Day: January 15, 2023

The Human Rights and Equality Institution of Türkiye (TIHEK) condemned on Saturday the discrimination of a Turkish student by a Swedish professor because of Sweden’s NATO bid.

“In a democratic society founded on fundamental principles such as pluralism, tolerance and respect for different cultures, it is unacceptable to treat someone differently because of their race, color, political opinion, ancestry or ethnic origin,” the Turkish human right group said in a statement.

It said the agency will follow the attitudes, behaviors and actions that harm the principle of equality.

Earlier, TRT World revealed that a professor from Stockholm University barred a Turkish student from attending an internship program because of Sweden’s NATO bid.

TRT World, the English-language news channel of public broadcaster TRT, was granted access to an email sent by Per Carlbring, who leads a clinical psychology research group at the university.

Fatma Zehra S., a third-year undergraduate studying psychology at Istanbul’s Ibn Haldun University, was accepted by an Erasmus+ fund for the summer 2023 internship at a university she would choose.

One of the internships she applied for was at Stockholm University in Sweden. On Nov. 23, Fatma sent an email to Carlbring, asking to be included in participation in a research project he led.

Hours later, Carlbring replied: “I would love to host you. However, since Turkey does not allow Sweden to join NATO, I have to decline. Sorry!”

Speaking to TRT World, Fatma said, “After getting this answer, I was simply shocked. It took me a long time to process it.”

“We receive many inquiries from students who are interested in visiting us as research interns. We are unable to receive them all, but expect that any request is responded to in a professional manner,” Fredrik Jonsson, head of the psychology department at Stockholm University, told TRT World.

“In this case, as soon as we learnt about this issue we acted and have handled it according to our routines,” he added.

Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in May, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a decision spurred by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

But Türkiye — a NATO member for more than 70 years — voiced objections, accusing the two countries of tolerating and even supporting terror groups, including the PKK and Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Last June, Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed a memorandum at a NATO summit in Madrid to address Ankara’s legitimate security concerns, paving the way for their eventual membership in the alliance.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terror organization by Türkiye, the US and EU — has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

FETO orchestrated a defeated coup in Türkiye on July 15, 2016, in which 252 people were killed and 2,734 wounded. Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Colombian government and National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels announced that they will hold an emergency meeting Jan. 17 in Venezuela to try to reestablish peace talks.

The announcement comes after “a crisis” was unleashed by the declaration of a cease-fire by President Gustavo Petro at the beginning of 2023 which was denied by the guerrilla group.

“The government delegation is grateful for Venezuela’s hospitality to hold an extraordinary meeting with the ELN delegation next week,” Ivan Cepeda, a member of the government’s negotiating team, said late Friday.

The purpose of the meeting in Caracas is to coordinate the agenda for a second round of talks which will begin in February in Mexico.

Last week, the guerrilla group said negotiation was going through “a crisis” after Petro announced a six-month bilateral cease-fire Dec. 31 with the five largest armed groups operating in Colombia, including the ELN.

“As the government does not comply with the discussion processes of the (negotiating) table and takes unilateral measures and makes them public, these actions put the development of the talks in crisis,” the group said in a statement.

Negotiations that were suspended by former President Ivan Duque were resumed by delegations of the government and the ELN last month. Talks with the group began in 2017 in Quito during the government of Juan Manuel Santos.

The talks were interrupted by Duque in January 2019, one day after the group carried out a bombing of a police academy in Bogota that killed 21 officers.

Petro has advocated a policy of “total peace” which aims to bring together various armed groups operating in the country to initiate peace negotiations with all of them to end 60 years of violent conflict.

Source: Anadolu Agency

More than 80,000 people took to the streets Saturday to protest the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding proposed judicial reforms.

Police said crowds were in Habima Square in the center of Tel Aviv which has witnessed anti-government demonstrations for two straight Saturdays.

Among the demonstrators were several opposition politicians including Former Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

Israelis in West Jerusalem and Haifa also joined demonstrations this week, although in smaller numbers.

Thousands of protesters gathered in front of the Israeli Presidential Residence in West Jerusalem and Netanyahu’s official residence.

The first mass protest against the far-right government that took office earlier this year was held in Tel Aviv last Saturday with nearly 10,000 demonstrators.

Michael, 24, who did not want to reveal his last name, was among those participating in West Jerusalem. He told Anadolu that the government was “trying to destroy the authority of the Supreme Court” with the new judicial regulation.

He described the reform that the government is trying to pass as “completely absurd.” He added that democracy needs “judges and members of the Supreme Court who will defend everyone’s rights.”

Another protestor, Sharon, 25, said the high judiciary should not be “in the hands of the coalition government and should remain impartial.”

The Judiciary, Sharon said, should not be made up of people with “prejudices.”

She described the Netanyahu government as a “dark government.”

The proposed changes will severely limit the power of the Supreme Court of Justice, give the government the power to choose judges and end the appointment of legal advisers to ministries by the Attorney General.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The brother of an Italian teen who disappeared in the summer of 1983, is hopeful for answers Sunday as the Vatican announced the reopening of an investigation into the decades-old case.

Pietro Orlandi held his annual sit-in near the Vatican for the 55th birthday of his missing sister, Emanuela Orlandi.

Orlandi praised the decision to reopen the case after 40 years. He told reporters the investigation should be “serious” not “propaganda.”

He noted that listening to several people who came into direct contact with the case, notably former Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and Monsignor Georg Ganswein, private secretary to Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, was necessary.

He also reiterated his demand that Pope Francis share all information on the case.

The Vatican said Tuesday it reopened the investigation.

Emanuela Orlandi, who was the daughter of a Vatican employee, mysteriously disappeared in Rome.

Despite speculations in the media that her remains were found, there was no solid evidence in her case for decades.

Rumors have swirled for years about what happened as many became obsessed with Orlandi’s fate.

Conspiracy theories tied her case to the mafia and to the plot to assassinate Pope John Paul II.

Orlandi disappeared when Turkish national Mehmet Ali Agca was in jail — charged with plotting to assassinate the pope.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The death toll from a Russian missile strike in eastern Ukraine rose to 25, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.

Death toll at 20 in Russian missile strike in eastern Ukraine??”As of now, 39 people were rescued, including six children. 25 people died, including one child. 73 people were injured, including 13 children,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram about the Saturday attack on the Dnipropetrovsk region.

“43 people are missing. Preliminary 72 apartments were destroyed and more than 230 apartments were damaged,” he added.

Citing Dnipropetrovsk Governor Valentyn Reznichenko, online newspaper Kyiv Independent previously reported that the victims include a 15-year-old.

In another statement, Zelenskyy confirmed Russia’s “heavy missile attack on Ukrainian cities.”

“Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Ladyzhyn, Burshtyn, Lviv region, Khmelnytskyi and other cities were targets of terrorists,” said Zelenskyy.

“In the city of Dnipro, a residential building has been destroyed in this Russian strike,” he said, adding: “All floors of this building – from the second to the ninth – were smashed in the explosion of a Russian missile.”

Zelenskyy also said dozens of “wounded, traumatized people” were rescued and they are being treated.

“Among them are children, the youngest girl is 3 years old,” he added.

* Burc Eruygur contributed to this story

Source: Anadolu Agency

Peru’s government declared late Saturday a state of emergency for 30 days in multiple regions, including the capital Lima, amid ongoing protests.

The state of emergency will also cover the cities of Cusco, Callao and Puno.

The demonstrators are demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, early elections and dissolution of Congress.

According to local media, 48 people have died and over 700 others injured in anti-government demonstrations since Dec. 11.

The government announced that 42 people died in the protests.

Elections to be held in April 2024

Protests erupted in Peru after former President Pedro Castillo’s removal from office on Dec. 7.

Upon Boluarte’s call for an early election, Congress voted to hold elections in April 2024.

Due to the deaths in protests, two ministers resigned from their posts on Dec. 17 and the ombudsman’s office requested the prosecutor’s office to launch an urgent investigation.

Castillo’s dismissal

On Dec. 30, Peru’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal against Castillo’s 18-month preemptive prison sentence.

Castillo was impeached by Congress on charges of permanent moral incompetence after he tried to dissolve Congress.

The decision to remove Castillo from his post was adopted at a General Assembly meeting on Dec. 7, with 101 votes in favor, six against and 10 abstentions.

Castillo was detained after planning to dissolve Congress and install an emergency government.

Source: Anadolu Agency

At least 68 people were killed when a Nepalese plane carrying 68 passengers and four crew members crashed on Sunday morning, officials said.

Krishna Bhandari, a Nepal Army spokesman, told Anadolu that 68 bodies have so far been recovered from the crash site. He said rescue operations continue to find the four people who remain missing.

Fanindra Mani Pokharel, a senior official at Nepal’s Ministry of Home Affairs, told Anadolu that a passenger plane operated by Nepal-based Yeti Airlines crashed close to Pokhara, a popular tourist destination and the administrative headquarters for the Kaski district, some 200 kilometers (120 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu.

Social media images and videos show plumes of smoke rising from the crash site.

Officials of the civil aviation authority said the passenger plane carried both Nepalese and foreign nationals.

Police spokesman Tek Prasad Rai told Anadolu that police and army personnel were rushed to the crash site.

Last year, 22 people died when a private plane operated by Nepal’s Tara Air crashed shortly after taking off from Pokhara.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed sadness over the “tragic accident,” urging effective search and rescue efforts.

The Indian Embassy in Kathmandu on Sunday said according to the information from Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority, five Indians were traveling on the flight.

Condolences pour in

A number of nearby and friendly countries expressed condolences to Nepal over the crash.

Indian Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia lamented the deadly crash, saying on Twitter: “My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the bereaved.”

Lotay Tshering, prime minister of Bhutan, said he was “extremely disturbed” to hear of the crash, adding: “Sending my prayers and condolences to the government and people of Nepal, especially the families of the victims. Wishing everyone strength to see through this tragedy.”

Pakistan also offered voiced sorrow, with a Foreign Ministry statement saying: “The Government and people of Pakistan offer their deepest condolences over the loss of precious lives in the air crash in Pokhara, Nepal. We are saddened at this tragic accident and our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims.”

“We stand with the people of Nepal in their hour of grief,” it added.

Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid extended “heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims for their loss.”

Türkiye on Sunday expressed “deep sorrow” over the deadly plane crash. Extending condolences to “the relatives of those who lost their lives in this tragic accident as well as to the friendly people and Government of Nepal,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement also wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

* Merve Aydogan contributed from Ankara

Source: Anadolu Agency

As the world’s elite is set to gather for the annual Davos forum, questions have been raised whether they actually could produce meaningful solutions to globalization failures such as inequality, poverty, food and energy crises, and climate change.

Under the theme of “Cooperation in a Fragmented World” the names shaping the global politics and business world will attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.

The meeting will convene more than 2,700 leaders from 130 countries, including 50 heads of state and government, as multiple crises deepen divisions and fragment the geopolitical landscape.

This year will also see the highest-ever business participation at Davos, with more than 1,500 leaders having registered across 700 organizations.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is the only Group of Seven leader attending the summit.

The heads of the EU, NATO, Finland, Greece, Spain, the Philippines, South Africa, and South Korea will also appear in the Swiss ski resort.

Where is globalization going?

“Where is globalization going?” is the biggest question that the Davos forum will be focusing on to answer because the COVID-19 and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war convinced some circles that the imminent era of globalization is coming to an end.

In that context, the conference looks set to assess systemic disruptions and continue its advocacy for globalization.

It is traditionally concerned with globalization failures, but amid the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and the ongoing war, its effect has been on a daily decline.

“To address the root causes of this erosion of trust, we need to reinforce cooperation between the government and business sectors, creating the conditions for a strong and durable recovery,” said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.

The pandemic has already dealt a deep blow to the functioning of the world economy, as several countries stepped up numerous protectionist economic policies during this period.

And now, with the Russia-Ukraine war, things have gotten worse as it has been negatively affecting the global supply chain, putting barriers in front of the flow of goods, fueling and energy crisis, and food shortages around the world.

Studies showed that since 2020 the negative effect of COVID-19 along with conflicts and climate change have put a rising number of people at risk for famine.

International institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank were not really effective in helping the World Health Organization in ensuring fair allocation of COVID-19 vaccines.

Many experts said rich countries followed their vaccine nationalism and jabs could have been distributed fairly, equally, quickly, and affordably across the globe for any economy to recover.

All these developments can clearly explain the crisis of globalization.

Another Davos, another ‘missed opportunity over globalization’?

In one of his articles for the Guardian newspaper, well-known economist Joseph Stiglitz said last year “Davos 2022 was a missed opportunity over globalization.”

“Everyone seemed to be working for a world without borders; suddenly, everyone recognizes that at least some national borders are key to economic development and security,” he said.

Most of the business and political leaders at the Davos forum failed to reconcile friend-shoring with the principle of free and non-discriminatory trade, said Stiglitz.

He also gave the example of Germany, which once upon a time was a trading partner of Russia, together they built Nord Stream pipelines to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea by Russian state-owned gas company Gazprom.

And now Russia is not a reliable trading partner, with world leaders in favor of using economic sanctions as a deterrent.

When one looks at the world economy right now, there is inflation, rising interest rates, the danger of recession, protectionist trade practices, sanctions, increasing rights demands, and worker strikes amid a-cost-of-living crisis.

Given all these developments, one cannot be optimistic about whether the Davos conference, as a platform, could produce realistic solutions to the failures of globalization.

Source: Anadolu Agency