Iranian Official Calls for Prosecuting Members of the People’s Mojahedin

Members of the People’s Mojahedin in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near Tirana on Tuesday (AFP)
Members of the People’s Mojahedin in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near Tirana on Tuesday (AFP)
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Iranian Official Calls for Prosecuting Members of the People’s Mojahedin

Members of the People’s Mojahedin in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near Tirana on Tuesday (AFP)
Members of the People’s Mojahedin in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near Tirana on Tuesday (AFP)

The Assistant for Legal Affairs in the Iranian Presidency called for the trial of members of the opposition Mojahedin-e-Khalq, at a time when the Albanian police issued an indictment against six members of the organization, which is opposed to the regime in Iran.

Mohammad Dehghan, legal affairs assistant to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, said that his country was making legal arrangements to return “the remnants of the hypocrites” to the country, in reference to the designation used by Iranian officials to describe the People’s Mojahedin Organization (MEK).

“We must issue sentences for people who committed crimes against people or state property inside the country and enforce these verdicts abroad,” he said.

The People’s Mojahedin is the most organized faction among the Iranian opposition parties, which includes a wide range of supporters of the Shah’s regime, banned leftist parties, in addition to parties belonging to ethnic groups.

Dehghan, said legal measures were underway in coordination with the ministries of intelligence and foreign affairs as well as the judiciary to return “the hypocrites” to Iran.

The regime alleges that since the establishment of Iran in 1979, the group has carried out numerous terrorist attacks against Iranian officials and civilians, killing some 17,000 people.

Fars Agency, which is affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards, stated that the IRGC’s intelligence service had arrested the group’s “recruitment official” in the provinces of Golestan and Mazandaran, without revealing the identity of the person.

The Iranian vice-president’s comment came at a time when the Albanian police announced the indictment of six members of the MEK, in connection with clashes in Camp Ashraf 3, the headquarters of the group.

The Albanian police said that they had carried out raids at Camp Ashraf 3, which is inhabited by members of the People's Mojahedin, who are suspected of plotting cyber-attacks against foreign institutions, according to local media.

Media reports added that these operations were carried out as part of investigations into cybercrimes, noting that the police confiscated computers and software.

The clashes at Camp Ashraf 3 coincided with a French decision to ban a major demonstration in Paris by the Iranian opposition, due to security threats.

More than 290 French deputies and 76 members of the Senate had called for “supporting the Iranian people in their quest for change" and for taking “strong and decisive measures against the current regime.”

On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to his Iranian counterpart, Ibrahim Raisi, for an hour and a half, on various bilateral and international issues.

 



Erdogan Invites Trump to Visit Türkiye

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets with US President Donald Trump during the NATO summit in London, Britain, December 4, 2019. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets with US President Donald Trump during the NATO summit in London, Britain, December 4, 2019. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
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Erdogan Invites Trump to Visit Türkiye

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets with US President Donald Trump during the NATO summit in London, Britain, December 4, 2019. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets with US President Donald Trump during the NATO summit in London, Britain, December 4, 2019. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

President Tayyip Erdogan sought to reset Türkiye's strained ties with the United States by inviting President-elect Donald Trump to visit, and said Trump spoke very positively about Türkiye during a phone call.

Trump's election victory this week was generally met with cheer in NATO-member Türkiye, with markets rallying and some officials cautiously optimistic about prospects for new US economic policies.

Erdogan told reporters on a flight back from a European summit in Budapest that he hoped Trump would accept the invitation.

He said he hoped a visit would strengthen cooperation between Türkiye and the United States and lead to a relationship "different from (Trump's) previous term", when clashes on a number of issues led to Washington imposing punitive tariffs that hurt Türkiye's economy.

"We had a sincere call with Mr. Trump while he was at a family dinner (that included) Elon Musk and Musk's child," Erdogan said of the Wednesday call, according to an official Turkish readout.

"He had very nice things to say about Türkiye regarding the period ahead. We invited him to our country. I hope he accepts..."

Ankara's cooperation with Trump's White House could also help solve regional crises, added Erdogan, who has led Türkiye for more than 21 years in what opponents call an increasingly authoritarian style, accusations he denies.

Outgoing US President Joe Biden did not visit Türkiye during his term and Erdogan's planned White House visit early this year fell through with little explanation, underlining the cool relations.

While Erdogan and Trump had closer personal bonds in Trump's 2017-21 term as president, it was also a period of strained bilateral ties due to disputes over Washington's ties with Kurdish fighters in Syria and over Ankara's ties with Moscow.

An official in Erdogan's AK Party told Reuters that Ankara expects the Trump administration to be more flexible and understanding of its security needs, especially against the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) in Syria and Iraq.

After Trump's election win, Türkiye's lira touched its strongest level in weeks, while Istanbul stocks have since risen more than 5%.

Trade Minister Omer Bolat said on Thursday he expected Trump to lower tariffs on Türkiye's steel and textile exports, even as Trump has promised to levy 10% tariffs on all imported goods.

The fallout still lingers from clashes between Türkiye's and the United States during Trump's first term, when Washington was angered by Türkiye's purchase of a Russian missile defense system and the jailing of US citizens including a pastor.

The Turkish economy bore the brunt of the strains, including higher tariffs on metal imports imposed by Trump in 2018, contributing to the first in a series of lira currency crises that set off years of soaring inflation.

The strains grew in 2019 as Türkiye launched an incursion against a Syrian Kurdish militia that Ankara calls a terrorist group but which is a US ally against ISIS.

At the time, Trump threatened to "totally destroy and obliterate" Türkiye's economy over the operation. He sent Erdogan a letter saying: "You don't want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don't want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy - and I will."

Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat and director of the Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM) said Ankara would probably be happy with a Trump victory in the short term, making it easier to open dialogue after the stand-offish Biden years.

But broader foreign policy differences on issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Syria could still become thorny in the long term, he added.

"Ankara will try to create an agenda aimed at a reset in Turkish-American ties. This can easily turn into a more transactional relationship that Trump can get on board with," he said. "What the United States' expectation will be of Türkiye in such a relationship, that needs to be cleared up."