Showing posts with label turkey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label turkey. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
US confirms assassination plot against Obama
I know, we don't like to read this, but it is what it is. We live in a world of crazy folk, here and abroad. Never think al-qaead is not alive and well, THEY ARE.
US authorities confirmed that Turkish police have arrested a man who claims to have plotted to kill US President Barack Obama when he visited Turkey.
The Secret Service in Washington said Monday night that Turkish National Police arrested the man last Friday in Istanbul. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said the president was never in any immediate danger, as Obama arrived in Turkey on Sunday, two days after the man's arrest.
As standard procedure involving a threat against the president overseas, the Secret Service is following up with Turkish authorities regarding the case and is not releasing any information about the suspect, Donovan said.
On Monday, the Saudi daily Al Watan reportedm that Turkish security services has arrested a man of Syrian descent who was planning to assassinate Obama during his trip to Turkey.
According to the report, the man, who was arrested on Friday, was carrying a press card identifying him as an employee of Al Jazeera. He reportedly confessed to his intention to stab Obama with a knife and said that he was aided by three accomplices.
The report stated that Turkish authorities were still unsure as to whether the press card was a fake or whether it had actually been issued the man by the Qatari news network.
Al-Jazeera's Ankara bureau chief, Yussef al-Sharif, told the paper that news of the suspected assassination plot had come as an utter surprise to the network's staff in Turkey, adding that all of Al-Jazeera's employees in the country claimed that they were not acquainted with the suspect.
Sharif said that the ID card had "most certainly" been forged.
He said that Turkish authorities knew all of the employees of Al-Jazeera's Ankara offices.
UPDATE
The official, who is close to police operations in Turkey, said police detained the suspect — a Turkish national — on Friday after receiving an anonymous e-mail which even gave the suspect's address in Istanbul. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of rules that bar civil servants from speaking to the media without prior authorization.
"There was nothing serious. Police released the man and said he was mentally disturbed," the official said. "The tip turned out to be a hoax. The IP address from which the e-mail was sent was traced to the United States."
U.S. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said Monday the president was never in any immediate danger. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, who was with Obama in Istanbul on Tuesday, declined to comment on the incident.
Obama did not arrive in Turkey until Sunday, two days after the man's arrest.
"There was no threat to Obama's life," the Turkish official said. "But the police naturally took such a tip seriously."
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Monday, April 6, 2009
Obama's visit to Turkey a Muslim State, very important
The distrust of the Muslim region after George W. Bush is not hard to understand, so Barack Obama's visit is vital and may be the most important of his European trip. Muslims all over the world are watching this trip very closely and many are hoping the beginning of something new after the former President George W. Bush.
President Barack Obama paid tribute to the memory of modern Turkey's founding father on Monday as he reached out for help to wind down the war in Iraq and bring stability to the Middle East.
He is also counting on the only major predominantly Islamic member of NATO to remain a steadfast ally in the Afghanistan conflict.
"I'm honored to pay tribute to his name," Obama said at wreath-laying ceremony during a morning visit to the tomb of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
[snip]
Obama's visit is being closely watched by an Islamic world that harbored deep distrust of his predecessor, George W. Bush.
Obama was spending two days in Turkey as he wraps up an event-packed, eight-day international trip that also saw stops in Britain, France, Germany and the Czech Republic.
He arrived in Ankara late Sunday. He was to meet with Turkish leaders and speak to parliament. He will then go on to Istanbul for events on Tuesday.
In his inaugural address in January, Obama pledged to reach out to the Muslim world.
[snip]
Americans remain unsure of what to make of Islam even as most people in the United States think Obama should seek better relations with the Muslim world, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. About 55 percent of Americans say they lack a good, basic understanding of the religion, the poll found, and 48 percent have an unfavorable view of it.
Obama's trip to Turkey, his final scheduled country visit, ties together themes of earlier stops. He attended the Group of 20 economic summit in London, celebrated NATO's 60th anniversary in Strasbourg, France, and on Saturday visited the Czech Republic, which included a summit of European Union leaders in Prague.
Turkey is a member of both the G-20 and NATO and is trying to get into the EU with the help of the United States.
[snip]
"Obama starts with a great advantage because his name is not George Bush," said Bulent Aliriza, director of the Turkey Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.
While Bush was extremely unpopular in Turkey and the Islamic world, "there's a sense of goodwill toward the United States — and particularly toward President Obama. And the entire Islamic world will be watching" Monday's speech to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Aliriza said.
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