Tag Archives: Erdogan

Turkey army says it seizes power; Erdogan says: “We will overcome this”

Turkish military stand guard near the the Taksim Square as people wave with Turkish flags in Istanbul, Turkey, July 16, 2016.

By Nick Tattersall and Tulay Karadeniz

ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s military said on Friday it had seized power but President Tayyip Erdogan vowed that the attempted coup would be put down.

If successful, the overthrow of Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey since 2003, would be one of the biggest shifts in the Middle East in years, transforming one of the most important U.S. allies while war rages on its border. Even if it fails, the coup attempt could destabilize a pivotal country in the region.

“We will overcome this,” Erdogan said, speaking on a video call to a mobile phone held up to the camera by an announcer on the Turkish sister station of CNN. He called on his followers to take to the streets to defend his government and said the coup plotters would pay a heavy price.

An official said Erdogan was speaking from Marmaris on the Turkish coast where he was on holiday. Erdogan said he would swiftly return to Ankara.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and other senior officials said the elected government remained in office. Yildirim called the coup attempt a terrorist act by gangs and illegal formations.

Television images showed scores of people, some waving Turkish flags, gathered in major squares in main city Istanbul and capital Ankara to show support for the elected government. Gunfire broke out in both cities.

Warplanes and helicopters roared over Ankara and explosions could be heard there. Reuters reporters saw a helicopter open fire. State-run news agency Anadolu said military helicopters had fired on the headquarters of the intelligence agency.

Reuters journalists saw tanks open fire near the parliament building in Ankara, which they had surrounded.

Airports were shut, access to Internet social media sites was cut off, and troops sealed off the two bridges over the Bosphorus in Istanbul, one of which was still lit up red, white and blue in solidarity with victims of the Bastille Day truck attack in France a day earlier.

Soldiers took control of TRT state television, which announced a countrywide curfew and martial law. An announcer read a statement on the orders of the military that accused the government of eroding the democratic and secular rule of law. The country would be run by a “peace council” that would ensure the safety of the population, the statement said.

TRT later went off the air.

Anadolu said the chief of Turkey’s military staff was among people taken “hostage” in the capital Ankara. CNN Turk also reported that hostages were being held at the military headquarters.

NOT A TINPOT COUP

A senior EU source monitoring the situation said: “It looks like a relatively well orchestrated coup by a significant body of the military, not just a few colonels. They’ve got control of the airports and are expecting control over the TV station imminently. They control several strategic points in Istanbul.

“Given the scale of the operation, it is difficult to imagine they will stop short of prevailing. It’s not just a few colonels,” the source repeated.

One European diplomat was dining with the Turkish ambassador to a European capital when guests were interrupted by the pinging of urgent news on their mobile phones.

“This is clearly not some tinpot little coup. The Turkish ambassador was clearly shocked and is taking it very seriously,” the diplomat told Reuters as the dinner party broke up. “However it looks in the morning, this will have massive implications for Turkey. This has not come out of nowhere.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking jointly after talks in Moscow, both said they hoped bloodshed would be avoided. The U.S. State Department said Americans in Turkey should shelter indoors. Other countries issued similar advice.

Turkey, a NATO member with the second biggest military in the Western alliance, is one of the most important allies of the United States in the fight against Islamic State, which seized swathes of neighboring Iraq and Syria.

Turkey is one of the main backers of opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that country’s civil war, host to 2.7 million Syrian refugees and launchpad last year for the biggest influx of migrants to Europe since World War Two.

Celebratory gunfire erupted in Syria’s capital Damascus as reports emerged that Erdogan had been toppled. People took the streets to celebrate there and in other government-held cities.

Turkey has been at war with Kurdish separatists, and has suffered numerous bombing and shooting attacks this year, including an attack two weeks ago by Islamists at Istanbul’s main airport that killed more than 40 people.

In an earlier statement sent by email and reported on TV channels, the military said it had taken power to protect the democratic order and to maintain human rights. All of Turkey’s existing foreign relations would be maintained and the rule of law would remain the priority, it said.

After serving as prime minister from 2003, Erdogan was elected president in 2014 with plans to alter the constitution to give the previously ceremonial presidency far greater executive powers.

Turkey has enjoyed an economic boom during his time in office and has dramatically expanded its influence across the region. But opponents say his rule has become increasingly authoritarian.

His AK Party, with roots in Islamism, has long had a strained relationship with the military and nationalists in a state that was founded on secularist principles after World War One. The military has a history of mounting coups to defend secularism, but has not seized power directly since 1980.

Prime Minister Yildirim said a group within Turkey’s military had attempted to overthrow the government and security forces have been called in to “do what is necessary”.

“Some people illegally undertook an illegal action outside of the chain of command,” Yildirim said in comments broadcast by private channel NTV.

“The government elected by the people remains in charge. This government will only go when the people say so.”

(Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley, Nick Tattersall, David Dolan, Akin Aytekin and Orhan Coskun; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Turkey army says it has seized power; PM says elected government still in charge

Police officers stand guard near the Turkish military headquarters in Ankara, Turkey, July 15, 2016

By Nick Tattersall and Tulay Karadeniz

ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s military said on Friday it had seized power, but the prime minister said the attempted coup would be put down.

If successful, the overthrow of President Tayyip Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey since 2003, would amount to one of the biggest shifts in power in the Middle East in years.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the elected government remained in office. There was no immediate word from Erdogan. The Turkish sister channel of CNN said he was “safe”.

The armed forces had taken power in the country to protect the democratic order and to maintain human rights, the military said in a statement sent by email and reported on Turkish TV channels. All of Turkey’s existing foreign relations would be maintained and the rule of law would remain the priority, it said.

The state-run Anadolu news agency said the chief of Turkey’s military staff was among people taken “hostage” in the capital Ankara. CNN Turk also reported that hostages were being held at the military headquarters.

Turkey, a NATO member with the second biggest military in the Western alliance, is one of the most important allies of the United States in the fight against Islamic State.

It is a principal backer of opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that country’s civil war, and host to 2 million Syrian refugees.

The country has been at war with Kurdish separatists, and has suffered numerous bombing and shooting attacks this year, including an attack two weeks ago by Islamists at Istanbul’s main airport that killed more than 40 people.

After serving as prime minister from 2003, Erdogan was elected president in 2014 with plans to alter the constitution to give the previously ceremonial presidency far greater executive powers.

His AK Party, with roots in Islamism, has long had a strained relationship with the military and nationalists in a state that was founded on secularist principles after World War One, and which has a history of military coups.

Yildirim said a group within Turkey’s military had attempted to overthrow the government and security forces have been called in to “do what is necessary”.

“Some people illegally undertook an illegal action outside of the chain of command,” Yildirim said in comments broadcast by private channel NTV.

“The government elected by the people remains in charge. This government will only go when the people say so.”

Those behind the attempted coup would pay the highest price, he added.

Footage on local television channels showed military vehicles blocking bridges over the Bosphorus in Istanbul and tanks deployed at the city’s main airport. In the capital Ankara, warplanes and helicopters roared overhead. A Reuters journalist heard gunshots.

A Turkish official who did not want to be named said soldiers had been deployed in other cities in Turkey, but did not specify which ones.

Dogan News Agency reported the national police directorate had summoned all police to duty in Ankara.

(Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley, Nick Tattersall, David Dolan, Akin Aytekin and Orhan Coskun; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Turkey jails 17 over Istanbul attack

Paramedics help casualties outside Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, following a blast

By Daren Butler

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey jailed 17 suspects on Tuesday, mostly foreigners, over last week’s suicide bombing at Istanbul’s main airport, which President Tayyip Erdogan described as the work of Islamic State militants from the ex-Soviet Union.

The arrests bring the total number of people jailed pending trial to 30 over the triple suicide bombing at Ataturk Airport, which killed 45 people and wounded hundreds, the deadliest in a series of bombings this year in Turkey.

It was followed by major attacks in Bangladesh, Iraq and Saudi Arabia in the past week, all apparently timed for the runup to Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the Ramadan holy fasting month.

“The incident is of course completely within the framework of Daesh, a process conducted with their methods,” Erdogan told reporters after praying at an Istanbul mosque at the start of the holiday. Daesh is an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

Three bombers opened fire to create panic outside the airport before two of them got inside and blew themselves up. The third militant detonated his explosives outside at the entrance to the international arrivals terminal.

“There are people from Dagestan, from Kyrgyzstan, from Tajikistan,” Erdogan said, referring to a mainly Muslim province of Russia’s North Caucasus region, and two former Soviet states in Central Asia. “Unfortunately, people from neighboring northern Caucasus countries are involved in this business.”

The 17 remanded in custody early on Tuesday included 11 foreigners. All were accused of “membership of an armed terrorist organization”, the private Dogan news agency said. Thirteen others were jailed on Sunday, including three foreigners.

The state-run Andolu news agency said last week that two of the bombers were Russian nationals. One government official has said the attackers were Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals.

Moscow says that thousands of Russian citizens and citizens of other former Soviet states have joined Islamic State, traveling through Turkey to reach Syria. Russia fought two wars against Chechen separatists in the North Causcasus in the 1990s, and more recently has fought Islamist insurgents in Dagestan.

Russia and Turkey have been at odds over Moscow’s support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Turkey’s backing of rebels opposed to him, especially since last year when Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the border.

But recent weeks have seen a thaw in relations between the two countries, with both citing a need to bury their differences to fight the common Islamic State foe.

The pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper has said the organizer of the attack was suspected to be a Chechen double-amputee called Akhmed Chatayev. He is identified on a United Nations sanctions list as an Islamic State leader responsible for training Russian-speaking militants.

SUSPECTS DENY ALLEGATIONS

During questioning in court, as reported by Dogan, the suspects denied links to the bombers.

One of them, identified as a Russian citizen named as Smail A., said he stayed in a crowded house where he thought he would be able to read the Koran.

“When the police caught us they said terrorists had stayed there previously, but we didn’t know. I was in that house at the wrong time,” he was quoted as saying during questioning.

A suspect identified as Kamil D., also a Russian citizen, denied knowing one of the bombers, who has been identified as Rahim Bulgarov.

“The people constantly changed in the house where we stayed. Maybe he came and stayed but I don’t know him,” he said.

A third suspect, Turkish citizen Cengizhan C., said he embraced the views of Islamic State after following related groups on Facebook.

“I learned Daesh ideas. I bonded with them idea-wise. I believed what they stood for,” he said, adding he traveled to the border province of Sanliurfa with the aim of joining them in Syria but had been dissuaded from doing so.

In the wake of the attack, Turkey has beefed up security at airports and train stations, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Monday ahead Eid al-Fitr, which continues until Thursday.

Turkey is a member of a U.S.-led coalition fighting against Islamic State. It also faces a separate security threat from a Kurdish insurgency in its largely Kurdish southeast.

(Writing by Daren Butler; editing by David Dolan and Peter Graff)

New Turkish cabinet reflects Erdogan’s growing power

Turkey's Minister of Energy Berat Albayrak delivers a speech during the inauguration ceremony of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline in Thessaloniki

By Gulsen Solaker and Ece Toksabay

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s new prime minister vowed on Tuesday to start work immediately on forging the stronger presidency wanted by Tayyip Erdogan, and announced a cabinet that signaled policy continuity but left little doubt as to who was in charge.

Key members of the economic management team including Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, favored by foreign investors as a reformer, kept their posts in the new government; but around half of the names were reshuffled as Erdogan consolidated his 14-year hold on power.

Addressing parliament, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said he would seize a “historic opportunity” to change a constitution born of a 1980 army coup. That new basic law would reflect the fact that the president had for the first time been popularly elected, rather than chosen by parliament.

Erdogan won Turkey’s first presidential election in 2014 having stepped down from the prime minister’s post with the intention of imbuing a largely ceremonial presidency with strong powers akin to those of the U.S. and French heads of state.

Opponents fear creeping authoritarianism on the part of Erdogan, who remains by far the most popular politician, aided by a weak and divided opposition that lacks strong leadership.

The nationalist MHP opposition, whose support Erdogan may need to press through changes, said a presidential system would inevitably lead to despotism.

“We need to change the constitution so it matches the de facto situation,” Yildirim told a parliamentary meeting of the AK Party. “It’s the AK Party’s most important duty.”

Yildirim rejected suggestions that the president, by chairing a first cabinet meeting, was meddling in government affairs in violation of the current constitution.

His words reflected the confused nature of a system that, while parliamentary in name, is dominated by a single figure, far and away the most popular politician in the NATO country.

The lira firmed to 2.98 against the dollar after Yildirim announced the cabinet, from below 3.00 beforehand, reflecting investor relief that Simsek, and Finance Minister Naci Agbal, had retained their positions.

The two are advocates of structural reforms to boost Turkey’s labor productivity and household savings, which economists say are long overdue.

“Logic prevails – why would Erdogan not keep Simsek, so as to keep markets and investors on side for the time-being,” said Nomura strategist Timothy Ash in an e-mailed note, but added:

“This is not to say that Simsek will have that much leverage to deliver on his structural reform plan. The power is moving to Erdogan and his less orthodox policy advisers.”

Erdogan favors consumption-led growth and has said high interest rates cause inflation, a stance at odds with orthodox economics. Investors have been unnerved by pressure on the central bank, which cut the top end of its rate corridor for a third month on Tuesday, to push rates down.

STRAINED EU TIES

Yildirim said he would prioritize growth by boosting production, encourage investment and job creation, and maintain fiscal discipline, in a sign of continuity with policies that fueled Turkey’s growth during the AKP’s first decade in power.

Nihat Zeybekci, a close Erdogan ally, returned as economy minister, a post he had held until last November. Erdogan’s son-in-law Berat Albayrak kept his position as energy minister.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also remained in his job, but former AK Party spokesman Omer Celik became the new EU minister at a critical time in Turkey’s relations with Europe.

The two are trying to keep a deal on track which would see Turks gain visa-free travel to Europe in return for Ankara continuing to stem the flow of illegal migrants into Europe.

While the EU is desperate for the deal to succeed, it also insists that Turkey meet 72 criteria, including reining in its broad anti-terror laws. The EU and rights groups say Turkey uses the laws to stifle dissent, while Ankara says it needs sweeping legislation to fight Kurdish insurgents and Islamic State militants who have launched attacks in Turkey.

Cavusoglu warned EU aspirant Turkey could cancel a range of agreements with the EU if it failed to keep to its promises “and this is no threat or bluff”.

Erdogan see constitutional change as a guarantee against the fractious coalition politics that hampered Turkeyt in the 1990s.

His opponents, and skeptical Western allies, fear growing authoritarianism. Prosecutors have opened more than 1,800 cases against people for insulting Erdogan since he became president in 2014. Opposition newspapers have been shut and journalists and academics critical of government policies sacked.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz described Erdogan’s accumulation of power on Monday as a “breathtaking departure from European values”.

(Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Ece Toksabay)

Turkey shifts to presidential system without constitutional change

Turkey's Transportation Minister Yildirim greets members of his party during the AKP extraordinary

y Orhan Coskun and Nick Tattersall

ANKARA (Reuters) – As Turkey’s incoming prime minister prepares to name his new cabinet, there is little doubt that its primary role will be to rubber-stamp what has already become reality: a shift to a full presidential system with Tayyip Erdogan firmly in charge.

Erdogan on Sunday confirmed Binali Yildirim, a close ally for two decades and a co-founder of the ruling AK Party, as his new prime minister, ensuring government loyalty as he pursues constitutional change to replace Turkey’s parliamentary democracy with an executive presidency.

Yildirim’s appointment will stamp out any vestiges of resistance in the AKP to Erdogan’s plans, three senior party officials said, forecasting that the new cabinet, expected to be announced on Tuesday, would contain only loyalists.

“We have entered a period of a ‘de facto’ presidential system, where Erdogan’s policies will be implemented very clearly,” one of the officials said, predicting five or six ministerial changes from the existing team.

“They will lead to complete harmony between Erdogan and the cabinet … Erdogan’s decisions will be implemented without being touched,” the official said, speaking anonymously because the final decision on the appointments has not yet been made.

Erdogan and his supporters see an executive presidency – a Turkish take on the system in the United States or France – as a guarantee against the sort of fractious coalition politics that hampered Turkey’s development in the 1990s, when it was an economic backwater with little clout on the world stage.

His opponents, and skeptical Western allies, fear growing authoritarianism. Prosecutors have opened more than 1,800 cases against people for insulting Erdogan since he became president in 2014. Opposition newspapers have been shut and journalists and academics critical of government policies sacked.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz criticized Erdogan’s accumulation of power in comments published on Monday, describing it as a “breathtaking departure from European values” in a nation negotiating for membership of the EU.

“We see Turkey under Erdogan on its way to being a one-man-state,” he told German newspaper Koelner Stadtanzeiger.

He said the European Parliament would not begin debating visa-free travel for Turks to Europe, a quid pro quo for Ankara’s help in curbing illegal migration, until Turkey fulfilled all the criteria including amending its sweeping anti-terrorism laws, which Erdogan has resolutely refused to do.

“It is incumbent on all of us to make clear that we cannot idly accept the monopolization of power in the hands of a single man,” Schulz said.

In a sign of the possible turbulent relations to come with Brussels, Erdogan’s economic advisor Yigit Bulut warned Ankara could suspend all of its agreements with the European Union if it failed to “keep its promises”.

MASTER MANEUVERER

Erdogan has made clear he wants to seek legitimacy for the presidential system, which will require constitutional change, via a referendum. To do that, he will need the support of at least 330 members of the 550-strong parliament, and unwavering backing from the AKP grass roots on the campaign trail.

Outgoing Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was seen as too lackluster a supporter of the presidential system. By replacing him, Erdogan aims to unify the AKP behind him just as the nationalist opposition is embroiled in a damaging leadership row and the pro-Kurdish opposition is tainted, in the eyes of some voters, by a surge in violence in the largely Kurdish southeast.

“Now the road to changing the constitution to include a presidential system is completely open,” a second senior AKP official told Reuters.

Popular support for the presidential system is unclear, with a recent IPSOS poll putting it at just 36 percent. The ORC research firm was meanwhile cited in the pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper as putting it at 58 percent.

“The one-man rule has de facto begun, even though not constitutionally,” Ozer Sencar, director of the Metropoll research firm, told Reuters.

Yildirim, who has said his main aim as prime minister will be forging a new constitution, said on Monday the new cabinet list would be prepared quickly and be presented to Erdogan, who must approve it, as soon as he is available.

Investors are most concerned about the shape of the new economic team, in particular whether Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, an anchor of confidence in overall charge of economic policy, will retain his post.

A third AKP official, close to Erdogan, said it was crucial to keep an experienced team in place during turbulent economic times but that ultimately it would be the president’s decision.

His advisor Bulut, a former TV commentator who once accused opponents of trying to kill Erdogan through telekinesis, said that economic policy in Turkey would continue to be based on manufacturing, whoever was in charge.

“If the system is solid, if it’s working well, it doesn’t matter who is running it,” he told state broadcaster TRT.

(Additional reporting by Gulsen Solaker and Ece Toksabay in Ankara, Paul Taylor in Brussels; Writing by Nick Tattersall; editing by Anna Willard)

Erdogan’s ally likely new prime minister, cements his hold on government

Turkey's likely next prime minister and incoming leader of the ruling AK Party Binali Yildirim greets party members during a meeting in Ankara

By Humeyra Pamuk and Nick Tattersall

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s Transport Minister Binali Yildirim emerged on Thursday as the likely new leader of the ruling AK Party and therefore the next prime minister, cementing President Tayyip Erdogan’s hold on government as he seeks to extend his powers.

Yildirim, 60, and a close ally of Erdogan for two decades, will be the sole candidate for the AKP leadership at a special party congress on Sunday, AKP spokesman Omer Celik told a news conference after a meeting of the party’s executive board.

A co-founder with Erdogan of the AKP, Yildirim has been the driving force behind major infrastructure projects in Turkey which were one of the pillars of the party’s electoral successes during its first decade in power.

He is seen as likely to champion Erdogan’s aim of changing the constitution to create a presidential system, a move opponents say will bring growing authoritarianism, and to support the president’s determination to crush by force an insurgency by militants in the largely Kurdish southeast.

“We will make every effort by working in full harmony primarily with our founding chairman and leader and then our colleagues within all ranks of our party to fulfill the targets of our great Turkey,” Yildirim told a news conference in Ankara.

He said he would travel straight to Diyarbakir following his nomination, the main city in the southeast, to visit the site of an explosion which killed 16 people last week. The region has seen some of its worst fighting in recent months since the height of the Kurdish insurgency in the 1990s.

“I would like to say this to our nation just before I leave for Diyarbakir, where I will be sharing the pain of our citizens violently massacred there: my nation should not worry, we will remove this terror menace from Turkey’s agenda.”

PUBLIC RIFT

The AKP is electing a new leader after Ahmet Davutoglu announced earlier this month he was stepping down as head of the party and therefore as prime minister following an increasingly public rift with Erdogan.

Erdogan and his supporters see an executive presidency, akin to the system in the United States or France, as a guarantee against the fractious coalition politics that hampered the government in the 1990s. His opponents, including some skeptics within the AKP, say he is merely furthering his own ambition.

Rival candidates have been jockeying for position within the AKP, raising concern about fractures in the party. The Sozcu newspaper, fiercely critical of the AKP, printed a front-page story showing photos of Yildirim’s ship-owner son playing roulette in a casino in Singapore last month. Party officials cast it as an attempt by rivals to undermine his candidacy.

Yildirim said his nomination was the result of consultation among nearly 800 key AKP members and that the congress on Sunday was a chance to “strengthen solidarity, ties and unity”.

AKP sources have said a new cabinet could be announced as early as Monday. Investors will be watching for any changes in the economic management team, particularly whether Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek, seen as an anchor of investor confidence, remains in office.

ERDOGAN’S MAN

Born in the eastern province of Erzincan in 1955, Yildirim had long been touted as a potential party leader and prime minister, his name again coming to the fore as signs of tension between Erdogan and Davutoglu became more evident.

His ties to Erdogan date back to the 1990s when Yildirim, educated in shipbuilding and marine sciences, was in charge of a high-speed ferry company in Istanbul, where Erdogan was mayor.

“Yildirim’s primary qualification for the positions of AKP leader and PM is not his ability but his servility to the president,” said Wolfango Piccoli of consultancy Teneo Intelligence, adding:

“In this regard, the overriding priority of the new PM and his cabinet will be to introduce an executive presidency.”

Yildirim was among the co-founders when Erdogan formed the AKP in 2001 and was elected as a deputy for Istanbul in November 2002 when the party won its first election. He was appointed transport, maritime and communications minister, a post which he then almost continuously held in successive governments.

Infrastructure development has been a priority for the AKP and an area which Erdogan, party leader until he was forced to renounce formal AKP ties when he became president in 2014, always emphasized at election rallies, regarding it as a powerful vote winner.

Turkey has doubled the number of airports to more than 50, constructed high-speed train lines and built more than 17,000 km (10,500 miles) of highway during Yildirim’s time as minister. He has also overseen some of Erdogan’s pet projects, including an underground train tunnel linking the European and Asian sides of Istanbul, a third suspension bridge across the Bosphorus and a new Istanbul airport, billed to be one of the world’s biggest.

A father of three, he is religiously conservative, describing in 2013 how he rejected the opportunity to attend one of the country’s most prestigious universities after seeing male and female students sitting together in its gardens.

(Additional reporting by Daren Butler; Writing by Nick Tattersall, editing by Peter Millership)

Turkey will take action on border town if it receives no help

Turkish President Erdogan arrives for a conference in Istanbul

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey will take it upon itself to deal with attacks on the border town of Kilis if it receives no outside help, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, in a sign Ankara may be willing to act against Islamic State on its own.

“We will overcome the Islamic State. We will solve that issue ourselves if we don’t receive help to prevent those rockets from hitting Kilis,” Erdogan told an international meeting of ministers in Istanbul.

Kilis, which is just across the border from an Islamic State-controlled area of Syria, has come under frequent rocket fire in recent weeks. Turkish officials say Ankara needs more help from the U.S.-led coalition in protecting its border.

(Writing by Ece Toksabay; Editing by David Dolan)

Anger, fear sweep Turkish border town under attack from Islamic State

Children play inside a devastated house struck by rocket fire from Syria in Turkey's southeastern border town of Kilis

By Humeyra Pamuk

KILIS, Turkey (Reuters) – Turkish shopkeeper Mehmet Baykal knew he had less than 10 seconds to dive under his desk when he heard another rocket being fired from Islamic State-held territory across the border in Syria.

Once a safe haven for tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, this tiny Turkish border town has now become a frontline in its war. So frequent is the rocket fire across what is in effect also NATO’s front line that residents know instinctively how long they have to take cover.

“It feels like a powerful earthquake. The ground shakes with pressure and then it is dust everywhere,” Baykal, 45, who has lived all his life in Kilis, said as he stood on its main shopping street, several of its stores shuttered.

“Kilis never knew what terror was. We opened our homes to those who fled war. But now the war is at our doorstep.”

The town has been hit by rockets from a patch of Syria controlled by Islamic State more than 70 times since January, killing 21 people including children, in what security officials say has gone from accidental spillover to deliberate targeting.

Some houses have been reduced to rubble. Others, their rooms exposed to the open air where walls have collapsed, are still inhabited. Streets are largely deserted and schools are on an informal break as families refuse to send their children.

“I say goodbye to my wife every night before I go to bed, in case I don’t make it to the morning,” said Resul Sezer, whose five-year old granddaughter was killed two weeks ago when a rocket struck the house she was standing outside.

“The talk in the tea house every day is where the rocket might fall today,” he said. “We want the state to do something.”

Turkey, a NATO member, EU aspirant and part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, has stepped up retaliatory fire into northern Syria in recent weeks. But security sources say it is difficult to hit the militants, sometimes firing from the back of vehicles, with the heavy artillery stationed on the border.

Coalition air strikes have increasingly targeted militant positions close to the Turkish border and Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last month that U.S. mobile rocket launchers would soon arrive. But so far there has been no concrete sign of the assistance arriving.

In Kilis, frustration with President Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling AK Party is starting to boil over. Police used tear gas to disperse dozens of residents protesting last month after a rocket attack killed one person and wounded 26.

“Where is the state?” said Omer Ciloglu, an AKP supporter and party member, standing in what was left of his third-floor apartment after the building was hit by a rocket.

“Nobody from the state called me. Nobody told me ‘do not leave your hometown, we are with you’. Instead they say do not gather, do not protest,” he said.

EVEN PRISONERS WANT OUT

Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu say Turkey is taking every necessary measure to secure its border, a promise echoed by Kilis mayor Hasan Kara.

“This is hardly Turkey’s problem alone,” Kara told Reuters in his office in Kilis. “Unless this bog of terrorism is dried up…this problem will continue to hit Kilis but it will also strike other capitals in Europe too,” he said.

Turkey has long pushed for creation of a safe zone in northern Syria but the idea has found little support from Western allies. The United States and Turkey have for months been discussing a military plan to drive Islamic State from the border but there has been little concrete sign of progress.

Earlier in Syria’s war, Turkey, eager to see President Bashar al-Assad toppled, faced criticism from Western allies for failing to prevent foreign fighters crossing its border and joining what would become Islamic State. But, as well as the threat to its border, Turkey has been hit by a spate of suicide bombings blamed on the militant group this year.

Erdogan said last week Turkey was making necessary preparations to clear the area across the border from Kilis and that it would not refrain from taking steps on its own if it was unable to get the support it wants from allies.

Lawmakers from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) have warned of ‘serious security lapses and breaches of the border’ in Kilis and the surrounding area, calling for the town to be declared part of a ‘terror zone’.

“For the first time, the war is spilling over to Turkey with Kilis coming under attack,” said CHP MP Ozturk Yilmaz, who was abducted by Islamic State with other officials when he was Turkey’s Consul General in the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014.

“If this continues, we could see Gaziantep, Urfa or other cities going through this with Turkey’s national security seriously at stake.”

Hundreds of Syrians are thought to be among the tens of thousands of people who have fled Kilis over the past few months.

“We already lived through this once and now it’s happening again,” said Mohammed, a 23-year old refugee from Aleppo who is planning to leave to join relatives in the central Turkish city of Konya, far from the border.

(Additional reporting by Gulsen Solaker in Ankara; Writing by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Ralph Boulton)

Turkey President Erdogan tells EU, “we’re going our way, you go yours.”

Turkish President Erdogan makes a speech during his meeting with mukhtars at the Presidential Palace in Ankara

By Nick Tattersall and Seda Sezer

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – President Tayyip Erdogan told the European Union on Friday that Turkey would not make changes to its terrorism laws required under a deal to curb migration, and declared: “we’re going our way, you go yours”.

His fiery speech will be a blow to any hope in European capitals that it might be business as usual with Turkey after Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who negotiated the migration deal with Europe and had largely delivered on Turkey’s commitments so far, announced he was standing down.

The EU asked member states on Wednesday to grant visa-free travel to Turks in return for Ankara stopping migrants reaching Europe, but said Turkey still had to change some legislation, including bringing its terrorism laws in line with EU standards.

“When Turkey is under attack from terrorist organizations and the powers that support them directly, or indirectly, the EU is telling us to change the law on terrorism,” Erdogan said in a speech at the opening of a local government office in the conservative Istanbul district of Eyup.

“They say ‘I am going to abolish visas and this is the condition.’ I’m sorry, we’re going our way, you go yours. Agree with whoever you can agree,” he said.

Visa-free travel is for many Turks the biggest benefit of Ankara’s deal with the EU. Europe, meanwhile, is counting on Turkey to maintain an agreement that has helped stem the flow of refugees and migrants via Turkish shores, which saw more than a million people reach Greece and Italy last year.

Davutoglu’s departure consolidates the power of Erdogan, who has been highly critical of the EU in the past and who is seen in Brussels as a far tougher negotiating partner less closely wedded in recent years to Turkey’s ambition of joining the EU.

To win visa-free travel, Turkey must still meet five of 72 criteria the EU imposes on all states exempt from visas, one of which is narrowing its legal definition of terrorism.

Rights groups say Turkey has used broad anti-terrorism laws to silence dissent, including detaining journalists and academics critical of the government. But Ankara insists the laws are essential as it battles Kurdish militants at home and the threat from Islamic State in neighboring Syria and Iraq.

Turkey’s EU Minister Volkan Bozkir was earlier quoted by the Daily Sabah newspaper as saying Turkey had already made some changes requested by Europe, including reference to “the concept of immediate and obvious danger that threatens public security”, but that it “does not have the luxury” of making any more.

“NO TURNING BACK”

Erdogan said there would be no gap in Turkey’s governance after Davutoglu’s departure and that the episode demonstrated why the country needs a full presidential system, a matter he said urgently needed to be put to a referendum.

Opponents fear an executive presidency will consolidate too much power in the hands of an authoritarian leader, a sentiment shared by some European leaders who fear his ascent will make relations with Turkey more complicated in the years ahead.

“A new constitution and presidential system are urgent requirements, not Erdogan’s personal agenda … There is no turning back from this point we reached. Everyone should accept that,” he said.

Erdogan bristles at suggestions that Turkey uses its anti-terrorism laws indiscriminately. He has repeatedly stressed his determination to crush Kurdish militants fighting an insurgency in Turkey’s southeast, and is unlikely to sanction Ankara backing down on the European demands.

Much may depend on the ability of whoever replaces Davutoglu, a decision to be made at an extraordinary congress of the ruling AK Party on May 22, to convince European allies that Turkey has already done enough.

Transport Minister Binali Yildirim, a close Erdogan ally, appears to be the president’s current preference, three senior AKP officials said, although they said that could still change.

Government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus and Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, also Erdogan loyalists, have been touted, as has Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, Erdogan’s son-in-law, sources in the party have said.

(Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, Paul Carrel in Berlin; Writing by Nick Tattersall; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Turkey’s Erdogan “No Migrant Deal If EU Doesn’t Fulfill Pledges”

Presidential Palace handout photo shows Turkish President Erdogan addresses visiting police officers in Ankara

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey will not go through with an agreement to take back Syrian migrants from Europe if the European Union does not fulfill its pledges, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

Under the deal, Ankara will take back all migrants and refugees who cross the Aegean Sea to enter Greece illegally. In return, Europe will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and reward it with money, visa-free travel and progress in its EU membership negotiations.

(Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Janet Lawrence)