Free Republic

When Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, it generated considerable debate between those who saw its success as a potentially liberalizing force and critics who feared it would ultimately bring the end of Turkish democracy. Depending on who you spoke to, the AKP was poised to turn Turkey into either Sweden or Iran; to finally realize Ataturk’s vision of making the country modern and Western or permanently destroy it.Today, a decade and a half later, the future of Turkish democracy certainly looks grim. With President Recep Tayyip Erdogan now leading a heavy-handed campaign to further...

Secretary of State John Kerry said this morning that the Obama administration is "open" to considering the extradition of a Poconos scholar accused by the Turkish regime of being behind Friday's coup attempt.Kerry said on NBC's Meet the Press that the U.S. has asked President Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to become more authoritarian in response to the coup.Hurriyet Daily News reported that Erdogan has detained some 6,000 soldiers, judges and prosecutors in less than 48 hours. They're being charged with “membership of an armed terrorist organization” and “attempting to overthrow the government of the Turkish Republic using force and violence...

Pocono NASCAR Cup Series winner Denny Hamlin and second-place finisher Kyle Busch were disqualified Sunday after their cars failed post-race inspections. "There was some issues discovered that affect aero in the vehicle," said Brad Moran, managing director of the NASCAR Cup Series, widely considered the top auto race league. "There really was no reason why there was some material that was somewhere it shouldn't have been. And that does basically come down to a DQ." Hamlin was the first Cup winner to be disqualified since April 17, 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis' victory at Wilson Speedway in North Carolina was thrown...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/April/09-nsd-408.html Two Additional Defendants Sentenced for Conspiring to Kill U.S. Soldiers WASHINGTON – The remaining two men convicted of plotting to kill members of the U.S. military during an armed attack on a military base were sentenced today to federal prison terms of life for one defendant and 33 years for the other for conspiring to kill members of the U.S. military, Ralph J. Marra Jr., Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey; David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; and Janice K. Fedarcyk, Special Agent in Charge of the...

Note: The following text is a quote: Three Brothers Sentenced to Life Prison Terms for Conspiring to Kill U.S. Soldiers WASHINGTON -- Three brothers who were convicted of plotting to kill members of the U.S. military during an armed attack on a military base were sentenced today to life prison terms, Ralph J. Marra Jr., Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey; David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; and Janice K. Fedarcyk, Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia Division of the FBI, announced. U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler sentenced Dritan Duka and Shain Duka...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CN) – The case against a business associate of former national security adviser Michael Flynn went to the jury Monday, which will determine whether he illegally lobbied at the direction of Turkey without telling the federal government. During closing arguments Monday, prosecutors said 66-year-old Bijan Rafiekian tried to carefully mask who was behind a project he and Flynn worked on that aimed to discredit Fethullah Gulen, a cleric Turkish President Recep Erdogan has blamed for a 2016 failed coup against him. “They tried to subvert the American process so Erdogan could get his hands on Gulen,” U.S. Attorney...

The Poconos region -- particularly Monroe County -- is being called a "hot zone" for the coronavirus pandemic. The president of St. Luke's Hospital's Monroe Campus, Don Seiple, said the the Poconos' close ties to New York City, the nation's virus epicenter, will likely lead a much larger increase in cases locally unless something is done soon. ---SNIP--- Those traveling from New York City are now supposed to self-quarantine for two weeks. However, Seiple said, plenty of people have already been exposed.

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn to become his national security adviser, a source with knowledge of the matter has revealed. The source told NBC Wednesday evening that Trump had settled on Flynn, who was also being considered for the secretary of defense post. The Daily News could not independently confirm the report, and the Trump campaign did not immediately return a request for comment. Earlier in the evening, Trump spokesman Jason Miller said the President-elect had met with Flynn and added he would make a "fantastic addition" to the team. "He has been a companion...

A Bushkill, Pa. woman and six other individuals are facing a multitude of charges, including counts of terrorism, assault, and kidnapping, following a failed takeover of the Pine Ridge community on Monday. According to a criminal complaint from Pennsylvania State Police out of Blooming Grove, Tonia Scott, 49, of Bushkill was the alleged ringleader of a group of armed individuals who sought to forcefully take the land occupied by the Lehman Township community on the afternoon of Nov. 18. A police interview with Scott revealed that she had claimed rightful ownership to the land of the Pine Ridge and Saw...

WASHINGTON — Two former business associates of Michael T. Flynn, President Trump’s first national security adviser, have been indicted as part of a federal investigation into Turkey’s secret 2016 lobbying campaign to pressure the United States to expel a rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Charges against the two former associates, Bijan Kian and Ekim Alptekin, were unsealed on Monday in an Alexandria, Va., courtroom. The two men were charged with a conspiracy to violate federal lobbying rules, and Mr. Alptekin also was charged with making false statements to F.B.I. investigators. The indictment is further evidence of a broad...

A newly-released email and lobbying documents filed with Congress reveals new ties between Clintonworld and members of a network operated by a mysterious Islamic cleric from Turkey. Connections between Clinton and acolytes of the imam, Fethullah Gulen, could muddle the complex relationship between the U.S. and Turkey, a key NATO ally, if the former secretary of state wins the White House. http://dailycaller.com/2016/07/13/new-ties-emerge-between-clinton-and-mysterious-islamic-cleric/

The Erdogan regime continues to play with fire renewing accusations that the United States spearheaded a complex conspiracy to overthrow the Turkish government. A Turkish prosecutor claims that the CIA and FBI provided training to followers of US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara initially called the “mastermind” of the failed attempt to overthrow the Erdogan regime on July 15 that left hundreds dead and thousands more wounded. An indictment, prepared by the Edirne Public Prosecutor’s office and submitted to the local Second Heavy Penal Court, seeks the harshest possible punishment for 43 suspected coup plotters. In the indictment, the...

Instanbul's chief prosecutor's office has launched the mother of all probes and Sen. Chuck Schumer, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, and ex-CIA director Brennan are among those named for their alleged links to cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Hundreds of World Peace and Unification Sanctuary church members get their guns blessed in Pennsylvania. Hundreds of couples packed a World Peace and Unification Sanctuary church in Pennsylvania to bless their weapons on Wednesday The church believes the gun is the "rod of iron" cited in the Book of Revelation A woman wears a crown of bullets in the ceremony in the rural Pocono Mountains Guns were blessed with holy water during the event, scheduled before 17 people were shot dead in a Florida school The church believes the Florida shooting could have been avoided had teachers been armed Guns...

Special Counsel Robert Mueller, in what started as a probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 elections and any potential collusion with the Trump campaign, is reportedly investigating former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn for an alleged plan to “forcibly remove” a Muslim cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania and send him back to Turkey.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s director of policy planning, now denies she endorsed Today’s Zaman, the flagship newspaper of Fethullah Gülen’s Islamist cult. Here is a google cache record with Prof. Slaughter’s endorsement, and here is the page now, with Professor Slaughter’s endorsement excised. Professor Slaughter denies she made the endorsementThere are two possible explanations: (1) Professor Slaughter is being truthful, and Today’s Zaman simply made it all up. If so, this suggests that the ethics of Zaman and the organization which sponsors it are non-existent. (2) Professor Slaughter asked for the retraction only after learning about Today’s...

His lawyers presented Monroe County Court Judge Jennifer Sibum with several motions: to dismiss the case or, failing that, change the venue for a trial that is set to begin next month. Sibum reserved decision. She is expected to make a ruling next week. Ritter is charged with contacting who he thought was a 15-year-old girl in an online chat room in February 2009 and starting a sexually based conversation. The “girl” turned out to be a Barrett Township police officer working undercover. Ritter served as the U.N. chief weapons inspector for seven years, was a harsh critic of the...

The Turkish government is expanding its witch hunt of suspected allies of cleric Fethullah Gulen by opening an investigation into 17 U.S.-based individuals, including New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and former CIA director John Brennan. Turkish investigators are interested in Schumer because of donations he has received from Gulen’s supporters here in the U.S. The complaint also names several Gulenists who operate non-profit organizations here in the U.S. One of those is Recep Ozkan, the former president of the Gulen-linked Turkish Cultural Center. Ozkan donated heavily to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaigns and as much as $1 million to the Clinton...

The Turkish government has failed to convince Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency that U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen was behind last summer's failed coup in Turkey, the BND head told a German magazine. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish government accuse Gulen of orchestrating Turkey's failed coup on July 15 in which more than 240 people were killed when rogue soldiers commandeered tanks, warplanes and helicopters, attacking parliament and attempting to overthrow the government.. "Turkey has tried to convince us of that at every level but so far it has not succeeded," BND head Bruno Kahl said in an interview...

Dani Rodrik has just returned from Turkey, shunned while defending his father-in-law, the main defendant in the military coup plot case. The Harvard professor explains his take. IN DECEMBER I traveled to Turkey with my wife and young son, as we do every year during winter break. This time, though, we had more than visiting family and friends in mind. We were on a mission to demonstrate that what many have called the trial of the century in Turkey is in fact a sham built on fabricated evidence. Nearly two hundred Turkish military officers stand accused of having plotted a...