TALLINN: Turkey’s EU affairs minister accused Germany of trying to use the EU as a “tool” in its festering row while German lawmakers arrived in Turkey on Friday to visit soldiers stationed in the central Turkish province of Konya.
Minister Omer Celik welcomed the diplomatic rebuff offered by a number of the bloc’s foreign ministers to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s call for Turkey’s EU membership talks to be terminated.
The EU has voiced major concerns about Turkey’s crackdown in the wake of last year’s failed coup, with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warning that Ankara was “withdrawing from Europe by giant steps.”
Relations between Berlin and Ankara have have deteriorated since last year’s failed coup tried to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the subsequent crackdown.
During an election debate on Sunday Merkel said she would ask the EU to end Turkey’s accession talks.
Celik said Germany risked tarnishing the EU’s reputation by dragging it into a row between individual countries.
“Those who are at the moment coming up with fresh arguments (against Turkey joining) are actually trying to use the EU in order to tackle bilateral problems,” Celik told reporters at a gathering of EU foreign ministers in Tallinn.
“The EU should not be used as a tool to counter the bilateral problems of any of the countries.”
Merkel’s remarks on Sunday drew a furious response from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who compared them to “Nazism.”
But a number of EU ministers urged a more measured response than Merkel suggested, warning against rushing into hasty action against Turkey, which is an important member of NATO and a key partner for Europe in tackling the migrant crisis.
Celik said the ministers’ caution showed there was no “environment” to stop the negotiations, which have made only slow progress since they began in 2005.
Relations between Ankara and Berlin deteriorated sharply after the coup attempt, which was followed by the crackdown in Turkey during which over 50,000 people have been arrested, including German citizens.
Angry rhetoric has flown in both directions and Erdogan has called on ethnic Turks in Germany not to vote for Merkel’s party in national elections later this month.
Celik said it was time to move on from the recriminations.
“I can tell you we are definitely uncomfortable in terms of the arguments put forward by German politicians. They cannot spend a day without having some kind of remarks to our president and politicians,” he said.
“I think this is a vicious cycle that we need to break and we should definitely focus on the future.”
German lawmakers visit Turkey
While relations remain tense between the NATO allies, German lawmakers arrived in Turkey to visit soldiers stationed in the central Turkish province of Konya.
Some 20-30 German troops have remained at Konya as part of an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACs) mission, part of the US-led coalition’s campaign against the Daesh group in neighboring Syria and Iraq.
The delegation had initially been due to come to Turkey in July for the routine visit, but the trip was blocked by Ankara.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg then intervened and the visit was organized by the alliance, rather than Germany.
NATO’s deputy secretary-general, Rose Gottemoeller, is leading the delegation including seven German MPs from different parties, according to the Bundestag.
“We expressly welcome the fact that this visit could take place,” Germany foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said.
“A visit is a visit. It is already good... We will see how things continue,” he said, adding that these types of visits organized within the NATO framework could not constitute “a lasting and sustainable political solution.”
The row over MPs’ access to German troops on Turkish soil boiled over in June when Berlin pulled out 260 troops from Incirlik base in southern Turkey and relocated them to Jordan, after Ankara repeatedly thwarted lawmakers’ efforts to visit.
Turkey accuses Germany of using EU as ‘tool’ in row
Turkey accuses Germany of using EU as ‘tool’ in row
French FM says Iraq should not be dragged into regional conflicts
He praised the Iraqi government’s efforts to “preserve the stability of the country“
BAGHDAD: France’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that Iraq should not be pulled into conflicts in a turbulent Middle East during his first visit to the country, which has suffered from decades of instability.
Jean-Noel Barrot will also visit Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as part of a regional tour to push for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, Iraq, an ally to both Tehran and Washington, has been navigating a delicate balancing act not to be drawn into the fighting, after pro-Iran factions launched numerous attacks on US troops based in Iraq, as well as mostly failed attacks on Israel.
“It is essential for Iraq not to be drawn into conflicts it did not choose,” Barrot said in a joint conference with his counterpart Fuad Hussein.
He praised the Iraqi government’s efforts to “preserve the stability of the country.”
“We are convinced that a strong and independent Iraq is a source of stability for the entire region, which is threatened today by the conflict that started on October 7, and Iran’s destabilising activities,” Barrot said.
There have been no attacks by pro-Iran Iraqi factions for several months, while Iraq is now preparing to host an Arab League summit and the third edition of the Baghdad Conference on regional stability, which Paris has been co-organizing with Baghdad since 2021.
Since returning to the White House in January, US President Donald Trump has reinstated his “maximum pressure” policy with Iran while engaging in talks over its nuclear program.
Fuad Hussein urged for successful talks “to spare the region from the danger of war,” adding that “there are no alternatives to negotiations.”
Barrot met Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani in Baghdad, and he is expected later in the autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq to meet with Kurdish leaders.
Sudani said he welcomed “an upcoming visit” of French President Emmanuel Macron to Iraq, which would be his third trip to the country.
Iraq and France have been strengthening their bilateral relations in several sectors, including energy and security.
France has deployed troops in Iraq as part of the US-led international coalition to fight the Daesh group, which was defeated in Iraq in 2017, although some of its militant cells remain active.
Baghdad is now seeking to end the coalition’s mission and replace it with bilateral military partnerships with the coalition’s members, saying its own forces can lead the fight against the weakened militants.
“We cannot allow ten years of success against terrorism to be undermined,” Barrot said, adding that France remains ready to contribute to the fighting.
Barrot’s regional tour will also help “prepare for the international conference for the implementation of the two-state solution” that Paris will co-organize in June with Riyadh, the French foreign ministry said.
Macron said earlier this month that France planned to recognize a Palestinian state, possibly as early as June.
He said he hoped it would “trigger a series of other recognitions,” including of Israel.
For decades, the formal recognition of a Palestinian state has been seen as the endgame of a peace process between Palestinians and Israel.
Holocaust survivor says reliving nightmare with grandson’s Gaza captivity
- “The government says the war must go on, that we have no choice — but that’s not true,” said Kuperstein
- Kuperstein himself narrowly escaped death in 1941, when his mother fled the Nazi advance in the Soviet Union and hid him in Tashkent
HOLON, Israel: For Holocaust survivor Michael Kuperstein, the harrowing wait for news of his grandson — held hostage by Hamas in Gaza — feels like he is reliving a nightmare.
“It’s a second Holocaust,” said the 84-year-old, describing an anguish that has reopened old wounds he thought had long since healed.
Despite his frail health, the octogenarian is determined to take part on Thursday in the annual March of the Living at the site of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in southern Poland.
In his heart, he holds tightly to the hope of one day seeing his grandson, Bar Kuperstein, alive again.
“The government says the war must go on, that we have no choice — but that’s not true,” said Kuperstein, his anger clearly visible as talks for the release of hostages remain deadlocked.
During their attack on Israel, Hamas militants abducted 251 people and took them back to Gaza. Of those, 58 are still being held there, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Kuperstein himself narrowly escaped death in 1941, when his mother fled the Nazi advance in the Soviet Union and hid him in Tashkent — then part of the USSR, now Uzbekistan — just months after his birth.
In 1972, he immigrated to Israel with his wife Faina and their two children.
But tragedy has continued to shadow the family.
Their son, Tal Kuperstein, a volunteer paramedic, suffered severe injuries in an accident years ago while rushing to save a four-year-old girl.
The incident left him disabled, unable to speak or move.
At 17, Tal’s eldest son, Bar, moved in with his grandparents to make space at home for Tal’s live-in caregiver.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Bar also became a paramedic and once even saved his grandfather’s life after a heart attack, performing emergency aid and swiftly calling an ambulance.
Just two months later, at the age of 21, he was abducted from the Nova music festival near the Gaza border during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.
The massacre at the festival left more than 370 people dead.
Bar was seen in a video taken shortly after his abduction — bound hand and foot, with a rope around his neck.
Since then the family received no updates until February, when freed hostages who had been held with Bar in Gaza tunnels confirmed he was still alive.
Witnesses at the festival told AFP that Bar had been treating the wounded when he was seized by militants.
Then on April 5, Hamas’s armed wing released a video showing Bar alongside another hostage — the first images of him alive.
“Bar looks extremely thin. He has his grandfather’s eyes. He’s the only one who inherited them,” said Faina Kuperstein, his grandmother.
“He looked so much like him when he was younger. But now, his eyes have lost their light. He looks terribly pale.
“I barely recognize his face anymore,” she said, choking back tears.
“He never left the house without kissing me goodbye. I miss him so much.”
All the hostages should have been released by now, said Michael Kuperstein.
“But we’re still waiting. Nothing changes except for more fallen soldiers. Why?” he added.
Bar turned 23 at the start of April.
Despite his speech disability, his father, Tal, longs to talk to him.
With immense effort, Tal recently managed to say a few words — a moment of pride that fills the family with hope he’ll one day be able to speak to his son again.
Faina visits Bar’s room every day. It remains neat and tidy.
At each meal, the family keeps a chair empty for him, with his photo placed on the table.
She yearns to tell him, “Your father is speaking now.”
“He’ll soon walk again. You dreamed of this moment — and look, it’s happening. You must stay strong so that you can return to us.”
UN appoints envoy to assess aid for Palestinians
- “We’re trying to see how in this very complex environment, UNRWA can best deliver for the Palestine refugees it serves,” Dujarric told reporters
- “We will see how UNRWA can better operate and better serve the communities that rely on“
UNITED NATIONS: The UN on Tuesday appointed an envoy to complete a “strategic assessment” of the agency charged with aiding Palestinians, a spokesman said.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed Ian Martin of the United Kingdom to review the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, to gauge the “political, financial, security” constraints the agency faces.
The organization, broadly considered to be the backbone of humanitarian aid delivery for embattled Palestinians, has withstood a barrage of criticism and accusations from Israel since Hamas’s deadly October 7, 2023 attack inside Israel and the devastating war in Gaza that followed.
Israel cut all contact with UNRWA at the end of January, and has accused 19 of its 13,000 employees in Gaza of being directly involved in the October 7 attacks.
“We’re trying to see how in this very complex environment, UNRWA can best deliver for the Palestine refugees it serves. For the communities it serves, they deserve to be assisted by an organization, by an UNRWA that can work in the best possible manner,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
The review is being carried out as part of the UN80 initiative launched last month to address chronic financial difficulties, which are being exacerbated by US budget cuts to international aid programs.
Not all agencies will undergo a strategic assessment, but UNRWA’s operations in Gaza are unique, Dujarric said.
“We will not question UNRWA’s mandate. We will see how UNRWA can better operate and better serve the communities that rely on” it, Dujarric added.
The agency was created by a UN General Assembly resolution in 1949, in the wake of the first Israeli-Arab conflict, shortly after the creation of Israel in 1948.
Throughout decades of sporadic but ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, UNRWA has provided essential humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Educated at Cambridge and Harvard universities, Martin has previously served the UN on missions in Somalia, Libya, Timor-Leste, Nepal, Eritrea, Rwanda and Haiti.
Syrian defense minister meets Jordanian army chief in Damascus
- The Syrian defense minister affirmed the depth of the historical ties between Syria and Jordan and reiterated his country’s commitment to close cooperation
DUBAI: Maj. Gen. Yousef Huneiti, chairman of Jordan's Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra on Wednesday in Damascus, news agency Petra reported.
During the meeting, the two men discussed bilateral relations and explored ways to further develop and strengthen them. They also addressed prospects for enhanced security and military cooperation between the two countries.
Both sides emphasized the importance of continued coordination and joint efforts to confront the various challenges facing the region.
They highlighted the need to use the capabilities and resources of the Jordanian Armed Forces in multiple sectors to support regional security and stability — particularly in light of the challenges in border areas, which directly affect the national security of the two countries.
The Syrian defense minister affirmed the depth of the historical ties between Syria and Jordan and reiterated his country’s commitment to close cooperation. He also commended the pivotal role of King Abdullah II in fostering regional security and stability.
Jordan moves to dissolve Muslim Brotherhood, enforce nationwide ban
- Membership in or affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood is now prohibited by law
- Last week, Jordan arrested 16 members of the Muslim Brotherhood
DUBAI: Jordan’s Interior Ministry has announced a sweeping set of measures against the Muslim Brotherhood, formally declaring the group dissolved and illegal.
The announcement came during a press conference on Wednesday, where the Interior Minister, Mazen Faraya, outlined the government's decisive steps aimed at safeguarding national security and public stability.
The minister confirmed that membership in or affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood is now prohibited by law, and that all of the group’s offices across the Kingdom have been permanently closed. A judicial order was issued to facilitate the closure of headquarters and branches, with security forces deployed to enforce the decision and confiscate the organization’s assets.
The Interior Minister described the Muslim Brotherhood’s continued activities as a threat to citizens, a barrier to national development, and a destabilizing force. He revealed that members of the dissolved group had planned to target sensitive sites, stored weapons and explosives in residential neighborhoods, and operated covertly to undermine public security.
“The presence of hidden agendas and divisive rhetoric from within the group is incompatible with Jordanian unity,” the minister stated, adding that “we cannot allow division among members of a single society.”
A special dissolution committee has been activated to expedite the legal and administrative process of seizing the group’s assets and ensuring full compliance with the ban.
This announcement follows the arrest of 16 members of the Muslim Brotherhood last week, an operation that Jordanian authorities say exposed plans to disrupt security and stability.
The Jordanian Media Commission announced that it will take legal action against any individual or outlet that publishes, broadcasts, or promotes content related to the Muslim Brotherhood.
