DAILY NEWS IN ENGLISH
Andrew Brunson: US pastor on trial in Turkey on terror charges Evangelical Christian pastor Andrew Brunson ran a church in the Turkish city of Izmir. He faces two separate terms of 15 and 20 years in prison if convicted. A Turkish court on Monday decided to keep a US pastor in prison pending trial on terror-related charges. Andrew Brunson went on trail over alleged involvement with both the movement of Fethullah Gulen — a Muslim preacher who lives in self-imposed exile in the US who Ankara says masterminded a failed 2016 coup in Turkey — and the Kurdistan Workersʼ Party (PKK). The trial further increases tensions between Turkey and the US — two NATO allies. In the Syria conflict, the United States has backed fighters from the Kurdish Peopleʼs Protection Units (YPG); a group Turkey considers a terrorist organization, and Washington refuses to extradite Gulen, despite repeated demands by Ankara.
Russian investigative reporter dies after balcony fall Authorities have said that Maksim Borodinʼs death was likely a suicide. But both his editor and friends disagree that Borodin, who wrote about crime and corruption, was suicidial. Thirty-two-year-old Russian investigative journalist Maksim Borodin died suddenly over the weekend, his employer Novy Den confirmed on Monday. Authorities have described his death as a probable suicide, a narrative contested both by friends and Novy Den. Borodin was found underneath the balconies of his building in the city of Yekaterinburg on April 12 and died three days later without having recovered consciousness. According to the US government-funded Radio Free Europe, a policeman spokesman from Sverdlovsk Oblast said it was "unlikely that this story is of a criminal nature."
88/2018 • 19 APRIL, 2018
Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls for early elections in June They have been slated for June 24
Egyptʼs Nadeem Center for torture victims persists against odds Amnesty has recognized the Nadeem Centerʼs work in treating victims of torture and documenting abuse by the security forces with its 2018 human rights award. DWʼs Ruth Michaelson spoke with one of the founders. "According to the constitution, torture is a crime — but it is practiced every day," said Dr Aida Seif el Dawla (pictured above, second from left), as she sat on the sofa of her cozy Cairo apartment. "There is a total negligence of the law — ignoring the law, ignoring the constitution." Seif el Dawla is one of the founders of the Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture. She can immediately recall the number of people the center has helped with physical and psychological therapy: "4,968."
The vote was not due until November next year but President Erdogan has called snap presidential and parliamentary elections. A government spokesman made the announcement on Wednesday and the vote will be the first after last yearʼs referendum approved a change to the constitution and creation of an executive presidency.The extended powers for the presidentwere not due to take effect until after presidential polls which were previously due to take place before November 2019. In a speech broadcast live on television, Erdogan said: "Even though the president and government are working in unison, the diseases of the old system confront us at every step we take." Both presidential and parliamentary elections are to be held on the same day in June this year. The small Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) nationalist party headed by Devlet Bahceli is believed to have supported the call for the early vote. It had argued that it would be difficult for Turkey to "endure current circumstances" for another 18 months. The MHP cited economic risks and possible increases in migration into Turkey. "As result of consultations with Mr. Bahceli, we decided to hold elections on June 24,
2018, a Sunday," said Erdogan, standing in front of Turkish flags at the presidential palace. "Developments in Syria and elsewhere have made it urgent to switch to the new executive system in order to take steps for our country’s future in a stronger way," he said. "Be it the cross-border operations in Syria, or incidents of historic importance centered in Syria and Iraq, they have made it imperative for Turkey to overcome uncertainties quickly," the president added. Turkeyʼs parliament voted on Wednesday to prolong the state of emergencyfor the seventh time since the failed coup of July 2016. It will continue for a further three months and be in force for the elections. The elections are the first to be called early in Turkey since 2002. Erdogan will need a 51 percent majority for re-election to the presidency in the first round. The main opposition Republican Peopleʼs Party (CHP) which currently holds 134 parliamentary seats to the 317 of Erdoganʼs Justice and Development Party (AKP), welcomed the announcement.
Gunmen kidnap German in Nigeria The German national was working at a construction site in northern Nigeria. Kidnapping for ransom is common in Nigeria. Five armed men kidnapped a German national and killed a policeman in northern Nigeria, police said on Monday. Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a vehicle carrying workers to a construction site run by construction company Dantata & Sawoe in Kano city, abducting the German national working for the firm and killing a police escort, said police spokesman Magaji Musa Majia.
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