A United Nations special rapporteur has established that rights workers in Greece are facing “pervasive fear and insecurity,” particularly those focusing on the field of migration, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Friday.

Following a 10-day mission in Greece, Mary Lawlor, the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, said “a number of interlocutors spoke about the negative perceptions concerning the role and work of civil society in the country … and the overall hostile atmosphere in which they work.”

People in the field of migration face criminal sanctions and operate in an “increasingly hostile environment influenced by negative rhetoric from high-ranking officials and their unfavorable portrayal in the media,” the UN expert said.

Greece has been facing criticism about its handling of migration, mostly over its illegal pushbacks, said HRW researcher Eva Cosse.

Citing Lawlor’s findings, she said human rights defenders found it increasingly difficult to carry out their duties, especially in fields that might be considered controversial or geopolitically sensitive.

This was particularly significant for those defending rights or giving legal aid to asylum seekers and migrants, as well as people documenting pushbacks, the report said.

The watchdog accused the Greek government of aiming to silence groups that document abuse of migrants and refugees, and trying to control the civil society “by implementing an increasingly restrictive legislative environment.”

Operations of several groups have been even more difficult after a controversial registration process for NGOs, which includes a disproportionate amount of requirements, was unveiled in 2019.

According to Lawlor’s report, the requirements are in violation of Greece’s obligations under international human rights law.

NGOs not registered with the Ministry of Migration and Asylum have no access to camps and cannot visit migrants or refugees.

In many cases, groups that have applied for registration faced disproportionate delays and unjustified rejections.

Greece has dropped 38 spots in a year on the Press Freedom Index, making it the lowest-ranked European Union country, the report said.

Lawlor will present her findings in detail at the UN Human Rights Council session in March next year, it added./aa

A hacking resulted in $100 million cryptocurrency being stolen from a blockchain bridge, according to a company statement released on Friday. 

The blockchain bridge Horizon's developer Harmony announced the incident on the company's Twitter account.

"The Harmony team has identified a theft occurring this morning on the Horizon bridge amounting to approx. $100MM. We have begun working with national authorities and forensic specialists to identify the culprit and retrieve the stolen funds," it said.

"We have also notified exchanges and stopped the Horizon bridge to prevent further transactions. The team is all hands on deck as investigations continue. We will keep everyone up-to-date as we investigate this further and obtain more information," it added.

The company said the incident does not affect the separate Bitcoin bridge, since its funds and assets are stored on decentralized vaults and they are safe at the time.

Blockchain bridges enable users to transfer their cryptos from one blockchain to another, as they can send digital assets between Binance Smart Chain and Ethereum network.

This marks the third hacking in recent months on blockchain bridges, as decentralized finance, referred to as DeFi, struggles with tech issues that are open to vulnerability.

In late March, Ronin Network that supports gaming Axie Infinity lost more than $625 million worth coins in a security breach, while Wormhole that bridges Ethereum and Solana networks lost approximately $320 million in early February./aa

For many months, 18-year-old Afiya (name changed) from the southern Indian state of Karnataka was burning the midnight oil to appear in the 12th-grade exam and then appear in the competitive test to seek admission into a medical college.

But she could not appear for the test, as the school did not allow her to enter the examination hall wearing the hijab or headscarf.

After the Karnataka High Court on March 15, upheld the ban imposed by educational institutions on wearing headscarves inside the premises, many Muslim female students have either opted out from the examinations or are finding alternative means to pursue education.

The court ruled that "wearing of hijab by Muslim women doesn't form a part of essential religious practice in the Islamic faith."

"I feel bad about my studies. I was not allowed to sit in the exam, with a hijab ... I won't be able to even sit in the NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) for admission to medical college," said Afiya.

She is now looking to seek admission to another school, where she is allowed to wear a hijab.

"I don't know about my future. I feel my dreams are getting shattered every day," said Afiya, adding that she stopped going to school in February this year.

Like Afiya, the dreams of many Muslim girls have come crashing, who had been left to choose between their identity, freedom, dress, and their education.

The issue started in January when female Muslim students were barred from entering classrooms in a government college in the Udupi district in Karnataka for wearing hijab. Subsequently, other institutions also followed the diktat.

The students have now pinned their hopes on the Supreme Court, which is hearing the case.

"We have been wearing hijab since childhood and not recently. They (college) should allow us to write exams in hijab. Earlier, they had no problems, but they were banned after the court order came," said Hiba Sheikh, another student who is also not attending college since March.

Not allowed to enter premises

She has already missed one college semester. "These days fourth-semester classes are going on. We don't go because they are not allowing us to enter the premises," she said.

Sheikh said she was hopeful that the apex court will dispense justice.

"Students are mentally traumatized. Everyone is tensed about what is going to happen in the future,” she added.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Kidiyoor Nihal, national secretary of Students Islamic Organization of India – the students' wing of socio-religious organization Jamaat-e-Islami said the issue has put the future of thousands of female students at stake.

"This deliberate, vengeful, hateful agenda to deny access to students to education is a calamitous situation which would result in loss of trust in public institutions which have far-reaching consequences," he said.

Nihal said that the situation could have been amicably resolved at an early stage and level if there was ever an intention to do it.

"At every instance, the situation was politicized from college level to district to state boards to courts. We feel that dialogue and deliberations are the cornerstones of our society and Indian constitution," he said.

He said since it was an issue of personal choice and autonomy, he hoped that the apex court will deliver justice.

"This is an important landmark for our institutions to show spine and stand up for the citizens of this country," he said.

Government defends ban

The former top bureaucrat and now an educationist Syed Zafar Mahmood told AA that the matter needs to be resolved by the elders and learned persons of the Muslim community and representatives of other communities.

"Yes, the hijab gets its accreditation from the Holy Quran. But simultaneously, Islam also requires the believers to obey the law of the land where they live. An order of a High Court in India is final unless and until overruled by the Supreme Court. Hence, as of date, the Karnataka High Court’s order on hijab has to be necessarily complied with. Such adherence is mandated by the Constitution of India as well as by the Quranic injunction ...," he said.

Defending the hijab ban, Ganesh Karnik, a spokesperson for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) told AA that the students must follow the rules and regulations governing educational institutions. "Any responsible student should understand their responsibility and accountability and follow the rules of the institutions,” he said.

Karnik said the "institutions have their rules and regulations" which need to be followed like "one individual has own rights and choices."

"All these students if they are responsible students and citizens, must understand that the first duty as a citizen is to follow the rules. If they are not doing, they are not irresponsible. If they want to break the rules or attend the schools, it is their decision,” he said./DS

Swedish authorities ended their probe into social media posts showing photos of the YPG/PKK terrorist group's so-called flag and its imprisoned ringleader Abdullah Öcalan, that were projected on public buildings in the country's capital.

According to state radio, police claimed there is a lack of evidence to proceed with the investigation.

Last week, social media accounts linked to the PKK, and its Syrian offshoot YPG, shared images showing the organization's so-called flag and its leader's picture projected on the historic City Hall and Globen Avicii Arena Sports Hall.

Following reactions by Turkey's Ambassador to Sweden Hakkı Emre Yunt and others to the propaganda activities of the terrorists, Stockholm Municipality had filed a criminal complaint.

Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But the bids have faced opposition from Turkey, which has been angered by what it says is Helsinki and Stockholm's support for terrorist groups and arms embargoes on Ankara.

Last week, Turkey said documents it received from Sweden and NATO in response to the earlier written demands it presented the two candidates were far from meeting its expectations and any negotiations must first address Turkish concerns.

While the two Nordic countries said talks to resolve the dispute would continue, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said recently that Ankara had not received any responses to its demands, including stopping support for terrorist groups, and lifting arms embargoes on Ankara and extraditing terrorism suspects it seeks.

NATO leaders will convene in Madrid on June 29-30. Any NATO membership requires the approval of all 30 members of the alliance. Turkey has been a NATO ally for more than 70 years and has the alliance's second-biggest army./aa

Rahhal Amarri, a Moroccan immigrant who had been living in the municipality of Caserta in southern Italy for many years, became the focus of local media attention earlier this month after his heroic act of saving two children from certain death at sea.

The rescue operation, which brought joy to everyone, became a source of sadness when Amarri, 42, died as a result of swallowing a large amount of seawater.

What Amarri did two weeks ago was a message to the countries that host immigrants that they pay dearly for the values ​​of solidarity, despite the high indicators of racism and Islamophobia.

The incident

According to media reports in Morocco and Italy, Amarri had been working for about 20 years as a lifeguard at the Lido dei Gabbiani, a public beach in the commune of Castel Volturno, before he became its manager.

Amarri reportedly heard the parents of two children screaming because their six and seven-year-old sons had been swept away with the current and were crying out for help, so he intervened and quickly rescued the first child and then returned to the second child and succeeded in rescuing him.

But as soon as he reached the shore, he fainted and died, leaving behind his wife and two young children, who are living in Morocco.

A sense of solidarity

Commenting on this, Mohammed Zouak, director of the Moroccan website Ya Biladi, which specializes in immigration and expatriate issues, described the incident as "heroic."

"The incident highlights the extent to which immigrants are linked to the issues of the host countries and their repeated attempts to prove their humanity and solidarity, despite what is being promoted against them," he said in an interview with Anadolu Agency.

"Amarri's story is similar to other stories in which immigrants played a heroic role, whether in saving lives or extending a helping hand."

He pointed out that "during the (coronavirus) pandemic, the solidarity of Moroccan immigrants and other nationalities rose."

“The expatriate's sense of solidarity comes at a time when a wave of racism is rising and negative messages are being promoted around them from a number of media outlets and some belonging to the extreme right.

"What Amarri did…breaks the stereotype that some parties want to promote against immigrants," he added.

Tribute to the late immigrant

For its part, the Italian Embassy in Rabat offered its condolences over the death of Amarri, while activists on social media platforms launched the hashtag #Goodbye_Rahhal in gratitude for the sacrifice he made.

Under this hashtag, Moroccan citizen Taj al-Din al-Sharif described the incident as a tragedy, praising on Facebook what the late immigrant had done "as he gave his life as a price to save two children."

"Amarri died after heroic behavior in saving two children from drowning after they were swept away by the sea waves.

"There are still many condolence statements about the loss of the hero Rahhal, praising his heroic behavior and regretting what happened to him,” he added.

Moroccan Umm Dahdouj al-Madani praised Amarri's heroic work, saying on Facebook that "Amarri is a Moroccan immigrant who hails from the town of Kalaat Sraghna.”

Immigrant values

Abdel-Fattah Zein, a Moroccan expert on immigration issues, told Anadolu Agency that what Amarri had done "reflects his saturation with a number of values ​​and morals."

"Moroccan immigrants or immigrants from other countries have values ​​such as doing good, altruism and helping others, unlike a number of other societies that are dominated by capitalism and governed by political cards."

He pointed out that when immigrants move to other countries, they do not come from a vacuum but from an environment governed by morality and solidarity.

Zein criticized a number of Western countries that put up barriers to migrants and do not address the whole issue of migration "as these countries work, for example, to prevent migrants from reaching them so that they do not benefit from the rights under international conventions."

He drew attention to "the danger of using the migrant card in drawing the political map of a number of European countries and not paying them attention despite the sacrifices they make."

Heroes

Amarri's sacrifice was not the first of its kind, as there have been many situations in which immigrants demonstrated altruism and a spirit unparalleled in the receiving countries.

In May this year, Moroccan Salaheddine El Kharraz, 25, rescued an Italian 13-year-old child from certain death after he was trapped in an apartment that caught fire.

According to Italian newspapers, the accident occurred in one of the apartments in Andorno Micca, located in Biella province, where the young Moroccan intervened after hearing calls of distress from the child's mother, who jumped from the unit to escape the flames.

El Kharraz managed to save the child before firefighters arrived to put out the fire, which consumed the entire apartment.

In May 2018, Malian immigrant Mamadou Gassama saved a boy who was dangling from a balcony on the fourth floor of a residential building in Paris.

International media showed a video clip of the rescue operation, where he managed to climb the four-story building to save the child./aa

Speaking at a meeting in Malatya province, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that Turkey will not make concessions when it comes to security and that “we stand firm with this understanding regarding the NATO membership of Sweden and Finland.”

Çavuşoğlu criticized Western countries’ reactions to Turkey’s cross-border counterterrorism operations and asked, "why are they concerned about the terrorists instead of the many lives, including police officers, soldiers and civilians, taken by these terrorist organizations?"

“Their aim is to strengthen the PKK/YPG. We clear terrorists from Iraq’s north with our operation Claw-Key. While clearing the region off terrorists we not only support Iraq in general but also support our Kurdish brothers living there. The biggest enemy of the Kurds is the PKK, the YPG.”

On the Nordic countries’ NATO bids, Çavuşoğlu continued: “What we ask of them is not something impossible. You support terrorist organizations – do not support them. You open your doors and host terrorist organizations, allow all kinds of their activities, shut your eyes to their financing. You lead to children being forcefully sent from there to Qandil or other areas.”

“If you want to be an ally, you cannot view Turkey as an enemy. You cannot sanction it due to its fight against terrorism,” Çavuşoğlu said, emphasizing that in the case of the continuation of these practices Sweden and Finland cannot be NATO members.

He also criticized Sweden for airing terrorist ringleaders' interviews on television. Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) recently interviewed one of the PKK terrorist organization’s ringleaders, Ferhat Abdi Şahin.

SVT also interviewed Salih Muslim, a prominent figure of the YPG, on May 25 in Syria’s north where he hid in a U.S. military base.

Russia’s war on Ukraine prompted Finland and Sweden to formally apply to join NATO on May 18.

But Turkey, a longstanding member of the alliance, has voiced objections to their membership bids, criticizing the countries for tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups such as the PKK and its Syrian wing, the YPG, as well as for weapons embargoes against the country.

While the two Nordic countries said talks to resolve the dispute would continue, Erdoğan said recently that Ankara had not received any responses to its demands, including stopping support for terrorist groups and lifting arms embargoes on Ankara and extraditing terrorism suspects it seeks.

Any bid to join NATO requires unanimous backing from each of its 30 members.

On the other side, he also criticized a double standard by Western countries, reminding that Greece blocked the NATO membership of Macedonia, which did not draw as much attention as Turkey voicing reservations on Sweden and Finland’s bids.

“Where were you when Greece was engaging in such caprice, while it blocked Macedonia’s NATO membership for 12 years? Where was the solidarity then?"

Underlining that one of NATO’s enemies is terrorism, Çavuşoğlu said: “In Madrid, we will hold a special round focusing on terrorism in NATO’s south. We congratulate the secretary-general. We also thank Spain.”

He continued that Turkey’s concerns have to be addressed and that this was conveyed to both NATO and other allies. “Our concerns have to be met with concrete steps, not empty words.”

Turkey recently said it does not consider next week's NATO summit as a final deadline for resolving its objections to Finland and Sweden joining the Western defense alliance.

NATO leaders will convene in Madrid on June 29-30. Turkey has been a NATO ally for more than 70 years and has the alliance's second-biggest army./DS

Turkey on Thursday said there is a consensus regarding establishing an operations center in Istanbul that will monitor the implementation of a potential sea corridor in the Black Sea to export grain from Ukraine.

Russia and Ukraine account for nearly a third of global wheat supplies, while Russia also exports fertilizer and Ukraine corn and sunflower oil. But Ukrainian grain shipments from its Black Sea ports have stalled since Russia invaded, with some 20 million tons of grain stuck.

The U.N. has appealed to both countries, as well as maritime neighbor Turkey, to create a sea corridor for Ukrainian grains to be exported from the Black Sea. Turkey has been coordinating with Russia and Ukraine to agree to a plan that would restart grain exports from Ukrainian ports.

Ankara has held talks with Moscow and the U.N., but says all sides need to meet for a final agreement.

Turkey is hoping to arrange a four-way meeting in Istanbul in the coming weeks to discuss details of the U.N.-led plan that would open a safe shipping route to address a global food crisis brought on by Russia's invasion in February.

Ankara has offered to host an “observation mechanism” to be formed to monitor the implementation of the sea corridor plan in Istanbul.

"There is a general consensus on the establishment of an operations center in Istanbul," Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters on Thursday.

In line with the diplomatic efforts initiated by the Turkish leadership, “serious progress” has been achieved in forming the corridor, he said, adding that talks are ongoing with the Ukrainian and Russian defense ministers.

Akar’s remarks come after Russian and Turkish military officials met this week in Moscow to discuss the sea route, the safe departure of vessels at Ukrainian ports and the return of Turkish planes at Ukraine’s Borispol airport.

Turkey said the talks were lengthy, “positive and constructive.” The Russian Defense Ministry said the sides also discussed approaches to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea.

“We are putting efforts at every level to ensure peace, tranquility, and cease-fire,” Akar said, noting that the meeting of the Turkish delegation with the counterparts in Moscow on June 21 was “productive and constructive.”

The talks are ongoing with the warring parties and the U.N. for establishing the grain corridor, he said.

Akar expressed hopes that the two sides would find common ground to address the transfer of grain, saying the Turkish government will hold talks with Ukraine and the U.N. to ensure further progress.

While Moscow wants certain Western sanctions lifted to help facilitate grain and fertilizer exports, Kyiv seeks security guarantees for its ports to agree to the U.N.-led plan.

“We consider that concrete steps could be taken in the days ahead, and positive developments could take place,” Akar said. “At this point, we see that the parties have a positive view of the matter ... Our expectation is that the grain-laden vessels would leave the ports and arrive at their destination safely.”

Asked if the Ukrainian administration sought some other actors to adopt the guarantor status, he said both sides bear many alternative scenarios in mind while taking action and Turkey is acting as a facilitator they genuinely trust./ AGENCIES

Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) eliminated a senior PKK terrorist in an operation in the Sulaymaniyah district in northern Iraq, reports said Friday.

The terrorist, identified as Delal Azizoğlu, codenamed “Raperin,” had been staying in the city upon the PKK’s instructions, security sources told Anadolu Agency (AA).

He joined the terrorist group in 1992 and participated in the PKK’s activities in Diyarkabakır and Europe. He was elected as an executive member of the so-called Kurdistan National Congress in Brussels in 2001. He was responsible for a number of illegal PKK protests in Europe, the sources added.

The terrorist was also the so-called head of PAJK, the women’s branch of the PKK and had been carrying out activities in Syria.

Turkish security forces regularly conduct counterterrorism operations in the eastern and southeastern provinces of Turkey, where the PKK has attempted to establish a strong presence.

Security forces also conducted operations abroad where the terrorist organization poses a threat. The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) regularly conduct cross-border operations in northern Iraq, a region where PKK terrorists have hideouts and bases from which to carry out attacks against Turkey.

In its more than 40-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.

Meanwhile, the Turkish military eliminated 18 PKK/YPG terrorists in the Operation Peace Spring, Olive Branch and Euphrates Shield regions in northern Syria on Friday, the Defense Ministry said.

The terrorists had been planning to carry out attacks, the ministry said.

Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful counterterrorism operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terrorism corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019)./DS