The Turkish government has arrested two generals and a retired colonel on terrorism charges for involvement in the ordered inspection of trucks allegedly sent to Syria by Turkey’s intelligence agency to aid anti-Assad Turkmen rebels.
Amid wider concerns over freedom of expression and access to information in Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled the government violated fundamental freedoms when it blocked access to YouTube. Turkey’s violation of the European Convention on Human
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared he would resign if it is proven that Turkey ever purchased oil from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), following claims by the Russian government that they have found proof of transactions.
Contents: France demands that Russia target only ISIS in Syria; Putin’s Syria intervention hobbled by weak Russian economy
Protests against the Turkish government in Russia following the downing of a Russian jet on the Turkey/Syria border have intensified. Last week, Russians burned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in effigy before a Turkish embassy in Crimea.
Yesterday in Brussels, the European Union (“EU”) announced a groundbreaking deal with Turkey in which the EU would provide Turkey with $3.19 billion and relaxed visa requirements for Turkish citizens traveling within the EU in exchange for the Turkish government’s promise to curb the flow of migrants in Europe through its western border with Bulgaria and Greece.
Contents: Russia’s military buildup makes Syria into a Russian no-fly zone; Russia ends food imports from many countries; Turkey’s Erdogan ‘saddened’ by downing of Russia’s warplane
The Russian government began steps to push through economic sanctions against Turkey for downing a warplane on Nov. 24.
The editor-in-chief of Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, along with that newspaper’s Ankara bureau chief, has been arrested for “divulging state secrets” after publishing a report claiming that Turkey’s intelligence agency has been arming Syrian rebels against dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Turkey could only have shot down a Russian Su-24 military jet after securing permission from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), charged Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in an exclusive interview with Breitbart.
Contents: Russia accuses Turkey of ‘industrial scale’ oil purchases from ISIS; Russia escalates retaliation against Turkey for downing warplane; European Union to end visa restrictions on Turkey’s citizens
One of the comforting thoughts for observers of the escalating conflict between Russia and Turkey is that both have solid economic incentives to avoid escalating too much. This was emphasized by a 4.39 percent drop in the Turkish stock market, accompanied by the highest five-year debt insurance costs in several weeks, and the Turkish lira sliding 0.6 percent against the dollar.
Tuesday was filled with conflicting news about the fate of the Russian pilots shot down by Turkish forces over Syria. At various points during the day, it was said that both had been killed – possibly riddled with bullets by Syrian rebels as they came down in their parachutes – and that both were alive, and in enemy hands.
Contents: Putin calls Turkey’s downing of Russian plane a ‘stab in the back’; Turkmen in Syria versus Russians in occupied Crimea; Russia – Turkey crisis evokes memories of centuries of Crimean wars
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Obama administration, in response to the Turkish military shooting down a Russian warplane, suggested that Moscow had no business flying near Syria’s border with Turkey because there were no Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists operating there.
CNN Turkey is reporting that the Russian pilots of the Su-24 shot down by Turkey this morning are alive and in a secure location.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called Turkey’s downing of Su-24 jet a “stab in the back,” which caused the phrase to trend on Twitter in Russia.
On Tuesday morning, two Turkish F-16 fighters engaged a Russian Sukhoi-24 warplane and shot it down with an air-to-air missile, somewhere north of the Syrian port city of Latakia.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the boos and cries of “allahu akbar” from Turkish fans at a soccer game against Greece this week, chiding fans for booing the Greek national anthem but not mentioning that fans also appeared to boo a moment of silence for the victims of last week’s terror attacks in Paris.
The shouts ricocheted across cyberspace, on Twitter and Facebook, in e-mails and messages and banners: “Turkey votes for Islam!” “Islam wins! America loses!”
Seventy-seven years ago today, the founder of the independent Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, died in his bedroom at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul.
The Turkish government announced on Tuesday that the former editor-in-chief of a major newspaper was charged with “attempting a coup” in September and is currently in violation of his arrest warrant.
Contents: Burundi follows the genocidal path of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe; Turkey’s PKK militants end ceasefire after Erdogan vows to ‘liquidate’ them; Turkey plans major winter operations against both ISIS and PKK
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) ended its ceasefire with Turkey on Thursday after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development (AKP) Party swept parliamentary elections.
The Turkish government is looking to increase its military cooperation with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq, particularly in the fight against ISIS.
