Free Republic

While Turkey's latest mosque is being inaugurated in Germany, the greatest Christian Orthodox theological school has remained closed for almost 50 years by the order of the Turkish government. Moreover, less than a kilometer away from the shuttered Christian seminary, a major new center of Islamic studies spanning a total area of 200 acres is scheduled to be built. The Greeks of Turkey -- the remnants of the once great Byzantine Empire -- are a severely persecuted and even almost completely exterminated people. They have been exposed, among other crimes against humanity, to a genocide, pogroms and forced deportations at...

Istanbul police have broken up the 700th weekly vigil by Turkish mothers demanding accountability for disappearances of relatives since the 1980s. Tear gas was fired and dozens were detained while defying a protest ban. Police dispersed a group known as "Saturday Mothers" as it headed for Istanbul's Galatasaray Square, prompting Human Rights Watch (HRW) to describe Saturday's incident as "cruel treatment of families seeking justice for state crimes."One of those briefly held by police was an 82-year-old mother, Emine Ocak (pictured above), whose son Hasan disappeared in 1995 after being taken into custody, then aged 30.Read more: Turkey's silent 'Standing Man'...

Cape Town is in the unenviable situation of being the first major city in the modern era to face the threat of running out of drinking water. However, the plight of the drought-hit South African city is just one extreme example of a problem that experts have long been warning about - water scarcity. Despite covering about 70% of the Earth's surface, water, especially drinking water, is not as plentiful as one might think. Only 3% of it is fresh. Over one billion people lack access to water and another 2.7 billion find it scarce for at least one month...

The Islamist Felicity Party (Turkish: Saadet Partisi) organized the “Great Jerusalem demonstration” on July 30 in Istanbul. This event attended by thousands of people who condemned Israel following the recent incidents on the Temple Mount.The demo quickly turned into an anti-Israel and anti-Jew hate fest in which several Islamic activists delivered harsh speeches against the Jewish State. Mustafa Koylu, the head of the Cansuyu Association, said, “You have to do one thing so that those who do not see Turkey as a man and as a state will think once again. Open Hagia Sophia to [Muslim] worship! Open it! If...

Inside the Neve Shalom Synagogue after the 1986 terrorist attack. Photo: Facebook.Thirty years ago, Neve Shalom — Istanbul’s largest synagogue, whose name means “oasis of peace” — was the target of a brutal attack at the hands of Jew-hating murderers.On September 6, 1986, Palestinian Arab terrorists affiliated with the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) bombed and opened fire at Neve Shalom during a Sabbath service, killing 22 people.At the time, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) called the attack “the bloodiest synagogue massacre since the Nazi era.”Gabriel (Gabi) Saul — a survivor whose father, Dr. Moiz Saul, died in the attack — told Şalom, a Jewish-Turkish weekly newspaper, about the moment of the attack: There were...

A group of Turkish ultra-nationalists on Thursday protested outside one of the most significant synagogues in Istanbul to denounce Israel’s security measures at the Temple Mount following a deadly attack last Friday that left two Israeli police officers dead, the Dogan news agency said. The group from the Alperen Hearths, a far-right ultranationalist and Islamist youth group, said in a statement read outside the Neve Salom synagogue in central Istanbul that Israel was a “terror state” seeking to block freedom for worship to Muslims. “If you prevent our freedom of worship there then we will prevent your freedom of worship...

"We marched for justice, we marched for the rights of the oppressed. We marched for the MPs in jail. We marched for the arrested journalists. We marched for the university academics dismissed from their jobs," said Kilicdaroglu. "We marched because the judiciary is under a political monopoly," he added. "We want the return of powers grabbed from the parliament," said Kilicdaroglu. "Who dares turn this country -- which is like heaven -- into a hell!" he added.

Turkey's main opposition leader told a huge protest rally on Sunday that the country was living under dictatorship and pledged to keep challenging the crackdown launched by the authorities after last year's failed military coup. Addressing hundreds of thousands of people waving Turkish flags and banners demanding justice, Kemal Kilicdaroglu said his 25-day march from Ankara to Istanbul - culminating in Sunday's rally in Istanbul - was the first stage of a long campaign. "We will be breaking down the walls of fear," he told the crowd who gathered to welcome him at the end of his 425 km (265...

Justice Kılıçdaroğlu made call of 10 points to AKP: 1- 249 people lost their lives yet the political pillar of the attempted coup is not known. Reveal the politicians involved in the coup. 2- The coup attempt was used as pretext for government's own coup. End emergency rule immediately, restore rule of law in int'l standards. 3- Putting justice system under the control of political order is treason to democracy. Apply fair trial, independent and objective justice. 4- People affected by the emergency rule after the coup are denied their natural rights. End denial of access to social and...

Turksih President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday accused the country’s main opposition party of siding with terrorism, as a three-week “march for justice” led by its chief neared its ending point of Istanbul... “If you start protests to protect terrorists and those who support terrorism — when it did not occur to you to take part in anti-terror demonstrations — then you cannot convince anyone that your objective is justice,” Erdogan said... he said the road taken by Kilicdaroglu was “the way to Qandil and Pennsylvania”.

As the time for afternoon prayers approaches, Onder Soy puts on a white robe and cap and switches on the microphone in a small 19th century room adjoining the Hagia Sophia. Soon, Soy’s melodic call to prayer rings out over a square filled with tourists hurrying to visit some of Turkey’s most famous historical sights before they close for the day. The room Soy is in — built as a resting place for the sultan and now officially called the Hagia Sophia mosque — fills up with around 40 worshipers, drawn not by the modestly decorated space itself, but by...

[Original title too long: Erdogan Holding U.S. Tactical Nukes At Inkirlink Taking Control Of The Second Most Powerful Army In NATO And Is Hailed As Mahdi] Turkey, in less than 24 hours was occupied by ErdoganÂ’s pro Muslim Brotherhood militia and entered the U.S. base where tactical nukes at Incirlik are held. Period. Plain and Simple. Yet there are no headlines in any media that reveals this global catastrophe in this way. Why? Even the air base, which is used by NATO and stores US tactical nuclear weapons, has been invaded by ErdoganÂ’s militia. The militia entered the base in...

For eight decades, the iconic Hagia Sophia [Ἁγία Σοφία, “Holy Wisdom”] – museum in Istanbul [Constantinople] has stood as a symbol of Turkey’s commitment to a secular society. Now that tradition is under siege by growing calls to convert the historic structure back into a practicing mosque. The 1,500-year-old structure originally was built as an Orthodox Christian cathedral. It was turned into a mosque in the 15th century after the Ottoman Turks defeated the Greek emperor in Constantinople and renamed the city Istanbul. In the 1930s, the founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, turned it into a museum in his...

An Islamist gunman, who has confessed to the killing of 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Day, told a court that he had aimed to kill Christians during his attack, Hurriyet newspaper said on Monday, citing testimony given this weekend. Abdulgadir Masharipov initially planned to attack the area around Taksim Square but switched to the upscale Reina nightclub due to the heightened security measures around the square, Hurriyet said, without saying how it had obtained the document. "I did not take part in any acts before the Reina event. I thought of carrying out an act against...

Abdulgadir Masharipov walked into a nightclub in Istanbul on New Years Eve and began randomly shooting people, killing 39 and injuring countless more. In court, he confessed that he did it because he hated Christians and wanted to kill them on ‘their holiday’: An Islamist gunman, who has confessed to the killing of 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Day, told a court that he had aimed to kill Christians during his attack, Hurriyet newspaper said on Monday, citing testimony given this weekend.

This population decline of Greeks in Turkey has not been due to natural causes but rather the result of state-sponsored attacks and pressure. The current Greek population in Turkey is estimated at fewer than 2,000.  But this population decline was not due to natural causes; the Greek community has become nearly extinct due to many state-sponsored attacks and pressure.The largest attacks took place during the last years of the Ottoman Empire with pogroms and discrimination continuing until the present day.In 2007, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) announced that “the Ottoman campaign against Christian minorities of the Empire between...

The main suspect in the New Year's Eve attack on an exclusive nightclub in Istanbul has been arrested, Turkish media report. Abdulkadir Masharipov is believed to have mounted the attack on the Reina club in which 39 people were killed. The Uzbek national is said to have been caught in Istanbul's Esenyurt district. Citizens of Israel, France, Tunisia, Lebanon, India, Belgium, Jordan and Saudi Arabia were among the victims, and dozens of people were injured. So-called Islamic State said it was behind the attack, saying it was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria. The gunman arrived at the club...

At least one gunman dressed as Santa has attacked a night club in Istanbul, killing and injuring scores of people, Turkish media report. Footage shows armored police vehicles surrounding the building as ambulances are rushed to the scene. At least 35 people were killed and 40 wounded in the attack, IstanbulÂ’s governor Vasip Åžahin said, calling the incident a terrorist attack. The attack took place at the well-known Reina nightclub in the Ortakoy neighborhood, in IstanbulÂ’s Besiktas district.

Many people have been wounded in an attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey's NTV reports. Footage appears to show a number of ambulances and police vehicles outside the Reina nightclub, in the Besiktas area of the city. NTV says two attackers were involved, with CNN Turk reported they were dressed in Santa costumes. Istanbul had been on high alert for any terror attacks, with some 17,000 police officers on duty in the city. There were reportedly several hundred people in the nightclub at the time.

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