Turkey - Page 53

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan marked the one-year anniversary of the attempt to overthrow him by dedicating a monument to those killed during the July 2016 coup, and promising to “rip the heads off” the traitors who perpetrated it.

Turkey on Saturday marked one year since the defeat of the failed coup bid with mass nationwide rallies and a stern warning by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to “chop off the heads” of traitors.

On Friday, the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C. held a press conference to observe the one year anniversary of the failed coup that left nearly 250 people dead and thousands more injured.

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.

Turkey and the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in northern Syria, both considered U.S. allies, have accused one another of firing first in recent weeks, claiming each has been forced to retaliate.

Turkey will observe the anniversary of a failed coup attempt against Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with nationwide “Democracy Watch” marches beginning at midnight on July 15. The government has scheduled events to commemorate the occasion all week, however, including art exhibits, memorial debuts, and a speech from Erdogan.

A Turkish nightclub has canceled an event marketed as a celebration of the failed 2016 coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, billed as a “Democracy Party” and encouraging patrons to wear the colors of the Turkish flag, red and white.

Contents: Turkey threatens the Kurds in Afrin, Syria, with Operation Euphrates Sword; Turkey’s assault on Afrin may jeopardize the battle in Raqqa

Turkey’s Syriac Orthodox Church, one of the world’s most ancient Christian communities and considered the oldest indigenous minority in Turkey, reportedly fears extinction under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s hardline Islamist rule.

Turkey’s secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP) concluded its “Justice March” from Ankara to Istanbul – a 280-mile stretch – Sunday evening, demanding freedom for those imprisoned following last year’s failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the ceasefire and “de-escalation” plan announced by U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin should include all of Syria, not just the southwestern region of the country.

Contents: Iraqi forces are just ‘tens of meters’ away from retaking Mosul from ISIS; Recapturing Mosul from ISIS leaves the future of Iraq in question

Islamic militants attacked a remote Egyptian army outpost in the Sinai Peninsula with a suicide car bomb and heavy machine gun fire on Friday, killing at least 23 soldiers in the deadliest attack in the turbulent region in two years.

As we contemplate the fallout from CNN’s effort to hunt down and intimidate the creator of a ten-second comedy video, let us note that people have been jailed around the world for social media posts. Here’s what happens when governments and cyber-vigilantes start deciding that certain “hateful” individuals no longer deserve the privilege of online anonymity.

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) denied numerous reports circulating this week that it had ejected the Turkish government from its online database following an attempt to brand tens of thousands of citizens believed to support Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen criminals.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The European Parliament has advised the European Union to freeze accession talks with Turkey amid growing concerns over the country’s human rights and democracy. Turkey rejected Thursday’s move, calling it an attempt to “sabotage” relations with

Contents: Russian-led Syria peace talks collapse in Astana, Kazakhstan; The four de-escalation zones; Is the end of the Syrian war in sight?

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.

According to a Turkish media report, Interpol blocked Turkey from accessing its criminal database after the Turks uploaded about 60,000 individuals wanted for the “crime” of having connections to exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, one-time friend and now arch-enemy of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The hardline administration of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confiscated 50 properties from one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, the Syriac Orthodox Church, arguing that their ownership deeds had lapsed, Al-Monitor reports, citing church and Christian community leaders.

The Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ) have warned that consistent threats from Turkey, which claims to also be fighting the Islamic State in Syria, “have reached the level of a declaration of war,” threatening to derail the ISIS fight just as the YPG have surrounded its “capital,” Raqqa.

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

Contents: Saudi Arabia extends sanctions deadline for two days; Saudi Arabia and UAE threaten Qatar with additional sanctions; North Korea launches another ballistic missile

One of the most wanted Palestinian terrorists, believed by Israeli intelligence to have planned the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in the summer of 2014, has moved to Lebanon after being expelled last month from Qatar.

The female founder of a new “liberal” mosque in Berlin has found herself under 24-hour police protection after receiving over a hundred death threats.

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.

Qatar, Sudan, and Turkey are supporting terrorism in war-ravaged Libya, considered a breeding ground for jihadists, according to a spokesman for the Libyan army.

Despite efforts by individual nations and the European Union to get to grips with the migrant crisis, nearly 100,000 people crossed the Mediterranean in the first half of 2017.

TEL AVIV – Following Tuesday’s strikes from Israel’s Air Force into Gaza in response to rocket fire, the Gulf press has come out in an attack of Hamas and said the nations supporting it were using Palestinian lives in as pawns to divert attention from their own countries.

U.S. special envoy for the coalition against the Islamic State Brett McGurk arrived in Ankara, Turkey, Friday to discuss the ongoing battle for Raqqa. Turkey, which recently called for McGurk’s firing, has increasingly engaged in attacks against the U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ).

BERLIN (AP) – Germany is clamping down on election rallies by foreign officials following a spat with Turkey ahead of that country’s constitutional referendum. Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer says all embassies were informed Friday that they will have to

BERLIN (AFP) – Germany said Thursday it had rejected a request by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to address ethnic Turks in Germany next week on the sidelines of a G20 summit.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s foreign minister says Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has asked permission to hold a rally to address Turks in Germany on the sidelines of the upcoming G-20 meeting in Hamburg, a request that could further inflame

The Kurdish news outlet Rudaw and Turkish network Haberturk are reporting that members of the Syrian Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG/YPJ) and the Turkish military have exchanged fire in northwest Syria.

The UK-based NGO Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported this week that the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed Kurdish-Arab coalition, has taken back a quarter of the city of Raqqa from the Islamic State.

Contents: Hezbollah’s Nasrallah makes delusional speech about ‘foreign fighters’ attacking Israel; Saudis report close relationships between Hezbollah and Qatar; How to do a generational analysis of the Mideast.