The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) issued a statement in “strong solidarity” with Turkey following that nation’s emergency meeting to address a new anti-terrorism campaign against the Islamic State and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has stretched out of Ankara as far as northern Iraq in less than a week.
Australia’s ABC News reports on dictator Bashar al-Assad’s “remarkably frank assessment of the strains affecting the Syrian military.” Assad used his first public address in a year to admit he has lost control of a good deal of his country, and is digging in to defend what his regime has left.
The Turkish government announced at the end of last week that it would begin an airstrike campaign in Syria, in tandem with the United States, to create an “ISIL-free zone” in the war-torn nation, following an Islamic State bombing within Turkish territory. Turkey has rapidly expanded its operations to focus more on its Kurdish enemies than ISIS, with reports that Turkey is far outside the “ISIL-free zone” bombing Kurdish positions in Iraq.
In light of the PKK’s recent string of assassinations of police officers, it is unethical and naive to think that the US should unconditionally support any and all Kurdish entities as a counter-balance to radical Islamism.
Contents: US military says China is lying about its artificial islands; China state TV shows mock military attack on Taiwan; China faces nightmare political scenario with stock market plunge; Turkey-US ‘ISIS-free zone’ in Syria becomes increasingly controversial
A Western official told The Guardian that evidence seized at the compound of Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) leader, proved indisputable links between the terrorist group and the Turkish government.
More than 850 suspects have been arrested in anti-terrorist operations across Turkey, launched against members of the outlawed Kurdistan’s Workers Party (PKK) and Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), Daily Sabah reports.
The Syrian Kurdish YPG/YPJ–or People’s Protection Units–issued a statement on Monday condemning Turkish airstrikes on strategic Kurdish posts. The Turkish government announced a new campaign, accompanied by the United States, against the Islamic State in Syria, but the Kurds and anti-Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) Syrian militant claim they are the real targets of the campaign.
The President of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government, Masoud Barzani, has appeared to take the side of the Turkish government regarding recently launched airstrikes against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), calling the U.S.-designated terrorist group “arrogant” and praising Turkey for taking a “positive” role in attempting peace talks with the PKK.
Contents: Syria’s Bashar al-Assad admits that regime army is in decline; Al-Assad announces general amnesty for Syria’s army deserters; Turkey invokes Nato article 4 with ‘territorial integrity and security’ threatened
Contents: Thousands of pro-Kurd demonstrators march in Paris; Turkey – PKK ‘peace process’ threatened by new Turkish war policy; Turkey bombs ISIS targets in northern Syria to set up ‘safe zone’; Arab News: Turkey is lying about the attack in Suruç
The Turkish government has faced strong criticism, including criticism from its own Kurdish citizens, for not doing enough to fight ISIS and help Kurds in Syria. A massive suicide bombing attributed to ISIS earlier this week greatly exacerbated these tensions.
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Turkish Muslim televangelist Ahmet Mahmut Ünlü issued a fatwa to kill any militant associated with the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). “If you run across them, slaughter them like you fight with the people of Ad and İrem [two places destroyed by God],” he wrote. “Those who kill them will be awarded and those who are killed by them will be martyrs.”
The Turkish government briefly blocked Twitter on Wednesday to prevent users from accessing images of Monday’s grizzly suicide terrorist bombing, which left 32 dead and wounded at least 100 other innocent civilians.
Contents: Turkey’s politics become vitriolic after Suruç massacre; In major reversal, Turkey will let US use Incirlik to fight ISIS in Syria; Turkish soldier killed by ISIS in first gunfight across Syrian border
On Wednesday, Kurdish militants allegedly shot two Turkish police officers, asleep in a shared residence on the Syrian border, they believed were collaborating with ISIS. The shooting has inflamed already dangerous tensions between Kurds and the Turkish government.
On Thursday, Turkey agreed to allow the US military to use an airbase to strike the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Syria. The news comes only a few days after a horrific suicide bombing in Suruc, which is just across the border from Kobane.
Contents: Riots and violence across Turkey after Monday’s suicide bombing in Suruç; PKK kills 2 Turkish police officers in retaliation for Suruç blast; Syria’s war comes to Turkey after Monday’s terror attack on Suruç; Greece’s parliament approves European lender reform demands
The Center for Research on Globalization, a Canada-based research group that claims to be “committed to curbing the tide of globalisation and disarming the new world order,” has released an alleged interview with a Turkish nurse who claims to have worked in a clandestine Turkish hospital for wounded ISIS jihadists run by the daughter of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
New details are emerging about Monday’s suicide bombing in southeastern Turkey, including the allegation that the Turkish government had intelligence warning about the attack. The explosion took place in the town of Suruc, which is across the border from the Syrian town of Kobani. Both towns are major centers for the region’s Kurdish minority.
Contents: Kurds blame Erdogan for ISIS terrorist attack in southeastern Turkey; Philippines reinforces grounded ship to challenge China in South China Sea
An explosion on Turkey’s border with Syria, allegedly executed by ISIS, killed at least 31 people on Monday. “We are concerned that the number of death will increase. The perpetrators will soon be found and put on trial,” Turkey’s interior minister said in a statement.
The Turkish government has chosen not to convict a pair of Chechen Islamists on murder charges after they beheaded three Christian priests.
Despite recent gains in national elections, Kurds in Turkey are threatening strikes against the country’s dam construction sites in Kurdish territory in the southeast. A statement from the Union of Kurdistan Communities, known by the acronym KCK, said that the construction project is primarily military in nature and, therefore, violates the ceasefire the group negotiated with the government.
