'My resignation would have amounted to accepting guilt' says Arjuna Mahendran

Abandoning ship on frivolous charges is dereliction of duties 

Lakshman Arjuna Mahendran ,Central Bank Governor

by Saman Indrajith-June 25, 2016, 8:01 pm

Central Bank Governor, Lakshman Arjuna Mahendran is in the center of a controversy with not only opposition politicians but some elements within the government also demanding his resignation. 

He gave up a lucrative career in international banking when he was asked to take charge of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. After assuming duties on January 27, 2015 as the 13th Governor of the Central Bank, he embarked on the Herculean task of clearing the financial mess and steering the economy towards prosperity.

But the Oxford trained economist and banker has come severe flak over a range of issues. His term ends on June 30. Last Friday, he announced that he would not seek a service extension until the parliamentary watchdog COPE clears his name.

During an interview with The Sunday Island, Mahendran responded to allegations against him. The following are excerpts of the interview:

Q: In the backdrop of a series of allegations against you, do you think that you will be sacked or not be given an extension? Why didn't you opt to resign?

A: It is in the hands of the President to give the extension to me or not. In any case, I have decided not to seek an extension of my term until COPE clears my name. The COPE is the best forum I could prove my innocence. I am waiting for the COPE report.  It is very important for my reputation. I came to serve my motherland. So the President would decide whether I would continue to serve or not.

My resignation would have amounted to accepting guilt. I took up this job to performing certain tasks, and for me to abandon ship just on frivolous charges would have been dereliction of duties.

Q: You are accused of living an extravagant life on public funds. One accusation is that you live in a JAIC Hilton suite, while there is an official residence allocated to the Governor.

A: (Laughs) I simply do not know why I am accused of such matters. Since I was appointed to the position of Central Bank Governor on my return to Sri Lanka, I lived in my own house. I visit the official residence at Bauddhaloka Mawatha only when I have official functions there. I neither live at JAIC Hilton or any other place paid for by government funds. I cannot understand the meaning of these allegations.

Q: You have gone abroad 38 times after assuming office and is said to have spent Rs.14.5 million out of public funds in 11 months for your personal indulgences. You have been accused of spending over Rs 450,000 per single meal and buying luxury clothes paying from a credit card issued to you by the Central Bank.

A: These allegations are baseless. I use a credit card issued by my private bank and pocket out all my personal expenses. Had I been abroad on expenses from the Central Bank, that was only for official purposes. As the Central Bank Governor I may need to host diplomats and foreign officials. Such dining would cost little bit more than our usual meals. In such occasions, I am not expected to treat them in a boutique and have to abide by guidelines of decorum and hospitality which are trademarks of our culture.

Except for such official occasions, I have not lived extravagantly spending millions of rupees of public funds. Now my suit is known as the most expensive one in the country. I do not need to spend millions from Central Bank funds to buy clothes. I simply cannot understand why I have been accused of such matters.

Q: Then for what you have spent millions out of the credit card given to you by the bank?

A: As I have already told you, I make payments from the credit card given to me by the bank during official functions. It is the purpose of giving me that card. The Central Bank pays for official functions. Except for that, I have never used that card for my personal expenses.

Q: Why did you not comply with the Auditor General’s request to submit necessary information and details to prepare a report on all Central Bank transactions, including bond issues during the recent past to be sent to COPE?

A: The Central Bank has some sensitive information that cannot be divulged to the public. There are procedures to be followed and with regard to releasing sensitive information because such actions would lead to financial sector instability. The data requested had been market-sensitive and their release would have threatened the smooth functioning of financial markets.

We have to abide by the provisions of the Monetary Law Act. The Chief Justice too confirmed that. The Central Bank has to make an assessment before releasing certain information. We followed those rules and guidelines set out by the Chief Justice and after the assessment, we provided all information the Auditor General had asked for. Some parties with vested interests interpreted this in various ways.

Q: How would you respond to the accusation by MP Bandula Gunawardena that you manipulated computer data in the Central Bank and printed money exceeding limits?

A: That is complete nonsense. There is a separate department and a staff to work with the IT system in the Central Bank. State-of-the-art standards and protection are provided to the computer system of the Central Bank for such systems face the constant threat of being hacked. You cannot erase data from a Central Bank system in the manner you would erase files from a laptop computer. Anyone could make such wild allegations. It is not the truth and I do not think that people could be fooled by such stories.

Q: It is said that you left a lucrative job Singapore which paid you more than what you receive now to accept the post of Central Bank Governor. MP Wimal Weerawansa too has questioned why you took all the trouble to make such sacrifices and suffer a personal financial loss to gain nothing. What do you expect to gain?

A: It is true that I earned more abroad. But it is an honour to hold the position of Governor of the Central Bank of one’s motherland. Apart from that, I worked there earlier in a junior position. It is a rare honour. That was why I accepted the invitation. I had to live abroad due to unavoidable reasons but I am truly Sri Lankan and proud to be called a Sri Lankan. The other factor that motivated me to accept this was the desire to become a part of the process of reawakening the country after the decades-long war.

Q: But the Opposition says you were just a Singaporean handpicked by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and got this job not because of qualifications, but thanks to friendship.

A: My parents are Sri Lankan. I was born in the US because they were there at that time. I grew up in Sri Lanka. I was at Royal Junior School and then at Royal College. Then from Royal, I directly went to Oxford in the UK. I completed my Advanced Level in 1977 and got admission to Oxford in 1978. I did my degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and graduated in 1981. Then I came to Sri Lanka, and on January 1, 1983, I joined the Central Bank.

In the meantime, I also worked as an economist at the Mahaweli Authority for about a year. I was appointed the Head of the Money and Banking Unit. I worked there till about 1993. When the UNP government was formed in 2001, Ranil Wickremesinghe invited me to take over as Chairman of the Board of Investment (BoI). I was the Chairman from December 2001 to May 2004 until the Parliament was dissolved.

At that time, it was difficult to find a job after being the Chairman of the BoI. I was looking around and went to Singapore and since I could not find anything, I joined the Credit Suisse Bank in Singapore in July 2004.

In Singapore, they have a scheme where after working there until a point, they invite you to become their citizen. As part of their national policy, they encourage people to migrate there. I accepted that invitation since it was difficult to say no. That’s why in 2006, I accepted citizenship.

When President Maithripala Sirisena formed the new government after January 8, 2015 I was invited to accept the Governor's post and I did so. It’s like coming back home. It was my first formal job, and it was very heartwarming for me to come back. I have postgraduate qualifications from Oxford and professional qualifications and I do not understand how and why am I accused of not having qualifications.

Q: However, whatever your qualifications may be, you are accused of paving the way for loss of more than Rs 500,000 million through Treasury bond sales.

A: The COPE is conducting an investigation. I hope that investigation would clear my name. This baseless allegation went before the Supreme Court, which vindicated me in the fundamental rights petition that was filed by Chandra Jayaratne and two others on the same issue.

The Supreme Court dismissed the case as I was absolutely not at fault and had not violated statutory provisions. I do not need to talk of it more than that as the COPE investigation is in progress.

Pakistani man arrested with heroin worth Rs 

60m at BIA

June 25, 2016

A Pakistani national, who is suspected to be a key member of a drug smuggling racket, has been arrested with almost 5 kilograms of heroin worth around Rs 60 million while attempting to enter the country at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake.

 The suspect was arrested by the Police Narcotics Bureau after he arrived from Qatar on board a Qatar Airways flight this morning (25) while the drugs were found concealed inside secret compartments of two boxes in his possession.

   The arrested suspect, Roydad Khan, is believed to be a key figure of an international drug racket operating out of Rawalpindi in Pakistan which had been smuggling heroin to Sri Lanka via Qatar.

  Director of the Police Narcotics Bureau, SSP Kamal Silva, stated that the arrest was the result of an extensive investigations carried out with regard to the suspect after it had been uncovered that he was the supplier to 2 Maldivians arrested in March with 1.5kg of heroin.

  The latest drug bust brings the total heroin seized by the Police Narcotics Bureau within the past three days to 7kg and 50g. PNB officers had arrested suspects with 2kg and 50g of heroin during separate operations in Grandpass and Havelock Road in the past 2 days. 

Al-Qaeda-linked gunmen target hotel in Somalia, killing at least 11

A Somali government soldier takes position during the gun battle that ensued after a car bomb exploded outside Nasa Hablood hotel in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, on Saturday. (Feisal Omar/Reuters)

By Kevin Sieff June 25 at 5:44 PM

NAIROBI — At least 11 people were killed and several others wounded Saturday in an attack carried out by al-Qaeda-affiliated militants on a well-known hotel in the Somali capital, officials said.

The assault on the Nasa Hablood hotel, near a busy intersection in southern Mogadishu, occurred in late afternoon. The hotel is frequented by politicians, lawmakers and Somali businessmen.

According to witnesses and security officials, attackers detonated a car loaded with explosives at the main entrance of the hotel before a number of gunmen stormed the building.

Attacks on Mogadishu hotels have been common in recent months, as al-Shabab, a Somali Islamist extremist group, has targeted the places where high-profile government officials live and work. Some of those hotels have grown increasingly fortified, but many remain vulnerable in a city where security forces are still fighting to establish full control.

Earlier this month, the militant group attacked the Ambassador Hotel, killing about 15 people. Two Somali lawmakers were among the dead in that assault, according to Reuters.

.

After Saturday's attack, al-Shabab quickly claimed responsibility once again.

“Members from the raiding brigades carried out a pre-planned attack on Nasa Hablood hotel in Mogadishu, and the mujahideen fighters have managed to fully take control of the hotel,” said an al-Shabab statement read on the local Radio Andalus station.

In the statement, al-Shabab referred to the hotel as a "haven for the heads and commanders of the apostate group of Somalia,” referring to the Somali government.

Somali special forces entered the building some time after the attack, and witnesses said they later heard a long exchange of gunfire. The Associated Press reported that the attackers had been confined to the upper floors of the Nasa Hablood hotel, from which they tossed grenades.

Abdi Kamil Shukri, a spokesman for the Somali security ministry, told reporters late Saturday that the situation was “back to normal.”

“The attack was ended by the special forces. Three gunmen were killed and 11 civilians, two of them doctors,” he said.

Witnesses said they saw the bodies of five people slain in the attack but acknowledged that there could be more. Media outlets, quoting unidentified security officials, said that as many as 15 were killed

Somalia has been racked by conflict for the past quarter-century, and the rise of al-Shabab in 2005 signaled the start of another deadly chapter. An African Union military force and billions in foreign assistance helped push back the group from the capital and other parts of the country, but al-Shabab has been resurgent in recent months, according to top Somali officials.

Longform’s Picks of the Week

The best stories from around the world.

“The Ghosts of Fukushima” by Steve Featherstone, New Republic--“The Shadow Doctors” by Ben Taub, The New Yorker

“The Mystifying Triumph of Hope Hicks, Donald Trump’s Right-Hand Woman” by Olivia Nuzzi, GQ--“Venezuela’s Season of Starvation” by Peter Wilson, Foreign Policy

Every weekend, Longform highlights its favorite international articles of the week. For daily picks of new and classic nonfiction, check out Longform or follow @longform on Twitter. Have an iPad? Download Longform’s new app and read all of the latest in-depth stories from dozens of magazines, including Foreign Policy.

BY FP STAFF-JUNE 24, 2016

It’s been five years since the meltdown forced them to abandon their village. Now they’re going home. Can a town devastated by nuclear disaster be brought back to life?’

Naraha still has the outward appearance of a sleepy farming community, with tidy neighborhoods separated by rice paddies, fruit orchards, and two rivers tumbling to the sea from the nearby Abukuma Mountains. Since decontamination began about 18 months after the disaster, thousands of workers equipped with little more than garden tools have cut down trees, power-washed streets, and peeled off a two-inch layer of radioactive soil in a 65-foot perimeter around every structure in town. Vast fields and mountainsides have been left largely untouched, save for large burial mounds of black plastic bags filled with low-level radioactive waste thatmetastasized across the landscape as the work progressed.

There’s no blueprint for remediating a radioactive town and then moving people back into it. After the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, the Soviet Union simplyabandoned scores of towns. But in a country as densely populated as Japan, abandoning an area the size of Connecticut wasn’t an option. In a concerted push to resettle all but the most severely contaminated areas, the government has spent $31 billion on the cleanup effort, and a staggering $58 billion in compensation payments to evacuees.

The underground race to spread medical knowledge as the Syrian regime erases it.

Thousands of physicians once worked in Aleppo, formerly Syria’s most populous city, but the assault has resulted in an exodus of ninety-five per cent of them to neighboring countries and to Europe. Across Syria, millions of civilians have no access to care for chronic illnesses, and the health ministry routinely prevents U.N. convoys from delivering medicines and surgical supplies to besieged areas. In meetings, the U.N. Security Council “strongly condemns” such violations of international humanitarian law. In practice, however, four of its five permanent members support coalitions that attack hospitals in Syria, Yemen, and Sudan. The conditions in Syria have led to a growing sense among medical workers in other conflict zones that they, too, may be targeted.

Despite the onslaught, doctors and international N.G.O.s have forged an elaborate network of underground hospitals throughout Syria. They have installed cameras in intensive-care units, so that doctors abroad can monitor patients by Skype and direct technicians to administer proper treatment. In besieged areas, they have adapted hospitals to run on fuel from animal waste. Nott, for his part, trained almost every trauma surgeon on the opposition side of Aleppo, as part of a daring effort to spread medical knowledge as the government strives to eradicate it.

One day you’re just a smiley PR lackey; the next, you’re a major operative in the nuttiest campaign in decades. Such is the strange year in the life of Hope Hicks, the 27-year-old accidental press secretary for Donald Trump. How did she get here? And how much longer can she last?

I wanted Hicks to help me understand just how all this had come to pass, how a person who’d never worked in politics had nonetheless become the most improbably important operative in this election. But she declined my request to talk. Instead, she arranged something more surreal: I could talk about her with Donald Trump, in front of her.

Trump, of course, has little experience with subjects other than Trump, which he made clear when I asked him about Hicks’s quick ascent to his inner circle. “Bill O’Reilly last night said it is the greatest political event in his lifetime,” Trump said, exaggerating O’Reilly’s point. “The most incredible political event in his lifetime! That’s pretty big. You know, who knew this was going to happen? So…” He pivoted, reluctantly, to the topic at hand. “Hope’s been involved from the beginning, and she has been absolutely terrific.”

“The Prosecutor and the President” by James Verini, The New York Times Magazine

The International Criminal Court embodied the hope of bringing warlords and demagogues to justice. Then Luis Moreno-Ocampo took on the heir to Kenya’s most powerful political dynasty.

During his tenure at the I.C.C., which ended in 2012, Moreno-Ocampo examined atrocities in a dozen countries and brought cases in seven. But the Kenyatta case has come to define the court and, many would say, has permanently discredited it. Moreno-Ocampo accused Kenyatta of suborning the Mungiki to kill innocent Kenyans, but he also believed Kenyatta’s crimes emerged from a tradition of impunity in Africa, one that would continue unless he stepped in. He saw prosecuting Kenyatta as a way to change not just a country but an entire continent and, in some small measure, the world. “These were not just crimes against innocent Kenyans,” Moreno-Ocam­po said at the time. “They were crimes against humanity as a whole.”

Kenyatta, now Kenya’s president, not only denied the charges against him but also called the I.C.C. “the toy of declining imperial powers.” It’s a view other African leaders increasingly claim to share. Today Kenyatta is leading a push at the African Union to abandon the court. In April, an African Union committee considered a plan to demand that heads of state be immune from I.C.C. prosecution, among other potentially crippling measures. At a summit conference next month in Rwanda, it will continue a discussion about collectively withdrawing from the court. With all but one of its open cases related to crimes in Africa, this would almost certainly relegate the I.C.C. to permanent irrelevance.

Amid sky-high inflation, dangerous shortages, and political unrest, Nicolás Maduro’s regime is on the verge of collapse.

When morning arrives, William and his friend stand in line under the piercing sun, enduring temperatures of up to 95 degrees. At noon, they finally pass through a cordon of police and National Guardsmen to enter the supermarket and claim their prize for 18 hours of hell: the right to purchase two kilograms of cornmeal and one kilogram of pasta. “I am doing this because I have children,” William says. In the old days, he always voted for President Hugo Chávez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro. “How can this be happening? We have the world’s largest oil reserves, but we don’t have food.”

Many Venezuelans are asking those very same questions. The food shortage, precipitated by Chávez’s economic policies and a precipitous drop in oil revenue, is the worst in the country’s history. It has led the government to limit purchases of basic foodstuffs and set their prices. Nonetheless, basic goods such as coffee, sugar, rice, milk, pasta, toilet paper, hand soap, and detergent remain impossible to find. 

According to Datanalisis, the country’s leading polling agency, over 80 percent of regulated foodstuffs havevanishedfrom store shelves. As a result, many Venezuelans now make do with a single meal a day, or resort to rustling through garbage bins to find food. Others have begun hunting pigeons, dogs, and cats, as Ramón Muchacho, the mayor of the Chacao borough in Caracas tweeted.

Photo credit: Matt Cardy/Getty Images; ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/GettyImages; Brooks Kraft/ Getty Images; Mario Tama/Getty Images

More than 2 million and rising sign UK petition for new EU referendum

A man leaves a bank at main train station in Munich, Germany, June 24, 2016 after Britain voted to leave the European Union in the EU BREXIT referendum.REUTERS/MICHAELA REHLE

Sat Jun 25, 2016

Just days after voting to leave the European Union, more than 2 million Britons and UK residents had signed a petition calling for a second vote, forcing lawmakers to at least consider a debate on the issue.

Parliament has to consider a debate on any petition posted on its website that attracts more than 100,000 signatures.

The proposal, posted before the June 23 referendum, said the government should hold another plebiscite on EU membership if the support for Leave or Remain in a referendum was less than 60 percent in a turnout of under 75 percent of eligible voters.

The result on Thursday saw 52 percent of voters, 17,410,742 people, back a British exit, on a turnout of 72 percent.

Since then, the petition -- which only British citizens or UK residents have the right to sign -- was proving so popular that by 1725 GMT on Saturday, 2,005,101 people had signed it.

By late afternoon, it appeared to be rising at a rate of more than 3,000 signatures a minute.

Most of those who signed were based in areas where support for staying in the EU was strongest, most especially London, the website indicated.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who said on Friday he would resign after leading the failed campaign to keep Britain in the EU, had said there would be no second referendum.

(Reporting by Michael Holden and Paul Sandle; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa/Jeremy Gaunt)

Brexit — Why Did It Happen?

Populism is founded on appealing to the base instincts of people who are essentially dissatisfied with the establishment. A well used cliché among the populists in denouncing the establishment and arousing dissatisfaction among voters is “same old..same old”. However, one cannot deny that those who win over people democratically, whether they be populists or not, show leadership qualities.

by Dr Ruwantissa Abeyratne

( June 25, 2016, Montreal, Sri Lanka Guardian) Now that Brexit has happened much against warnings from the intellectuals and leaders of the world, one could only say that the majority of the British public were not interested in anything but “getting their country back” (whatever that meant) – the words of a controversial person who is much in the news today. Another called the day after the vote “independence day”. The issue of The Economist released just before the referendum said: “A vote to quit the European Union, which polls say is a growing possibility, would do grave and lasting harm to the politics and economy of Britain. The loss of one of EU’s biggest members would gouge a deep wound in the rest of Europe…we believe that leaving would be a terrible error. It would weaken Europe and it would impoverish and diminish Britain. Our vote goes to remain.”

Also in the same club were Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of Britain, Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia, Francois Hollande, President of France and Matteo Renzi, Prime Minister of Italy, while Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, wished Britain would stay in the EU, as did the President of the United States, Barack Obama. Shinzo Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister said that a Brexit would make it more difficult for Japan to trade with Britain. The International Monetary Fund, ten Nobel-prize winning economists and the Bank of England all warned that leaving the EU could damage the economy.

So why did it happen and why were all the pundits and leaders of the world ignored by the British people? My take, albeit simplistically put, is that the majority of the world might not read The Economist nor would they make world leaders part and parcel of their daily reading or entertainment. National identity, protectionism of employment from foreigners, education and health care for British citizens, however misunderstood in the context of the prevailing establishment, could have been the reason for the upsurge to leave, again in the words of The Economist: “an imperfect, at times maddening club”.

Notwithstanding the above, the core reason for the leaning toward leaving the EU by the British voter by a majority (however small) could well have been populist political rhetoric which, in recent times has been a compelling factor in swaying the voter against the establishment in many countries around the world. In this context, it would be worthwhile to go back to what some of the proponents of Brexit said to the British voter. The Guardian reports Boris Johnson MP and then Mayor of London – a key backer of Brexit : “In typically colourful language, the London mayor told an audience in Kent that the British must “hold our nerve and not be cowed by the gloomadon poppers” who think the UK would not prosper on its own. He went on to issue a plea for voters to “ignore the pessimists and the merchants of doom” who are arguing the UK should fear being outside the EU – an argument made by Cameron on the grounds of economic uncertainty and national security. Johnson then cited Canada as a good example of a country that has free trade deals with the rest of the world while maintaining control of its borders. “I think we can strike a deal as the Canadians have done based on trade and getting rid of tariffs. It’s a very, very bright future I see,” he said”. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. I think there is a huge opportunity. Do free trade deals, believe in ourselves,” he said”.

Michel Gove, Justice Minister of the UK is reported to have said: “’And the appropriate conclusion, I think, all of us can come to is that with growth rates so low in Europe, with so many unemployed and with the nature of the single currency so damaging, freeing ourselves from that project can only strengthen our economy.’

Populism is founded on appealing to the base instincts of people who are essentially dissatisfied with the establishment. A well used cliché among the populists in denouncing the establishment and arousing dissatisfaction among voters is “same old..same old”. However, one cannot deny that those who win over people democratically, whether they be populists or not, show leadership qualities.

In an earlier essay on politics and good governance I wrote that a simplistic definition of leadership is that it is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. Put even more simply, a leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and skills that makes others want to follow his or her direction. Peter Drucker, the Harvard management guru, defines a leader as “someone who has followers…” and goes on to say “to gain followers requires influence”. Warren Bennis is of the view that “leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential. Kenneth Boulding says that “good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience.”

I also wrote that, a political leader has, according to Prem Misir, to combine two behavioural styles – the first being empathy and concern relating to people, which includes respecting people and developing mutual trust. The second is concern with project-completion tasks. Some studies have shown that leaders are effective when they combine both behaviours. Misir states that “political leaders have to not only ‘press the flesh’ but also be knowledgeable about issues and have the capacity to resolve these issues. A good leader can attenuate values from the humanities which bring to a society the elements of empathy and concern and helps build respect and mutual trust. In this context Nussbaum refers to a “greedy desire” and “aggression” in modern society that makes people veer from respect for democracy towards economic success. She quotes Mahatma Gandhi who believed that mutual respect and equality in people must essentially stem from self realization attained through an inner struggle by each person.

There have been regrets among some voters who voted to leave. The Independent reported: “In an interview with Victoria Derbyshire as part of the BBC’s referendum coverage, Adam from Manchester admitted that even though he voted to leave the EU, a result which came true in the early hours of Friday morning, he now regrets his decision. “I’m shocked that we actually have voted to leave. I didn’t think that was going to happen. My vote, I didn’t think was going to matter too much because I thought we were just going to remain”.

Adam may be just one of a few with such regrets but there could be many more. The inevitable fact is that it is now too late. What has been done cannot be undone. This is why the voter must be more astute and intelligent when he decides.

Erdogan hails 'beginning of a new era' following UK Brexit vote

Turkish president slams EU 'Islamophobia' following UK's vote to leave the body on Friday

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Britain's planned departure from the European Union signalled the "beginning of a new era" and warned that the bloc could face new break-ups.

"I see this decision made by the people of Britain as the beginning of a new era for Britain and the EU,"

Saturday 25 June 2016

Erdogan said during a fast-breaking dinner late on Friday, in his first comments on the shock referendum result.

"Like the entire world, we expected a 'yes' result in the referendum," he said.

Voters in Britain decided Thursday to leave the EU, raising questions over the future of the bloc.

London has traditionally been a strong supporter of Ankara's long-stalled bid to join the bloc, but the issue turned into a key theme of Britain's referendum campaign, which was largely focused on immigration.

Erdogan said the problem today "is not Turkey but the EU itself".

He warned that new break-ups would be "inevitable" unless the EU renewed its policies toward migrants, rising racism and Islamophobia in Europe.

"Turkey will naturally take its place within the union if the EU sincerely questions itself and does what's required swiftly," he said.

"If that does not happen and the EU proceeds on its path by deepening its inconsistency, it will be inevitable for [the EU] to face new break-ups in a short while."

After applying in 1987, Turkey began EU accession talks in 2005, but its membership bid has been held up by an array of problems, with Erdogan this week suggesting Turkey could hold its own referendum on whether to continue its accession efforts.

On Friday, he blasted the EU's attitude towards Turkey as "Islamophobic".

"The treatment of Turkey now is Islamophobic. That's why they are delaying taking us in."

Erdogan also criticised British Prime Minister David Cameron, who during the referendum campaign said Turkish membership was not "remotely on the cards" and might not happen until the year 3000.

"What did he say? He said 'Turkey cannot join before 3000,'" Erdogan said.

"What happened now? Look, you could not stand for even three days" after the vote, he jibed, referring to Cameron's announcement that he would resign by October.

Many have suggested that following Cameron’s resignation Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London, is a potential replacement for prime minister.

Such an outcome could further strain ties with Turkey as Johnson - although having Turkish roots himself - previously termed Erdogan a “w**nker” in an obscene poem submitted to the right-wing Spectator magazine.

The magazine ran a competition in May calling for submissions for “insulting poetry” about the Turkish president following the German government allowing the prosecution of a comedian for writing a similarly obscene poem about Erdogan.

UK Government rejects Sinn Fein referendum call

The Government rejects a demand from Sinn Fein for a referendum to be held on Irish unity in the wake of the UK vote to pull out of the EU.

FRIDAY 24 JUNE 2016

Northern Ireland voted 56/44 per cent in favour of staying in the EU, and Sinn Fein said people there were being taken out of Europe against their will - an argument also put forward by Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon about her country.

A border poll can only be called by the Northern Ireland Secretary if there is clear evidence of public opinion swinging towards Irish unity.

But Theresa Villiers, who campaigned for the UK to leave the EU, said she did not believe the criteria for triggering a poll had been met.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny agreed, saying: "That [provision for a border poll] is contained in the Good Friday Agreement, provided that the Secretary of State of the day considers that there would be a serious movement of a majority of people to want to have a situation where they would join the Republic. There is no such evidence."

Nothern Ireland Deputy First Minister and Sinn Fein assembly member, Martin McGuinness, said: "The people of the north of Ireland - nationalists, republicans, unionists and others - have made it clear at the polls that they wish to remain in the EU.

"The British Government now need to take account of that and recognise that reality and allow the people of the north to have their say on their own future."

'As predictable as flowers in May'

Stormont's First Minister Arlene Foster, whose Democratic Unionist party shares power with Sinn Fein on the Northern Ireland Assembly, said: "The call for a border poll was as predictable as the flowers in May. We knew it would come, but the test has not been met so therefore I don't believe it will happen."

Mr McGuinness said he had been in contact with Mr Cameron and Ms Sturgeon to express his views, and would seek "urgent" talks with the Irish and Scottish governments and EU institutions on "how we move forward in the best interests of all of our people".

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement acknowleged that a majority of people in Northern Ireland wanted to remain in the UK, but also recognised that a substantial number of people there, and a majority of the people of the island of Ireland, wanted a united Ireland.

It was approved in a referendum in Northern Ireland with a 71 per cent majority. In the Republic of Ireland, it attracted 94 per cent support.

The vote for Brexit also has implications for Northern Ireland's open border with the Republic of Ireland, which is a member of the EU.

During the referendum campaign, some Remainers argued that leaving the EU would see a return to border checkpoints, but this was dismissed by Ms Villiers.

Mr Kenny said he would want the common travel area that exists between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to continue.

Nicola Sturgeon to lobby EU members to support Scotland's remain bid

First minister to set up panel to advise her on Scotland’s relationship with EU, as Labour considers endorsing independence

Nicola Sturgeon chairs an emergency cabinet meeting in Edinburgh. Photograph: Jane Barlow/AFP/Getty Images

Severin Carrell and Jennifer Rankin-Saturday 25 June 2016

Nicola Sturgeon is to lobby EU member states directly for support in ensuring that Scotland can remain part of the bloc, after Scots voted emphatically against Brexit on Thursday.

The first minister has disclosed that she is to invite all EU diplomats based inScotland to a summit at her official residence in Edinburgh within the next two weeks in a bid to sidestep the UK government.

After Scotland voted 62% to 38% to stay in the EU, she said she planned to begin immediate discussions with the European commission to “protect Scotland’s relationship with the EU and our place in the single market”.

The first minister made the announcement after an emergency cabinet meeting on Saturday morning. She also said she would establish an advisory body of financial, legal and diplomatic experts who can advise her government on its options for retaining EU membership after Thursday’s UK-wide vote, by 52% to 48%, to leave the EU.

“Cabinet agreed we would begin immediate discussions with the EU institutions and other member states to explore all the possible options to protect Scotland’s place in the EU,” she said.

The consequences of Britain’s decision to leave the EU continued to emerge on Saturday, including:

• The UK’s most senior EU official, the European commissioner Jonathan Hill, resigned his post. Lord Hill, who was sent to Brussels by David Cameron and took the highly prized portfolio of financial services, said he did not believe it was right for him to carry on in the post.
• EU governments continued to press Britain to trigger article 50 immediately, beginning the Brexit process. Foreign ministers from across the continent, who met in Berlin on Saturday, said talks on the UK’s exit must begin promptly and urged a new British prime minister to take office quickly.
• Jeremy Corbyn dismissed an alleged plot to oust him as Labour leader in the coming days. Speaking in central London, Corbyn said Conservative austerity had paved the way for the Brexit vote, adding that the country must have an honest discussion about immigration. He was also heckled at London’s Pride festival.
• David Cameron appeared at a military event in Cleethorpes, less than 24 hours after he announced his intention to step down as prime minister and as rumours about his possible replacement began to circulate. Theresa May has emerged as the likely opposition to the leading leave campaigner Boris Johnson.
• British businesses continued to feel the effect of the Brexit vote, with estate agents saying that property deals could fall through and retailers admitting that food and clothing prices could rise in the coming days.
• The leave campaign appeared to row back on a series of high-profile campaign pledges, including suggestions that immigration would not go down, free movement of labour would remain in place and Brexit savings would not go to the NHS.

In a further significant development, Scottish Labour’s executive committee opened up the prospect of eventually endorsing independence after agreeing to “consider all options” on Scotland’s future in the UK.

Until now, the Scottish Labour leader, Kezia Dugdale, had consistently opposed a second referendum, but the party is now to consult unions, parliamentarians and members on its position after the UK as a whole voted to leave the EU. Party officials said the political situation was so fluid and uncertain, it was impossible to arrive at a fixed position now on Scotland’s future.

Dugdale said Scottish Labour believed in the UK and pooling resources and sovereignty, but it now had to apply those values “to do the best thing for Scotland and the interests of working people within it”.

Sturgeon said the cabinet had endorsed her decision on Friday to begin immediate preparations for a second Scottish independence referendum. Her officials refused to confirm indications that a new bill would part of her programme for government in September.

In a statement outside her Bute House residence in Edinburgh, she did not repeat her view that a new vote was highly likely, but said that “a second independence referendum is clearly an option that requires to be on the table and it is very much on the table.

“And to ensure that option is a deliverable one in the required timetable, steps will be taken to ensure that the necessary legislation is in place. Cabinet this morning formally agreed to that work.”

She added: “We are determined to act decisively but in a way which builds unity across Scotland about the way forward.” The advisory panel is expected to include pro-UK figures and non-nationalists.

In an immediate boost for Sturgeon, the Labour-supporting Daily Record newspaper publicly endorsed her decision to pursue the option of a second independence vote by splashing “EU go girl” on its front page on Saturday. It said Sturgeon had little option after the Brexit vote by England and Wales. The Glasgow Herald newspaper said Sturgeon was justified in seeking that option in its editorial.

Her government’s first direct overtures to the EU will come on Monday, when the Scottish cabinet secretary for the rural economy, Fergus Ewing, will take part in the Agrifish council in Luxembourg and then meet the EU agriculture commissioner, Phil Hogan, and set out Sturgeon’s pro-membership agenda.

Scottish government sources said Sturgeon was pursuing a twin-track approach, preparing for a fresh independence referendum within two years at the same time as investigating whether Scotland could be granted some form of associative status by the EU while remaining part of the UK.

Her advisers and officials are to consult constitutional and legal experts, including those invited to join her advisory body, on alternatives to outright independence to retain close EU ties and rights. It is understood Tory and Green MSPsare also studying that route.

There is no direct precedent in EU history for a part or region of an EU member having a different status than the state of which it is part, other than the decision by Greenland in 1984 to quit the EU in protest at its fishing policies.

Greenland left the EU while remaining an autonomous part of Denmark, and retained some EU benefits. The Faroe Islands, while also part of Denmark, are excluded from EU membership.

Sturgeon is extremely keen to ensure her government has parallel options available, because she remains worried about the acute constitutional, legal and economic challenges an independent Scotland would face.

She is expected to candidly admit in the coming weeks that she is as yet unable to answer many pressing questions about independence now the UK is leaving the EU. Those are thought to include Scotland’s currency options and its share of UK debt.

There is a large diplomatic corps in Edinburgh, including consuls general from several of the major world powers and from other EU member states. She said at her summit with diplomats that she would ask their help in reassuring their nationals living in Scotland that they were welcomed and cherished.

“People from other EU countries who have done us the honour of choosing Scotland as their home are welcome here. I want to make sure that is a message we get across strongly,” she said.

A European commission spokeswoman declined to comment on Sturgeon’s remarks, or whether EU officials would enter into talks with the Scottish government. “If there is a request, I am sure there will be a response, but I cannot offer any comments on things that have not happened,” she said. “For the time being the UK is still a member of the EU and a dialogue has not yet started.”

The head of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, was scheduled to speak to the Scottish first minister on Friday. When the question of Scottish independence was on the table two years ago, EU officials insisted that were it an independent country, Scotland would have to apply to join the EU. 

Under article 49 of the Lisbon treaty, any democratic European country can apply to join the EU.

Some experts think it is possible that the rest of the EU may agree to put Scotland on a separate fast-track process, rather than bracketing it with EU aspirants such as Albania and Turkey.

Steve Peers, a professor of law at the University of Essex, has written: “It may be that the remaining EU could have more political will to welcome Scotland as an EU member than it might have had in 2014, in the interests of stemming any perception that the EU is falling apart.”