01/03/17 01/03/17 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! conferencee republican votes to get the house ethics office. this as the new congress opens today. we will speak with public citizens craig holman, who set up the office of congressional ethics. then to turkey where police continue to search for him and who opened fire inside a nightclub during a new year's celebration, killiling 39 peopl.

isis has clalaimed responsibibi. suddenly a heard gunshots. evererybody starteted toun awaw. aan with my couousin to find place to h hide. he went somewhere and i went somewhere else. we lost each other. afafter taking cover, , we exchd messages. the gunfire did not stop. amy: we will go to istanbul, turkey. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a new republican-led congress meets today. in one of their first moves, house republicans have voted to gut the office of congressional ethics, dismantling reforms adapted after a previous republican ethics scandal. the vote reportedly came as a surprise and without the support of house speaker paul ryan or majority leader kevin mccarthy.

the full house is scheduled to vote later today. under the measure, the office of congressional ethics will be renamed the office of congressional complaint review and placed under the oversight of the house ethics committee. the move will take away authority and independence from the investigative body and give more power to lawmakers over internal inquiries. according to "the washington post," under new rules the office will not be able to employ a spokesperson, investigate anonymous tips, or refer criminal wrongdoing to prosecutors without the express consent of the ethics committee, which would also gain the power to end any of the office's investigations. the measure's sponsor, republican bob goodlatte of virginia, said in a statement the move "builds upon and strengthens the current arrangement and improves the due process rightsts for the house members under investigation."

we will have more on the office of congressional ethics later in the broadcacast with craig holm, who helped set up the original ethics office. in turkey, police have launched a series of raids across istanbul arresting at least 12 , people as police continue to search for a man who opened fire inside a nightclub during a new year's celebration, killing 39 people. isis has claimed responsibility for sunday's attack on the reina nightclub, where hundreds of turks and foreigners were celebrating early in the morning. the attack killed 11 turkish citizens and more than two dozen tourists from saudi arabia, iraq, lebanon, jordan, india, morocco, and other countries. this is a man who was inside the nightclub during the attack. actually, i did not see him. as soon as he entered the club, he started firing and he did not

stop. he fired nonstop for 20 minutes at least. we got there were several of them because it just did not stop. and there were some kinds of forms as well. you through explosives. we managed to hide and luckily, he did not go out on the terrace. amy: on monday, turkish authorities released two photographs of the suspected gunman. officials say the turkish military also attacked isis targrgets in syria on monday, killing at least 22 people. we will go to istanbul and washington, d.c., for more on the attack later in the broadcast. in the iraqi capital baghdad, nearly 90 people have died in a series of attacks claimed by isis militants over the weekend and monday. at least 39 people were killed and 50 more wounded in a suicide bomb attack monday on a fruit and vegetable market in sadr city. local authorities say there were also a series of smaller bombings mononday acacross baghd that killed a total of 20 civilians and wounded 70 more.

monday's attacks c came after me bombings saturday in baghdad killed 28 people. the bombings come as the united states and iraqi m militaryy continue the campaign to retake the city of mosul from isis. donald trump is expected to name robert lighthizer as head of the office of u.s. trade representative office. lighthizer served as deputy trade representative during the reagan administration. he is a proponent of trade tariffs and has been a vocal critic of china. trump still has a handful of cabinet and cabinet-level positions to fill, includingng e position of secretaries of agriculture and veterans affairs, as well as the director of national intelligence and the head of the council of economic advisers. many are also expecting trump to try to give his daughter ivanka trump and her husband, jared kushner, official positions within the white house, a move that may violate anti-nepotism laws. the trump organization's ongoing

business in the united arab emirates, indonesia and other countries are continuing to raise concerns about conflicts of interest. last month, donald trump pledged his businesses would make no new deals during his time in office. however, a series of high-profile business deals are currently underway, including the construction of two luxury golf courses in dubai. the first, trump international golf club in dubai, is slated to open in february only w weeks , , after inauguration. trump is developing the two courses with dubai billionaire hussain sajwani, who attended trump's new year's eve party at the mar-a-lago resort in florida. meanwhile, trump's business dealings in indonesia are also raising concerns. the trump organization is currently moving ahead with plans to open two resorts, one in bali and another in west java. these deals have brought trump close e to an indonesian

billionaire media mogul who has formed his own political party, as well as indonesia's speaker of the house of representatives, who suffered a recent corruption scandal. "the new york times" reports trump's companies are also currently moving ahead with projects in india, uruguay and canada. just weeks away from inauguration on january 20, donald trump is continuing to struggle to book performers for the event. british singer rebecca ferguson has said she'd be willing to accept the invitation to perform -- but only if she's allowed to sing billie holiday's "strange fruit." ferguson said -- "if you allow me to sing "strange fruit" a song that has huge historical importance, a song that was blacklisted in the united states for being too controversial. a song that speaks to all the disregarded and down trodden black people in the united states. a song that is a reminder of how love is the only thing that will conquer all the hatred in this world, then i will graciously

accept your invitation and see you in washington." in labor news, one of the nation's largest unions is preparing to slash its budget in expectatioion of an assault on organized labor under president trump. in an internal memo obtained by bloomberg businessweek, service employees international union president mary kay henry announced plans to cut spending by 30% by the end of next year. henry wrote -- "because the far right will control all three branches of the federal government, we will face serious threats to the ability of working people to join together in unions. these threats require us to make tough decisions that allow us to resist these attacks and to fight forward despite dramatically reduced resources." seiu represents nearly 2 million workers in the u.s. and canada. its current budget of about $300 million funds organizing efforts like the fight for 15 campaign to raise the minimum wage.

donald trump's pick to hehead te labor department, andrew puzder, is a fast-food executive, a member of an anti-union network, and a vovocal critic of increasg the minimum wage and other workplace protections. u.s. senators are continuing to call for even stronger sanctions againstt russia over allegations russiaian agencies m meddled i novevember's u.s. e election to support donald trump. senators john mccain, lindsey graham and amy klobuchar visited the country of georgia over the weekend, and vowed action against russia. this is south carolina senator lindsey graham. on friday, russian president vladimir putin said he would not retaliate against the united states' move to expel 35 russian diplomats and impose new sanctions on russian agencies accused of election meddling.

in syria, anti-government rebels say they are considering pulling out of preliminary peace talks planned for kazakhstan this month after accusing the syrian government of violating the terms of the five-day-old ceasefire. the anti-government rebels have accused the syrian governmnmentf launchching an assault on a rebel-held area near damascus ththat is key to the city's watr supply -- a violation thehe teterms of the c ceasefire t thk effect late e thursday night and was welcomed by syrians, includuding a resident of ididl. the upcoming talks in kazakhstan for later this month are being planned by t turkey, russia and iran. in brazil, officials say more than 50 people died in an uprising in a prison in the city of manaus. at the time of the riot, the prison held more than 1200 prisoners -- three times its official capacity. brazilian officials claim they have been trying to reduce

overcrowding in the country's prisons for years over concerns about uprisings, but convictions for low-level drug offenses continue to increase the number of people incarcerated in brazil. in israel, police questioned prime minister benjamin netanyahu as part of a growing corruption inquiry on monday. officials say the questioning lasted three hours and was conducted at his home. netanyahu is accused of receiving gifts and favors from business executives. new york governor andrew cuomo has commuted the sentence of prisoner judith clark, who drove a getaway car during a 1981 robbery in rockland county that left a security guard and two police officers dead. the robbery was aimed at expropriating money from a brink's armored car for the republic of new afrika. clark was sentenced to 75 years for second degree murder and robbery, although she did not fire any shots. governor cuomo has now commuted

her sentence to 35 years, meaning she's eligible for parole this year. two other people involved in the rorobbery, mutulu shakur, , the stepfather of the rapper tupac shakur, and david gilbert, a membmber of the weatherr underground, arere still incarcerated. a growing number of people are calling on president obama to grant clemency to mutulu shakur before he leaves office. in upstate new york, residents are continuing to call for the resignation from the buffalo school board of carl paladino, the former new york state cochair of trump's presidential campaign over his racist comments about president obama and first lady michelle obama. in december, paladino responded to a question from a local alternative weekly newspaper about what he most wanted to happen in 2017 by writing --

he said he meant to send this to friends, but mistakenly sent it to the newspaper. the buffalo school board voted six to two to get paladino 24 hours to resign or faced howsoever over his -- ouster over his racist comments. he told the buffalo news he is still in good standing with donald trump. trump has not commented on paladino's statements. in minnesota, two water protectors unfurleled a massive banner from the ceiling of the minneapolis' u.s. bank stadium during an nfl game b between the minnesota vikings and chicago bears on sunday calling for divestment from the $3.8 billion dakota access pipeline. the banner read "divest" and "nodapl" -- that's the dakota access pipeline. the two people who unfurled and

hung from the banner were arrested. the action is part of a series of actions demanding major wall street banks divest from the pipeline, which has faced months of resistance from the standing rock sioux in north dakota, members of more than 200 indigenous nations from across the americas, and many of their non-native allies. in the revolutionary british novelist, screenwriter, and literary c critic john berger hs died. he is most famous for the 1972 book and television serieies "ws of seeing." this is john berger speaking in 1972 a about his reaction n to winning the prize e and how he planned t to give half of the money to the blackck panthers. bookersrize i is given b by , a panel who are a firm, who have extensive tradingng interes

anand the caribbean for 130 y y. the extreme poverty is the direct consequenence or the exploitationon of companies like bookers and others. and so i intendd, as a revolutionary writer, to share peoplple in and from the caribbean. peoplple who are i involveved ia struggle to resist such exportation, a and eventuauallto expropririate companies like bookers. i'm going to give half the price to the london-based black panther movement. in a code that is john berger speaking in 1972. he died monday at his home in a paris suburb at the age of 90. and those are somomof the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. undercover to let congress meets

today. and one of the first moves, house republicans have voted to gut the office of congressional ethics, dismantling reforms adopted after a previous republican ethics scandal. the vote reportedly came as as a surprise and without the support of house speaker paul ryan or majority leader kevin mccarthy. the full house is scheduled to vote later today. under the measure, the office of congressional ethics will be renamed the office of congressional complaint review and placed under the oversight of the house ethics committee. the move will take away authority and independence from the investigative body and gives more power to lawmakers over internal inquiries. according to "the washington post," under new rules the office will not be able to employ a a spokesperson, investigate anonymous tips, or refer criminal wrongdoing to prosecutors without the express consent of the ethics committee, which would also gain the power to end any of the office's investigations. the measure's sponsor,

republican bob goodlatte of virginia, said in a statement the move -- "builds upon and strengthens the current arrangemement and impros the due process rights for the house members under investigation." well, for more, we go to washington, d.c., where we are joined by craig holman, public citizen's government affairs lobbyist on campaign finance and governmental ethics. he helped to set up the office of congressional ethics after it was established in 2008. we welcome you to democracy now! this happened yesterday on the eve of the opening of congress today in the house republican conference behind closed doors. explain what you understood took place. >> first of all, this caught everybody by surprise last night. no doubt republicans in congress understand the public would view

this with a great deal of hostility. so they snuck it through last night. we had been assured by the republican caucus over the last two weeks that the office of congressional ethics was going to be kept intact and reauthorized in the new year, in the news session. and then suddenly last night, we are receiving tweets that republicans in congress changed their mind. they suddenly accepted this amendment to neuter the office of congressional ethics and place it under the control of the house ethics committee -- which means, by the way, placing it under the control of members of congress themselves. this caught as entirely by surprise. amy: explain. they are saying it actually expands the power of the ethics office. can you explain why even paul ryan and congressman mccarthy, the majority leader in the house speaker, have opposed this? >> well, you know, i've got to

find out more about paul ryan's stance. the fact republican caucus approved this last night as part of the rules package, i have a ryan -- to hold paul responsible as well. i understand paul ryan and republican leadership would perceive this as being negative publicity for them. indeed, it shall be. but, you know, in the end, the republicans -- republican caucus did approve this. they are accepting this as part of the new rules change. within a couple of hours, they're going to make it law of the house of representatives. paul ryan has to be held accountable for this along with the entire republican conference. at me emphasize how big change this is. the house ethics committee is the committee that is controlled by members of congress that oversees themselves. they historically have done literally nothing but sweet

ethics complaints under the rug and hide them from public view. following the jack abramoff scandals, we created the office of congressional ethics that is run by outsiders, not members of congress, and made sure their reports and analysis would become public so you and i could actually monitor what is going on in terms of ethics when it comes to the house of representatives. literally, once we created oce in 2008, the number of actions taken by the house ethics committee and the house ethics process literally quadrupled in iod of time.er that is how important oce is to the ethics process. and the only people who have despisedoce are the members of congress themselves. just last night, they have neutered this agency. amy: for people who do not

remember, for example, the original scandal that leled to this office in 2008, if you can lay out what happened with jack abramoff. >> well, jack abramoff was considered the uber lobbyist of the time. quite frankly, he was typical of k street lobbyists. they literally had very close relations with congressional leaders, and they worked in tandem with congressional leaders. jack abramoff would fly members of congress, congressional leaders, to scotland to play golf. yet a restaurant right across the street from here called signatures restaurant, where he had a table set aside for free wining and dining them any members of congress who wanted to partake. literally, he was using money, using gifts, using travel to buy control over the house of representatives. and it worked. the house ethics committee never stepped in to deal with j jack

abramoff. it was t d department t of juste that finally had to step in and charge jack wiwith bribery befoe we could finally get this under control -- which is why we knew it was soo i important t to crea new independent agency that would be outside the control of members of congress to monitor the ethics process of the house of representatives. amy: s so now the e office of congressionanal ethics would hae to answer to the house ethics committee, would not be independent, which means would be in control of the republican and democratic legislators. >> it defeats the entire purpose and operations of oce. all, it's members of congress once again smack dab in control of the ethics monitoring process. secondly, it takes away the public disclosures of any type of investigation or complaint that oce might be dealing with. so we go back to the old jack

abramoff era of members of congress overseeing themselves and not letting us know what is going on. amy: how did this, such a surprise to so many? and of course, the significance of the first act of this congress as a republican president is about to be inaugurated, going to the issue of corruption and ethics, has astounded many across the political spectrum today. isn't it possible that under in enormous pressure as people wake up to what has taken place, that the republicans might not vote this forward in the full house? >> it is highly likely the republicans are going to ratify this. since they ratified it last that as the men i rules changed, it is going to be the very first order of business at 10:00 a.m. this morning. the house cannot operate until it ratifies its new house rules. this is the rules package.

it was brought on so late to make a very difficult for the public to try to intervene and prevent this action from happening. done deal at this point. at 10:00 a.m., it will be a done deal. ivy way, it caught us so much by surprise because, you know, the entire reform community -- and by reform community, i am groups,g conservative troop aggressive groups, nonpartisan groups. every session we have got together to try to make sure that oce would be reauthorized with each session. when we at speaker boehner and nancy pelosi as a leadership, we were assured it was going to happen. we were concerned this time because we had a new figure in there, paul ryan, and we did not know where paul ryan was going

to come out on this. about two weeks ago, all of our groups suited a letter to paul ryan and nancy pelosi, pointing out how valuable oce is and asking that it be reauthorized. and we were reassured that it would be reauthorized. we weren't concerned until suddenly last night when the house republicans backpedaled on this, rewrote the rules, and are about to neuter the oce [captioning made possible by democracy now!] wrote ang holman, you op-ed for you said don't administration in history has been as fraught with financial conflict of interest as the incoming trump administration. from the president-elect on down, if steps are not taken to manage these conflicts, the trump administration is likely to become one of the most scandal ridden in memory. now last week we spoke to richard painter, professor of corporate law the university of

minnesota. he was the chief white house ethics lawyer for president george w. bush. he desescribed the conflict t of interest under president-elect trump. laws -- ire several think the most important for purposes of president-elect trump is the emoluments clause of the constitution, which is one of the most critical conflict of interest provisions for all u.s. government officials. nobody holding a position of trust with united states government can receive payments from foreign governments, whether gifts or a salary or profits. that is what emily immense are, profits -- emoluments are, profits and benefits. if you have somebody who is making profits from dealing with foreign governments or companies controlled by foreign governments, that person must dispense with those profits, cannot receive that money, while

holding in a position of trust with the united states government. that includes the president. what this means is a donald trump, if used when a hold on to these business enterprises -- which present a whole range of other conflicts of interest problems -- to satisfy the constitution at a bare minimum, he is going to have to get the foreign government money and money from foreign government controlled corporations out of his business enterprise. this includes foreign diplomats staying at hotels, a government expense, foreign governments having big parties in his hotels , and canceling reservations at the four seasons, going over to the trump hotel -- all of that is unconstitutional. he has bank loans in the bank of china, which is controlled by the government of china. and some foreign government owned banks are leasing space in trouble office buildings. all of that has to be that with

before january 20, or we could have a violation of the constitution. amy: that is richard painter, professor of law university of minnesota. he was president george w. bush's ethics lawyer. , put this move, this midnight hour move by the house republican conference to gut the house ethics office into this larger context of what donald trump brings to the presidency on january 20. >> donald trump is setting the tone on this. you know, when i wrote about the trump administration is likely to be the most scandal ridden administration in history from top-down, i was talking just about the executive branch. now it looks like it is spreading in the congress as well. donald trump has shirked his ethics responsibilities. he has decided not to disclose his taxes.

he is waffling on whether or not he is going to set up a genuine blind trust and divest himself of the conflicts of interest the richard painter was just talking about. he is basically shunning his responsibility of complying with the ethics rules. and that tone has now reached in the congress. part of the reason why i am so surprised that republican conference in the house of representatives repealed or have neutered the oce is because they are going to receive a great deal of negative publicity on this. but clearly, they're looking at donald trump shirking his ethics responsibility and thinking, if he can get away with it, they can get away with it. yes, we are likely to see the most scandal ridden federal not just trump

administration, that we have seen -- the most scandal ridden we have seen in history. this does not bode well for the next few years. amy: craig holman at the top of the show, we talked about the trump organization's ongoing business and the united arab emirates, indonesia, and other countrtries continuing to raise concerns about conflicts of interest. last month, trump pledged his businesses would make no new deals during his time in office. however, a series of high profile business deals are currently underway, including the construction of two luxury golf courses in dubai. the first, the trump international golf course is slated to open in february onlny weekeks after the inauguration. trump is developed the golf courses with dubai billionaire hussain sajwani, who attended trump's new year's eve party at the mar-a-lago resort in florida. trump called him and his family the most beautiful people during his speech, his toast at the party. then you talk about the significance of this? >> they're pledging to have no

new deals -- meaningless. the conflicts of interest exist. they are widespread. as far as we can determine, even though trump will not be honest and reveal his actual tax filings so we can confirm where the conflict spread, so far we have been able to track conflicts of interest from the trump organization spanning 23 different countries. existsusiness enterprise . they are operating. the foreign government and foreign special interest and others understand this. they are doing everything they can to find ways to throw money at the feet of donald trump in order to buy access, and in their minds, influence over the trump administration. kid a foreigneen

governments had set up their national celebration days that were scheduled at the four seasons hotel, for instance, and once trump became president, they canceled that and moved it to the trump hotel. clearly, the whole purpose of trump'sto make use of busineness organization for buyg influence over president-elect donald trump. that is a conflict of interest. you know, every president for the last 40 years has understood the danger of those types of conflicts of interest, and have placed their wealth and business enterprises into a blind trust or divested them entirely. donald trump is the first president we are seeing in recent history who is just ignoring the problems that his vast empire is going to bring to this administration. most going to be the scandal ridden administration we have seen in history. a makeup many are expecting

donald trump to give his trump andvanka her husband roles that could violate antinepotism. beingwould if they're paid. that would be a violation of the -- antinepotism law. does easy to get around it by bringing them in as an informal consultant. these are people who don't need to be paid. they are wealthy as is. a $100,000 if a need seller to be a consultant to the president. as long as they're not paid, it gets around the antinepotism law. but it certainly bodes poorly for conflicts of interest. trump is talking about turning his empire over to his kids to run. well, that is the same thing as the trump family.

trump was very critical of hillary clinton and the clinton foundation because foreign governments were throwing money into the clinton foundation -- even though hillary was not directly running a foundation. the purpose of those types of investments by foreign governments and foreign interests clearly was they understood by supporting the clinton family, they were going to get an inside track dealer clinton. that is what donald trump was a critical about hillary clinton of. this is exactly what donald trump is now going ahead and doing as president of the united states. he is keeping his family in .ontrol of his vast empire it provides a huge window of opportunity for wealthy special interests who want to buy favors from donald trump. amy: and choosing his company's top lawyer jason greenblatt to fill the newly created position of special representative for international negotiations?

he is an expert in real estate law. >> yes, exactly. he is appointing people into his administration who are going to try to finesse ways around the laws, around the restrictions, and try to minimize the bad publicity that is going to come with the conflicts of interest. he is not appointing people who are going to be attentive to the complex of interest and abiding by the laws. these are people who specialize in getting around the laws. his white house counsel, don again, is someone who has been a desert opponent against any sort of restrictions on money and politics. he is not going to become donald trump's key lawyer when it comes to domestic as well as international affairs. these are people who specialize in making sure that donald trump

can't invade the laws. amy: craig holman, thank you for being with us public citizen's , government affairs lobbyist on campaiaign finance and governmental ethics who helped set up the office of congressional ethics. it has just been gutted by the house republican conference. it will be voted on today by the house. when we come back, massacre in a turkish nightclub. we will go directly to is simple. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in turkey, police have launched a series of raids across istanbul, arresting at least 12 people as police continue to search for a man who opened fire inside a nightclub dururing a nw year's celebration, killing 39 people. isis militants have claimed responsibility for sunday's attack on the reina nightclub, where hundreds of turks and

foreigners were celebrating early in the morning. the attack killed 11 turkish citizens and more than two dozen tourists from saudi arabia, iraq, lebanon, jordan, i india, morocco, and other countries. this is younis tuerq, who was inside the nightclub during the attack. not see him.i did as soon as he entered the club, he started firing and he did not stop. he far nonstop for 20 minutes at least. we thought there were several of them because it just did not stop. there was some kind of bomb as well. he threw some explosives. we managed to hide ourselves and luckily he did not go out on the terrace. he did not go out. amy: on monday, turkish authorities released twowo photographs of the suspected gunman. officials say the turkish military also attacked isis targets in syria on monday, killing at least 2 22 people. for more we go now to istanbul, where we are joined by koray caliskan, associciate profesessf

political science at bazeecha university in istanbul. and in washington, d.c., we are joined by kani xulam, director of the american kurdish information network. we welcome you both of you to democracy now! let's go first to istanbul. koray caliskan understand -- explain what you understand took place and what is taking place in the aftermath. >> good morning, amy. what happened was before the ingsck, there had been two w of discussion in the country. the head of the director for business affairs called new year celebrations illegitimate. direct the reporting to the prime and us to come is in public office whose salaries were paid by christians, muslims ,jews, every citizen and the sickler country. he called those celebrations illegitimate. the second wing of discussions

-- there were people who put a gun on a santa claus and threatened him to leave the country. it happened. only two days later, and isis terrorist attacked a nightclub. the most famous international nightclub in this country. populated by around 800 people celebrating the new year. what happened afterward was unbelievable. so there has been open intelligence in the country regarding a possible attack of destinations in istanbul. when you're talking about tourist destinations in new york, the first place you understand would be times square, right?

so if something like this happens, so you would expect the governor's office to take responsibility and secure times squauare. you don't fifind people from all of yourr police force i itimes square, would you? you wouldn't. so in istanbul, around a square mile, you have four very popular clubs, the most important clubs, and the top club is reina. reina is rejected by one policeman -- protected by one policeman, a 23-year-old kid. i can't explain this to myself. i can't explain this to myself. plus, there is a police precinct very close to reina. it is also very close. and the guy enters the place, machine gun, 800 people, killing 39 of them. leaves the place and he is still

free in istanbul. i can't understand it. amy: he was wearing a santa claus outfit, speaking arabic -- which suggests he wasn't turkish? >> he was not wearing a santa claus outfit. there were people wearing santa claus outfits in this club, like in a new year celebration. he was wearing a regular bomber jacket. we don't know his name yet, but his picture is everywhere. he isnot from turkey, but not from an air of the country, either. he is like a part of the isis international terrorist urbanization. but what is worse is that this came at a time where a jihadi terrorist had been attacking people. the government ordered the arrest of a number of youth leaders who were protesting and

calling for strengtgthening. [indiscernible] amy: we are going to try to fix on our transmission. meanwhile, bring in kani xulam, director of the american kurdish information networkrk based in washington, d.c. your take on what took place and the government's response in turkey? ofthis was a textbook case chickens coming home to roost, or if you sleep with the dogs, you will wake up with the fleas. turkey is a country with a high fever. if it were a human being, the doctors would say, rest and relax, take a vacation. but what has taken a vacation in turkey is common sense.

,e have a prime minister president, who wants to hold on to power at any cost. in the meantime, he wants to work with these isis types when they were going to syria and also work with the west. he wants to have his cake and eat it too. when the west knows war informs him that these killers are there, he arrests them. with the west does not know they are in his midst, then he lets .hem go to syria and be trained now that they're losing in syria, they're coming back to him and telling him, you are siding with u.s. and russia. and what you have is mayhem. it is a country going toward chaos, going toward instability, going toward, you know, just utter chaos. amy: and the response of the government erdogan?

asthe response has been, pointed out, 12 people have been arrested. what has not been noticed were reported is that today, this morning, a member of parliament was arrested. he was a member of the hdp, pupils democracy party. turkey has a kurdish minority. they are the third largest party in the heart of -- parliament. members -- 13 are now in jail. the rest, for example, there are 100 cities that are run by kurdish mayors. about 40 of them, their mayors have been arrested. they are run by one man, one woman. -mayorships. hasgovernment, yes, it arrested some people and says it wants to crack down on this and address this issue, but the day before this horrible tragedy

happened, as was pointed out, 84,000 mosques in turkey were -- which means, the preaching, what to tell their believers. a pagane told this is holiday and should not be celebrated. so there is this government cultivated hatred of others. as a result, you have this chaos, this bombing, this tragedy of monumental proportions. amy: what has been the obama administration's relationship with erdogan and how do you expect that to change under donald trump? >> well, the obama administration initially -- his first trip to europe included turkey. he wanted to work with erdogan and he thought erdogan could be a model moderate muslim leader,

a country that accepts democracy, but also is highest, if you will list of respects the wall of separation between the mosque in the state. and for a while, relations were good. popularwas the most color president obama when he was calling on heads of states, consulting with heads of states. but then something called the arab spring came about and turkey turn into a jihadi highway. 31,000 foreign fighters from southeast asia in a from central asia from europe, from north africa and a from latin america, north america went to turkey and erdogan looked the other way. there's something called them if you live in a glass house, you don't throw rocks at others. turkey has massive internal problems. the kurdish issue. the secular's who are now being threatened. these foreign fighters then went into syria and now the chaos --t syria is, and the u.s.

president obama then decided to was -- he felt like erdogan cheating him. the trump administration, for example on the kurdish issue, he says they are good fighters, they should be supported. when the coup took place in last july, trump called president erdogan and told him he was with him. the problem is, erdogan is not with his people. erdogan is not democratic. when the king of saudi arabia died, erdogan declared a national mourning day. which means his proclivities are an islamic identity, islam and state islamic country. this is what he wants to create. after,is comes not long koray caliskan, the killing of the russian ambassador in turkey. can you to -- comment on what

happened in overall with the guardian newspaper headlined the new year's eve -- headlined "is: that club attack caps off dreadful year for turkey." >> it is a dreadful year. it is very sad. we have been dealing with two sources of terror. the first is pkk, the kurdish terrorist organization who and attacking and bombing central istanbul which claims dozens of lives. the other is isis. which had been attacking innocent people and lifestyle in the country. this has been happening since two junes ago. in 2014, we had zero attacks and zero deaths. in 2015, we had four attacks, 150 people died. 2016, 12 attacks and 320 people

died. now the first day of the year, air,irst 90 minutes of the one attack and 39 people died. this is terrible. this is happening mostly as a result of two reasons. first, the central state power in iraq and syria was destroyed. you can't have democracy without state. you can't have democracy without rule of law. when everyone applies his own understanding of justice like and no onesis, resorts to universal understanding of justice, you can't foster democracy. tothe west, including -- build democracy, wants to support anyone who was going to syria. the end result? working border with syria right now. the longest border of turkey and syria --

the terrorist who killed 39 people a few days ago and took turkey from sia, it was in isis fighter there and no one asked for his passport or visa. and they are within thisis doube right now. and for -- they are within istanbul no. they're not providing their citizens with security. the policeman who had security clearance killed the russian abbasid or in ankara. this is a failed state. amy: we're talking to koray caliskan, professor of political science at bazeecha university in istanbul. -- we are talking with kani xulam. kani xulam, your take on this? >> the most effective boots on

the ground against isis. they're the only ones who have basis' backs, if you will. they are fighting them in mozilla in terms of peshmerga anorak. -- and iraq. islamic state is the most aggressive force on the earth. the most the socialistic force the face of the earth. ypg is the only one fighting effectively. anybody who calls himself a lover of humanity, a friend of human race, should support ypg to wipe out the cancer from the midst of the middle east. a makeup your response? >> i don't agree with him for a number of reasons. when you call yourself different letters come a what you do --

itself abc anded the uniteded states, would it ba known terrorist organization? i don't think so. and all organizations can do things that may look acceptable to democratic powers. and when they do this, this doesn't take them out from a network of terror. terror should not be tolerated. it takes place in syria against isis or whether it takes place against turks at the center of a symbol. pkk attacks turks the same way they attack isis. way, rulee to use one of law, throrough the united nations, r right? of the't just arm a wing pkk hoping they're just going to get to the test organization and hope them to act like a political the ricotta

organization. this would be a mistake. and a a nato member of the unitd states supplying arms to pkk in syria and then calling it a terrorist organization in turkey is very difficult to understand in turkey. amy: i want to thank you both for being here, koray caliskan, speaking to us from istanbul, professor of political science at bazeecha university in istanbul. and kani xulam director of the am a american kurdish information network. we will be back k in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: "strange fruit close go too sun byby billie holiday. lewis allen, the stage name formeeropol. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the british singer rebecca ferguson has said she'd be willing to accept the invitation to perform at donald trump's inauguration but only if she's , allowed to sing billie holiday's "strange fruit." saying - --

"if you allow me to sing "strange fruit" a song that has huge historical importance, a song that was blacklisted in the united states for being too controversial. a song that speaks to all the disregarded and down trodden black people in the united states. a song that is a reminder of how love is the only thing that will conquer all the hatred in this world, then i will graciously accept your invitation and see you in washington." well, those are the words of roberta ferguson. i had a chance to speak with robbing your pull. meeropol. julius of ethel and rosenberg who were charged with conspiring to share nuclear secrets to the soviet union and executed on june 19, 1953. at a chance to talk to him about that song that was written by his adopted father. >> first he wrote a poem a and then he put it to music. music, by the way, that nobody can classify. it is often referred to as blues

because really holiday was a blues singer. it r really does not fit that genre. no one knonows where it came fr. it was performed a few times and abel plated at cafe society in greenwnwich village in portage f simpson, the owner -- bonnie josephson encouraged her to sing it and the rest is history. it exploded in terms of interest. the thing about "strange fruit" that i think is so important for peopople understand, it is not e urge. it i is not a mournful song. it is an attack song. it is not attack against the perpetrators of lynching. as such, it is extremely powerful and why it was banned, why it caused riots, it is why it helps destroy really holidays -- billie holiday five. amy: she said each time she sang that song, shetty go in the bathroom and throw up afterwards. wrenching..

this song became big again. >> it is been grorowing recentl. one of the things that gave it the tremendous boost, somewhat ironic, in that kanye west put'nina simones version in the babackground o of a rap. , in mya pretty bad rap opening. that caused an i internet controversy, particularly african-americans feelining this was the equivalent of sacrilege to do this to this song -- which got everybody thinking about "strange fruit," everyone buying nina simone's record. whatever kanye west did that may offend people, it actually served a positive purpose in the longng run. amy: that is robert meeropol. he and his broththers are makaka lastst-ditch appeal to president obama to clear their mothers name will stop at the rosenberg

and posthumously exonerate her. to see the whole interview, go to democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning madede possible by democracy now!] qwueeewep@1@1pxxxxxx

[soothing instrumental music] ♪ [peaceful folk music] ♪