Romanian PM visits city at heart of storm that left 8 deadBucharest, 18 September 2017 (MIA) - Amid criticism that authorities failed to warn residents, Romanian Premier Mihai Tudose traveled Monday to a western city that bore the brunt of a violent storm that left eight dead and injured about 140 people, AP reports.
The trip to Timisoara comes after President Klaus Iohannis criticized authorities for failing to raise the alarm about the devastating storm that ripped off roofs and uprooted trees, with winds gusting up to 100 kph (60 mph). Most of those who died were hit by falling trees or flying objects.
Timisoara mayor Nicolae Robu said he learned about the storm shortly before it ripped through his city. "I didn't have warning that there would be a violent storm. Rain was forecast," he said. Five of the dead and 49 of the injured were from the Timisoara area.
Tudose arrived in the city Monday afternoon and went to the Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, declining to speak to reporters.
More than 200 towns and villages were affected by Sunday's sudden storm, which overturned vehicles and downed power lines. Some 40 schools were closed Monday after the storm ravaged their buildings.
Iohannis' office issued a statement Monday saying the "growing frequency and intensity of weather phenomena leaves no room for dysfunctional communication between state institutes."
Premier Tudose, who drew criticism with his response on Sunday — "What can we do? Have a law that stops the wind blowing?" — on Monday announced that a rapid warning system would be put in place by the emergency services.
The storm began in western Romania and then went north. Rail and road traffic was interrupted across western Romania. lk/15:54
###
Turkish asylum applications in Germany jump 55 percent this year
Berlin, 18 September 2017 (MIA) - The number of Turks seeking asylum in Germany is up sharply this year and has been rising steadily since last year’s failed military coup in Turkey, German government data showed on Monday.
Germany got 4,408 asylum applications from Turkish citizens between January and August, compared with 2,836 in the same period of 2016, an increase of 55.4 percent, according the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).
“There is an increase in asylum applications by Turkish applicants. However, I can not give the reasons for that because we do not make statistical surveys of why people flee,” Reuters cites a spokeswoman of the German Interior Ministry.
In April, the Interior Ministry said at least 262 Turkish diplomats and army personnel have applied for asylum in Germany since the failed coup on July 15 last year.
Following the coup attempt, Turkey has arrested more than 40,000 people and sacked or suspended more than 100,000 in the military, civil service and private sector. Germany’s mainstream parties have been outspoken critics of Turkey’s crackdown
Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik urged Germany in January to reject asylum applications from 40 mostly high-ranking former soldiers suspected by Ankara of having links to the coup.
Less than a quarter of Turkish asylum seekers have been granted protection in Germany since the beginning of 2017, although that is almost triple last year’s 8.2 percent. lk/21:01
###
Turkey starts trial of 30 newspaper staff for links to coup attempt
Ankara, 18 September 2017 (MIA) - Thirty journalists and newspaper executives from a Turkish newspaper which was shut down last year went on trial on Monday, facing life sentences over charges that they had links to a failed coup attempt, Reuters reports.
The former employees of the Zaman newspaper are charged with “membership of an armed terror organization” and “attempting to overthrow” the government, parliament and the constitutional order through their links to cleric Fethullah Gulen.
Zaman was affiliated with Gulen, the U.S.-based cleric and former ally of President Tayyip Erdogan. Gulen is blamed by Ankara for instigating the failed July 2016 coup, but denies any involvement.
Zaman was first seized by the Turkish government in March 2016, months before the coup attempt, and then closed down by a government decree.
Twenty-two of the suspects have been in pre-trial detention for months, including 73-year-old columnist Sahin Alpay.
“If it had ever crossed my mind that the Gulenist movement would take a role in a coup attempt, I would never have written a column in the Zaman newspaper,” Dogan news agency quoted Alpay as saying.
The indictment calls for three consecutive life sentences for the Zaman staff on charges of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order, the Turkish parliament and the Turkish government, and says the newspaper had exceeded the limits of press freedom and freedom of expression.
“I accept that this is an armed terrorist organization, but I was never a member of it,” columnist Ali Bulac told the court in Silivri, the site of a large prison about 60 km (40 miles) west of the city. He had not paid close attention to the Gulenist movement’s activities, he said.
“I missed the hole in the ground when I was watching the stars. But who did see it?,” Bulac said, adding the group’s operations were perceived to be legal during the time he worked for Zaman.
Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced in July that more than 50,000 people had been arrested and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings since the coup attempt.
The scale of the crackdown has drawn criticism from Turkey’s Western allies and led German Chancellor Angela Merkel to call for Ankara’s European Union accession talks to be called off. Turkey says the sweeping response to the coup reflects the deep security challenges the country has faced.
Rights groups say more than 160 journalists are detained in Turkey, making it the world’s biggest jailer of journalists. The hearing will continue this week. lk/21:08
###
3 injured at Athens march held in memory of slain musician
Athens, 19 September 2017 (MIA) - Stone-throwing youths injured three people and clashed with riot police Monday during an Athens protest march in memory of an activist musician killed four years ago by a supporter of the Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn party, AP reports.
Police used stun grenades to disperse the rioters in the capital's western suburb of Keratsini.
Two bystanders were injured by flying stones, and a member of a Greek TV crew covering the march was beaten up by protesters. Police detained three suspected rioters.
Youths smashed the windows of a local municipal building, damaged and looted a coffee shop and threw at least one gasoline bomb at police. About 2,200 people took part in two separate marches organized by left-wing groups.
In the northern city of Thessaloniki, another protest in memory of the slain singer degenerated into clashes with police, who fired tear gas and stun grenades after coming under attack with Molotov cocktails and rocks. Rioters also smashed up a coffee shop.
A similar protest Sunday in central Athens ended in violence, with riot police using tear gas against protesters using gasoline bombs. One detained youth was injured after being struck by a car while trying to escape from custody.
|