According to Dilara Aslan Ozer’z report published in DailySabah, Greece is harboring dozens of terrorists with the aim of unbalancing Türkiye and for the chance that they could one day be used against Ankara, a high-level Turkish official said.

Speaking about the Lavrion camp in Greece, the official said: “Athens has turned into a safe haven for terrorists. There is everything ranging from the DHKP-C, the PKK and FETÖ (Gülenist Terror Group) and the location of all of them is known.”

The aim is that these groups could be used one day against Turkey, the official said. “An EU member country in the 21st century is openly feeding terrorists. The PKK is a terrorist group and designated as such by both the EU and the U.S.”

“Athens is not a transit country for terrorists anymore, but the direct target country.”

Indicating that these groups protest in front of the Turkish Embassy regularly every week, the official pointed out that it is unlikely the Greek government is unaware of these acts, calling it collusion.

The official further warned that such groups could at any time turn against the country harboring them and harm Athens as well.

Speaking on bilateral ties between Türkiye and Greece, he elaborated that the country has built its identity on anti-Türkiye sentiment since its establishment, which explains why Athens is constantly occupied with raising tensions.

Türkiye and Greece are at odds over a number of issues, including competing claims over jurisdiction in the Eastern Mediterranean, overlapping claims over their continental shelves, maritime boundaries, air space, energy, the ethnically split island of Cyprus, the status of the islands in the Aegean Sea and migrants.

The official, however, said that beside these “classic” disputes, the problems of FETÖ and Hagia Sophia being reverted into a mosque have added to tensions.

Notoriously, just one day after the coup bid, eight FETÖ member soldiers fled to the Greek city of Alexandroupolis in a military helicopter belonging to Türkiye and sought asylum there. In Greece, the soldiers claimed that they were unaware of the coup plot, and Athens refused to agree to insistent extradition requests from Turkish officials.

He also said that engaging in an arms race with Türkiye is a wrong policy as the money being spent for defense could instead be used for small and medium-sized enterprises currently struggling under harsh economic conditions.

“First of all there is no sense in it, secondly much of Türkiye’s defense industry output is returning to the Turkish economy, therefore, there is no sense in an arms race between a Türkiye that is procuring its own arms and a Greece that is foreign-dependent," the official said.

Türkiye has often warned Greece against indulging in an arms race, offering instead to resolve all outstanding issues, including in the Aegean, the Eastern Mediterranean and the island of Cyprus, through dialogue.

Greece has ordered 24 French-made Rafale fighter jets – six new and 18 previously in service with the French Air Force, as well as three French frigates.

Greece also sent a letter of request to the United States to buy a squadron of F-35 fighter jets in June.

“Will these products change the balance in the region?” the official asked.

Regarding the fear of an alleged Turkish attack on Greek islands, the official said that this rhetoric is deliberately increased to make political gains with Athens approaching elections soon.

DaliySabah

A deputy speaker of Greece’s parliament has advocated “the necessity of spying on” the country’s Turkish Muslim deputies, local media has reported.

Charalambos Athanasiou, who is also a former justice minister and currently a deputy from the ruling conservative Nea Dimokratia (ND) party, was referring to three Muslim Turkish deputies, who all hail from the country’s Western Thrace region, as "potential agents of Türkiye", according to the Left.Gr news outlet, which cited an interview he gave on Wednesday to the StoNisi news channel.

“Let’s suppose that a member of parliament who has a religious orientation completely different from Orthodox Christians gives information to a neighbouring country — Türkiye — about where irregular immigrants can come in,” he said, adding that national intelligence would have to take precautions in such a scenario, according to the outlet.

Asked whether the deputies can be monitored, Athanasiou replied: "If the procedure provided for by the legislator is followed, of course.”

His remarks caused an uproar, particularly from the country’s leftist opposition parties.

Rights abuses

The main opposition party, SYRIZA-PS, stressed in a statement that Athanasiou essentially claims that those who are not Orthodox Christians are national threats.

Burhan Baran, a Turkish Muslim deputy with the PASOK-KINAL, condemned Athanasiou’s remarks.

Referring to the minority deputies of parliament as potential suspects of national treason and therefore saying it would be "legitimate" to monitor them cultivates a spirit of dogmatism and intolerance, Baran stressed.

Greece's Western Thrace region – in the country’s northeast, near the Turkish border – is home to a substantial, long-established Muslim Turkish minority numbering around 150,000, or around a third of the population.

The rights of the Turks of Western Thrace were guaranteed under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, but since then the situation has steadily deteriorated.

After a Greek junta came to power in 1967, the Turks of Western Thrace started to face harsher persecution and rights abuses by the Greek state, often in blatant violation of European court rulings.

The Turkish minority in Greece continues to face problems exercising its collective and civil rights and education rights, including Greek authorities banning the word “Turkish” in the names of associations, shuttering Turkish schools and trying to block the Turkish community from electing its own muftis.

Source: agencies

US lawmakers have adopted President Joe Biden's sprawling climate, tax and health care plan –– a major win for the veteran Democrat that includes the biggest ever American investment in the battle against global warming.

The House of Representatives on Friday approved the measure by a 220-207 vote along party lines following its adoption in the Senate on Sunday by a razor-thin margin, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote.

The legislation to fight the climate crisis and lower prescription drug prices aim to cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions. 

It will also allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for the elderly and ensure that corporations and the wealthy pay the taxes they owe. 

Democrats say it will help combat inflation by reducing the federal deficit.

Democrats hope the legislation will help them at the polls in November, when voters decide the balance of power in Congress ahead of the 2024 presidential election. 

Republicans are favoured to win a majority in the House and could also take control of the Senate.

Biden quickly hailed the adoption of his plan, which includes a $370 billion investment aimed at bringing about a 40 percent drop in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

"Today, the American people won. Special interests lost," the president tweeted in the minutes after the vote.

Republicans say 'it will kill jobs'

The bill's main revenue source is a 15 percent corporate minimum tax aimed at stopping large, profitable companies from gaming the Internal Revenue Service code to slash their tax bills to zero, which has led to mixed reactions from business groups to the legislation.

Republicans oppose the legislation, warning it will kill jobs by raising corporate tax bills, further fuel inflation with government spending and inhibit the development of new drugs.

"Democrats more than any other majority in history are addicted to spending other people's money, regardless of what we as a country can afford," House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said in a floor speech.

But the bill does not leave the US fossil fuels industry out in the cold. 

Some provisions allow the federal government to authorise new wind and solar energy developments on federal land only when it is also auctioning rights to drill for oil and natural gas.

The fossil fuel protections disappointed progressives but posed no barrier to Democratic support.

About half of Americans support the climate and drug pricing legislation, including 69 percent of Democrats and 34 percent of Republicans, according to a Reuters news agency/Ipsos poll conducted on August 3 and 4.

Source: agencies

The Palestinian death toll from last weekend's “Israeli” strikes on the besieged Gaza enclave has risen to 48 after an 11-year-old girl and a man died from wounds they suffered during the worst “Israeli” aggression in over a year.

The death of 10-year-old Layan al Shaer at Mukassed Hospital in an Arab neighbourhood of occupied Jerusalem on Thursday brought the number of children killed in the “Israeli” attacks to 17. 

Hani al-Shaer, a relative, said she was wounded in a drone attack when “Israel” launched a surprise attack hours before any rockets were fired from Gaza.

Palestinian Red Crescent handed her body to Gaza, where she was buried.

In all, more than 300 Palestinians were wounded over the weekend when “Israel” struck Gaza and Islamic Jihad group there fired hundreds of rockets in retaliation.

On Thursday, two wounded Gaza children, aged 8 and 14, were fighting for their lives in a Jerusalem hospital. 

Children, 14-year-old Nayef al Awdat and 8-year-old Mohammed Abu Ktaifa were being treated in the intensive care unit at Mukassed.

Nayef, who is blind, was wounded in an “Israeli” air strike, while Mohammed was injured in an explosion that went off near a wedding party and killed an elderly woman, with the circumstances still unclear.

An eventual ceasefire took hold on Sunday night, bringing an end to “Israeli” aggression and counter-rocket strikes that started on Friday. 

No “Israelis” were killed but around 70 were wounded, according to UN.

Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike

In other developments, a Palestinian prisoner on a protracted hunger strike was moved on Thursday from an “Israeli” jail to a hospital because of his worsening condition, the prisoner’s wife said. 

An “Israeli” prison service official confirmed the development, speaking on the condition of anonymity under regulations.

Khalil Awawdeh has refused food for just over 160 days, according to his family, in a bid to draw attention to his detention by Israel without trial or charge. His case was thrust into the spotlight during the latest aggression on Gaza.

Awawdeh, a 40-year-old father of four, was arrested by “Israel” in December, accused of being a member of a resistance group, a charge his lawyer said he denies. Recently, he has been using a wheelchair and was showing memory loss and speech difficulties, according to his lawyer, Ahlam Haddad.

Dalal Awawdeh, Khalil’s wife, said his condition had deteriorated, prompting “Israeli” authorities to move him to a hospital.

The worsening conditions of hunger-striking prisoners have in the past whipped up tensions with Palestine, and in some cases prompted Israel to accede to hunger strikers' demands.

Source: agencies

A gang riot inside a border prison that left two inmates dead quickly spread to the streets of Ciudad Juarez where alleged gang members killed nine more people, including four employees of a radio station, security officials said Friday.

The surge in violence recalled a far more deadly period in Juarez more than a decade earlier. Mexico's powerful drug cartels commonly use local gangs to defend their territory and carry out their vendettas.

The federal government's security undersecretary, Ricardo Mejía Berdeja, said the violence started inside the state prison after 1 p.m. Thursday, when members of the Los Mexicles gang attacked members of the rival Chapos.

Two inmates were killed and 20 injured.

Then suspected gang members outside the prison began burning businesses and shooting up Ciudad Juarez.

"They attacked the civilian, innocent population like a sort of revenge," President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said. "It wasn't just the clash between two groups, but it got to the point in which they began to shoot civilians, innocent people. That is the most unfortunate thing in this affair."

Mejía said four employees of MegaRadio who were broadcasting a live promotional event outside a business were killed in the shooting.

Chihuahua state Attorney General Roberto Fierro Duarte said that a boy wounded in a shooting at a convenience store died later at the hospital, two women were killed in a fire at another gas station convenience store and two other men were shot elsewhere in the city.

Fierro said 10 suspects had been arrested.

Targeting civilians is not unheard of. In June of last year, a rival faction of the Gulf cartel entered the border city of Reynosa and killed 14 people the governor identified as "innocent citizens." The military responded and killed four suspected gunmen.

Known for violence

Ciudad Juarez has long had a reputation for violence. Gangs like those involved in the riot often serve as proxies and street-level enforcers for Mexico's powerful drug cartels who aggressively exert control over the border crossing routes they need to move their product to the United States.

While still high, murders in recent years were well below what they were more than decade ago — about 1,400 last year compared with more than 3,600 in 2010 — according to data from Molly Molloy, a retired border specialist at the New Mexico State University Library, who has tracked the city's homicide data for many years and posts regular updates to her Frontera List.

Authorities said Juarez appeared calm Friday, but the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez moved all of its classes online Friday as a precaution.

The violence came two days after drug cartel gunmen burned vehicles and businesses in the western states of Jalisco and Guanajuato in response to the arrest of a high-ranking cartel leader./AP

A man went on a shooting rampage Friday in the streets of this western Montenegro city, killing 10 people, including two children, before being shot dead by a passerby, officials said.

Montenegrin police chief Zoran Brdjanin said in a video statement shared with media that the attacker was a 34-year-old man he identified only by his initials, V.B.

Brdjanin said the man used a hunting rifle to first shoot to death two children ages 8 and 11 and their mother, who lived as tenants in his house in Cetinje's Medovina neighborhood.

The shooter then walked into the street and randomly shot 13 more people, seven of them fatally, the chief said.

"At the moment, it is unclear what provoked V.B. to commit this atrocious act," Brdjanin said.

Andrijana Nastic, the prosecutor coordinating the crime scene investigation, told journalists that the gunman was killed by a passerby and that a police officer was among the wounded. She said nine of those killed died at the scene and two died at a hospital where they were taken for surgery.

Cetinje, the seat of Montenegro's former royal government, is 36 kilometers west of Podogrica, the capital of the small Balkan nation.

Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic wrote on his Telegram channel that the incident was "an unprecedented tragedy" and urged the nation "to be, in their thoughts, with the families of the innocent victims, their relatives, friends and all the people of Cetinje."

President Milo Djukanovic said on Twitter that he was "deeply moved by the news of the terrible tragedy" in Cetinje, calling for "solidarity" with the families who lost loved ones in the incident.

Associated Press