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Girl dropouts are a major problem fighting poverty in Malawi, as giving girls and women a better position and better education remains maybe the best way of all to bring change and a better future to Malawi.
At Matunduzi school we saw how the IM-funded project GESI addressed one of the causes of girl dropouts - girls falling behind in their studies due to problems doing their homework due to all the tasks they are asked to do at home.
At Matundizi school, and dozens of similar school, new reading techniques have been introduced and teachers educated in new pedagogical skills.
The reading class seen on these photos were engaging and active to the extreme... Not the least I loved seeing how much space the girls demanded, they were not rated below boys and not discriminated.
Having trained on different reading techniques by GESI, teachers at the school have used the methods to supplement primary school curriculum. One STD 2 teacher introduced supplementary readers from old curriculum books to enhance a reading culture. Through such, most pupils in Standard 2 have acquired Chichewa (Malawis majority language) reading mastery. A rare occurrence in primary schools rocked by myriad challenges.
Meanwhile, on a regular basis, mother groups, that are also getting support and organizational advice from GESI, meets with girls at the school to discuss issues for their retention and achievement. ‘We feel obliged to support our girls so that they should not experience the difficulties we have now due to lack of education.”
Mother group members raise funds for need girls, they give advice and they visit parents who withdraw their girls from schools.
Girls Education Support Initiative (GESI), is funded by IM and run by Malawian NGO Creccom. GESI is an integrated approach to address challenges facing girl children through community mobilization including meeting girls’ post-primary education cost.
The complexities are enormous and intertwine poverty and male dominated culture and put restraints on girls’ education.
IM and Creccom has pledged to promote girls education and fight these constraints.
Photo and copyright: Erik Törner, IM Individuell Människohjälp www.manniskohjalp.se
MICHELLE OBAMA SPEAKING - SUPPORTING MILITARY FAMILIES - www.barack-obama-photos.com/
See more photos of Michelle Obama at:
Declaration of 4,000 MPs, including majorities of 30 parliaments
Moreover, a deceleration by over 4,000 MPs from 40 countries across the globe in support of the Iranian Resistance and especially Ashraf residents was unveiled at the gathering. The MPs, including the majority of the European Parliament, the majority of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and majorities of 28 national parliaments, called for the urgent protection of Ashraf by the UN, U.S. and EU, the immediate lifting of the siege on Ashraf – especially ensuring free access to medical services – and an impartial, comprehensive and independent investigation into the crimes committed on April 8th in Ashraf
In a large and exhilarating gathering held in the Villepinte Auditorium near Paris on Saturday afternoon, 18 June 2011, Iranians called for the immediate protection of Ashraf by the UN with assistance provided by the U.S. and EU. They also condemned any kind of displacement of Ashraf residents inside Iraq, and declared their support for Europe’s peaceful long-term solution for Ashraf. The participants described maintaining the terrorist tag against the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) by the US State Department as an illegal measure and tantamount to participating in the repression of the Iranian people and Resistance. The attendees called on the U.S. government to comply with last July's verdict of the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. and immediately revoke the PMOI's terrorist designation.
Hundreds of prominent politicians and MPs representing a broad range of political views from countries in five continents of the globe also took part in the largest gathering of its kind by Iranian exiles. In addition to expressing their support for the Iranian Resistance and defending Ashraf’s rights, the high-profile dignitaries also called for the recognition of the National Council of Resistance by the international community
Rudolph Giuliani, former New York City Mayor and Presidential Candidate (2008); US Congressman Bob Filner; Rita Sussmouth, former Speaker of the German Parliament (1988-1998); Judge Michael Mukasey, former US Attorney General (2007-2009); Ambassador John Bruton, former Prime Minister of Ireland (1994-1997) and EU ambassador to the US (2004-2005); Jean-Pierre Brard, Member of French National Assembly; Andrew Card, White House Chief of Staff of President George Bush (2001-2006); Tom Ridge, first US Secretary of Homeland Security (2003-2005); Alejo Vidal Quadras, European Parliament Vice President; Geir Haarde, former Prime Minister of Iceland (2006-2009); Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, Head of the Labour Peers group in the House of Lords; Nariman al-Rousan, Member of Jordanian Parliament; Aude de Thuin, author and founder of the Women Forum; Sid Ahmed Ghozali, former Prime Minister of Algeria; Robert Torricelli, former U.S. Senator; Carlo Ciccioli, Member of the Italian Parliament; Jean-Charles Rielle, Member of the Swiss Federal Parliament; and Henry Leclerc, Honorary President of the Human Rights League of France.
A number of French mayors, including Jean-Pierre Béquet, Mayor of Auvers-sur-Oise; Nelly Rolland, Mayor of Villepinte; and Maurice Boscavert, Mayor of Taverny, delivered speeches and declared the support of 5,000 French mayors for the Iranian Resistance.
The ceremony was held on the eve of June 20th, the Day of Martyrs and Political Prisoners in Iran. The master of ceremony for the first part of the event was Congressman Patrick Kennedy, Member of US House of Representatives until 2011. David Amess, Member of British Parliament from the Conservative Party, took over the event for the second part.
While being accompanied by Mrs. Rezaii (the mother of 7 martyrs), Mahin Saremi and a number of French MPs, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi honored the memory of 120,000 martyrs of the Iranian people, who have fallen during the three decade struggle against the clerical dictatorship, including the martyrs of the past two years and those who lost their lives as a result of the recent criminal attack against Ashraf.
Mrs. Mahin Saremi, the wife of PMOI supporter Ali Saremi, also took part in the gathering. Ali Saremi was Iran’s most prominent political prisoner and was hanged last year by the Iranian regime after enduring 24 years of imprisonment and torture. Mrs. Saremi, who herself was arrested and imprisoned several times since the 1980s, was recently condemned to 10 years of imprisonment but managed to flee from the Iranian regime and reach Paris. Akbar, the son of Ali and Mahin Saremi, is among the residents of Ashraf.
The Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance works with the Institut des Siences Agronomique du Burundi (ISABU), to give farmers access to improved beans. The beans have been bred with characteristics like high iron; some yield more produce and some are more resilient to drought. Researchers at ISABU are working with key farmers, to produce more beans. And they are linking producers who are adding value, for example by grinding beans into bean flour, to feed to children as part of a school feeding program to tackle malnutrition with World Vision. www.ciat.cgiar.org or www.pabra-africa.org
Credit: ©2017CIAT/GeorginaSmith
Please credit accordingly and leave a comment when you use a CIAT photo.
For more info: ciat-comunicaciones@cgiar.org
Girl dropouts are a major problem fighting poverty in Malawi, as giving girls and women a better position and better education remains maybe the best way of all to bring change and a better future to Malawi.
At Matunduzi school we saw how the IM-funded project GESI addressed one of the causes of girl dropouts - girls falling behind in their studies due to problems doing their homework due to all the tasks they are asked to do at home.
At Matundizi school, and dozens of similar school, new reading techniques have been introduced and teachers educated in new pedagogical skills.
The reading class seen on these photos were engaging and active to the extreme... Not the least I loved seeing how much space the girls demanded, they were not rated below boys and not discriminated.
Having trained on different reading techniques by GESI, teachers at the school have used the methods to supplement primary school curriculum. One STD 2 teacher introduced supplementary readers from old curriculum books to enhance a reading culture. Through such, most pupils in Standard 2 have acquired Chichewa (Malawis majority language) reading mastery. A rare occurrence in primary schools rocked by myriad challenges.
Meanwhile, on a regular basis, mother groups, that are also getting support and organizational advice from GESI, meets with girls at the school to discuss issues for their retention and achievement. ‘We feel obliged to support our girls so that they should not experience the difficulties we have now due to lack of education.”
Mother group members raise funds for need girls, they give advice and they visit parents who withdraw their girls from schools.
Girls Education Support Initiative (GESI), is funded by IM and run by Malawian NGO Creccom. GESI is an integrated approach to address challenges facing girl children through community mobilization including meeting girls’ post-primary education cost.
The complexities are enormous and intertwine poverty and male dominated culture and put restraints on girls’ education.
IM and Creccom has pledged to promote girls education and fight these constraints.
Photo and copyright: Erik Törner, IM Individuell Människohjälp www.manniskohjalp.se
How can we use open data to develop services that support communities to buy cheaper energy, use it more efficiently or potentially make their own?
This challenge invited teams including businesses, startups, social enterprises, community groups, academics, students and special interest groups to collaborate and compete with each other to use open data to build services that support communities to either:
- Group buy their energy and save money;
- Undertake community based energy efficiency interventions;
- Start to generate their own energy.
Image of Luca supporting the spacewalk of NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan from inside the ISS. The six-hour and 32-minute spacewalk saw the duo install the station’s second commercial crew docking port in readiness for future missions.
ID: 362G7897
Credit: ESA/NASA
Volunteer: Nemesia & Jo Lynch - Volunteer Dates: Oct 02 - Nov 10, 2013 - Location: La Serena Chile Project: Orphanage Support
www.abroaderview.org/feedbacks/chile/395-nemesia-jo-lynch...
Our favorite memories...
Nemesia: There is many to choose from but my favorite memory from working at the home was our last day when we gave the Tias we had been working with cards that we had translated what we wanted to say into Spanish. The Tia I worked with actually cried as I was finally able to tell her I admired her and that she made me proud of my Chilean heritage.
My favorite part of staying in our accommodation was being escorted by the two dogs that lived down the road every morning to the bus stop. Everywhere we went in La Serena, including the shopping centres, we had a dog follow or escort us there! It was great company.
Jo: I became very close to one particular baby girl who I was told, was very unsettled around men before I came. We bought her a little present when we left and despite being sick she was still really excited when we handed it to her, waving her arms around and squealing.
We were surprised that:
Nemesia: Before we came to La Serena we were in Cusco Perú which has a huge tourism industry and it's not to hard to find someone who speaks English there. I was surprised that almost no one spoke English in La Serena. It was actually very helpful because it forced me to work harder on my Spanish.
Jo: I was surprised that the home was as well organized and clean as it was; despite the little funding they receive.
The most difficult thing we experienced was:
Nemesia: It can be very hard working with children and not getting emotionally attached to them and wishing you could do more for them. I just had to keep reminding myself of the fantastic work the Tias do and that they genuinely love and care for each and every child with the little they have.
Jo: Language barrier!
Our best received lessons:
Nemesia: Each day I would learn a little more about taking care of children from 10 days to 18 months old from watching the Tias; from changing nappies to feeding and burping. I am definitely a pro now at getting babies to sleep! (which I am sure will help in the future)
I also learnt a lot of Chilean slang by just listening to the conversations around me which put a lot of words that my Chilean family say into context for me which was a really fun experience. The Tias have such great senses of humour; they made learning Spanish funny.
Jo: Feeding a one year old without making a mess! Very challenging!
Tips for future volunteers:
Nemesia: Be prepared to get sick! The children are constantly battling the flu as they no sooner get better and get it from another child in the home; so be prepared to get the flu for a couple days. There is a juice stand on the way to the orphanage, we tried to drink as much orange juice as we could to combat the flu.
Mustafa İsmet İnönü (Turkish pronunciation: [isˈmet ˈinœny]; 23 September 1886 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish army officer and statesman who served as the second president of Turkey from November 11, 1938, to May 22 1950, and as its prime minister three times: from 1923 to 1924, 1925 to 1937, and 1961 to 1965.
İnönü is acknowledged by many as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's right-hand man, with their friendship going back to the Caucasus campaign. In the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, he served as the first chief of the General Staff from 1922 to 1924 for the regular Turkish army, during which he commanded forces during the First and Second Battles of İnönü. Atatürk bestowed İsmet with the surname İnönü, the site of the battles, when the 1934 Surname Law was adopted. He was also chief negotiator in the Mudanya and Lausanne conferences for the Ankara government, successfully negotiating away the Sevre treaty for the Treaty of Lausanne. As his prime minister for most of his presidency, İnönü executed many of Atatürk's modernizing and nationalist reforms. İnönü gave the orders to carry out the Zilan Massacre.
İnönü succeeded Atatürk as president of Turkey after his death in 1938 and was granted the official title of Millî Şef ("National Chief" by the parliament. As president and chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP), İnönü initially continued Turkey's one party state. Kemalist style programs continued to make great strides in education by supporting projects such as Village Institutes. His governments implemented notably heavy statist economic policies. The Hatay State was annexed in 1939, and Turkey was able to maintain an armed neutrality during World War II, joining the Allied powers only three months before the end of the European Theater. The Turkish Straits crisis prompted İnönü to build closer ties with the Western powers, with the country eventually joining NATO in 1952, though by then he was no longer president.
Factionalism between statists and liberals in the CHP led to the creation of the Democrat Party in 1946. İnönü held the first multiparty elections in the Republic's history that year, beginning Turkey's multiparty period. 1950 saw a peaceful transfer of power to the Democrats when the CHP suffered defeat in the elections. For ten years, İnönü served as the leader of the opposition before returning to power as prime minister following the 1961 election, held after the 1960 coup-d'état. The 1960s saw İnönü reinvent the CHP as a political party, which was "Left of Center" as a new party cadre led by Bülent Ecevit became more influential. İnönü remained leader of the CHP until 1972, when he was defeated by Ecevit in a leadership contest. He died on December 25, 1973, of a heart attack, at the age of 89. He is interred opposite to Atatürk's mausoleum at Anıtkabir in Ankara.
İsmet İnönü (born Mustafa İsmet) was born in 1886 in Smyrna (İzmir) in the Aidin Vilayet to Hacı Reşit and Cevriye (later Cevriye Temelli). Hacı Reşit was retired after serving as director of the First Examinant Department of the Legal Affairs Bureau of the War Ministry (Harbiye Nezareti Muhakemat Dairesi Birinci Mümeyyizliği). A member of the Kürümoğlu family of Bitlis, İnönü's father was born in Malatya. According to its members studying the ancestral background of the family, Kürümoğlus were of Turkish origin, while secondary sources refer to the family as of Kurdish descent. His mother was the daughter of Müderris Hasan Efendi, who belonged to the ulem and was a member of the Turkish family of Razgrad (present-day Bulgaria). In 1933 he visited Razgrad since the city's Turkish cemetery was attacked. İsmet was the family's second child; he had three brothers, including the family's first child, Ahmet Midhat, two younger brothers, Hasan Rıza and Hayri (Temelli), as well as a sister Seniha (Otakan). Due to his father's assignments, the family moved from one city to another.
İnönü completed his primary education in Sivas and graduated from Sivas Military Junior High School (Sivas Askerî Rüştiyesi) in 1894. He then studied at the Sivas School for Civil Servants (Sivas Mülkiye İdadisi) for a year. He graduated from the Imperial School of Military Engineering in 1904 as a lieutenant gunnery officer and entered the Military Academy to graduate as a first-rank staff captain on September 26, 1906. İnönü started his duty in the Second Army based in Adrianople (Edirne) on October 2, 1906, in the 3rd Battery Command of the 8th Field Artillery Regiment. As part of his platoon officer staff internship, he gave lessons in military strategy and artillery. Captain İsmet was also part of the Ottoman–Bulgarian commissions.
Through Ali Fethi (Okyar), he briefly joined the Committee of Union and Progress in 1907, which wished to overthrow Sultan Abdul Hamid II. During the 31 March Incident, he was on the staff of the Second Cavalry Division, which was mobilized to join the Action Army and marched on Constantinople (İstanbul) to depose Abdul Hamid II. Returning to Adrianople following the suppression of the mutiny, İnönü left the committee in the summer of 1909.
He won his first military victory by suppressing Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamiddin's revolt in Yemen. İsmet eventually became chief of staff of the force sent to suppress the rebellion and personally negotiated with Imam Yahya in Kaffet-ül-Uzer to bring Yemen back into the empire. For this, he was promoted to the rank of major. He returned to Constantinople in March 1913 to defend the capital from Bulgarian attack during the First Balkan War. İnönü was part of the Turkish delegation that negotiated the Treaty of Constantinople with the Bulgarians as a military adviser. He held a close relationship with Enver Pasha and played an active role in the reformation of the army.
İnönü began climbing the ranks during World War I, becoming lieutenant colonel on November 29, 1914, and then being appointed as the First Branch Manager of the General Headquarters on December 2. He was appointed chief of staff of the Second Army on October 9, 1915, and was promoted to the rank of colonel on December 14 December 1915.
Inönü married Emine Mevhibe Hanim on April 13, 1917, when he was 31 and she was only 20 (for she was more than ten years his junior whilst he was more than ten years her senior), three weeks before he left for the front to return home only after the conclusion of the Armistice of Mudros on October 30, 1918.[13] Of which she later bore his three sons and one daughter. He began working with Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) Pasha as a corps commander on the Caucasian Front. İnönü was appointed to the IV Corps Command on January 12, 1917, upon the recommendation of Atatürk. He was recalled to Constantinople after a while and returned to take part as a corps commander of the Seventh Army. On May 1, he was appointed to command XX Corps on the Palestine Front, and then III Corps on June 20. He once again came into contact with Atatürk when he assumed command of the Seventh Army. İnönü's forces received the brunt of Edmond Allenby's attack on Beersheba that ended the stalemate on the Sinai front. He was wounded in the Battle of Megiddo and was sent back to Constantinople, where he held various administrative positions in the War Ministry during the armistice period.
After the military occupation of Constantinople on March 16, 1920, İnönü decided to escape to Anatolia to join the Ankara government. He and his chief of staff, Major Saffet (Arıkan) escaped Maltepe in the evening of March 19 and arrived in Ankara on April 9. He joined the Grand National Assembly (GNA), which was opened on April 23, 1920, as a deputy of Edirne. Like many others in the Turkish National Movement, he was sentenced to death in absentia by the Ottoman government on June 6, 1920. In May 1920, he was appointed chief of the general staff. The next year, he was appointed commander of the Western Front of the Army of the GNA, a position in which he remained during the Turkish War of Independence. He was promoted to the rank of Mirliva (to that extent, Pasha) after winning the First and Second Battle of İnönü. When the 1934 Surname Law was adopted Atatürk bestowed İsmet Pasha with the surname İnönü, where the battles took place.
İnönü was replaced by Mustafa Fevzi Pasha (Çakmak), who was also the prime minister and minister of defense at the time, as the chief of staff after the Turkish forces lost major battles against the advancing Greek Army in July 1921, as a result of which the cities of Afyonkarahisar, Kütahya and Eskişehir were temporarily lost. During the war, İnönü's infant son İzzet died before his victory in Sakarya and this news was only delivered to him in the spring of 1922. His wife, Emine Mevhibe hid the news and the severity of his son's sickness due to the intensity of the war. He participated as a staff officer (with the rank Brigadier General) in the later battles, including Dumlupınar.
Chief negotiator in Mudanya and Lausanne
See also: Armistice of Mudanya and Treaty of Lausanne
After the War of Independence was won, İnönü was appointed as the chief negotiator of the Turkish delegation, both for the Armistice of Mudanya and for the Treaty of Lausanne.
The Lausanne conference convened in late 1922 to settle the terms of a new treaty that would take the place of the Treaty of Sèvres. İnönü became famous for his stubborn resolve in determining the position of Ankara as the legitimate, sovereign government of Turkey. After delivering his position, İsmet turned off his hearing aid during the speeches of British foreign secretary Lord Curzon. When Curzon had finished, İnönü reiterated his position as if Curzon had never said a word.
İsmet İnönü served as the prime minister of Turkey throughout Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's presidency, stepping down as prime minister for three months during Fethi Okyar's premiership and in the last year of Atatürk's presidency when he was replaced by Celal Bayar. İnönü therefore helped to execute most of Atatürk's reformist programs. It was his suggestion to make Ankara the capital of Turkey, which was approved by the parliament. İnönü was also an important factor in the proclamation of the Republic and the abolition of the Caliphate and Evkaf Ministry. He resigned from the premiership for health reasons on November 22, 1924 for Fethi Okyar, but since Okyar lost a vote of confidence from parliament due to the Sheikh Said rebellion, İnönü returned to the prime ministry.
İnönü immediately banned all opposition parties (including the Progressive Republican Party) and the press. Independence Tribunals were reestablished to prosecute the Kurdish rebels. In 1926, it allegedly came out that former members of the CUP attempted to assassinate Atatürk in the İzmir plot, which resulted in the remaining CUP leaders being executed. İnönü retired his military command in 1927.
While dealing with the Sheikh Said revolt, İnönü proclaimed a Turkish nationalist policy and encouraged the Turkification of the non-Turkish population. Following the suppression of the Sheikh Said rebellion, he presided over the Reform Council for the East, which prepared the Report for Reform in the East, which recommended impede the establishment of a Kurdish elite, forbid non-Turkish languages, and create regional administrative units called Inspectorates-General, which were to be governed by martial law. He stated the following in regards to the Kurds; "We're frankly nationalists, and nationalism is our only factor of cohesion. Before the Turkish majority, other elements had no kind of influence. At any price, we must turkify the inhabitants of our land, and we will annihilate those who oppose." Following this report, three Inspectorates-General were established in the Kurdish areas, which comprise several provinces. On the direct order of İnönü, the Zilan massacre of thousands of Kurdish civilians was perpetrated by the Turkish Land Forces in the Zilan Valley of Van Province on July 12 and 13, 1930, during the Ararat rebellion. Nation building was codified into law when a new settlement regime was enacted in 1934, resettling Albanians, Abkhazians, Circassians, and Kurds in new areas in order to create a homogeneous Turkish state.
İnönü was responsible for most of the reformist legislation promulgated during Turkey's one party period. The Hat Law and the closure of Dervish lodges were enacted in 1925; in 1928, the Turkish alphabet switched to being written with Latin characters, and in 1934, titles such as Efendi, Bey, and Pasha were abolished; and certain articles of religious clothing were banned, though İnönü was and still is popularly known as İsmet Pasha. 1934 was also the year that the Surname Law was adopted, with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk bestowing İsmet with the surname İnönü, the location where İsmet won the battles against the Greek army in 1921. He was also a proponent of replacing foreign loan words with "Pure Turkish" words.
İnönü managed the economy with heavy-handed government intervention, especially during the Great Depression, by implementing an economic plan inspired by the Five Year Plan of the Soviet Union. In doing so, he took much private property under government control. Due to his efforts, to this day, more than 70% of land in Turkey is still owned by the state.
Desiring a more liberal economic system, Atatürk dissolved the government of İnönü in 1937 and appointed Celâl Bayar, the founder of the first Turkish commercial bank, Türkiye İş Bankası, as prime minister, thus beginning a decades long rivalry between Bayar and İnönü.
After the death of Atatürk on November 10, 1938, İnönü was viewed as the most appropriate candidate to succeed him and was unanimously elected the second president of the Republic of Turkey and leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP). He attempted to build himself a cult of personality by receiving the official title of Millî Şef, i.e., "National Chief".
One of his first actions was to annex in 1939 the Hatay State, which declared independence from French Syria. İnönü also wished to move on from one-party rule by taking incremental steps to multiparty politics. He hoped to accomplish this by establishing the Independent Group as a force of opposition in the parliament, but they fell short of expectations under wartime conditions. İnönü dismissed Bayar's government because of differences between the two on economic policy in 1939. İnönü was an avowed statist, while Bayar wished for a more liberal economy. Turkey's early industrialization accelerated under İnönü but the onset of World War II disrupted economic growth.
Much reform in education was accomplished during İnönü's presidency through the efforts of Hasan Âli Yücel, who was minister of education throughout İnönü's governments. 1940 saw the establishment of the Village Institutes, in which well-performing students from the country were selected to train as teachers and return to their hometown to run community development programs.
World War II broke out in the first year of his presidency, and both the Allies and the Axis pressured İnönü to bring Turkey into the war on their side. The Germans sent Franz von Papen to Ankara in April 1939, while the British sent Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen and the French René Massigli. On April 23, 1939, Turkish Foreign Minister Şükrü Saracoğlu told Knatchbull-Hugessen of his nation's fears of Italian claims to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum and German control of the Balkans and suggested an Anglo-Soviet-Turkish alliance as the best way of countering the Axis. In May 1939, during the visit of Maxime Weygand to Turkey, İnönü told the French Ambassador René Massigli that he believed that the best way of stopping Germany was an alliance of Turkey, the Soviet Union, France and Britain; that if such an alliance came into being, the Turks would allow Soviet ground and air forces onto their soil; and that he wanted a major programme of French military aid to modernize the Turkish armed forces.
The signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on August 23, 1939, drew Turkey away from the Allies; the Turks always believed that it was essential to have the Soviet Union as an ally to counter Germany, and thus the signing of the German-Soviet pact undercut completely the assumptions behind Turkish security policy. With the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, İnönü chose to be neutral in World War II as taking on Germany and the Soviet Union at the same time would be too much for Turkey, though he signed a tripartite treaty of alliance with Britain and France on October 19, 1939, obligating Turkey's entry into the war if fighting spread to the Mediterranean. However, with France's defeat in June 1940 İnönü abandoned the pro-Allied neutrality that he had followed since the beginning of the war. A major embarrassment for the Turks occurred in July 1940 when the Germans captured and published documents from the Quai d'Orsay in Paris showing the Turks were aware of Operation Pike—as the Anglo-French plan in the winter of 1939–40 to bomb the oil fields in the Soviet Union from Turkey was codenamed—which was intended by Berlin to worsen relations between Ankara and Moscow. In turn, worsening relations between the Soviet Union and Turkey were intended to drive Turkey into the arms of the Reich. After the publication of the French documents relating to Operation Pike, İnönü pulled out of the tripartide pact signed with Britain and France and signed the German–Turkish Treaty of Friendship and the Clodius Agreement, which placed Turkey within the German economic sphere of influence, but İnönü went no further towards the Axis.
In the first half of 1941, Germany, which was intent on invading the Soviet Union, went out of its way to improve relations with Turkey as the Reich hoped for benevolent Turkish neutrality when the German-Soviet war began. At the same time, the British had great hopes in the spring of 1941 when they dispatched an expeditionary force to Greece that İnönü could be persuaded to enter the war on the Allied side as the British leadership had high hopes of creating a Balkan front that would tie down German forces, which thus led to a major British diplomatic offensive with Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden visiting Ankara several times to meet with İnönü. İnönü always told Eden that the Turks would not join the British forces in Greece, and the Turks would only enter the war if Germany attacked Turkey. For his part, Papen offered İnönü parts of Greece if Turkey were to enter the war on the Axis side, an offer İnönü declined. In May 1941 when the Germans dispatched an expeditionary force to Iraq to fight against the British, İnönü refused Papen's request that the German forces be allowed transit rights to Iraq. Another attempt by Hitler to woo Turkey came in February 1943, when Talaat Pasha's remains were returned to Turkey for a state burial.
Internal opposition to Turkish neutrality came from ultra-nationalist circles and factions of the military that wished to incorporate the Turkic-populated areas of the Soviet Union by allying with Germany. This almost erupted into a coup d'état against the government. Leading pan-Turkists including Alparslan Türkeş, Nihal Atsız, and Şaik Gökyay were arrested and sentenced time in prison in the Racism-Turanism trials.
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill traveled to Ankara in January 1943 for a conference with President İnönu to urge Turkey's entry into the war on the allied side. Churchill met secretly with İnönü inside a railroad car at the Yenice Station near Adana. By 4–6 December 1943, İnönü felt confident enough about the outcome of the war that he met openly with Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at the Second Cairo Conference. Until 1941, both Roosevelt and Churchill thought that Turkey's continued neutrality would serve the interests of the Allies by blocking the Axis from reaching the strategic oil reserves of the Middle East. But the early victories of the Axis up to the end of 1942 caused Roosevelt and Churchill to re-evaluate possible Turkish participation in the war on the side of the Allies. Turkey had maintained a decently-sized army and air force throughout the war, and Churchill wanted the Turks to open a new front in the Balkans. Roosevelt, on the other hand, still believed that a Turkish attack would be too risky and an eventual Turkish failure would have disastrous effects for the Allies.
İnönü knew very well the hardships that his country had suffered during decades of incessant war between 1908 and 1922 and was determined to keep Turkey out of another war as long as he could. The young Turkish Republic was still re-building, recovering from the losses due to earlier wars, and lacked any modern weapons and the infrastructure to enter a war to be fought along and possibly within its borders. İnönü based his neutrality policy during the Second World War on the premise that Western Allies and the Soviet Union would sooner or later have a falling out after the war. Thus, İnönu wanted assurances on financial and military aid for Turkey, as well as a guarantee that the United States and the United Kingdom would stand beside Turkey in the event of a Soviet invasion of the Turkish Straits after the war. In August 1944, İnönü broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, and on January 5, 1945, İnönü severed diplomatic relations with Japan. Shortly afterwards, İnönü allowed Allied shipping to use the Turkish Straits to send supplies to the Soviet Union, and on February 25, 1945, he declared war on Germany and Japan. For this Turkey became a founding member of the United Nations.
The post-war tensions and arguments surrounding the Turkish Straits would come to be known as the Turkish Straits crisis. The fear of Soviet invasion and Joseph Stalin's unconcealed desire for Soviet military bases in the Turkish Straits eventually caused Turkey to give up its principle of neutrality in foreign relations and join NATO in February 1952.
Domestic policy
Maintaining an armed neutrality proved to be disruptive for the young republic. The country existed in a practical state of war throughout the Second World War: military production was prioritized at the expense of peacetime goods, rationing and curfews were implemented, and high taxes were put in place, causing severe economic hardship for many. One such tax was the Wealth Tax (Varlık Vergisi), a discriminatory tax that demanded very high one-time payments from Turkey's non-Muslim minorities. This tax is seen by many to be a continuation of the Jizya tax paid by dhimmis during Ottoman times, or Millî İktisat (National Economy) economic policy implemented by the Committee of Union and Progress regime three decades ago. It was only repealed in 1944 under American and British pressure.
A famous story of İnönü happened in a meeting in Bursa for the 1969 general elections. A young man yelled at him, "You let us go without food!" İnönü replied to him by saying, "Yes, I let you go without food, but I did not let you become fatherless," implying the death of millions of people from both sides of World War II.
For the Kemalists there was always a desire for Turkey to develop into a democracy. Before the Independent Group, Atatürk experimented with opposition through the Liberal Republican Party, which lasted three months before it had to be shut down when reactionaries threatened to hijack the party. In an opening speech to the Grand National Assembly on November 1, 1945, İnönü openly expressed the country's need for an opposition party. He welcomed Celal Bayar establishing the Democrat Party (DP), which separated from the CHP. However, due to the anti-Communist hysteria brought on by the new Soviet threat, new leftist parties were swiftly banned, and rural development initiatives such as the Village Institutes and People's Rooms were closed. Even with such pressure on the left, İnönü established the Ministry of Labour in 1945 and signed into law important protections for workers. Universities were given autonomy, and İnönü's title of "unchangeable chairman" of CHP was abolished.
İnönü allowed for Turkey's first multiparty elections to be held in 1946; however, the elections were infamously not free and fair; voting was carried out under the gaze of onlookers who could determine which voters had voted for which parties, and secrecy prevailed as to the subsequent counting of votes. Instead of inviting Şükrü Saraçoğlu to form another government, he assigned CHP hardliner Recep Peker to the task, who contributed to a polarizing atmosphere in the parliament. İnönü had to act as a mediator several times between Peker and Bayar, who threatened to have the DP walk from parliament if they didn't have some of their demands met, such as ensuring judicial review, secret ballots, and public counting for elections. On 12 July 1947 İsmet İnönü gave a speech broadcast on radio and in newspapers that he would stand equal distance from the government and opposition, prompting Peker's resignation.
Free and fair national elections had to wait until 1950, and on that occasion, İnönü's government was defeated. In the 1950 election campaign, the leading figures of the Democrat Party used the slogan "Geldi İsmet, kesildi kısmet" ("İsmet arrived, [our] fortune left"). CHP lost the election with 41% of the vote against DP's 55%, but due to the winner-takes-all electoral system, DP received 85% of the seats in parliament. İnönü presided over the peaceful transfer of power to the DP leaders, Bayar and Adnan Menderes. Bayar would serve as Turkey's third president, and Menderes would be its first prime minister not from the CHP.
For ten years, İnönü served as the leader of the opposition. In opposition, the CHP established its youth and women's branches. On June 22 June 1953, the establishment of trade unions and vocational chambers was proposed, and the right to strike for workers was added to the party program. The CHP formed an electoral alliance with the Republican Nation Party and Liberty party for the 1957 election, which was blocked by the DP government.
In the lead-up to the elections prepared for 1960, İnönü and CHP members faced regular harassment from the authorities and DP supporters, to the point where he was almost lynched several times. In 1958, the DP mayor of Zile declared martial law and mobilized the gendarmerie to prevent İnönü from conducting a rally in the city; a similar event happened in the city of Çankırı. In 1959, İnönü began a campaign tour that followed the same path he took thirty years ago as a Pasha from Uşak to İzmir and ended in victory for the Turkish nationalists. The DP minister of interior refused to promise protection to him. In Uşak, a crowd blocked İnönü from going to his podium, and he was hit in the head with a stone. Following his "Great Offensive," he flew to Istanbul, where he was almost lynched by a DP-organized mob on the way to Topkapı Palace. He was also banned from speaking in rallies in Kayseri and Yeşilhisar.
İnönü was banned from 12 sessions of parliament. This coincided an authoritarian turn of the Democrat Party, which culminated in a military coup.
The Turkish Armed Forces overthrew the government as a result of the military coup on 27 May 1960. After one year of junta rule in which the Democrat Party was banned and its top leaders executed in the Yassıada Trials, elections were held once the military returned to their barracks. İnönü returned to power as Prime Minister after the 1961 election, in which the CHP won the election. Right-wing parties have since continuously attacked İnönü and the CHP for their perceived involvement in the hanging of Prime minister Menderes, even though İnönü advocated for Menderes' pardoning.
İnönü's governments were defined by an effort to deescalate tensions between radical forces in the Turkish army wishing for extended junta rule and former Democrats that wished for amnesty. İnönü's CHP did not gain enough seats in the legislature to win a majority in the elections, so in an effort to create reconciliation, he formed coalition governments with the neo-Democrat Justice Party the New Turkey Party and the Republican Villagers Nation Party until 1965. Forming coalitions with DP successor parties, however, provoked radical officers into action. Colonel Talat Aydemir twice attempted to overthrow the government in 1962 and 1963 Turkish coup d'etat attempt. Aydemir was later executed for conducting both coups. Aydemir's 1962 coup had the most potential to succeed when İnönü, President Cemal Gürsel and Chief of Staff Cevdet Sunay were held up in Çankaya Mansion by the putschists. Aydemir decided to let the group go, which foiled the coup.
While in coalition with the far-right Republican Villagers Nation Party, İnönü renounced the Greco-Turkish Treaty of Friendship of 1930 and took actions against the Greek minority. The Turkish government also strictly enforced a long-overlooked law barring Greek nationals from 30 professions and occupations; for example, Greeks could not be doctors, nurses, architects, shoemakers, tailors, plumbers, cabaret singers, ironsmiths, cooks, tourist guides, etc., and 50,000 more Greeks were deported. These actions were taken because of the growing anti-Greek sentiment in Turkey after the ethnic conflict in Cyprus flared up again. With an invasion of the island imminent, American President Lyndon Johnson sent a memorandum to İnönü, effectively vetoing Turkish intervention. A subsequent meeting at the White House between İnönü and Johnson on June 22, 1964, meant Cyprus' status quo continued for another ten years. An event a couple years earlier also strained the otherwise amicable relationship İnönü held with Washington, namely the withdrawal of the nuclear-armed PGM-19 Jupiter MRBMs briefly stationed in Turkey, which was undertaken in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis. While Washington withdrew the MRBMs, some B61 nuclear bombs are still stored in İncirlik Air Base.
İnönü's governments established the National Security Council, Turkish Statistical Institute, and Turkey's leading research institute, TÜBİTAK. Turkey signed the Ankara agreement, the first treaty of cooperation with the European Economic Community, and also increased ties with Iran and Pakistan. The army was modernized, and the National Intelligence Organization was founded. İnönü was instrumental in establishing CHP as "Left of Center" on the political spectrum as a new left-wing party cadre led by his protégé Bülent Ecevit became more influential. İnönü survived an assassination attempt from a Menderes supporter in 1964.
İnönü returned to the opposition after losing both the 1965 and 1969 general elections to a much younger man, Justice Party leader Süleyman Demirel. He remained leader of the CHP until 1972, when an interparty crisis over his endorsement of the 1971 military memorandum led to his defeat by Ecevit in the 5th extraordinary CHP convention. This was the first overthrow of a party leader in a leadership contest in the Republic's history. İnönü left his party and resigned his parliamentarianship afterward. Being a former president he was a member of the Senate in the last year of his life.
On December 25, 1973, İsmet İnönü died of a heart attack at the age of 87. The parliament declared national mourning until his burial. He was interred at Anıtkabir opposite Atatürk's mausoleum, on December 28. Following the 1980 coup, Kenan Evren transferred twelve graves from Anıtkabir, but kept İnönü's in place. İnönü's tomb took its present shape in January 1997.
Sinta (Greek: Σίντα; Turkish: İnönü or Sinde) is a village in the Famagusta District of Cyprus. It is under the de facto control of Northern Cyprus. The village was recorded as early as the early 13th century in papal documents.
Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.
Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.
A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.
Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.
Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.
Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.
Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.
The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.
Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.
Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.
By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.
EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.
However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.
On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.
In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.
By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.
In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.
The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.
After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".
As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.
Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.
On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.
The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.
Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.
The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis". Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.
Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.
Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria
An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."
In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.
Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.
In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.
Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.
Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.
Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:
UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.
The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.
By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."
After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.
On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.
The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.
During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.
In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.
Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.
A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.
Sharing the sacrifice of our military -- and their loved-ones -- as they prepare for their eventual deployment to Iraq. Their assignment is in support of exiting the country. I had the good fortune to share their departure with their families; in these 30 or so photos hope to document what that was like, and what they were going through, while preserving their privacy.
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."Shipping-Out" AFRC JFTB "Joint Forces Training Base" "Los Alamitos, California" "Los Alamitos Army Airfield" Troops Soldiers Iraq "Tour of Duty"
A drag queen performing at the 2013 Gay Softball World Series Closing Street Party. Renaissance Hotel Courtyard, 999 9th St NW, Washington, DC.
The Vaughan Johnson Lookout was officially opened by Vaughan Johnson MP, Member for Gregory, on April the 12th 2012. The project was made possible through the support and vision of the Diamantina Shire Council.
The Diamantina Shire, Queensland:
Bedourie is a small pastoral town located in western
Queensland’s Channel Country, on the border of Wangkamardla and Mitakoodi Country. The population is roughly 100 people.
Diamantina Shire is in the extreme west of Queensland, with Poeppel Corner (the intersection of the Northern Territory, South Australia, and Queensland borders) as its south westerly point. It was named after the Diamantina River encountered by Burke and Wills in 1860 and thought to be a continuation of Eyre Creek. It was left unnamed until John McKinlay crossed it in 1862 and named it the Mueller. Four years later William Landsborough renamed it the Diamantina, after Lady Diamantina Roma, wife of Queensland's first Governor, Sir George Bowen.
Rising northwest of Winton, the Diamantina forms a maze of seasonal channels running southward in the vicinity of Birdsville. Its floodwaters can reach the Goyder Lagoon, 140km southeast of Poeppel Corner and outflow into the Warburton River.
Birdsville is the shire's best known town, and at one time was its administrative centre. Located just inside the southern border, Birdsville gave way to the more centrally located Bedourie to where the shire offices were moved.
Birdsville's origins arose with the celebrated Birdsville Track. In the 1870s, Queensland cattle drovers took livestock to southern markets at Wodonga and Melbourne along the Strzelecki Track, a route pioneered by the cattle stealer, Harry Redford. The Strzelecki skirted the eastern edge of Sturt Stony Desert and passed through Innaminka. The dry stages were too long, and an inland alternative, west of the desert, was tried. The alternative kept near the Diamantina watercourse which crossed where Birdsville was settled, and the Track went on to Maree on the Port Adelaide to Oodnadatta railway (the railway terminated at Quorn (1882) and was extended to Oodnadatta in 1891). The alternative stock route and the Adelaide market were clearly preferred, and Birdsville had both a store and a hotel by 1882. The present hotel is a replica of the one dating from 1885. In 1886 the Diamantina local government division was established.
Considered by many to be Queensland's most remote town, Birdsville attracted the attention of John Flynn in 1919 as a site for the Australian Inland Mission (AIM) medical service. The AIM nurses arrived in 1923, at a time when supplies came by camel twice a year from Maree. The year was drier than usual, but a dinghy was kept tied to a tree in readiness for the next flood. The most documented part of the shire is the short bit of the Birdsville track down to the South Australian border. In the 1950s George Farwell wrote Land of Mirage and the Shell film documentary Back of Beyond made the mailman, Tom Kruse, a famous personality.
In addition to Birdsville, the other places of settlement are Beetoota and Bedourie, to the east and north respectively. Each has an annual race meeting, a few weeks after the more famous Birdsville races in the first weekend of September when attendances can be around 10 000.
Apart form the Big Red Bash, Birdsville's popular fame probably accounts for it having four sites on the Queensland Heritage Register: the first AIM hospital, formerly the Royal Hotel (1883); the second AIM hospital (1953 - 2005); the Birdsville Hotel (1884); and the Court House (1890) with the Aboriginal Track Hut extant upon its grounds.
Diamantina Shire's dominant industry is cattle grazing. In 1992 there were 86 000 head recorded.
There is a hotel, caravan park, hospital, information centre, primary school (1899), and racing club in Birdsville. Bedourie has a general store, hotel, the shire office, and a community centre.
Wangkamardla Country:
The Wangkamardla, also spelt Wanggamala, Wangkamahdla, Wangkamadla, Wangkamanha, Wangkamana, Wonkamala, Wongkamala, Wonkamudla, and other variants, are the native peoples to the Bedourie area. Their country expands over the present day Queensland and Northern Territory border.
In Norman Tindale's estimate, Wanggamala tribal lands covered some 20,000 square miles (52,000 km2) of territory. They roamed north-west of Annandale, at Kalidawarry and around the lower Field and Hay rivers, along the Plenty river, and on the eastern margins of the Simpson Desert. Their traditional language is today extinct. In July 2021, the Wangkamardla, (Wangkamahdla in the claim), won native title rights to over 3,000,000 ha (7,400,000 acres) west and south-west of Boulia, stretching from around Bedourie, Queensland, across to the Northern Territory border, including Cravens Peak Reserve (named Pilungah Reserve in October 2021) and part of the Munga-Thirri National Park. This means the Wangkamardla can hunt, fish, gather, conduct ceremonies, teach, and maintain places of importance on country.
The Wangkamardla are renowned for growing and distributing the pituri plant (mingkulpa). Pituri is a mixture of leaves and wood ash traditionally chewed as a stimulant by early Indigenous Australians. Leaves were gathered from native tobacco plants, or from, at least one distinct population of the species "Duboisia hopwoodii", then mixed with the ash of various species of Acacia, Grevillea, or Eucalyptus. The term "pituri" may also refer to the plants from which the leaves were gathered or from the ash from which it is made. Other nineteenth century reports also said chewing pituri made old men wise, induced valour in warfare and allowed Aboriginal people to walk hundreds of kilometres without food or water. In a small area west of the Mulligan River in the Boulia Shire, a distinct population of Duboisia hopwoodii grows. The Boulia area was part of an extensive network of trade routes and pituri was bartered for such goods such as boomerangs, spears, shields and ochre.
The leaves either fresh or dried were broken up, mixed with ash and chewed to form a "quid" (a roll about the size and shape of a cigarette). The ash is thought to facilitate the release of nicotine from the plant and its absorption through the mouth wall. The quid is chewed from time to time and held behind the lower lip or cheek for long periods, where the thin skin, richly endowed with blood vessels, readily absorbs the nicotine. It may be shared with others, passing from person to person until returned to its owner. The quid was also carried pressed behind the ear, under a breast or beneath a head or arm-band. A fresh quid may be prepared and held in the mouth while sleeping so that for some chewers the nicotine absorption is constant. A report into Pituri also indicated that Indigenous Australians used the smoke from burning pituri leaves as an anaesthetic during surgical operations.
Source: Queensland Places (www.queenslandplaces.com.au/diamantina-shire), Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names (Tindale), North West Star, NITV, & Boulia Shire Council.
This is my newest support device: It's a monopod with support legs. It's very lightweight and does not extend. Parts are made of plastic. I like this because the parts do not interfere much with the spherical photos.
Deployed military personnel request the following items most often:
Food
Powdered Drink Mixes
(individual packets are best)
Cookies
Crackers
Pretzels
Tuna in a pouch
Beef, chicken or turkey jerky
Cheese spread (no aerosol cans!)
Ramen noodles
Snack cakes
Gum
Nuts
Granola bars
Pop Tarts
Dried fruit
Trail mix
Pistachios
Raisins
Red licorice twists
Tootsie Rolls (both candy and lollipops)
Peanut butter
Triscuits
Wheat Thins
Canned meats (no pork products)
Hard candy (individually-wrapped)
Sports Equipment
Baseballs
Baseball gloves
Soccer balls
Basketballs
Volleyballs
Squirt guns
Frisbees
Entertainment
AA & AAA batteries
Craft kits
Scrapbooking crafts
Books (mysteries, action, drama, science fiction).
Magazines – new or nearly new -
(sports, news, entertainment, travel, nature)
Playing cards
Small hand-held games
Crossword puzzles
CD's\DVD's
Hygiene Supplies
Facial cleansing pads
Moisturizing lotion
Wet Wipes
Eye drops
Lip balm
Toothpaste
Toothbrushes
Soap
Body wash
Shampoo and conditioner
Deodorant
Sunblock
Foot powder
Miscellaneous
Blank cards
Stationary, paper
Pens
Letters
Ziploc bags (sandwich, qt., gal. sizes)
For more information please visit
PABRADE, Lithuania -- U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Lithuanian medics demonstrate the Expeditionary Medical Support capability during a demonstration June 5 during Exercise Saber Strike. Saber Strike 2013 is a U.S. Army Europe-led, multinational, tactical field training and command post exercise occurring in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia June 3-14 that involves more than 2,000 personnel from 14 different countries. The exercise trains participants on command and control as well as interoperability with regional partners and is designed to improve joint, multinational capability in a variety of missions and to prepare participants to support multinational contingency operations worldwide. The exercise also features the integration of U.S. close air support with partner nation ground forces and the demonstration of U.S. Expeditionary Medical Support capability. The countries and units represented include: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Romania, NATO’s Multinational Corps Northeast, U.S. Army Europe, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Joint Multinational Training Command, Joint Multinational Simulation Center, Joint Multinational Readiness Center, 5th Signal Command, 21st Theater Sustainment Command, the United States Army and Air National Guard, and U.S. Army Cadet Command. Norway and Sweden will send observers. (Lithuanian Ministry of Defense photo by Alfredas Pliadis)
2nd of April , Support them ♥
Copyright © By Hala Allhaid. All Rights Reserved
My photos may not be taken in any way without my permission.
Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation, and Lana Popham, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, have issued a statement in response to the U.S. International Trade Commission’s (ITC) global safeguard investigations into the imports of blueberries.
Learn more: news.gov.bc.ca/23511
Palestinians who support the Islamic Hamas movement take part in a rally showing their support and solidarity with Hamas in the West Bank city of Nablus, 29 August 2014. An open-ended ceasefire, mediated by Egypt, took effect on Tuesday evening. It called for an indefinite halt to hostilities, the immediate opening of Gaza's blockaded crossings with Israel and Egypt, and a widening of the territory's fishing zone in the Mediterranean. Israel launched an offensive on July 8, with the declared aim of ending rocket fire into its territory. Photo by Nedal Eshtayah
palazzo nuovo occupato - università di Torino
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Verdi 15 Occupata. Un'esperienza di vita, un progetto di lotta.
All’Università di Torino, lo scorso anno (anno accademico 2011-12) studenti esterni alla Regione e meritevoli hanno vinto, con regolare domanda e graduatoria, posti-letto e borse di studio gestite, come da decenni ormai, dall’EDISU, l’ente regionale del Piemonte per il diritto allo studio. Peccato che questi posti, queste borse di studio, non si siano mai concretizzati: l’EDISU, in grave crisi economica per i terribili tagli voluti dalla Regione Piemonte, ha tagliato quei posti e non ha concesso quelle borse. E gli studenti, in mezzo a una strada, si sono mobilitati. In Via Verdi 15, a Torino, c’è stata fino all’anno scorso una residenza universitaria da 200 posti letto per studenti fuori sede, e doveva chiudere. Gli studenti hanno iniziato una bella esperienza di autogestione, trasformandola in “Verdi 15 occupata” e sostituendosi alle istituzioni che volevano chiuderla e renderla un fantasma.
blog.ilmanifesto.it/scienziato/2012/10/31/verdi15 || www.facebook.com/verdi.occupata?fref=ts
Apex Orthowears Pvt. Ltd. manufacturer of Cervical Aids, Cervical products, Cervical Collar, Cervical pillow, cervical support products, Rehabilitation Aids, Health Products for the handicapped.
I ALWAYS miss the Boobie-Thon (which leads me to believe they do a poor job advertising it amongst the Bloggers)... So I'll direct you to another worthy cause:
The American Clothing Project is sending a care package to the troops with each of these t-shirts sold (and $1 to Operation Gratitude for each sticker sold).
A supportive crowd was in attendance to witness both sea turtles return safely to sea.
Photo credit: Michelle Kerr, FWC
Turkish lesson in "Accelerated Learning Programme" classroom in Haliliye Public Education Centre supported by EU funding.
© 2018 European Union
194th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion conducts
convoy live-fire at Story Range, Republic of Korea.
Story and photos by Edward Johnson
IMCOM-Korea Public Affairs
PANMUNJOM - With weapons at the ready, members of 194th Combat
Sustainment Support Battalion set out at dawn to conduct convoy
live-fire training here, March 25.
The fast-paced exercise exposed Soldiers to many of the real-world
perils found on today's asymmetric battlefield, culminating in a series
of drills designed to hone their skills in reacting to road-side bombs
and enemy small-arms fire.
"These Soldiers have been training for the past six months to prepare
for this day and their hard work is evident in the outstanding
performance I've seen throughout the battalion," said Command Sgt. Maj.
Nichelle S. Fails.
At times gritty and intense, the Soldiers worked in teams to zero in on
enemy targets with their rifles and machine guns.
"This scenario is interesting and very realistic," said Pvt. Jiwoo Kim,
a KATUSA assigned to the battalion.
Pvt. Dylan Florres, a battalion mechanic and one of the day's enemy
combatant role-players, sees the training as realistic and a good way to
build unit cohesion. "What we are doing is basically helping Soldiers
learn how to train safely and work as a team," he said.
"Everybody is highly motivated and ready to fight," said Chief Warrant
Officer 4 Joseph Williams, HHC, 194th Combat Support Sustainment
Battalion, safety officer. "Taking care of our Soldiers is very
important, we don't want any injuries. That's why we do risk assessments
and go over all of the details to make this a very safe, yet realistic,
training environment."
Master Sgt. Kenneth Ashley, the day's pyrotechnics NCO, described the
training as important in building teamwork within the battalion. "Here
in Korea and in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, we need to make sure
our Soldiers know how to react under fire and to ensure they are
prepared for anything the enemy throws at them."
For more news from the U.S. Army in Korea visit us online at imcom.korea.army.mil
Bahati*, 38, sits with her daughter as she prepares Mandazi (doughnuts) that she sells at the market place at the Kalobeyei refugee settlement in northern Kenya. Through an EU funded programme, Bahati took up baking and catering and was able to start a small business selling her Mandazi.
*The name has been changed for privacy protection reasons
© 2018 European Union (photographer: Barbara Minishi)
Freshta, a 3rd grade schoolgirl from Ghozo-Omerz School in Panjshir studies her textbook. She and her friends use the bridge built by UNDP Afghanistan’s livelihood programme to come to school. “I am so happy that I go to school now. I am learning to read and finding lots of new friends.” – Freshta.
Villagers of Ghozo-Omerz, a village of 120 families in Panjshir province, used to be cut off from schools and hospitals by a fast flowing river. Parents were afraid to send their children to school because some had fallen in and died. Now they can cross the river using a bridge constructed through the support of UNDP. Photo: © Sayed Omer Sadaat / UNDP Afghanistan / 2015
Cadets from 6th company conducted fire support training with the with assistance from Soldiers of 4th Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. During this training, they learned how to load and fire 105mm Howitzers.
(Photos by John Pellino, DPTMS VI)
Garrison supports Dustoff Soldiers return to Landstuhl
By Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern
LANDSTUHL, Germany – Dashing across the helicopter hangar, 2-year-old Gavin McKinstry scrambled into his father’s outstretched arms.
Sgt. Darrell McKinstry, an Army flight medic, was among dozens of Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment who returned Sunday from Afghanistan, where unit helicopter crews – known as “Dustoff” – flew medical evacuation missions over the past year. McKinstry hoisted Gavin upon his shoulder, embraced wife Rachel and smiled down at his 4-month-old son, Emmett.
“It’s wonderful to be back, after a job well done by all the guys in our unit,” he said. “It’s great to be home with my family. I missed them tremendously, especially the little ones.”
During their first week back, Soldiers work half days. U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern supports returning Soldiers by offering reintegration classes at Daenner Kaserne, on everything from reuniting with family, finances and counseling to local recreational opportunities, said William Dial, a garrison reintegration management specialist.
The garrison also provides transportation for returning Soldiers upon their return and free daycare.
“The garrison strives to make the transition from deployment to home station as easy as possible for returning Soldiers and their families,” Dial said. “This effort is supported by all our resources.”
They get briefings from ACS, FMWR, and the chaplain’s office. Then comes medical and dental checks, plus other unit-run classes, Dial said. At the unit, weapons need cleaning, equipment needs repairing and a change of command needs planning. Once that’s done, Soldiers get a well-deserved break.
During the deployment, families also relied upon community support, said Alexa Zenk, wife of Maj. Patrick Zenk, the company commander. Programs offered through the garrison’s Army Community Service and Family & Morale, Welfare and Recreation, really helped, Zenk said. A great plus was free childcare for spouses of deployed Soldiers, to attend FRG meetings, ACS events or to simply take a break.
“We have tapped into those resources like there’s no tomorrow,” she said. “And because of those resources, a lot of our families have grown, learned and now know what they’re made of.”
While deployed to southwest Afghanistan, where U.S. Marines fight Taliban insurgents, Dustoff crews flew nearly 4,000 hours and cared for roughly 3,000 patients, said Maj. Shane Miller, the rear detachment commander. Often, they faced small arms and rocket fire while evacuating wounded troops. Soldiers earned several awards, to include five bronze stars, 60 air medals, 30 combat action badges, 14 Army commendation medals, 10 Army achievement awards and one combat medic badge.
A documentary crew that filmed unit crews in Afghanistan will be on-hand Aug. 4, when the company holds its official welcome home event – planned to be a fun celebration for Soldiers and families, said Sgt. 1st Class Richard Simmons, the rear detachment first sergeant.
Roughly 110 Soldiers deployed in waves from July to November 2010. Most returned between June and July, however one flight platoon will remain for several more months, Simmons said. In Landstuhl, unit personnel supported Soldiers by helping families, Simmons said.
“Seeing them reunite with family, that’s the most rewarding part,” Simmons said.
On Sunday, Rachel McKinstry woke thinking, “He’s coming home today. I hope he doesn’t get delayed.”
Her husband deployed twice before, to Iraq, and now to Afghanistan. Waiting, especially the last few hours, is the hardest part – full of excitement and anticipation.
“It’s a ball of nerves,” she said. “You want to make sure everything is perfect.”
Inside the Landstuhl hangar, families gathered to wait. Children clutching small U.S. flags darted circles around groups of anxious mothers. Whispers passed – the bus from Ramstein was coming. Moments later, huge hangar doors parted to reveal rows of gray-clad Soldiers, tired but smiling as they marched inside. Then, the blissful command, “Dismissed!”
Kids and moms rushed forward. Soldiers knelt to pick up children. Tears were hidden tightly in hugs. Friends shook hands and produced gifts.
When Pfc. Charles Milazzo, 24, of Denver, Colo., deployed, his roommate Pfc. Jason McKinley, knew he’d miss his buddy.
“So, I replaced him with a cactus and named it Charles,” said McKinley, 21, of Raeford, N.C., adding that the plant received sips of beer over the past six months.
When Milazzo returned McKinley presented him the cactus. McKinley said was glad to see his best friend return safely from Afghanistan. Handing over the cactus was a joyful moment.
“He can give it beer now,” McKinley said.
U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern site
(Photos by Rick Scavetta, U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern)
First to fight for right and freedom , And to keep our honor clean,
We are proud to claim the title Of United States Marines!
Unit Name: VMFP-3
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Last Friday, 6 March 2015, saw the latest police community support officers (PCSOs) complete their training in preparation for beginning duty on the streets of Greater Manchester.
The occasion was marked by a passing-out parade at the Force’s Sedgley Park Centre.
The work of PCSOs complements and supports their regular police officer colleagues. They provide a highly visible and accessible uniformed presence in the heart of local communities, which is intended to improve the quality of life and offer reassurance to the general public.
Find your local Neighbourhood Policing Team.
Neighbourhood Policing is at the heart of Greater Manchester Police. We want Greater Manchester to be a better place to live, work and play.
It is about putting people at the heart of what we do, really caring and having a strong working relationship with our communities. It is about having the right people in the right place at the right time tackling everything from anti-social behaviour and burglary to terrorism and organised crime.
Greater Manchester Police is divided into geographical areas known as Divisions. Each of these divisions has a number of Neighbourhood Policing Units, each of which is managed by a Neighbourhood Inspector. These units have specific areas of responsibility and consist of smaller, localised, Neighbourhood Policing Teams which include your local police officers and Police Community Support Officers.
These Neighbourhood Policing Teams are focused on your needs. They have regular meetings where you can help set the priorities for your community. You can also find out who your local officers are and read about policing news from your area.
For information about Greater Manchester Police please visit our website.
This artistic provocation seeks to estimate the orders of magnitude of critical ecosystem services fundamental to all planetary life processes. It is common to use economic metaphors, which entail specific understandings of value, to describe our relationships with society, the world, and the biosphere. Today’s prevailing economic conventions are unable to recognize the intrinsic value of the ecosystems on which all life depends. In cultures overdetermined by concepts from economics, we are left without adequate discursive instruments to socially or politically address the importance of ecosystem contribution to life on Earth. This experiment consists of 1 square meter of wheat, cultivated in a closed environment. Critical inputs such as water, light, heat, and nutrients are measured, monitored, and displayed for the public. This procedure makes palpable the immense scale of ecosystem contributions and provides a speculative reference for a reckoning of the undervalued and over exploited “work of the biosphere.”
Photo: Ars Electronica - Robert Bauernhansl