Inner City Press Asks Turkey's PR Ahmet Davutoglu About Journalists' Arrests, Libya

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 28 -- As Turkey's media crackdown continues, at least on some, Inner City Press on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access on September 28 asked Prime Minister Ahmet Davotoglu about the Vice News translator not release with his two colleagues, and about threats to shut down Twitter in the country. Video here.

Davutoglu replied that journalism is legal but terrorism is not. Inner City Press moved to ask, how defines that? Or, is it terrorism to interview a “terrorist”? But the microphone had been grabbed, tellingly, by a representative of UNCA, now the UN's Censorship Alliance. This group got the first question to Davutoglu, but did not ask about press freedom (as it did, at least one, on Egypt). Apparently there is a veto system at work.

  Inner City Press also asked Davutoglu about Turkey's role in Libya. On this, he said that Turkey has tried to assist UN envoy Bernardino Leon (soon to be replaced by Martin Kobler) and that Turkey is OK with the EU NAVFOR. We have another story on that, here.

On September14 Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:

Inner City Press / FUNCA: you were asked before about the VICE News staff, two of whom were released.  I wanted to know if you have any further thoughts on the third continued… the Dutch journalist that's now threatened with deportation, Frederike Geerdink, on the same…?

Spokesman:  I'm not aware of the situation with the Dutch journalist.  Obviously, we would hope, we'll try to get more details of what's going on with the VICE journalist.  But, we'd hoped that he would either be released or face an open and transparent judicial process.  

  Hasn't heard of the case?

After three Vice News journalists were arrested in Turkey on terrorism charges, for merely reporting on a conflict, Inner City Press on September 1 asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the arrests, and he said Ban's was still "trying to harvest more details." Audio here, video here and embedded below.

  Dujarric repeated it on September 2. On September 3 after the two British journalists were released but the Iraqi, a translator or "fixer," was still being held, Inner City Press asked Dujarric again, video here,transcript here:

Inner City Press: the last two days, you've been asked about the case of Turkey locking up these two British VICE News journalists and their Iraqi translator.  You said that you were harvesting more facts.  The two British journalists have been released.  The Iraqi translator remains detained.  Have you harvested the facts necessary --

Spokesman:  Obviously, we've seen the release of the two VICE News journalists, which is obviously good.  We hope that the person who's with them is also offered due process, and we continue to look into the facts.

Inner City Press: it seemed like it's basic that journalists covering a conflict have to speak with both sides.  I don't know if you found different, but the basis of the charges against all three was simply that they reported on the other side…

Spokesman:  As I said, it is vital that journalists be able to do their work freely, especially in war zones.

  So, Ban and his allies managed to not make any comment, beyond a wan call for "due process" rather than release. We'll have more on this.

  What's so complicated? Journalists actually covering a conflict need to speak with both or all sides, and shouldn't be charged with terrorism for doing so.

Here's InnerCityPro's fast transcript:

ICP: there have been these arrests in Turkey of journalists from VICE News, two journalists and their translator, and there's also been a raid of a company called Koza-Ipek Media in Ankara.  I wanted to know, what does the Secretary-General and the Secretariat think of these arrests of journalists reporting on conflict?

UN Spox: We’re obviously aware of the issue regarding Vice News. We’re looking into it. The reports as they stand are troubling. We’re trying to harvest more details before expressing an opinion. I think the Secretary General has come out rather forcefully, notably in the last few days, on the situation of the Al Jazeera journalists and others in Egypt, and that there is a need for governments to ensure that journalists are able to work freely. I would say especially in zones of conflicts, where the risks of journalists are already high enough as they are.

Inner City Press: The US Department of Defense put out a handbook requiring journalists to register. Does the Secretariat…

A: Listen, I haven’t seen the Department of Defense book that you’re referring to. Obviously I think it also helps for policies to be put in place for journalists to ensure the safety of journalists, there’s always an equilibrium that needs to be found, and I’m sure there’s a healthy dialogue between the department of defense and the accredited  journalists at the Pentagon, and I will not get into it.

  The Vice News journalists at issue are Jake Hanrahan, Philip Pendlebury and translator Mohamed Ismail Rasool. In Ankara, Koza-Ipek Media has also been raided; Inner City Press asked the UN about that too.

  We note that the UN will hold its World Humanitarian Summit in Turkey in 2016 -- Ban spoke about it earlier on September 1 - and even has a Turkey-sponsored "Turkish Lounge" next to the Security Council, in an area that use to be journalist work-space. Those who would supposedly speak on this at the UN have been muted. But the question has been asked, and the Free UN Coalition for Access, see below, will follow up.

 Three day before on August 29, amid news that Egypt imposed prison sentences on Al Jazeera journalists Mohammed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste, at 5 pm in New York while the UN had still said nothing at all, the US State Department said it was disappointed.

  Then at 10:30 pm in New York, 5 and a half hours after the US, the UN's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a canned statement, "recalling" his own earlier canned statement - this from an organization which allowed its head of Peacekeeping to use Ban's guards to eject the Press from an open meeting, and refused to answer this week about the torching of a radio station in Burkina Faso. Now Ban is "harvesting facts" on the charges against the Vice News journalist. How long will that take?

 So far the UN has remained silent, just as it refused to answer Press questions about the burning-down of a radio station in Burkina Faso, asraised by the Free UN Coalition for Access (FUNCA).

   Ban Ki-moon didn't explain his silence while in Ethiopia for the recent African Union summit about the terrorism trial of that country's Zone 9 Bloggers.

  The Free UN Coalition for Access has been asking Ban's UN, and those who pass through it, about #FreeZone9Bloggers, as it asked aboutPeter Greste and his colleagues, for example here.

  On February 12, 2015 across First Avenue from the UN there was a panel discussion on protection of journalists at the International Peace Institute. Al Jazeera's Gabriel Elizondo spoke.

 Inner City Press ran across First Avenue and posed a question: does the UN system do for independent journalists and bloggers what it does for corporate or state media?

  The panelist who answered was David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression. Kaye said, "As an independent journalist, it's good to see you here. From different perspectives, I think that's right. Sometimes the UN can do so loudly and publicly. Some situation might call for a little bit more of a quieter engagement."
 
  Rapporteur Kaye said that "from the OHCHR perspective, we have different tools. Our first tool is to communicate with governments on the quiet side, send them allegation letters or urgent appeals, Zone 9 Bloggers being a good exampe of that.
If we don't get a response, to issue press releases, to call out bad behavior. I agree with the tenor or your comment -- we should be out there calling out the bad behavior at the moment that it happens, quietly or more publicly. Article 19 is not written to protect only journalists, it protects everyone's right to seek, receive and impart information."
 
  The other panelists were Bård Glad Pedersen, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway, Agnes Callamard, Director of the Global Freedom of Expression and Information Project at Columbia University and former Executive Director of Article 19, Matthew Rosenberg, Foreign Correspondent of the New York Times (with interesting stories of Afghanistan but who declined to discuss the NYT's coverage of Iraq before the US invasion) and Judith Matloff of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. There will be video.

   

Davutoglu's 3 UN Questions Are Only 2, Nothing on Press Freedom, Rohingya, Citigroup's Akbank Sale

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 5 -- After Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for an hour on March 5, Ban's spokesman agreed to postpone his noon briefing for at least half an hour so Davutoglu could hold a press conference in the UN Press Briefing Room.

  But in that, Davutoglu's spokesman announced there would be only six questions: three from “UN” journalists and three from Turkish media, in Turkish. 

  Even that didn't hold. The first question was set aside for the UN Correspondents Association, become the UN's Censorship Alliance, here and here, which gave the question to its (Turkish) vice president from TRT, about Turkey's fight against terrorism.

  Next came Al Jazeera, about Staffan de Mistura's failing plan in Syria, then a hard-working Egyptian journalist about Egypt - Turkish relations. That was it.

   Inner City Press would like to know, among other things, if the topic of the Rohingya in Myanmar came up in the meeting with Ban -- an issue Davutoglu and Turkey have previously raised, and which Inner City Press covers, for example here.

   On the financial issued that consumed most of Davutoglu's visit in New York, does Citigroup's sale of its stake in Akbank at a loss signify a run to the exits?

  None of the three questions brought of freedom of the press. Inner City Press when it was over asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, on behalf of the Free UN Coalition for Access, if he would postpone the UN briefing for the prime ministers of all other UN member states. Dujarric said he is accommodating. We'll see.

 Dujarric also said that press freedom was NOT on Ban's agenda when he met with Davutoglu. For an hour.

   Davutoglu had said, in answer to a question in Turkish about his country's incursion into Syria, that he spoke with Ban Ki-moon (whom he called “Mister Moon”) before the incursion, and Ban hadn't offered any criticism -- seemingly, a green light.

  Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman Dujarric to confirm this call, and Dujarric refused. One might ask, how may green lights are being given, or seen?  We'll have more on this.

   

On Gaza, US Welcomes Egypt Ceasefire Call, But Abbas Not in Kerry's Round of Calls to Israel, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey and Jordan?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 14, more here -- The UN Security Council at noon on July 12 in New York issued a press statement on Gaza, after several rounds of back and forth. After that, nothing stopped. The death count in Gaza went over 180.

  Reacting to a ceasefire plan floated by Egypt, US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki on the evening of July 14 said, "We welcome Egypt’s call for a ceasefire and hope this will lead to the restoration of calm as soon as possible. Secretary Kerry has been deeply engaged in conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Egyptian government officials and President Abbas throughout this difficult period, and the United States remains committed to working with them and our regional partners to find a resolution to this dangerous and volatile situation."

  An hour and a half later, a Senior US State Department Official added, on background:

 "The United States has been engaged in trying to bring an end to the violence and find a different way forward.  Our focus is on working with countries in the region to see if it is possible to facilitate a cessation of hostilities, including a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement.  To that end, the Secretary has been in regular contact with key partners.  As you know, the Secretary has never hesitated to engage to get important diplomacy done.  Between July 12 and today, Secretary Kerry spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu on four occasions and Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukry twice.  He also spoke with  Qatari Foreign Minister al-Attiyah twice and Turkish FM Davutoglu and Jordanian FM Judeh each once."

  But what about Abbas?

  Back on July 12, Inner City Press asked the State of Palestine's Observer Riyad Mansour of the status of the (stronger) draft resolution, and if he expects US Secretary of State John Kerry to mediate or facilitate.

  Mansour said if Israel does not stop, other steps will be taken including in the Security Council.

  Hours later, the Israel Defense Force itself confirmed to Ha'aretz and others that "Israel Navy's Shayetet 13 (Flotilla 13) commando unit raided a target in the Gaza Strip."

  Now what?

  Inside the Security Council on July 10, Israel's Ron Prosor told BanKi-moon that while he had given his speech, five rockets had been fired at Israel (Prosor played a rocket warning siren on his phone, to make his point.) At the stakeout, on-camera, Prosor raised the number of rockets to six.

  While Palestine's Riyad Mansour spoke on camera, the stakeout was nearly full with journalists. But when Prosor spoke there were far fewer -- one of whom told Inner City Press, “This is a question for FUNCA,” the Free UN Coalition for Access. Again Prosor played the rocket siren warning, and used the line “From Abuja to Falluja.”

  Inner City Press asked Prosor about those who say Hamas is not formally part of the unity government; he replied, “Hamas is Hamas.”

  On Palestine joining or complaining to the International Criminal Court, Inner City Press' question which Ban Ki-moon dodged on July 9, Prosor did not answer. Yet.

  Watch this site.

   

Turkey Bans YouTube, Of Secret Plans on Syria & Copyright Like Ukraine's Svoboda, Ban's UN & Reuters

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 28 -- Turkey has banned all of YouTube, after its foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu declared, "a cyber attack has been carried out against the Turkish Republic, our state and our valued nation."

  Actually, the leaked call concerned plans to intervene in Syria, ostensibly to protect the tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, including the proposed creation of a false rocket incident. 

  Intelligence chief Hakam Fidan says, "if there is to be justification, the justification is, I send four men to the other side. I get them to fire eight missiles into empty land. That's not a problem. Justification can be created."

  The national security argument for banning YouTube, by the country sponsoring the Press-less "Turkish Lounge" right next to the UN Security Council, follows Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan claiming he could copyright his leaked telephone calls, like Reuters at the UN claimed of its e-mail to the UN, sketched below and shown here.

   This use of copyright to try to censor has echoes in the UN -- and in Ukraine, where the Svoboda Party tried to getvideos of its Members of Parliament beating up a news executive taken down as violations of copyright. 

 On the Guardian website on March 21, where the video had been was a notice that "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim."

The New York Times reported that late on March 20, YouTube copies of the video were taken down "for violating the copyright of the Svoboda party spokesman, who seems to be working to erase the evidence from the Internet through legal means."

   This is a growing trend. As set forth below, an anti-Press complaint to the UN's Stephane Dujarric, now Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson, has been banned from Google's Search by an invocation of copyright similar to Erdogan's.

  On March 21, Dujarric from Kyiv told Inner City Press neither he nor, he assuumed, Ban had seen the Svoboda beat-down video. This seems noteworthy, given its prominence in Ukraine. Now we can add: perhaps Ban and Dujarric didn't see it due to the same censorship by copyright that has for now banned an anti Press complaint to them from Google's Search.

  But, as Inner City Press first reported on March 23, Ban while in Kyiv DID meet with the leader of the Svoboda Party. The UN has for now refused to answer whether Ban knew in advance who would be present.

  As to Twitter, Dujarric in his previous post in charge of UN Media Accreditation grilled Inner City Press about a tweet mentioning World War Two - the basis for example of France's veto power in the Security Council, which it parlayed into essentially permanent ownership of the top post in UN Peacekeeping, now though Herve Ladsous (coverage of whom Dujarric tried to dictate, or advise, Inner City Press about.)

   Dujarric's now bipolar tweeting has intersected with a recently revived anonymous trolling campaign whichoriginated in the UN Correspondents Association, in support of the Sri Lankan government, alleging that any coverage of the abuse of Tamils must be funded by the now defunct Tamil Tigers. 

  These outright attempts to censor are echoed, more genteelly, even as part of the UN press briefings these days. When Dujarric took eight questions on March 20 on Ban's essentially failed trip to Moscow, fully half went to representatives of UNCA's 15 member executive committee, including state media from Turkey, France and the United States. Other questions -- by Twitter -- were not answered, except those from explicitly pro-UN sources. These are the UN's circles.

   Google has accepted and acted on DMCA complaints about leaked e-mails, for example from Reuters to the United Nations seeking to get the investigative Press thrown out, and has then blocked access to the leaked documents from its search.

  Of this abuse of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, theElectronic Frontier Foundation's Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry told Inner City Press about the Reuters case:

"Unfortunately, it is all too easy for a copyright holder (assuming that the person that sent this notice actually held copyright in the email) to abuse the DMCA to take down content and stifle legitimate speech. As countries outside the US consider adopting DMCA-like procedures, they must make sure they include strong protections for free speech, such as significant penalties for takedown abuse."

  In this case, copyright is being (mis) claimed for an email from Reuters' Louis Charbonneau to the UN's chief Media Accreditation official Stephane Dujarric -- since March 10 Ban Ki-moon's new spokesperson -- seeking to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN.  

  Access to the document has been blocked from Google's search based on a cursory take-down request under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. 

 If this remains precedent, what else could come down?

  Why not an email from Iran, for example, to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency? Why not a sanctions filing by a country? Here is Reuters logic, accepted if only automatically by Google:

The copyrighted material is a private email I wrote in April 2012 and for which I never gave permission to be published. It has been published on a blog and appears in on the first page of search results for my name and the firm I work for, Reuters. It can be seen here: http://www.innercitypress.com/reutersLC3unmalu.pdf

  But this is true of ANY leaked document: it can be said that the entity or person exposed "never gave permission [for it] to be published." Does that mean Google can or should block search access to it?

Reuters' Charbonneau hands to Ban at UNCA: banned from Search?

  Can a complaint to a Media Accreditation official against a competitor legitimately be considered "private"? In any event, the DMCA is not about protecting privacy.

  Iran or North Korea could say a filing or status report they make with the IAEA is "private" and was not intended to be published. Would Google, receiving a DMCA filing, block access to the information on, say, Reuters.com?

  Charbonneau's bad-faith argument says his complaint to the UN was "published on a blog." Is THAT what Reuters claims makes it different that publication in some other media?

  The logic of Reuters' and Charbonneau's August 14, 2013 filing with Google, put online via the ChillingEffects.org project, is profoundly anti free press.

  The fact that Google accepts or didn't check, to remain in the DMCA Safe Harbor, the filing makes it even worse. The request to take-down wasn't made to InnerCityPress.com or its server -- it would have been rejected. But banning a page from Search has the same censoring effect.

  The US has a regime to protect freedom of the press, and against prior restraint. But this is a loophole, exploited cynically by Reuters. What if a media conducted a long investigation of a mayor, fueled by a leaked email. When the story was published, could the Mayor make a Reuters-like filing with Google and get it blocked?

  Here is the text of Charbonneau's communication to the UN's top Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit official Stephane Dujarric and MALU's manager, to which he claimed "copyright" and for now has banned from Google's Search:

Hi Isabelle and Stephane,

I just wanted to pass on for the record that I was just confronted by Matt Lee in the DHL auditorium in very hostile fashion a short while ago (there were several witnesses, including Giampaolo). He's obviously gotten wind that there's a movement afoot to expel him from the UNCA executive committee, though he doesn't know the details yet. But he was going out of his way to be as intimidating and aggressive as possible towards me, told me I "disgust" him, etc.

In all my 20+ years of reporting I've never been approached like that by a follow journalist in any press corps, no matter how stressful things got. He's become someone who's making it very hard for me and others in the UN press to do our jobs. His harassment of fellow reporters is reaching a new fever pitch.

I just thought you should know this.

Cheers,

Lou
Louis Charbonneau
Bureau Chief. United Nations
Reuters News Thomson Reuters reuters. com

This email was sent to you by Thomson Reuters, the global news and information company.

"UNCA" in the for-now banned e-mail is the United Nations Correspondents Association. The story developed here, as to Sri Lanka; here is a sample pick-up this past weekend in Italian, to which we link and give full credit, translated into English (NOT for now by Google) --

The fool of Reuters to the UN

by Mahesh - 12/27/2013 -calls for the removal of a letter from the head of his bureau at the United Nations, pursuing a copyright infringement on the part of the competition
Try to make out a small competitor from the UN press room and then, when these publish proof of intrigue, invokes the copyright to release a letter from compromising the network.

MOLESTA-AGENCY  Inner City Press is a small non-profit agency covering the work of the United Nations for years, with an original cut, which become distasteful to many. Unlike other matching its founder master sent never tires of asking account of inconsistencies and contradictions and often refers to unpleasant situations involving colleagues and their reportage, too often twisted to obvious political contingencies.

THE LAST CAVITY – In this case the clutch is born when Matthew Lee, Inner City Press ever since he founded and made famous in the 90 's, challenged the screening of "Lies Agreed Upon" in the auditorium of the United Nations, a filmaccio of propaganda in which the Sri Lankan regime tries to deny the now tested massacres (and destroyed by International Crisis Group). In the piece, in which denounced the incident, Lee also announced that the screening was organized by the President of the United Nations Correspondents (UNCA), Italian Giampaolo Pioli, skipping the normal consultation procedure for this kind of events. Pioli then, was also accused of being in a conflict of interest, given that he rented an apartment in New York an apartment to the Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in Sri Lanka, named Palitha Kohona and is suspected of war crimes.

TRY WITH THE COPYRIGHT- So he comes to the letter with which Louis Charbonneau, Reuters bureau chief at the United Nations, wrote to the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit (MALU) calling for the ouster of Lee, which the UN being there for years as his colleagues, but we see that this was not done. Lee, however, comes into possession of the letter and publish it, and then writes to Google millantando Charbonneau the copyright on the letter and asking for removal pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That is a bit like if a company request the removal of a compromising document from a journalistic investigation, in the name of copyright, a claim clearly absurd and disingenuous.

HARASSMENT AND THREATS- In the letter published, Charbonneau complained about the aggressive behavior of Lee and cited among the witnesses to cases where Lee had been "aggressive" towards him even Pioli.Lee with that piece has gained throughout a hail of protests from Sri Lanka and an investigation by the UNCA, along with death threats and other well-known amenities the refugees away from the clutches of the regime, but it is still there. Behold then the brilliant idea of Charbonneau, improperly used copyright law to censor the objectionable publications to a colleague and competitor. Pity that Lee has already resisted successfully in similar cases, in 2008 was the same Google to remove your site from being indexed in the news in its search engines, it is unclear what impetus behind, only to regret it soon after that even Fox News had cried scandal.

   

At UN, As Davutoglu Opens Turkish Lounge, Press Squeezed, Attacks by UNCA, UN Cowardice Association

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 17 -- Turkey's foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu came to the UN on Friday night, for the ceremonial opening of what's called the "Turkish Lounge" outside the renovated Security Council. Inner City Press photos here & here.

  He spoke about Turkey's desire to make Istanbul a "UN city," and to have a big UN building. He did not mention that this hyped up Turkish Lounge is taking over a space the press used to have access to, to actually cover the Security Council.

FM Davutoglu, DSG Eliasson, Turkish PM, (c) MRLee

  Inner City Press, which has raised the issue to numerous ambassadors both for itself closely covering the Council and for the new Free UN Coalition for Access, asked UN Capital Master Plan chief Michael Adlerstein about the issue back on April 25, video here, and see below.

  At the May 17 reception, Inner City Press raised the issue in detail to the affable Permanent Representative of the UK, Mark Lyall Grant, and to the Deputy Permanent Representative of one of the UK's largest former colonies. Both indicated that a table for the press to work at should not be impossible. But will it happen?

  Meanwhile this month's UN leader of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation told Inner City Press about a meeting earlier in the day about the Rohingya, predicted there would be more action for them. One can only hope.

  A person with close knowledge of the Turkish Mission said it is no longer up to Turkey what happens with their lounge; that the UN Department of Public Information has said it will depend on complaints by Security Council members. But that would be lowest common denominator: the most press unfriendly would win.

  Back on April 25, Adlerstein told Inner City Press, “we offered a series of rooms for gifting,” based on a resolution by the General Assembly.”

  Of the Security Council stakeout Adlerstein continued, “One of the areas we offered,” which he said “used to be a coffee bar... the Turks asked for that area. They furnished it, their architect came in.”

  Inner City Press asked, who decided that the press would not have the same access it had before?

  Adlerstein paused; there was laughter. Inner City Press said, “It's a press conference” -- albeit about the re-opening of the Trusteeship Council Chamber.

  Adlerstein then told Inner City Press, “this was a discussion which is still ongoing. As the building opens, I think that dialogue with the press will evolve.”

  While Inner City Press didn't say it, the UN's dialogue on press access, accreditation and other matters can no longer by limited to the old UN Correspondents' Association.

  UNCA has been ineffectual; worse, it has tried to get the UN to throw out media that the wire services that dominate the UNCA Executive Committee don't like. 

Charbonneau of Reuters & UNCA shakes with Ban: on what? (c) Luiz Rampelotto of FUNCA 

  That was Margaret Besheer of Voice of America, who wrote that Reuters (Louis Charbonneau) and Agence France Presse (Tim Witcher) supported here. Bloomberg did, but then was ordered off (it didn't stick). Pam Falk of CBS came in and defended all this, and worse. On the record audio here, and here, and here.

Pamela Falk of CBS & UNCA, courtesy UNTV

  Those individuals were present Friday night, some of them fresh off anonymous social media attacks on smaller media. That is disgusting, and triggers this footnote and soon more. UNCA has become, at least at the level of the Executive Committee, the UN's Censorship Alliance. 

  Despite DPI knowing full well of UNCA's turn into censorship and anonymous attacks, they are given a large prominent space that others cannot use.  And, with their increasing and unchecked use of anonymity, the UN Cowardice Association. Even on this issue which they claimed to be working on, they cannot be relied on. Watch this site.

After Bomb and Call to Ban Ki-moon, Turkey Visits Security Council, "Shell Related"

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, October 3, updated -- Turkey wasted no time. Right after a shell landed on the Turkish side of the country's border with Syria, foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu called UN Secretary General and his envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi.

Then at 1 pm on Wednesday Inner City Press exclusively witnessed Turkey's Permanent Representative to the UN Apakan and four other members of the Turkish mission walk into the Security Council. In the chamber there was an open debate on Haiti, but they did not turn that way.

When they emerged, Inner City Press asked Ambassador Apakan if his visit had been "Haiti related or shell related?"

"Shell related," he exclusively told Inner City Press. One assumes for now that a letter was delivered, or meeting held with this month's Council president, Guatemala. Watch this site.

Update of 1:45 pm - Inner City Press asked Security Council president Gert Rosenthal of Guatemala about Turkish Ambassador Apakan's visit and comment to the Press. Yes, Rosenthal said, Ambassador Apakan met with him, about the Akcakale "incident" there might a communication (that is, at least initially, a letter from Turkey) later in the day. Watch this site.

Turkey's Erdogan Says Will Put Xinjiang on UN Council Agenda, Didn't on Sri Lanka, China's Reaction

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at UN
www.innercitypress.com/un1xinjiang070809.html

UNITED NATIONS, July 8, updated -- While the 150 deaths in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region are covered, with China's consent if not control, in media worldwide, very little is being said at the UN, particularly in its Security Council. Following a July 6 meeting on North Korea, the issue did not arise. Nor July 7 as the Council met about West Africa.

But on July 8, Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Istanbul,"We will put the events happening in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region onto the agenda of the United Nations' Security Council."

In May and June 2009, Inner City Press asked Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and now-retired UN Ambassador Ilkin about putting the issue of over 10,000 dead civilians in Sri Lanka on the Council's agenda. Both demurred.

Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu on May 11 told Inner City Press that the UN should “cooperate with the government of Sri Lanka because we have to cooperate in all efforts against terrorism.”

On June 2, Ambassador Ilkin told Inner City Press emphatically that Sri Lanka is not on the Council's agenda. Video here, Minute 22.

Now, because of the involvement of Muslims in Xinjiang, Turkey's prime minister wants it on the Council's agenda. What standard is Turkey applying?

Inner City Press asked a senior Chinese diplomat at the UN about Erdogan's statement. It is an internal matter, the Chinese diplomat said. After Inner City Press' follow-up, he conceded that Chinese authorities should have handled the beating of Uighur factory workers in South China better: they "didn't do enough to disclose what they knew."

But he insisted, Muslims have rights, but not to kill. He likened it to African American in the United States, saying they have grievances but cannot break the law to express them and "burn down public buildings and kill innocent passersby."

Regarding the Turkish prime minister's vow to the GCC to put the issue on the Council's agenda, the Chinese diplomat smiled. He said, "So be it." Watch this site.

Update of 5:30 p.m., July 8 -- the Chinese Mission to the UN, working quickly, "demarched" the Turkish mission and reportedly the actual Turkish plan or desire to try to put Xinjiang on the Security Council agenda is no more. This is how it works. Watch this site.

And see, www.innercitypress.com/un1xinjiang070809.html