Turkish newlyweds Fethullah Uzumcuoglu and Esra Polat decided to skip the usual wedding reception and spend their big day, still dressed tux and bridal gown, distributing food to starving refugees from war-torn Syria.
The Assyrian Christian community has already suffered greatly at the hands of ISIS, driven from their homes in the Nineveh Plain to find shelter in Iraqi Kurdistan. Human rights groups have already expressed concern about the dangerous conditions in these refugee camps, including brutal temperature extremes and supply shortages. Now the Assyrians face a new menace: Turkish bombs.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PPK) terrorist group’s leadership has called upon the United States to intervene and encourage the Turkish government to engage in peace talks with the Kurdish group, in the hopes of ending the air campaign Turkey is waging against them while claiming to be fighting the Islamic State (ISIS).
Contents: As Iran rises in the Mideast, Kurds benefit in Iraq and Syria; Saudi Arabia suffers deadliest terrorism attack in years; Puerto Rico default triggers selloff in municipal bond funds
Tensions between Turkey and the Kurds continue to escalate as Kurdish militia groups who have been fighting ISIS in Syria complained of coming under fire from Turkish forces. Notably, these are Kurdish militia units not direct affiliated with the PKK—the Kurdish separatists classified as terrorists by Turkey and subjected to airstrikes by American-made Turkish F-16 jets after several recent instances of violence.
A month after Turkey agreed to allow U.S. and allied forces to use its airfields for operations in Syria, the first armed drone strike has been conducted by the United States.
In his latest book, Christian Persecution in the Middle East: A 21st Century Tragedy, author George J. Marlin explores the fall of Christianity in its birthplace, documenting the suffering of those people who face death simply for being a Christian.
Reuters reports the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has leveled sanctions against a dozen Turkish shipping and energy companies for doing business with Syria, along with four individuals connected with one of the sanctioned corporations, Milenyum Energy.
The unpopular socialist government of Venezuela has been using an army of thousands of Twitter “bots” to inflate its support network on the social media outlet, the Associated Press reports in an extensive exposé.
The conflict between Turkey and the Kurdish PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party, continues to intensify, with reports of three more Turkish soldiers killed by mine and missile attacks from PKK militants.The U.S. State Department has called on both sides to resume peace talks.
The bodies of 13 Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG) soldiers will finally be allowed to return to their families after 10 days held up at the Syrian/Turkish border, Turkish media reports. Despite having died fighting the Islamic State, their alliance with the YPG stains them with ties to the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)– Turkey’s number one enemy.
The general who presides over the Turkish armed forces is expected to be replaced by the current commander of land forces, who is expected to be more hawkish in combating the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), reports Al Monitor.
The increased level of Turkish cooperation with American efforts against the Islamic State (ISIS) has produced the uncomfortable side effect of the Turks declaring open season on our most vital ally, the Kurds. At least the Turks are making good on their promise to allow more extensive American use of their airbases, as the Pentagon says armed US drones are now operating from the Incirlik Air Base.
Relatives of fallen Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG) fighters in Turkey say the Turkish government is denying permission for the bodies to return to Turkish soil to be buried. A group of 12 bodies, including that of a German national fighting in Syria, have been waiting in a refrigerated truck on the Syrian border for more than one week for permission to enter Turkey.
Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, is calling for the Marxist terror group the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to leave Iraq completely, as civilians have died in Turkish airstrikes targeting the group. Barzani also condemned Turkish forces for killing civilians in his territory.
Contents: Big losses expected Monday when Greece’s stock market reopens; Puerto Rico to default on Tuesday; Venezuela’s collapsing economy receives $5 billion from China; Venezuela in border dispute with Guyana; Turkey returns to war with the Kurdish PKK
According to the Kurdish Rudaw news agency, Turkish airstrikes against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets destroyed a health clinic in the Amediye district of Duhok. The clinic is said to have serviced several nearby villages. No casualties were reported.
Turkey Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu visited Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani to discuss Turkey’s plan with the United States to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). The talks took place in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
A matter of days after 54 American-trained moderate Syrian Rebel Army fighters reported for duty, the New York Times reports that the commander of the unit plus seven of his fighters—including his second-in-command—have been kidnapped by the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda franchise, while they were returning from a meeting in Turkey.
A Turkish national whistleblower known on Twitter only under the alias Fuat Avni is claiming that the Suruç suicide bombing attributed to the Islamic State (ISIL/ISIS) was planned by the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to allow for military action against Kurds. While the account is anonymous and provides no corroborating evidence, it has sufficient following to provoke a loud national response.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is currently in Beijing, where he met with President Xi Jinping on Wednesday and called for the expansion of bilateral trade. While Chinese state media attempted to make trade the center of the meeting, the international community watched for signs of tension between the two nations given Turkey’s support of China’s Uyghur minority.
The Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi, took to Twitter on Tuesday to condemn the Turkish government for participating in a “dangerous escalation” of violence against Kurdish targets in northern Iraq, after announcing they would limit their attacks to creating an “anti-ISIS” zone in the Syrian heartland.
As James T. Areddy at the Wall Street Journal tells it, the Chinese military was deeply troubled by the role a supposedly U.S.-dominated Internet played in destabilizing other despotic governments and warned Beijing could be next. The warning described the Internet as “a new form of global control” and the United States as a “shadow” hovering behind various uprisings.
An Assyrian Christian militia group has asked NATO to stop Turkey from attacking Syria, since the military is shelling the Kurdish militia People’s Protection Unit (YPG). The YPG, and its female counterpart the YPJ, are seen by many in the region as the last line of defense from the Islamic State.
Discussing Turkey’s recent military action in Syria and Iraq, CNN quotes Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blaming the Western world for creating ISIS by failing to remove Bashar Assad from power in Syria–a long-standing strategic objective of the Turks.
