Kurds - Page 19

For the first time since Turkey declared it had launched a military campaign to create an “ISIS-free zone” in Syria following the terror attack in Suruç, Turkey, the Islamic State has initiated a new, alarmingly successful offensive near the Turkish border.

A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter named Mamend Rasul claims that, while he was off fighting against ISIS, serving as a company commander, a force supported by the Western powers and heavily relied upon to keep the rapacious terror state in check, Turkish F-16s bombed the Iraqi village of Zergaly where his family lived, killing his 63-year-old sister, 61-year-old brother, and a cousin.

As mentioned last week, President Obama’s desultory attempt to influence the bloody chaos in Syria with a mere handful of U.S.-trained and equipped Syrian rebels brought contempt and stunned disbelief from across the Arab world.

Six American F-16 jets have arrived at Incirlik air base in Turkey, following the Turkish government’s agreement to allow U.S. planes to fly bombing runs against ISIS from their air fields. Last week saw the first strike missions carried out by drones, which were flying unarmed reconnaissance from Incirlik prior to Turkey’s change in policy.

Another violent encounter between Kurdish PKK militants and Turkish police was reported on Friday, leaving two dead and 10 wounded in the town of Silopi near the Syrian border. In another sign of escalating violence, an affiliate of the PKK in Iran claimed responsibility for killing 20 Iranian soldiers in an attack on a military outpost.

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.

Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government is striving to contain what has grown into a significant drug abuse problem among its population, pushing the limits of both law enforcement and medical care facilities in accommodating criminals and those who need help fighting their addictions.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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: 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.

Contents: Turkey’s warplanes bomb ISIS and PKK strongholds in Syria; Commodities and world trade plunge, signaling stock market decline; China’s stock market partially ‘recovers’ after destruction

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.

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

Contents: Kurds blame Erdogan for ISIS terrorist attack in southeastern Turkey; Philippines reinforces grounded ship to challenge China in South China Sea

ISIS has had a complicated relationship with poultry. Back in April, they were reportedly snatching boxes of frozen chicken away from starving people and burning them, because the chicken allegedly failed to meet the caliphate’s religious dietary standards. Now the UK Daily Mail reports that ISIS is conscripting chickens into service as suicide bombers.

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.

As the Syrian Kurdish army, the YPG and YPJ, continues its fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), a battalion of fighters’ mothers man the kitchens and galleys ensuring their armies do not go hungry.

Turkey would struggle to cope with a new influx of refugees from Syria’s civil war, and many of them would likely end up trying to get into Europe, Turkey’s EU Affairs minister warned in comments published on Friday. Turkey is

A new report unveils the effectiveness of the Islamic State’s new fanatical murder squads, shooting anyone with a “more attractive and compelling vision” who happens to come into range.

Turkmen groups in western Syria, close to the border with Turkey, are working to create an independent militia to combat both the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and any advances made by the Kurdish YPG forces, which have been the only group to enjoy success in keeping ISIS from sweeping through Syria’s border towns.