catching up because in reality, the NATO meeting in Madrid and the three-way deal signed by the Nordic nations and Ankara, simply reaffirmed the fact that the West is ready to kneel before the rogue NATO member that has no love lost for its peers in the alliance. Wildly inappropriate concessions have been made to win over the Erdoğan-led regime in Ankara by self-appointed guardians of human rights and democracy. Kurdish dissidents have been thrown under the bus to fulfil NATO’s expansionist agenda. To simplify, the bellicose regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been handed over a major diplomatic and strategic victory on a platter. To add to that, Sweden will be lifting its arms export embargo on Turkey, and the United States has expressed a newfound willingness to cater to Turkey’s demands for the F16 aircraft, after nearly four years of what was seen as a silent, unannounced embargo.

President Erdoğan’s office stated that Turkey “got what it wanted” from Sweden and Finland. And indeed, it did. A look at the signed document— a loosely worded submission, with a clear bent in Turkey’s favour, shows how Sweden and Turkey folded with the blessings of the United States and other NATO members.

“As prospective NATO Allies, Finland and Sweden extend their full support to Turkey against threats to its national security,” the trilateral agreement said. “To that effect, Finland and Sweden will not provide support to the YPG/PYD, and the organization described as FETÖ in Turkey,” it went on. Most notably, Sweden and Finland have agreed to “address Turkey’s pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects expeditiously and thoroughly.” This is where the two prospective NATO allies have made a highly unpopular promise to Ankara, given that Sweden has over 100,000 Kurdish people and nearly 16,000 Kurds reside in Finland. Among them are refugees fleeing persecution, dissidents and important political figures who have escaped hostile regimes of Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

This, however, does not mean that Turkey will not demand more concessions in the weeks to come. Soon after the agreement was signed, Turkey announced that it would now push for the extradition of 33 “terror suspects”. And while this concessions-laden agreement is not legally binding, Turkey is expected to test the commitments of the two Nordic states and can still scuttle their Nato entry until they are formally inducted. Erdogan has already announced that he could still torpedo their entry if they fail to implement the deal. “If they fulfil their duties, we will send it (their application) to the parliament. If they are not fulfilled, it is out of the question," said the Turkish President. Naturally so, the worries of the Kurdish diaspora in Sweden and Finland are not misplaced.

Just as Sweden and Finland decided to shun neutrality and join NATO, much to Russia’s chagrin and to the satisfaction of the West, Turkey played spoilsport and vowed to scuttle their prospects citing their support to Kurdish groups in Northern Syria which are currently fighting off occupational Turkish forces. Turkey faces a Kurdish insurgency largely near its southern border led by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which is seen as a terrorist organisation by Turkey. In Kurdish lands beyond, especially in northern Syria, groups like the U.S.-backed People’s Protection Units (YPG) and their political affiliates have enjoyed the support of the political establishments in Sweden and Finland. It is to be noted that Kurdish militias in Syria bravely kept ISIS on its toes and were crucial in ensuring the terror machine’s defeat. They also developed alliances with the United States and other Western powers in this pursuit. Divided among Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, and facing persecution as minorities, the Kurds have long demanded their own state, giving birth to political and armed movements across Kurdish lands.

Seen as a rogue outlier in NATO, Turkey found and acted upon the opportunity to get the West to support its military operation in northern Syria. Turkish forces and alleged mercenaries occupy parts of this region. A vast array of human rights abuses was reported during the peak of its military intervention and Ankara faced condemnation from the Western world. All major NATO members including Germany, France, Britain and Canada have refused arms sales to Erdoğan’s Turkey. Tensions further escalated when Turkey stepped up its belligerence towards fellow NATO member Greece in the eastern Mediterranean and the West largely backed Athens through this tussle. The list of Turkey’s excesses can go on, but the West has decided to overlook all that now. U.S. President Joe Biden’s own stance on Turkey used to be one of admonishment. Today, that seems to change with Ankara’s new leverage in the game.

The West also shares the grouse that Turkey has not joined in on the sanctions spree on Russia and is instead helping Russia evade sanctions by allowing troubled Russian oligarchs to park their money in Turkey’s economy. But this has also taken a backseat for now.

What’s worse is, the persecution of the Kurds in Turkey, who comprise almost 20% of its population, has also been conveniently overlooked this time around. Turkey rejects the cultural and political rights of the Kurds and has spent most of the last century denying the existence of Kurds, even labelling them “mountain Turks” in 1980 and banning words like ‘Kurds’ and ‘Kurdistan’. In fact, Turkey has been repressing Kurdish rebellions for over two centuries. Akin to the genocide of Armenians, Kurds have been massacred and expelled from their villages throughout recent history.

Just this year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Turkey violated the freedom of expression of lawmakers from the pro-Kurdish political party by stripping them of their parliamentary immunity from prosecution. All these concerns seem to have evaporated into thin air as the U.S.-led NATO endorses Sweden and Finland’s concessions to Turkey. The Western world and brazen hypocrisy are no strangers, but this new low really takes the cake.

(The original article can be found here.)

Turkish police detain at least 50 LGBTI+ activists in Ankara

Jul 06 2022 

Turkish police intervened in a pride march in the capital Ankara and detained at least 50 LGBTI+ activists on Tuesday.

Police released all of the detained after they gave depositions, Turkish LGBT rights organisation Kaos GL said.

Radical Islamists sought to intervene violently in the pride march, the Diken news website reported. Several of the marchers were injured in attacks carried out by men, it said.

Being LGBT has never been criminalised during the modern Turkish republic, but LGBT-focused events have been banned since 2015 after Istanbul Pride attracted some 100,000 people the previous year. In July last year, Turkey withdrew from the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, after pro-government conservative and Islamist groups argued that it promoted homosexuality and undermined family values.

Mezopotamya News Agency reporter Emel Vural and Kaos GL's Aslı Alpar were injured during the police intervention, Turkish Press and Printing Workers' Union DİSK Basın-İş said.

ILGA Europe rated Turkey 48th of 49 countries in a 2022 review of the human rights situation for LGBTI+ people. Only Azerbaijan ranked lower, according to the report published in May and covering 2021.

Turkey’s media watchdog warns against

broadcasting LGBT ballad

Jul 03 2022 

The Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) has contacted all music televisions in Turkey to tell them they should not run the latest video released by Turkish singer Mabel Matiz, who is popular among the country’ LGBT community, RTÜK member İlhan Taşçı said in a tweet.

“They do not outright ban the video so they could walk back if necessary,” said Taşçı, who represents the main opposition party in the regulatory body.

The song about starcrossed lovers does not mention a specific gender but the video has Matiz and another man in intimate poses.

Conservative groups had targeted the artist for what they called normalising homosexuality, launching a campaing under the hashtag “#MabelMatizHaddiniBil”, which translates to “Know your place”.

“After protests from our digital famil, RTÜK banned Mabel Matiz’s homosexual video. They called music channels and informed them that those who broadcast the video would face heavy fines,” conservative writer Said Ercan said in a tweet.

During the month of June, which is celebrated as Pride Month in Turkey as well, more than 10 LGBT events have been banned by authorities and more than 500 activists have been detained for attending a pride march in Istanbul, LGBT rights advocates KaosGL said in a statement denouncing the ban.

“Mabel’s song Karakol is a carnation flower blooming in the midst of this spiral of hate and violence,” KaosGL said.

Nord Stream 1: Canada to return repaired Russian pipeline part to Germany

Canada will return to Germany the repaired turbine of the Russian Nord Stream 1 pipeline, vital for sustaining German gas supply. Ukraine has condemned the move, saying it undermines the sanctions against Russia.

Canada will return to Germany the repaired turbine of the vital Nord Stream gas pipeline

Canada has announced it will return to Germany a repaired turbine of the Russian Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which is a core source of the gas supply to Germany.

It comes as the pipeline prepares to undergo maintenance from July 11 to 21. Although the maintenance is nominally routine, the tension with Russia and the sanctions status in allied countries like Canada had prompted German leaders to consider the possibility of a longer shutdown. 

The repairs come amid Canadian sanctions against Russia extending "to land and pipeline transport and the manufacturing of metals and of transport, computer, electronic and electrical equipment, as well as of machinery."

Ukraine had urged Canada not to return the repaired part, saying it would undermine sanctions against Russia.

Russia said it decreased gas flow through the Nord Stream because of the absence of the repaired turbine

The parts were being repaired at the Canadian site of German industrial giant Siemens. Russia's Gazprom had cited the equipment's absence last month as the reason for cutting capacity along the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to 40 %.

But when announcing its decision on Saturday, Canada's Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said it was taken to "support Europe's ability to access reliable and affordable energy as they continue to transition away from Russian oil and gas."

The minister particularly cited concern for the German economy as well as German citizens, saying they could be left unable to heat their homes during winter.

Ukraine says returning part 'bowing to Russian blackmail'

Ukraine had been urging Canada not to return the repaired turbine. Alexandra Chyczij, the national president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress said it would be "setting a dangerous precedent that will lead to the weakening of the sanctions regime imposed on Russia."

Sergiy Makogon, the chief executive officer of Ukraine's gas transmission system OGTSU stressed the turbine must be returned to Ukraine rather than Germany.

The country argued that Germany could rely instead on Ukrainian pipelines to transport a sufficient amount of gas.

Makogan described in a Facebook post the situation as "Kremlin blackmail." Russia's parliament had said the turbine's return would lead to lifting up gas supplies to Europe.

Siemens had proposed the shipping of the turbine back to Germany first, rather than to Russia, as a solution to Canada's legal dilemma. Berlin will then deliver it to Russia's state-controlled Gazprom, Reuters reported, citing a government source.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline project was famously halted, despite it being completed, soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. But the original sister pipeline, inaugurated in 2011 and with a similar transport capacity, has remained in operation so far with its deliveries as yet unaffected by European sanctions.

Electricity security called into question

Fears are growing in Germany regarding a difficult winter, should Russia maintain its reduced gas supply.

Peter Adrian, the president of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK), warned that the crisis could take its toll not only on citizens in need of heating their homes, but also on companies and Germany's economy at large.

Adrian told the dpa news agency that this could trigger a serious recession, predicting a decline in economic output of up to 10%.

"The clock is ticking and, as businesses, we have to think about the worst case scenario," Adrian said, warning of "disaster" should Russia fail to turn the gas supply back on after the conclusion of the pipeline's maintenance on July 21.

The German government is working hard to establish alternative floating terminals to receive liquefied natural gas. However, such plans are unlikely to materialize by winter.

rmt/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters) 

Turkey contributed to Yazidi genocide, report says

Jul 06 2022 

An investigation launched by a group of prominent human rights lawyers said that Turkey should face charges in front of the international court of justice for being complicit in acts of genocide against the Yazidi people, the Guardian reported on Wednesday.

A group of prominent human rights lawyers led by British human rights lawyer Helena Kennedy released a ground-breaking report which investigated into “the binding responsibility states have to prevent genocide on their territories, even if they are carried out by a third party such as Islamic State (IS)”, the Guardian said.

The lawyers who clustered around the title of the Yazidi Justice Committee (YJC) said that states have to prevent the crime of genocide under the Genocide Convention.

“Mechanisms in place could have saved the Yazidis from what is now part of their past, and part of their past partial destruction,” Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, chair of the YJC said.

The genocide of the Yazidis by ISIS in Iraq and Syria in 2013 has been recognized by several bodies of the United Nations and national and multi-national organizations.

The Yazidis are a minority religious group that predominantly live in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran.

The 278-page report that investigated the conduct of 13 countries revealed that three countries failed to take steps to prevent the genocide.

The report accused Turkish leaders of being complicit in the massacres since they failed to control its borders to stop the flow of ISIS fighters. However, Turkish officials have repeatedly denied the allegations.

From April 2014, Turkish officials overlooked the enslavement of Yazidi women and children and helped training of ISIS fighters against Kurdish forces in Syria. Turkey thus strengthened the perpetrators of the genocide,” the report found out.

“Turkish officials knew and/or were wilfully blind to evidence that these individuals would use this training to commit prohibited acts against the Yazidis,” the Guardian cited the report.

The report also accused the Iraqi government of not coordinating with Kurdish authorities or taking measures to save the Yazidis.

Syria's government failed to prevent the transfer and detention of enslaved Yazidis on its territory.

In report’s foreword Lady Kennedy pointed to “an ocean of impunity concerning the Yazidi genocide”.

States had “failed to in their duty to address their responsibilities to prevent the genocide for a variety of inhumane reasons”. If they are not held accountable “then the promise of 'never again' rings hollow”, she wrote.

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