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BFP Exclusive: Turkish Power Struggle Impedes NATO’s Campaign in Syria

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By Christoph Germann | March 29, 2014
Gülen Movement Determined to Topple Erdoğan at All Costs

0329_CGPostSince the end of last year, Turkey has been engulfed in a spectacular power struggle between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the shadowy network of self-described “imam, preacher, and civil society activist” Fethullah Gülen. Due to the help of his friends in Langley, like for example Graham Fuller and Morton Abramowitz [1], Gülen managed to build a multi-billion dollar movement with millions of followers and a presence in 150 countries.[2]

The Gülen movement, also known as Hizmet, used its considerable influence in Turkey to launch an all-out attack on former ally Erdoğan at the end of last year, after the Turkish Prime Minister had fallen out of favor with Gülen and Washington.[3] When last December’s corruption scandal failed to bring down the government, Hizmet tried to discredit Erdoğan by exposing his role in supporting terrorism. At the end of last year, Gülen’s mouthpiece Today’s Zaman started to highlight the connection between Saudi terrorist financier Yasin al-Qadi and the AKP government as well as the Erdoğan family.[4] Although al-Qadi’s activities in Turkey had been known for years, Hizmet spared no efforts to highlight the al-Qadi-Erdoğan connection in the media but, as discussed previously, the coverage ignored a few important points:

“Gülen-controlled media have publicized much of this in last few days but they will not dare to mention that al-Qadi is a Gladio B operative who had previously the backing of Fethullah Gülen and that he took part in the now infamous pre-9/11 meetings at the U.S. embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, where illustrious characters like Bandar bin Sultan and Ayman al-Zawahiri showed up. After all, the Gülen movement itself plays a central role in the Pentagon’s Operation Gladio B.”[5]

This also explains why Yasin al-Qadi could continue to conduct business with impunity in Turkey, Azerbaijan and other countries despite funding Ptech Inc. and ending up on several terrorist lists. The “terrorist” label, which had been removed in the meantime, is now being applied again and al-Qadi’s friend Erdoğan faces the same problem. Other terrorist supporters like the former U.S. Ambassadors to Turkey, Morton Abramowitz and Eric Edelman, who are featured in Sibel Edmonds’ State Secrets Privilege Gallery along with Graham Fuller, emphasized that Erdoğan’s days are over.[6] So Hizmet has resorted to drastic measures in order to topple the disgraced Turkish Prime Minister.

2014 started with a bombshell. Utilizing their enormous influence in the Turkish police, Gülen’s followers stopped a truck carrying weapons and ammunition on its way to Syria. The truck was escorted by members of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and allegedly hired by the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH).[7] İHH has a long history of supporting terrorists in accordance with U.S. foreign policy from Afghanistan to Bosnia and Chechnya.[8] Given Turkey’s key role in the NATO-GCC-Israel campaign to remove the Syrian government, this arms shipment is hardly surprising. What makes this incident so remarkable is that this campaign and Turkey’s involvement were exposed by the Gülen movement, which is otherwise supporting NATO’s war in Syria. The Erdoğan-led government responded immediately by removing the police officers who had followed and stopped the truck in Turkey’s Hatay Province.[9] Other purges followed and by now thousands of police officers and several prosecutors have been removed or transferred in the ongoing power struggle.[10]

Hizmet subsequently focused on leaking recordings of wiretapped conversations, which highlight the corrupt and criminal activities of Erdoğan and his associates. Faced with one embarrassing leak after another, the Turkish Prime Minister turned to his former friends in Washington and asked for support. Pro-Erdoğan media alleged that he got a positive response and that Fethullah Gülen could possibly be extradited to Turkey.[11] But the White House lost no time in denying these reports and demonstrated its support of the U.S.-based Imam and his vast movement.[12] Meanwhile, the leaks continued exposing more and more explosive information:

Turkish Airlines allegedly shipped weapons to unknown groups in Nigeria, which has been ravaged by violence between the army and Boko Haram militants, a new incriminating phone call revealed on Tuesday.

The leaked conversation is the latest blow to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been hit by a corruption probe ensnaring his key allies and a widening phone-tapping scandal.[13]

Erdoğan tried to prevent the leaks from spreading via social media by banning Twitter, to no avail. Instead he drew heavy criticism from all over the world further damaging his approval ratings, which have been declining rapidly over the past months.[14] With Turkey’s local elections just a few days away, Hizmet decided to deliver a final blow. On March 27, another audio recording incriminating Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and other high-level officials was leaked:

The voices of the illegal recording believed to belong to Davutoğlu, National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Hakan Fidan, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu, and Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Gürel.[15]

According to Turkey’s Foreign Ministry, the disclosed meeting had taken place at FM Davutoğlu’s office, where the officials were discussing the security situation in Syria. But the content of the audio recording has to be taken with a grain of salt. PM Erdoğan has regularly defended himself by saying that the leaked tapes were manipulated to give a false impression [16] and, as FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds cautioned, there is some truth to this claim when it comes to the latest leak:

“The tape/audio has been heavily tampered with; if authentic, then they have taken statements/conversations from several different contexts and time frames, and then they’ve patched them together after sanitizing, censoring. For example: you don’t hear any mention of US/NATO or the Pentagon, yet they left the part with the UN in there …”

If taken at face value, the audio recording is absolutely damning, especially considering the fact that the al-Qaeda mercenaries of the NATO-GCC-Israel axis are losing ground in Syria and Turkey’s willingness to get militarily involved.[17] In order to justify an intervention in Syria, Davutoğlu & Co. allegedly discussed selling the idea that Turkey has to protect the tomb of Süleyman Shah, a historic shrine that is under Turkish jurisdiction but located inside Syria’s northern Aleppo province, from Islamist insurgents. Head of Turkish intelligence Hakan Fidan proposed staging a false flag to lend credence to this ridiculous idea:

Ahmet Davutoğlu: “Prime Minister said that in current conjuncture, this attack (on Suleiman Shah Tomb) must be seen as an opportunity for us.”

Hakan Fida: “I’ll send 4 men from Syria, if that’s what it takes. I’ll make up a cause of war by ordering a missile attack on Turkey; we can also prepare an attack on Suleiman Shah Tomb if necessary.”

Feridun Sinirlioğlu: “That’s what I told back there. For one thing, the situation is different. An operation on ISIL has solid ground on international law. We’re going to portray this is Al-Qaeda, there’s no distress there if it’s a matter regarding Al-Qaeda. And if it comes to defending Suleiman Shah Tomb, that’s a matter of protecting our land.”[18]

Just one day before the fateful leak, Turkish FM Davutoğlu was busy selling the terrorist threat in an exclusive interview with Agence France-Presse.[19] Simultaneously, pro- Erdoğan newspaper Daily Sabah took the same line: “Al-Qaeda Offshoot ISIL, A New Terror Threat For Turkey”.[20] In this context, Hizmet’s manipulated audio recording appears authentic but we have to consider the source, Gülen’s CIA-sponsored movement, which is now clearly prioritizing toppling Turkish PM Erdoğan over toppling Syrian President Assad. In a clear reference to Gülen’s shadowy network, Davutoğlu blamed a “parallel structure inside [the state]” for the leak and vowed to investigate “everybody and everything”.[21] Shortly thereafter, the first suspect, a Gülen-linked columnist, was detained.[22] Erdoğan’s response was to block YouTube, where all leaked recordings had been uploaded.[23] So the Western media could not ignore the incident. But the reporting focused entirely on Erdoğan’s passion for censorship instead of addressing the real issue: Hizmet had again exposed the terror campaign of the NATO-GCC-Israel axis in Syria in order to get rid of Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan.

# # # #

Christoph Germann- BFP Contributing Author & Analyst
Christoph Germann is an independent analyst and researcher based in Germany, where he is currently studying political science. His work focuses on the New Great Game in Central Asia and the Caucasus region. You can visit his website here

[1] Sibel Edmonds, “Did You Know: The King of Madrasas Now Operates Over 100 Charter Schools in the US?,” Boiling Frogs Post, 20 October 2010: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2010/10/20/did-you-know-the-king-of-madrasas-now-operates-over-100-charter-schools-in-the-us/.

[2] Tim Franks, “Fethullah Gulen: Powerful but reclusive Turkish cleric,” BBC, 27 January 2014: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25885817.

[3] Sibel Edmonds, “Turkish PM Erdogan: The Speedy Transformation of an Imperial Puppet,” Boiling Frogs Post, 18 January 2014: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2014/01/18/turkish-pm-erdogan-the-speedy-transformation-of-an-imperial-puppet/.

[4] “Report: Al-Qaeda suspects flee after Turkish gov’t blocks raid,” Today’s Zaman, 26 December 2013: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-335038-report-al-qaeda-suspects-flee-after-turkish-govt-blocks-raid.html.

[5] Christoph Germann, “The New Great Game Round-Up: January 5, 2014,” Boiling Frogs Post, 5 January 2014: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2014/01/05/the-new-great-game-round-up-january-5-2014/.

[6] Sibel Edmonds, “CIA-Gladio’s Zionist Operatives Urge Obama to Overthrow Erdogan’s Administration,” Boiling Frogs Post, 23 January 2014: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2014/01/23/cia-gladios-zionist-operatives-urge-obama-to-overthrow-erdogans-administration/.

[7] Fevzi Kızılkoyun, “Turkish governor blocks police search on Syria-bound truck reportedly carrying weapons,” Hürriyet, 2 January 2014: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-governor-blocks-police-search-on-syria-bound-truck-reportedly-carrying-weapons-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=60494&NewsCatID=341.

[8] Ibid., Germann.

[9] “Police officers removed after stopping truck allegedly carrying weapons to Syria,” Hürriyet, 3 January 2014: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/police-officers-removed-after-stopping-truck-allegedly-carrying-weapons-to-syria.aspx?pageID=238&nID=60522&NewsCatID=341.

[10] Constanze Letsch, “Turkish police caught in middle of war between Erdoğan and former ally Gülen,” The Guardian, 9 February 2014: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/09/turkish-police-fethullah-gulen-network.

[11] “Gülen Could Be Extradited To Turkey,” Daily Sabah, 14.03.2014: http://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2014/03/14/gulen-could-be-extradited-to-turkey.

[12] Tolga TANIŞ, “Turkish PM’s account of Obama’s Gülen response ‘not accurate,’ White House says,” Hürriyet, 8 March 2014: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-pms-account-of-obamas-gulen-response-not-accurate-white-house-says-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=63341&NewsCatID=359.

[13] “Turkish Airlines allegedly ships arms to Nigeria, tape reveals,” Agence France-Presse, 18 March 2014: http://news.yahoo.com/turkish-airlines-allegedly-ships-arms-nigeria-tape-reveals-202353840.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory.

[14] Terri Rupar, “Turkey’s prime minister banned Twitter, but these images show he can still muster huge crowds,” The Washington Post, 24 March 2014: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/03/24/turkeys-prime-minister-banned-twitter-but-these-images-show-he-can-still-muster-huge-crowds/.

[15] “WRAP UP: Ankara on alert after spying on security meeting leaked,” Hürriyet, 27 March 2014: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/wrap-up-ankara-on-alert-after-spying-on-security-meeting-leaked.aspx?pageID=238&nID=64190&NewsCatID=338.

[16] Ralph Boulton, “Ahead of vote, Erdogan paints picture of Turkey besieged by enemies,” Reuters, 27 March 2014: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/27/us-turkey-election-idUSBREA2Q0XG20140327.

[17] Tony Cartalucci, “Turkey Vs. Syria: NATO’s Last Gasp?,” New Eastern Outlook, 26.03.2014: http://journal-neo.org/2014/03/26/turkey-vs-syria-nato-s-last-gasp/.

[18] Mimi al Laham, “Leaks Reveal Turkey using ALQaeda for False flag in Syria,” SyriaNews, 27 March 2014: http://www.syrianews.cc/leaks-reveal-turkey-using-alqaeda-false-flag-syria/.

[19] “Turkey vows ‘any measures’ against Syria threats,” Hürriyet, 26 March 2014: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-vows-any-measures-against-syria-threats.aspx?pageID=238&nID=64135&NewsCatID=338.

[20] “Al-Qaeda Offshoot ISIL, A New Terror Threat For Turkey,” Daily Sabah, 26 March 2014: http://www.dailysabah.com/nation/2014/03/26/alqaeda-offshoot-isil-a-new-terror-threat-for-turkey.

[21] “Turkey’s FM implies espionage from within ministry over Syria leak,” Hürriyet, 28 March 2014: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkeys-fm-implies-espionage-from-within-ministry-over-syria-leak.aspx?pageID=238&nID=64232&NewsCatID=338.

[22] “Gülen-linked pundit detained over leak of key Syria meeting,” Hürriyet, 29 March 2014: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/gulen-linked-pundit-detained-over-leak-of-key-syria-meeting.aspx?pageID=238&nID=64274&NewsCatID=338.

[23] Paul Vale, “Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan Moves To Block YouTube Following Similar Ban On Twitter,” The Huffington Post, 27 March 2014: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/27/turkey-erdogan-youtube-twitter_n_5044280.html.
– See more at: http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2014/03/29/bfp-exclusive-turkish-power-struggle-impedes-natos-campaign-in-syria/#sthash.ceLnqYEU.dpuf

Syria UN envoy says militants kill civilians, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are killing Syrian people

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Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja’afari says militants backed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are killing Syrian people.

JaferyJa’afari on Friday denied the use of bombs against people by government forces.

“No. What you see on TV is publicity. …We are not killing our own people.”

The Syrian envoy added that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey are supporting the militants, who mainly come from Chechnya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tunisia, Libya and Saudi Arabia. They “are killing people” in Syria, he stated.

Ja’afari also denounced some members of the UN Security Council and its secretariat for refusing to hear the truth about the situation in Syria.

Those countries themselves are “deeply involved” in “spreading terrorism” across Syria, the Syrian ambassador said.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011. Reports say some 140,000 people have so far been killed and millions of others displaced due to the crisis.

Turkey, new sponsor of international terrorism

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Turkey became a rear base for the rebels to the Syrian regime, where the radical Islamist fighters hold their attacks. All in the apparent indifference of the international community.

By Francis Lawrence and Leleykian Balanche

arton98543-480x266Recent events in Ukraine have provisionally released the attention of the international community on the current developments of the Syrian crisis, and in particular the fighting currently taking place at the Turkish border. It’s just if a dispatch from press reported that the Turkish army has killed a hunter who bombed Syrian rebels.

The growing involvement of Turkey in the conflict should however be an additional cause for concern. For if the economic objective of Ankara bring down the regime of Bashar Assad is possibly consistent with the wishes of the West, the methods used should generate the greatest concern. Turkey is indeed becoming a major regional “hubs” of international terrorism, far ahead of other states that have been dragging this reputation.

The latest example of Turkish practices that began March 21. In the morning, radical Islamists have penetrated Syrian territory from three bases in Turkey to tackle Township Kessab. To this end, the Islamist fighters identified as belonging to Jabhat Al-Nosra recently renamed Al-Qaeda in the Levant, are necessarily passed between the Turkish army barracks. The fighting is still ongoing but is reported from reliable sources that the Islamists wounded were repatriated to Turkey, where their care is provided. It is in this context that occurred the episode of the downed aircraft.

Kessab is not any village in Syria. It was indeed the last village of Ottoman Armenia: an administrative oddity Kessab was the only village linked to Syria when France shamefully abandoned the Sanjak of Alexandretta to Kemalist in 1938.

read more see link below

Saturday, March 29, 2014,
Jean Eckian © armenews.com

10 things you need to know about Turkey

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Erdogan and Gulen pointing each otherHere are ten things you need to know about Turkey.

1. On March 27, the government of Turkey blocked YouTube, less than a week after blacking out Twitter. Ostensibly, this was to prevent the spread of videos that are said to feature the voices of Turkey’s foreign minister, intelligence chief, and a top army general proposing to send the Turkish military into Syria to protect the tomb of Suleiman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Dynasty.

2. If these tapes are real, Turkey has been considering staging an attack on itself as a pretext to intervene in Syria. Turkey is a member of NATO. Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty establishing the alliance states that members will treat an attack against one member as an attack against all and respond accordingly—up to and including the use of armed force. Were NATO to provide assistance to Turkey, the consequences could be apocalyptic. Among other things, Russia would certainly see this as a NATO aggression.

3. Turkey’s ruling AKP is facing a disaster in Syria. Turkey’s battle with the radical Kurdish-separatist PKK has claimed as many as 40,000 lives since the 1980s.

When Assad pulled his forces away from the border, the PYD (the Syrian analogue to the PKK) assumed control over the Kurdish majority regions, prompting Ankara to attempt to counter them by arming radical Islamist groups and opening its borders to foreign fighters.

The Turks presumed Assad would be toppled quickly, which proved false.

As a result, Turkey now faces both an infuriated Assad and a serious threat from groups like Jabhat al Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and al Sham (ISIS).

Following the seizure by ISIS of the Azaz border gate, Ankara reversed course, freezing Al Qaeda bank accounts and shelling ISIS strongholds along the border. But the damage can’t easily be undone.

In conjunction with a vast influx of Syrian refugees, this is now by far the most serious security problem Turkey faces. Since Turkey is in NATO, this is NATO’s problem, too.

4. Of late, Erdoğan’s struggle for power with Fethullah Gülen, a Pennsylvania-based cleric who leads a powerful transnational Islamist movement and is a major player in the American charter school movement, has become increasingly vicious. It has recently taken the form of a massive corruption probe into government officials, with wiretaps leaked daily that appear to incriminate the prime minister and everyone around him in a three-ring circus of malfeasance, skullduggery, and theft.

The leaks are widely, and for good reason, understood to be a form of retaliation by the Gülenists, who are well represented within the police and judiciary.

Erdoğan has countered by stifling journalists, firing or reassigning thousands of police officers, consolidating his control of the judiciary, and shutting down social media sites in a vain attempt to plug the leaks.

5. Gülen presides over a huge informal network of schools, think tanks, businesses, and media across five continents. His network in Turkey until recently worked in close alliance with Erdoğan as he neutralized the opposition, particularly in the military.

Gülen’s enthusiasm for illegal wiretapping and leaking didn’t bother Erdoğan when it worked in his favor. Nor did Erdoğan’s demagoguery and propensity to suppress speech bother the Gülenists.

6. The leaked recordings (which have not been independently verified) feature a voice, purportedly Erdoğan’s, dictating news headlines, choosing guests to appear on news shows, telling a media executive to reduce his coverage of the opposition, upbraiding another for using the word “corruption” in a news report, and calling his justice minister to discuss reversing a legal judgment in favor of a critical media firm.

7. One of the most explosive tapes, published on February 25, features conversation between voices alleged to be those of the prime minister and his son, Bilal. They are heard discussing how best to hide tens of millions of dollars in cash stored in the family home. The prime minister instructs his son to get rid of all the money, preferably after dark. His son says he has moved all but $41.6 million.

8. Erdoğan has accused foreign forces of inventing the corruption charges. As the corruption scandal broke, a newspaper known as a government organ splashed a photograph of the U.S. ambassador on its front page with the headline, “Get the hell out of this country!”

9. Local elections, on March 30, will be followed by Turkey’s first direct presidential election in 2014, and parliamentary elections in 2015. There is no reason to think these elections will bring stability, whatever the outcome.

The Gülenists will not be satisfied until Erdoğan is imprisoned or dead. A significant portion of the population will not believe the election results nor recognize any mandate Erdoğan claims.

10. There is good reason to be concerned about the fairness of the elections, and if not the fairness, the public’s perception of their unfairness. Given the new technology to be employed in the voting booths, the stakes, and the release of wiretaps suggesting Erdoğan’s willingness to break the law to suit his personal ends, it is unsurprising that many in Turkey are warning of the possibility of electoral fraud.

Should the elections be tainted by any hint of malfeasance, we should expect protests on the scale of those following Iran’s 2009 elections, and we should expect that they will be suppressed in much the same manner.

Claire Berlinski is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal magazine. She is an investigative journalist, travel writer, biographer, and novelist. She is a former resident of Istanbul.

Source: FOX News

Erdoğan sues Today’s Zaman editor-in-chief, four others

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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has filed a complaint against Today’s Zaman editor-in-chief Dr. Bülent Keneş, Zaman deputy editor-in-chief Mehmet Kamış, Today’s Zaman columnist Emre Uslu, Journalist Önder Aytaç and Former İstanbul Police Department Intelligence Bureau Chief Ali Fuat Yılmazer on Saturday, a day before the local elections.

Erdoğan has previously filed a complaint against Today’s Zaman journalist Mahir Zeynalov for posting tweets that include “heavy insults and swear words in a bid to provoke the nation to hatred and animosity.”  Zeynalov said his tweets are mostly about news reports appeared in the media and that they include no insult against Erdoğan or content that would provoke society. “The accusations directed against me in the petition are all groundless,” Zeynalov said. Weeks after, Zeynalov was deported from Turkey, causing outrage in the community and abroad.

Aytaç, a former official in Police Academy, was detained late Friday over allegations that he might had information about the bugging of the top secret meeting in which high-level officials were discussing options regarding Syria. Later in Saturday morning, Aytaç was later released from custody.

Fethullah Gülen and Erdogan power struggle expend to within ruling elite of Azerbaijan

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The battle between Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the leader of Islamic movement Hizmet (Nurs) has spilled over into Azerbaijan and became the main reason of the dismissal of the head of Political analysis Gulen and ordagonand Information Provision department of Presidential Administration Elnur Aslanov, it is stated in the article published on the website of Institute of war and peace reporting(IWPR).

However, the analysts believe that there has long been a struggle for the influence between the head of Political and Social department of Presidential Administration Ali Hasanov and the dismissed head of Political analysis and Information Provision department of Presidential Administration Elnur Aslanov. A suspicion of Aslanov’s involvement in the sect of Nur movement was a pretext to get rid of him.

According to the article, Ali Hasanov while commenting on the influence the Nur movement has in Azerbaijan called for vigilance.
“The representatives of those trends should know that attempts to adapt the state policy to their interests will fail,” Hasanov told a religious affairs conference in Baku on March 7. On March 17 Elnur Aslanov was dismissed.

Arastun Orujlu, director of the Baku-based East-West Research Centre, told IWPR that this is the way the battle between senior government officials manifests itself and that there will be plenty more signs of this kind of dispute in future. ““The Hizmet movement was just used to raise the issue and shape public opinion,” he believes.

“The Hizmet movement has been in Azerbaijan for years now. If it really was a threat, the government would have taken serious steps years ago,” he added.

According to the article, the problem is so controversial that many political analysts shun discussing it openly. One of Azerbaijani experts, who requested anonymity, said that perhaps Aslanov has no relation to Gulen.

“The Hizmet movement and its activities in Azerbaijan can be very easily exploited in a domestic power-struggle,” he said.

The article reads that the Hizmet movement was one of the first foreign organizations to move into Azerbaijan after the break-up of the Soviet Union. Heydar Aliyev, the late president supported the emergence of Turkish schools in the country. Hizmet currently runs 11 high schools, 13 primary schools and one University in Azerbaijan. According to an anonymous expert they can be closed as a consequence of recent events.

Note that the newspaper “Yeni Musavat” referring to the source in social networks has disseminated information that the official circles of Turkey have provided the Azerbaijani government with a list of high-ranking officials of Azerbaijan in the administration of President Ilham Aliyev and the Azerbaijani government, which include or are related with such religious direction, as Nursizm.

The list of officials recruited by the sect of Fethullah Gülen include, the head of Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan Elnur Aslanov, SOCAR vice president Khalig Mammadov, chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations Elshad Isgandarov, his deputy Gunduz Ismailov, Youth and Sports Deputy Minister Intigam Babayev, MP Jeyhun Osmanli, CSR Director under the Presidential Administration Farhad Mammadov, Chairman of the Youth Foundation Farhad Hajiyev. Already on March 17 Elnur Aslanov was dismissed from his position as a head of the department of Political Analysis and Information Provision of the Presidential Administration of Azerbaijan.

Syrian army takes 2 villages near Lebanon

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Syrian government forces captured Saturday two villages near the border with Lebanon after clashes with opposition fighters, cutting a major supply route for weapons and fighters into Syria, state TV said, according to The Syrian ArmyAssociated Press.

The report said the villages of Flita and Ras Maara fell into the hands of government forces early in the day. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed troops were inside the two villages and advancing, although it had no immediate word on whether they fell to government forces.

The Observatory said government forces are backed by members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, which openly started taking part in Syria’s war last year against opposition forces.

The villages were the latest targets of a government offensive in the rugged Qalamoun border region after troops captured the town of Yabroud earlier this month. Tens of thousands of Syrians fled into Lebanon since the Qalamoun offensive began in November.

Flita, which is about 5 miles (7 kilometers) from the border with Lebanon, had been a major crossing point for rebels coming from across the border into Syria to fight President Bashar Assad’s forces. Syria’s mostly Sunni rebels draw supply, recruits and support from Sunni communities in Lebanon.

Qalamoun holds strategic value for the government since it is crossed by the main north-south highway that links the capital to government strongholds along the Mediterranean coast.

The TV said the villages fell after government forces “wiped out the last remnants of armed terrorist groups and destroyed its weapons and tools they used in their crimes.” The Syrian government refers to rebels as “terrorists.”

An activist based near Damascus who goes by the name of Abu Yazan al-Shami who is in touch with colleagues near Yabroud confirmed that government forces have captured parts of the two villages but are still facing resistance from rebels inside.

“Fierce and difficult battles are taking place. It is a rugged area and both the regime and the rebels have gathered lots of fighters for this battle,” said al-Shami via Skype. He added that the main battle expected to follow Flita and Ras Maara will be the rebel-held town of Rankous in order for the government “to completely cut supplies from Lebanon into Qalamoun.”

22 Armenians were kidnapped from Kessab and taken to Turkey #savekessab

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Of those Armenians who remained in Kessab, 22 were kidnapped and taken to Turkey, deputy chairman of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (SDHP) Armenia office, Syrian Armenian Vazgen Mesropyan told Vazgen MesropyanPanorama.am.

“We have exact information that those people who did not leave their homes in Kessab were kidnapped, with 11 people being unaccounted for,” he said.

Mr Mesropyan noted that more than 40 Armenians did not leave Kessab.

The Armenian populated villages of Kessab in Syria were the target of three days of brutal cross-border attacks from Turkey. Some 670 Armenian families, the majority of the population of Kessab, were evacuated by the local Armenian community leadership to safer areas in neighboring Basit and Latakia.

US will continue support to those affected by violence in Syria, including Syrian Armenians

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The United States will continue its  support to those affected by violence in Syria and throughout the region, including Syrian Armenians, State Department representative said during a briefing on Friday.

201560“We have long had concerns about the threat posed by violent extremists, and this latest threat to the Armenian community in Syria only underscores this further,” Marie Harf  said.

She said Washington  is following the situation for Armenians inside Syria for all minorities, including Christians, and knows that violent extremists such as ISIL have targeted them.

“We’re particularly concerned about these minority communities and want to make sure that their rights are protected,” she emphasized.

“We’ve seen reports, as I said – recent fighting, violence against the Syrian Armenian communities. We see the reports coming out of there. Obviously, we talk – we try to get as much information from the ground as possible, as we do in all places in Syria, but it’s hard to get. But clearly, there have been some very troubling trends lately” .

However, Marie Harf refused to comment on the reports saying Turkish Foreign Minister planned a provocative act inside Syria so Turkey has the excuse to invade Syria.

“I don’t have anything for you on alleged calls or conversations that are out there among Turkish officials,” she added.

Syrian-Armenian Town’s Fate Murky After Rebel Grab #savekessab

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By ALBERT AJI and DIAA HADID Associated Press

Associated Press

When hundreds of residents of the postcard-pretty coastal Syrian village of Kassab fled this week, it bore historic weight: it was the third time since 1900 that ethnic AP_logo_update_20130709Armenians there felt compelled to run for their lives.

They left once at the hands of vengeful Turkish neighbors, and later because of Ottoman forces. This time it was Syrian rebels storming into town. It was a heavy blow for the minority community that sees the town as key to preserving the Armenians’ identity in Syria.

Kassab “is a symbol of Armenian history, language and continuity. It’s very symbolic,” said Ohannes Geukjian, a political science professor who writes on contemporary Armenian history and politics. “And so the fall of Kassab, I consider it the defeat of Armenian identity in that area.”

Rebels seized control of Kassab on Sunday after launching an attack two days earlier in the coastal Syrian province of Latakia. The fighters were from an array of conservative and Islamic groups, including the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front.

The province has an ancient Armenian presence, but is better known as a bastion of support for President Bashar Assad. It is his ancestral home and that of followers of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, that he belongs to.

The clashes led most of Kassab’s estimated 2,000 residents to flee some 35 miles (57 kilometers) to Latakia city, emptying out a village that boasted a Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant church.

“We had to flee only with our clothes. We couldn’t take anything, not even the most precious thing — a handful of soil from Kassab. We couldn’t take our memories,” said a woman to Syrian state television. She identified herself as Kassab resident, but didn’t give her name.

Kassab is surrounded by the villas of middle-class Syrians who built their homes amid green wooded hills overlooking the sea. The area got a boost from a popular 2008 Syrian telenovela, “Daya, Daya,” which was filmed in nearby village of Samra. Tourists flock to the area in the summer.

Kassab residents, speaking to Syrian television, said mortar shells and gunfire came from the Turkish border toward their village. A Syrian field commander on a government-organized trip told journalists in the nearby town of Badrousieh that gunmen began their attack “with clear support from the Turks.”

Turkish officials refuted the claims.

“The allegations by some circles that Turkey is providing support to the opposition forces by letting them use its territory or through some other ways during the conflict … are totally unfounded,” the Turkish government said in a media statement on Wednesday.

The Turkish government was prepared to admit Syrian Armenian refugees and “protection could be provided to them,” the statement said.

Armenia’s President Serge Sarkisian said Kassab was attacked by Turkish militants in 1909, forcing local Armenians to flee for their lives. In 1915, as the 600-year-old Ottoman empire violently unraveled, the Armenian population was deported by the Turks, and thousands died as they marched across the desert.

A website created by Kassab descendants, “Kessabtsiner,” confirmed those events.

“This is the third expulsion of Armenians from Kassab and it represents a major challenge to modern mechanisms for the protection of ethnic minorities,” Sarkisian said in a statement this week.