Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday slammed the Kosovar prime minister for criticizing the secret deportations of six Turkish men who Ankara claims were supporters of an alleged coup plotter.
Erdogan said he was “saddened” that Kosovar Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj had dismissed his minister of the interior and his intelligence chief on Friday for deporting the men without his permission.
The deportations have been criticized by rights groups in Kosovo and abroad.
Photo: EPA
Saying Haradinaj would “pay” for this, Erdogan asked: “Since when have you begun to protect those who work to stage a coup against the Turkish Republic?’
Turkey accuses US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen for masterminding the 2016 failed coup.
He denies the accusations.
Those deported from Kosovo worked in schools and clinics supported by Gulen’s movement.
Turkey declared a state of emergency after the July 2016 coup attempt that is still in place. More than 38,000 people accused of links to Gulen remain behind bars and about 110,000 public servants have been sacked from their jobs.
Many proclaim no knowledge of the attempted coup.
Five Turkish teachers and a Turkish doctor were deported from Kosovo for alleged links to Gulen in a joint secret operation by the intelligence services of Kosovo and Turkey.
Family members have contacted the men by telephone at a high-security prison in Istanbul, Kosovar media reported.
Haradinaj on Saturday convened the Kosovo Security Council, asking institutions to make “a detailed” investigation into the secret operation.
Kosovar President Hashim Thaci said the Kosovo Intelligence Agency, or AKI, reported that “the only reason why these Turkish citizens were deported is related to their illegal actions in Kosovo, which, as AKI says, have endangered Kosovo’s national security.”
Erdogan also on Saturday condemned Israel over its “inhumane attack” in Gaza after a major demonstration there led to clashes that saw Israeli forces kill 16 Palestinians.
More than 1,400 people were also wounded, 758 of them by live fire, the Gazan Ministry of Health said.
“Have you heard any noteworthy objections to the massacre by Israel that happened yesterday [Friday] in Gaza from those who criticize the Afrin operation?” Erdogan said, referring to Turkey’s cross-border operation against the Kurdish enclave in northern Syria that was controlled by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Turkey and its Syria-based allies drove out the group on March 18.
Temperatures were also raised between Turkey and France after French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday met a delegation of the Syrian Democratic Forces made up of Kurdish and Arab fighters.
Kurdish officials afterward said that France was planning to send new troops to Manbij — a northern Syrian town held by the YPG — a claim Paris denied.
“If France takes any steps regarding its military presence in northern Syria, this would be an illegitimate step that would go against international law and in fact, it would be an invasion,” Turkish Minister of National Defense Nurettin Canikli said.
“Especially if they intend to support terror group elements or give direct or indirect protection with armed forces, this would be a really calamitous step,” he added during a visit to the northeastern province of Giresun.
Erdogan has repeatedly said that Turkey could extend the offensive to Manbij, which is east of Afrin.
Ankara views the YPG as a “terrorist” offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the