Erdogan's Ottoman Empire Ambitions Suffering from His Own Eroding Base

Ajit Sahi

It is easy to understand Erdogan's desperate attempt to stoke religious sentiments by converting the Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque. With this decision, he is merely trying to deflect attention from Turkey's worsening economic situation over the last several years which is now bringing him electoral defeat after electoral defeat.

In fact, Erdogan is today politically at his weakest since first winning power in 2003. His party, the AKP, has been steadily losing support among the voters. Last year, his party was twice defeated in the mayoral election in Istanbul, Turkey's biggest and most populous city. When the first election saw the AKP candidate lose by a slim margin, Erdogan simply refused to accept that decision and forced his hand-picked election authorities to call a second election. The reelection, held three months after the first, saw the AKP lose by a decisive and massive margin. Erdogan's party also lost elections in many other cities.

There is no doubt that Erdogan has more support in Muslims outside of Turkey, who likely see in him the closest figure who can return a pan-Muslim (and pan-Islamic) rule like the Ottoman Caliphate once used to be, than in his own country. Like Narendra Modi, Erdogan, too, has tried to control independent pillars of democracy, from the judiciary to the central bank. Erdogan made his son-in-law the country's finance minister in 2018, and the economy has gone worse since then.

Last month, Turkey had an inflation rate of 12%, which is most certainly an under-assessment. Turkey's currency, the Lira, has fallen 13% against the US dollar this year. Last year, the Lira had fallen by 20% against the USD, and 20% the year before, in 2018. Whereas Erdogan led a massive economic expansion program from 2003, the picture is now far less rosy. In 2008, Turkey's share of the world's economy was 1.2%. Today, it is 0.89%.

Unemployment has been persistently high in Turkey. The government claimed this week that unemployment rate has fallen to 12.8% in May, which, though in itself high, is still underreporting. Unnerved by the coronavirus, Erdogan forbid businesses from sacking employees while allowing unpaid leave. So millions sitting at home without any income are counted as "employed".

In fact, the number of employed persons dropped by about 2.6 million people during March-May this year compared with the same period last year. The overall employment rate declined by nearly 5% to 41%. Worryingly, the youth unemployment rate, including people ages 15 to 24, rose 1.2% hitting 24.4% in April, the Turkish Statistical Institute said yesterday.

At the macroeconomic level, Turkey is steeped deep in debt. The government and the private corporations together owe nearly half a trillion dollars in debt. Turkey's overall GDP is only slightly higher at USD770 billion. With a falling economy, it is becoming harder for both the government and the private sector to service debt.

Across industry, margins of profit have sharply dropped. Investment has been continuously drying up. Businesspeople are postponing expansions. Even farming has hugely suffered under Erdogan.

That is why, like Modi, Erdogan has been muzzling free press, putting journalists and activists in prison, purging universities of independent-minded academicians, accusing every opponent of being a "Western plant".

Many non-Turkish Muslims think Erdogan is the chosen global leader for all Muslims. For now, however, Erdogan is just trying to save himself in Turkey, and all he can think of is turning a church-turned-mosque-turned-museum into a mosque in order to revive his support.

#Ozzone 2-11 > Is your mind starved of God, or is it well-fed?

War on Christianity - 6th Century Byzantine Cathedral to Become a Mosque

Matthew 24:15. "Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION

OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet,

standing in the holy place (let the reader understand)

..

Turkish President Erdogan Signs Decree Turning Istanbul's

Hagia Sofia into a Mosque After Court Ruling

© Reuters / Murad Sezer

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed a decree opening the world-famous Hagia Sophia as a mosque, after a court ruled that its conversion to a museum in the 1930s was unlawful.

The court ruled on Friday that the 1934 decree converting the ancient Byzantine cathedral into a museum was not lawful. Immediately after the ruling, Erdogan shared a copy of a decree on Twitter, mandating that the site be turned over to the country's religious directorate and reopened for worship.

In a televised address later in the evening, the Turkish leader said that the first prayers will be held in the Hagia Sophia on July 24.

Dating back to the 6th century, the Hagia Sophia is one of the most visited cultural sites in Turkey, as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

UNESCO has expressed concern over Erdogan’s vision for the historic structure, noting in a statement on Friday that the building has a “strong symbolic and universal value.” It called on Turkey to "engage in dialogue" before taking any steps that might impact its universal value.

Even before his decree was issued, the Turkish president’s plan was condemned by leaders of the Russian and Greek Orthodox churches, who warned that it would be seen as an affront to Christians and create a fracture between East and West. Washington has also urged Turkey to maintain the Hagia Sophia as a museum.

Moscow has also highlighted the cultural significance of the building while acknowledging that the matter was an "internal affair" for Turkey.

Erdogan himself said that opening the Hagia Sophia for worship will not prevent local or foreign tourists from visiting the iconic site, which he said is a part of “humanity’s common cultural heritage.” 

"Like all of our other mosques, the doors of Hagia Sophia will be open to all, locals or foreigners, Muslims and non-Muslims,” he added.

I think this will not end well for the ambitious Erdogan.

We Seem to Have Lost the War on Christianity in Two Indian Villages

Christian families flee Indian village under threats of rape,

murder after prayer house attacked by mob

By Samuel Smith, CP Reporter 

An Indian man walks outside a deserted church, as India remains under an unprecedented extended

lockdown over the highly contagious coronavirus (COVID-19) on May 5, 2020, in Delhi, India.

| Getty Images/Yawar Nazir

Christian families in India have been forced to flee their homes following a series of mob attacks against a Christian prayer house and threats that if they didn't leave the village, they would be raped and murdered.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a United Kingdom-based human rights group that works in over 20 countries, is decrying the mistreatment of a small Christian community in the Dassmora village of the Azamgarh district in the Uttar Pradesh state. 

According to the nonprofit, two Christian families from the village fled their homes on Saturday and left behind their livestock after a string of attacks in the days prior carried out by groups of suspected Hindu radicals in the village. 

A local source told the NGO that Christians in the village first faced harassment last Thursday when a mob of about 35 villagers entered the prayer house — built in 2018 and said to be used by hundreds of Christians — and verbally abused those who were present at the time. 

The next day, another mob of people is said to have broken into the prayer house, assaulted Pastor Vikas Gupta and ransacked the property. 

According to CSW and also reported by LiCAS.news (a news outlet staffed entirely by lay-people across Asia that supports the mission of the Catholic Church) is the claim that the mob threatened to rape and murder those who gathered at the prayer house. 

The mob also reportedly threatened to burn down the prayer house if the Christians didn’t leave the village. According to the reports, Gupta was dragged to a local temple shrine last Friday and ordered to bow before an idol. 

Then on Saturday, another mob was said to have torn down the walls of the prayer house and destroyed the windows and doors. Also, the mob is said to have destroyed a motorcycle. 

After Saturday’s attack the Christian community notified police, CSW reports. 

In response, the police reportedly arrested men connected with the mob attack, according to a local source that spoke with CSW. However, dozens of people went to the police station to pressure authorities to release the arrested men. According to sources who spoke with LiCAS.news, the mob at the police station was led by the village head. 

The pressure resulted in the men being released. “The police buckled under pressure and released those it had arrested earlier,” Gupta, 21, was quoted as telling the news outlet. 

Gupta said that the communal anger against him and other Christians grew after the men were released from prison, which resulted in another and more severe attack. 

“When we saw no other option, we fled from the village, leaving behind our houses, household and livestock,” they explained. “We have now become like refugees.”

According to CSW, two of the Christian families living in Dassmora initially took shelter inside the police station before fleeing to another undisclosed location. 

“We are deeply concerned by the repeated attacks these families have had to endure,” CSW Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas said in a statement. “They have lost both their livelihood, and their fundamental freedom to worship. We urge local police to properly investigate the matter and bring the perpetrators to justice. We call on the authorities to take corrective measures to ensure these families are able to resume their way of life and support the faith of other Christians in the surrounding villages.” 

Patsy David, who works with the nonprofit advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom India, told LiCAS.news that there are over 15 people in the targetted families who were forced to flee the village. According to David, those families had recently moved to the village and began holding prayers services in their homes, which drew the attention of the other locals. 

“There is a community called Raj Bhars living in the village and a few people from this community got inspired from the message of Christ and began attending the prayer services out of curiosity,” David explained. “This angered the village locals who accused the Christian families of forcefully converting people there.”

Attacks against Christians and other religious minorities in India carried out by Hindu nationalist radicals have become all too common in India in recent years.

Open Doors USA, a religious freedom monitoring group that operates in 60 countries, ranks India as the 10th worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution. 

Open Doors notes that incidents of persecution against Christians in India have increased since the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party took power in 2014. Open Doors warns that Hindu radicals “often attack Christians with little to no consequences.”

“The view of the Hindu nationalists is that to be Indian is to be Hindu, so any other faith — including Christianity — is viewed as non-Indian,” an Open Doors fact sheet on India reads. 

International Christian Concern, another U.S.-based persecution watchdog group, reported this week that a Christian family in the Chhattisgarh state of India was attacked by suspected Hindu nationalists in their home on July 1 for refusing to renounce their faith.

A local source told ICC that a 21-year-old woman and 18-year-old man were seriously injured during the attack in which their home was ransacked and their “land taken away.” 

Tunaviram Markham, who attends church with the family, told ICC that the many people from the village surrounded the family’s house, broke in and beat up family members.

“I came to visit this family when I heard about the attack on Laxman family,” Markham explained. “There was nobody to help; also, the police are not allowing outsiders into the village. It was pathetic to see helplessness (of) the only Christian family.”

Corruption is Everywhere - In Russian Politics? Ha-ha, Of Course!

Governor of Russia’s Khabarovsk region arrested by FSB

in crime gang & assassinations probe 

video 0:53   ©  Russia’s Investigative Committee

The Federal Security Service agents have detained the governor of Russia’s Khabarovsk region, Sergey Furgal, on suspicions of organizing a criminal group linked to a series of murders of entrepreneurs over a decade ago.

The politician is suspected of organizing a criminal gang and ordering “a series of murders and assassination attempts” back in 2004-2005. Russia’s Investigative Committee shared a video of Furgal’s arrest in a Thursday morning raid, but included scant details about the ongoing investigation. 

Besides Furgal, four other suspects were arrested, all members of the same gang linked to a series of crimes against local businessmen in Khabarovsk and nearby Amur regions, according to investigators.

Authorities have yet to press official charges against the member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), who has led the Far Eastern region of Khabarovsk since 2018.

#Ozzone 2-10 > Are You Blinded by Your Idols?

This Week's Terrorist Attacks and Stories - 20:26 > Canada, Philippines, France, Somalia, Pakistan, Russia

Canada: Armed man detained near PM Justin Trudeau's residence

..

Suspect 'breached main pedestrian entrance' to Rideau Hall in Ottawa

AFP

Canadian police stand guard outside Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Canada on July 2, 2020, after an armed man who entered the grounds was arrested in the property that is home to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the country's Governor-General.

Image Credit: AFP

Ottawa: Canadian police on Thursday arrested an armed member of the country's military who entered the grounds of an Ottawa estate that is home to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the country's governor-general.

The suspect "breached the main pedestrian entrance" to Rideau Hall with his vehicle at about 6.30am (2.30pm UAE), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.

The car was disabled on impact, so he entered the property on foot before being "rapidly contained" by RCMP officers on patrol and arrested a short time later without incident.

"The individual arrested by the RCMP is a member of the Canadian Armed Forces," police said, without immediately revealing his identity. Charges are pending.

The RCMP and the Canadian defence ministry said the two sides were collaborating on the investigation.

Rideau Hall is the official residence of Governor General Julie Payette. Trudeau and his family live on the property at Rideau Cottage.

"The Prime Minister and his family, as well as the Governor-General, were not present on site at the time of the incident," the RCMP said. The normal residence for the Prime Minister is being renovated.

It has become apparent that he was gunning for Trudeau whom he blamed for everything wrong in his life including Covid19 lockdown, having his truck repossessed, running a very anemic looking skeleton of Parliament, and running up spectacular debts. The last two are certainly valid complaints, but shooting the PM is not the Canadian way. We will just continue to give him all the rope he wants until he hangs himself with it.

The gate leading to the estate was damaged.

Payette is the official representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, Canada's formal head of state due to its membership in the Commonwealth.

Duterte signs Philippines anti-terrorism law,
giving sweeping powers to security forces

FILE PHOTO © REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

The Philippines president has signed into law a hotly debated anti-terrorism law weeks after he claimed insurgent groups fighting against the government have taken advantage of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Overwhelmingly supported by both houses of parliament earlier this month, the 2020 Anti-Terrorism Act has now been approved by Rodrigo Duterte, local media reported on Friday, citing presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.

The legislation sets up a new entity called the Anti-Terrorism Council, which will be able to permit security forces to arrest terrorist suspects without a court warrant and detain them without charge for up to 24 days. Existing laws prescribe that such detainees must be brought to court within three days.

It also outlaws“inciting others” to commit terrorism “by means of speeches, proclamations, writings, emblems, banners, or other representations tending to the same end.”

Members of law enforcement agencies will now be less accountable for misconduct – they will no longer be required to pay roughly $10,000 for every day of wrongful detention. 

Duterte also vowed to be tougher on terrorism and insurgency. In June, he said that Abu Sayyaf – a local Islamic State offshoot – as well as the rebellious Communist Party of the Philippines had taken advantage of the Covid-19 crisis.

The counter-terrorism law has been met with stiff opposition from local rights groups and activists, who urged the government to reverse the measure. Critics argued the definition of terrorism is too vague and could herald a crackdown on those who simply “displeased the president.”


The Department of the Interior and Local Government, which oversees the national police force, dismissed those concerns, assuring the populace that “people have nothing to fear from this bill; it is only the terrorists and their supporters who should fear it.”

And maybe a few outspoken journalists?

French homegrown ISIS terrorist sentenced to 30 years for aggravated murder & leading group of jihadists

FILE PHOTO: Members loyal to the ISIL wave ISIL flags as they drive around Raqqa © Reuters / stringer

A senior French ISIS member, who converted to Islam at 21, has been locked up for 30 years. It’s the first time a Paris court has imposed a sentence for jihadist crimes committed in Syria.

Tyler Vilus, 30, was found guilty of aggravated murder, being a member of a terrorist group, and heading up a group of Islamic State fighters in Syria. 

The homegrown terrorist is believed to have been part of the Al-Muhajireen (the immigrants) brigade of foreign jihadists that carried out executions and torture, which he denied. Vilus was found to have overseen executions as a member of the religious police in the Syrian town of Ash Shaddadi.

A 2015 IS propaganda video shown in court features a man believed to be Vilus standing close to two blindfolded prisoners, a member of the Syrian Army and a Free Syrian Army fighter, who are shot in the head. 

Public prosecutor Guillaume Michelin said that Vilus “hasn’t changed one bit” since his time in Syria. He asked the court to give him a life sentence with no chance of parole for 22 years, calling on the court to “put a definite end to the bloodshed.”

“All the steps in the accused’s journey are interlocked with the construction of the caliphate,” he said. The judge, however, said that he wanted to give Vilus a “glimmer of hope.” Vilus’s case is the first successful French prosecution of an Islamist militant for crimes committed in Syria.

Vilus was arrested at an Istanbul airport in July 2015 with a Swiss passport. He left France for Syria in 2012, not long after converting to Islam when he was 21 years old. He is thought to have known many French jihadists who were fighting in the so-called Caliphate. The IS fighter admitted to being in contact with Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who is understood to be the mastermind of the November 2015 terrorism attacks in Paris.

His mother, Christine Riviere, dubbed ‘Mama Jihad’ by the French media, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in June 2017 for her “unfailing commitment” to jihad. She visited her son in Syria three times and helped bring young girls there in an effort to find him a wife. 

5 dead, 16 injured in attacks in Somalian cities

By Christen McCurdy

July 4 (UPI) -- A car bomb attack and a land mine explosion killed five people and hurt 16 others in two major Somalian cities Saturday.

In Mogadishu, the country's capital, a suicide car bomber targeted a tax collection center. The car bomber died and six others were injured.

In Baidoa, five people were killed and 10 hurt after a land mine detonated on the outskirts of the city near a restaurant.

According to the BBC, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for both incidents. The militant group has carried out similar attacks in the recent past, including a suicide bombing on a Turkish military base in Somalia at the end of June.

The group, which is linked to al-Qaida, said they were targeting tax collectors and soldiers.

Somalia's government has been battling al-Shabab for control of the country for more than 10 years.

"The Somali government condemns in the strongest terms the attacks against the civilians," the Somali Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism said in a statement.

Karachi factory fire was an act of terrorism: JIT report

KARACHI (Dunya News) - Dunya News has obtained the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report of the Baldia factory tragedy while Sindh government will release a 27-page report tomorrow.

According to the JIT report, the factory fire was not an accident, it was an act of terrorism. The fire was started in the factory for non-payment of Rs. 200 million (roughly $2.7 mn USD) as extortion money.

I don't know how that makes it a terrorist act as opposed to an organized crime racket?

According to report, MQM s Hamad Siddiqui and Rehman Bhola demanded extortion money from the factory owner but the initial investigation had not mentioned about the extortion money anywhere in the FIR or in the investigation.

JIT has recommended withdrawing the previous FIRs and filing of new FIRs under terrorism provisions in its report and also recommended including the names of Rehman Bhola, Hamad Siddiqui, Zubair Charia in the new FIR.

JIT has also recommended including the names of Umar Hassan Qadari, Dr. Abdul Sattar, Ali Hassan Qadri, Iqbal Adib Khanum and four unknown persons in the FIR.

It has also recommended to cancel the passports of the accused and put their names on the ECL.

Police role has also been criticized in the JIT report as police had failed to investigate the case in the right direction.

Russian court fines journalist for column ‘justifying terrorism’
in high-profile controversial case

Svetlana Prokopyeva in front of the court house. ©Facebook / svetlana.prokopyeva.9

By Jonny Tickle

A military court in Pskov has handed a Russian journalist a $7,000 fine for an article in which she blamed police brutality for a bombing incident at a regional office of the FSB, Russia’s main security agency.

The case has provoked outrage from the journalist’s supporters, who believe that the criminal charge is an attack on free speech.

Svetlana Prokopyeva was found guilty of justifying terrorism after writing a 2018 story in which she speculated about the motives behind a bombing in Arkhangelsk.

The journalist argued that the 17-year-old assailant acted in response to the “repressive actions” of the government and the police. She claimed that the authorities are responsible for creating an environment that pushes citizens to fight back.

Just moments before the Archangelsk explosion, a user on messaging app Telegram wrote that he was going to bomb the local FSB office. Thought to be written by the perpetrator, the statement claimed that the FSB “fabricates cases and tortures people.”

The attack, which killed the bomber and injured three officers, was classified as an act of domestic terrorism.

Prosecutors asked that Prokopyeva’s crime be punished with a six-year prison term, but the Second Western District Military Court opted for a fine of 500,000 rubles ($7,000) instead.

Prokopyeva, who works as a freelance journalist for American state media RFE/RL, expressed her argument during an interview with Echo of Moscow, a leading Russian radio station, which later became a written text titled ‘Repression for the state’.

During the trial, she denied justifying terrorism and said her goal was to prevent future terrorist attacks, claiming in court that she “did nothing that goes beyond professional duty.”

Her supporters have called the case a landmark for freedom of speech in Russia, and have claimed that it was fabricated to intimidate critics of the government and law enforcement. In several cities, protestors staged rallies in support of the journalist, with some people being detained.

Syndicate-100, a group of self-proclaimed independent Russian media outlets, called the sentence “a warning to everyone who works in this profession.” The Russian Union of Journalists called the verdict “blatantly unfair,” demanding “its full justification.”