Large sums donated by the Turkish community in Germany to a charity organization were transferred to pro-AKP Islamist media organs in Turkey (including the Yeni Safak daily, Kanal 7 TV and Haber7.com), according to suspects' statements in a German court.
Also involved in the case of the Deniz Feneri ("Lighthouse") charity is the director of Turkey's media watchdog, the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK); the director is a former executive of an Islamist media organ.
The judge said to Deniz Fereni accountant Firdevsi Ermis, "I understand that you financed Kanal 7 with the revenues of Deniz Feneri Charity... Kanal 7 TV, Media GmbH, and Yeni Safak daily are media organs [close to the AKP government]... What is the aim of these media organs?"
Ermis answered that the people in question were from "conservative [pro-AKP Islamist] circles."
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Damascus today, at the invitation of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, to discuss Middle East issues.
Also attending the summit will be French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
Erdogan reportedly will speak about Turkey's role in mediating peace negotiations between Israel and Syria, and will urge the French and Qatari leaders to support this initiative.
Also on the agenda for the one-day summit is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, stability in Iraq, and domestic issues in Lebanon.
The fifth round of indirect talks between Syria and Israel has been postponed, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad told reporters at the start of a summit in Damascus on efforts for a Syria-Israel peace deal today.
Assad said, "The resignation of the chief Israeli negotiator led to the postponement of this round, which would have defined the course of these negotiations."
He clarified that Syria did not want the Turkish-mediated talks to stop.
Assad and French President Nicolas Sarkozy joined Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani for talks on Lebanon and Syria's talks with Israel.
Şaban Dişli, deputy leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) yesterday resigned after being accused of accepting $1 million in bribes.
In a statement, he wrote, "I have resigned from my party positions in order to both legally fight better against the accusations and to stop the opposition's efforts to discredit my party."
Dişli was a member of the Central Decision-Making and Executive Board (MKYK), and of the Central Executive Board(MYK), and a senior aide to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
A document revealing that Dişli used his political influence to change a zone status in the Silivri province of Istanbul in exchange for $1 million was presented to the public by the main opposition Republican People's Party(CHP) last month.
Source: Turkish Daily News, Turkey, September 3, 2008
Turkish President Abdullah Gul is slated to become the first Turkish head of state to visit Armenia, his office said.
Armenian President Serge Sarkisian invited Gul last month to attend the qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup finals, in order to mark "a new symbolic start in the countries' relations."
"A visit around this match can create a new climate of friendship in the region," the Turkish presidency said in a statement posted on its website. "It is with this in mind that the president has accepted the invitation.
In a meeting with Sarkisian that is to take place prior to the match in the Armenian capital Yerevan, Gul is expected to discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute and Turkey's proposal for establishing a Caucasus alliance with Sarkisian.
The shuttle diplomacy by PM Erdogan following the war, encompassing visits to Moscow and Tbilisi, will be followed up in Istanbul this week, with back-to-back visits of the Georgian and Russian foreign ministers.
While Turkey is still engaged in diplomatic efforts for a solution to the crisis, analysts say its policy is “weak” and far from satisfactory. According to a senior analyst at the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey [TEPAV], Ankara's efforts not to hurt its ties with its strategic ally in the Caucasus, Georgia; its trade partner and energy supplier Russia; or with many Turkish citizens of Caucasian origin is to blame for this "weak policy".
Rising tensions in the Black Sea place Turkey in a very difficult position. The first challenge Turkey faced was the passage of U.S. warships through its straits carrying humanitarian aid to Georgia, a move slammed by Russia.
Turkey refused to open the straits to two hospital ships of the U.S. Navy the tonnage of which exceeded the limits set by the Montreux Convention which governs international traffic through the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits; but agreed to the passage of smaller U.S. ships in line with the convention. The U.S. ships delivered humanitarian supplies to the Georgian port of Batumi.
Meanwhile warships that belong to NATO members Spain, Poland and Germany also passed through the straits heading to Constanta in Romania to participate in the long-planned NATO exercises.
Russia responded harshly to the increased NATO military presence in the Black Sea, threatening that it would hold Turkey responsible if the ships did not leave in 21 days.
As tensions are high in the region Turkey is concerned being the sole NATO member that borders Caucasus on one hand, and being dependent on Russia for 70% of its energy on the other.
In an operation against Al Qaida militants today the Turkish police detained 21 people believed to have been trained in Afghanistan and were planning to carry out attacks.
In 2003 Al Qaida militants killed over 60 people in Istanbul, in series of bombing attacks against two synagogues, the British Consulate and bank.
As the AKP ruled Istanbul municipality takes over many popular seaside restaurants that serve alcoholic beverages and delivers their management to its own contractor, residents of Istanbul feel threatened that their life-style is under Islamist attack.
Following the recent imposition of alcohol ban in a restaurant located on the historic pier in Moda district, citizens decided to gather there every Friday night, bringing their own drinks, to protest the ban.
In AKP governed municipality of Turkish city Bursa alcohol ban expands to restaurants in Merinos Culture Park that houses Ataturk Culture and Convention Center where international conferences are held. According to the reports of the mainstream Turkish daily Vatan and Cumhuriyet, the AKP municipality of Bursa has given the administration of the restaurants to anti-alcohol businesses without tender process, bypassing the rules and regulations.
The head of CHP in the city said that the municipality had claimed that with the new culture and convention park, Bursa would make a big jump in tourism, and he asked, “Are they going to succeed bringing tourism with the alcohol bans? What will they say to foreign tourists that order a drink?”
He said that the shade of shari’a has been cast on this place.
Source: Vatan, Cumhuriyet, Turkey, August 28, 2008
Turkish daily Vatan reported that everything is being changed in one of the most important tourist spots in Turkey according to the demands of Arab tourists. While restaurants that serve alcoholic drinks are fast disappearing on the mountain resort of Uludag, the cable cars that carry the tourists have reduced the number of passengers per car from 40 to a maximum of 25 creating very long lines of disgruntled visitors; because Arab tourists’ demand not to be too close to foreigners. Arabs have conveyed through their travel agents that they do not want to be in close proximity to strangers so that they would not have any bodily contact with their women and girls.
The AKP governed Bursa municipality that impose these changes is now extending the cable car lines to the area of the hotels and has contracted the extension work to a company affiliated with the Islamist sect leader Fethullah Gulen, without opening any tenders for other companies to compete. The municipality has also declared that the new line would have some VIP cars as well as sex-segregated ones.
Source: Vatan, Cumhuriyet, Turkey, August 26, 2008
The Turkish Energy Minister Hilmi Guler’s trip to Iran to firm up the energy deals between the two countries is expected to be delayed by two weeks until mid-September. A ministry source said, "Guler's trip to Tehran this week will not happen. An agreement was expected with Iran on this visit, but progress could not be made".
Turkey and Iran failed to conclude the energy accords during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Turkey earlier this month. Washington, which is trying to pressure Tehran to give up its nuclear program, opposes the deal.
Hilmi Guler signed last year a series of agreements with Iranian officials, including a preliminary accord on joint gas production and export, under which Iranian gas would be exported to Europe through Turkey and Turkey would produce 20.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the South Pars gas field. The investment would amount to $3.5 billion.
Turkish sources say that the buy-back system proposed by Iran create serious risks for Turkey in terms of pricing. Turkey wants to buy the gas directly from the fields that it will operate and wants Iran to give a guarantee on contributing towards investments.
Russia's deputy military chief Anatoly Nogovitsyn said that the NATO warships' entrance to the Black Sea is a "serious threat” to his country’s security. He said that under the Montreux Convention, signed in 1936 on the status of the Turkish Straits, the warships can only stay in the Black Sea for 21 days, and added, "I would like to remind that if the NATO ships continue to stay in the Black Sea after the expiration of 21 day-period, Turkey will be held responsible".
According to Hurriyet’s report Nogovitsyn said that the U.S. ships are carrying nuclear missiles that can hit Russian targets as far away as St. Petersburg, and that Russia has dispatched its own ships to track the U.S. vessels.
Turkey had allowed passage through the Straits to three U.S. warships that were on a humanitarian aid mission to Georgia, a U.S. ally that wants to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The deputy foreign minister of Syria said on Wednesday that Turkey supported his country’s taking an active role in the Middle East. In an exclusive interview with Turkey's Anatolia News Agency (AA), Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said that the Middle East was a problematic region and that the happenings in Iraq and Afghanistan and Iran's nuclear file were of common importance for Syria and Turkey.
Mekdad also said that good relations between Turkey and Syria were reflecting on the region, and that recent talks between Turkish and Syrian executives indicated how important it was to exchange views on regional matters, security and peace in the Middle East.
The Syrian deputy minister said that Turkey was mediating between Syria and Israel, and appreciated Turkey's efforts. Mekdad told AA that his country would work to boost relations with Turkey.
U.S. Senator Richard Lugar yesterday met with Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan. Asked about PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan's proposal for a Caucasian stability platform aimed at restoring regional peace and security following the recent conflict, Lugar told reporters, "I think discussions on the proposed platform will probably be postponed, and should be postponed, until Russia’s full withdrawal of its soldiers from the region, and peace and stability has completely been established in Georgia."
Lugar, a Republican member of the Senate Foreign Relation Committee, is currently leading a congressional delegation on a nine-nation trip in the wake of the Russian-Georgian conflict.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will reportedly visit Turkey next week. During his visit, Lavrov is expected to discuss Turkey's proposal for a Caucasus cooperation and stability platform with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
It is reported that Turkish FM Ali Babacan will soon visit Tehran to finalize the agreements signed between Turkey and Iran, during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent visit in Turkey.
Hassan Qashqavi, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced that Babacan would be going to Tehran to negotiate the energy deal between the two countries.
Speaking in Afyonkarahisar, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal criticized PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the allegations of corruption of AKP Deputy Chairman Saban Disli.
Baykal said, "The AKP won more votes in last year's general elections, but they couldn't follow through." He added, "Turkey is worried about its future. Using his connections in Istanbul, and in its AKP-run municipality the premier's right-hand man got a bribe of $1 million. And the prime minister says that he is conducting a ‘clean hands operation’. He should first heal himself and clean his own hands."
Foreign Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen warned Russia yesterday over customs barriers to Turkish trucks that carry export goods into this country at the Russian border. He said, "It really bothers us to see that our trucks are kept at customs for three weeks now and it will make no sense if these trucks are allowed to pass after a week. If we feel annoyed, we can annoy too," adding that the situation is creating serious tension in the relations between the two nations.
Tuzmen and other Turkish ministers had contacted Russian authorities to find a solution for the situation several times but no progress has been made so far.
Speaking to the press after hosting Bangladeshi Adviser for Commerce and Trade Hossain Zillur Rahman in Ankara yesterday, the minister said that the Russian move is pushing Turkish businesses into a disadvantageous position in the Russian market.
Russia has moved Turkey into the category of high-risk countries and started to check all trade items loaded on trucks one by one instead of only examining samples from each truck, which had been the usual method in customs.
A group of about 60 PKK militants raided a village in the eastern province of Bitlis, and five village guards were killed in the clash. When security forces intervened, 15 PKK terrorists were killed. In a separate development in the southeastern province of Mardin, two more PKK terrorists were killed. The security forces seized 35 kilograms of ammonium nitrate and 110 grams of A-4 plastic explosives, used in bomb production.
Gen. Isik Kosaner, appointed as the new land forces commander of Turkish Armed Forces handed over the General Command of Gendarmerie to Gen. Atila Isik. During the handover ceremony, Kosaner complained about the recent attacks on the military and the attempts to erode the institution. He said that accusations in some media organs against gendarmarie as a whole for the wrongdoings of a few and the publishing of imaginary scenarios were hurting the members of the force.
Gen. Kosaner also said that those who wear the uniform and fight the enemy want to have the laws of the country on their side and added that the European Union (EU) adjustment laws do not take into consideration that there is a serious problem of terrorism in Turkey.
Source: Milliyet, Radikal, Turkey, August 27, 2008
The mainstream Turkish daily Vatan reported that the June results of a public survey, which has been carried out for 11 years by TNS PR Company. Among the 2,000 people that answered the survey 57 percent said they trusted the President, down from the 66.1 percent in June, 2007 when Ahmet Necdet Sezer was the President. According to the poll the military was again at the top as the most trusted institution with 84 percent and police department came in second with 70.8 percent. Constitutional Court is in the third place.
Iran and Turkey signed a preliminary deal in 2007 under which Turkey agreed to carry natural gas from Iran and Turkmenistan to Europe and to develop three gas fields in Iran. However, contrary to expectations the deal was not signed during the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's two-day visit to Turkey last week.
Under the preliminary agreement Turkey would produce 20.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Iran's South Pars gas field. The joint investment of the two countries would amount to $3.5 billion.Under a buy-back contract Turkey would sell to Iran the gas that it would develop for a low price, and would be asked to pay a higher price to Iran when purchasing back the natural gas. The state-run National Iranian Oil Company has recently signed similar buy-back contracts with Indonesia, Italy and Croatia. However, the Turkish energy official stated that the buy-back contract offers 'serious risks' to Turkey in terms of pricing. Turkey wants to buy gas directly from Iran, and would like Iran to guarantee its continued contribution to investment.
The Turkish official was quoted as saying, "The investment model for oil and gas system in Iran is not in a language that investors can understand. Iran must develop new investment models and open the way for investments from countries like Turkey. Iran must soften its buy-back model".
Turkey's Energy Minister, Hilmi Guler, has denied rumors that pressure form the White House had prevented Turkey from signing an energy deal with Iran. He said that Turkey would not sign under present risky conditions and expressed hope that the negotiations with Iran would continue and would be concluded within a month.
Source: Haberturk, Turkey; Presstv, Iran, August 24, 2008
Germany’s department of Protection of Constitution ordered a search in the offices of the Islamist “Milli Gorus” Organization for its radical activities. The German police and treasury officials conducted a thorough search in about 20 office buildings used by the Islamist organization, which was built by the former Turkish PM Necmettin Erbakan.
Source: Anatolia News Agency, Habervaktim.com, Turkey, August 26, 2008
At the Turkish Union of Chambers of Commodities Exchanges (TOBB) first women entrepreneurs' conference yesterday, TOBB Pres. Rifat Hisarciklioglu called for positive discrimination to boost female employment and urged the Parliament to set up a commission on gender equality. More than 600 female entrepreneurs from around Turkey participated in the conference held at TOBB University in Ankara . Stressing the importance of women's role in society, Hisarciklioglu said that Turkey fares poorly in female employment, with only 24 percent of all women in the workforce, compared to a world rate of 49 percent and European Union average of 56 percent.
Turkey’s Education Minister Huseyin Celik is set to visit Iran today at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Alireza Ali-Ahmadi. During his four-day visit, Celik and his delegation will meet Iranian officials in a bid to boost bilateral relations in the area of education.
Mainstream Turkish media is lashing out at the expanding alcohol bans imposed by Istanbul municipality on restaurants. Vatan daily reports that ‘Denizkizi [mermaid] Restaurant’ on the Bosphorus that has served happy customers for many years is now taken over, demolished and being rebuilt by the municipality to be opened under a new name: ‘Open-To-The-People Fish Restaurant’ where alcoholic drinks will not be served.
Vatan’s headline asks, “What does this mean? Aren’t those who choose drink, part of the same people?”
The move to turn the city’s eateries to a no-alcohol premises was first initiated by PM Tayyip Erdogan, when he was Istanbul’s mayor.
Representatives of Alevi-Bektashi Federation organized a protest in Taksim square of Istanbul today, to demand the abolishment of the compulsory religion courses that teach Sunni Islam.
In his speech the president of the federation Ali Balkiz said that these courses violated the freedoms of belief, worship and of education and added that the government should not interfere with the faith, language, culture and traditions of the citizens.
Balkiz called the AKP government to abide by the rulings of a Turkish high court and the European Court for Human Rights on the issue, and stated that they would continue to protest until the beginning of the new school year on September 8, 2008.
The alcohol ban in Istanbul restaurants that PM Tayyip Erdogan started in his days as Istanbul’s mayor, is rapidly expanding to other locations in the city at the initiative of the current AKP mayor.
According to media reports Istanbul municipality is canceling its lease contracts of businesses that sell alcoholic beverages in social locations and restaurants owned by the municipality.
A CHP committee member of the municipality objected to imposition of alcohol bans and requested a legal explanation for such moves. In response the AKP deputy mayor said, “We are not going to allow sale of alcohol, so what? This is nothing compared to the turban [Islamic headscarf] ban [in universities]”.
Many restaurant owners in various districts of Istanbul are complaining about the difficulties they are facing regarding service of alcohol in their restaurants.
Alcoholic beverage consumption is increasingly becoming a problem in AKP-ruled Turkey. On Gaziantep-Istanbul domestic flight of Turkish Airlines [THY] fighting between business class passengers erupted over wine.
When passengers were served a glass of wine a passenger complained, saying that he was praying and that the smell of the wine disturbed him. He then shouted at a passenger demanding that he waits until he gets to his house to drink his wine. When other passengers reacted to his comments asserting that “This is Ataturk’s Republic”, the fundamentalist passenger responded with loud and profane language.
Following the arrival of security officers the man was removed from his seat to another one at the back of the plane, and the departure was delayed.
18 university students from Romania, Lithuania and Latvia participating in a EU education and youth exchange program visited the southeast of Turkey and were hosted in Batman between August 17 and 23.
The European students were taken for a visit at the headquarters of Turkish Petroleum Corp. (TPAO) in Batman, but were denied entry to the facilities because nine of the female students were wearing sleeveless shirts and shorts, which were considered to be too revealing.
An official accompanying the students was told at the door that “these Natashas [a name used derogatorily for Russian prostitutes] are not welcome”.
According to mainstream Turkish media reports that strongly criticized the incident, TPAO apologized and said that an investigation was launched.
Source: Vatan, Milliyet, Hurriyet, Turkey, August 23, 2008
The presidential office released a statement defending Abdullah Gul’s pardon of former PM Necmettin Erbakan, his mentor and the father of political Islam in Turkey.
Opposition parties and mainstream media have strongly criticized Gul’s decision and called it a ‘double standard’ as many others, older and sicker than Erbakan, are kept in prison.
Furthermore Gul himself – who was Erbakan’s deputy at the time - was accused of the same crime of falsifying documents to hide over one million dollars of the closed down Islamist Welfare Party that were ordered to be transferred to Treasury. Gul never stood trial due to his continuous parliamentary immunity.
Sixteen people including seven policemen and three soldiers were injured today in Turkey’s third largest city Izmir, in an explosion in a bus carrying the officers.There was a bomb panic in the western Bursa as well.
These follow the car-bomb explosion in the Mediterranean city of Mersin, just a few days ago. PKK is suspected in all the attacks.
Mainstream Turkish daily Vatan reported that shops that sell alcoholic drinks in Kecioren district of Ankara are under strict surveillance by the police that threaten the owners and has beaten one of them for not closing his store at the set time.
A billboard at the entrance to Kecioren that bears the name of the local mayor Turgut Altinok of AKP, quotes messages of unity by Sufi sages Haci Bektash Veli and Yunus Emre which is topped by Prophet Mohammed’s words that reads: “[Alcoholic] Drinking Is The Mother Of All Evils”. Vatan reported that finding a restaurant in Kecioren that sells alcoholic beverages is "harder than finding water in a desert". Major supermarket chains that do sell alcoholic beverages do not carry them in their stores in Kecioren. Shop owners that spoke to Vatan on condition of anonymity said that police frequently visit their stores, fine them if they delay the closing of the store for one minute beyond the set limit of 11:00 PM and threaten the owners that their stores would permanently be closed if such delays occur again. Metin Sahin, a shop owner was severely beaten by the police for such delay, Sahin’s mother told the reporter.Kecioren is where Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan resides.Source: Vatan, Turkey, August 21, 2008
A high level Kazakh official told the Turkish business daily Referans that Kazakhstan is considering pumping its oil through Russia as an alternative to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline due to increased security concerns over the clashes in the Caucasus.
An official with the Turkish Energy Ministry said the expansion of the BTC line would only be possible with the supply of Kazakh oil.
The BTC opened in 2006 and can pump up to one million barrels a day of Azeri crude to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, and is the first pipeline to carry large volumes of Caspian oil by-passing Russia.
Source: Referans, Hurriyet, Turkey, August 21, 2008
German and Spanish warships carrying aid to conflict-torn Georgia entered Istanbul's Bosporus Straits on Thursday, following Turkey’s approval for the transit of two U.S. navy ships to the Black Sea to transport humanitarian relief supplies. Two U.S. Navy ships and a U.S. Coast Guard cutter carrying humanitarian aid bound for Georgia are expected to pass through Turkey’s straits on Friday.
The two U.S. Navy hospital ships - the Comfort and the Mercy - will not be involved in the humanitarian mission as their tonnage exceed the limits set by the 1936 Montreux Convention, which governs international traffic through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits. Under the Convention, the total weight of the warships that countries not bordering the Black Sea can deploy was limited to 45,000 tons.
U.S. State Department officials stated that Washington would abide by the Montreux Convention and that they were working with Turkey to facilitate the transport of humanitarian assistance under the rules and regulations set by the international convention.
Source: Hurriyet, Zaman, Milliyet, Turkey, August 21, 2008.
Turkey had rejected passage for two Georgia bound naval hospital ships through the Bosphorus straits, to avoid the violation of the terms of the Montreux Convention of 1936 that does not allow any military or heavy vessels into the Black Sea, as well as preventing the passage of Russian naval ships to the Mediterranean. Negotiations were being held between the U.S. and Turkey as well as with other NATO allies to find a solution while abiding with the rules set in Montreux Agreement.
Robert Wood, the spokesman for the U.S. Department of State has disclosed today that Turkey has agreed to allow the passage for three U.S. navy vessels, two of which are used as hospitals, through the Bosphorus straits.
An official from Turkey’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that the U.S. vessels carrying humanitarian aid would pass through the Bosphorus on Friday, August 22 on their way to Georgia. He added that tomorrow two Spanish ships would also pass through the straits into Black Sea. It is reported that the said ships are under the tonnage limit that is set by the Montreux Convention, therefore there were no concerns of a breach.
Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is expected to make a statement tomorrow on this issue.
Syrian Interior Minister Basam Abd Al-Majid arrived in Ankara yesterday upon the invitation of his Turkish counterpart Besir Atalay.
Atalay welcomed Al-Majid at Ankara's Esenboga Airport. Afterwards he told reporters that meetings between Turkish and Syrian delegations would be held today.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Turkey earlier this month, after his visit to Tehran.
Sudan’s President Omar Al-Bashir held a press conference in Istanbul where he attended the Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit and responded to Turkish media’s accusations with reference to his indictment by the International Criminal Court’s [ICC] for committing genocide in Darfur.
Bashir opened his remarks by saying that he was in Istanbul at the invitation of the Turkish government. Bashir said that Sudan does not recognize the international court and has not signed the Rome protocol; and added that Sudan is an independent country that has an independent judiciary that tries all criminals, including soldiers, and that no Sudanese can be tried outside of Sudan.
Bashir said that Sudan went through great pain because of the civil strifes in the country and that peace had been reinstated in Darfur and anyone that visits there today would realize that genocide allegations were a lie. He noted that next year there would be clean and independent elections in his country that all parties were supporting.
Bashir accused foreign powers of having double standards and said, “Everywhere in the world, rebels that fight against the government are called terrorists but in the case of Sudan they call them victims and the government, terrorist”. He claimed that some powers were upset at Sudan because it refused to hand their oil and natural resources to Western companies. Al Bashir said, “Western media claims that 300 thousand people were massacred. Where are the graves of that many people?”
As a reader of MEMRI, you are familiar with our continuing efforts to expand our work to monitor more media outlets in more countries, research more subjects, and translate into more languages.
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