FNSS designed and developed the PARS SCOUT vehicle with its own resources, with the initiation of the tender process by the Presidency of Defence Industries for the development of Special Purpose Vehicle in line with the needs of Turkish Armed Forces, PARS SCOUT as a product of FNSS R&D studies, with enhanced situational awareness and […]
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The design perfection process for KAPLAN MT is completed. FNSS successfully applied the technology transfer model with PT Pindad through the KAPLAN Medium Tank development project. The serial production contract was signed after the prototype tests were ended. The KAPLAN MT, which will be exhibited at IDEF 2021, has successfully completed the endurance and firing […]
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ASELSAN provides state-of-the-art military communication technologies enabling user access through secure radio networking solutions in the tactical field. Being its top selling product family, the next generation Software Defined Radios (SDRs) are used in more than 20 countries and integrated onto 100 platforms, proving ASELSAN’s capability and experience in the communication field. SDRs are considered […]
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ASELSAN’s mortar transformation solutions offer enhanced capabilities for conventional mortars: high probability of first round hit, ease of use, high mobility, mission programmable, configurable and modular structure. ALKAR transforms legacy 81mm and 120mm mortars into highly accurate, mobile and automatic mortar solutions that can be operated with a limited effort of the user. It replaces […]
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ASELSAN as a leading global technology company, will showcase its latest solutions at IDEF 15th edition of the International Defense Industry Fair taking place in Istanbul (TÜYAP) Turkey, from August 17 to 20 2021. One of the most significant fairs in the world, IDEF brings together defense professionals every two years to review the future […]
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Turkish Aerospace will display Turkish Fighter, national combat aircraft, for the first time at IDEF. Turkish Aerospace will exhibit high localized rate indigenous aerial platforms and space system projects. In addition, HURJET Simulator will also take place at the booth. Turkish Aerospace will display ANKA, AKSUNGUR, ATAK, ATAK 2, GOKBEY, HURKUS, HURJET and Turkey’s 5th […]
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1) Could you please describe Roketsan’s place on international scale? What are the short and long-term goals for Roketsan? Since our establishment in 1988, we have been proud to represent Turkey in the international arena, driven by our aim to play a leading role in the provision of indigenous, reliable and groundbreaking rocket and missile […]
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Designed within the scope of FNSS’s PARS III 8×8 and 6×6 export project and first entered the inventory of the Oman Armed Forces, SANCAK Remote Controlled Turret (RCT) system also constitutes the main firepower of the PARS IV 6×6 Special Operations Vehicle, which will be delivered to Turkish Armed Forces within the scope of the […]
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The Armoured Amphibious Marine Assault Vehicle (MAV) is developed within the scope of the Presidency of Defence Industries project to meet the amphibious armoured vehicle needs of the Turkish Naval Forces Command. MAV will be exhibited at IDEF2021. FNSS will deliver a total of 27 vehicles, 23 of which are personnel carriers, 2 of which […]
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CAKA Remote Controlled Turret (RCT) system is designed by FNSS, within the scope of Turkish Navy’s Marine Armoured Amphibious Vehicle Program that was signed between the Turkish Presidency for Defence Industries (SSB) and FNSS on March 7, 2017. The turret will be exhibited on the Marine Assault Vehicle (MAV) during IDEF 2021. CAKA is developed […]
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Within the scope of the 6×6 Mine Protected Vehicle (MKKA) Procurement Project signed between FNSS and the Defence Industry Presidency (SSB), the PARS IV 6×6 Special Operation’s (S-Ops) Vehicle is designed to meet the tactical and operational requirements of military and internal security forces whose mission is «special». It is able to operate in wide […]
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Activism came to Hazar Kolancalı like a thunderstorm, at first a rumbling in the distance and then upon her all at once. The constant — and often violent — oppression of LGBTQI+ people in Turkey, a country that is increasingly hostile toward them, manifested suddenly for Kolancalı in a brutal arrest at the hands of Istanbul police. “I knew trouble was coming on the day I saw smear campaigns against us being pushed by pro-government media,” she told Truthout.
Despite her attempts to avoid conflict with police, government-executed violence and oppression is always lurking just around the corner for queer activists in Turkey.
In addition to health and economic crises, 2020-21 brought a sharp rise in government homophobia to Turkey, manifesting as hate speech from top government officials, the barring of “LGBT symbols,” withdrawal from the “Istanbul Convention” on the grounds of it “normalizing homosexuality,” and arrests of LGBTQI+ activists like Kolancalı.
On January 30, 2021, such government oppression was waiting for Kolancalı just outside the gates of her university campus. “We exited the campus and right away there were police everywhere, cars, sirens, and they were screaming our names. I was shocked. They came for me immediately and then there was chaos. The police used brutal force against us.”
Kolancalı, 22, a psychology student, artist and openly bisexual activist, found herself on the front lines of Turkey’s struggle for LGBTQI+ rights.
Two months prior, situated in a grassy field on Boğaziçi University’s campus, solidarity-seeking students mingled at an art exhibition of anonymous contributions organized by Kolancalı and fellow artist-activists. The exhibition was part of the protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s appointment of a pro-government party member as rector to their university and the subsequent closure of the school’s LGBTQI+ student club. One piece of art, however, caught the disapproving eye of a passerby, and soon, the eyes of top Turkish officials, who demanded punishment.
After her arrest, Kolancalı spent 12 hours in a jail cell opposite her lover, she says, unsure of what fate awaited them. She was then placed on house arrest and left to await trial.
“We are creative because we are repressed. When you’re repressed, you have to find alternative ways of expressing yourself,” Kolancalı says of how her activism necessitates her art and vice versa. She pulls up a video on her laptop of her standing in a lineup with the other arrested students at the police station, looking somber. She then holds up her phone showing a lineup of four parallel figures, looking psychedelic and confident, which she drew to cope with the traumatic memory.
Since the beginning of the Boğaziçi protests on January 4 after Melih Bulu was appointed rector, over 500 people have been detained, many having been arrested as a direct result of their LGBTQI+ activism.
The Erdoğan regime hasn’t hidden its approval of violence against protesters, especially LGBTQI+ activists like Kolancalı. Rhetoric from prominent government officials has been explicitly LGBTQ-phobic, with Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu repeatedly calling the arrested students “LGBT perverts” and Erdoğan praising his party’s youth saying, “You are not the LGBT youth.”
Despite such setbacks, the government rescinded its decision without explanation, removing the appointed rector on July 15, 2021, via a midnight presidential decree — a major success for the protest movement based in LGBTQI+ inclusion and representation. The university’s LGBTQI+ student club, however, remains banned.
Although the Boğaziçi protests represent a recent swell in LGBTQI+ activism, Kolancalı’s experience with government homophobia is nothing new. On June 26, 2021, police fired tear gas and detained attendants at the annual Istanbul Pride march.
Turkey previously touted itself as an LGBTQI+ defender, with Erdoğan vowing to protect LGBTQI+ rights and Istanbul being home to the largest LGBTQI+ Pride march in the Muslim world before being broken up by police and banned in 2015. However, during its 19 years in power, Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has made an escalating shift toward cultural conservatism.
Erdoğan’s dramatic shift is part of a larger effort to secure support for his party from conservative religious circles. As AKP support has decreased, Erdoğan has made increasingly clear his willingness to utilize homophobic rhetoric and action in pursuit of new voting blocs.
This crackdown on LGBTQI+ rights was further cemented via the government’s civil society agenda post-2016 coup attempt, after which Turkey saw a drastic increase in violence directed at LGBTQI+ folks.
When asked whether she felt connected to Turkey, Kolancalı said “yes” but not without qualification. “It is a toxic relationship, but we are connected. I’m only 22 years old, and this conservative government has a history of 19 years. So, I didn’t realize that my destiny was being shaped by these conservative monsters.”
Homophobia in Turkey is often packaged as being “pro-family” in order to appeal to conservative religious voting blocs. Although homosexuality is not technically a crime in Turkey, it is frequently denounced as being “incompatible” with Turkish values.
“I am tired,” said Kolancalı. “I want to escape like everyone does. But I love my university. I love where I am living. I love the psychology department. I love my professors. I don’t want to let [the government] ruin this beautiful country. I love my country too, you know.”
Unbridled creativity seems to be a common theme among LGBTQI+ activists, and none encapsulates such unabashed artistic self-expression more than nonbinary designer and internet personality Çağlar Almendi. “I want to dress [Istanbul Mayor Ekrem] İmamoğlu. He should be wearing Almendi,” they tell Truthout.
Almendi not only hopes to design a colorful costume for suit-loving Mayor İmamoğlu, a potential opposition challenger to President Erdoğan, but also to start their own design brand.
In addition to their queer identity, Almendi is also Kurdish, a minority ethnic group which the Turkish government often links to terrorism, using language similar to its strategy with regard to the LGBTQI+ community. “[Kurds] are the same as queer people. Their rights were stolen from them. They know how to survive and they can understand suffering. I think we are on the same road together,” Almendi says.
This cross section of identities can be seen throughout their artistry, from party planning to visual artwork. “At my parties, I use lots of traditional Kurdish music. So people are coming to my parties to dance and getting used to Kurdish people, getting used to drag queens, getting used to queer people. It becomes this center. It is all a protest.”
Regarding how these two facets of their identity relate, Almendi says, “There is queer blood in my veins. There is Kurdish blood in my veins, and I just want to let it explode everywhere. My anger and passion should be seen and felt.”
Almendi then retreats to a room in the back of the apartment and emerges with a framed piece of glass puzzled together with red fabric. Upon the glass is a painted Shahmaran, a Kurdish mythological creature, half-woman, half-snake. An Istanbul earthquake knocked the glass painting off the wall the year prior, after which the piece took on a new meaning.
“I put it back together mixed with a traditional quilt. The Shahmaran is dangerous, but she wants to be loved. I feel for her. I have my lover, and I feel like this is our family portrait. Because I am dangerous and broken, but he is keeping me together.”
Like Kolancalı, Almendi also found government oppression lurking around every corner of life.
“I got shot by the police with plastic bullets. We were in the streets, and they told us to go home. So, I did. I started walking toward my house, and they began to run after me. They chased me all the way to my house for like 10 minutes. Once I reached my door, they shot me in the back five times,” they told Truthout. “I couldn’t do anything. I just hid in my house because I was alone. I went to the police station to file a complaint, but they wouldn’t even let me give a statement. They just said, ‘You were at a protest. You deserve it.’”
Such experiences — including an ongoing lawsuit filed against Almendi by an AKP supporter for “disrespecting Islam” by wearing a headscarf in a YouTube video, years of school harassment and countless stories of friends’ experiences — have left Almendi and others feeling increasingly unsafe in their country and their communities.
“The government is becoming more Islamist, and they’re changing things. They’re taking more and more rights from us,” Almendi says. “Maybe tomorrow they will pass a new law in Turkey making gay people illegal. I don’t know what they could do. I don’t feel safe, and it’s getting worse.”
Regarding how queer Turkish and Kurdish people cope with the worsening state of affairs in Turkey, Almendi says, “We’re all creating something. We’re not just living. Everyone is sad. Everyone is out of work. But we come together and help each other. We talk every day because every day is something new. We wake up and hear that one of our friends had been hit or shot or killed, and we can’t just keep silent.”
The AKP-era increase in arrests of Kurdish politicians, academics, journalists, human rights defenders, LGBTQI+ activists and lawyers is seen as the ruling coalition government’s attempt to weaponize identity politics to maintain support among nationalist and religious voting blocs as the party’s support dwindles.
In a country where rule of law has become virtually obsolete, for Levent Pişkin, a self-described “queer struggler,” human rights defender and lawyer, fighting against systems of oppression via legal channels has become next to impossible.
“The relationship in Turkey between the law and the LGBTI+ community is not one of ignoring anymore,” Pişkin said. “The state’s policy has started to be based on hate toward the LGBTI+ community.”
Sitting at his desk in the home he lives in with his two sisters, Pişkin pulls out a package of nicotine gum and talks about how acupuncture helped him quit smoking. “They put one right here,” he points to the middle of his chest, “It felt like clouds.”
About his work as a human rights lawyer, however, Pişkin takes a more somber tone.
“I practice law, which doesn’t exist,” Pişkin said. “Your role in the courthouse is nothing. Sometimes you feel like an actor in a play, but not a lead actor or even a supporting actor, maybe the fifth or sixth actor.”
Despite his reputation in human rights advocacy circles, Pişkin, an openly gay man, has also run into a great deal of LGBTQI-based discrimination. In 2014, he was sued by the government for defamation after using the Turkish word ‘ibne’ (Turkish slang for gay) and President Erdoğan’s name in the same tweet. The case is still ongoing. “Of course, I don’t feel safe,” he says.
Pişkin was also detained via a home raid in 2016 and put into an isolated jail cell for three days in connection with his legal representation of imprisoned Kurdish politician Selahattin Demirtaş.
“The relationship between the LGBTI+ community and the law has always been complicated because no laws have ever existed in Turkey to protect the LGBTI+ community,” Pişkin says. “But we try to find legal holes to protect people.”
Regarding his history of advocating on behalf of LGBTQI+ activists, he says, “I have something in common with them. We are defending the same thing. You can speak for them and for yourself at the same time.”
Pişkin’s role as a lawyer is of increasing importance as he represents more and more LGBTQI+ activists, including Kolancalı.
He represented Kolancalı at her hearing at Istanbul’s Çağlayan courthouse on March 17. Demanding her immediate acquittal, he argued the charges against her for “inciting hatred and insulting religious values” were not substantiated.
Pişkin, leaning against his impossibly full bookcase, gives his final prognosis, “Change is not a quick thing. It will take time. It will cost lives. But it will change. Not tomorrow, but maybe in two years. Maybe in 20 years, it will change. We are building a house, and it is my role to add one stone, just like everyone else.”
Kolancalı was released from house arrest following the hearing. At the most recent hearing on July 5, witness testimony from several university security guards was heard, but the trial remains ongoing. The next hearing will be on November 17.
“The reason protests are dominated by LGBTI+ people is because we are having fun while we are there. We are going because we want to. It is not like a job. LGBTI+ people just know how it’s done,” Kolancalı says. “What we do is always peaceful, because we are humans, you know, we are humans with pure hearts, and we like what we are doing. We are very loud! We know what love is!”
Regarding what she sees on the path ahead, Kolancalı is even more optimistic and enthusiastic than the others. She sees the Erdoğan-controlled government’s grip on power as quickly diminishing and believes this recent homophobic turn will be ultimately unsuccessful in achieving their desired aims. This belief is supported by recent polling trends that indicate support for Erdoğan and his party is dropping, with AKP support having fallen to 36 percent most recently.
“The government’s only weapon right now is hatred, and they’re trying to provoke people to be hateful against some kind of ‘other.’ This year’s ‘other’ is the LGBTI+ community. It is so obvious,” Kolancalı says. “But we are the writers of history. So, even though they make these aggressive decisions, we are going to be the ones who tell this story.”
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
As a significant contributor to the defence industry and to Turkey’s indigenous technology initiative, STM will be present at the International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF’21) with many of its innovative and indigenous products. IDEF, being held for the 15th time at the TÜYAP Fair Convention and Congress Centre in Istanbul on 17–20 August, 2021, will […]
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1. FNSS stands out as the most successful company with export projects among the Turkish defense industry companies operating in the Southeast Asia region. Could you give us information about the ongoing projects in the current period? We have ongoing programs in Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines. In the AV-8 GEMPITA program in Malaysia, we are […]
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On 12 July 2021, the case against the 46 human rights defenders and activists, which includes the families of the disappeared and supporters continued at the Istanbul 21st Criminal Court of First Instance. They were charged with violating the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations for “unarmed participation in an unauthorised assembly and refusal to disperse after warnings” (Article 32 of the Law 2911). The case was filed following the violent arrest of the 46 people and one minor by the police during the 700th gathering of the Saturday Mothers/People on 25 August 2018.
On 18 November 2020, an Istanbul court of first instance filed a lawsuit against 46 people who were arrested on 25 August 2018 during the violent police intervention at the 700th gathering of Saturday Mothers/People in Istanbul’s Galatasaray Square.
On 25 August 2018, police forcibly dispersed the Saturday Mothers’ weekly vigil and detained 47 protesters, including families of the victims of enforced disappearances in the 90s. The detained protesters were released from police custody later that day.
About the situation:
On 12 July 2021, the case against the 46 human rights defenders and activists, which includes the families of the disappeared and supporters of Saturday Mothers/People, continued at the Istanbul 21st Criminal Court of First Instance. They were charged with violating the Law on Assemblies and Demonstrations for “unarmed participation in an unauthorised assembly and refusal to disperse after warnings” (Article 32 of the Law 2911). The case was filed following the violent arrest of the 46 people and one minor by the police during the 700th gathering of the Saturday Mothers/People on 25 August 2018.
On 18 November 2020, an Istanbul court of first instance filed a lawsuit against 46 people who were arrested on 25 August 2018 during the violent police intervention at the 700th gathering of Saturday Mothers/People in Istanbul’s Galatasaray Square.
On 25 August 2018, police forcibly dispersed the Saturday Mothers’ weekly vigil and detained 47 protesters, including families of the victims of enforced disappearances in the 90s. The detained protesters were released from police custody later that day.
Cumartesi Anneleri/İnsanları: Saturday Mothers/People is a human rights group, comprised of human rights defenders and families of victims of enforced disappearance in Turkey in the 1990s. They began organising weekly vigils at Galatasaray Square after the detention of Hasan Ocak on 21 March 1995 and the subsequent discovery of his tortured body in a common grave. Human rights defenders and the families of the victims gathered in Galatasaray Square for the first time on 27 May 1995, demanding an end to enforced disappearances, seeking information on the whereabouts of those who have disappeared and justice for the victims. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Mothers
In the meatime in Malta, two Turkish mothers who were jailed and separated from their young sons for using forged passports have been freed as Court overturned their prison sentence. The women, Rabia Yavuz, 27, and Muzekka Deneri, 29, have been fighting to be reunited with their sons – aged two and four – after being sentenced to six months in prison.
The two women were freed on Friday afternoon after having ear.lier this week filed an appeal against the ‘disproportionate and excessive’ punishment. They admitted to using fake travel documents, saying they could not return to their country because of political persecution. Moreover, the two women, who were separated from their sons, are in the process of applying for asylum.
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/saturday-motherspeople-court-second-hearing
https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/court-to-decide-whether-to-free-turkish-mothers-today.891802
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
STM, one of the leading defence industry companies in Turkey, signed an export contract with an undisclosed customer for KARGU Rotary Wing Attack Drone Systems. A developer of globally competitive, innovative high-tech products, STM Savunma Teknolojileri Mühendislik ve Ticaret A.Ş. has now recorded its first export success in the field of tactical mini UAV systems, […]
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The August 2021 supplement of Asian Military review is about Turkish Defence. To read future supplements of the magazine, please subscribe here: Subscribe for Civilian Subscribe for Serving Military
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A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Haiti to Pakistan
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
Photo credit from the archives of Newsonline
Exits of Netanyahu and Trump: chance to dial down Mideast tensions
The Iraqi geopolitical analyst, Ali Fahim, recently said in an interview with The Tehran Times: “The arrival of [newly elected Iranian President] Ebrahim Raisi at the helm of power gives a great moral impetus to the resistance axis.” Further, with new administrations in the United States, Israel, and Iran, another opportunity presents itself to reinstate fully the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement, as well as completely lift the US economic sanctions from Iran.
Let us wait and see after Raisi is in power in August 2021. It is a fact that, since the Trump administration pulled out of the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal, tensions have been on the rise. One can legitimately suspect that the Trump pull-out had as its real intentions: first, to provoke Tehran; second to undo one of the only foreign policy achievements of the Obama administration, which was negotiated by John Kerry for the US. The Trump administration also used unfair economic sanctions on Iran as a squeeze for regime-change purposes. This was a complete fiasco: the Islamic Republic of Iran suffered but held together.
As far as military tensions in the region, there are many countries besides Syria where conflicts between Iran-supported groups and US-supported proxies are simmering, or full blown. The US does its work, not only via Israel in the entire region, but also Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in Yemen, and presently Turkey in Syria. Right now conflicts are active in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Palestine, but something could ignite in Lebanon at any time.
Photo credit from the archives of Newsonline
Iran views itself as the lead supporter of the resistance movement, not only through its support for regional allies like Hezbollah and Bashar al-Assad, but also beyond the Middle-East, for Maduro in Venezuela. The upcoming Iranian administration does not hide its international ambition. For better or worse, Iran sees itself as a global leader of smaller nonaligned countries that are resisting US imperialism, be it Syria, Yemen, Palestine, Lebanon, or Venezuela. Even though Iran is completely different ideologically, it has replaced the leadership of Yugoslavia’s Tito or Cuba’s Castro. Both were not only Marxists but also leaders of the nonaligned movement during the Cold War, when the US and the USSR were competing to split the world in two. Now the dynamics have shifted because of China’s rising global influence, and the Iran Islamic Republic thinks it has a card to play in this complex geopolitical imbroglio.
Photo credit from the archives of Newsonline
In the US, Europe and Gulf States, Raisi has been categorized as a hardliner cleric and judge, but this gives Raisi more power than he will have as president. In Iran, major foreign policy issues are not merely up to the president to decide but a consensus process involving many. In the end such critical decisions are always signed off by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Khamenei has already indicated that he supports going back to the 2015 nuclear deal. During his electoral campaign, Raisi, who is close to Khamenei despite previous opposition, said that if elected he would uphold the 2015 landmark nuclear agreement.
Ottoman empire revival under Erdogan
Turkey’s President, Recep Erdogan, often behaves as a modern day Sultan. He is shrewd and extremely ambitious. He fancies himself to be the global leader, politically and militarily, of Sunny Islam. Under Erdogan, Turkey has flexed its military muscles, either directly or through Syrian proxies, not only in Syria, but also in Libya, as well as in Turkey’s support for Qatar in the small Gulf State’s recent skirmish with Saudi Arabia. Erdogan thinks he now has a card to play in Afghanistan. More immediately and strategically, the serious issue on Erdogan’s plate is called Idlib.
Photo credit from the archives of Newsonline
The problem of the pocket of Idlib has to be resolved, and unfortunately, for all the civilian population that has been and will be in the crossfire, it can only be solved by a full-on military operation, with troops from Bashar al-Assad and Russia. Turkey is, of course, adamant about keeping a military presence and influence within Syria to prevent a complete Assad victory. Time will tell, but the war of attrition has to end. For this to happen, Russia has to commit to face Turkey from a military standpoint. If Russia is ready for a direct confrontation with Turkey, then Bashar al-Assad’s troops, and Russian forces bringing mainly logistic and air support, should prevail.
What should make this easier is the fact Erdogan has overplayed his hand for quite some time. This includes his tense relationships with his supposed NATO allies, many of whom, including France, Greece and even Germany, would not mind having him out of NATO altogether.
There are important factors that explain, not only why Erdogan is quite popular with Turks, but also why his position could become precarious. Erdogan is playing on the Turkish nostalgia for the Ottoman Empire.
From one Empire to two others: the Sykes-Picot agreement
To understand better this imperial dynamic, we must go back to the middle of World War I, when the Ottoman Empire was allied with Germany. In 1916, the Sykes-Picot secret agreement effectively sealed the fate of post World War I Middle-East. This British-French agreement, in expectation of a final victory, was a de-facto split of the Ottoman Empire. In the resulting colonial or imperial zones of influence, a euphemism for an Anglo-French control of the region, the British would get Palestine, Jordan, Iraq and the Gulf area, while France would take control of Syria and Lebanon. More than 100 years later, the misery created by this imperialist deal lingers in the entire region, from Palestine, with the 1948 English-blessed creation of the Zionist state of Israel, to Iraq. France put in place two protectorates in Syria and Lebanon, in which the respective populations did not fare much better. Even today, French governments still act as if they have a say in Lebanese affairs.
Photo Credit from the archive Magharebia
The weight of history and the nostalgia of 600 years of rule in the Middle-East are why some Turks — especially Erdogan — feel entitled to an intrusive role in the region. The unfortunate story of the Middle-East has been to go from one imperialism to another. With the American empire taking over in the mid-1950s, the only competition during the Cold War became the USSR. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US had carte blanche. It became more blunt about the exploitation of resources, regime-change policies and its role as the eternal champion of the sacred state of Israel. Quickly, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar became the US’ best friends in the Arab world. I have called this alliance between the West, Israel and the oil-rich Gulf states an unholy alliance. It is still at play, mainly against Iran.
Photo Credit: David Stanley
Since the collapse of the USSR, the US empire has tried to assert a worldwide hegemony by mainly two different approaches: support of autocratic regimes like those in the Gulf States, or pursuit of regime change policies to get rid of sovereign nations. This is what I have identified as engineering failed states: a doctrine at play in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen. Often, Islam soldiers of fortune — called at first freedom fighters as in Afghanistan, or the so-called Free Syrian Army — have mutated down the line into ISIS terrorists. Once the mercenaries developed independent ambitions, they served a dual purpose: firstly, as tools of proxy wars; secondly as a justification for direct military interventions by the empire and its vassals. Since the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq the bottom line results have been the same: death and destruction. Tabula rasa of Iraq, Libya and Syria, with countries left in ruins, millions killed, and millions of others turned into refugees and scattered to the winds. The numbers are mind boggling in the sheer horrors they reflect. According to the remarkable non-partisan Brown University Costs of War project, since the start of the US-led so-called war on terror, post September 11, 2001, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and elsewhere the direct cost in people killed has been over 801,000. So far, the financial burden for US taxpayers has been $6.4 trillion.
Photo credit from the archives of Newsonline
Does Erdogan think he can do better than Alexander the Great with Afghans?
Apparently Erdogan’s imperial ambitions reach as far as the land of the Pashtuns. The Taliban already control about 85 percent of Afghanistan. While most NATO troops have either left or are in the process of doing so, Erdogan has volunteered Turkish troops to secure Kabul’s airport. Some in the Middle-East speculate, rightly or wrongly, that Erdogan plans to send to Afghanistan some of his available Syrian mercenaries, like those he has used in Libya. Even if this is rubber stamped by regional powers like Pakistan or Iran, which it won’t be, such a direct or proxy occupation will fail. If Turkish or Syrian mercenaries, or any other foreign proxies for that matter, try to get in the way of the Taliban, they will be shredded to bits.
Does Erdogan think he is a modern day version of Alexander the Great? This is plainly laughable! The Taliban are resuming control of Afghanistan, and that is the reality. Something Afghans agree upon is that they want all occupying foreigners out. This will include Turkish and Syrian mercenaries.
Photo Credit: Gilbert Mercier
Post Netanyahu Israel: more of the same for Palestinians?
For the Palestinians living either in Gaza or in the occupied territories, one element that has changed in Israel is that Netanyahu is no longer in power. It would be naive to think that the new Israeli administration will be less Zionist in its support for Jewish settlers expanding their occupation of Palestinian land, but we might see a small shift, more like a pause in Israel’s bellicose behavior.
Lebanon on the brink: opportunity for Israel to attack Hezbollah?
Despite Lebanon’s dreadful political and economic situation, Israel would be ill advised to consider any military action. Hezbollah is a formidable fighting force of 70,000 men, who have been battle hardened for almost a decade in Syria. Vis a vis Iran, a direct aggression of Israel is even less likely. With Trump gone, it seems that Israel’s hawks have missed out on that opportunity. Furthermore, it would be borderline suicidal for the Jewish state to open up many potential fronts at once against Hezbollah, Hamas, and Bashar al-Assad’s army. All of them would have the backing and logistic support of Iran.
Once the 2015 nuclear agreement is in force again, with the Biden administration, the tensions in the region should significantly decrease. It is probable that in the new negotiations, Iran will request that all the US economic sanctions, which were put in place by the Trump administration, be lifted.
Photo credit from Resolute Support Media archive
Neocolonial imperialism: a scourge that can be defeated
One thing about US administrations that has remained constant pretty much since the end of World War II is an almost absolute continuity in foreign policy. From Bush to Obama, Obama to Trump, and now Trump to Biden, it hardly matters if the US president is a Democrat or Republican. The cornerstone of foreign policy is to maintain, and preferably increase, US hegemony by any means necessary. This assertion of US imperial domination, with help from its NATO vassals, can be blunt like it was with Trump, or more hypocritical with a pseudo humanitarian narrative as during the Obama era.
The imperatives of military and economic dominance have been at the core of US policies, and it is doubtful that this could easily change. Mohammed bin-Salman‘s war in Yemen is part of this scenario. Some naively thought MBS would be pushed aside by the Biden administration. The clout of the Saudis remained intact, however, despite the CIA report on the gruesome assassination of a Washington Post journalist in Turkey. All evidence pointed to bin-Salman, but he was not pushed aside by his father. Under Biden, MBS is still Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, and de-facto autocratic ruler. The Saudis’ oil and money still have considerable influence in Washington.
The Saudis understand very well that, since the 1970s, their real geopolitical power has resided in the way they can impact global oil prices. They can still make the barrel price go up or down to serve specific geopolitical interests. For example, recently the Saudis tried to help the US regime change policy in Venezuela by flooding the global market to make oil prices crash. Saudi Arabia and its United Arab Emirates ally have used the black gold as an economic weapon countless times, and very effectively.
The great appetite of the Saudis for expensive weapons systems is another reason why they have a lot of weight in Washington and elsewhere. How can one oppose the will of a major client of the corporate merchants of death of the military-industrial complex?
Photo Credit from archive of DVIDSHUB
History will eventually record the 20-year Afghanistan war as a defeat and perhaps the beginning of the end for the US empire that established its global dominance aspiration in 1945. People from countries like Yemen, Palestine, as well as Mali, Kashmir, and even Haiti, who are fighting against an occupation of their lands, respectively, by the imperial little helpers Saudi Arabia, Israel, France, India and the United Nations, should find hope in what is going on in Afghanistan. My News Junkie Post partner Dady Chery has explained the mechanics of it brilliantly in her book, We Have Dared to Be Free. Yes, occupiers of all stripes can be defeated! No, small sovereign nations or tribes should not despair! The 20-year US-NATO folly in Afghanistan is about to end. The real outcome is a victory of the Pashtuns-Taliban that is entirely against all odds. It is a victory against the most powerful military alliance ever assembled in history. Yemenites, Palestinians, Tuaregs, Kashmiris, Haitians and other proud people, fighting from different form of neocolonial occupations, should find inspiration from it. It can be done!
Photo Credit from the archive of Antonio Marin Segovia
This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.
Allowing businesses to ban item of clothing at work will exclude Muslim women and encourage Islamophobia, critics say
Turkey’s cabinet ministers have criticised a European Union court’s decision to allow employers to ban headscarves from their workplaces, saying it is “a blow to the rights of Muslim women” and that it would “grant legitimacy to racism”.
The EU’s highest court, the European court of justice (ECJ), on Thursday ruled that private employers can ban workers from wearing religious symbols, including headscarves in their workplaces.
Related: Les Hijabeuses: the female footballers tackling France’s on-pitch hijab ban
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
Fears Turkey’s ‘culture centre’ plan for Diyarbakır military prison could whitewash history
Altan Tan was 24 when Diyarbakır’s notorious Military Prison No 5 was built, just before Turkey’s 1980 military coup. Not long after that, his father was thrown inside, never to emerge.
“He was only there for a few weeks before he was tortured to death. I never had the chance to go inside and visit him,” the Kurdish politician and writer said. “There are no Kurds, no families who don’t have memories associated with this building.”
Related: Erdoğan vows to expand fight against PKK after deaths of 13 hostages
Related: Turkey: the rise and fall of the Kurdish party that threatened Erdoğan
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
On July 8, 2021, a Turkish court sentenced Murat Şahin, who attempted to shoot journalist Can Dündar in a 2016 incident in Istanbul that left journalist Yağız Şenkal injured, to a delayed prison term and monetary fine, according to news reports.
The 28th Istanbul Court of First Instance found Şahin guilty of several charges, including “threatening [Dündar] with a weapon,” “intentional injury” to Şenkal, and “carrying an unregistered weapon,” according to those reports. In addition to imposing a fine 500 Turkish lira (US$57), the court sentenced Şahin to three years, one month, and 15 days in prison, citing his “good behavior” during the trial. However, the court delayed the execution of his sentence, allowing him to remain free unless he commits another crime in the next five years, those reports said.
Şahin claimed during the trial that while he did attempt to attack Dündar, he injured Yağız by mistake. He argued that he should be acquitted but he did not offer a reason why, those reports said.
Sabri Boyacı and Habip Ergün Celep, the other two suspects in the case who were tried as a lookout and an instigator, were acquitted due to lack of evidence, the reports said.
The ruling was part of a retrial, after Şenkal’s lawyers appealed the original verdict in 2018, which had sentenced Şahin to 10 months in prison and imposed a 4,500 lira (US$750 at the time) fine, as CPJ documented. Boyacı and Celep were acquitted in that trial as well, according to reports.
Şahin attacked Dündar, former chief editor at the daily Cumhuriyet, in front of the Istanbul’s Çağlayan courthouse on May 6, 2016, CPJ has documented. Şenkal, an NTV reporter, was hit by a stray bullet. Şahin was arrested and imprisoned for six months after the attack.
Dündar received CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award in 2016.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
On July 5, 2021, police disrupted a protest near a prison in Ankara, Turkey, and detained at least one journalist, according to news reports and video of the detention shared on social media.
Police detained Nazım Fayık, a camera operator with the leftist pro-Kurdish website and TV broadcaster Artı Gerçek, along with five demonstrators at the protest, held by the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) near Sincan Prison against the imprisonment of one of their members, according to those reports and Fayık, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.
Fayık told CPJ that police officers tried to stop him from recording the detentions by telling him to move away and pulling him by his backpack. The officers also tore the live broadcast cable from the camera, he said. Accusing Fayik of swearing at them, the officers then pulled him to the ground, put their knees on his back, and cuffed his hands behind his back with plastic zip ties.
Fayık said he did not swear at the police, but told them in anger, “You have no honor.”
“They started to pull from my arms, held me from my neck, brought me to the ground, and cuffed me from the back,” he said, adding that his right knee was scratched during the arrest and the zip ties hurt his wrists because they were too tight.
In the video of Fayık’s detention, posted to Twitter by his employer, a police officer is seen grabbing Fayık by the shoulder and claiming the journalist insulted him. Somebody else is heard saying, “Don’t do it! He is a reporter.”
Fayık remained cuffed until he was brought to hospital for a mandatory health check before being taken to the police station, he said.
Police released Fayık later that evening without charge, but imposed judicial control by a court, a status similar to parole, as well as a foreign travel ban, he said. He was told to expect to receive a notice explaining the conditions of his release.
Police also attempted to prevent other journalists from covering the detentions by pushing them and threatening to seize their equipment, according to reports and videos shared on social media.
CPJ emailed the Ankara police force for comment, but did not receive any reply.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
Foreign agents reported being paid more than $30.5 million to influence U.S. policy or public opinion on behalf of Turkish interests during the Trump administration. An inquiry the Justice Department has reportedly launched an inquiry into Rudy Giuliani may reveal even more undisclosed lobbying.
The DOJ reportedly launched the inquiry last week over alleged efforts Giuliani made to lobby former President Donald Trump on behalf of Turkish interests.
Giuliani, Trump’s former personal attorney and former New York City mayor, urged Trump in 2017 to drop federal charges against Reza Zarrab, an Iranian-Turkish gold trader. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also publicly sought to have the charges dropped. Zarrab was accused of helping Halkbank, the Turkish state-run bank, send billions of dollars to Iran in violation of United States sanctions. The former mayor also encouraged Trump to extradite Fethullah Gülen, an exiled Turkish cleric, back to Turkey.
The new report on the inquiry follows Giuliani being disbarred in New York.
If the DOJ concludes Giuliani lobbied on behalf of Turkish interests, Giuliani could be forced to register as a foreign agent. Giuliani has denied lobbying for foreign interests.
In 2017, the Turkish government signed a contract with Greenberg Traurig LLP, a Florida-based law firm where Giuliani was a partner from 2016 to 2018. The firm has cosistsetly ranked as one of the top grossing foreign registrants for Turkey. The Turkish government paid the firm over $1.2 million in 2017, $1.7 million in 2018 and $769,000 in 2019. It also became the top grossing foreign registrant for Turkey in 2020 after the government paid the firm over $1.15 million.
Greenberg Traurig has claimed its lobbying was ethical and that it separated Guiliani’s legal work from its foreign lobbying. But several Democratic senators signed a letter in 2018 urging the DOJ to determine if Giuliani had complied with requirements for foreign agents. Federal prosecutors are also investigating whether Giuliani lobbied Trump on behalf of Ukrainian interests.
Giuliani wouldn’t be the only lobbying tie Turkey had to the Trump White House.
The same year that Turkey signed on with Greenberg Traurig, the country’s government and Halbank also hired Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm based in Washington D.C.
The firm’s president, Brian Ballard, was vice chair of Trump’s inaugural committee and was a member of his transition team. He went on to be a bundler for Trump’s 2020 re-election bid, fundraising more than $2.2 million. Trump also appointed Ballard to the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which gave the lobbyist even more access to the Trump administration.
Ballard Partners was the top grossing lobbying firm working for Turkey in 2017 and 2018, serving as an agent for the Turkish government and Halkbank. The Turkish government paid the firm over $1.1 million in 2017 and $750,000 in 2018, while Halbank paid over $758,000 in 2017 and over $1.5 million in 2018.
Ballard’s firm has other reported Trump ties too, like former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who runs the firm’s corporate regulatory compliance practice. Bondi decided not to pursue a case against Trump University in 2014 shortly after her campaign received a $25,000 donation from the Trump Foundation, which stirred up scrutiny and penalties from the IRS.
Justin Sayfie, who was a member of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, is also a partner at Ballard Partners. And former Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) and former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs James Rubin both worked at Ballard too.
The firm’s lobbying mainly focused on the State Department and Treasury Department during the Trump administration. The firm later cut ties with Halkbank a day after the bank was indicted for a massive money laundering scheme.
Mercury Public Affairs, a D.C.-based consulting firm, is also among Turkey’s top grossing registrants and has deep ties to Trump.
The firm has represented the Turkish government and the Turkey-U.S. Business Council, known as TAİK. TAİK, a government-linked business advocacy organization, paid the firm nearly $3.9 million in 2018. It also only paid the firm $300,000 in 2019, and over $801,000 in 2020.
As a part of those influence efforts, Mercury brought on Bryan Lanza, who served as Trump’s communications director on the presidential transition team, as a partner at the firm’s Washington D.C. office in 2018. It also hired Eric Branstad as managing director of its Iowa office in 2018. Branstad was part of the 2017 inaugural committee and is an adviser for Tump’s joint fundraising committee. Both worked at Mercury while the firm was lobbying on behalf of TAIK and the turkish government.
Every year, TAİK hosts a U.S.-Turkish conference with the American Turkish Council to bring together military, business and political figures from both countries. The organizations held the conference at Trump hotel properties multiple years during the Trump administration.
TAİK’s chairman, Turkish businessman Mehmet Ali Yalcindag, helped negotiate a licencing deal for Trump’s properties in Turkey. Trump’s foreign business interests in Turkey brought in up to $9 million since 2016 and Yalcindag went on to lobby the Trump administration on behalf of TAİK.
The Turkish government also spent substantial sums defending the former president.
Mercury defended Trump’s decisions in 2019 to withdraw troops from Syria and circulated a New York Times editorial by Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, a Turkish diplomat, that described the U.S.’ longtime Kurdish allies as terrorists.
Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser who was forced to resign soon after the 2017 inauguration, also had ties to Turkey. Inovo BV, a Netherlands-based consulting firm owned by Turkish businessman Kamil Ekim Alptekin, paid Flynn’s lobbying group, Flynn Intel Group, $530,000 in 2016 for a campaign against Gülen, which Flynn later failed to disclose to the DOJ.
Under the lobbying contract, Flynn published a column in The Hill that called Gülen a “shady Islamic mullah” and compared him to Osama bin Laden. Mullah is a name given to local Islamic clerics that members of the Taliban have also used.
Flynn, who was the only member of the Trump administration to be charged in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador. But Flynn later withdrew his plea and Trump pardoned him in 2020.
This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.
The Turkish government’s crackdown on protests at Boğaziçi University earlier this year has brought together the broadest coalition of AKP opponents since the 2013 Gezi Park protests.
This post was originally published on Dissent MagazineDissent Magazine.
As Turkey quits the Istanbul convention, Gülsüm Kav’s group We Will Stop Femicide is helping keep women alive amid a rise in gender-based violence
“History is on our side,” says Gülsüm Kav. She leans in and speaks intensely. She has a lot to say: Kav helped create Turkey’s We Will Stop Femicide (WWSF) group, and has become one of the country’s leading feminist activists even as the political environment has grown more hostile.
Amid protests, Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul convention, the landmark international treaty to prevent violence against women and promote equality, on Thursday. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has long attacked women’s rights and gender equality, suggesting that feminists “reject the concept of motherhood”, speaking out against abortion and even caesarean sections, and claiming that gender equality is “against nature”.
Related: Protests as Turkey pulls out of treaty to protect women
These woman are fundamentally changing what it means to be a woman in Turkey and yet male violence is suppressing it
Related: Murder in Turkey sparks outrage over rising violence against women
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.
About 13,000 Kurdish refugees from south-eastern Turkey live inside the UNHCR-recognised Makhmur refugee camp, which is being attacked by Turkish forces, reports Peter Boyle.
This post was originally published on Green Left.
A delegation of people from all over Europe has travelled to Iraqi Kurdistan to protest against the Turkish invasion and bombing. And this statement from the Defend Kurdistan campaign explains the urgency of the situation:
In April, the Turkish state initiated a new, wide-ranging military campaign in South Kurdistan in the regions of Matina, Zap and Avashin. Heavy battles continue in these regions, with the Kurdish guerrilla forces fiercely resisting this illegal invasion. These large-scale attacks target not only the Kurdish guerrilla forces, but also the achievements of the Kurdish people, with the aim of occupying South Kurdistan. To date, the response to these attacks on the international level has unfortunately been muted. Seizing on this silence, the Turkish regime has put in place their plan to occupy all of Rojava (the region of North and East Syria) alongside South Kurdistan. In so doing, Turkey is determined to ethnically cleanse this vast area – 1400 km long – from North-West Syria to the Iraqi-Iranian border. At the same time, Turkey is waging a drone war against the Maxmur refugee camp, a gross violation of international law. Connected to this policy of ethnic cleansing, the Turkish military also hopes to depopulate the Sinjar region, home of the Yazidis—and thereby achieve what ISIS could not.
The delegation’s declaration reads:
We, as a delegation from all over Europe, have come to Kurdistan aiming for peace and freedom. Politicians, academics, human rights activists, syndicalists, journalists, feminists and ecologists from over ten countries wanted to get direct impressions of the situation and stand up to end the war and destruction.
Pierre Laurent, deputy president of the Senate of France, said on behalf of the delegation:
We are a peaceful and solidary peace delegation in solidarity with all the Kurdish people and we will build diplomatic pressure to stop the Turkish invasion of Southern Kurdistan.
The delegation has been gathering testimonies from people who have suffered as a result of the Turkish bombing. They spoke to Peyman Talib, a woman who lost her leg as a result of a Turkish drone attack.
On 19 June, Defend Kurdistan tweeted:
Peyman lost her leg in the attack.
”They say Turkey only attacks right at the border and only attacks PKK.
But that is only an excuse. I am a civilian and I live close to the city and they attacked me anyway.
They do not care about human rights.“#defendkurdistan pic.twitter.com/ArP5vYfvKL— Defend Kurdistan (@DefendKurd) June 19, 2021
However, the delegation has been prevented from travelling freely around Iraqi Kurdistan. On 20 June, the delegation was prevented from visiting the Mexmûr refugee camp by the Iraqi military. The refugee camp has been bombed by Turkey earlier this month.
One tweet reads:
Turkey bombed the refugee camp #Mexmûr on June 5th, following a thread Erdoğan had made a few days earlier.
The #Delegation4Peace wanted to visit the people of Mexmûr today in solidarity, but was stopped and sent back by the Iraqi military at a checkpoint.#defendkurdistan pic.twitter.com/4C8jbkTj45— Defend Kurdistan (@DefendKurd) June 20, 2021
And on 21 June, the group was denied access to Qandil.
Qandil has been under increasing attacks from the Turkish military in recent months. Turkey is attacking Qandil because the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has its base in the region, but its drone attacks and shelling are deadly and indiscriminate.
Demonstrations broke out after the delegation was refused access to Qandil. Demonstrators were met with warning shots by security forces:
Because the way to #Quandil is still closed a demonstration started.
Already after 200m the demonstration was stopped by warning shots and has to return.
The #Delegation4Peace is still waiting for permission to go#defendkurdistan pic.twitter.com/DZuaoYUGOp
— Defend Kurdistan (@DefendKurd) June 21, 2021
Several Kurdish movements who joined the international delegation in their attempt to reach Qandil have criticised the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which controls the area, for preventing freedom of movement.
The Kurdistan Democratic Party is accused of trying “to legitimize Turkish occupation”. Defend Kurdistan’s statement reads:
Unfortunately, the Kurdistan Region (KRG) and the Iraqi government have done little to stop Turkey’s occupation attempt. In particular, it has been disappointing for us to see how Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) officials have even tried to legitimize the Turkish occupation. Whatever Ankara’s economic pressure might be, the KDP must not allow itself to be turned into a Turkish proxy, as the consequences of this war can be grave for all of Kurdistan and the region.
One of the people the International Peace delegation spoke to in the village of Kuna Masi said:
We need the internationalists as a voice in their countries to stop these attacks
The international delegation is part of a global movement against the Turkish attacks, and in solidarity with the people under attack in Northern Iraq and North and East Syria. You can follow the delegation’s progress on Twitter here.
Featured image via – Twitter – Defend Kurdistan
Tom Anderson is part of the Shoal Collective, a cooperative producing writing for social justice and a world beyond capitalism.
By Tom Anderson
This post was originally published on The Canary.
Lahore,
Kashif Hussain, a Tik Toker, who had invited Turkish drama Ertuğrul Gazi’s hero to Pakistan, a court in Lahore asked the applicant on Monday to approach the concerned forum in order to secure his release, reported local news Tv channel.
Chaudhry Muhammad Qasim Arain Advocate represented the TikToker in his bail case.
According to a report, prepared and submitted by DSP Organized Crime Ichhra Circle, to a law officer of the court, Kashif Hussain s/o Zameer Hussain, a resident of 217 E Block, State Life Housing Society, Nishtar Colony had earlier been arrested for driving a vehicle bearing a fake number plate, installing police emergency revolving lights on the roof of his car and posing himself as a government servant.
A few days ago, Ertuğrul Gazi’s hero, Engin Altan Düzyatan, had approached the Race Course police station, Lahore for the registration of a case of ‘fraud’ against Hussain. “Cases and FIRs are registered against the suspect at police stations in several districts across Punjab,” according to the law officer told the court.
The lawyer of the TikToker argued since there was no substance in the application filed in the LHC for the suspect’s release, therefore, it be rejected.
The bail application, in which Punjab IGP, CCPO, SP CIA and DSP CIA had been made the respondents, stated that Kashif Hussain had entered into an agreement with Turkish drama’s hero to hold different shows. “However, the deal struck could not be implemented following which police started harassing the Tik Toker,” the petition says, and adds that CIA Ichhra police stormed into his home on June 12, 2021 and took him away.
Furthermore, the petition reads that since the Tik Toker is being detained without registration of any case, therefore, the police be ordered to release him and produce him in court.
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This post was originally published on VOSA.
