Belgium: Police suspect PKK ran training camps
Twenty two people were detained in the Belgian raids. 14 have seen been freed, and the eight remaining put under arrest. It is not clear if PKK leaders Zubeyir Aydar and Remzi Kartal are among those arrested.
The arrests followed a three-year investigation. The prosecution says there is strong evidence that the PKK recruited (mostly) Kurdish youth and sent them to training camps in Belgium, Germany and other Western European countries for indoctrination. They also received military training in Greece and in eastern and northern Iraq in order to later fight the Turkish policy and army forces. The PKK is also charged of counterfeiting identity documents and for collecting money using violence and threats.
A hundred Kurds surrounded the Roj TV building in Denderleeuw, and impeded the raid on the place. Several dozen managed to break in in the afternoon. One police agent was injured and taken to hospital. The police managed to arrest several others, who were freed after the building occupiers agreed to leave. A water cannon was later brought in to force the protesters out of the parking lot.
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The PKK is calling all European Kurds to come to Brussels and demonstrate against the ‘hostile attack’ against them. The PKK said Belgium was using “state terror” aimed at “humiliating the Kurdish people”.
Police sought out high-profile Kurds in Belgium on Thursday as part of a Europewide investigation and Turkish sources said 15 arrests included ex-lawmakers.
The raids followed an announcement by France on Wednesday that nine Kurds were charged with terror offences following their arrest last week for allegedly recruiting fighters for the PKK separatist group.
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US criticized on Iran sanctions
By John Pomfret and Colum Lynch
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 5, 2010; A10
The Obama administration is pushing to carve out an exemption for China
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/china.html?nav=el
and other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council from legislation
pending in the Senate and the House that would tighten sanctions on
companies doing business in Iran administration and congressional sources said.
China has balked at supporting a fourth round of U.N. sanctions on Iran.
That has emboldened countries on the council, such as Brazil
Turkey and Lebanon to also express opposition.
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Similar behavior has been seen in Chinese companies before. Over the course
of the past decade, Japanese firms, under U.S. pressure, have divested
significantly in Iran’s oil and gas industry. As they have pulled out, China
has moved in.
Today China has commitments of more than $80 billion in Iran’s energy
sector. Japan, which once had a 70 percent interest in the Azadegan oil
field, has reduced it to 10 percent. Last August, a Chinese consortium led
by the Chinese National Petroleum Company signed a memorandum of
understanding to invest $3 billion in the field.
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