PKK - Page 3

Contents: Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board overwhelmed by migrants crossing border from US; Turkey achieves victory in Afrin, Syria, but Kurds threaten guerilla war

A fistfight erupted on the floor of the Turkish parliament on Tuesday following the passage of a controversial election law, which critics denounced as a means for the ruling party to rig elections and make effective political opposition all but impossible.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu confirmed on Thursday that Ankara is preparing for a new military operation in Iraq, backed by the government in Baghdad, against the Marxist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorist group.

Contents: US-backed Kurds stop fighting ISIS in order to fight Turkey in Afrin; Reports of Free Syrian Army atrocities on Kurds in Afrin; Mahmoud Abbas may step down as Palestinian Authority president

Contents: Turkey suffers military setback in ‘Operation Olive Branch’ in Afrin Syria; Turkey doubles down on Afrin-Manbij operation, despite US opposition

Contents: Russia’s ‘humanitarian pause’ in Syria turns into farce on first day; Report: North Korea is selling chemical weapons supplies to Syria; Areas of control in Syria and Iraq

HAMOURIA, Syria — A heavy bombardment killed at least 100 civilians, 20 of them children, in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta on Monday, as regime forces appeared to be preparing for an imminent ground assault.

The fuse may be lit on a major new crisis in war-torn Syria, as Turkish forces and their local allies push deeper into Syrian territory and threaten Manbij, a city where U.S. troops are deployed.

The Turkish government continued its crackdown on criticism of “Operation Olive Branch,” Turkey’s invasion of Syria to attack Kurdish positions, by arresting 474 people for “promoting” the Kurdistan Workers’ Party of Turkey (PKK) and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) of Syria.

Saturday morning’s violent clashes along the Israeli-Syria border between Israel on the one hand and Iran and Syrian regime forces on the other occurred against the backdrop of multiplying acts of war and violence between a seemingly endless roster of combatants.

Turkey’s “Operation Olive Branch” military incursion into Syria has been conducted in concert with the Free Syrian Army, which has helped Turkish forces take control of several villages in the Afrin region.

Ismail Kahraman, Speaker for Turkey’s National Assembly, described his country’s military incursion against the Syrian Kurds as a “jihad” over the weekend. Meanwhile, the Turkish government’s crackdown on criticism of the operation continued with over 300 new arrests.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that his forces are prepared to push all the way across Syria to the Iraqi border in their campaign against Syrian Kurdish forces, fueling fears that Turkey’s incursion will trigger a new refugee wave, and could end in a confrontation with the U.S. military.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Sunday speech on the Turkish offensive against Kurdish forces in Afrin, Syria has gotten plenty of international attention, but a curiously underreported passage found the Islamist president railing against the Kurds as “collaborators in a postmodern crusade that our region is exposed to.”

President Donald Trump held a telephone conversation with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on Wednesday afternoon in which he urged caution for Turkey’s military incursion into Syria and called for Turkey to “avoid any actions that might risk conflict between Turkish and American forces.” However, Trump appears to have stopped well short of demanding Erdogan halt the operation against Syrian Kurds.

Kurdish authorities in northeastern Syria called for a mass military mobilization on Monday as the Turkish incursion into Afrin continued, with artillery strikes expanding to other nearby cities.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Sunday afternoon the beginning of a major military offensive, bizarrely dubbed “Operation Olive Branch,” against America’s battlefield allies in Syria, the Kurdish YPG militia.

An official with Iraq’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) told reporters this week that the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga may deploy to Syria to fight the Turkish military if President Recep Tayyip Erdogan insists on “Operation Olive Branch,” the Turkish name for that nation’s invasion of Syria.

Contents: Turkey’s troops mass on border, preparing to invade northern Syria; Collapse of the Russian ‘peace process’; The growing conflagration in northwest Syria

Contents: US in Syria announces a Border Security Force to prevent repeat of Iraq withdrawal blunder; Turkey, Russia and Syria infuriated by the Border Security Force announcement

Contents: Hundreds of ISIS fighters surrender as Iraqi town of Hawija falls; Tensions grow between Turkmens and Kurds in Kirkuk

YouTube temporarily suspended the account of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, better known as the YPG, on Wednesday. The account was reactivated Thursday morning after the YPG objected to what they thought was the permanent termination of their account.

Contents: Turkey reshuffles top military leaders in preparation for action in Syria; Turkey announces plans for military action against Kurds in northern Syria

On the one-year anniversary of the failed coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it is clear that deteriorating relations with Europe and the United States are part of its legacy.

The U.S. Central Command reported on Wednesday that units of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have penetrated the Rafiqah Wall in Raqqa, a landmark barrier surrounding the Islamic State’s most heavily defended positions in the city that once served as the capital of their terror state.

Contents: In dramatic development, US warplanes smash fortified wall in Raqqa, Syria; Turkey fears double-cross from US on arms for Syrian Kurds; Concerns grow about Syrian conflict after defeat of ISIS

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed Russia defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, to Istanbul Sunday to discuss preparations for Syrian civil war “peace talks” also involving Iran and Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet is reporting that supporters of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are organizing a political party to challenge the pro-Syrian Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), whose leadership is largely in prison.

In remarks from Ankara on Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was harshly critical of the U.S. arrest warrants for twelve of his bodyguards.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the upcoming referendum on Kurdish independence on Iraq “wrong” and “a threat to the territorial integrity of Iraq,” despite his country’s friendly ties with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Many members of the Yazidi minority group in northern Iraq who had been recruited by the U..S.-designated terror group Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to defend their territory against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) are now joining an Iran-allied Shiite paramilitary group trying to capture more territory in the war-ravaged Middle Eastern country.

The head of Syria’s Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), Salih Muslim, says the United States has denied him a visa to enter the country for the first time during President Trump’s era, despite the Trump administration’s decision to provide the PYD’s armed forces with weapons to fight the Islamic State (ISIS).

Turkey summoned U.S. ambassador John Bass in Ankara on Monday to complain about “aggressive and unprofessional” actions taken by American security personnel against Turkish bodyguards in Washington D.C. last week.

Turkey is doubling down on its animosity toward the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, promising it is ready to conduct military operations against the YPG if provoked and demanding the removal of a U.S. envoy for supporting the Kurds.

Contents: Washington shocked as Turkey’s security forces attack peaceful protesters; Turkey’s Erdogan leaves empty-handed from meeting with Trump

Contents: Syria’s Bashar al-Assad accused of burning thousands of political opponents in crematorium; Final push to expel ISIS from Raqqa, Syria, to begin in June