ANKARA, Turkey: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday slammed the United States over charges that a former Turkish economy minister conspired to help Iran evade US sanctions, depicting the indictment as a political move against his country.
Speaking to reporters before departing for a visit to Kazkhstan, Erdogan also criticized a separate indictment against Turkish security officials accused of attacking demonstrators during his visit to the United States in the spring. Erdogan said it demonstrated the US administration’s “weakness.”
“I assess the step taken against our former economy minister as a step against the Turkish Republic,” Erdogan said. “There are bad smells emanating from behind this (step) .”
This week’s indictment of ex-minister Zafer Caglayan, in a widening US investigation into a Turkish businessman and Turkish officials who allegedly helped Iran evade sanctions, has heightened the already tense relations between Ankara and Washington. Turkey is angered by US support to Syrian Kurdish militia, whom it considers terrorists, and complains of a lack of support from its NATO ally following last year’s coup attempt.
In addition, a US Senate committee on Thursday voted to block the US government from supporting weapons sales to forces protecting Erdogan over the violence against protesters that was carried out by his bodyguards.
Erdogan called on US authorities to “review” the decision to indict Caglayan, saying the ex-minister had not engaged in any wrongdoing since Turkey had not imposed sanctions on Iran, an important trade partner. He said he would take up the issue with US officials when he attends the United Nations General Assembly in New York this month. Caglayan and other Turkish officials are in Turkey and remain at large from US authorities.
On the indictment of his security personnel, Erdogan again accused US security officials of not taking any steps to protect him from the demonstrators, who he said were members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. He said two female security officials who were protecting the Turkish first lady and were not present at the incident were also indicted.
“This demonstrates the weakness that the US has fallen into,” Erdogan said. “You might be a great nation but to be a just state is something else.”
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Turkey’s Erdogan slams US over ex-minister’s indictment
Turkey’s Erdogan slams US over ex-minister’s indictment
UN makes first visit to Sudan’s El-Fasher since its fall, finding dire conditions
- Paramilitary force overran the city in October committing widespread atrocities
- UN team visited Saudi Hospital where RSF massacred hundreds of people
CAIRO: A UN humanitarian team visited El-Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region for the first time since a paramilitary force overran the city in October, carrying out a rampage that is believed to have killed hundreds of people and sent most of the population fleeing.
The hours-long visit gave the UN its first glimpse into the city, which remains under control of the Rapid Support Forces. The team found hundreds of people still living there, lacking adequate access to food, medical supplies and proper shelter, the UN said Wednesday.
“It was a tense mission because we’re going into what we don’t know … into a massive crime scene,” Denise Brown, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, said of Friday’s visit.
For the past two months, El-Fasher has been nearly entirely cut off from the outside world, leaving aid groups unsure over how many people remained there and their situation. The death toll from the RSF takeover, which came after a more than a year-long siege, remains unknown.
Survivors among the more than 100,000 people who fled El-Fasher reported RSF fighters gunning down civilians in homes and in the streets, leaving the city littered with bodies. Satellite photos have since appeared to show RSF disposing of bodies in mass graves or by burning them.
Brown said “a lot of cleaning up” appeared to have taken place in the city over the past two months. The UN team visited the Saudi Hospital, where RSF fighters reportedly killed 460 patients and their companions during the takeover.
“The building is there, it’s clearly been cleaned up,” Brown said of the hospital. “But that doesn’t mean by any stretch of the imagination that this story has been wiped clean because the people who fled, fled with that story.”
El-Fasher lacks shelters and supplies
El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, had been the last stronghold of the Sudanese military in the Darfur region until the RSF seized it. The RSF and the military have been at war since 2023 in a conflict that has seen multiple atrocities and pushed Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The UN team visiting El-Fasher focused on identifying safe routes for humanitarian workers and conducted only an initial assessment on the situation on the ground, with more teams expected to enter, Brown said.
“Villages around El-Fasher appeared to be completely abandoned. We still believe that people are being detained and that there are people who are injured who need to be medically evacuated,” said Brown, citing the initial UN findings.
The exact number of people still living in the city is hard to determine, but Brown said they’re in the hundreds and they lack supplies, social services, some medications, education and enough food.
They are living in deserted buildings and in shelters they erected using plastic sheets, blankets and other items grabbed from their destroyed homes. Those places lack visible toilets and access to clean drinking water.
The first charity kitchen to operate since the city’s fall opened Tuesday in a school-turned- shelter, according to the Nyala branch of the local aid initiative Emergency Response Rooms (ERR). The charity kitchen will be operated by ERR Nyala, serving daily meals, food baskets, and shelter supplies. More community kitchens are expected to open across 16 displacement centers, sheltering at least 100 people.
The UN team found a small open market operating while they were in the city, selling limited local produce such as tomatoes and onions. Other food items were either unavailable or expensive, with the price of one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of rice reaching as high as $100, Brown said.
‘Paralyzed’ health care system
Mohamed Elsheikh, spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors Network, told The Associated Press Wednesday that medical facilities and hospitals in El-Fasher are not operating in full capacity.
“El-Fasher has no sign of life, the health care system there is completely paralyzed. Hospitals barely have access to any medical aid or supplies,” he added.
Brown described the situation in El-Fasher as part of a “pattern of atrocities” in this war that is likely to continue in different areas.
The United States has accused the RSF of committing genocide in Darfur during the war, and rights groups said the paramilitaries committed war crimes during the siege and takeover of El-Fasher, as well as in the capture of other cities in Darfur. The military has also been accused of rights violations.
The hours-long visit gave the UN its first glimpse into the city, which remains under control of the Rapid Support Forces. The team found hundreds of people still living there, lacking adequate access to food, medical supplies and proper shelter, the UN said Wednesday.
“It was a tense mission because we’re going into what we don’t know … into a massive crime scene,” Denise Brown, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan, said of Friday’s visit.
For the past two months, El-Fasher has been nearly entirely cut off from the outside world, leaving aid groups unsure over how many people remained there and their situation. The death toll from the RSF takeover, which came after a more than a year-long siege, remains unknown.
Survivors among the more than 100,000 people who fled El-Fasher reported RSF fighters gunning down civilians in homes and in the streets, leaving the city littered with bodies. Satellite photos have since appeared to show RSF disposing of bodies in mass graves or by burning them.
Brown said “a lot of cleaning up” appeared to have taken place in the city over the past two months. The UN team visited the Saudi Hospital, where RSF fighters reportedly killed 460 patients and their companions during the takeover.
“The building is there, it’s clearly been cleaned up,” Brown said of the hospital. “But that doesn’t mean by any stretch of the imagination that this story has been wiped clean because the people who fled, fled with that story.”
El-Fasher lacks shelters and supplies
El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, had been the last stronghold of the Sudanese military in the Darfur region until the RSF seized it. The RSF and the military have been at war since 2023 in a conflict that has seen multiple atrocities and pushed Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The UN team visiting El-Fasher focused on identifying safe routes for humanitarian workers and conducted only an initial assessment on the situation on the ground, with more teams expected to enter, Brown said.
“Villages around El-Fasher appeared to be completely abandoned. We still believe that people are being detained and that there are people who are injured who need to be medically evacuated,” said Brown, citing the initial UN findings.
The exact number of people still living in the city is hard to determine, but Brown said they’re in the hundreds and they lack supplies, social services, some medications, education and enough food.
They are living in deserted buildings and in shelters they erected using plastic sheets, blankets and other items grabbed from their destroyed homes. Those places lack visible toilets and access to clean drinking water.
The first charity kitchen to operate since the city’s fall opened Tuesday in a school-turned- shelter, according to the Nyala branch of the local aid initiative Emergency Response Rooms (ERR). The charity kitchen will be operated by ERR Nyala, serving daily meals, food baskets, and shelter supplies. More community kitchens are expected to open across 16 displacement centers, sheltering at least 100 people.
The UN team found a small open market operating while they were in the city, selling limited local produce such as tomatoes and onions. Other food items were either unavailable or expensive, with the price of one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of rice reaching as high as $100, Brown said.
‘Paralyzed’ health care system
Mohamed Elsheikh, spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors Network, told The Associated Press Wednesday that medical facilities and hospitals in El-Fasher are not operating in full capacity.
“El-Fasher has no sign of life, the health care system there is completely paralyzed. Hospitals barely have access to any medical aid or supplies,” he added.
Brown described the situation in El-Fasher as part of a “pattern of atrocities” in this war that is likely to continue in different areas.
The United States has accused the RSF of committing genocide in Darfur during the war, and rights groups said the paramilitaries committed war crimes during the siege and takeover of El-Fasher, as well as in the capture of other cities in Darfur. The military has also been accused of rights violations.
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