Danish court clears Kurds in landmark terrorism funding case
By Deniz Serinci 14 hours ago

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – A Danish court has clear 10 Kurds who were accused of channeling almost $24 million to Turkey’s banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated a terrorist organization by the European Union and the US.

The PKK is linked to the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), whose fighters, at the forefront of the defence of the border town of Kobane, are now receiving support from the US-led coalition.

The defendants were charged under Danish anti-terror laws for supporting a terrorist organization. Prosecutors had demanded sentences of four years, but all ten men were cleared on Wednesday at the end of a jury trial.

They were arrested in September 2012 for allegedly raising 140 million Danish Krone (around $23.7 million) on behalf of the PKK. The Copenhagen City Court accepted their explanation that they had collected the money for cultural activities, and for victims of the earthquake in Van, eastern Turkey in 2011.

The case was the largest terrorism funding case in Denmark. The verdict came after Western countries threw their weight behind the PKK-linked Kobane defenders.

One defendant, Erbil Kaya, noted after the trial that Denmark itself contributes militarily in Iraq, "where the PKK is part of the struggle against Islamic State."

"On one hand we help the PKK with weapons. And on another hand we want to punish Danish Kurds with the accusation that they have collected money for the PKK," Kaya said.

Prosecutors are considering an appeal against the acquittal.

There has been no official reaction from Turkey, which for 30 years fought the PKK. But Turkey has previously criticized Denmark for not taking its fight against the PKK seriously enough in the case of Roj TV, a Danish based pro-PKK television station, which Turkey wanted closed.

Pernille Skipper, a Danish parliamentarian from the Unity List, which wants the PKK’s terrorism designation lifted, said: "If the accused men in this case had not been acquitted for lack of evidence, they might have been jailed for sending money to the same place as the Danish parliament sends weapons."

To nije ono veliko brdo odmah iznad grada. Neki mali brijeg, ali isto bitan za držanje na udaru dosta ravnice okolo.

Tekbir.

Turkish intelligence chief: ISIS is a reality and we are optimistic about the future
.Oct 24 2014.

Ankara- Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, known by the MİT acronym, has drawn a lot of attention and criticism lately for his controversial comments about ISIS.

“ISIS is a reality and we have to accept that we cannot eradicate a well-organized and popular establishment such as the Islamic State; therefore I urge my western colleagues to revise their mindset about Islamic political currents and not be cynical at all,” said Mr. Hakan Fidan during a press conference in Istanbul on Wednesday.

Fidan added that in order to deal with the vast number of foreign Jihadists craving to travel to Syria, it is imperative that ISIS must set up a consulate or at least a political office in Istanbul. He further underlined that it is Turkey’s firm belief to provide medical care for all injured people who fled Syria regardless of their political or religious affiliation.

Recently as the fierce clashes between Kurdish forces and ISIS terrorists continue in the besieged city of Kobani, countless number of ISIS injured fighters enter the Turkish territory and are being admitted in the military hospital in Hatay Province. Over the last few days, the Kurdish fearless guerillas could fend off ISIS forces who wanted to capture Kobani, the Syrian Kurdish strategic city which is situated only few kilometers away from Turkish border.

Hemin Hawrami, a Kobani-based senior Kurdish official said that Turkey's Erdoğan and his oil-rich Arab allies have dual agendas in the war on terror and as a matter of fact they are supplying the Islamist militants with weapons and money.

Hawrami who was speaking via Skype highlighted the danger of Turkish-backed terrorist groups and added that what is happening in Syria cannot be categorized as a genuine and popular revolution against dictatorship but rather it is a chaos orchestrated by Erdoğan who is dreaming to revive the infamous Ottoman Empire.