2, August 2016
UK Labour Party leadership crisis: Jeremy Corbyn slowly but surely chasing away the Blairites 0
UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn says the challenge to his leadership has created a “massive opportunity” to unite people across the country. Addressing up to 10,000 of his supporters at a campaign event in Liverpool on Monday, Corbyn said the ongoing battle for leadership in the party provides an opportunity to unite Britons against the “Tory philosophy.”
“I don’t see this leadership contest as a distraction,” said Corbyn. “I see it as a massive opportunity to reach out to people all across this country and have the strength and confidence [to stand up to] those who tell us that nothing we’re trying to do is possible, that what we have to do is compromise with the Tory philosophy and free market ideas and all will be well.”
Corbyn, who needs to beat former BBC producer Owen Smith in order to keep his throne as the opposition leader, described the audience as the largest crowd he had at a leadership campaign rally.
“This is a campaign about, on one level, the leadership of the Labour Party, but it’s also a campaign about how we do politics in our society,” he noted, before getting more specific about issues such as mental health services, workers’ rights and homelessness.
Presstv
2, August 2016
President Erdogan accuses the West of supporting terror in Turkey 0
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the West on Tuesday of “supporting terror” in Turkey and backing those who masterminded of the abortive coup of July 15. During a speech at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, the Turkish president lashed out at the country’s Western allies, saying the failed coup was a “scenario written from outside,” in an apparent reference to the involvement of foreign powers.
“Unfortunately, the West is supporting terror and standing by the coup plotters.” “This coup was not just an event planned from the inside. The actors inside acted out a scenario for a coup written from the outside,” the Turkish president stated.
The Turkish president had previously hinted at the potential involvement of foreign powers in the coup attempt, but the Tuesday remarks saw some of the strongest allegations raised by him against Turkey’s Western allies. Erdogan also denounced “those who we imagined to be friends.”
The Turkish government accuses Fethullah Gulen, a cleric based in the United States, of orchestrating the coup attempt. Ankara has even called for the extradition of Gulen. Washington, however, insists that Turkey must verify its allegations.
“How can it be, when we are strategic partners and I ask you on behalf of my country to hand someone over on the basis of a national security strategy document, you keep on hiding and sheltering him?” Erdogan asked.
German court ruling
The Turkish president also slammed Germany over a court ruling that prohibited Erdogan and other Turkish officials to address a weekend rally in the city of Cologne in support of the Turkish government.
Using heavy irony, Erdogan said, “Bravo! The courts in Germany work very fast!” More than 60,000 people have been sacked, dismissed or detained in Turkey over allegations of involvement in the coup attempt and their links to Gulen. Ankara is under fire for its heavy crackdown on elements believed to be behind the failed coup.
On Tuesday, Turkey issued arrest warrants for 100 staff, including doctors, at the main military hospital in the capital Ankara, with officials saying the move was part of an investigation into the coup
Presstv