"Freedom of Movement?" - Turkish union members now need extra visa for travel abroad

"Freedom of Movement?" - Turkish union members now need extra visa for travel abroad. (RD).

The Turkish Union of Engineers’ and Architects’ Chambers (TMMOB) have been a driving force behind social movements in the last couple of years.

Starting with the Gezi Park protests, TMMOB has been well known by almost everyone in Turkey as well as many people outside of Turkey.

The AKP government has been uneasy about the union’s activities, mainly because it has been the main civil society actor in countering the unlawful attempts of the government (such as the third bridge, northern highway, third airport, Gezi Park, etc.)

Over the past two years, government has prepared several draft laws to prevent activities of TMMOB and limit civil society’s involvement in “development plans” of the country. 

The union which consists of technocrats of technical fields prepare and distribute reports on feasibility and sustainability of the plans, and criticize them openly. This being seen as a political stand by the government, has drawn attention at an even greater scale.

The government must be so worried of the union’s international visits in professional circles that they have prepared a new regulation to limit union members’ free travel rights.

Official Paper has cited a new regulation on 24th December saying that members of TMMOB and other chambers will be required to apply for exit-visa to Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation, 15 days prior to their participation in an international event.

Upon this request, the ministry will consult to other ministries and ask for opinions whether to allow citizens to travel abroad or not. If the application is not found sufficient or appropriate, the exit-visa will be denied.

On another note, all Turkish citizens are already subject to exit-visas from ministry of internal affairs, which comes as an automatic fee of 15TL ($7~) without applying beforehand, when leaving the country. Hmmmm......What's next Women asking permission to travel without their husband? Keep 'Islamist dictatorship' Turkey out of the European Union. Read the full story here.

Turkish teen accused of insulting Erdogan freed from custody.

#MehmetEmin is free. His mom: "I'm so proud of my son!" #turkey via @ilerihaber: http://t.co/S7DTrahl64 pic.twitter.com/aMpnOWaho7

— Capulcu Tonella (@diehimbeertonis) December 26, 2014

Turkish teen accused of insulting Erdogan freed from custody. (CNS).

A teenager was released from custody on Friday after his arrest for allegedly insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan caused uproar in the country.

The 16-year old student, identified by his initials M.E.A, was taken away from his school on Wednesday and jailed for making a speech during a student protest in which he reportedly said Erdogan was regarded as the "thieving owner of the illegal palace."

A court in the central Turkish city of Konya agreed to free the boy from police custody on Friday, after dozens of lawyers volunteered to defend him and petitioned for his release.

Dogan news agency footage of his release showed the boy being embraced by his mother as he walked through the gates of a detention center. Dozens of his supporters sang and beat a drum in celebration.Read the full story here.

Next hearing in #AliİsmailKorkmaz trial on January 21, 9.30h. #turkey #kayseri

— Capulcu Tonella (@diehimbeertonis) December 26, 2014

Turkey: Turns out that the judge arrested teen 4 insulting Prez Erdogan has a FB page&all pages he likes are of pro-gov media &AKP officials

— NOT MY... (@Meralink) December 26, 2014

Ten stories Turkey's Islamist leadership forbids reporting on.

Ten stories Turkey Islamist leadership forbids reporting on.(HD).

Turkey’s media organizations have been banned from reporting on a parliamentary inquiry into corruption allegations concerning four former ministers of Cabinet.

Although the ban is unprecedented for a parliamentary inquiry, over 150 gag orders have been issued regarding the investigations of prosecutors in the last four years, according to Hürriyet reporter Zeynep Gürcanlı. Here are 10 of them. Read the full story here.

Iranian Press TV Correspondent Accused of Spying Killed in car 'accident' in Turkey.

Iranian Press TV Correspondent Accused of Spying Killed in car 'accident' in Turkey. HT: IMRA.

TEHRAN (FNA - Fars news agency)- Press TV correspondent in Turkey Serena Shim, who was accused earlier this month by the Turkish Intelligence Ministry of spying - probably due to her coverage of Ankara’s stance on ISIL atrocities in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani and the recent protests in Turkey - was killed in a car accident on Sunday.

The late Shim was in a passenger car with some other journalists and reporters when the incident took place. The latest reports said another passenger has also been badly hurt in the car accident.

Press TV said Shim has been killed near Turkey-Syria border. Shim was killed in car accident as she was returning from report scene, the English-language TV channel said.

As heavy clashes rage on in and around Kobani, the Ankara government is preventing some journalists from reporting the developments on the ground in the border region.

Press TV correspondent Serena Shim said on Friday that Ankara has accused her of spying probably due to some of the stories she has covered about Turkey’s stance on the ISIL terrorists in Kobani and its surroundings.

Shim said she was among the few journalists obtaining stories of militants infiltrating into Syria through the Turkish border, adding that she had received images from militants crossing the Turkish border into Syria in World Food Organization and other NGOs’ trucks.

“I think it’s definitely because of the reporting about Syria," Shim said, pointing to her reports about "the so-called Free Syrian Army going in [Syria] and catching these Takfiri militants and getting their passport stamps and getting first-hand information that they were actually inside while Turkey was still hiding this.”

The Turkish government alleges that “I am spying and that I am working with the Turkish opposition but it’s only logical that I would speak with the Turkish opposition just the same way I would speak with other parties … because that’s my job,” she added.

She flatly rejected accusations against her, saying she was “surprised” at this accusation “because I have nothing to hide and I have never done anything aside my job.”

Kobani and its surroundings have been under attack since mid-September, with the ISIL militants capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages.Turkey has been accused of backing ISIL militants in Syria. Hmmm........The woman who knew too much gets in to an convenient 'accident' 


Update: 

Turkey Refuses to Reveal Name of Suspect in Death of Press TV Reporter.(Fars).

Turkey’s Gendarmerie General Command (JGK) refused to reveal the identity of the driver involved in the suspicious incident that claimed the life of Press TV's correspondent Serena Shim in the country.

Press TV’s representative at the crash site said Turkish Gendarmerie refused to cooperate in the case, Press TV reported.

Serena Shim was killed on Sunday when her car collided with a heavy vehicle in Urfa province.

Shim’s family members said they did not believe their daughter died in a normal accident in Turkey.

They made the remarks during a visit by the news network’s Beirut Bureau team in Lebanon.

The family members refused to appear on camera, but said they suspected the Turkish authorities were somehow responsible for Serena’s death.

Her parents said they would pursue the matter legally.

An American citizen of Lebanese descent, Serena Shim covered many conflict zones around the world, including Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Ukraine.

She was on a mission on the Turkish side of the border across Syria’s strategic town of Kobani to cover the ongoing war there between the ISIL terrorists and Kurdish fighters.

Her car collided with a heavy vehicle upon return from a report scene in Suruç, a rural district of Şanlıurfa province of Turkey.

Shim had said she was among the few journalists who had obtained stories about Takfiri militants’ infiltration into Syria through the Turkish border, adding she had gained access to images showing militants crossing the border in trucks belonging to the World Food Organization and other NGOs. Hmmmm......What's the odds it would be IHH trucks involved in the 'other' NGO's?

#SerenaShim a journalist & mother of 2, killed in #Turkey ,lets show her the same respect we give to western journos pic.twitter.com/29ruap28Uv
— Hamid Farajollahi (@HamiFaraj) October 19, 2014