Turkey has arrested upwards of 1,000 more suspects linked to the Kurdish PKK than to the Islamic State (ISIS) or Al Qaeda since the July bombing of a meeting of Kurdish socialist youth in Suruç, despite declaring war on ISIS following that incident.
A round of Russian air strikes on the ISIS-free province of Latakia reportedly killed Basil Zimmo, a brigade commander in the U.S.-aligned “moderate” Free Syrian Army, along with a number of civilians.
For decades Turkey has adopted a policy of pawning off its Kurdish problem on Europe. Indeed since the 1960s waves of Kurdish migrants and refugees made their way to the European mainland. Now, a senior European Union (EU) source has
A Finnish journalist has been accused by pro-Turkish government media of being linked to the terrorist group Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) after asking Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whether or not he is a dictator, as some have claimed.
Turkey has grown increasingly vocal, and even belligerent, in criticizing the Kurds and U.S. military support for their cause in Syria and Iraq. The situation took a disturbing turn when Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu threatened to attack Kurdish fighters in Syria, if they are found to be passing American weapons back to Kurdish insurgents in Syria.
Iraqi and Kurdish officials have met to plan the long-delayed Battle of Mosul, an effort to push ISIS out of the city they have been using as their base of operations in Iraq.
A Turkish court has demanded all media stop covering the investigation into the October 10 bombing of a peace rally in Ankara, the deadliest terrorist attack in post-Ottoman Turkish history.
Ömer Çelik, a senior official in the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, warned Wednesday that “Kurdish militia in northern Syria appeared intent on creating a de facto zone of control in the region.”
Turkish media is reporting the first arrests directly in relation to Saturday’s twin bombings in the capital, Ankara: two suspected members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who tweeted about the event before it occurred.
Turkey is banning relatives of those killed or wounded in Saturday’s twin bombing of a peace protest in Ankara from assembling and protesting the government, citing “sensitivities at this time.”
Contents: Turkey blames ISIS for Saturday’s massacre as anti-government anger grows; Turkey is seen as increasingly unstable after massacre
Nationalist Turks living in Germany have threatened to boycott a drugstore chain because one of its outlets is raising funds for the Kurdish community. The local branch of “dm” in Troisdorft, near Cologne, is planning to hold what is known
Contents: Massive terror attack in Ankara called worst in Turkey’s history; Kurdish politicians in Turkey blame Erdogan government for Ankara terror attack
Russia’s military excursion into Syria has driven estranged partners Turkey and the European Union to try to make amends, further isolating the Syrian Kurds, reports Rudaw, citing analysts.
Residents in Şırnak, Turkey, are expressing outrage after a video and images surfaced on the Internet, showing Turkish soldiers dragging a Kurdish man through their streets.
The leader of the Kurdish YPG militia – the indispensable ground forces that have been holding the Islamic State at bay – reportedly welcomed the Russian bombing campaign, calling it “an important step” in the battle against ISIS.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Iraq report this week that they have made significant gains against ISIS near Kirkuk, a northern oil city about an hour and a half south of the Kurdish capital of Erbil. This news follows reports that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has fled northern Mosul south to Ramadi.
Kurdish leader Saleh Muslim argued this week that the overthrow of Bashar Assad’s brutal regime in Syria would be a disaster for the entire world.
Kurdish forces are attempting to cut off the route often taken by foreigners wishing to link up with the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) terror group and join its Middle East jihad.
Hundreds of attacks by Turkish nationalist mobs on Kurdish-friendly parties, Kurdish businesses, and even knowing Kurdish individuals in the wake of the nation’s struggle against the Marxist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terror group threaten the peaceful coexistence of Turks and Kurds, leaders warn.
Lt. General Vincent Stewart, head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said on Thursday that he feared Iraq and Syria might never recover from the Islamic State invasion, Syrian civil war, and related stress factors. “I’m having a tough time seeing it come back together,” Stewart confessed, as quoted by the Associated Press.
During a week in which the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet has fought off three violent mobs at two of its headquarters, a rival columnist supportive of Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has threatened the life of Hurriyet writer Ahmet Hakan, noting that the AKP has “been merciful today and you are still alive,” but that can always change.
Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper has suffered a second, bolder attack on headquarters in both Istanbul and Ankara, following an attack earlier this week in which Islamists broke office doors with stones and sticks, while yelling, “Allahu akbar.”
The head of Turkey’s People’s Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtaş, stated this week that his Kurdish-friendly party had experienced more than 400 attacks by Islamists and Turkish nationalists in the last two days.
Contents: Egypt’s army starts ‘The Martyr’s Right’ operation in North Sinai; Turkey’s troops enter northern Iraq to hunt PKK after terror attacks; Violence spreads in cities across Turkey; Pro-government mobs in Turkey storm Hurriyet offices for alleged Erdogan misquote; Turkey appears to be approaching civil war.
No sooner did the Turkish government release two British reporters for Vice News, arrested while covering clashes between police and the militant youth wing of the Kurdish PKK party, than they arrested a Dutch reporter working in the Kurdish region of Turkey.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Marxist terror group, has claimed 31 Turkish soldiers were killed in the latest clashes with national authorities, a death toll Turkey denies. Violence continues unabated in PKK-controlled areas, as Turkey’s government vows to eradicate the Kurdish group.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered an angry speech on Thursday condemning Europe and “the West” for its responsibility in creating the migrant crisis currently consuming Europe, accusing Western countries of turning the Mediterranean Sea into a “graveyard.”
Former CIA director and retired Army general David Petraeus is suggesting America should team up with al-Qaeda to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
According to the Kurdish news agency Rudaw, two unknown gunmen carried out a hit-and-run attack on the Islamic State’s radio station in Mosul this weekend.
ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) – Kurdish forces attacked Islamic State insurgents in a cluster of villages in Iraq’s northern province of Kirkuk on Wednesday, bent on securing territory they have gained in the course of rolling back the jihadists since last
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told Reuters the government and the U.S. agreed on a “comprehensive” air operations against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) on the border of Syria. However, U.S. officials denied any agreement took place.
Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News sent some reporters to tour the Silvan district of Diyarbakir province in southeastern Turkey on Friday, after two days of fighting between Kurdish PKK separatists (or, more precisely, their “youth wing,” the YDG-H) and Turkish security forces.
A recent report by the Iraqi parliament blamed former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for losing the vital city of Mosul to the Islamic State, going so far as to recommend criminal charges against Maliki and his colleagues.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) declared an autonomous region in the Dersim province on Tuesday. The PKK is a Marxist-Lenin group and noted as a terrorist organization by the U.S., EU, and NATO.
The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) has released its first Turkish-language video, a fiery rant by an unidentified graybeard surrounded by the usual armed thugs in which the Turkish people are urged to reject democracy, overthrow the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, fight the United States, and do everything they can to assist the Islamic State and its “Caliph,” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The United States has announced that its Patriot defensive missile batteries will be pulled from Turkey and “redeployed” to the U.S. this fall, ostensibly to receive “critical modernization upgrades” following a “review of global missile defense posture,” as the U.S. Embassy in Turkey put it.
Senior U.S. officials believe the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) deployed mustard gas against Kurdish fighters this week in what would be the first confirmed use of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) by the terror state. There were also reports last month of possible chlorine gas deployment by ISIS in Iraq, but those reports have not yet been confirmed, and Reuters points out that “chlorine is not a banned chemical agent.”
The United States believes Islamic State militants likely used mustard agent in an attack on Kurdish forces in Iraq earlier this week, the first indication the militant group has obtained a banned chemical weapon, the Wall Street Journal reported on
Two days after American F-16s arrived at Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base, authorities are confirming that manned American airstrikes are being conducted from Turkey into Syria, the first time since the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) that such activity has occurred. The arrival of American troops to Syrian skies follows confusion regarding whether Turkey and the United States have agreed to create a “buffer zone” free of jihadis and Kurds in Syria.
