Gallipoli dead remembered at WWI ’versary

Opposition challenge to vote rejected

CANAKKALE, Turkey, April 25, (Agencies): Australia’s foreign minister and New Zealand’s justice minister have joined hundreds of people on the site of the battlefields of the World War I Battle of Gallipoli to remember those who were killed on the 102nd anniversary of the start of the ill-fated campaign.

The solemn ceremony kicked off at dawn Tuesday under tight security following a series of attacks and bombings that have plagued Turkey.

On April 25, 1915, troops from Australia and New Zealand first landed at dawn on the Gallipoli peninsula under British command in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war.

More than 44,000 Allied soldiers were killed in the battle. Turkish casualties were estimated at 250,000.

The battle helped forge Australia and New Zealand’s national identities.

Irked

In Washington, the United States irked its key ally Turkey on Monday, criticizing 1915 massacres in Armenia as “one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century,” although stopping short of calling them genocide.

The issue is a politically fraught one in the United States especially among Armenian Americans.

Estimates say the killings number between half a million and 1.5 million.

The largest group is in the Los Angeles area, and includes pop star and actress Cher, and the Kardashians of reality television fame.

Former president Barack Obama had promised to recognize the killings as a genocide. But over eight years in office, in need of cooperation from Turkey, he did not follow through.

New President Donald Trump issued a statement saying bluntly that “today, we remember and honor the memory of those who suffered during the Meds Yeghern, one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century.” Many of the diaspora landed in countries from France to Argentina to the United States.

“Beginning in 1915, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in the final years of the Ottoman Empire,” Trump said.

Mourning

“I join the Armenian community in America and around the world in mourning the loss of innocent lives and the suffering endured by so many.

“We must remember atrocities to prevent them from occurring again,” he continued.

“We welcome the efforts of Turks and Armenians to acknowledge and reckon with painful history, which is a critical step toward building a foundation for a more just and tolerant future.”

A top Turkish court Tuesday rejected an opposition legal challenge to lastminute voting rule changes in the referendum over handing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greater powers.

The opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has repeatedly criticised the decision by the country’s top election authority to accept ballot documents in envelopes without an official stamp.

The party formally lodged on Friday a petition with the Council of State, Turkey’s highest administrative court, after the ‘Yes’ side won 51.4 percent of the vote in the April 16 referendum.

The opposition, which argues that the decision by the Supreme Election Board (YSK) on the envelopes opened the way for fraud, launched a failed bid to annul the referendum last week.

The CHP said the decision by the election board was an “administrative” move.

However, the court rejected its challenge by a majority vote (four against and one in favour), saying it could not rule on the YSK’s move because it was “not an administrative procedure”, staterun news agency Anadolu reported.

Lawmakers from across Europe voted Tuesday to reopen a monitoring probe into Turkey over rights concerns, sparking anger from Ankara as its relations with the continent continue to slide.

The move by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) marks an unprecedented step back for Turkey, which becomes the first of the group’s 47 member states to be reinstated on monitoring due to worries over its governance.

Voted

The assembly, made up of more than 300 members of national parliaments from Council of Europe countries, voted by 113 in favour and 45 against fresh monitoring in Turkey “until these concerns are addressed in a satisfactory manner”, with 12 abstentions.

A Greek appeals court ruled on Tuesday against Ankara’s request to extradite three of eight Turkish soldiers who fled across the border to Greece after last year’s failed coup attempt.

In January, Greece’s top court had blocked the extradition of all eight men, who Turkey alleges were involved in efforts to overthrow the government. Ankara then filed a second extradition request.