A suicide bomb attack struck a busy shopping district in Istanbul on Saturday, killing 5 and wounding 36 at the time of this writing. No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack as of yet, but Turkish officials say the most likely suspects would be either Kurdish militants aligned with the separatist PKK party, or minions of the Islamic State.
Kurds will combine three Kurdish-led autonomous areas in northern Syria into a federal system, Kurdish officials have announced.
A militant group linked to the communist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the United States considers a terrorist group, has claimed responsibility for carrying out the suicide car-bomb attack that killed 37 people in the Turkish capital.
Turkey bombed camps in Iraq belonging to Kurdish separatists of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on Monday, after declaring the PKK complicit in last weekend’s devastating car bomb attack on Ankara.
The Turkish government has made increasingly confident declarations of responsibility for the deadly Ankara car bomb attack this weekend, which is now said to have killed at least 37 people.
A Turkish court has issued a gag order, banning Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets following a bombing in the capital, Ankara, which killed 37 people and injured dozens others.
Contents: Yet another terrorist bombing in Ankara Turkey kills 34; AQIM takes credit for armed terror attack on Ivory Coast beach resort
Turkish warplanes struck against Kurdish militant camps in northern Iraq on Monday after 37 people were killed in an Ankara car bombing that security officials said involved a female fighter of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Sunday’s attack, tearing through
The death toll is mounting by the hour from a car bomb attack on a bus stop in Ankara, Turkey. As of 5:00 PM Eastern time on Sunday, there were at least 32 fatalities, plus 75 wounded.
The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which controls large swaths of northern Syria, must refrain from supporting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey, warned U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Most reporting on the Syrian Kurds depicts them as fairly unified behind their Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia against the menace of the Islamic State. In truth, there are Kurdish opposition parties, and they have been complaining about the PYD using heavy-handed tactics to suppress them.
The Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and rebel opposition forces are reportedly fighting each other in the small Syrian town of Marea, north of Aleppo.
Turkey has refused entreaties from the U.S., France, and Russia to halt its shelling of Kurdish positions in Syria. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended the artillery strikes as self-defense against a terrorist threat, continuing his effort to link the Syrian Kurdish militia to Kurdish separatists in Turkey and blame them for the Ankara bombing.
Contents: Latest Syria peace plan officially fails; Shifting alliances across the Mideast
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intensified his denunciation of the Syrian Kurdish militia as “terrorists” responsible for this week’s Ankara bombing, and called on the U.S. to renounce support for the Kurds. The U.S. government refused these demands and said it would continue supporting Kurdish forces against the Islamic State in Syria.
Contents: Six Turkish soldiers killed in explosion a day after Ankara attack; New terrorist attacks cause further splits in US-Turkey relationship; Russia’s attacks on civilian hospitals in Aleppo follow the ‘Grozny model’
Turkey launched airstrikes against Kurds in northern Iraq overnight, as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claimed the terrorist who carried out Wednesday’s deadly bomb attack in Ankara was linked to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, a vital U.S. ally in the war against the Islamic State.
Contents: Car bomb attack on military in Ankara Turkey kills 28; Erdogan slams US, UN policy, renews demand by Syria ‘safe zone’
The volatile situation in Syria took a dangerous turn over the weekend, as Turkey began shelling Kurdish YPG militia forces in Syria, the same militia America has been relying upon as frontline ground forces against the Islamic State. Turkey is also a U.S. ally and a member of NATO.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan unleashed a furious rant against the United States on Wednesday, holding America responsible for the “sea of blood” spilled in Syria, and supporting other terrorist organizations while it focused too intently on defeating the Islamic State.
Turkey summoned the American ambassador a day after the U.S. Department of State indicated that Washington does not recognize the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) that controls large swathes of northern Syria as terrorists.
Ecuador is sending mixed messages to Turkey – summoning its ambassador in Quito in protest, while also formally apologizing – after Turkish security attacked female protesters and a socialist lawmaker attending a speech by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the South American capital.
A delegation from the international coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), led by an Obama administration envoy, reportedly told Kurds in northern Syria that they have a “right” to an autonomous region during a recent visit to the country.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed Russia sent weapons to the Iraqi Kurds to fight against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).
An AFP-Reuters report on Tuesday highlighted the difficulty of getting Syria’s many warring factions together for U.N.-brokered peace talks, as many of the parties involved consider the presence of other parties to be non-starters. Turkey, for example, has announced that it strongly opposes participation by Kurdish groups.
Hurriyet Daily News offers a remarkable tour of the urban battlefield between Turkey and the PKK, as Turkish tanks and infantry roll through the ruins of the southeastern city of Cizre, a majority-Kurdish city that has long been at the center of the conflict between Kurdish separatists and the Turkish government.
Vice President Joe Biden met with Turkish leaders in Istanbul over the weekend, asking for more Turkish help against the Islamic State and offering to assist with border security, while supporting Turkey’s campaign against the Kurdish separatists of the PKK. The Vice President’s remarks illustrated the delicate balance act between Turkey, Syria, Iraq, ISIS, and the Kurds.
“The Turkish government’s onslaught on Kurdish towns and neighborhoods, which includes round-the-clock curfews and cuts to services, is putting the lives of up to 200,000 people at risk and amounts to collective punishment,” Amnesty International said this week about the clash between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), particularly its militant youth wing, the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement (YDG-H).
In the long-delayed final act of a story from last summer, Turkey has released VICE News journalist Mohammed Ismael Rasool on bail.
Turkey’s Kurdish population is demanding self-rule days after continued violence has killed many Turkish soldiers and Kurdish militants.
Selahattin Demirtaş, the head of the pro-Kurdish opposition party in Turkey, will visit Moscow this week to speak to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and open a satellite office for his party. The meeting follows a tense several weeks in which Turkey and Russia have all but severed their diplomatic ties.
To the extent the fight abroad surfaced as a topic, however, a common refrain reared its head, leaving many questions unanswered: “we should arm the Kurds.”
The brother of Abdullah Ocalan, the head of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), claims Iraqi Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani turned down two opportunities to meet with the Kurdish guerrilla chief while visiting Ankara, Turkey to discuss the fight against the Islamic State.
Turkey claimed it would not remove troops already in Iraq, but agreed not to send more as it continued to work with the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).
A Russian soldier crossed Istanbul’s Bosporus aboard a warship, waving around a surface-to-air missile launcher, an action the Turkish government condemned and has branded “provocative.”
While nominally working against a common enemy—the Islamic State (ISIS)—the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a U.S.-designated terrorist group, has occupied a number of Christian Assyrian villages in Iraq. The Marxist group has also invaded a home owned by a commander of the anti-ISIS Christian militia Dwekh Nawsha.
Fighting has erupted between allegedly allied anti-Islamic State groups in Aleppo, Syria, killing over 20 people in the past two days.
Contents: Russia and Turkey move closer to the brink of war; Turkish analysis of downing of Russian warplane; Quote without comment
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended Turkey’s defense of its airspace Tuesday evening after Ankara fighter jets shot down a Russian SU-24 warplane earlier in the day, with the Turkish leader claiming that the military was unable to identify the jet that was violating the country’s sovereignty.
Before an international incident that involved Turkey shooting down a Russian fighter jet Tuesday morning, which purportedly violated Turkish airspace several times, Ankara’s forces were also engaged in attacks against Kurdish revolutionary forces in the southeast of the country.
