політика, бізнес, народ

In the days of communist Albania’s near-total isolation, Saimir Maloku used his technical know-how to gain illicit glimpses of the outside world. Unluckily for him, as he and his father watched forbidden Italian television, the regime was watching him.

Maloku was jailed for nine years in 1976 after the secret police bugged his home. Four decades on, he can visit a unique Tirana museum and see for himself the kind of listening devices that betrayed him.

At the Museum of Surveillance, created in the former headquarters of the feared Sigurimi security service, Albanians can now inspect some of the spying paraphernalia used by dictator Enver Hoxha’s totalitarian state as well as the files kept on many of them.

“Until now nothing had been done to show how Albanians were spied upon and kept in check, so this is a good step to illustrate the history of spying we were the victims of,” Maloku, now 71, told Reuters.

Visiting the museum, Maloku told the story of how he had wanted to help his paralyzed father by broadening his television viewing beyond the drab daily four hours of Albanian state broadcasts.

‘Opened a window’

An electronic engineer, he built a device he called “the can” to convert UHF signals from Italy’s RAI television so they could be viewed on an Albanian set.

“The can opened a window into the West for the Albanians. I made them free of charge for my friends, but later learned some of them had denounced me,” Maloku said.

The Sigurimi planted a listening device in a wall to gather evidence against him.

The same model of device — once attached to a broomstick to spy on the Italian Embassy in Tirana — is on display in another museum depicting the work of the communist-era Interior Ministry.

In the age of the smartphone, both Maloku’s and the Sigurimi’s electronic gizmos now look quaintly crude. But they did their jobs, and Maloku went to prison for devising his, convicted of hostile “agitation and propaganda.” He remembers singing Rolling Stones and Beatles songs in his underground cell to preserve his sanity.

Before the collapse of Albanian communism in 1990, the building that now houses the Museum of Surveillance was known as the “House of Leaves” — a pun referring to both its ivy-clad walls and the “leaves” of secret police files kept on citizens.

During World War II it was used by the Gestapo of the occupying Nazi forces.
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Estonia plans to block access to the country’s vaunted online services for 760,000 people from midnight on Friday to fix a security flaw in some of the Baltic country’s identity smartcards that was identified earlier this year.

Estonia is seen as a leader in providing government services online and has championed the issue within the European Union in recent years, and the security issue leaves it with its much-touted digital IDs in an awkward position.

A nation-wide online identity system allows citizens access to most government and private company services via the web, including banking, school reports, health and pension records, medical prescriptions and voting in government elections.

But Estonia’s online ID service ran afoul of an encryption vulnerability identified by researchers earlier this year that exposes smartcards, security tokens and other secure hardware chips made by the German company Infineon.

Infineon said last month it had resolved the problem, but the fix still means cards and equipment need to be updated. Both the Estonian government and Infineon have said there are no signs the security flaw had been exploited.

The Estonian online services would be blocked for affected digital IDs until they renewed certificates incorporating the fix, the Estonian government said in a statement.

“The functioning of an e-state is based on trust and the state cannot afford identity theft happening to the owner of an Estonian ID card,” Prime Minister Juri Ratas said.

Thursday and Friday saw crowds pack into Estonia’s police and board guard service offices to get their ID cards certificates updated while the online update service was frequently overloaded, leaving many frustrated.

Britain’s ambassador to Estonia, Theresa Bubbear tweeted late on Thursday: “#eEstonia losing its shine? Spent hours over 2 days trying to update my ID card as per govt/MFA instructions. Still trying…”

 
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Russia’s top domestic security agency said Friday it has detained a group of suspects accused of planning firebomb attacks on official buildings.

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, the main KGB successor agency, said the suspects detained in the Moscow region were planning to hurl firebombs at administrative buildings and attack police over the weekend in order to provoke mass riots.

It said the suspects belonged to the Artpodgotovka (Artillery Bombardment) group founded by opposition activist Vyacheslav Maltsev and were aiming to “destabilize socio-political situation in the country.”

The FSB said it also has stopped the activities of Maltsev’s group in the cities of Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodar, Kazan, Samar and Saratov – the major provincial centers.

Maltsev, who described himself as a nationalist and anarchist, has said on YouTube that Russia is up for a revolution this weekend just as the nation prepares to mark the centennial of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution on Nov. 7.

Maltsev, a former regional legislator from Saratov, unsuccessfully ran for the federal parliament in 2016. He left Russia during the summer, and in October was arrested in absentia on extremism charges.
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A Spanish judge is considering whether to issue an international arrest warrant for Catalonia’s ousted leader Carles Puigdemont over the region’s contested independence drive.

Puigdemont flew to Brussels with four members of his cabinet this week after Spanish authorities removed him and the 13-member Cabinet from office for pushing ahead with secession.

If an arrest warrant is issued, Puigdemont will fight extradition without seeking political asylum, according to his Belgian lawyer.

Puigdemont had been due to appear at Spain’s National Court on Thursday to answer questions in a rebellion case brought by Spanish prosecutors, but he did not show up.

The judge jailed nine former members of Catalonia’s separatist government on Wednesday, while they are investigated on possible charges of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement connected to their push for the region’s independence from Spain.

She later granted one of them bail at $58,300.

In a short address from Brussels broadcast by Catalan regional television TV3, Puigdemont called for the release of “the legitimate government of Catalonia” as hundreds of people gathered outside the Catalan parliament also calling for them to be freed.

“As the legitimate president of Catalonia, I demand the release of the members of my cabinet. I demand respect for all political options and I demand the end of the political repression,” he said.

Puigdemont said the imprisonment of former Catalan Vice-President Oriol Junqueras and 8 members of his cabinet was an attack on democracy and not compatible with a “Europe in the 21st century.”

Meanwhile, data released Friday showed that unemployment rose sharply in Catalonia in October, more than anywhere else in Spain as companies fled in the midst of the country’s worst political crisis in decades.
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Poland plans to bar Ukrainians with “anti-Polish views,” its foreign minister said on Thursday, emphasizing the nationalist credentials of his ruling party that often talks of the “historic wrongs” inflicted on Poles by their neighbors.

Witold Waszczykowski said the policy was a reaction to disrespect shown at a Polish cemetery in the western city of Lviv, which was part of Poland before World War II.

The foreign ministry said lion sculptures at the cemetery’s entrances that hold shields inscribed with the Polish phrases “Always faithful” and “To you, Poland” had been covered up with boxes.

Waszczykowski said Ukrainians who express anti-Polish sentiments or make it difficult to maintain ageing Polish symbols in Ukraine would be refused visas. He did not say how the policy would be applied in practice.

“At the moment, we are launching procedures that will not allow people with extremely anti-Polish views to come to Poland … Those who demonstrate and use administrative instruments against Poland will also bear the consequences,” Waszczykowski told state-run TVP1 television.

Poland is home to between 1.5 million and 2 million Ukrainians who left their country seeking jobs after the 2014 Maidan uprising and conflict with pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine plunged their economy into recession.

Despite Poland’s support for an independent Ukraine that can stand up to Russia, tensions over the countries’ troubled shared history have risen since the Law and Justice (PiS) party came to power in Poland two years ago.

Poland last year passed a resolution that declared the World War Two-era killing of tens of thousands of Poles by units in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) “genocide.” Ukraine rejects that label, saying the killings were tragic and calling for reconciliation and forgiveness.

Waszczykowski said Poland’s sympathy for Ukraine’s struggles with Russia must not push “historical issues” into the background.

“It cannot be that geopolitics, that the Russian aggression will be an excuse and that for years we will not settle the issues that divide us,” Waszczykowski said.
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Pope Francis prayed for an end to all war during a mass at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, just south of the Italian capital, on Catholic All Souls’ Day commemorating the dead.

Francis laid flowers on the graves of some of the 7,860 American soldiers buried there as well as another 3,095 missing in action while trying to liberate southern Italy and Rome during World War II.

The pope said the thousands of white headstones should stand as a call for peace, saying “no more war, no more of these useless massacres.”

The pontiff lamented that humanity has not learned, or not wanted to learn, the lessons of war.

“How often in history, when men think of making war, they are convinced of bringing a new world, they are convinced that they are making spring. It ends in winter; ugly, cruel, a reign of terror, of death,” the pope said.

Francis said that remembering the many young people who died in World War II is even more important today, when “the world once more is at war and is preparing to go even more forcefully into war.”

As he left the cemetery, Pope Francis wrote in the visitors’ book: “This is the fruit of war: hate, death, vendetta. Forgive us Lord.”
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A court in Macedonia on Thursday convicted 33 people of planning terrorist attacks as members of an ethnic Albanian militant group.

Heavy security, including helicopters flying overhead, protected the court proceedings in Skopje. Armored vehicles and at least 100 police officers deployed around the courthouse to safeguard the participants in the highly anticipated trial.

Seven of the accused were given life sentences, 13 got 40-year sentences, and the rest got sentences of 12 to 20 years, all on charges including terrorism and participating in a terrorist organization.

Four defendants were acquitted. Attorneys for the defendants said the proceedings were “a classic show trial” and derided the length of their clients’ sentences.

“We didn’t expect fair sentences, but we also didn’t expect such a draconian ruling,” said attorney Naser Raufi. He called for an independent investigation of the proceedings.

Those tried were arrested in a police raid and gunfight in the northern Macedonian town of Kumanovo on May 9, 2015. In the battle following the raid, 22 militants and eight Macedonian officers died.

The raid was conducted in response to an attack by armed men on a border post. Some of the attackers were former fighters from the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army, a militia that had fought in the 2001 insurgency in Macedonia that killed scores of people.

The insurgency ended with a deal providing greater rights for ethnic Albanians in Macedonia. Ethnic Albanians now make up about one-quarter of the Macedonian population of 2.1 million.

Some of the defendants were ethnic Albanians from Macedonia, while others were from neighboring Kosovo.

The Albanian National Liberation Army disbanded in 2002. Some of its leaders went into politics.

Lilica Kitanovska of VOA’s Macedonian service contributed to this report.
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Museums of fine art in Bern, Switzerland, and Bonn, Germany, have put on display hundreds of paintings and drawings, including works by Picasso, Matisse and Chagall, collected by German art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt. Some of the works were looted from Jewish homes, others were acquired after Nazi authorities had them removed from galleries. Gurlitt, who died in 2014, bequeathed what was left of the collection to the Bern Kunstmuseum. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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Britain’s Defense Minister Michael Fallon has resigned after allegations of inappropriate behavior emerged.

Fallon said in a resignation letter to Prime Minister Theresa May that his “previous conduct … may have fallen below the high standards that we require of the Armed Forces.”

May accepted the resignation Wednesday, saying she appreciated “the characteristically serious manner” in which Fallon had considered his position.

The sexual harassment and assault allegations brought against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein have emboldened women in several countries to speak out about their experiences.

In Britain, it has produced soul-searching about the growing number of reports of sexual harassment and abuse in politics. May has called a meeting of party leaders to discuss how to deal with the topic.

Fallon apologized this week for putting his hand on the knee of a journalist, Julia Hartley-Brewer, in 2002, but he was not being investigated over the incident.

Hartley-Brewer said she was “incredibly shocked” by Fallon’s resignation and did not think his decision was based solely on the 2002 incident.

“I’m assuming there are more allegations to come,” she told Sky News. “I doubt very much it’s because of my knee.”
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Dismissed Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont said on Wednesday he would ignore a court order to return to Spain to answer charges over the region’s push for independence, but he could testify from Belgium.

If Puigdemont fails to answer Thursday’s High Court summons, an arrest warrant could be issued that would make it virtually impossible for him to stand in a snap regional election called by the Spanish government for Dec. 21.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sacked Puigdemont and his government on Friday, hours after the Catalan parliament made a unilateral declaration of independence in a vote boycotted by the opposition and declared illegal by Spanish courts.

On Monday, Spain’s state prosecutor filed charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds against Puigdemont for defying the central government by holding an referendum on secession on Oct. 1 and proclaiming  independence.

Puigdemont traveled to Belgium at the weekend with other members of the dismissed Catalan administration and hired a lawyer.

“Those summonses are part of proceedings that lack any legal basis and only seek to punish ideas. This is a political trial,” Puigdemont said in a statement signed by “the legitimate government of Catalonia.”

The High Court summoned Puigdemont and 13 other former members of the Catalan government to testify in Madrid on Thursday and Friday on the prosecutor’s charges.

A judge will then decide whether those called to testify should go to jail pending an investigation that could take several years and potentially lead to a trial. The judge might also grant them conditional bail or order them to surrender

their passports.

If Puigdemont and his associates did not turn up, the judge would be more likely to order them jailed as a flight risk.

The courts have also told the Catalan secessionist leaders to deposit 6.2 million euros ($7.2 million) by Friday to cover potential liabilities.

“Off to Prison?”

Three former Catalan government advisors returned to Spain from Belgium late on Tuesday and were greeted at Barcelona’s international airport by a small crowd chanting “off to prison.”

Puigdemont said on Tuesday he would only go back to Spain when given unspecified “guarantees” by the Spanish government.

He said he accepted the election called by Rajoy for December and Madrid said he was welcome to stand, though the legal proceedings might prevent that.

Uncertainty over how the crisis will play out has prompted more than 1,800 Catalonia-based companies to move their legal headquarters out of the region and the government to lower its national economic forecasts for next year.

On Wednesday, rating agency Moody’s said the declaration of independence and the suspension of self rule were credit negative for the region and the country, and that associated uncertainty would damage sentiment and consumer spending.

Moody’s raised Spain’s credit rating to Baa2 in 2014 as the country emerged from a prolonged economic slump.

On Tuesday, Moody’s affirmed Catalonia’s long-term issuer and debt ratings of Ba3, saying the government’s reinforced control compensated for the increased risks, in particular the region’s rapidly deteriorating business climate.
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Following Brexit, the German and Austrian elections, the crisis in Catalonia, and a referendum in northern Italy, new questions are arising among analysts over whether Europe could be in danger of splitting apart. VOA’s Jane Bojadzievski reports.
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Catalonia’s ousted leader Carles Puigdemont agreed Tuesday to a snap election called by Spain’s central government when it took control of the region to stop it breaking away, but he said the fight for independence would go on.

Below are several scenarios of what could happen in the next few days.

Courts

Puigdemont and his sacked cabinet have been ordered to testify before the Spanish High Court on Thursday and Friday after charges of rebellion, sedition and breach of trust were filed against them.

Under Spain’s legal system, a judge will then decide whether Puigdemont should go to jail pending an investigation that can sometimes take up to several years — and a potential trial.

Puigdemont traveled to Brussels after the Catalan regional parliament issued a unilateral declaration of independence on Friday, and it was not immediately clear whether he would heed the call to appear before the court.

He had said earlier Tuesday he would return to Spain only when given unspecified “guarantees” by the Spanish government.

The same charges have been drawn up against the Catalan parliament’s speaker, Carme Forcadell, and other senior lawmakers but, given they have parliamentary immunity, they will testify before the Supreme Court, which is in charge of handling cases relating to lawmakers or members of the government.

Prosecutors have asked the courts to order Catalan secessionist leaders to deposit 6.2 million euros to cover potential liabilities but they have not sought preventive jail against them.

This could change, however, if Puigdemont and his associates did not show up at the High Court as the judge could deem them to be a flight risk and jail them.

Elections

It is not clear whether a snap regional election will resolve the crisis.

Two recent opinion polls showed support for independence may have started to wane.

But an official regional survey published Tuesday showed some 48.7 percent of Catalans believe the region should be independent, up from 41.1 percent in June and the highest since December 2014.

Based on 1,338 interviews, the Centre d’Estudis d’Opinio poll was the first survey released since the independence declaration though the bulk of it was taken before then, between Oct. 16 and Oct. 29.

Other opinion polls have also shown Catalonia is almost evenly split between pro- and anti-independence supporters.

One key thing to watch will be if pro-independence parties run on a joint ticket or on separate platforms. If they ran separately, they could find it more difficult to reach a parliamentary majority.

They must say whether they intend to run together before Nov. 7, and then put forward their candidates by Nov. 18.

Direct rule

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy sacked Catalonia’s government — including Puigdemont and his deputy Oriol Junqueras — and assumed direct control over the region. Central government ministries assumed the powers of the Catalan administration until a regional election takes place on Dec. 21.

That unprecedented step was implemented smoothly and calls for civil disobedience were widely disregarded.
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A top Ukrainian official says Russia should provide U.S. investigators with access to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia after his rule was toppled in Ukraine’s Maidan revolution of 2014.

Dmitry Shymkiv, the deputy head of the administration of President Petro Poroshenko, said access to Yanukovych could prove vital to an understanding of the work done for Ukraine by indicted former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Shymkiv, whose role is similar to that of deputy chief of staff in the United States, spoke to VOA in response to comments made Tuesday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said Washington should further investigate Ukrainian links to Manafort.

Kyiv “has information” about the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Lavrov told a news briefing, according to reports by Russian news outlet RIA.

U.S. investigators probing Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. election — which Moscow denies having made — charged Manafort and a business associate on Monday with conspiracy to launder money and other crimes. The charges, some going back more than a decade, center on Manafort’s work in Ukraine, specifically for Yanukovych’s pro-Russian Party of Regions.

Yanukovych, who fled to Crimea just before it was annexed by Russian forces in February 2014, was not seen again until he held a news conference three weeks later in Rostov-on-Don, Russia.

Ukrainian TV channel TSN has reported that Yanukovych lives in the Rostov region, although Russian officials have never confirmed this.

“We need to understand … how all of the [ties between Manafort and top Ukrainian officials] took place,” said Shymkiv, secretary of the National Reform Council to the president of Ukraine and deputy head of Poroshenko’s administration.

Russia, however, has not cooperated with a Ukrainian government arrest warrant for Yanukovych, who stands accused of the “mass murder of peaceful citizens” during the uprising against his administration. Similarly, Shymkiv suggested in a Skype interview with VOA’s Ukrainian service, Russian officials would be unlikely to accommodate a U.S. request for Yanukovych to testify in the Manafort trial.

“I believe Yanukovych should be interrogated by the U.S. government, but I don’t think the Russians would let the Americans do that,” he said, laughing. “But it is absolutely a valid claim, because Yanukovych was the leader of Ukraine’s oligarchical structure, the leader of the corrupted vertical that was built in Ukraine since his rise to power in 2012 and up to the 2013 revolution of dignity.”

Watch: Ukraine, Russia urge US to expand Manafort probe

In his remarks Monday, Lavrov suggested that the charges over Manafort’s work for Ukraine indicated that the U.S. investigators had so far been unable to make a case against Russia, which has been the main focus of the probe headed by special counsel Robert Mueller.

“He has been working for several months. Accused two former Trump campaign managers of what they were doing on behalf of Yanukovych. Even though they were looking for a Russian trace,” Lavrov said, according to the Russian news outlet Sputnik International.

Lavrov also hinted at a Ukrainian role in last year’s U.S. presidential election, saying Ukrainian officials “can say a lot about their position toward the candidates during the 2016 presidential campaign.”

Shymkiv said U.S. investigators should explore whether Manafort was connected to the confiscation of revenue from some Ukrainian businesses while he was serving as a consultant to Yanukovych’s party.

“There was very aggressive behavior toward Ukrainian business people, and there was a strong extraction of money from different industries, so [Yanukovych] should be interrogated in this case, or at least be a subject of the case, because Paul Manafort was hired by the Party of Regions, which represented Mr. Yanukovych,” said Shymkiv.

Ukraine focus on lobbying

Asked for his reaction to the Manafort indictment, Shymkiv, who is tasked with overseeing post-Maidan reforms under Poroshenko’s administration, said that while U.S. news coverage has been dominated by the money-laundering and tax-evasion charges, Ukrainians are focused on U.S.-based lobbying groups in the employ of various Ukrainian politicians.

“[The Manafort trial] puts a significant light on a lot of lobbying activities in the U.S. from international governments or some political forces,” he said. “We’ve seen many Ukrainian politicians hiring lobbyists for different activities — creating, for example, fake hearings in the Congress.

“We appreciate American journalists who investigated it and showed how fake it is. But it is important that through the interrogation of Manafort by U.S. law enforcement agencies, we might get some additional insight into corruption practices, or other similar activities, which were happening in Ukraine during the Yanukovych regime,” Shymkiv added. “This can help Ukrainian law enforcement agencies build stronger cases on convicting some Ukrainian individuals.”

Ukrainian prosecutors, he noted, are willing to remain in touch with U.S. Justice Department officials.

“As this Manafort case evolves, there will be more stories and more disclosures taking place,” he said.

Manafort, who served as Trump’s campaign manager for about two months in the summer of 2016, was forced to resign after reports surfaced about his financial relationship with Yanukovych.

This story originated in VOA’s Ukrainian service.
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Mubin Shaikh says he’s haunted by a video image: A 3-year-old boy uses a large knife given to him by his parents to cut off his teddy bear’s head.

Shaikh is a Canadian Muslim who was radicalized as a young man and is now an expert on countering violent extremism. He uses that video to train police and intelligence services.

Shaikh told a U.N. Security Council meeting on children and armed conflict Tuesday that it’s a “real-life story of where we are today and what we will deal with tomorrow.”

He said armed groups around the world are using children to carry out attacks, build their ranks and promote their beliefs.

Shaikh urged action to prevent recruitment — and to demobilize and rehabilitate radicalized children.
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Turkey’s press freedom record is under international scrutiny with the resumption of the trial of journalists and executives of the Cumhuriyet newspaper, widely seen as the last mainstream newspaper critical of the president and his government. The case is part of an ongoing crackdown after last year’s failed coup.

Outside Istanbul’s main courthouse Tuesday, a speaker addressing a crowd of press freedom supporters defiantly declared journalists will neither remain silent nor submit until the release of their colleagues.

Seventeen journalists, lawyers, executives, and the cartoonist for the Cumhuriyet newspaper are facing sentences of up to 43 years in jail on terrorism charges. The defendants are accused of being linked to the group Ankara blames for last year’s failed coup. Numerous journalists have been arrested and media organizations shut down in the ongoing post-coup crackdown.

Point of concern

The Cumhuriyet case has become a focal point of international concern over press freedom, according to International Press Institute President John Yearwood. “Turkey is very wanting when it comes to the freedom of press,” he said.

“They have more journalists in jail than any other country in the world,” said Yearwood. “Cumhuriyet is the last remaining truly independent publication here in Turkey. If the government can come in and throw its journalists in jail and succeed in its goal of shutting down the newspaper, it would create a huge hole in how people can get information, one, and two, the type of information that they get.”

Yearwood and his Austria-based media freedom advocacy group were among many foreign observers, including human rights groups and representatives of the European Union, attending the newspaper’s trial. Although the case is nearly a year old, Tuesday was only the fourth day of hearings.

The trial has been criticized for its slow pace, especially as five of the defendants continue to be held in pretrial detention. What observers say is the lack of evidence against the accused has also drawn national and international condemnation.

Government defense

The government has strongly defended the case, insisting the country continues to face a threat to democracy and that no one is above the law.

But Yearwood warned Turkey will pay a heavy price for such cases against journalists, saying Turkey will continue to “get a black eye, not only in Europe but throughout the rest of the world.”

“And we hope that the government here cares about how it is viewed by the rest of the world, particularly if it is trying to be part of the global community,” he added. “And so we think that the country should stop throwing journalists in jail. It is reprehensible.”

In another case in the same Istanbul courthouse, two journalists were released from months of pretrial detention in an ongoing trial against pro-Kurdish newspaper Ozgur Gundem.

The paper was closed down last year for supporting terrorism. Forty eight newspapers have been closed under emergency rule introduced after last year’s failed coup.
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Bosnian authorities say a man with suspected terrorism links has been extradited to the United States.

The prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Tuesday that the agency has taken part in a “complex operation” to locate the suspect and hand him over to the U.S. No other details were immediately revealed.

Bosnian media have identified the suspect as Mirsad Kandic, a Kosovo-born Islamic State group supporter sought for years by the U.S.

The Zurnal online news portal says Kandic was arrested in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo in July, and kept in detention until the extradition Tuesday. Kandic has reportedly spent time in the former IS stronghold of Raqqa, and helped Australian teenage suicide bomber Jake Bilardi, also known as Jihadi Jake, reach the Islamic-held territory in 2014.
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Candidates supported by Macedonia’s left-led government have dominated local elections, preliminary results from Sunday’s runoff show.

Results on the state electoral commission’s website Monday gave government-backed candidates victory in 57 of 81 municipalities, including the capital, Skopje.

Candidates backed by the main opposition VMRO-DPMNE conservatives won five posts.

The election took place amid bitter rivalry between Prime Minister Zoran Zaev’s new Social Democrat-led government and VMRO-DPMNE, which had governed for a decade.

The first round was held Oct. 15. Past elections in Macedonia have been marred by claims of vote-rigging or voter intimidation.

But the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitored the elections, said the second round of voting showed “respect for fundamental freedoms.”
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Romanian senators on Monday approved a proposal that would allow Parliament to dismiss the chief of the Agerpres national news agency, despite opposition from press groups, which said it could harm the outlet’s political independence.

Senators voted 64-16 with 27 abstentions to approve the amendment, initiated by members of the ruling Social Democratic Party. Culture Minister Lucian Romascanu said the changes were necessary because Parliament currently lacked the authority to fire the agency’s general manager.

But press groups, including Reporters Without Borders, the European Center for Press and Media Freedom and the Romanian Center for Independent Journalism among others, published a letter earlier urging lawmakers not to change the law, saying: “Don’t destroy this institution. Don’t vote to change the law.” The proposal still needs to be approved by the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies before it can become law.

Agerpres general manager Alexandru Giboi criticized the vote, saying lawmakers wanted “merely to transform (the agency) into…. a button that any political party in power can press,” to control it.

Under existing legislation, Agerpres’ general manager has a five-year mandate and the agency, under parliamentary control, is required to be politically impartial.

The European Federation of Journalists has called the measure “an instrument to politicize the public service media.”
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Any move by Finland to join NATO would need public approval via a referendum, President Sauli Niinisto told a panel debate on Monday ahead of elections in January.

The Nordic country is a member of the European Union but has stayed outside the NATO military alliance in line with its tradition of avoiding confrontation with Russia, with which it shares an 833-mile (1,340 km) border and a difficult history.

It has forged closer ties with NATO in recent years, however, sharing information and taking part in military exercises, reflecting concerns in Finland about the Ukraine crisis and increased East-West tensions in the Baltic Sea.

Niinisto, who is expected to easily win a second six-year term in the Jan. 28 election, did not indicate whether he favored joining NATO but said a decision to apply for full membership would require a referendum.

“I am convinced that (membership) decision would require legitimacy, a wide acceptability … I would warn against making decisions where a significant part of citizens would get deep wounds,” Niinisto said in a panel discussion in Helsinki.

Only 21 percent of Finns support joining NATO, while 51 percent are opposed, a poll by YLE showed in February.

Niinisto, 69, who will stand as an independent candidate after previously representing the conservative National Coalition Party, is known for cultivating good relations with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Finland’s president is in charge of foreign and defense policy together with the government.

Nils Torvalds, the only one of seven presidential candidates who advocates joining NATO, said politicians needed to show leadership on the issue.

“The thesis of a referendum blocks the discussion on membership. Everybody’s waiting for a referendum and are not taking a stance on the real question … We do have a parliament to decide on issues.”

“To apply for a membership when a crisis is knocking on the door, forget that. The membership must be applied for when the weather is still rather beautiful.”

Torvalds, a politician for Swedish People’s Party of Finland, had 1 percent support in a recent opinion poll while Niinisto had 76 percent.

Finland’s center-right government has said it will monitor the security situation in the region and retain the option of joining NATO.

Russia, which has opposed NATO’s eastward expansion has said any move by Helsinki to join would be of “special concern.”

 
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The Spanish government has not banned Catalonia’s separatist leader from running in the December snap election. Spain’s foreign minister said Sunday ousted Catalan President Carles Puidgemont is theoretically eligible to run as the leader of his party unless he is imprisoned beforehand. Puidgemont’s government has caused Spain’s biggest political crisis in decades after declaring Catalonia’s independence from Madrid. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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Hundreds of women took to the streets of Paris and 10 other French cities to protest against sexual harassment in the wake of the scandal surrounding Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.

In Paris, women gathered in Republic Square, waving signs bearing the #metoo hashtag used by tens of thousands of women to share personal stories of harassment and assault.

Similar gatherings were also held in Marseille, Bordeaux and Lille, among other cities.

As the #metoo campaign erupted across the United States, a similar campaign unfolded across France under the hashtag  #balancetonporc or #squealonyourpig. As in America, French women have begun naming and shaming their attackers.

Since it started, several prominent figures have been targeted in French assault claims, including a lawmaker in President Emmanuel Macron’s party, a judge on France’s equivalent of reality show “America’s Got Talent” and Oxford professor Tariq Ramadan, a leading lecturer in Islamic studies.

French-Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski, who is wanted in the U.S. for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl in the 1970s, has also been hit with new abuse claims.

The avalanche of accusations was unleashed weeks ago when The New York Times and The New Yorker published reports of women accusing Weinstein of rape and sexual harassment going back decades. Among the accusers were some of Hollywood’s most prominent actresses, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosanna Arquette.
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An air of calm settled over Barcelona after hundreds of thousands of Catalans attended a rally Sunday for Spanish unity. The atmosphere of the rally was peaceful, as police helicopters monitored from above.

Amid a forest of Spanish national flags and chants of “Viva Espana,” protesters called for the jailing of Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who on Friday issued a declaration of independence shortly before the Spanish government stripped Catalonia of its autonomy.  

But the calm that followed the rally in the Catalan capital attended by an estimated 300,000 people had the quality of the stillness before a storm.  Few are ready to hazard a prediction of how events in Catalonia may unfold in the coming days in a confrontation that has seen intransigence from both sides.

How Madrid starts imposing direct rule Monday on its restive northeast region, and how separatists respond, will determine the next phase in the month-long cat-and-mouse standoff between the politicians in Madrid and Catalan secessionists.  Both appear to be banking on the other side tiring like a bull played by a matador.

But fears are growing the perilous confrontation, at times visceral and seamed with past historical grievances including from the era of Gen. Francisco Franco, will degenerate into violence, despite the separatists’ determination to remain non-violent and Madrid’s eagerness not to repeat the national police violence that accompanied an October 1 independence referendum.

Olive branch

Despite the sacking of Puigdemont by Madrid among a raft of direct-rule measures announced Friday, including the dissolving of the regional parliament, Spanish ministers offered an olive branch Sunday by suggesting the Catalan leader is not barred from continuing in politics and even welcomed the idea of him taking part in regional elections Madrid has called for December 21.

Watch: Puigdemont can run in snap election

“If Puigdemont takes part in these elections, he can exercise [his] democratic opposition,” said government spokesman Íñigo Méndez de Vigo. That suggests the implacable deputy Spanish prime minister, María Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría Antón, a 46-year-old former prosecutor who is charged with overseeing direct rule, is not planning to kick off by arresting Catalan separatist leaders, a move some analysts say would be inflammatory, if it is tried.

Nonetheless, there will be several flash-points in the coming week that could push the confrontation, the worst political crisis to roil Spain since a failed military coup in 1981, down paths neither Madrid nor the secessionists want or could control, say analysts.  They worry the type of clashes seen on October 1, when the national police and Civil Guard tried to distort the referendum, will be seen when Madrid decides  to enforce direct-rule by closing down Catalonia’s parliament and regional government.  “I really will be amazed if we don’t see more of that, sadly,” said Sally Ann-Kitts, a lecturer in Hispanic studies at Britain’s University of Bristol.

“All sides seem to be living in Wonderland,” according to John Carlin, who was fired from his job at the Spanish newspaper El País earlier this month over an article he wrote highly critical of the Spanish government for its response to the independence referendum.

In an article for the London Sunday Times, Carlin argued the biggest risk may come if the idea takes hold “among highly energized independence-seeking youth that they have been the victims of a Franquista coup d’état.”

Another risk is that provocateurs on either side, violent anarchists or hardline Spanish nationalists take advantage of the mess Catalonia is in and organize an incident to provoke a reaction from their opponents.  On Friday young Spanish nationalists attacked a Catalan radio station.

Rival administrations

As things stand, Catalans will wake up Monday to two rival administrations in their region claiming legitimacy, the Puigdemont-led regional government and an emergency authority staffed by Spanish civil servants and led by Sáenz de Santamaría.  On Saturday, Puigdemont defied the fact that he was formally dismissed by the Spanish government and urged Catalans to “defend” the new republic in a televised address.

Separatist leaders and their supporters appear determined to wear Madrid down much as a matador does with a bull by obstructing and resisting the orders issued by Madrid. “The only answer we have is self-defense – institutional self-defense and civil self-defense.  I hope Catalans won’t be intimidated by Madrid,” says Abel Escriba, a pro-independence political scientist.

Madrid is banking on Catalonia’s 200,000 public employees and the executives of public companies in the region accepting direct-rule and ignoring the instructions of the Puigdemont-led regional government.  Public employee, teacher and firefighter unions have proclaimed their members will ignore Madrid’s instruction.

“We are going to ask them to be professional and to continue to provide services for their citizens,” a Spanish official told VOA last week.  The strategy is to be as light-touch as possible as the region is steered to the snap elections in December, which the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is gambling will go against the separatists.

A poll published by El Pais Saturday suggested a small majority of Catalans (52 percent to 43 percent) favor the dissolution of the regional parliament and the holding of the early elections.  Fifty-five percent of Catalan respondents opposed the declaration of independence, with 41 percent in favor of secession.

 
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Supporters of a united Spain are holding a demonstration in Barcelona Sunday to show they are in favor of the Spanish government’s dismissal of Catalonia’s cabinet and squashing of the region’s secession push.

Meanwhile, ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont has called for peaceful “democratic opposition” to Spain’s takeover of the region that once enjoyed a considerable amount of autonomy.

In a pre-recorded statement, Puigdemont said he would continue working to build a free country and that only the regional parliament has the authority to dismiss the Catalan government.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dissolved Catalonia’s parliament, just hours after the regional body voted Friday in favor of independence from Spain.

In addition to dismissing the regional parliament, Rajoy has called for snap Catalan elections on December 21 and has stripped Catalonia’s most senior police officials of their powers.

Inigo Méndez de Vigo, a spokesman for the Spanish government, said Puigdemont and all other Catalonian leaders will be eligible to run in the December election.

“We are giving the voice to the Catalans in a legal and free elections, not so-called referendum which is outside the law,” he said. “So, this is the way of telling the Catalans, if you want to vote, you have the right to vote, do it under the conditions of the law and freely.”

WATCH: Spanish official: ‘Giving the voice to the Catalans’ 

The resolution to secede from Spain was drafted and presented by the more radical separatist factions of the regional coalition headed by Puigdemont, and it passed with 70 votes in favor, 10 against and 2 blank votes.

Friday’s resolution by the Catalan regional parliament ends a period of uncertainty over Catalan independence that has prevailed since an October 1 referendum on independence that won 90 percent of the vote in a 50 percent voter turnout.

Puigdemont could face a 25-year prison sentence for sedition. The central government already has jailed two separatist leaders and is prosecuting other officials accused of using public resources to support the independence bid.

Belgium’s Asylum and Migration minister, said his country could offer Puigdemont asylum. Theo Francken said on Twitter Sunday that independent asylum authorities would make the final decision about whether to grant asylum to the deposed leader.

World reaction

De Vigo said Europeans “do not want any new nationalism,” and he pointed out that no foreign nations had yet recognized an independent Catalonia.

“We know what in history nationalism has meant to Europe. So, I think it is a very positive reaction,” he said.

The United Nations spokesperson urged all sides “to seek solutions within the framework of the Spanish constitution and through established political and legal channels.”

The European Union Council President Donald Tusk, who has supported Madrid’s approach to the crisis, said on Twitter he hoped “the Spanish government favors force of argument, not argument of force.”

European Union President Jean-Claude Juncker echoed the sentiment, saying “there isn’t room in Europe for other fractures or other cracks. We’ve had enough of those.”

NATO, of which Spain is a member, said in a statement, “The Catalonia issue is a domestic matter which should be resolved within Spain’s constitutional order.”

Even regional authorities in the traditionally nationalistic Basque region have been reluctant to support the Catalan cause, despite growing relations between radical separatists in both regions.

Madrid’s efforts to keep the country united also have the continued support of the U.S. government. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement, “… the United States supports the Spanish government’s constitutional measures to keep Spain strong and united.”

Russian involvement

Some international support for Catalan independence, however, seems to be coming from Russia, which is giving some recognition to Catalan separatists as reciprocal action for past U.S. and European backing to breakaway former Soviet republics and the controversial independence of Kosovo.

“By backing the independence of Kosovo, formed and prosperous countries such as Spain put at risk their own fragile stability,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week at an international forum in Sochi.

“It’s undeniable that Putin is interested in the destabilization and balkanization of Spain,” a senior Spanish diplomat told VOA, asking that his name not be used.

The de facto foreign minister of the Russian supported breakaway state of South Osetia, Dimitri Medoev, who is reported to be close to the Kremlin, visited Catalonia this week to set up an “interests office” in Barcelona to promote “bilateral relations in humanitarian and cultural issues.”

South Osetia pledged support for the “sovereignty of Catalonia” following the October 1 referendum.

Rogue states such as Venezuela and North Korea also have expressed support for Catalonian secessionism.

 Martin Arostegui in Barcelona contributed to this report.

 
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Xavier Gabriel can take some credit if the tiny Catalan mountain town of Sort is one of the most famous in Spain.

He runs a lottery shop called La Bruja de Oro, or The Golden Witch, in a town whose name, aptly, means “Luck” in Catalan. Its fortune in having sold many prize-winning tickets has made it a household name and a successful online business.

But the crisis surrounding Catalonia’s push for independence has changed life for 60-year-old Gabriel. He joined more than 1,500 companies in moving their official headquarters out of the wealthy region in recent weeks. Their main fear: that they would no longer be covered by Spanish and European Union laws if Catalonia manages to break away, dragging their businesses into unknown territory.

“The time had come to make a decision,” said Gabriel, who employs 16 people and describes himself as a proud Catalan.

​Hedging their bets

Like Gabriel’s, the vast majority of companies that moved their headquarters didn’t transfer workers or assets, such as bank holdings or production equipment. So far, it’s mainly a form of legal insurance. But as the political crisis escalates, the risk is that companies are deferring investments and hiring. There is evidence that tourists are holding off booking, perhaps frightened by images in the media of police crackdowns, street demonstrations and strikes.

And the situation risks getting worse before it improves: the central government’s decision Friday to take control of the region could spiral out of control if there is popular resistance, whether by citizens or local authorities like the Catalan police force.

“There is absolutely no doubt that the crisis is having a very damaging effect on the economy,” said Javier Diaz Gimenez, an economics professor at Spain’s prestigious IESE Business School.

Financial markets in Spain have so far fallen only modestly, reflecting investors’ apparent belief that the tensions will eventually be resolved. The Spanish government has called a regional election in Catalonia for Dec. 21 and could later consider revisions to the constitution that might placate some of the independence supporters.

But that could take some time, Diaz Gimenez says, given how confrontational both sides have been.

Banks leave

The list of businesses moving headquarters includes Catalonia’s top two banks, Caixabank and Sabadell, which are among Spain’s top five lenders. Then there is the Codorniu cava sparkling wine maker for which Catalonia is famous. Another well-known cava maker, Freixenet, is also planning to follow if the independence drive continues. Publishing giant Planeta, the world’s leading Spanish-language publisher and second biggest publisher in France, has also moved its official address out of Catalonia.

Caixabank says it suffered a moderate but temporary run on deposits because of the crisis, but said it has since recovered and was adamant the move was permanent.

Shares for Caixabank, Sabadell and some other companies have been volatile, falling after the Oct. 1 vote for independence and jumping sharply when they announced their decision to move headquarters.

Tip of the iceberg

Lottery shop owner Gabriel says ticket sales this month are up nearly 300 percent over last year, a rise he attributed to popular support for his decision to move his business.

Diaz Gimenez said the decisions to move headquarters, while not immediately affecting jobs, were “just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Plans to relocate firms or invest elsewhere are going to accelerate and some of it is going to go to, say, Poland, and it’s never going to come back,” he said.

“People that were thinking about investing in Spain and Barcelona are starting to think again,” he said. “It’s not just Catalonia. It’s the mismanagement by Spain, which is proving that it’s not a serious country because it cannot solve this thing.”

Spanish economy humming

The turmoil, ironically, comes just as Spain has been enjoying some of the fastest economic growth in Europe.

Its economy, the fourth-largest in the 19-country eurozone, grew by a hefty quarterly rate of 0.9 percent in the second quarter. The government has maintained its forecast for growth in 2017 at 3.1 percent, but revised its estimate for 2018 from 2.6 percent to 2.3 percent because of the political crisis. Moody’s credit rating agency has warned that a continued political impasse and, ultimately, independence for Catalonia would severely hurt the country’s credit rating.

Billions at stake

Tourism seems to be taking the biggest hit so far.

Experts say spending in the sector in Catalonia in the first two weeks of October — that is, following the independence referendum — was down 15 percent from a year earlier.

Tourism represents about 11 percent of Spain’s 1.1-trillion euro ($1.3 trillion) gross domestic product, with Catalonia and its capital, Barcelona, providing a fifth of that, being the most popular destinations for visitors.

Exceltur, a nonprofit group formed by the 25 leading Spanish tourist groups, expects growth in tourism this year to ease from an estimated 4.1 percent to 3.1 percent.

Reservations in Barcelona alone are down 20 percent compared with last year, it said. If the trend continues in the final three months of the year, it could lead to losses of up to 1.2 billion euros ($1.41 billion) in the sector, which in turn could affect jobs.

Analysts fear that the independence movement’s stated aim of continuing to create as much social and economic chaos for Spain as possible could exacerbate the situation. The Catalan National Assembly group has been openly talking about a boycott against Spain’s top companies and major strike activity.

“Spain, its tourism, everything is very dependent on image,” Diaz Gimenez said. “And this is just killing it.”
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The political landscape of Iceland has changed, according to preliminary results from Saturday’s election.

The Independence Party, which has won almost every election since independence from Denmark in 1944, is losing its center-right grip thanks to two scandals. Stepping in to that void are left-leaning parties.

Part of the current ruling coalition, the Independence Party, won 26 percent of the vote, down 3 percentage points from last year.

The main opposition Left Green Movement came in second with 17 percent of the vote.

The newly formed Center Party of former Prime Minister David Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson was third with 11 percent of the ballots. Gunnlaugsson was forced out of office last year when his name was found in the Panama Papers scandal that exposed worldwide tax evasion networks.

Katrin Jakobsdottir, leader of the Left Green Movement, told Reuters she is not ruling out working with the new Center Party. 

“Nothing is out of the picture, but our first choice is to work with the parties on the left,” she said. “We’d hoped that the opposition would get a majority, but that is unclear now.”

Talks to form a ruling coalition government are expected to last for several months.

Current Iceland Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson, a member of the Independence Party, called the election last month after a member of the three-party center-right coalition resigned over a controversy about granting clemency to a child molester.

The clemency scandal coupled with the Panama Papers scandal led to the collapse of the government, prompting the second snap parliamentary election in a year.

Iceland has recovered spectacularly from the 2008 financial crisis, which forced the country into near bankruptcy. But the scandals have fueled anger and distrust among voters, who are increasingly concerned about inequality and immigration threatening one of the world’s most homogeneous countries.

Iceland’s 63-member parliament is one of the oldest in the world.
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Hundreds of people have attended an opposition-organized anticorruption rally in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku.

The protest Saturday was organized by the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) — an umbrella group of Azerbaijani opposition forces, under the slogan “No To Robbery.”

Activists from the Popular Front Party, People’s Democratic Party, National Statehood Party, Musavat Party youth organization, Muslim Union, and NIDA movement attended the rally.

The rally held in the Mehsul stadium in Baku’s Yasamal district was approved by the city authorities. Police said the protest was attended by an estimated 1,000 people, although opposition activists say the number was higher.

Protesters chanted slogans like “End to corruption” and “Freedom for political prisoners!”

Police cordoned off the area around the stadium as part of increased security measures.

No incidents were reported, and the rally ended peacefully, police said.

The opposition, as well as Western governments and international human rights groups, have criticized Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s government for persistently persecuting independent media outlets, journalists, and opposition politicians and activists.

Aliyev, who has ruled the oil-rich South Caucasus country of nearly 10 million people since shortly before his father’s death in 2003, has shrugged off the criticism, and the authorities deny that there are political prisoners in the country.

Recent international corruption investigations have also found that Aliyev’s family makes frequent use of offshore companies to hide its wealth and mask the ways it gains shares in Azerbaijan’s most lucrative businesses.

During the rally, Ali Karimli, the leader of the Popular Front Party, which is part of the NCDF, denounced government corruption. He said the government doesn’t use oil revenues effeciently, and high-level corruption deprives Azerbaijanis from benefiting from oil billions.

Human rights activist Oktay Gulaliyev told the rally that freedom of speech was under threat in the country.

“Access to independent, critical Internet sites has been blocked,” Gulaliyev said. “There are more than 160 [political] prisoners in the country, and up to 20 of them are journalists and bloggers.”

The rally came after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) earlier this month voiced concerns over Azerbaijan’s “unprecedented crackdown on human rights” as well as checks and balances, and the functioning of justice in the country.

PACE on October 11 passed a resolution blasting “the reported prosecution and detention of leaders of NGOs, human rights defenders, political activists, journalists, and bloggers,” although some of them were released last year.

PACE cited cases of “torture and inhuman or degrading treatment during arrest, in police custody, and in prisons, and the lack of effective investigations, violations of the right to a fair trial, and violations of the right to freedom of expression, association, and assembly.”

The resolution also called on Azerbaijani authorities to “begin real and meaningful reforms” to remove the obstacles to the work of journalists and rights defenders.
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Hundreds of people attended on October 28 an opposition-organized anticorruption rally in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku. The protest was organized by the National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) — an umbrella group of Azerbaijani opposition forces, under the slogan “No To Robbery.” Protesters chanted slogans like “End to Corruption” and “Freedom for Political Prisoners!” (RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service)
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The long-serving mayor of the Turkish capital, Ankara, has resigned after pressure from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the last few weeks, Erdogan has forced out of office six mayors belonging to his ruling AKP party as part of efforts to revitalize the party ahead of looming elections.

Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek’s resignation followed weeks of intense pressure by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, culminating in the president publicly warning the mayor of severe consequences if he did not quit. In his resignation speech, Gokcek made clear he was not leaving willingly after 23 years in office.

He said, “I’m quitting not because I’m unsuccessful. I’m quitting because Erdogan asked me to do so. I’m complying with Erdogan’s orders and leaving my post.”

Gokcek is the sixth mayor of Erdogan’s ruling AKP Party to be forced out by the president in the past few weeks. Included among the resignations are mayors of some of Turkey’s largest cities, including Istanbul. The purge is part of Erdogan’s effort to revitalize the party after its sluggish performance in this year’s referendum to extend the country’s presidential powers.

The referendum narrowly passed, and it was rejected in many of Turkey’s largest cities, including Ankara and Istanbul, traditional strongholds of the president. While opinion polls continue to give Erdogan’s AKP a commanding lead, the same polls indicate a growing number of undecided voters and a softening among his supporters.

Political analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners says with presidential and general elections due by 2019, Erdogan knows he has to act.

“That AKP lost of support is very obvious,” said Yesilada. “So Mr. Erdogan thinks by changing unpopular mayors and local administrations, which in his view have lost their desire to serve the public, he could turn the tide.”

The ongoing ouster of mayors already has resulted in unprecedented challenges to Erdogan’s authority. Several resignations came only after repeated threats by the president, who analysts say is accustomed to his demands being immediately obeyed.

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With Turkey under emergency rule since last year’s failed coup, Erdogan has sweeping powers to remove elected mayors from their office. It’s a power he has used on more than 80 occasions against mayors belonging to the pro-Kurdish HDP party. Erdogan’s ousting of his top mayors also is being accompanied by a similar ongoing nationwide purge of party and local elected officials.

Analyst Yesilada warns, though, that Erdogan’s strategy may be mistaken.

“What antagonizes the voter is probably not the local administrations or mayors, but it is Mr. Erdogan’s policies or cabinet polices,” said Yesilada. “But he does not seem to understand that. And this cleanup in the rank and file is leading to a lot of objections, as these people, they don’t understand why they are being let go.”

There are increasing reports of growing discord within the ruling AKP, though few members dare to openly speak out. But analysts warn Erdogan’s gamble on revitalizing his party by sacrificing his mayors could backfire given that voters are more likely to be concerned with Turkey’s rising double-digit inflation and unemployment, along with a sinking currency.
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