Antalyaspor drop Eto’o in racism row

Turkish top flight club Antalyaspor said on Wednesday that their star striker Samuel Eto’o would be left out of the squad until further notice in a bitter row over comments on social media.

Former Cameroon international Eto’o, who in a glittering career has turned out for Barcelona, Inter Milan and Chelsea, had written on his Instagram account he was not being given respect for his achievements as he is black.

Eto’o had moved to Antalyaspor in June 2015 as the keystone of the club’s bid in the southern Mediterranean resort city to find national and even European success.

But his stint has turned sour in the past weeks amid intense rumours in the close season Eto’o would join Istanbul arch rivals Besiktas.

Tensions have been compounded by a dreadful start to the new season which has seen Antalyaspor reap just one point from four matches.

Eto’o had written on his Instagram account in Turkish: “Reminder — perhaps some people do not feel respect for me because I am black.”

“But I am not going to come down from the level I have reached. I have been in this game for 18 years,” he added, posting a screenshot from Wikipedia of all the cups he has won.

Eto’o did not specify to whom he was targeting his criticism but later posted another message insisting it was not directed at Antalyaspor chairman Ali Safak Ozturk.

But Antalyaspor said in a terse statement on its website that a meeting of its board had decided to leave Eto’o out of the squad until further notice.

Turkish commentators had interpreted the remarks of Eto’o as a response to apparent criticism by Ali Safak Ozturk of his performance in the early season.

“No player is above the interests of Antalyaspor. Everyone must know their place,” the chairman was quoted as saying.

Turkey is the latest stop in Eto’o’s eclectic career which has taken him to high-profile and lesser known football hotspots around the world.

He played between 2011-2013 for Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala in the Caucasus region of Dagestan before the owner pulled the plug on its ambitions.

AFP

Turkey condemns Somali terrorist attack

Turkey strongly condemned a militant attack on a hotel near the presidential palace in Somalia on Tuesday that killed at least 15 victims and injured more than 20 others, including MPs and ministers.

“Turkey is a friend and brother of the Somali people and we are determined to provide any kind of support to achieve peace" in Somalia, the Turkish ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.

Turkey also expressed its condolences to the families of the victims of the attack in Mogadishu, according to the statement.

Al-Shabaab militants detonated a truck filled with explosives outside the SYL hotel that houses several government officials and diplomats.

A shopkeeper in Mogadishu told Anadolu Agency he saw clouds of smoke in the air.

“It's a terrifying scene. I don't know when we shall have peace in this country?" Ali Adhe said via telephone from Mogadishu.

Somalia's al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab took to the pro-Shabaab Radio Andalus to claim responsibility for the attack that is in effort to overthrow the western-backed government.

The militant group has carried out several attacks in Somalia and neighboring Kenya, killing hundreds of innocent victims.

Turkey arrests three former diplomats over coup plot

A Turkish court on Saturday placed under arrest three former top diplomats, including an advisor to ex-president Abdullah Gul, over links to the failed July 15 coup, state media said.

An Ankara court remanded Gurcan Balik, Ali Findik and Tuncay Babali in custody ahead of trial over suspected links to the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who is accused of masterminding the coup, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Balik is a prominent figure who was the chief foreign policy advisor to Gul, who served as president from 2007 to 2014 before handing over to Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

He had also worked as an advisor to former prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu during his long stint as foreign minister.
In that role, Balik in 2013 set up a hugely controversal meeting between Davutoglu and Gulen while the then foreign minister was attending the UN General Assembly in New York, Anadolu said.

Davutoglu in May 2015 confirmed he had secretly visited Gulen for talks at his Pennsylvania compound aimed at persuading him to return to Turkey to ease tensions in the bureaucracy.

He has insisted both Gul and Erdogan, then prime minister, were aware of the visit.

Babali meanwhile had served as ambassador to Canada while Findik had been ambassador to Costa Rica.

Turkey has embarked on an all-out purge of state institutions in the wake of the coup to rid the country of what Erdogan calls the “virus” of Gulen’s influence.

The arrest of Balik is significant as it represents one of the first times a figure linked to the political leadership in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been implicated in the coup.

There has never been any suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of Gul and Davutoglu and both condemned the coup in the strongest possible terms.

According to Anadolu, the foreign ministry fired 88 people in the wake of the coup. Almost 70,000 civil servants have been dismissed in total, over half of them in the education sector.

Suicide bomber at Turkish wedding was as young as 12, president says

The suicide bomber in a Turkish wedding party attack that killed dozens of people was between 12 and 14 years old, Turkey's president announced Sunday, blaming the Islamic State terror group for the massacre.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke in a live nationally-televised address in front of Istanbul city Hall. At least 51 people were killed and dozens of others wounded in the attack late Saturday in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.

Erdogan added that there was “absolutely no difference” between ISIS, Kurdish rebels and the movement behind the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, calling them terrorists. He said 69 people were wounded, with 17 of them in critical condition.

The remains of a suicide vest have been recovered at the site, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, citing a statement by the chief public prosecutor's office.

Turkey has been the target of attacks in the past year that have been claimed by Kurdish militants linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) or were blamed on ISIS. In June, suspected Islamic State militants attacked Istanbul’s main airport with guns and bombs, killing 44 people. A dual suicide bombing blamed on ISIS at a peace rally in Turkey's capital, Ankara, in October killed 103 victims.

Earlier this week, a string of bombings blamed on the PKK that targeted police and soldiers killed at least a dozen people. A fragile, 2 ½ year-long peace process between the PKK and the government collapsed last year, leading to a resumption of the three-decade-long conflict.

"This was a barbaric attack. It appears to be a suicide attack. All terror groups, the PKK, Daesh, the (Gulen movement) are targeting Turkey. But God willing, we will overcome,” Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek told NTV television.

Daesh is an Arabic name for ISIS.

Simsek later traveled to Gaziantep along with the country's health minister to visit the wounded and inspect the site of the attack. He characterized the attack as “barbaric.”

"This is a massacre of unprecedented cruelty and barbarism," he told reporters in Gaziantep. "We ... are united against all terror organizations. They will not yield."

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim condemned the bombing that turned "a wedding party into a place of mourning" and vowed to prevail over the "devilish" attacks.

"No matter what this treacherous terror organization is called, we as the people, the state, and the government will pursue our determined struggle against it," he said.

A brief statement from the Gaziantep governor's office said the bomb attack on the wedding in the Sahinbey district occurred at 10:50 p.m.

Mehmet Tascioglu, a local journalist, told NTV television, that the huge explosion could be heard in many parts of the city.

Police sealed off the site of the explosion and forensic teams moved in. Hundreds of residents gathered near the site chanting "Allah is great" as well as slogans denouncing attacks.