A plethora of NGOs and civil society groups have demanded that Turkey release two British journalists, along with their driver and translator, who were imprisoned on Thursday for “engaging in acts on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIS).
The Turkish government quickly denied a report that stated authorities provided information to al-Qaeda group Nusra Front about U.S.-trained Syrian fighters. The al-Qaeda members kidnapped the fighters as soon as they crossed into Syria.
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.
Two people, believed to be members of the radical left-wing militant group in Turkey known as the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), were arrested for allegedly launching an attack on Wednesday with guns and explosives near the prime minister’s palace in Istanbul.
Over 242 people left portions of Hakkari province due to intense fighting between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Turkish forces.
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.
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.
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.
The U.S.-Turkey coalition appears already in trouble, even before American F-16s take to the Syrian skies out of Turkey to fly anti-ISIS missions. The Turkish military allegedly only gave Americans ten minutes to leave the site of an imminent airstrike on alleged PKK territory in Iraq.
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.
Contents: Wave of violent terrorist attacks strike across Turkey; Vladimir Putin increasingly trapped as Russia’s GDP plunges 4.6%; Europe’s bond yields go negative
On Monday, the U.S. consulate in Turkey was attacked by two female assailants, for reasons as yet unclear.
The Turkish government’s anti-terrorism campaign, initially advertised as a campaign to destroy the Islamic State terrorist group, has killed hundreds of members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and left the terror group significantly diminished, as its imprisoned leader calls for peace talks.
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.
Members of the Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey recently traveled to Iraqi Kurdistan to inspect Turkey’s airstrike against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). At the same time, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev expressed doubt Turkey has attacked the PKK camps.
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.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PPK) terrorist group’s leadership has called upon the United States to intervene and encourage the Turkish government to engage in peace talks with the Kurdish group, in the hopes of ending the air campaign Turkey is waging against them while claiming to be fighting the Islamic State (ISIS).
Contents: As Iran rises in the Mideast, Kurds benefit in Iraq and Syria; Saudi Arabia suffers deadliest terrorism attack in years; Puerto Rico default triggers selloff in municipal bond funds
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 general who presides over the Turkish armed forces is expected to be replaced by the current commander of land forces, who is expected to be more hawkish in combating the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), reports Al Monitor.
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.
The Turkish government has denied that it has targeted civilians in its airstrikes against the Islamic State and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Syria and Iraq. Kurdish officials in bot the PKK and Iraqi Kurdistan have condemned the deaths of civilians in Turkish attacks.
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.
Contents: Big losses expected Monday when Greece’s stock market reopens; Puerto Rico to default on Tuesday; Venezuela’s collapsing economy receives $5 billion from China; Venezuela in border dispute with Guyana; Turkey returns to war with the Kurdish PKK
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.
Turkey Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu visited Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani to discuss Turkey’s plan with the United States to defeat the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL). The talks took place in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
