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Egypt’s journalists’ syndicate called for the dismissal of the interior minister and an immediate sit-in at its headquarters in downtown Cairo on Monday, to protest the police detention of two journalists on its premises the night earlier.

After an emergency meeting early Monday morning, the group called for the “open-ended” sit-in to run through a Wednesday general assembly meeting and World Press Freedom day on May 3.

It described the police’s entry into the building as a “raid by security forces whose blatant barbarism and aggression on the dignity of the press and journalists and their syndicate has surprised the journalistic community and the Egyptian people.” Some senior syndicate members have said the raid was heavy-handed, involving dozens of officers and resulted in a security guard being injured.

Police denied they entered the building by force and said only eight officers were involved, who they said were acting on an arrest warrant for the two journalists — who were accused of organizing protests to destabilize the country. Unauthorized demonstrations in Egypt are effectively banned.

“The Ministry of Interior affirms that it did not raid the syndicate or use any kind of force in arresting the two, who turned themselves in as soon as they were told of the arrest warrant,” the ministry said in a statement.

The two journalists, Amr Badr and Mahmoud el-Sakka, are government critics who work for a website known as January Gate, also critical of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s government.

It was unclear what size any sit-in at the syndicate could achieve; the area surrounding the building has been barricaded by police and dozens of officers backed by armed troops have been preventing entry at both ends of the street. Hundreds of undercover police have been deployed across central Cairo in order to prevent any protests.

A day earlier, police prevented hundreds of workers from holding a meeting at the building to commemorate International Workers’ Day, prompting independent trade union leaders to urge the government to allow them freedom of assembly.

The syndicate has invited the trade union leaders to join the sit-in to denounce the “raid” and protest restrictions on freedom of assembly for labor organizers. It said the move was illegal and violated its charter, which forbids police from entering the building without the presence of a syndicate official, and is urging police to end their “siege” of the building and stop preventing journalists from entering.

The journalists’ syndicate has been a rallying point for demonstrations in the past, and was blocked in a similar manner ahead of planned anti-government protests last Monday.

The building drew particular attention because it was from there that some 2,000 demonstrators gathered last month to protest el-Sissi’s decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. Police fired tear gas and arrested dozens to break up the protests, the first significant wave of street demonstrations since the former army chief became president in 2014.

A second round of mass demonstrations over the issue planned for last Monday were stifled by a massive security presence, with hundreds of arrests and only small flash mobs managing to assemble, drawing tear gas and birdshot from the riot police.

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Labour Day in Turkey was marred by bloody attacks against the police, street violence and arrests across Turkey.

Two attacks targeting the police took place in the southeast and one attack against civilians was averted in Ankara. Violent street fighting and arrests took place in Istanbul.

Two police officers died and 19 were wounded following a bomb blast in front of a police HQ in Gaziantep, southeast Turkey on Sunday. The powerful blast shuttered windows across the quarter.

The Chief Public Prosecutor soon imposed a media ban on pictures and video footage from the scene of the blast.

Also on Sunday, three Turkish soldiers were killed and 14 wounded in the border town of Nusaybin.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but it is linked with an ongoing conflict with the Kurdish minority since December 2015. Following the collapse of a two year long seize fire with the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), there is an ongoing conflict in southeast Turkey.

Meanwhile, 24,500 police officers patrolled the streets of Istanbul where violent clashes took place all Sunday.

Police in Ankara detained four suspects on Saturday evening, carrying Iraqi and Syrian passports. The men were trying to infiltrate the May 1st rally and the police believe they were planning an attack.

(CNN Turk, Anadolu, Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)

The post Labour Day in Turkey: bombings, riots, and street fighting appeared first on New Europe.

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The ALDE group organised and hosted a hearing on 27 April about the proposed EU Directive on Digital Content, named Contract for the Supply of Digital Content. The purpose of the hearing was to discuss and explain aspects of the proposed regulation on the Digital Single Market. The European Commission published two proposals on 9 December 2015 concerning digital content under the European Commission’s Impact Assessment.

The framework for this action is the strategy published in May 2015, called A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe. In this note, the Commission noted the need for “better access for consumers and businesses to online good and services”. The next phase should be the approved within the year, however is still not clear how exactly this law will work and what exactly it will cover.

The hearing of the ALDE group was called to try to clarify some of these aspects. The hearing was hosted by MEPs Antanas Gouga and Jean-Marie Cavada and had the opening remarks of Simona Constantin, Member of the Cabinet of Věra Jourová, DG of Consumers Right.

Constantin explained some of the main reasons behind regulating digital content at European level. She noted that digital content is fast growing area, with an estimated value of 9 to 11€ billion over the past 12 months. Currently 1 in 3 internet users enjoy digital content, however many experience problems related to access or terms and conditions and only 10% of the customers receive a remedy or a compensation for their problems.

In addition to this, Constantin noted how several Member States have already started to deploy their own national laws on the subject. However, each of this law is different from the other, potentially leading to confusion and overlapping. Thence, she concluded, the need for a more unified law at European level.

However, during the hearings, representatives of several different organisations questioned the panel over the exact extent of the measures. Most of the representatives were from different industries that would be potentially effected by the new law, like TV channels and videogames, and all of them asked whether or not their field was included or not in the new EU Directive on Digital Content, showing a degree of uncertainty in the scope and description of this new directive.

Some of the question may have been for very specific cases, however they shows how unclear the Commission and the Parliament worked on this issue. At the hearing it was explained that one principle was to look at future developments, trying to create something that will be valid in future as well, in a sector that moves at increased speed and with few certainties. Given that the Directive may not be approved before December, maybe the Commission should try to clarify more the content of the Directive, to avoid doubts and perplexities like the ones the arose during the hearing.

 

 

 

 

 

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Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla announced that Puerto Rico’s government will not make nearly $370 million in bond payments due Monday after a failure to restructure or find a political solution to the U.S. territory’s spiraling public debt crisis.

Garcia said Sunday that he had issued an executive order suspending payments on debt owed by the island’s Government Development Bank, a default that will likely prompt lawsuits from creditors and could be a prelude to a deadline to a much larger payment due July 1.

The governor said Puerto Rico can’t pay the bonds without cutting essential services. Governor Padilla is scheduled to address Puerto Rico’s 3.5 million people at 5 p.m. EST (2100 GMT).

Puerto Rico, a tropical paradise in an economic hell, faces a $70 billion debt bill it knows it cannot pay, a staggering 45 percent poverty rate and a shrinking population as its U.S. citizens flee to the mainland.

Island officials spent the weekend trying to negotiate a settlement that would have avoided the default but apparently came up short. The development comes as Congress has so far been unable to pass a debt restructuring bill for Puerto Rico.

“Let me be very clear, this was a painful decision,” Garcia said in a speech. “We would have preferred to have had a legal framework to restructure our debts in an orderly manner.”

The Government Development Bank had $422 million in payments due Monday. Puerto Rico will pay $22 million interest and it reached a deal Friday to restructure about $30 million, leaving it short $370 million.

The administration also will be paying about $50 million in other debt payments due Monday owed by various other territorial agencies.

Nearly all the bonds are held by a variety of U.S. hedge funds and mutual funds.

Garcia said Puerto Rico’s government could not make the payment without sacrificing basic necessities for the island’s 3.5 million residents, including keeping schools and public hospitals open.

“We will continue working to try to reach a consensual solution with our creditors,” he said. “That is one of our commitments. But what we will never do is put the lives and safety of our people in danger.”

Puerto Rico has been suffering through more than a decade of economic decline since Congress phased out tax cuts that had made the island a center for pharmaceutical and medical equipment manufacturing. Garcia’s predecessors and the island legislature borrowed heavily to cover over budget deficits, causing a debt spiral that has already prompted several smaller defaults.

Creditors have accused the government of exaggerating the crisis to avoid upcoming payments of more than $1 billion due July 1 that includes general obligation bonds, which are guaranteed by the constitution.

Economists have warned that a default of this magnitude could cause Puerto Rico to lose access to capital markets and make the situation worse as the government faces the much larger payment due July 1.

Garcia lashed out at Congress for failing to pass a bill that would create a control board to help manage the island’s $70 billion debt and to oversee some debt restructuring. He said it has been held up by “internal partisan and ideological divisions” in the House of Representatives.

The Congress is in recess until the week of May 9th. (with AP, Reuters)

The post Puerto Rico to default today appeared first on New Europe.

Welcome to Monday’s edition of our daily Brussels Briefing. To receive it every morning in your email in-box, sign up here.

Another big Brussels week on migration is upon us. The flow of migrant boats to Greek islands has almost stopped, but Brussels is only in the foothills of the political trek to make the Turkey deal stick and the EU asylum system work properly. The European Commission will try to chivvy the pace on Wednesday with three contentious initiatives on visas, borders and asylum rules.

1. An overhaul of the Dublin asylum system

This revamp of the EU’s asylum rules is well-flagged but still hot politics. A Commission discussion paper last month raised two main reform options – and we understand the final proposal will be a blend of the two. So the first EU country an asylum seeker enters would still handle their claim (a crucial Dublin principle for immigration-wary northern states and the UK). But if a frontline state receives 150 per cent more claims than its set asylum capacity, a quota system automatically kicks in to distribute migrants around Europe (which is more to the liking of Greece and Italy). It is a halfway house that leaves plenty for EU states to fight about. There is perhaps even some fodder for Brexit campaigners (the question of whether Britain can stay in Dublin but remain exempt from automatic burden sharing will not be answered in the proposal).

Read more

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The Turkish military has reportedly hit Islamic State positions in Syria with artillery and drone attacks, killing 63 militants.

The state-owned Anadolu Agency said Monday the strikes took out multiple rocket launchers and gun positions.

Four drones deployed from the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey took part in the operation and killed 29 militants. The remaining 34 IS fighters were “neutralized” by rockets and shelling from Turkey, according to the agency.

The AP was unable to immediately verify the report.

The offensive started on Sunday when four rockets fired from Syria hit the Turkish border town of Kilis and wounded eight people.

The wider province of Kilis borders territory contested by IS militants, anti-government Syrian rebels and Kurdish factions.

The Turkish army typically responds to fire from Syria in line with its rules of engagement.

In the past year, Turkey has also witnessed suicide bombings linked to the IS as well as attacks linked to Kurdish militants.

The latest came Sunday, when a car bomb detonated outside a police station in the southern city of Gaziantep, near Syria. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for that attack but anti-terrorism units raided 20 Gaziantep addresses overnight in search for suspects.

The post Turkey hits Islamic State group in Syria, dozens killed appeared first on New Europe.

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Two men and a woman were charged in London for their involvement in the logistical support of the terrorist cell that realized the Paris and Brussels attacks.

All three defendants lived in the Small Heath area in Birmingham. Two more men have been arrested but not as yet charged.

Mohammed Ali Ahmed, 26, is a British national; Zakaria Boufassil, 26, and his sister Soumaya, 29, are Belgians. They were charged on Friday for collecting and delivering funds for the Brussels and Paris attacks.

The two men handed over Mohamed Abrini £3,000 (€3,800) in November 2015, ahead of the Paris attacks. Abrini, 31, was the “man in the hat” spotted alongside the two suicide bombers on March 22 in the Brussels airport.

Boufassil’s sister, Soumaya, 29, mother of four, was charged for collecting money for terrorist purposes. Mrs Boufassil had withdrawn £16,000 (£20.000) from three bank accounts in what is thought to be an attempt to make a run for Syria.

The Birmingham-three trial begins on May 13th in London.

A fourth man, Fazal Sajjad Younis Khan, 40, also from the same quarter in Birmingham has been arrested on possession of a CS spray. A 59-year year old was apprehended and later released on strict bail.

All five were apprehended in the evening of April 14-15

(AFP, France 24, The Telegraph, The Guardian)

The post Paris attacks support network charged in London appeared first on New Europe.

General : An upgrade of the EU lobbyist register is in the works after the European Commission launched a public consultation on switching from voluntary to mandatory registration for anyone interested in speaking to EU institutions to influence their work. EP Vice-President Sylvie Guillaume holds a debate with experts together with Commission’s First Vice-President Frans Timmermans on 2 May at 15.00 CET in Parliament’s premises in Brussels. Follow it online and watch our video to learn more.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : An upgrade of the EU lobbyist register is in the works after the European Commission launched a public consultation on switching from voluntary to mandatory registration for anyone interested in speaking to EU institutions to influence their work. EP Vice-President Sylvie Guillaume holds a debate with experts together with Commission’s First Vice-President Frans Timmermans on 2 May at 15.00 CET in Parliament’s premises in Brussels. Follow it online and watch our video to learn more.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : Plans to set up a mandatory EU lobbying register are discussed by MEPs and stakeholders on Monday. The next day Parliament President Martin Schulz is in Aachen to award the 2016 European Charlemagne Youth Prize and on Sunday the Parliament opens its doors to the general public in Strasbourg to celebrate Europe Day. Meanwhile political groups prepare for next week's plenary session in Strasbourg.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : Plans to set up a mandatory EU lobbying register are discussed by MEPs and stakeholders on Monday. The next day Parliament President Martin Schulz is in Aachen to award the 2016 European Charlemagne Youth Prize and on Sunday the Parliament opens its doors to the general public in Strasbourg to celebrate Europe Day. Meanwhile political groups prepare for next week's plenary session in Strasbourg.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

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Irish parties have formed a minority government following little over two months of negotiations on Friday.

Ireland went to the polls on February 26 and announced a deal on April 30th.  The political system in Ireland was never a traditional left right pendulum. But, it was a political bipolar system that was crushed by the economic crisis and austerity measures, as in Portugal, Spain, and Greece.

But, unlike Spain, the Irish hung parliament yielded a deal.

The two traditional political rivals, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, have struck a deal to create a new government. Enda Kenny will remain Ireland’s Prime Minister. The two historical rivals are closer ideologically in socioeconomic terms, but have deep historical cleavages between them.

Together Fine Gael (50 seats) and Fianna Fail (44 seats) have a comfortable majority in the 158 seat lower house (Dail). The chief of the opposition will now be Gerry Adams, of the anti-Austerity Sinn Fein (23 seats).  The emerging political landscape will be more polarized along the left-right axis, with the Labour Party seeing its liquidation.

To ensure the government remains on track, the leadership of the two major political rivals have settled key policy issues, such as the reduction of water charges and the increase in rent subsidies, which should allow them to pass three annual budgets.

The detailed deal must now be approved by the two party’s parliamentary groups, who will reconvene on Wednesday.

Through 2015 Ireland was the fastest growing economy in the Eurozone with nearly 7% GDP growth, subduing unemployment to 8,9% in January 2016. The only Europeans that seem less than impressed by this performance are the Irish. In a familiar pattern, this was the third government in Europe to oversee the end of an austerity program and lose elections.

(AP, AFP, dpa, DW, Reuters, Irish Times)

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This month marks the 30th anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear disaster – the meltdown of the Soviet plant in Chernobyl in Ukraine.

The first explosion of the reactor sounded in the early morning hours of April 26. It was followed by a cloud of radioactive material drifted all the way to Russia and Belarus and parts of northern Europe. Thousands of lives were forever changed.

One worker at the plant died immediately after the explosion. Another died in hospital shortly after. In the haunting months that followed, 28 fire fighters who had rushed to battle the flames also died.

Today, Chernobyl remains deserted – a ghost town. But just 15km away – inside the 30km exclusion zone, there live some 4,000 people. They spend 15 days inside and 15 days outside. They are the workers who are building the New Safe Confinement. This is a structure to contain the nuclear reactor that is currently under construction. It is slated to be finished at the end of next year.

Some 4km north of the doomed nuclear power plant is the abandoned city of Pripyat. Before the nuclear disaster, it was a thriving Soviet city and home to some 49,000 people. Today it is a ghost town. The hospital, school rooms and homes are all deserted, crumbling and eerie.

Copyright and photos by Vasilis Tsiolis www.vasilistsiolis.gr  https://www.facebook.com/vasilistsiolisphotography/

The post An eerie look at Chernobyl 30 years on appeared first on New Europe.

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The post “Back to Eurogroup” – New Europe Print Edition Issue 1163 appeared first on New Europe.

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Regulation. (EC) 833/2013 provides that the Director General of OLAF is elected for seven years and cannot be re-elected for a second term. The same is valid for the five members of the Supervisory Committee (SC) of OLAF.  They are prosecutors and judges from the Member States. The term of service of the Supervisory Committee is for five years and its members are, like the Director general, not eligible for re-election.

Recently, an application process for the appointment of five new SC members was opened, with the new members set to start their mandate in January 2017. There are 11 official candidates submitted by the Member States to the Council and a few other independent presented applications through the Commission and the Parliament.

According to the OLAF Regulation, none of the current members of the Supervisory Committee would be eligible to apply for re-election. The mandates of Herbert Bösch and Tuomas Pöysti have expired in January 2015 and March 2016 respectively. The mandates of Johan Denolf, Catherine Pignon and Dimitris Zimianitis’ end in 2017.

New Europe, learned that among the candidates, there are three members of the current Supervisory Committee who have applied for their re-election. This is controversial and rather strange as three members of this supreme organ controlling the legitimacy of the operations of the anti-fraud authority of the European Union, attempt to violate the law for their own interests.

To this effect, late last week, the Legal Service of the Council which is responsible for the coordination of the appointments, issued a Legal Opinion explicitly rejecting the three candidates.

This month, will convene CoRePer II, the body of the 28 Ambassadors representing Member States in the EU and will make a first evaluation of the candidates. Will follow a joint meeting of the three institutions, Council, Commission and Parliament to take the final decision.

n this context it seems that some quarters in the European Parliament are excreting their influence in order ignore the OLAF Regulation and appoint in the new Supervisory Committee the three or some of the three non eligible members.

This is, however, highly unlikely to happen.

Indeed, if this happens by the same argument, Italy may demand and obtain, the renewal of the appointment of Giovanni Kessler as Director General of OLAF for another seven years.

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Mobilizing People  is a challenge for everyone and no society can aspire to excellence without the focus on talent.

The talent imperative is a contract of trust in the present agenda of change, an agenda of construction of a new effective vision for the future. Mobilizing People is a contract with a common future.

Mobilizing is the bridge between those that believe in the power of people in creating new solutions with new ideas to more complex problems that are arising in society and those that want innovation and creativity to be the platform of creation of value in a global competitive economy. Mobilizing People is the confirmation of a process of evolution of the integration of people in society – the individual contribution must be a case of commitment with the organization of society and its main elements.

Mobilizing People must be centered in an active entrepreneurial culture and attitude –  people  have most of the times  an effective negative attitude towards the financial risk, the focus on innovation and the share of a culture of positive dynamic.

We need society to have a new challenge. Society must be able to be the real Platform of a more Entrepreneurial Society, centered in new areas of knowledge and new sectors of value. In a Modern and Active Society, the key word is Co-creation. To promote a dynamic and active creation process involving each citizen is the big challenge for the next years in society.

In the future, a  Society of the Ideas must be the most complete example of positive attitude towards the future. The Talents must be the new competitive advantage of this new  Society of the Ideas pushed by the “enablers” of  Modernity, Added Value and Excellence.

A very clear idea that suits the big challenge that our society really faces and that requires new answers for different questions.

The act of global  participation in such a demanding society is an exercise of commitment between the individual creativity and the collective cooperation. This is the key for the right future for society.

The talents are the key for a contract of ambition. We must understand that in an open society, where the integration of people is a signal of a positive contribution to the future, the ambition of excellence is essential. We need to believe in the capacity of people giving society a strategic capability essencial to the challenges of the future.

This is the message of the People Agenda. This is the message of a new challenge for people and for society. This is the answer of a new generation of talents that know that the key for success is based on the contribution with freedom and equality.

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Don’t call him Ambassador! Yes, Carlo Calenda may be Italy’s new ambassador to the European Union, but this permanent representative in Brussels is not a career diplomat.

Calenda had served as the deputy minister for economic development. He was appointed by former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and then confirmed by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

But this choice for the country’s top envoy in Brussels came as a surprise and, as usual in Italy, was criticised. Despite the criticism, however, one thing is certain: it was very innovative and brave.

Calenda has two very big advantages. One is that he is very familiar with politics in Brussels and in Italy. The other is that he comes from the entrepreneurial world, which is the engine for growth in both Italy and the EU.

Throughout his career, Calenda has proven himself, especially during the Expo in Milan. He is also a successful supporter of the “Made in Italy” and of the European industry. His job in Confindustria and his support for SMEs have put him in a “non-hostile” position vis-a-vis the centre-right coalition. This means he can attract a very large political consensus.

New Europe spoke with four MEP’s to gain some insight and first impressions about his programme, which foresees regular weekly meetings in Rome with the PM and ministers on EU issues.

MEP Roberto Gualtieri, a member of the S&D Group and Chair of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, said he is satisfied with the unusual choice made by Renzi.

“It’s important to build up a political position taking into consideration the role and interest of the various ministers in Rome,” said Gualtieri. “In this phase, a more political ‘ambassador’ could have a more active role in the construction of an Italian position at EU level not only to protect the national interests, but to play a better role among the EU partners.”

Gualtieri also stressed the need to make a more preventive-work, together with Rome, on the different political dossiers in order to avoid arriving too late, as was the case in the past.

In a similar vein, MEP Elena Gentile, member of the S&D Group, is also very positive about the recent appointment of Calenda. “This choice is full of value and quality because of its competences and know-how but also for his determination in accepting such a role,” she told New Europe.

Gentile also underlined the need for greater coordination between Rome and Brussels. Asked to list the key topics that Calenda needs to tackle first, the MEP said growth and development comes first, together with the protection of the “made in” culture. This should be followed by a modern vision for energy policies and a more balanced distribution of the refugees on EU soil.

Also, another S&D MEP, Alessia Mosca, has already identified some progress. “Since I arrived here two years ago, I saw a positive process in the collaboration with our permanent representation in Brussels,” she told New Europe. “Italy is more and more present on the big dossiers.”

Asked about Italy’s new top envoy in Brussels, she said: “I appreciated that among his first meetings he decided to see the Italians MEPs. This is a sign of respect for the European Parliament and our role. After that, it is early to say. We will have to work with him day by day to see the results.”

Asked about Calenda’s new initiative aiming to organise periodical meetings in Rome with the PM and the involved ministries, MEP Mosca said: “What we always asked for was a better coordination with our ministries and national institutions that were in the past, on some topics, not so well involved. Our job here is positive giving results if everybody, at all institutional levels, understands that they have to focus on what is going on here. Nobody should remain in its internal and local niche.”

On the other side of the political fence, MEP Tiziana Beghin, a member of the the EFDD Group and the Five Stars Movement, has quite a few doubts about Calenda.

“Carlo Calenda is more a technical person in comparison with the diplomats we have seen in the past,” she told New Europe. “I don’t share with him the same vision of laissez-faire in the economy. However, he positively demonstrated to be in favour of the “made in” and other protection measures for our industry.”

She continued on other crucial political topics, saying: “We don’t agree with his vision on immigration and I think this is going to be a big new challenge for him. It is positive that he seems very supportive vis-à-vis small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, even if I don’t agree on the technical point of view in some of his visions. Let’s accept his nice statement of intent.”

The post Meet Italy’s ‘surprise’ ambassador to Europe appeared first on New Europe.

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How do you explain humour? The fashion word in the German media today is: Ziegenficker… Goat-f***er. A German humorist used the word to define the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, alluding to certain practices popular folklore attributes to the Turkish countryside. Ziegenficker is how the German humorist Jan Böhmermann called the Turkish president, adding upon the insult: Erdoğan is the “boss on the Bosphorus”. Hey, it’s German humour, but Erdogan really didn’t like it.

How do you describe humour, even when gross, and do you explain freedom of expression? You can’t, so Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sued that German humorist. After a little pondering, Angela Merkel allowed the court case to proceed, letting herself and her 27 EU dwarfs exposed to everybody’s derision in Europe and elsewhere.

That Erdoğan suffers from a delusion of grandeur is obvious. The palace he built for himself in Ankara is a painful aesthetic and architectural testimony to this, with its 200,000 square meters and the 1,150 rooms and halls. The US White House, compared to this, would seem the butler’s residence. But, not happy with being sultan only at home, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tries now to enslave his EU partners to his whims.

His weapon is an army of some 3 million refugees that he threatens to unleash upon Europe. That very Europe that would be only too happy to see him taking care of the refugees problem for ever.

The EU countries are dependent on Erdoğan for solving this, but find themselves under hard strain to speak out against the erosion of media freedom in Turkey. Europe is turning a blind eye to Turkey’s rights record because it needs Ankara’s help curbing huge flows of refugees and migrants.

Educated in religious school, Erdoğan was a semi-professional footballer playing for Kasımpaşa Spor Kulübü and was involved in Islamist political movements as a student before being elected as the Mayor of İstanbul from the Islamist Welfare Party in 1994. He was banned from office and sentenced to 10 months in prison for religious intolerance in 1998 and later abandoned openly Islamist politics, only to establish the conservative AKP party in 2001.

He is now Turkey’s president, but sees conspiracies everywhere. Especially since he started losing some ground, in spite of his Ottoman-style grandeur and authoritarianism. Turkey’s supreme court has this month overturned the convictions of no less than 275 people, including a former military chief, who allegedly plotted to overthrow Erdoğan.

All the defendants in the “Ergenekon case” were thus released years later after investigations revealed that they were imprisoned by prosecutors and judges close to the Gülen movement based on forged and tampered evidence. The movement is so called after Erdoğan’s top foe, US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gülen.

Also, beginning of March, Istanbul police used tear gas and water cannons against protesters who gathered outside the headquarters of Zaman newspaper to protest the fact the newspaper was taken over by the government. So much for press freedom.

What else? Well… Erdoğan’s wife spoke with nostalgia about women’s life in the harems of the old. She said the Sultans’ harems were ‘educational centres that prepared women for life’ (while Erdogan himself thinks a woman’s main role is as a mother).

In good taste, Erdoğan is trying to oversee an overall revival of Ottoman traditions, greeting Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas with an Ottoman-style ceremony in his new presidential palace, with guards dressed in imperial costumes.

How about those goats, then? Well, someone should explain to Erdoğan that the goat is simply the essence of tragedy, it is at its origin… The very word “tragedy”, in ancient Greek, comes from nothing else than “tragos” (goat), that animal used for sacrifices which is also at the root of the expression “scape-goat”. Scape-goats is what Erdoğan is looking for to chase away everything that is not functioning in today’s Turkey.

The post Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: Of goats and men appeared first on New Europe.