Ankara bans public gatherings amid terror alertAnkara, 18 October 2016 (MIA) - The Turkish capital Ankara on Monday banned all public gatherings and demonstrations until the end of November after receiving information about potential terror attacks, the governor’s office said, AFP reports.
The Ankara governorate said in a statement that all such meetings had been prohibited until November 30, in line with the state of emergency imposed in the wake of the failed July 15 coup.
It said that the decision was taken “to ensure people’s safety and public order.”
The governorate, which is responsible for security throughout the capital and the wider province, said it had received intelligence “that banned terror organisations were preparing actions in our province.”
Without naming which organizations, it said that the groups were thought to have been planning attacks on meetings and public demonstrations.
The capital has been hit repeatedly over the last 12 months by attacks blamed on jihadists and Kurdish militants.
One hundred and three people were killed on October 10, 2015, when suicide bombers said to be linked to Islamic State (IS) jihadists blew themselves up in a crowd of pro-Kurdish peace activists planning to hold a rally outside Ankara’s main train station.
At least 30 were killed on February 17, 2016 and 37 more lost their lives on March 13, 2016 in bombings claimed by a radical Kurdish armed group.
Meanwhile, Ankara was a prime target of the plotters in the July 15 failed coup, which the government blames on the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
A suspected Islamic State suicide bomber blew himself up at the weekend in the southeastern city of Gaziantep during an anti-terror raid, killing three police officers, officials said.
A few hours later, a second suicide bomber detonated his explosives, killing himself, but without causing any further fatalities. sk/09:12
###
Greek Aegean islands see 273 new arrivals in four days
Athens, 18 October 2016 (MIA) - There were 273 new refugee and migrant arrivals on Greek islands in the past four days, as European Union FRONTEX teams plucked 43 people from a boat near Samos that was in danger of overturning in high winds.
MIA correspondent in Athens reports that Samos and Lesvos had the most of new arrivals in the past days. Greek police estimates taht 11.372 people are currently housed in the Aegean islands, most of them on Lesvos, Chios and Samos. There are some 50.000 people housed in camps across mainland Greece. The more able bodied attempt to cross through the Balkans over illegal migrant routes, while those with families mostly stay in Greece and wait for the European refugee redistribution program.cc/11:30
###
Ruling party to submit presidential system bill: Turkish PM
Ankara, 18 October 2016 (MIA) - Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday said the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party would soon be submitting a bill for a new constitution and presidential system, Anadolu Agency reports.
“We will submit a proposal including new constitutional amendments and presidential system to the parliament as soon as possible” he told his party’s parliamentary group meeting, adding the final decision belonged to the parliament.
Yildirim also commented on the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli’s Tuesday remarks giving green light to a referendum for a constitutional change and shift to the presidential system, saying they were truly spoken words, and Bahceli was "on the right path."
Constitutional change, in particular the call for a presidential system, has been on the political agenda since Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the former prime minister and AK Party leader, was elected Turkey's president in August 2014.
That election marked the first time a Turkish president, whose role is currently defined as being largely symbolic, was directly chosen by popular vote.
Changing to the presidential system is opposed by Turkey’s three other parliamentary parties, and the AK Party lacks the super-majority in parliament needed to make the change without submitting it to a referendum.
|