Of Cyber-Nationalism & Tea Parties: New & Old Diasporas Of South–South Asia

By Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake –OCTOBER 23, 2017

Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

Having been borne across the world, we are translated men. It is normally supposed that something always gets lost in the translation; I cling, obstinately, to the notion that something can also be gained. …

[W]e will not be capable of reclaiming precisely the thing that was lost; we will, in short, create fictions, not actual cities or villages, but invisible ones, imaginary homelands, Indias of the mind.

~ Salman Rushdie, Imaginary Homelands

You lived intensely with others, only to have them disappear overnight, since the shadow class was condemned to movement. The men left for other jobs, towns, got deported, returned home, changed names…

~ Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss

2017 is a year of anniversaries in South Asia: 70 years of Indian independence; 100th year of the abolition of indentured labour, and 150 years of Ceylon tea celebrated by the Sri Lanka Tea Board with the release of a silver coin and tea parties.

Viewed as a ‘new system of slavery’ that followed the official abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire in 1838, indentured labour migration was in turn abolished 100 years ago in 1917. By the time of its abolition, nearly 3.5 million people from the Indian subcontinent had been, more or less, legally ‘trafficked’ (to use contemporary United Nations lingo) across the Indian Ocean and the globe, albeit after many had signed an ‘Agreement’ (whence the term Girmitiya derives), to perform contract labour for three to five years in plantations owned and operated by the British Raj.[1] Whether in neighbouring Ceylon, Malaya, or further afield in Fiji, Africa or the Americas, from Jamaica, to Trinidad and Tobago in the ‘West Indies’, to Surinam, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Mauritius, first-generation ‘coolies’—the colonial-era name given to bonded labour migrants and folks recruited under the kangani system—had little fore knowledge of the slave-like conditions in which they would be transported, live and labour in distant lands.[2] Nor did they have many choices; many were fleeing endemic famine, given the changing political economy of British India.

Indentured migrants from India and their descendants—who worked lucrative sugar, rubber, cotton, coffee, cocoa and tea plantations in the tropics of the world—‘played an essential role in the development of global capitalism’, as Amrith (2013) has noted. Yet, the oral history and literary record of generations of Indian indentured diasporic communities echo narratives of social suffering and the struggle for agency against victimhood among people trapped in the colonial plantation economy. Their literature and songs describe loss and longing for an increasingly ‘imaginary homeland’, similar to those portrayed in the writings of African–American descendants of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, familiar in the literary worlds of Alice Walker and Toni Morrison.[3] In academic writing and ethnography, indentured migration from India has been viewed mainly as a process of cynical exploitation of passive labour under colonialism, while migrants and their descendants were seen as victims who had little control over the decision to cross the kala pani (the taboo of the sea that stripped the elite of their caste status), and the outcomes of their migration.[4] At the same time, the south Indian or Dravidian labour diaspora that includes Tamil, Telugu, Malayalee and Kanada migrants has been marginal in studies of the Indian Diaspora with a few notable and recent exceptions. Until recently, diasporic descendants of south Indian indentured labour were largely ignored by the Indian state, even as it reached out to Silicon Valley NRIs (Non-Resident Indians). Remarkably, it was only in May 2017 that an Indian prime minister chose to visit and acknowledge the Hill County descendants of south Indian indentured labour in Sri Lanka.

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Don’t blame the Chinese We have always been corrupt

By Rathindra Kuruwita-2017-10-24

Once they realize that I am a bit of a Sinophile, a lot of centrist types, you know the kind of people who take The Economist and The Guardian seriously and call anyone who questions the liberal consensus as Far Right ask me whether I am not concerned with the corruption that accompanies Chinese financed projects.

Usually these people are from my age group, late 20s to early 30s, and my usual response for his ludicrous question is: where did they live before 2009? the year China really started investing in Sri Lanka. Because as far as I remember Sri Lanka was and is a corrupt country.

Chinese had nothing to do with the Mahaweli Project, but everyone knows that a lot of dodgy stuff happened and a lot of people made a lot of money out of it. Most recently there was controversy regarding the development of the Rs 134.9 billion third phase of Central Expressway, funded through a loan from the Mitsubishi Tokyo Bank. Although the Japanese Embassy in Colombo nominated three Japanese companies in 2016 and requested the Road Development Authority (RDA) to select the best bid, it was revealed a few months ago that the Japanese Government intervened in June 2017 forcing the Highways Ministry and Cabinet Appointed Negotiation Committee (CANC) to reconsider their selection. Once again China had nothing to do with this dodgy deal.

The truth is that almost all the countries alleged to be corrupted by China, from Macedonia to Angola, have always been corrupt and that unless these countries do something to sort themselves out they will remain corrupt.

Moreover, what earthly reason is there for a contractor (Chinese or otherwise) to save government money allocated for a particular project? Anyone who knows anything about construction business knows that all contractors try to spend all the money earmarked for a project; that's how you increase your profit margin. It is up to the Government to establish the necessary monitoring, evaluation and legal framework to ensure that the country enters the best deals possible and to minimize any potential for corruption. Essentially it's up to Sri Lanka, not China, not US, to come to deals that best suit us.

Corruption: in context

But usually one-liners don't change people's minds; but then again nothing usually does if people are set in their ways. I will try to present and analyze some data to prove my point. Let's think whether there is any real evidence to prove that Chinese projects lead to corruption because 'unlike the OECD-DAC donors, the Chinese Government does not release detailed, project-level financial information about its foreign aid activities' (Chinese aid and local corruption, aid Data org). A lot of countries, from Balkans to Angola, have been pointed at as examples for how Chinese aid has increased corruption, however, none of these countries have ever ranked anywhere near the top of world Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, ever. Yes, there is a lot of problems with this Index, but at least it gives us comparable data.

For example, a country like Angola (No. 124 in 2003, 168 in 2010 and 162 in 2016) or Sri Lanka (No. 66 in 2003, 91 in 2010 and 95 in 2016) have always remained at the similar position in the Corruption Perceptions Index since they started keeping count. On the other hand Macedonia, another country allegedly corrupted by the Chinese, have seen their Index ranking increase slightly (106 in 2003 and 90 in 2016) over the years, despite 'anecdotal evidence' by think tanks stating it is evident that corruption has not increased or decreased in countries like Sri Lanka due to Chinese funded projects.

This does not mean that corruption is not a major issue in Sri Lanka; it is. My point is that corruption has been endemic to countries like Sri Lanka because there is no political will among our rulers to take the necessary steps to eradicate corruption.

Why should they? They benefit greatly from the corruption and the voters don't seem to care too much. I mean if our voters cared would they keep on electing the same corrupt bunch over and over again?

What's really going on?

Ever since China emerged as one of the main development aid providers in Asia and Africa, swiftly replacing the cash starved west, a lot of people have been alleging that corruption has increased due to these Chinese funded projects. A lot of experts that work for Western funded think tanks tell us that unlike the US, EU or Japan, the Chinese don't push for proper safeguards to ensure transparency, which reduces corruption.

As it's my opinion that we have no option, but to encourage/depend on Chinese aid and investments in the coming years, in recent weeks I have been reading a number of reports and journal articles on corruption related to Chinese funded projects, especially Chinese financed infrastructure projects, across the world.

One thing that is fascinating about these reports and journal articles is that there are so many institutions and think tanks dedicated to monitoring Chinese aid and to find 'empirical results' to show that there is 'more widespread local corruption around active Chinese project sites.'And a lot of these institutions have sprung up as the west faces the reality that most of development finance, both in absolute terms and as a share of global foreign assistance, now comes from non-Western donors. And because aid was always a tool for political loyalty and keep Asian and African counties in line, it is to be expected that the West is completely freaked out about this development, i.e. their increasingly weakening hold on Africa and Asia.

As the West, which hasn't recovered from the global financial crisis and with their society which is gradually falling apart, probably never will, can't really out finance China they are trying to raise 'concerns over China's donor practices' using a coterie of think tanks. Sad!

Rathindra holds an MSc in Strategic Studies from S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU, Singapore, and can be reached via rathindra984@gmail.com

Tamil Prisoners' case transferred to Anuradhapura Court on the request of witnesses - TNA spokesman

Tue, Oct 24, 2017, 12:43 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.


Oct 23, Colombo: Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Spokesman and Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran disclosed that the case of three former LTTE cadres scheduled to be taken up for hearing in the Vavuniya High Court has been transferred to Anuradhapura High Court upon their request.

Speaking at a media briefing in Jaffna Monday, MP Sumanthiran said the case has been shifted to Anuradhapura High Court in accordance with the requirement of the witnesses.

The case has been transferred to Anuradhapura High Court on the orders of the Attorney General as the state's witnesses, who were also former cadres of LTTE, were refused to testify in the Tamil dominated Vavuniya High Court for fear of their lives

He said the Attorney General has taken this decision as the witnesses of the case is legally entitled to make a request to transfer the case to another court if he has any outside pressure.

The three former LTTE fighters- Mathiyarasan Sulakshan, Rasathurai Thiruvarul and Ganeshan Tharshan- are accused of executing 18 Navy and 8 Army personnel taken as prisoners and burning their bodies in January 2009 when the LTTE is retreating from Kilinochchi.

Witnesses have made statements that they fear to give evidence in Tamil-populated area and they have no objection to do so as they feel safe in the Sinhalese-dominated Anuradhapura.

MP Sumanthiran noted that there was no legal barrier in transferring the case to Vavuniya if there was no objection from the witnesses.


Meanwhile hundreds of people staged a demonstration opposite the Justice Ministry today demanding to transfer the case to Vavuniya High Court.

Demented toffee nosed DG makes Rupavahini a hellhole and prison camp for staff..! Media minister unsuccessful on second round !

(Lanka-e-News - 23.Oct.2017, 10.45PM) The appointment of senior , experienced minister Mangala Samaraweera as the media minister for the second  time was most welcomed  by the media personnel. However , by now that welcome is turning into a disappointment as his appointment for the second time seems to have driven him  into a thicket of difficulties.  

The case in point in  support of this perception  ,is the disastrous situation prevailing at Rupavahini  TV channel considered as a nerve center of any government in power.  This is because the  minister had been unable to appoint a suitable individual of his choice as the Director General of the Institution . In fact he has so far never stepped into it.

The entire problem is hinged on the fact , Thusira Melawathanthri the present Director General of this nerve center  being  ’ president’s man’, he  is exploiting that patronage  and wreaking havoc on this most vital Institution.

5 unions have jointly addressed letters pointing out this ‘mad circus’  of this president’s favorite to the president himself. A copy of the  second letter addressed  to the president has been sent to us too.

It appears that at the time when the media and finance ministries were brought together , the secretary of the Finance ministry being allocated the huge tasks of the media ministry is the main reason , based on  an external analysis . An additional secretary was appointed to the media ministry this crisis would not have  deepened. If minister Samaraweera is assuming by appointing Ruwan Ferdinands a close sidekick  of his as the coordinating secretary who has only the eligibility  requirement  - Samaraweera’s close friend and nothing else to carry on those duties  , the minister is laboring under a delusion since this is a position which must be filled by a special grade administrative officer .

Lanka e news at the beginning warned that Ferdinands is running several media Institutions and therefore this appointment will create  a conflict of interests ,and prove  disastrous.   

It is a pity the government’s efforts to bring forth to the people its ‘good work’ has been unsuccessful while the adversaries are successfully delivering home their racism and  religious hatred among the society through myths and falsehoods without any hindrance.  Not only the government’s enemies , even Ferdinands the co ordinating secretary of minister Mangala is clandestinely extending support to extremism via his media. To him Duminda Silva the infamous drug Lord is ‘God’. He even proffers advice to deposed discarded Mahinda Rajapakse to form a ‘real opposition’ . In those circumstances it is only a fool will think minster Mangala is unaware of all this. Why is  Mangala who brought forward ‘ Sudu Nelum’against racism  then when he was the media minister,  today after becoming the minister of media as well as finance asleep at the wheel ? 

Obviously the crazy antics of  crazed Mellewetanthri Thusira  the Director General (DG) of Rupavahini is an evil fallout of these lapses. Simply because Thusira is ‘president’s man’, can a UNP minister look the other way ?

The media personnel of Rupavahini who are committed to good governance have addressed a letter to the president for the second time with copies to the P.M. , the minister in charge , deputy minister and Lanka e news . The charges mounted in it against this demented buffoon Thusira are hereunder.

01. T.M.G, Chandrasekera the information officer of Rupavahini was sent on compulsory leave because he is a member of the Executive officers association . He was subsequently reinstated temporarily on the pressures exerted by  the trade  unions . Yet his office has been sealed, and his performance of duties has been disallowed. This decision is most ludicrous .

02. An investigation has been commenced , and the individual appointed as the chairman of this inquiry committee was the one who held  Chandrasekera guilty in an earlier  inquiry .

03. Scurrilous literature against Chandrasekera have been printed , and believe it or not ,  the documents which  were exclusively with the unhinged Director General have been used for this purpose . This is a clear index that Mellewathanthri despite holding a most  responsible post can be most irresponsible and  can stoop that low as to print  even  scurrilous notifications.

04. The DG summoned the members of the trade union and individually threatened them. Vindictive actions have been launched under the guise of disciplinary action against the trade union members if they don’t quit the trade unions.

05. This dipsomaniac DG who spends his whole  night in clubs is continuing  with his habit of daily scolding the Rupavahini Corporation  officers most insolently and disgracing  them in his drunken state. 

06. The Executive officers’ Association of Rupavahini had sent a letter through the association to the board of Directors including the chairman pointing out the ‘Psychotic  proclivities’ of DG , and  as  they cannot any longer work with him , to oust him.

07. It is our belief however that neither the   chairman nor the board has intimated to you in this regard. When the trade union officers inquired about this , the chairman had said he has no objection to their taking action en masse against the DG. Yet the letter that was sent had not been discussed at the Board meeting  so far.

08. The SL Rupavahini Corporation trade unions jointly including program  producers union, Technical officers union , production service artistes’ union and Rupavahini employees union have addressed a letter to the DG and the Chairman explaining the grave issues and crises plaguing the Corporation. The DG instead of showing a positive response has acted most villainously  and arrogantly taking advantage of the establishment code . The chairman on the other hand is inert and impotent .

09. In order to take revenge against  the trade unions , the DG has recruited 7 children of the members of another  defunct society .While the Rupavahini Corporation is already overstaffed , this action of the DG is arbitrary and anomalous. 

10. The dipsomaniac demented DG had only further confirmed his paranoid psychotic nature by interdicting two executive officers, transferring two others arbitrarily to other divisions , and calling for explanations from two producers. 

11. Mellewethanthri is now hospitalized. Yet he is so insanely bent on revengeful actions , he is signing those vengeful letters while in hospital. He has conducted himself violently  even in hospital so much so that  he has entered into conflicts with hospital staff too thereby disgracing the  Rupavahini  Corporation . He has concealed from the officers of the Institution his admission to hospital  . It is reported that he is suffering from some severe mental derangement , and is taking psychiatric treatment.  

12. When an officer of the News division went to the canteen to have meals , he was summoned because he was late by 15 mins. and  dismissed from his duties as editor.

13. Giving inordinate  exhibitionism  via the news telecasts to events which are attended by the DG has been made compulsory , and if by any chance his photographs are not given full display , the employees have to face his tirade . This has been made a habit by the DG.

14. He has given oral instructions that a DVD copy of every news report which covers the event in which he is a participant shall be given to him  immediately. Even the Hon. minister does not resort to such high handed actions nor does he give such overly arrogant instructions .

15. This DG who is suffering from acute megalomania is using the Rupavahini programs unduly  to inflate his deflated image only . His paranoia and megalomania have reached such    monumental proportions that he is behaving like a lunatic .

16. The DG is so warped mentally he wants to be greeted  with the words ’good morning’ even  20 times when he meets, and on occasions if that is missed , he threatens to take disciplinary action. 

17. By creating disputes between the executive officers and others instead of promoting harmony through his utterances   conducive to disputes and discord , the DG has confirmed he is not fit to hold that post.

18. If the security officer in the vicinity of his room perspires,  his superiority complex is so acute he  berates him though sweating is natural when they toil in the performance of  their duties. Owing to this the security officers are averse to working where the DG is. 

19. While the Rupavahini Corporation is in such a state of chaos and  confusion while also  rapidly degenerating in  standard , this DG who is a most responsible officer has done nothing to stem the rot.

20. In the Malwana court case against Basil Rajapakse , it is this toffee nosed braggart  who bragged he is the lawyer , and since his ties with the president are so inextricably interwoven ,  nobody can oust him.

21. Owing to this hostile attitude and mad hatter conduct , the creativity and  efficiency of the staff are  going down the drain without being channeled towards the progress of the Institution.

22. DG’s   obnoxious bossy boots traits and mental derangement , have made the Rupavahini Institution  a prison camp for staff ,  fomenting hatred  and terror  while controlling the employees most offensively, as a result the peace and cordiality within  the Institution have totally evaporated. 

---------------------------
by     (2017-10-23 17:31:30)

Complaint against Mohan Peiris over Mahinda murder attempt

 Oct 23, 2017

A group of senior lawyers is going to complain to the registrar of the Supreme Court against Mohan Peiris, former attorney general and chief justice, that he had misused his offices to grant undue privileges to suspects in crime.

The main issue they are going to raise is Peiris’ having acquitted former minister Johnston Fernando of a charge of having conspired with the LTTE to kill ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Peiris had not filed a court case against Fernando, in disregard of confessions made by three suspects under clause 127 of the criminal procedure code and the audios gathered by the CID containing his voice.

That is deemed a gross violation of ethics, and an aiding of Fernando in a crime. A resumption of the investigation against the former minister should be preceded by an inquiry against Peiris.

Peiris showed his baseness when he met president Maithripala Sirisena after 08 January 2015 and requested to remain as the CJ with a promise to give any court ruling according to his wishes. He rejected the request.

President Sirisena will bear witness to that and the group of lawyers is ready to obtain a sworn affidavit from him.

Myanmar shows off its Israeli weapons

An Israeli-made Super Dvora Mk III gunboat recently acquired by the Myanmar navy. (Myanmar Navy)

Ali Abunimah-23 October 2017

Myanmar has been showing off its new gunboats, confirming that Israel is supplying the country with weapons in spite of official secrecy around the matter.

The Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz highlighted photos posted on Facebook by Myanmar’s navy of its Israeli-made Super Dvora Mk III gunboats.

“Welcome to Myanmar Navy,” the post states.

“The post is from April, only half a year ago, when the Myanmar (Burmese) army was already being accused of war crimes,” Haaretz notes.

Last month, Israel’s high court granted a government request to keep a blanket of secrecy over Israeli military sales to Myanmar.

The court issued a secret ruling on a petition by human rights lawyer Eitay Mack demanding a halt to such sales.

UNICEF‏Verified account @UNICEF

Up to 12k #Rohingya refugee children are reaching Bangladesh every week. RT for #ChildrenUnderAttack.

1:00 pm - 21 Oct 2017

Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch say that the military in Myanmar, also known as Burma, is committing crimes against humanity.

“The military has committed forced deportation, murder, rape and persecution against Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine State, resulting in countless deaths and mass displacement,” Human Rights Watch said.

Ethnic cleansing

Last week, top UN officials estimated that 500,000 Rohingya refugees had crossed into neighboring Bangladesh in less than five weeks, many “fleeing discrimination, violence and persecution, as well as isolation and fear.”

The UN’s top human rights official has called the Myanmar military’s campaign a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

According to Haaretz, the pictures of the boats on Facebook “also reveal the weapons that have been installed on them, all blue-and-white products.”

These include a remote weapons station for firing heavy machine guns, made by Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest arms maker.

“The new patrol boats are only part of a larger transaction signed between Israel and Myanmar,” according to the newspaper.

In 2015, Min Aung Hlaing, a senior general from Myanmar, posted pictures on Facebook showing him and other officials on a shopping spree at various Israeli weapons companies.

“We don’t connect the two things”

In an interview with The Myanmar Times earlier this month, Israeli ambassador Daniel Zonshine said Israel was determined not to let the mass expulsions of the Rohingya interfere with growing bilateral trade.

The ambassador said he would continue to “differentiate the economic relations and the situation in Rakhine. At the moment, we don’t connect the two things.”

According to The Myanmar Times, Israeli exports to Myanmar reached $34 million in the first half of this year, already outpacing the $23 million for all of 2016.

This trade is reportedly concentrated in telecoms and electronics, as well as irrigation and medical devices.

But these figures presumably exclude the arms sales which Israel keeps secret. Haaretz estimates that the military trade alone is worth tens of millions of dollars.

Zonshine offered Myanmar some advice – undoubtedly based on Israel’s own propaganda tactics – on how to whitewash its bloodsoaked image.

“When the story in the international media is framed as it is today, it doesn’t help to create more markets. It doesn’t help promote the [country’s] image,” Zonshine said. “It is something that should receive some attention from the government in order to show that although there are problems, Myanmar is still Myanmar. In other words, not to let the conflict define who or what Myanmar is.”

'Sons of AKP': Turkish-German biker gang accused of working with Turkish spies

Politician says Osmanen Germania works with MIT spies in Germany to hunt PKK, Gulenists and anti-AKP activists

Osmanen Germania members in a music video, 'Remzi' (screengrab)

Monday 23 October 2017

Everything about the Osmanen Germania says "biker gang". They dress like extras from the US biker series Sons of Anarchy. They roam in packs like biker gangs. They tote guns and glorify violence in slick music videos.

Yet despite the look, the 2,500-strong Turkish-German organisation denies the accusations. It says it is focused on "community service", while pushing a specific political view – that of Turkey's ruling AKP party, and an admiration for the Ottoman Empire. And anyway, they don't ride bikes.

Turkish authorities support the actions of the Osmanen Germania and view them as counter-terrorism activities

- Herbert Reul, regional interior minister

But German officials say they their actions now exceed mere admiration of the AKP. They say the group has been co-opted by Turkish intelligence and is being used to intimidate and target the Turkish government's opponents in Germany.

Herbert Reul, the interior minister for the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, on 18 October submitted a report to the state parliament, alleging the Osmanen Germania was being used by Turkish MIT security services as a counter-terrorism unit in Germany.

"Turkish authorities support the actions of the Osmanen Germania and view them as counter-terrorism activities in Germany – so directed towards the PKK, extreme left Turks, and the Gulen movement,” Reul wrote, according to the German newspaper General-Anzeiger. 

The Gulen movement, or Hizmet ("service"), is led by Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Turkish Muslim preacher, whom Turkish authorities say orchestrated last July's failed coup attempt along with his followers.

In response to a question in the state parliament regarding the activities of Turkish intelligence, Reul said MIT was active in North Rhine-Westphalia and cited four lists submitted to the federal government by Turkish authorities about people and institutions with links to Gulen.

He said the first list showed 165 people allegedly affiliated with Gulen currently resident in North Rhine-Westphalia. 

Reul's claims are supported by residents who say they have faced intimidation at the hands of gang members.

Metin, using an alias, told Middle East Eye he was first threatened earlier this year while campaigning for No in the referendum in Turkey, which granted the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, nearly unlimited and unchecked powers.

"The guy threatened me and my family with violence unless we stopped campaigning has lived in our building for years," he said.

Fear stops people from saying anything about them

- Metin, No campaigner

"These Osmanen Germania members are known by everyone in the Turkish-German community, but fear stops people from saying anything about them."

The 33-year-old, who has lived in Ludwigshafen for 30 years, said at first the Turkish-German community looked at the Osmanen Germania as simply "a bunch of young Turks banding together in search of an identity”.

"Now people have realised that they are a criminal gang. Drug dealers and sex traffickers," he said.

"Families are now starting to worry that their children will be fooled by this nationalistic Ottoman political charade and get drawn into criminality."

No campaigners in Berlin during the Turkish referendum (AFP)

Votes, enemies and Osmanen Germania

The Osmanen Germania were formed in April 2015, just as tensions between Germany and Turkey started to simmer over political campaigning in the former.

It was only in 2012 that laws were amended and made it possible for Turks living abroad to vote in Turkish elections from the countries they lived in.

This resulted in Turkish parties, particularly the AKP, campaigning heavily with huge success in countries like Germany with large Turkish-origin populations.

Tensions boiled over in the lead-up to Turkey's April 2016 referendum, where the country decided to scrap the parliamentary system for an executive presidency. Germany, and other European countries, stopped Turkish government officials from campaigning in their countries.

The AKP government called it hypocrisy, saying groups designated as terrorist, such as the Kurdish PKK, were openly allowed to stage rallies while Turkish officials were banned.

Turkish officials have also accused Germany of harbouring Gulenists.

In a September report, the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees said 5,040 out of 8,547 asylum applications by Turkish citizens in 2017 thus far had been rejected.

German officials have also said 615 Turkish citizens with diplomatic and service passports have also applied for asylum, without specifying whether they were all linked to the Gulen movement.         

Osmanen Germania says it runs boxing clubs and helps Turkish-origin youth with schoolwork and other things.

Herbert Reul, the interior minister for the German state of North Rhein-Westphalia (Reuters)

Praise from Turkey

The only direct link shown so far between the group and Turkish authorities is in the shape of a Turkish presidential adviser, Ilnur Cevik, praising the group's work regarding the Turkish community in response to a question from a German media outlet.  

Sevim Dagdelen, an MP from Die Linke party and a fierce critic of perceived inaction by the German government towards acts allegedly sponsored by Erdogan's government, has on multiple occasions submitted questions to parliament on the Osmanen Germania and believes its links with the Turkish government run far deeper.

In a question on 19 September, Dagdelen asked the federal government about an August meeting in Antalya where Mehmet Bagci, who calls himself world president of the Osmanen Germania, is alleged to have met AKP officials. 

The government response said it was "aware” of such media reports.

In another question, Dagdelen asked what information the German authorities had about the creation of a network in Germany involving the Osmanen Germania, Turkish intelligence and the Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD), said to be the AKP's lobbying arm in Europe. 

The government response said it had no information other than media reports about a network in that sense, although it was aware of individual links between the Osmanen Germania and UETD. And that members of Osmanen Germania acted as security at UETD functions. 

The Osmanen Germania boasts more than 40 chapters across Germany. But the majority are located in Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Reul, the state interior minister, said they were one of the fastest-growing gangs and that they had eight chapters in the state alone. He said the group was under intense police surveillance and that Osmanen Germania chapters in other states had also been raided by police in connection with drugs and weapons trafficking.

For the time being, they remain relatively less of a force outside their stronghold of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Limited reach

Devrim, a Turkish-origin German citizen from Hamburg, told MEE the Osmanen Germania were almost unknown by the Turkish community in the north.

"I have read a few newspaper articles about some of their criminal acts in the city. Apart from that I have never heard anyone in the community mention them,” said Devrim.

Their rapid rise and open political stance has, however, fuelled fears of clashes with other gangs run by Kurds, extreme left Turkish or German gangs.

I have read a few newspaper articles about some of their criminal acts in the city. 

- Devrim, Hamburg resident

Clashes between the Osmanen Germania and some chapters of the Hell's Angels biker gang, and also with Kurdish gangs such as Bahoz, which is said to be linked to the PKK, have been reported in German media since 2016.

"Osmanen Germania, Bahoz and all these other biker groups are just criminal gangs, nothing else," said Mertin.

"All this flag waving and political affiliations are to make themselves feel better. Their nationalism and patriotism is really nothing more than hatred and racism.”

Neither the Osmanen Germania, nor the Turkish government, have commented on the allegations by Reul.

The great dealmaker? Lawmakers find Trump to be an untrustworthy negotiator.

During a news conference on Oct. 16, President Trump said he has an “outstanding” relationship with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and defended his handling of the situation in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

By Philip Rucker, Sean Sullivan and Paul Kane October 23 at 6:00 AM 

President Trump campaigned as one of the world’s greatest dealmakers, but after nine months of struggling to broker agreements, lawmakers in both parties increasingly consider him an untrustworthy, chronically inconsistent and easily distracted negotiator.

As Trump prepares to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to unify his party ahead of a high-stakes season of votes on tax cuts and budget measures, some Republicans are openly questioning his negotiating abilities and devising strategies to keep him from changing his mind.

The president’s propensity to create diversions and follow tangents has kept him from focusing on his legislative agenda and forced lawmakers who might be natural allies on key policies into the uncomfortable position of having to answer for his behavior and outbursts.

For instance, Trump’s news conference last Monday with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), which was orchestrated to project GOP unity on taxes, instead gave birth to the self-inflicted controversy over Trump’s treatment of fallen soldiers, which set the White House on the defensive and dominated the national media for seven days.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) spent weeks cooking up a health-care bill with Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) — and felt he suddenly had Trump’s attention and encouragement when the president called him Oct. 7.

Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), left, and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) attend a hearing Oct. 19 in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. (Reynold/Epa-Efe/Rex/Shutterstock/Reynold/Epa-Efe/Rex/Shutterstock)

Dinner with his wife interrupted by the call, Alexander said he sat on a curb outside a restaurant for 15 minutes talking about health care with Trump, whom he said supported reaching a bipartisan deal.

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Trump called him one morning that same week, interrupting his workout at the gym to tell him, “Let’s do some bipartisan work on health care!”

[Another last-ditch effort to tackle Obamacare stalls within hours of its release]

But this past week, Trump created whiplash. On Monday — just moments after Alexander and Murray released the blueprint for a short-term authorization of federal subsidies that help lower-income Americans afford coverage but that the administration had just halted — Trump said he supported the effort.

A few hours later, however, the president was decidedly cool to it.

“There was a lot of momentum building for Lamar’s effort, until the president changed his mind after encouraging him twice to move ahead,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said. “You know, who knows where he’ll be? Maybe where he is this very second?”

Corker said his fellow Tennessean has “the patience of Job” to negotiate with Trump, referring to the biblical prophet who suffers one curse after another but keeps his faith.

 There's a new bipartisan health-care deal in the Senate, and President Trump has been signaling wishy-washy support for the agreement. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

If the absence of any signature legislation is an indication, the dealmaking skills that propelled Trump’s career in real estate and reality television have not translated well to government.

Tony Schwartz, a longtime student and now critic of Trump who co-wrote the mogul’s 1987 bestseller “The Art of the Deal,” said Trump’s dealmaking modus operandi is, “I am relentless and I am not burdened by the concern that what I’m doing is ethical or truthful or fair.”

“The expectation that you will stand by what you said you would do is higher in politics than it is in the cutthroat world of real estate,” Schwartz added. “That’s a brutal environment in which misdirection and bullying and making one offer and changing it later are all common practice.”

Trump has blamed the absence of major accomplishments on Capitol Hill — one exception is the Senate’s confirmation of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Trump’s Supreme Court nominee — entirely on lawmakers.

“We’re not getting the job done,” Trump said last Monday at his Cabinet meeting. “And I’m not going to blame myself, I’ll be honest. They are not getting the job done. . . . I’m not happy about it, and a lot of people aren’t happy about it.”

But senators said the president shares responsibility for this year’s turbulence and gridlock, observing that the glacial pace of writing and passing laws, complicated by fits and starts, has been a culture shock for Trump.

“He’s a guy who, you know, comes from the business world, and he’s in a hurry to get things done,” Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Thune (S.D.) said. “Around here, that’s hard. You know, things take a while. So it’s a process — and sometimes, kind of a slow and painful one.”

Trump’s lack of ideological roots makes him an unusual figure in Washington, where most lawmakers adhere rigidly to their party’s agendas. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) said Trump “feels much more comfortable working and talking in a bipartisan manner than he does trying to defend a partisan side.”

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), who met with Trump and lawmakers at the White House this past week, agreed. “I think the Democrats are crazy to not try and deal with him directly,” he said. “Seven years ago, he was a Democrat. It doesn’t take any brains to realize that he’d be open.”

Indeed, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) emerged from a September dinner with Trump thinking they had a deal with the president to back legislation protecting undocumented immigrants, known as “dreamers,” who were brought to the United States as children.

But in October, the Trump administration released a list of hard-line principles that effectively derailed any such deal. The White House wish list included toughening immigration laws and funding construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, and officials ruled out granting a path to citizenship for the dreamers.

[Trump administration releases hard-line immigration principles, threatening deal on ‘dreamers’]

Trump has been traveling the country to pitch his plan for broad tax cuts, targeting in particular Manchin and other Democratic senators up for reelection in 2018 in states Trump won last year. The president boasted this past week of being able to easily pass tax legislation this fall, even though a bill has not been introduced.

“I think we’re going to have the votes for taxes,” Trump said Friday in an interview with the Fox Business Network. “And I will say, the fact that health care is so difficult, I think, makes the taxes easier. The Republicans want to get it done, and it’s a tremendous tax cut.”

But Trump has sent mixed messages about what this tax cut measure will be. In early October, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) told constituents that the emerging White House plan seemed to be the kind of bill she would support.

“I’ve met with the president’s people four or five times now, and they’ve told me, no, this really is going to be a middle-class tax cut,” Heitkamp said at a roundtable in Bismarck, near where Trump gave a speech in September pushing his tax cut plan.

Ten days later, however, Heitkamp told reporters at the Capitol that the administration’s plan remained a mystery. “I still don’t know what it is,” she said.

Schumer said the key to getting things done on Capitol Hill is for the president to take a back seat.
“Our Republican colleagues are going to have to realize, if they want to get something done, they can’t follow his erratic path,” Schumer said. “They have to lead him, not follow him.”

Of course, Trump has never considered himself a follower. Asked whether his advice would even be possible, Schumer said the Alexander-Murray health-care fix could be a model. “It’s going to happen on this,” he said.

One way some lawmakers are trying to influence and focus Trump is to interact frequently with him.
“He’s a dealmaker, and he’s extremely flexible,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said with a chuckle. Graham’s strategy: “Just keep talking to him. Keep him close.”

Graham has endured fierce fights with Trump — when they were competing for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Trump read aloud Graham’s cellphone number at a rally and exhorted his supporters to call it — but he is embracing his role as a mediator between fellow senators and the president.

Graham has tried to iron out his differences with Trump over recent rounds of golf. They played together twice this month at Trump National Golf Club in Virginia, and after their first outing, Graham apparently tried to flatter the president by heaping praise on his swing in an interview with sportswriter Michael Bamberger, who has golfed with Trump many times .

“What impressed me about the president is that he has a nice, compact swing, and he can get it up and down from jail,” Graham said. He added: “He hit the ball on the screws almost every time. He sets up behind the ball. He has an athletic swing. He goes down and gets it.”

Schwartz said playing to Trump’s ego, as Graham has with his golf compliments, is an effective way to manage him. His advice to those seeking to make deals with Trump: Find the most persuasive way to portray one’s agenda as a personal victory for the president, and be the last person to talk to him.

“Trump is motivated by the same concern in all situations, which is to dominate and to be perceived as having won,” Schwartz said. “That supersedes everything, including ideology.”
David Weigel contributed to this report.