Time for Plan B: Europe Must Not Be Blackmailed by Islamist Turkey.

Time for Plan B: Europe Must Not Be Blackmailed by Islamist Turkey. (Spiegel).

After agreeing to help the European Union control the flow of migrants heading north, the Turkish government now feels empowered to use the deal as leverage. Europe must now find an alternative to its agreement with Ankara, lest it subject itself to blackmail.

To be sure, there are good reasons to grant Turks a visa waiver. But right now, it's especially important that Europe insist Ankara first meet the criteria the EU has determined necessary for that waiver to happen. That includes a reform of Turkey's anti-terror laws, which the government has been using to imprison political opponents without due process.

The EU must not let itself be blackmailed by Erdogan, whose autocratic tendencies became visible once again during the last few weeks.

Turkey is in a dangerous state of crisis after last month's failed coup. Europe -- correctly -- condemned the attempted takeover by parts of the army, and now it must work to ensure that Erdogan returns to the rule of law.

Turkish democracy is endangered by the post-coup purge, which included the dismissals and arrests of tens of thousands of lawyers, judges, journalists and members of the military. At the same time, an anti-Western sentiment has taken root in Turkish politics and society. The government in Ankara wrongly accuses Europe and the United States of not condemning the coup strongly enough or of secretly having supported it. This type of thinking is what spawned the threat to scuttle the refugee deal.

As long as things remain this way, there's only one option: The EU must use European funds to build refugee camps in Greece and Italy, where asylum applications can then be processed. This would, however, be a massive burden for the affected countries. At the same time, leaders of the EU member states need to create more opportunities for legal entry for asylum-seekers and compel at least some EU countries to accept refugees.

These are indeed depressing prospects, but the truth is that morally, it's not better to keep sending Ankara billions of euros in order to keep migrants in Turkey rather than accommodating them on European soil -- especially not when doing so puts you at the mercy of a man whose country could itself soon be the source of the next wave of political refugees. Hmmm.....You don't negotiation with terrorists or blackmailers. Read the full story here.

#Turkey to Decline Migrant (Blackmail) Deal With #EU Unless Bloc Sets Date of Visa Lifting: https://t.co/vgSITGerWi pic.twitter.com/4b9VC4wml8

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) August 9, 2016

'quid pro quo': Merkel Needs Erdogan to Stay in Power.

'quid pro quo': Merkel Needs Erdogan to Stay in Power. (SP).

Germany shuts its eyes to the mass killings of the Kurds in southeastern Turkey, the illegal oil trade and Turkey's collaboration with Daesh terrorists, hoping that the Turkish President will help Europe to reduce the inflow of migrants, German newspaper Handelsblatt wrote.

Germany is silently watching the brutal war in Turkey, relying on the promise of Erdogan to provide assistance to refugees at the Turkish-Syrian border. However, the Turkish president uses the refugee issue in his own interests, being involved in the illegal oil trade with Daesh militants.

"Erdogan has created his own trump card to prevent Europe's intervention — the refugees," the article said. The Turkish President takes advantage of the trust of European countries, and is "smoothly waging the dirty war" in his own country, which again results in the new flows of migrants fleeing the south-eastern parts of the country amid increased violence. Read the full story here. 

Obama's BFF Turkey offers pipelines to Cyprus, Israel, Iraq.

Obama's BFF Turkey offers pipelines to Cyprus, Israel, Iraq.(HD).

Energy-hungry Turkey has offered to cooperate with its oil and gas-rich southern neighbors for the exploration and transportation of their hydrocarbon products to world markets via Turkey. It has particularly called out to Israel and Cyprus, which recently had problems over the legality of the licenses issued for petroleum exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.

“Israeli officials, local officials in Greek Cyprus and representatives of the TRNC [Turkish Republic of the Northern Cyprus], they have all agreed on one reality: The natural gas to be produced from this region will get its utmost feasibility by a pipeline that will pass through Turkey. All relevant figures prove this idea,” Energy Minister Taner Yıldız told the Hürriyet Daily News in a comprehensive interview outlining the Turkish government’s energy policies regarding oil and gas reserves of its southern neighbors.

Yıldız held substantial meetings with acting Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman and U.S. President Barack Obama’s special envoy for energy issues Carlos Pascual last week in Washington.
The meetings were crucially important as the two allies found themselves on opposite sides on a number of issues related to Baghdad-Ankara tension over the latter’s growing interest in making deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government and to the Turkey-Cyprus quarrel over the Greek Cypriot government’s ambitious moves for oil exploration in the disputed areas of the Mediterranean.

Although Yıldız underlines that Turkey appears to be the best route for these countries to flow their products to world markets, he is doing his best to show that Turkey is not in a position to abuse its geographical advantage in its potential talks with its neighbors.

“Turkey does not say ‘Well, you are obliged to pass through our territories, so let’s talk over this.’ It adopts a very realistic approach,” he said. “Instead,” Yıldız continued, “Turkey says it’s open to any sort of projects with the accomplishment of political stability in the region.”

The involvement of foreign energy companies from many western countries including the United States makes the situation a little more complicated as Turkey said it would not allow those companies operating on the island to do business in its territories.

Yıldız said he made clear to his American counterparts the Turkish position regarding Greek Cyprus’s operations and underlined that “We have seen that not only our correctness but also our rightfulness is being confirmed [by the U.S.].”

When it comes to cooperating with Israel on its energy projects, Yıldız drew attention to the fact that first there was a need for political feasibility to talk about these projects’ technical feasibility. The minister recalled that there were signs of this political feasibility after Israel apologized to Turkey but he wanted to underline that these projects could never be presented as the reasons for this apology. “They may well be the consequences of this apology,” he stressed. Hmmmm.... I thought Jews were supposed to be smart people, which Jew on Earth would trust Turkey to allow Israeli gas trough their pipeline?As i said before 'Israel has been 'discussed' a lot between Obama and Erdogan during his visit.Read the full story here.

US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's son, Sam on Egypt “no-fly” list says could face jail time

American on Egypt “no-fly” list says could face jail time.(BM).CAIRO: The director of the Egypt unit of the International Republican Institute (IRI) in Cairo said he fears he could be jailed for up to five years after being barred from leaving the country earlier this month.Sam LaHood, the son of US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and a number of other Americans were banned from leaving Egypt little over a week ago and told Fox News that they believe they could go on trial and face jail time.
The younger LaHood told Fox News via telephone on Friday that an Egyptian judge claims he, along with the other Americans stopped, worked for an unregistered non-governmental organization and took a salary.“We’re kind of expecting the worst,” LaHood said.“There hasn’t been a lot of movement nothing has really changed.“If it does go to trial, a trial could last up to one year in a case that’s as wide-ranging as this one is. But the penalty for that is six months to five years in jail so these are very serious charges.”
For its part, the White House demanded that Egypt “immediately” lift the travel ban on Americans.
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said top officials including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have gotten involved. She said the administration so far knows of “four or five specific cases” where Americans have tried to leave and “had difficulties.”“We are urging the government of Egypt to lift these restrictions immediately and allow folks to come home as soon as possible,” she said, later adding: “Frankly, we don’t know how this is going to come out yet.”
According to the statement from the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), the employees of the organizations are now under investigation by the public prosecutor.“The storming of NGO offices is an unprecedented move in the recent history of Egyptian NGOs. In February 2011, during the 18 days Egyptian revolution, Military Police have stormed the office of Hisham Mubarak Law Center (an Egyptian NGO based in Cairo) and arrested several of its members as well as staff members of other international organizations that were present at the scene,” the statement continued.Hmmmmm........Ever heard of "Jiiza Tax"or 'blackmail'?Read the full story here.

Update: Egypt plans to send delegation to U.S. as NGO tensions mount.(AlArabiya).An Egyptian military delegation plans to visit the United States next week in talks over future of U.S. aid to Egypt, American officials said on Friday.The delegation is set to meet with state department and Pentagon officials and hold talks on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers will soon consider a new request for aid to Egypt’s military.U.S. aid currently amounts to $1.3 billion per year, one official told Reuters news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The visit comes after Egypt’s military-led authorities pounced on non-governmental organizations, including several funded by the U.S. government, and slapped travel bans on six American staffers including a son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former congressman.The six U.S. citizens work with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and International Republican Institute (IRI).
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said American officials were pressing Egyptian authorities the crackdown, which she described as “bizarre.” The Americans have demanded that Egypt lift travel restrictions placed on a number of foreign NGO staffers.“We do not have progress since yesterday, I am sorry to report,” Nuland said.Political analysts say the crackdown, along with questions over Egypt’s Emergency Law and security forces’ treatment of women protesters, has clouded the outlook for Egypt’s fledgling democracy following last year’s overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.
“The assertions of the Egyptian government in these cases are that they are subject to a judicial process which is not complete,” Nuland said. “Our message back is, ‘Complete these formalities and let our people travel as soon as possible.’“Officials said a detailed Washington schedule for the Egyptian visit was still being worked out, adding that it was a regular staff delegation that was coming at a moment of high tension in the U.S.-Egypt relationship.
Other political sources said the Egyptians were expected to discuss the NGO issue on Capitol Hill, where a number of senators have warned the Egyptians that U.S. aid was at stake if action against the NGOs continues.“Continued restriction of their activities and harassment of international and Egyptian staff will be looked at with great concern, particularly in light of Egypt’s considerable U.S. assistance,” 11 senators said in a letter to Egyptian Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi dated Jan. 18.

President Barack Obama spoke with Tantawi on 20 January and stressed the importance of the NGOs, as well as Egypt’s deteriorating economic situation and its request for $3.2 billion in support from the International Monetary Fund.Hmmmm......Negociating 'blackmail 101' with the Cairo 'mob'.Read the full story here.