Month: October 2017

Hundreds of people took to the streets in Barcelona to protest a police crackdown in Catalonia to stop an independence referendum in the region.

Protestors, many of them students, waved the Catalan independence flag Monday and held up signs demanding more democracy outside the headquarters of the Spanish police in Barcelona. Demonstrations also took place in several other Catalan cities, including Girona and Lleida.

The violence followed a police crackdown during Sunday’s independence referendum. Officials in Catalonia said nearly 900 people were injured when police tried to keep residents from voting in the referendum, deemed unconstitutional by the Spanish courts.

Video from Sunday showed police dragging people from polling stations and beating and kicking would-be voters and demonstrators.

Spain’s Interior Ministry said Monday that more than 430 National Police and Civil Guard agents suffered injuries from the clashes.

Amnesty International says its observers witnessed “excessive use of force” by Spanish police.

European leaders on Monday urged dialogue between Spain’s government and authorities in Catalonia. A spokesman for the European Commission said the referendum was “not legal” but said that “violence can never be an instrument in politics.”

The commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation EU, said in a Twitter message that “these are times for unity and stability, not divisiveness and fragmentation.”

EU chief Donald Tusk appealed to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajov on Monday to “avoid further escalation and use of force” in the standoff.

 
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Turkey’s armed forces chief, General Hulusi Akar, is in Tehran for talks with Iran’s political and military leadership, including President Hassan Rouhani. His visit precedes President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit, scheduled for Wednesday, and comes as analysts suggest the use and threat of and military force are increasingly becoming part of Turkish foreign policy.

Analysts point out preliminary talks before a presidential visit are traditionally carried out by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, but note Akar’s agenda in Tehran had a strong military flavor.

Tehran and Ankara have issued thinly-veiled military threats to the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government, following its independence referendum last month. It passed with 92 percent of the vote.

News agencies on Monday reported the Iranian military had moved up heavy artillery to the Iraqi Kurdish border. The deployment matches that of the Turkish armed forces already massed on Turkey’s Iraqi Kurdish frontier, ostensibly for military drills.

“Turkey is now looking at a change in its foreign policy,” noted former Turkish ambassador to Iraq Unal Cevikoz. “Turkey is considering the threat of the use of force and the use of force as a viable option for realizing its foreign policy objectives, and that is dangerous.”

Cevikoz noted a possible increase in the Turkish military’s influence over foreign policy. Possible evidence of a growing military role in diplomatic affairs included an August visit by Russian and Iranian armed forces chiefs to the Turkish capital, Ankara. The visits reportedly focused on the ongoing civil war in Syria, where all of these countries have their military forces deployed.

Historic military role

Such a scenario is not new to Turkey. Throughout the 1990s, the peak of fighting by the Kurdish insurgent group the PKK, the military held sway over much of Turkish foreign policy.

In the 2000s, as part of his policy to demilitarize Turkish society, then-Prime Minister Erdogan ended the military role in foreign policy.

“Turkey believed that if Turkey wants to have a peaceful and stable environment in the Middle East, this could be achieved not through security policies or use of military power, but through enhancing economic cooperation,” noted Cevikoz, who now heads the Ankara Policy Center.

The 2015 collapse in Ankara’s peace process with the PKK, and the Syrian civil war, are seen as the impetus for a recalibration in Turkish foreign policy.

“When Syria became a very important area where international terrorism is now finding a fertile ground and when the civil war expanded in Syria, I think that saw Turkey is shifting back to its security policies,” Cevikoz said.

Some analysts see a more robust foreign policy backed up by force as a necessity.

“In such a turbulent and difficult region with a variety of security threats, Turkey needs hard power as part of a portfolio of instruments to influence regional developments,” said Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar with the Carnegie Institute in Brussels. “In that sense, hard power in this region is necessary even if it’s to advance a diplomatic objective.”

Domestic policies

Domestic politics could also be a factor driving Ankara’s more robust foreign policy approach, analysts note. In 2019, Turkey faces presidential and general elections; both are predicted to be close.

“President Erdogan increasingly has presidential elections in sight,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who is now a regional analyst.

Ankara has strained relations with several of its Western allies. And analysts warn there are questions over its future commitment to NATO as Erdogan’s rapprochement with Moscow deepens. The Turkish President has described his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as “a valuable friend.”

Erdogan is also looking to improve ties as he heads to Tehran.

Cevikoz said if Turkey is “serious about the secularization of its foreign policy,” then it will “have to coordinate with countries like Iran and Russia,” which are not allies.

But that will not be a permanent alliance, he said, which “in a way will leave Turkey as a kind of lone wolf in the region.”
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The European Commission says Sunday’s independence referendum in Catalonia was “not legal” but also called on the Spanish government to open dialogue.

A spokesman for the commission, the executive arm of the 28-nation EU, said Monday that “violence can never be an instrument in politics.”

The commission said in a Twitter message that “these are times for unity and stability, not divisiveness and fragmentation.”

The director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir also called on the Spanish authorities to ensure respect for fundamental freedoms of peaceful assembly and expression,” in order to facilitate communication and employ “de-escalation measures to reduce tensions.”

“The Spanish authorities must ensure that police use force only when necessary and in strict adherence to the principle of proportionality,” she said.

Nearly 900 injured

Officials in Catalonia said nearly 900 people were injured when police tried to keep residents from voting. Spain’s Constitutional Court had suspended a law passed by the region’s parliament calling for the vote, but the referendum was held anyway.

In a televised address after polls closed, Catalonia regional President Carles Puigdemont said Catalonia had “won the right to become an independent state” and urged the European Union to stop looking “the other way.”

WATCH: Catalonia President

The government of Spain, however, forcefully disagreed.

Spain will do “everything within the law” to prevent Catalonia from declaring independence, Justice Minister Rafael Catala said Monday in an interview with Spanish public television.

“If anyone plans to declare the independence of part of the territory of Spain, as he can’t since he does not have the power to do so, we would have to do everything within the law to impede this,” Catala said.

Catalonia’s government said early Monday that preliminary results showed that 90 percent of voters in Sunday’s referendum want the region to declare its independence from Spain.

Regional government spokesman Jordi Turull said 2.02 million of the 2.26 million votes cast were for independence. He said nearly 8 percent of voters rejected independence and the rest of the ballots were blank or void.

Voter turnout was about 42 percent in Catalonia which has an electorate of 5.3 million voters.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who spoke from Madrid Sunday slammed the vote — calling it illegal and an attack on the rule of law.

“At this hour, I can tell you in the strongest terms what you already know and what we have seen throughout this day. There has not been a referendum on self-determination in Catalonia today,” Rajoy said.

Puigdemont replied, saying Rajoy was bringing shame on his country.

“The exterior image of the Spanish state keeps getting worse and today they have reached embarrassing levels that will always be always remembered,” Puigdemont said.

Police officers from Spain’s national police forces raided polling places in an effort to close them down and halt voting. Video showed police dragging people from polling stations and beating and kicking would-be voters and demonstrators.

Puigdemont said he would appeal to the European Union to look into alleged human rights violations in connection with the violent efforts to halt the vote.

IN PICTURES: Catalonia Independence

In a statement issued late Sunday, the State Department said the United States supports a strong and united Spain. The U.S. also supports the right to free assembly, the statement said, and urged those involved to act in a way consistent with Spanish law.

Several labor unions and other organizations called for a strike Tuesday to protest the police crackdown.
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Catalonia’s government said early Monday that preliminary results show that 90 percent of voters in Sunday’s referendum want the region to declare its independence from Spain.

Regional government spokesman Jordi Turull said 2.02 million of the 2.26 million votes cast were for independence. He said nearly 8 percent of voters rejected independence and the rest of the ballots were blank or void.

Voter turnout was about 42 percent in Catalonia which has an electorate of 5.3 million voters.

Catalonia regional President Carles Puigdemont said he would keep his pledge to declare independence unilaterally if the “Yes” side won Sunday’s disputed referendum on secession from Spain.

Watch: Catalonia President

In a televised address after polls closed, Puigdemont said Catalonia had “won the right to become an independent state” and urged the European Union to stop looking “the other way”.

The government of Spain, however, forcefully disagreed. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who spoke from Madrid Sunday slammed the vote – calling it illegal and an attack on the rule of law.

“At this hour, I can tell you in the strongest terms what you already know and what we have seen throughout this day. There has not been a referendum on self-determination in Catalonia today,” Rajoy said.

Puigdemont replied, saying Rajoy was bringing shame on his country.

“The exterior image of the Spanish state keeps getting worse and today they have reached embarrassing levels that will always be always remembered,” Puigdemont said.

Officials in Catalonia said more than 800 people were injured when police tried to keep residents from voting. Spain’s Constitutional Court had suspended a law passed by the region’s parliament calling for the vote, but the referendum was held anyway.

Police officers from Spain’s national police forces raided polling places in an effort to close them down and halt voting. Video showed police dragging people from polling stations and beating and kicking would-be voters and demonstrators.

Puigdemont said he would appeal to the European Union to look into alleged human rights violations in connection with the violent efforts to halt the vote.

In Pictures: Catalonia Independence

In a statement issued late Sunday, the State Department said the United States supports a strong and united Spain. The U.S. also supports the right to free assembly, the statement said, and urged those involved to act in a way consistent with Spanish law.

Several labor unions and other organizations called for a strike Tuesday to protest the police crackdown.
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Animals that make the water their home are uniquely sensitive to changes in their liquid world. Oysters are very good at filtering dirty water, and crayfish are very sensitive to changes in water quality. Now scientists in the Czech Republic are using these sensitive bottom dwellers to monitor water quality in a business where clean water matters. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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They emerged early Sunday with helmets, masks and flak jackets from temporary overnight accommodation, cheap boarding houses and chartered cruise ships painted with huge Warner Bros. cartoon figures, Tweetie Pie and Daffy Duck, docked at Barcelona’s port.

But as the day unfolded, Barcelona was far from being Disney World.

Soon after polling stations opened, police, many drafted from outside Catalonia, moved in under orders from the national government in Madrid to block an independence referendum they and the country’s constitutional court said is illegal under the 1978 constitution that declares Spain indivisible.

For Catalan separatists, Spain’s current constitution isn’t free of the stamp of the former dictator Gen. Francisco Franco, who ruled the country for 40 years. They say underlining the constitution is a shameful, purposeful amnesia, one that ignores the suffering of Catalonia during the brutal 1930s civil war and the suppression of the Catalan language during Franco’s 40-year-long dictatorship.

The ghost of Franco was never far from Sunday’s illegal referendum.

Some of the extra police drafted into Spain’s restive north-east region had been cheered as they traveled to Catalonia by rightwing Spanish nationalists waving the national flag and chanting provocatively, “Viva Franco.”

Sunday was a far cry from the unity and comradeship Spain presented to the world in August when Spaniards and Catalans mourned together the 13 killed and 100 injured when jihadists struck Barcelona.

IN PICTURES: Catalonia Independence Referendum

As a gray, wet Sunday unfolded and the police mounted a speedy show of force in the Catalan capital, firing rubber bullets and wielding batons at people lining up to cast their ballots, besieging polling stations, seizing ballot boxes and removing officials overseeing the illegal vote, Catalan separatists accused them of acting like Franco.

Some analysts feared Mariano Rajoy’s center-right national government was being maneuvered cleverly by the separatists into overreacting. They argued before the vote that Madrid should just ignore a referendum that has no legal standing. They will point to Sunday’s events as confirming what they feared might happen.

WATCH: Clashes Between Police, Protesters 

Spanish officials maintained it was never a serious option to ignore the vote; to do so would be to allow lawlessness and to permit a minority to kidnap the democratic process. The midweek announcement by the Catalan regional government that it would declare independence in the event of a “yes” vote, gave Madrid no choice but to act, officials argue.

Overnight thousands of pro-secessionists, both nervous and thrilled, occupied Catalonia’s schools, presenting a festive appearance as parents with their children danced and put on concerts and events. It was a tactical move to try to preempt the police from shuttering schools to prevent them serving as polling stations, something they had been warned would happen by Madrid.

Speaking to reporters in the Spanish capital on the eve of the vote, the country’s foreign minister said, “The law guarantees democracy, what they’re pushing is not democracy, it is a mockery of democracy, a travesty of democracy.”

Many Catalans, opinion polls show 49 percent oppose secession compared to 41 percent for it, no doubt agreed with those sentiments. Catalans opposed to the vote have been less vocal than secessionists with some saying they were getting harassed by separatists when they spoke out and labeled fascists.

As dawn broke Sunday more people gathered at designated polling stations. “Votarem, votarem!” – (“We will vote!”) they chanted. “It is pretty exciting,” said pro-separatist activist Jordi Gali outside a voting center in downtown Barcelona. “So many people are united with one idea in common,” he added.

Within two hours of the polls opening, Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull announced that 73 percent of polling stations were functioning, but added, “there are constant attacks on the computer system.” The Spanish government disputed the claim, saying most designated polling stations had been shuttered.

Pro-independence leaders were quick to denounce police intervention. Barcelona’s mayor, Ada Colau, tweeted her anger, saying, “A cowardly president has filled our city with police. Barcelona, city of peace, is not afraid.”

Catalan regional president Carles Piedgement, a main proponent of the controversial referendum, said the “unjustifiable violence” created a terrible image of Spain.

They received some backing from overseas. Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, took the rare step of commenting on another European country’s internal affairs, tweeting, “Some of the scenes in #Catalonia this morning are quite shocking and surely unnecessary. Just let people vote.”

But Spain’s Guardia Civil said its officers were being harassed and provoked and reported by early afternoon nine policemen and two Guardia Civil officers had been injured while trying to stop the referendum. Posted video showed hooded figures throwing objects at police in central Barcelona.

But in the PR war over perceptions the separatists declared a moral win Sunday even before the polls closed. “Today, the Spanish state has lost… while Catalonia has won,” said Catalonia’s president Puigdemont.

 
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Spanish government efforts to block a regional referendum on Catalonia’s secession, have degenerated into violence as police shut down polling stations and confiscate ballot boxes, despite resistance by voters throughout the region.

According to Catalan officials more than 460 people are being treated for injuries in clashes that are intensifying as voter frustration grows at police patrols moving through Barcelona and other Catalan cities.    

Spain’s Vice Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said Sunday in Madrid, “There has been no referendum or appearance of any.”

She said police dismantling of internet connections to the regional census bureau  has neutralized any ability to formulate voting results.  But spokesmen for the Catalan regional government that called for the vote, say at 73 percent of voting stations are open and their own technicians are trying to fix downed internet lines.  

A Catalan official connected with the regional election commission that resigned last week under government threats of massive fines said voting results will be announced after midnight or sometime Monday.

The source, speaking to VOA on condition of anonymity, says votes will be counted manually and results announced by a special election board being formed by “experts and academics”. Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido says that attempts to legitimize today’s vote are a  “parody.”  

Violence erupted early in the day when police prevented the president of the Catalan regional government, Carles Puigdemont, from casting a ballot in his home district of Gerona.

WATCH: Clashes Between Police and Protesters

Police in riot gear charged a crowd that tried to surround them at the polling station, hitting one protestor in the eye with a rubber bullet. Puigdemont was later filmed voting at another polling station.

Catalan authorities urged voters to cast ballots at any open polling station they could find. In some cases people have been casting votes in ballot boxes set up on the streets. “The Spanish state has prevented Catalans from exercising their rights, giving a terrible image of  Spain” Puigdemont told journalists.

Spanish police officials say that they were let down by the Catalan regional police force who had assured them that they would not allow polling stations to open.

IN PICTURES: Catalonia Independence Referendum

Hastily organized interventions by Spain’s national police and the civil guard gendarmerie raiding poling stations once voting was already underway, led to embarrassing scenes of hooded policemen forcefully removing ballot boxes and abusing voters.

By midafternoon balloting seemed to be proceeding normalcy at some main voting stations. The mainstream social democratic opposition party, PSOE which at first supported the conservative government’s hard line policy towards Catalan secession, called on Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Puigdemont to resign and call new elections.

As an  apparent protest against the central government efforts to abort the referendum, Barcelona’s star soccer team canceled a match with another Spanish team that announced it would play with Spain’s colors sewed on its jerseys.

Under the threat of sanctions  from Spain’s football association, the Barcelona team finally agreed to play a closed door match with the team from the Canary Islands, where support for the central government is strong. 
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Turkey no longer needs to join the European Union but will not unilaterally abandon the stalled EU accession talks, President Tayyip Erdogan told parliament on Sunday.

“We will not be the side which gives up. To tell the truth, we don’t need EU membership any more,” Erdogan said.

Turkey’s 12-year-long accession talks have ground to a halt, with the EU especially critical of Ankara’s crackdown following a failed coup last year. Tens of thousands of people including teachers and journalists have been detained.

Erdogan’s government says EU states failed to appreciate the gravity of the threat which Turkey faced, and did not respond to requests to extradite coup suspects.

“The EU failed us in a fight against terrorism,” Erdogan said on Sunday, though he also suggested the bloc still needed Turkey.

“If the EU is going to leap forward, there is only one way to do so. And it is to grant Turkey membership and start an action of cultural and economic growth,” Erdogan said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an election debate last month it was clear Turkey should not join the EU and entry talks should end, despite it being a crucial NATO ally.
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