Turkey sacks 10,000 civil servants, shuts media outlets

Post-coup crackdown continues as government fires thousands of employees and closes down 15 pro-Kurdish media groups.

More than 100,000 people had already been sacked or suspended and 37,000 arrested since the coup attempt [Umit Bektas/Reuters]

More than 100,000 people had already been sacked or suspended and 37,000 arrested since the coup attempt [Umit Bektas/Reuters]

Turkey has dismissed another 10,000 civil servants and closed 15 more media outlets over suspected links with “terrorist organisations” and US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for orchestrating a failed coup.

More than 100,000 people have already been sacked or suspended and 37,000 arrested since the July coup attempt, in an unprecedented crackdown the government says is necessary to root out all coup supporters from the state apparatus.

Thousands more academics, teachers, health workers, prison guards and forensics experts were among the latest to be removed from their posts through two new executive decrees issued late on Saturday.

Opposition parties denounced the continued crackdown, which has also raised concerns over the functioning of the state.

“What the government and [President Tayyip] Erdogan are doing right now is a direct coup against the rule of law and democracy,” Sezgin Tanrikulu, an MP from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said in a Periscope broadcast posted on Twitter.

Fifteen more newspapers, wires, and magazines that report from the largely Kurdish southeast were shuttered, bringing the total number of media organisations closed to nearly 160.

In another move, the ability of universities to elect their own rectors was also abolished. President Erdogan will now directly appoint nominees.

The extent of the crackdown has worried rights groups and many of Turkey’s Western allies, who fear Erdogan is using emergency rule to eradicate dissent. The government said its actions are justified following the coup attempt on July 15, when more than 240 people died.

Erdogan has said authorities need more time to wipe out the threat posed by the coup plotters, as well as Kurdish armed groups that have waged a 32-year insurgency that has killed about 40,000 people.

Ankara wants the United States to detain and extradite Gulen so that he can be prosecuted in Turkey on a charge that he masterminded the attempt to overthrow the government. Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, denies any involvement.

Speaking to reporters at a reception marking Republic Day on Saturday, Erdogan said he wants the reinstatement of the death penalty, a debate that emerged following the coup attempt.

“I believe this issue will come to the parliament,” he said, repeating he would approve it – a move that would sink Turkey’s hopes of European Union membership. Erdogan shrugged off such concerns, saying much of the world had capital punishment.

The Council of Europe warned Turkey against re-establishing the death penalty on Sunday.

“Executing the death penalty is incompatible with membership of the Council of Europe,” the 47-member organisation, which includes Turkey, tweeted.

Turkey abolished capital punishment in 2004 as the nation sought accession to the EU.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz added to the council’s warning, denouncing Turkey for considering a move that would “slam the door shut to the European Union”.

“The death penalty is a cruel and inhumane form of punishment, which has to be abolished worldwide and stands in clear contradiction to the European values,” Kurz told the Austrian Press Agency.

Source: Al Jazeera News And News Agencies

Retiran a asesores de PPK José Labán y Jorge Villacorta

Su salida del Gobierno se anunció este sábado luego de que fueran acusados por presuntamente cobrar cupos para postulaciones al Congreso por el partido de PPK.

Imagen en: http://cdne.diariocorreo.pe/thumbs/uploads/img/2016/10/16/villacorta-y-laban-asesores-jpg_604x0.jpg

Imagen en: http://cdne.diariocorreo.pe/thumbs/uploads/img/2016/10/16/villacorta-y-laban-asesores-jpg_604x0.jpg

Los asesores de Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (PPK) José Labán y Jorge Villacorta fueron apartados de sus respectivos cargos este sábado.

Ambos eran cuestionados desde que el último viernes, en el semanario Hildebrandt en sus trece, se publicó la denuncia del empresario minero de Puno Beltrán Hancco Quispe, quien en un audio señaló que Labán y Villacorta le pedían dinero para poder posultar con el número uno al Congreso. Los cupos, según la denuncia, eran cobrados a pedido del entonces vicepresidente de Peruanos por el Kambio, Gilbert Violeta, quien hoy ocupa la presidencia de la agrupación y un escaño en el Congreso.

Jorge Villacorta era asesor de PPK en materia de Conflictos sociales y José Labán Ghiorzo lo era en Asuntos regionales y municipales. También se les criticaba por su aparente falta de experiencia en estos temas.

En una entrevista con RPP, Villacorta señaló que ambos asesores presentaron su renuncia conjunta ante los “infundios y agravios para minar la imagen del presidente”.

“Rechazamos todos los cuestionamientos que, sin ningún tipo de sustento, se han vertido sobre nuestra imagen”, es un fragmento de la carta de renuncia que leyó Jorge Villacorta.

PUEDES VER: Gilbert Violeta rechaza haber cobrado cupos a candidatos al Congreso | VIDEO

Según indicó, la renuncia fue presentada de forma voluntaria y con ella buscan evitar que las acusaciones sean utilizadas para generar inestabilidad política.

Hasta la fecha, van renunciando tres asesores presidenciales de Kuczynski. El primero de ellos fue Carlos Moreno, quien era su consejero en materia de salud. Su salida fue provocada por la existencia de un audio que revelaba los aparentes negociados con el administrador de una clínica privada para enriquecerse mediante un convenio con el Seguro Integral de Salud (SIS).

Villacorta también respondió a las palabras de la ministra de Justicia, Marisol Pérez Tello (excongresista del PPC), quien en la víspera señaló que en el Gobierno es necesario separar el arroz de los “gorgojos”, en alusión a los cuestionados exasesores.

“El único gorgojo que hemos encontrado a su partido, porque el señor Carlos Moreno era el brazo derecho de la lideresa de su partido”, señaló en alusión a Lourdes Flores Nano, quien era cercana al criticado médico y hasta lo llevó a formar parte del equipo técnico de la alianza que formó con el Apra.

Jorge Villacorta, como asesor en materia de conflictos sociales, protagonizó un penoso incidente días atrás en Saramurillo (Loreto), durante una mesa de diálogo con representantes indígenas que exigen descontaminar su territorio por los daños causados por los derrames de petróleo.  Los gestos del asesor, según las imágenes difundidas, habrían sido amenazantes y ocasionaron que los representantes nativos exigieran su retiro de la mesa.

Por su parte, Labán dijo que se la ha criticado por ser muy joven, pues se encuentra a punto de cumplir 28 años. “Ser joven no es un delito”, resaltó, además de rechazar las acusaciones contra él y Villacorta. Señaló que estos son producto de una campaña orquestada para desprestigiar a PPK.

La carta mediante la cual los asesores se apartan de sus respectivos cargos.

View post on imgur.com

 

En: larepublica.pe 

Promesas electorales elecciones USA 2016: Maya MacGuineas on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’ – June 26, 2016

Maya MacGuineas is the President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget as well as the head of the Campaign to Fix the Debt. Her areas of expertise include budget, tax, and economic policy. MacGuineas testifies regularly before Congress and has published broadly. Once dubbed “an anti-deficit warrior” by The Wall Street Journal, MacGuineas comments often on broadcast news and is widely cited by the national press. In the spring of 2009 MacGuineas did a stint on The Washington Post editorial board, covering economic and fiscal policy. MacGuineas has worked at the Brookings Institution and on Wall Street. As a political independent, she has advised numerous candidates for office from both parties, and works regularly with members of Congress on health, economic, tax, and budget policy. Contact her at info[at]crfb.org and find her on Twitter @MayaMacGuineas.

Ver: comittee for a responsible federal budget

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