#Hande Gülen

[dipnotski]

Kolektif – Toplumsal Yapı (2024)

Yirmi beş bilim insanının katkılarıyla kapsamlı bir temel referans kitabı olarak hazırlanan ‘Toplumsal Yapı: Türkiye’de Eşitsizlik, Tahakküm, Değişim’, sermaye birikimi, nüfus değişimleri, ailenin dönüşümü, tarımda dönüşüm, üretimin yapısı, devlet-sermaye ilişkilerini güncel veriler ışığında ele alıyor. Kent ve çevre sorunları, kadın işgücünün durumu, toplumsal cinsiyet rejimi, eşitlik sorunları,…

[basicsofislam]

ISLAM 101: Muslim Culture and Character: Morals And Manners: Part 13

CLOTHING AND OUTER APPEARANCE

Wearing clean and tidy clothes is the Sunna of the Prophet. It should be kept in mind that dressing in such a way is not a display of vanity or arrogance for a person who has the means to dress well. In fact, God has made it clear that a person has the right to wear clothing that is befitting to the wealth they have been blessed with.

Awf ibn Malik relates from his father, “One day I came to God’s Messenger wearing a coarse, cheap garment. He said to me, ‘Have you no wealth?’ I said, ‘Yes, I have.’ He asked, ‘What kind of wealth?’ I said, ‘God has given me every kind of wealth: camels, cattle, flocks, horses, slaves.’ He said, ‘Then let the abundance of God’s blessings be apparent on your person!’” From other hadith we know that the Prophet wore his best clothing. He also had his Companions do likewise. The following narration not only mentions this but also teaches that those with the responsibility of acting as representatives must dress particularly well. Ibn Abbas conveyed the following hadith: “It was when the Haruriyya (a branch of Khawarij) revolted. I went to Caliph Ali. He  told  me,  ‘Go  to those people.’ So I went and put on the best Yemeni garment. Then I came to them and they said, ‘Welcome to you, Ibn Abbas! Why are you so dressed up?’ I said, ‘How could I be otherwise? I saw God’s Messenger wearing the best clothing he has!’

It is also good adab to say a prayer the first time a new garment is worn, for the protection of God on the wearer. Abu Umama remembers, “Ibn Umar put on a new garment and prayed thus, ‘Praise be to God, Who has given me clothing to cover my body and bring beauty to my life.’ Then he added, ‘I heard God’s Messenger say, ‘Whoever wears a new piece of clothing, and prays thus, will be under the protection and preservation of God both while he lives and after he dies.’”

The Prophet also forbade Muslim men to wear silk clothing. Ali ibn Abu Talib explained, “One day God’s Messenger took some silk in his right hand, and some gold in his left hand, and said, ‘These two things are prohibited for my male followers.’” According to a similar hadith from Tirmidhi and Nasai, Abu Musa quoted him as saying, “Silk clothing and gold are forbidden for the men in my community, but allowed for the women.”

On the matter of outward appearance, it is better to avoid broad generalizations concerning the issue of cutting hair so as not to cause any misunderstanding. It is best to mention the relevant hadith and comment on them briefly. Some reported sayings of the Prophet are as follows:

Anas ibn Malik reported that God’s Messenger said, “He who has hair should honor it.” We honor our hair by combing it and keeping it tidy. The Prophet disliked disheveled hair. One should either comb the hair or have a short haircut which does not require much adornment. Ibn Umar narrated, “God’s Messenger saw a boy whose head had been partly shaven. He forbade people to do this, saying, “Shave it all or leave it all.” Again, Ibn Umar tells us that God’s Messenger prohibited believers from shaving part of the head and leaving the rest unshaven.

The Prophet used to look after children’s hair. As narrated by ‘Abdullah, the son of Ja’far, God’s Messenger came to visit them three days after the death of Ja’far; during this time Jaf’ar’s wife had been unable to look after their hair. “The  Prophet  said,  ‘Do  not weep over my brother after this day,’ and he said, ‘Call the children of my brother to me.’ We were herded before him. He said, ‘Call a barber.’ He then ordered that our hair should be cut short.”

Concerning general appearance, the contemporary Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen provides us with a clear understanding:

As is reported in many books about the life of the Prophet, most Companions of God’s Messenger had long, braided hair.

Some of them would gather it in a knot. In Bukhari’s Al-Sahih, the following incident is narrated: Seeing a man who had knotted his hair during the Hajj, the Prophet advised him to untie his hair so that his hair, also, got the benefit from sajda, or prostration. God’s Messenger did not order Abu Bakr, or Umar, or Uthman, all of whom had long hair, to cut their hair.

After the conquest of Mecca, the hearts of many people were softened and warmed towards Islam, and most of them embraced Islam. They wore garments in the style of nonbelievers and the turban of the unbelievers on their heads. The Prophet did not ask them to remove even these. Indeed, this would be formalism and he was far beyond formalism. He did not give any orders that could be interpreted as formalism.

In fact, outer appearance is not something essential in Islam, but rather, it is something of secondary importance. So, we should not be too concerned with outer appearance or formalism. The Prophet may have warned those who had cut some of their hair and left other parts, just as some young people do today, as it distorts the natural appearance and it would have been imitating non-Muslims. It is mentioned in the sections of hadith books that are concerned with garments and physical appearance, mainly in Tirmidhi, that the Prophet used to comb his hair according to the customs of the time in Mecca, so as not to resemble non-Muslims. After he emigrated to Medina and saw that Christians and Jews there combed their hair over their forehead (as in the historical pictures and films about Romans), he changed the way he combed his hair again and parted it in the middle and combed it to the right and to the left. Most likely, some people used to shave part of the head like the Christians and Jews. Therefore, the Prophet behaved in accordance with the hadith, “He who imitates a people is one of them.”

The human body is perfectly formed. It is formed with such subtle rules of geometry and mathematics that it is impossible not to appreciate its design. Therefore, it would probably not be correct to change something that has been created in such a perfect manner. In a hadith, the Prophet, peace, and blessings be upon him, says, “God wants to see the signs of His blessings on His servants.”89 Therefore, it would not be incorrect to say that hair should be cut in a way that is suitable to its natural form.

But today, needless interference may have negative effects, even on devoted believers. Therefore, nobody should take the place of the Prophet and make negative comments on appearance, saying, “Cut your hair, tidy your clothes.” This is not the way it should be said. If you say such things, those people will go away and never return to your world of thought.

[retaliationrp]

𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋 𝟏𝟓𝐓𝐇, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑

The bar was not officially open yet but that didn’t stop a few members of the Wild Coyotes to enjoy some down time. A club meeting had been held earlier, lttle on the agenda for that day but many important actions were looming close. Next month would mark 6 months since the Sinful Ones made themselves known, 6 months of bloodshed, something that had been happening for way too long now. The drug bust of March had been a success and the club needed to keep hitting where it hurt. The mood was high, the tide was turning, it finally seemed like things were going in their favor.

No one bothered when the door opened, despite the closed sign, it wasn’t entirely unusual for the regulars to walk in, like Kieran Murphy had done not long ago, joining in for a drink. But Riggs Maddow smile vanished as soon as his eyes landed on those who walked in. ATF agents walked right to the collector, knowing him as the owner. Months of surveillances nd information gatering had lead to this moment. With a court mandate in hand, and brown boxes in hands, they had the power to seixe anything they saw fit for their investigation. Along with that, they had an arrest warrant for Riggs. None of it felt right with those present and Ezrak Aviv Gülen voiced it strongly, earning in a set of handcufed for obstruction. Mia Fleming wasted no time in calling Samuel Jordan Adlawan, giving the lawer the little information she had as it unfolded before her eyes. An agent stepped to her and asked for Mia’s phone to be seized immediately and Keiran stepped in, arguing that the warrant did not pertain to those present. Tensions were high and the officer did not hesitate to arrest him on the same basis as Ezrak. In final, three of them walked out handcauffed and escorted to the sheriff’s station.

A night in jail with long hours in an interogating room, and the promise to be in touch, was what Riggs got. Ezrak and Kieran were realeased early the next morning, no charges being pressed against them. And while nothing incriminating was found at The Dive, it was clear the club was now on the ATF radar. No one outright said it right then, but the information they got seemed to point to a rat, someone among them who had been talking.

All members of the Wild Coyotes were present when this happened. Any civilians or Sinful Ones can have been witnessed outside of the bar if they happened to be around when it happened. There are suspicions that someone with at least a little knowledge of the Wild Coyotes has been talking but a search for the rat has not been officially launched yet. 

[gundemarsivi]

Bir Dünya Var Ve Bir Gün O Dünyayı Başınıza Yıkacağız.

✍🏻 Kadir Veral

https://www.gundemarsivi.com/bir-dunya-var-ve-bir-gun-o-dunyayi-basiniza-yikacagiz/

Bir dünya var ve bir gün o dünyayı başınıza yıkacağız.

Siz öldürüyorsunuz, bizler ölmüyoruz!: Bizler, Ebru Eroğlu, İkra Kuyumcu, Şeyda Yıldırım, Mustafa Kemal’in kadın askerleri olarak, isimlerimizi kılıçlarımızla güneşe kazırken, mavi bir çift gözün ışığında aydınlanan yolda korkusuzca yürüyoruz…

Siz öldürüyorsunuz, bizler ölmüyoruz!: Bizler, “Filenin sultanları” Cansu Özbay, Elif Şahin, Ebrar Karakurt, Hande Baladın, Eda Erdem Dündar, Zehra Güneş, Melissa Vargas, Gizem örge, Beyza Arıcı olarak, Mustafa Kemal’in şaha kalkan at üzerindeki heybetiyle yükselip smacımızı gericilin, cahilliğin, zorbalığın, Vandallığın, karanlığın yüzüne yüze çarpıyoruz…

Siz öldürüyorsunuz, bizler ölmüyoruz!: Bizler, Cumhuriyet tarihinde ilk defa UEFA Kadınlar Şampiyonlar Liginde oynamaya hak kazanan Galatasaray Futbol Kulübü Kadın Futbol Takımı oyuncuları olarak, Gamze Yaman, Sare Öztürk, Eda Karataş, Berna Yeniçeri, Arzu Karabulut, Ebru Topçu ve diğerleri, uzatılan yandaş mikrofonlara “Kadın kadının yurdudur, kadın dayanışması yaşatır! Birlikte olursak bizi kimse yenemez!” derken, aslında, “Geliyor Gelmekte Olan” demek istiyoruz…

Siz öldürüyorsunuz, bizler ölmüyoruz!: Sizler, öldürdüğünüz kadınların, çocukların, buz gibi mezar taşlarına isimlerini kazımak için sabırsızca beklerken bizler, Artistik Jimnastikte Ay yıldızlı bayrağımızı göndere çektirip, sizin karanlığınıza inat en parlak yıldızlarla Ayşe Begüm Onbaşı, Yaşam Suğra Akın, Gülcenaz Gülen, Bilge Korkusuz yazıyorduk…

Siz öldürüyorsunuz, bizler ölmüyoruz!: Sizlerin sakat, ipe sapa gelmez erkeksi inanışlarınızla, kadınların ciğerini delen serseri kurşunlarınızı sayarken, adını ilk kez duyacağınız Para Okçuluk branşında Öznur Cüre Girdi, Para atletizm alanında Aysel Önder, para masa tenisi alanında Kübra Korkut, para atıcılık alanında Aysel Gürdal, para tekvando branşında M. Betül Çavdar, para halter branşında Nazmiye Muratlı, para masa tenisinde Ebru Acer, para yüzme branşında Sevilay Öztürk, para atletizm alanında F. Damla Altın, para judo alanında Ecem Taşın Çavdar, Cahide Eke, Nazan Akın Güneş Paris olimpiyatlarında başarı üstüne başarı kazanarak, madalyalarımızı boyunlarımıza takarken asıl engellilerin bizler değil; karanlık ve bağnaz düşüncelere sahip insanların olduğunu gözlerinizin taa içine bakarak haykırıyoruz…

Her gün bir kadının kaybolduğunu, şiddete, tacize maruz kaldığını, hatta acımasızca katledildiğini üçüncü sayfa haberlerinde okumaktan yorulduk… bıktık… usandık!..

Sığamadık şu koca dünyaya…

Bizlerden bu kadar mı korkuyorsunuz?..

Bir, iki gün önce sosyal medya, yazılı ve görsel medya bizlerin yok sayıldığı, her gün birimizin eksildiği dünyamızda “günümüzü” kutluyordu…

Bizlere, gün yüzü göstermediğiniz şu dünyada kutlayacak gün mü, gönül mü bıraktınız?…

Yalnız!!!

Yazıyoruz bunları… biliniz…

Tanını çıkarın, sararmış dişlerinizle, cellat suratlarınızla, kirlenmiş ellerinizle…

Bizlerin, doya doya kutladığımız “11 Ekim Dünya Kız Çocukları Günümüz” olmuyor ama başınıza yıkacağımız bir dünyamız var. “Belki yarın, beklide yarından da yakın.” Bekleyiniz…

Gülümseyin; çekiyorum…

Kadir Veral

[mclting]

. 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑: ezrak gülen

location: wonderland time: saturday, 9pm status: closed for @rebelycll— andrea romero

Glances from the past gave him enough of a reason to adventure himself to a different establishment than his usual — as ‘The Dive’ was the bar that he’d usually feel comfortable to be at. Ezrak observed his surroundings while being within the Wonderland, watching as others would slowly shift their personality once liquor caused its consequences and people would be able to enjoy the rhythm of the song. On the other hand, he found himself sitting by the bar, with his eyes still landing on the same figure that had caught his attention a few nights ago.

Maybe he also needed that liquor courage, but it was in the act of actually ordering one that he found enough of an excuse to engage in a conversation with the bartender behind the bar. “What would you recommend to me that would still be close to ordering a beer? I know– I know, I’m the boring person that always goes for beer. But what can I say? A safe bet.”

[tanrininuvercinkasi]

Tuttuğum Yemin Kırılıyor

Bitersem Senin Dününde

Aldığım Nefes Boğuluyor

Bilmemek Nasıl Olur Bilmek Gibi

Duymamak Nasıl Olur Düş Gören Biri Mi...

[apas-95]

[Paraphrased from: here, with better format here]

So! Enes Kanter. This Guy.

Makes ugly shoes. You’ve probably seen them. Until now, I, like I assume a lot of you, thought he was just some sellout who (cynically or not) figured it was pretty profitable to sell asinine regime change merch. Turns out, it actually goes a bit deeper. A lot deeper, in fact, and it has quite a bit to do with this incident a while back:

This is a pretty recognisable hand sign for a Turkish fascist paramilitary org. Kanter made the claim that he was doing... the Grinch sign(?), but it’s a very lousy excuse, as weak as ‘no, I wasn’t doing a Nazi salute, they just caught me... pointing at a bird’.

They Grey Wolves are a far-right terrorist organisation, who have no lack of ties with the west’s push on Xinjiang, but hey, maybe it really was just... the Grinch sign... and an honest mistake. So, why am I mentioning it? Well, as it turns out, Kanter does have ties to the Grey Wolves - through Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen.

Gülen is perhaps best known in the US for his charter schools. Education is a big part of the Gülen Movement (also known as Hizmet, and referred to as FETO [Fethullahist Terrorist Organization] by the Turkish government), which runs schools throughout the world. Kanter himself attended one of these schools from a young age, where he first got involved with the Gülen movement, and became one of its most famous followers in the US.

This isn’t an unusual story, and certainly not one unique to Kanter. The schools have been accused on many occasions of grooming and recruiting the ‘best and brightest’ students to the movement - including, for instance, a teenage basketball prodigy. In turn, the Gülen Movement does everything they can to place these exceptional individuals they’ve recruited through their schools into critical bureaucracies, like the military, police and intelligence services. 

The movement itself, if it weren’t obvious enough from the ‘secretly installing its members at the levers of political power’ thing, is very shady. It’s structured in a very... recognisable way. The movement is made up of cells, each of which lead by a commander, who is the only one who has knowledge of, or communication with, other cells. At the highest level, these leaders communicate with codenames, all organised around a central circle and leader. In short, it’s textbook covert cell structure, as used by - just an example - the CIA.

The movement, with its hands on all the important parts of state power in Turkey, was able to facilitate a certain right wing politician’s rise to power, that being Erdoğan. Through a somewhat complicated bout of parapolitics, involving assasinations and a mass killing, Erdoğan and the Gülen movement were able to push out political rivals and consolidate power in Turkey. After a few too many scandals, Erdoğan apparently lost the movement’s favour, and they orchestrated a full-on attempted coup in 2016.

So, what does any of this have to do with Kanter selling terrible shoes (and meeting with US presidents to push the Xinjiang narrative)? Well, the Gülen Movement isn’t exactly unrelated to that - with Gülen saying in 1997: “Turkey […] today encompasses 60 million. Together with the Turks in Central Asia it is 120-130 million. If it manages to break down the Chinese wall and to unite with the Turks there, it will be 300 million”, and Gülen himself being instrumental in lobbying the US government to recognise the ‘East Turkestan Government in Exile’ in 2003.

Saying “their activities [...] are based on a report entitled “the Xinjiang Project” drafted by Graham Fuller” is, in fact, understating things. Fuller, a RAND corporation fellow, former CIA Kabul Station Chief, and Vice Chairman of the National Security Council, was actually instrumental in getting Gülen into the US, lobbying immigration authorities into ignoring the billions of dollars he was moving clandestinely around the globe, funding who-knows-what. In fact, the US State Department itself asserted the Gülen Movement was funded by the CIA.

The fact that the two people who helped him gain residence in the US - in Pennsylvania - were Fuller, ex-CIA; and George Fidas, the head of the CIA’s university outreach; probably doesn’t help things. It’s likely Fuller was Gülen‘s handler, and a warrant for his arrest was put out by the Turkish government in the aftermath of the 2016 coup attempt.

So, Gülen and Fuller both have a keen interest in Xinjiang. The president of the Uyghur American Association, Kuzzat Altay, actually is an open follower of the Gülen Movement (and just so happens to live in Virginia). The UAA was actually founded in the same year that Fuller started The Xinjiang Project for RAND, which, as mentioned before, was used to lobby the US government into recognising the ‘East Turkestan Government in Exile’.

Kuzzat Altay, the president of the Uyghur American Association, and follower of the Gülen Movement, is also the CEO of an education company - recalling that the reason Gülen‘s entry into the US was opposed was his ability to move money through his shady networks of, you guessed it, mostly schools. He’s the nephew of the former World Uyghur Congress president (at one point one of the top 5 richest people in China, and a convicted spy), but the really interesting part is his brother, Faruk Altay, who you might already have heard of!

He runs Altay Defense, where US Special Forces provide paramilitary training to key members of Uyghur separatist groups, all in lovely Virginia, USA. I don’t think I even have to say it, but it’s incredibly reminiscent of any number of US regime change operations, like Operation Gladio.

It is funny to note how most US liberals probably wouldn’t like openly associating with these plainly far-right groups in other circumstances... but, since they’re pushing against China, it’s all swept aside.

Anyway, circling back to Kanter, who has open and clear ties with this whole warren of intelligence agency fronts, far-right terrorist groups, and regime change ops, I think it’s clear that his support for ‘#freeuyghur’ and merchandising of it is a lot more suspect than just opportunism. Maybe the Grey Wolves symbol wasn’t so disconnected from it after all.

[feelingbluepolitics]

It is certain that we cannot keep our democratic republic unless this disaster of trump has shocked people out of voting apathy.

This is the highest stakes of "use it or lose it." There are some promising indicators.

A thriving democracy takes time and effort. Both our citizens and our representatives have been largely failing, where often less than half of our eligible people vote, and where our elected representatives fail to pass legislation favored by 60 and 70%, and more, of Americans. The only solution is to increase voter turnout, stampede the various Republicon cheating techniques manipulated to suppress voting, and evict the nonresponsive Republicons.

Americans who disapprove of politics and government need to understand that our voting participation in our democratic system allows us to choose how we will be governed, and that our demands en masse can determine how quickly changes will happen. This only works, however, when political parties are responsive to the people, which Republicons are not, at all.

Republicons at every level must be removed from power for our democratic republic to function. trump must be removed from power for our democratic republic, or any founding version of America, to exist at all.

All of these points have been made many times. What's probable though, is that we have no real idea of how close we are to transitioning to an authoritarian regime under trump and conservatives.

The term "fascist" gets thrown around these days, and for good reason. This nation has arrived at a pass where power will coalesce to one side, while the other party will be shut out, one way or the other. One way will re-grip the power of the American people, and the other will give everything over to trump, who could probably run the show even if he isn't in the director's chair for some interim years, as long as Republicons hold power and trump is alive.

The deciding process includes the default of a failure to fight for and reinvigorate our democracy while we still have that power in 2020.

As we watch the potential end stages of our nation's design -- not just its various balanced institutions and tools of maintenance, but its essential design -- clarifying what would replace it could be useful, while we can hope to point out the contrasts proactively and preemptively.

trump's encroaching control dominates his people at every level. In Congress, trump has established beyond any reprieve: "Give me your autonomy or I'll take your power!"

trump's betrayal of America is profound. That's what he was impeached for, but impeachment alone is nowhere near commensurate.

We refer to attacks, and to "interfering" or "meddling" in our elections. What really happened, and continues to happen, is trump offering unquantified but vast power to hostile countries to affect our process of choosing our own government. He suggested the foreign invasion of our governance. He welcomed it. He accepted it. With the Mueller investigation, (which omitted financial investigations), we simply lacked the proof that trump actively sought it.

With Ukraine, trump was purposefully engineering interference, using bribery and extortion and tiresomely repetitive insistence, and working to overpower Ukraine's reticence, all of which, in combination with some of trump's constant obstruction, led to that first impeachment on an emergency basis.

trump doesn't just betray the nation, but also Americans. It is different levels, not of importance or significance, but more of large scale versus personal. He betrays the deepest levels of what it means to be American.

This happens not just through the many groups and minorities he attacks. It is not just that his white Christian mostly male voters are promoted to "the real Americans" at rallies. It's not just that the wealthy, and every corporate interest, are the "America" that Republicons service at the expense of everyone else.

These too are attacks on what it means to be Americans:

trump threatens our Dreamers and he hunts our contributing immigrant populace. He is moving against even those who are naturalized citizens.

And also a betrayal by trump of both America as a nation and Americans as a people:

trump does nothing to safeguard people specifically under the protection of this nation. That's not limited to only internally, such as the whistleblowers and their policy-protected status. Internationally, trump's betrayals extend beyond our allied countries, and the Kurds.

There is a cleric living in this country, supposedly protected, whom Turkey's dictator, Erdogan, wants turned over in order to blame him for the uprising against Erdogan's tightening tyranny. trump & Co. were amenable to the idea.

trump's sellout to the obscenely rich Saudi royal over Khashoggi's torture, murder, and dismemberment was and is notorious villainy.

And the citizenship of one of America's greatest information assets ever is not known, but this person was threatened twice by trump's penchant for habitual betrayals.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/will-the-cias-former-top-spy-fall-prey-to-putins-murderous-mole-hunt

trump's betrayals to foreign powers aren't limited to individuals under our protection, but also include notable Americans. Helsinki was one of trump's early, shocking, shames in this vein of betrayal, but one of the most shocking aspects was trump's initial ease with the concept of turning Americans over to Russia for open-ended interrogation, including the former ambassador to Moscow, because Putin asked him to.

Putin's Russia has kidnapped a Russian political dissident and exiled him to an Artic military base. This is international news because moving against someone their own is well into the spectrum of fascism. Bill Browder and Ambassador McFaul, along with a number of others, were at risk of being failed by trump's version of America in a way unimaginable before trump.

“'If the White House cannot defend and protect our diplomats, like our service members, they are serving a hostile foreign power not the American people.'”

Even worse than the appalling panorama of trump's collective betrayals of us and of our country, is that we likely don't know the half of whatever such acts trump has considered, or even done.

We need to acknowledge the factor of the transition, precisely known publicly or not, that trump and Republicons have committed, against democracy and toward an autocracy. They are trump's Republicon Party now. trump thinks in terms of "his" personal United States, as his asset, with nasty, marring, treacherous Democrats and other dissidents who "betray" him. And we have no real idea how influenced by Putin this demolishing of our democratic republic may be.

Possibly the worst concept is that we don't even know, because of trump's erratic fits and starts and upheavals, how far progressed we are toward a trump dictatorship, or Putin-dictated control. Any spies, any "deep state" of those in trump's administration who care about our democracy -- maybe including Anonymous writing 'A Warning' -- but certainly including the whistleblowers, and the impeachment hearing witnesses, apparently are very few, or are cowed, or are co-opted.

Like many people living under regimes, we just don't know much about what is happening in our country. If Democrats had not flipped the House, we would know nothing. Such a state of the nation doesn't represent the USA as it has existed during our democratic republic phase.

[alecjposts-blog]

Blog Post #1- Ahmet Altan Detained

On September 23rd, 2016 the Hürriyet Daily News released a news article discussing the recent detainment of Ahmet Altan. In the article they describe How an Istanbul court ordered an arrest on him as “part of the investigation into the Gülen movement, which was accused of orchestrating the failed coup attempt of July 15”. Ahmet Altan was the former editor-in-chief of daily Taraf, he was accused of being part of a “terrorist organization” and “attempting to overthrow the government and obstruct its work.” What incited all of these accusations was a statement that Ahmet Altan made  on Can Erzincan TV saying ““Within the Turkish state, there is possibly another structure that records and observes all these developments [in Turkey] more in the foreign world. It is not certain when it will take its hand out of the bag and how it will take its hand out of the bag,”. The court states that Altan was clearly “calling for a coup” with his statement, though he argues it was merely within the context of freedom of speech.

As a journalist it is your job to expose and create your pieces for the public, and this is exactly what I feel Ahmet Altan was  trying to accomplish. He never directly said he had specific issues with the government (though im sure he did) and his statement is just that, a statement. He is not signifying his rebellion towards the government, but he is merely stating that there may be more to the government than the public can see and that he wants to get more information. The idea  of “Watchdog Journalism” is setting out to inform the public about issues that directly affect them, and I believe that Ahmet Altan was trying just to do that, show the people of turkey that there is more going on in the government that he feels should be made public.

The article leaves you with a fine idea of what the events were and what happened but leaves a lot to be desired.  It skims over details only giving about 5 quotes in total from sources. I will say that they do a good job on staying neutral during  the paper, never once does the author lean towards siding with Ahmet or the government, he is simply stating the facts of what is known. Which brings me to my final problem of the  paper which is that it didn't try to dig into anything that it researched. It feels as if the man who wrote this googled the court statements and then wrote an article on it, I would've liked if they went a bit deeper into the material and formed questions to pose for the reader rather than telling them what they easily could've known. To give them the benefit of the doubt it may be heard to gather info on somebody who has been detained, so as a general article it gets the job done but it doesn't go as deep as  I would expect from a journalist.

[astoriaroleplay]

MEET EZRAK AZIZ GÜLEN

AGE: 30 years old

BIRTHDAY: April 8, 1992

GENDER/PRONOUNS: Cis man — he/him

OCCUPATION:  Owner of WWAD Events & Politics and Sociology professor

PLACE OF BIRTH:  Dsormoo, Nova Pangaea

NEIGHBORHOOD:  Ashville

HAS LIVED IN ASTORIA FOR: 5 years

CHARACTER INTERVIEW

What makes Astoria still appealing to you? Is it related to personal or work relationships?

“Honestly, if it wasn’t for my wife’s— well, ex-wife’s establishment, I’m certain I would no longer live here. So it’s definitely work related,” that was what they were expecting from him, veracity, right? His dark hues didn’t stare at the person offering those questions, metaphorically, his attention pierced through them. He was forced to be there, bringing memories to surface in order to share information that seemed reliable enough. “I was happy in Dsormoo, heading to Astoria was just part of a bigger plan that led to disastrous outcomes that I wish I didn’t have to live through. If WWAD didn’t exist, I’d take the first plane out of here, but while it does exist, I’ll do what I can to make Alara proud and the memory of her to remain vivid through her work and our daughter.”

What’s something about your personality that you’re proud of? And what would you like to change?

“I’m a great multitasker, unlike some people that would have more than one job and be average at both, I manage to be espectacular at both of them. I take my responsibilities seriously and I wouldn��t falter as the owner of an establishment, nor as a professor. Especially as a professor. It’d devour my brain to think that I didn’t give a class that would astonish my students and make them eager for more information.” After all, that was what he aimed for from the very beginning of his young adult years; taking over his wife’s company wasn’t in his plans. Well, not having Alara by his side wasn’t in his plans at all. “But with that, comes the fact that I’m overcritical. Not only when it comes to myself but when it comes to others too and I’m transparent when it comes to sharing my opinion, which sometimes may seem rude, but what can I say? Old habits die hard, and so do a few personality traits.”

Please elaborate on any violent circumstances you may have been involved with in the past.

A sigh. “I wasn’t there when it all happened, but the notion of losing my wife was enough of a violent circumstance for me. Well– you can’t say that all the nightmares that lived inside my head through the following days and months after her death isn’t violence enough for me, it’d be insensitive of you to belittle my grief and my pain,” if they were expecting him to share a bar fight, a moment he pointed a gun at someone, or anything remotely violent when it comes to himself, then they were losing their time. “During our time together, Alara always made it clear that she didn’t want to become immortal, that it didn’t matter if she was going through a life or death situation, she didn’t want to become a vampire. It was hard not offering this option, to prolong her life for selfish reasons that I wasn’t ready to let go of her. My mother used to say that I was brave for respecting her decisions, maybe I was simply just a coward, but the thing is that although I’ve never had blood in my hands, the idea that I lost her almost makes me thing that — somehow — in my decisions shared with her doctor and the failure of her doctor himself, make it seem that I her blood in my hands.

Your thoughts about supernatural beings.

Ezrak remained in silence for a while, which perhaps was enough of an answer for the interviewer. He couldn’t state that he despised vampires; because his hatred towards them wouldn’t reach a point that he would be a threat for him. Truth being told, as a mere human, Ezrak knew that in a fight he’d lose. In any circumstances that his distaste would cause him to argue against a supernatural being, he was doomed to get hurt and deal with the consequences of it. So he remained silent, after all that sentiment had a reason behind it. Alara’s accident, her death, their daughter growing old without a mother, the doctor that hadn’t been able to save her. It all reached a mutual species: vampires. Yet, with a sly grin, he stated: “They are in this world just as much as I’m here, should I have any special thoughts about them? I could care less.”

FACECLAIM: Alperen Duymaz PLAYED BY: Vee

[basicsofislam]

ISLAM 101: Muslim Culture and Character: Morals And Manners: Clothing And Outer Appearance

Wearing clean and tidy clothes is the Sunna of the Prophet. It should be kept in mind that dressing in such a way is not a display of vanity or arrogance for a person who has the means to dress well. In fact, God has made it clear that a person has the right to wear clothing that is befitting to the wealth they have been blessed with.

Awf ibn Malik relates from his father, “One day I came to God’s Messenger wearing a coarse, cheap garment. He said to me, ‘Have you no wealth?’ I said, ‘Yes, I have.’ He asked, ‘What kind of wealth?’ I said, ‘God has given me every kind of wealth: camels, cattle, flocks, horses, slaves.’ He said, ‘Then let the abundance of God’s blessings be apparent on your person!’”80 From other hadith we know that the Prophet wore his best clothing. He also had his Companions do likewise. The following narration not only men- tions this, but also teaches that those with the responsibility of act- ing as representatives must dress particularly well. Ibn Abbas con- veyed the following hadith: “It was when the Haruriyya (a branch of Khawarij) revolted. I went to Caliph Ali. He told me, ‘Go to those people.’ So I went and put on the best Yemeni garment. Then I came to them and they said, ‘Welcome to you, Ibn Abbas! Why are you so dressed up?’ I said, ‘How could I be otherwise? I saw God’s Messenger wearing the best clothing he has!’”81

It is also good adab to say a prayer the first time a new gar- ment is worn, for the protection of God on the wearer. Abu Umama remembers, “Ibn Umar put on a new garment and prayed thus, ‘Praise be to God, Who has given me clothing to cover my body and bring beauty to my life.’ Then he added, ‘I heard God’s Messenger say, ‘Whoever wears a new piece of clothing, and prays thus, will be under the protection and preservation of God both while he lives and after he dies.’”82

The Prophet also forbade Muslim men to wear silk clothing. Ali ibn Abu Talib explained, “One day God’s Messenger took some silk in his right hand, and some gold in his left hand, and said, ‘These two things are prohibited for my male followers.’” According to a similar hadith from Tirmidhi and Nasai, Abu Musa quoted him as saying, “Silk clothing and gold are forbidden for the men in my community, but allowed for the women.”83

On the matter of outward appearance it is better to avoid broad generalizations concerning the issue of cutting hair so as not to cause any misunderstanding. It is best to mention the relevant hadith and comment on them briefly. Some reported sayings of the Prophet are as follows:

Anas ibn Malik reported that God’s Messenger said, “He who has hair should honor it.”84 We honor our hair by combing it and keeping it tidy. The Prophet disliked disheveled hair. One should ei- ther comb the hair or have a short haircut which does not require much adornment. Ibn Umar narrated, “God’s Messenger saw a boy whose head had been partly shaven. He forbade people to do this, saying, “Shave it all or leave it all.”85 Again, Ibn Umar tells us that God’s Messenger prohibited believers from shaving part of the head and leaving the rest unshaven.86

The Prophet used to look after children’s hair. As narrated by ‘Abdullah, the son of Ja’far, God’s Messenger came to visit them three days after the death of Ja’far; during this time Jaf’ar’s wife had been unable to look after their hair. “The Prophet said, ‘Do not weep over my brother after this day,’ and he said, ‘Call the children of my brother to me.’ We were herded before him. He said, ‘Call a barber.’ He then ordered that our hair should be cut short.”87

Concerning general appearance, the contemporary Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen provides us with a clear understanding:

As is reported in many books about the life of the Prophet, most Companions of God’s Messenger had long, braided hair.

Some of them would gather it in a knot. In Bukhari’s Al-Sahih, the following incident is narrated: Seeing a man who had knot- ted his hair during the Hajj, the Prophet advised him to untie his hair so that his hair, also, got the benefit from sajda, or pros- tration. God’s Messenger did not order Abu Bakr, or Umar, or Uthman, all of whom had long hair, to cut their hair.

After the conquest of Mecca, the hearts of many people were softened and warmed towards Islam, and most of them embraced Islam. They wore garments in the style of nonbeliev- ers and the turban of the unbelievers on their heads. The Prophet did not ask them to remove even these. Indeed, this would be formalism and he was far beyond formalism. He did not give any orders that could be interpreted as formalism.

In fact, outer appearance is not something essential in Islam, but rather, it is something of secondary importance. So, we should not be too concerned with outer appearance or formal- ism. The Prophet may have warned those who had cut some of their hair and left other parts, just as some young people do today, as it distorts the natural appearance and it would have been imitating non-Muslims. It is mentioned in the sections of hadith books that are concerned with garments and physical appearance, mainly in Tirmidhi, that the Prophet used to comb his hair according to the customs of the time in Mecca, so as not to resemble non-Muslims. After he emigrated to Medina and saw that Christians and Jews there combed their hair over their forehead (as in the historical pictures and films about Romans), he changed the way he combed his hair again and parted it in the middle and combed it to the right and to the left. Most likely, some people used to shave part of the head like the Christians and Jews. Therefore, the Prophet behaved in accordance with the hadith, “He who imitates a people is one of them.”88

The human body is perfectly formed. It is formed with such subtle rules of geometry and mathematics that it is impossible not to appreciate its design. Therefore, it would probably not be correct to change something that has been created in such a perfect manner. In a hadith, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, says, “God wants to see the signs of His bless- ings on His servants.”89 Therefore, it would not be incorrect to say that hair should be cut in a way that is suitable to its natural form.

But today, needless interference may have negative effects, even on devoted believers. Therefore, nobody should take the place of the Prophet and make negative comments on appear- ance, saying, “Cut your hair, tidy your clothes.” This is not the way it should be said. If you say such things, those people will go away and never return to your world of thought.90

[retaliationrp]

Suddenly the clouds have opened up and I'm being seen in all of my glory. The time has come for fate to decide if a part of me is even worthy.

𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄: Ezrak Aziz Gülen 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 & 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐒: cis man & he/him   𝐀𝐆𝐄: 30 𝐎𝐂𝐂𝐔𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍:  political economy professor 𝐀𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍:  The Wild Coyotes 𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊:  collector 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌:  Alepren Duymaz

+  meticulous, analytical, intuitive -   worrier, impatient, fiery

TW: DEATH, DEATH OF CHILD

The worst part about falling in love is knowing time is your greatest enemy and, eventually, you’ll lose them. Ezrak got to figure that out when he least expected; cruel hands of time would carve in him sadness in its most painful form. However, before that experience would be part of his journey in life, Ezrak would mostly appreciate the beautiful moments in life. Although he wasn’t old enough to remember where he was born back in Bursa, he had his parents to offer stories about it since most of his entire life happened inside the city of Phoenix.

While he was a child, Ezrak had nothing to complain about, an easy person to befriend, a curious being always ready to offer questions to whoever was willing to listen to him. Ezrak was a light in his family’s house.

While going through adolescence, Ezrak was mostly forming his personality, allowing himself to reach popularity easily and once he finally graduated and headed to college, he met the woman that would become the love of his life. The young adult years provided him the chance of meeting Alaya; someone that he had never seen before and yet, once he did, his mind couldn’t travel elsewhere but to the image of her. And while it took some time to cause her to accept going on a date with him, eventually she accepted it. And it was simply like they’d been made for each other.

Ezrak knew he had found the one. They balanced each other out, a strong girl that turned into an amazing woman. And when all the goodbyes, as the end of the weekend would approach, made it hard to be apart from her and wanting to share a home would suffice ending such distance, Ezrak proposed to her.

That was the first moment, he understood that life wasn’t as beautiful as he painted it to be. A new perspective was offered once with teary eyes Alaya offered a new layer about herself, secrets that she was so wise to keep that he hadn’t noticed throughout the time they were together. She was part of a gang. It was the way she was able to gain the money needed in case she wanted to help her family and also to be able to build the life she wanted for herself.

Alaya didn’t ask him to join the club, at least not so literally, but she gave him an opening, and there was nothing in this world that Ezrak wouldn’t do for her. And, in his point of view, it’d give him the chance of being around her, protect her and learn more about this side of Alaya that was brand new for him. With that, he didn’t give up on the idea of marriage and she finally offered the ‘yes’ he so wanted to hear. And with that, he moved to Lancaster with her for good.

Ezrak was aware that he had to show his worth to her club, so they knew he’d be a good addition. He relied on his own loyalty to Alaya to make them understand that the same would be offered to them. Besides, with his graduation in Economics, he was in the hopes of being able to work alongside Alaya once he finally reached enough time in the Wild Coyotes to earn the position.

Despite being in the middle of his path and still unable to become a collector, he was offered the good news that made him happier than Ezrak ever thought he could be: Alaya was pregnant with their first child. It took a couple of months for Ezrak to see his perspective of a strong person being shattered and changed by someone who needed his help more than usual. Life is fragile and Alaya wasn’t an exception to this rule. It was supposed to be an evening of celebrations, celebrating their anniversary and counting the days until the moment everyone would meet their child and their family would only grow bigger. But the news that reached him was that Alaya was rushed to the hospital for different reasons other than going through labor.

The next time his dark eyes landed on the doctor that was taking care of Alaya, it was only to hear the bad news, to lose the strength he had. Alaya didn’t make it, neither did their baby. The pain that emanated from him, echoed in the hallway of the hospital. Grief climbed on top of his shoulders and hasn’t left that position for the past five years.

The information about what happened to her was borderline frightening; the subtleness that it could’ve been because of the Wild Coyotes, or that it was merely an accident. It drove him insane that none of the information offered was concrete enough to give him the exact answer of what could've happened to the love of his life.

Becoming a collector, like Alaya used to be, was almost his own way of being closer to his wife and all the memories still collected within his brain. Ezrak knew he could’ve left if he wanted to, run away to Bursa and pretend that this nightmare could remain back in the United States. But despite years passing by, vengeance became part of his blood and with everything that had happened to the club; the retaliation and all the violence contained in the altercation between clubs, caused him to stay. In the end he wasn’t wrong about saying he was a good addition and that he was loyal.

Despite not working fully as a professor the past few years, he tries to give a few classes here and there for the sake of being able to say where his income was coming from.

Everyone can sense a difference in him throughout those years; at least, in case they’ve known Ezrak his entire life. It’s easy to notice how he’s no longer the joyful young man he used to be, often quite hardly sharing his life with others. Mostly, Ezrak focuses on the fact that life goes on. That it’s pointless to assume that simply because someone is gone time will stop for grief. It never does and it never will.

[thestickypost]

Pakistan handed over the names of Turkish asylum seekers under UNHCR to Erdogan: Report

Pakistan handed over the names of Turkish asylum seekers under UNHCR to Erdogan: Report

In what can be called a blatant breach of UN regulations, the government of Pakistan is said to have handed over confidential information to Turkey about Turks affiliated with the Gülen movement, who had sought protection status with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Islamabad, a report in Nordic Monitor has stated. A number of Turks associated with the Gülen movement reportedly seek asylum in…

[mclting]

“Suddenly the clouds have opened up and I'm being seen in all of my glory. The time has come for fate to decide if a part of me is even worthy.”

.♡    — BASICS.

» Name: Ezrak Aziz Gülen » Nickname(s): Ez » Age / Birth / Zodiac: 30 years old / November 3rd / Scorpio » Place of Birth: Bursa, Turkey » Residence: Lancaster, USA » Gender: Cis Man — He/him » Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual » Occupation: Political Economy Professor — Collector (The Wild Coyotes) » Language(s) Spoken: English, Spanish and Turkish

.♡    — PERSONALITY.

» Positive Traits: Meticulous, analytical, intuitive » Negative Traits: Worrier, impatient, fiery » Goals/Desires: To find purpose to continue living and eventually get reveange.  » Likes: Long road trips on his bike, boxing, routine, reading books to increase his knowledge, listen to r&b, rap and hip-hop » Dislikes: People that treat others poorly, canceling plans at the last minute, being late without a plausible reason for it to happen, being interrupted

.♡    — FAMILY.

» Father: Devrim Gülen  » Mother: Irmak Gülen » Wife: Alaya Adlawan-Gülen (deceased) » Pet(s): —

.♡    — BIOGRAPHY.

tw: death mention

The worst part about falling in love is knowing time is your greatest enemy and, eventually, you’ll lose them. Ezrak got to figure that out when he least expected; cruel hands of time would carve in him sadness in its most painful form. However, before that experience would be part of his journey in life, Ezrak would mostly appreciate the beautiful moments in life. Although he wasn’t old enough to remember where he was born back in Bursa, he had his parents to offer stories about it since most of his entire life happened inside the city of Phoenix. 

While he was a child, Ezrak had nothing to complain about, an easy person to befriend, a curious being always ready to offer questions to whoever was willing to listen to him. Ezrak was a light in his family’s house.

While going through adolescence, Ezrak was mostly forming his personality, allowing himself to reach popularity easily and once he finally graduated and headed to college, he met the woman that would become the love of his life. The young adult years provided him the chance of meeting Alaya; someone that he had never seen before and yet, once he did, his mind couldn’t travel elsewhere but to the image of her. And while it took some time to cause her to accept going on a date with him, eventually she accepted it. And it was simply like they’d been made for each other.

Ezrak knew he had found the one. They balanced each other out, a strong girl that turned into an amazing woman. And when all the goodbyes, as the end of the weekend would approach, made it hard to be apart from her and wanting to share a home would suffice ending such distance, Ezrak proposed to her. 

That was the first moment, he understood that life wasn’t as beautiful as he painted it to be. A new perspective was offered once with teary eyes Alaya offered a new layer about herself, secrets that she was so wise to keep that he hadn’t noticed throughout the time they were together. She was part of a gang. It was the way she was able to gain the money needed in case she wanted to help her family and also to be able to build the life she wanted for herself.

Alaya didn’t ask him to join the club, at least not so literally, but she gave him an opening, and there was nothing in this world that Ezrak wouldn’t do for her. And, in his point of view, it’d give him the chance of being around her, protect her and learn more about this side of Alaya that was brand new for him. With that, he didn’t give up on the idea of marriage and she finally offered the ‘yes’ he so wanted to hear. And with that, he moved to Lancaster with her for good.

Ezrak was aware that he had to show his worth to her club, so they knew he’d be a good addition. He relied on his own loyalty to Alaya to make them understand that the same would be offered to them. Besides, with his graduation in Economics, he was in the hopes of being able to work alongside Alaya once he finally reached enough time in the Wild Coyotes to earn the position. 

Despite being in the middle of his path and still unable to become a collector, he was offered the good news that made him happier than Ezrak ever thought he could be: Alaya was pregnant with their first child. It took a couple of months for Ezrak to see his perspective of a strong person being shattered and changed by someone who needed his help more than usual. Life is fragile and Alaya wasn’t an exception to this rule. It was supposed to be an evening of celebrations, celebrating their anniversary and counting the days until the moment everyone would meet their child and their family would only grow bigger. But the news that reached him was that Alaya was rushed to the hospital for different reasons other than going through labor.

The next time his dark eyes landed on the doctor that was taking care of Alaya, it was only to hear the bad news, to lose the strength he had. Alaya didn’t make it, neither did their baby. The pain that emanated from him, echoed in the hallway of the hospital. Grief climbed on top of his shoulders and hasn’t left that position for the past five years.

The information about what happened to her was borderline frightening; the subtleness that it could’ve been because of the Wild Coyotes, or that it was merely an accident. It drove him insane that none of the information offered was concrete enough to give him the exact answer of what could've happened to the love of his life.

Becoming a collector, like Alaya used to be, was almost his own way of being closer to his wife and all the memories still collected within his brain. Ezrak knew he could’ve left if he wanted to, run away to Bursa and pretend that this nightmare could remain back in the United States. But despite years passing by, vengeance became part of his blood and with everything that had happened to the club; the retaliation and all the violence contained in the altercation between clubs, caused him to stay. In the end he wasn’t wrong about saying he was a good addition and that he was loyal.

Despite not working fully as a professor the past few years, he tries to give a few classes here and there for the sake of being able to say where his income was coming from. 

Everyone can sense a difference in him throughout those years; at least, in case they’ve known Ezrak his entire life. It’s easy to notice how he’s no longer the joyful young man he used to be, often quite hardly sharing his life with others. Mostly, Ezrak focuses on the fact that life goes on. That it’s pointless to assume that simply because someone is gone time will stop for grief. It never does and it never will.

.♡    — HEADCANONS.

To be written.

.♡    — CONNECTION IDEAS.

For more information, check the link: here.

[xtruss]

US-Turkey relations at critical crossroads: what’s behind Erdogan’s threat to shutter Incirlik Air Base?

"If they are threatening us with the implementation of these sanctions, of course, we will be retaliating," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

December 16, 2019

US C-17A Globemaster III aircraft flies over a minaret after taking off from Incirlik air base, 2015

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to close a vital airbase used by American forces, he wasn’t bluffing, and Washington should take his threats at face value, or risk losing a NATO ally, analysts say.

The Turkish leader announced on Sunday that Incirlik Air Base - a vital hub for US and NATO forces stationed in the Middle East - could close its doors if US lawmakers press ahead with sanctioning Turkey for its acquisition of the Russian-made S-400 air defense system.

Incirlik is not a backwater airstrip, the kind the United States utilizes for its drone missions in Africa, for example. Instead it’s a massive base in Adana, a city of 1.7 million people. Here, just 250km from the Syrian border, nearly 5,000 US airmen are stationed, as well as several hundred Turkish airmen. More than 50 hardened aircraft shelters hide American jets, while the base also hosts an estimated 50 American nukes.

Erdogan has also threatened to close the Kurecik Radar Station, an isolated facility on a scorched hill in southeastern Turkey that performs a vital function as an early warning against ballistic missile attacks.

His threats are serious ones, but not unexpected. Rather they’re the latest round in an ongoing match of diplomatic swordplay between Washington and Ankara. For the US, the stakes in this game are high. If Congress pushes ahead with its vendetta against Ankara, the US risks burning its bridges with its NATO ally, and pushing Erdogan closer to regional players like Russia and Iran.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses lawmakers

Don’t test Erdogan

Whatever course Washington ultimately decides upon, it would be unwise to assume that the Turkish strongman is simply bluffing, Yusuf Erim, a political analyst at TRT World, told RT.

Erdogan always follows through on what he says and we need to take him verbatim. If the US imposes sanctions on Turkey, it will have a boomerang effect and judging from the Turkish President's rhetoric, Congress' actions could cost the US two key bases in Turkey

He stressed that such an extreme measure would only be seriously considered as a reaction to new policies or legislation imposed by Washington. However, if sanctions are imposed, it could trigger a “snowball” effect, sending US-Turkey relations into a nosedive.

Erdogan's previous decisions have shown he can be taken at his word. The Turkish president earned the scorn of his NATO allies for pressing ahead with the S-400 deal and defied Washington’s threats to take delivery of the Russian missiles in July. That delivery saw Turkey booted out of the F-35 fighter jet program, but not even expulsion from the F-35 project, nor a face-to-face meeting with President Donald Trump last month, could convince Erdogan to reverse course.

US-Turkey relations at critical crossroads: what’s behind Erdogan’s threat to shutter Incirlik Air Base?

US A-10 Thunderbolt II fighter jets (foreground) are pictured at Incirlik airbase

Clashing policies in Washington

As well as clashing with Erdogan over Russian missiles and far-flung airbases, Washington is at odds with itself over how to handle the wily Turkish leader.

Apart from considering sanctions targeting Ankara’s purchase of S-400 systems, the US Senate passed a resolution on Thursday recognizing the Armenian Genocide, ethnic cleansing purportedly carried out in the early 20th century by Ottoman Turkey which killed roughly 1.5 million people. Ankara’s official position is that the genocide never took place, and any deaths took place as part of the first world war. The move has further enraged Erdogan, who has hinted at a resolution of his own – which would recognize the genocide of indigenous people in the United States.

These measures were passed without the input of President Trump, who has adopted a more convivial attitude toward Ankara. “I like Turkey,” he said at a NATO summit earlier this month. “And I get along very well with the president. He is a very good member of NATO, or will be.”

Hüseyin Bağci, Professor and Chair of the International Relations department at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, noted that Turkey has received mixed signals from Washington, exacerbating already-strained bilateral relations.

“We have to differentiate between American institutions and the American president. [Trump] is very close to [Erdogan]. But the American institutions follow different policies – Congress, as well as the Pentagon and the State Department.”

While the tone coming from Washington could be described as mixed, all parties involved clearly understand that “losing” Turkey would not be in America’s best interests, Bağci said. Yet even Trump’s allies in the Republican party signed on to both the genocide resolution and the sanctions bill. Unless Washington can get its story straight, and Congress take a new line, losing Turkey may become a reality.

Donald Trump greets Tayyip Erdogan after a joint news conference at the White House.

Ankara’s delicate balancing act

The game of chicken between Washington and Ankara highlights the wildly fluctuating relationship between the two countries, according to Valeria Giannotta, an Italian academic at the University of Turkish Aeronautical Association in Ankara.

“The arm wrestling with Washington is not something new, we have been witnessing this up and down in the bilateral relations for quite a long time,” Giannotta told RT, citing US support for the Syrian Kurds, as well as the Obama administration’s refusal to hand over Erdogan’s arch-enemy, Fetullah Gülen.

Even if US troops remain in Incirlik, the two countries seem to be drifting apart on key foreign policy issues. Ankara shares a special relationship with Iran, for example, and views the Islamic Republic as an economic partner – a position which flies in the face of Washington’s unilateral sanctions and calls for regime change.

After inking the S-400 deal with Moscow, Turkey now sees that pursuing its own interests – while trying to appease Washington – may no longer be possible. If the United States isn’t careful, its showdown with Erdogan could end up fracturing a decades-old alliance.

—RT

[alexsmitposts]

BC: The Collapse of Rome: Washington’s $6.5 trillion Black Hole BC stands for NEO’s Banned Classic. This article was originally published by our journal on 22.08.16 For some reason, this article is missing from Google search results. Since this article remains pretty relevant to those geopolitical events that are taking place on the geopolitical stage today, we deem it possible to present it to our readers once again. Should it go missing again, you may be confident that you will see it republished by NEO once more, should it still remain relevant by that time. Students of history will find eerie but quite predictable parallels between the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 4th Century AD and the collapse of America’s global hegemony today. Not only has the choice of political so-called leaders become the near-exclusive province of big money patriarchs and their corporate interests. The choice of politicians voters are offered is worse than abysmal. As President Barack Obama tries every sneaky trick in the book to ram through a hugely unpopular Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade corporate scam, a report has emerged that there is a staggering $6.5 trillion of US taxpayer dollars that cannot be properly accounted for by standard good accounting methods. That’s trillion, not million, not billion, but trillion. That is almost 40% of the annual USA Gross Domestic Product. Missing in action… The Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the agency that provides finance and accounting services for the Pentagon’s civilian and military members, has just revealed that it cannot provide adequate documentation for $6.5 trillion worth of “adjustments” to Army general fund transactions and data. According to a report released July 26 by the by the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense, US military budget practices are out of control. The report notes, “The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Financial Management & Comptroller) (OASA[FM&C]) and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service Indianapolis (DFAS Indianapolis) did not adequately support $2.8 trillion in third quarter journal voucher (JV) adjustments and $6.5 trillion in year-end JV adjustments made to AGF data during FY 2015 financial statement compilation. The unsupported JV adjustments occurred because OASA (FM&C) and DFAS Indianapolis did not prioritize correcting the system deficiencies that caused errors resulting in JV adjustments, and did not provide sufficient guidance for supporting system-generated adjustments.” (emphasis added) “Journal vouchers” provide serial numbers, transaction dates and the amount of the expenditure, not so complicated, or? This is no minor book-keeping bureaucratic snafu. It exposes the rampant corruption at the heart of the world’s largest military Leviathan, the Pentagon. The Pentagon report goes on to declare, “In addition, DFAS Indianapolis did not document or support why the Defense Departmental Reporting System-Budgetary (DDRS-B), a budgetary reporting system, removed at least 16,513 of 1.3 million records during third quarter FY2015…the data used to prepare the FY2015 AGF third quarter and year-end financial statements were unreliable and lacked an adequate audit trail.” (emphasis added) Translated into plain English, the US Army–and that’s only one branch of the US Armed Forces–destroyed accounting documents, did not provide an audit trail for accountability of funds allocated by Congress, and made apparently arbitrary, unverifiable accounting year-end adjustments that made it look like the books balanced, adjustments of $6.5 trillion worth. In other words they not only cooked the books, they Dixie-fried them, as in…trillion…trillion…trillion… Interesting to know there are two mammoth institutions with government ties or government agencies which never have submitted to an independent audit. One is the privately-owned but Government linked and supposedly Congressionally monitored (hardly) Federal Reserve. The second institution never to have been audited is the Pentagon. Never. The day before September 11, 2001 then US Defense Secretary Rumsfeld announced, “According to some estimates, we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions.” The story vanished the next day in the panic of 911 events. Finally, under the pressures of exploding Federal Budget deficits, Congress demanded that the Army achieve “audit readiness,” for the first time ever, by Sept. 30, 2017. No one in Washington believes that will happen. The corruption, falsification, probable fraud and embezzlement is so huge and so endemic that it will destroy any effort at transparency, buried under the cover of bureaucratic ineptitude. It’s symptomatic of the rot of Washington and a nation that only a few decades ago held a tradition of honesty and integrity in public service. If we want to give a name to a faceless bureaucracy responsible for accurate reporting of that unaccountable $6.5 trillion, his current name is Colonel (retired) Robert M. Speer, Assistant Secretary of the Army Financial Management and Comptroller, formerly with PwC, one of the mega accounting firms. Presumably he understands how to do basic accounting. Whom the gods would destroy… The title of my latest book is The Lost Hegemon: Whom the gods would destroy. It refers to the fact that the boring old patriarchs, let’s call them BOPs, such as D. Rockefeller or G. Soros or W. Buffett–oligarchs whose so-called power is based on the popular delusion that they have real power, a funny kind of hypnosis or mass delusion we nurture–that their ability to push their globalist one world fascist agenda is failing. It’s failing everywhere, whether in their use of Islam as with Fethullah Gülen in Turkey’s recently failed US coup attempt, or in their ISIS/Al Qaeda terror war against Syria to gain control of the oil and gas of the region. Or they have failed in their effort to isolate Russia or encircle China in the South China Sea. It recalls the final days of the Roman Empire which collapsed during the Fourth Century AD not from foreign invasion, but from internal moral rot and corruption. The roots of the decline and ultimate collapse of the Roman Empire, in its day also the world’s sole superpower, lay in the political decision by a ruling aristocracy, more accurately, an oligarchy of wealth, boring old patriarchs of that day, to extend the bounds of empire through wars of conquest and plunder of foreign lands. They did so to feed their private wealth and personal power, not to the greater good of the state. The economic model of the Empire of Rome was based on the plunder of conquered territories. As the empire expanded, it installed remote military garrisons to maintain control and increasingly relied on foreign mercenaries to man those garrisons. In the process of military expansionism the peasantry, the heart of the empire, became impoverished. Small farmers were bankrupted and forced to flee to Rome to attempt a living as proletarians, wage laborers. They had no voting rights or other citizen rights. In the eyes of the rich, they were simply the ‘mob’ that could be bought, manipulated, and directed to attack an opponent; they were the ‘demos,’ the masses, the public. Roman ‘democracy’ was all about mass manipulation in the service of empire. The once independent farmers were forced to leave their farms, often for years, to fight foreign wars of conquest. The south of Italy was devastated as one result. Those with money were able to buy land as the only stable investment, becoming huge latifundistas or landowners. That led to the concentration of land in a few hands, and the land in turn was worked by slaves captured in wars of conquest. Small farmer-held farms were gradually replaced by those huge latifundia, bought for booty, and the gap between the rich and the poor increased. When the two brothers Gracchus tried in the second century AD to ease the growing gap between rich and the rest by introducing agriculture reforms that limited the powers of the wealthy Senators, they were assassinated by the men of wealth. Today D. Rockefeller is one of the biggest farmland owners in America, receiving millions in taxpayer dollars as subsidy to boot. The government of Imperial Rome didn’t have a proper budget system. They too squandered resources maintaining the empire while itself producing little of value. When the spoils from conquered territories were no longer enough to cover expenses, they turned to higher taxes, shifting the burden of the immense military structure onto the citizenry. Higher taxes forced many more small farmers to let their land go barren. To distract its citizens from the worsening conditions, the Roman ruling oligarch politicians handed out free wheat to the poor and entertained them with circuses, chariot races, throwing Christians to the lions and other entertainments, the notorious “bread and circuses” strategy of keeping unrest at bay. The next fundamental change that mortally wounded the Roman Empire was the shift from a draft army made up of citizen farmer soldiers to one of paid professional career soldiers as the ever-more distant wars became more unpopular. It was not unlike what took place in America in the years after the Vietnam War when President Nixon abolished the draft in favor of an “all volunteer” Army, after the popular anti-war protest became a threat to the future agendas of the military. As conditions for Roman soldiers in faraway wars became more onerous, more incentives were needed to staff the legions. Limiting of military service to citizens was dropped and Roman citizenship could be won in exchange for military service, not unlike what is taking place now as immigrant youth are being promised US citizenship if they risk their lives for America’s wars in Afghanistan, Iraq or elsewhere. The revelation of a $6.5 trillion Army bookkeeping disaster is but a symptom. A Presidential race pitting Democrat Hillary Clinton against Republican Donald Trump is but a symptom. A nation that spends on wars everywhere in the world while ignoring its domestic infrastructure decay whose proper rehabilitation would cost an estimated $3.6 trillion, merely half of what the US Army cannot account for is, sadly, destined to collapse. Unless of course the American people get disgusted with the Sodom and Gomorrah that today is Washington, and begin to act outside the matrix.