US Spent a Year Bombing Syrian Desert, Not ISIL – Russian MP

October 2, 2015 By administrator

The United States spent a whole year bombing the desert instead of hitting terrorist targets in Syria, the head of the Russian parliament’s international affairs committee wrote on Friday.

“[Senator John] McCain accused us of striking out at US-trained insurgents… However, since they have either run away or joined al-Qaeda, hitting them is a mission impossible,” Alexei Pushkov wrote on his Twitter account.

In an interview with France’s Europe 1 Radio Pushkov said that the Russian aerial campaign in Syria would take three to four months.“The US-led coalition spent a whole year pretending they were striking ISIL targets but where are the results of these strikes?” Pushkov wondered.

The White House had earlier said that the Russian air forces was targeting areas in Syria where ISIL militants were nowhere in sight.

Besides, John McCain, chairman of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, said that he could “absolutely confirm” that Russian air strikes had hit Free Syrian Army recruits who had been armed and trained by the US, a claim that was later denied by the Pentagon.

Briefing reporters in Moscow on Wednesday, a defense ministry spokesman said that the Russian air force had flown twenty sorties targeting ISIL military equipment, communication facilities, arms depots, ammunition and fuel supplies — and did not hit civilian infrastructure or areas nearby.

Source: sputniknews.com

Thai police claim Bangkok bombing suspect fled to Turkey

September 14, 2015 By administrator

AP photo

BANGKOK – The Associated Press

A key suspect in last month’s bombing at a Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people has fled to Turkey, Thai police said on Sept. 14.

Police had previously said the man, carrying a Chinese passport in the name Abudureheman Abudusataer, may have directed the Aug. 17 bombing of the Erawan Shrine. Investigations revealed that he left Thailand on Aug. 16 for Bangladesh, and police speculated that he might have gone to China.

However, national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said that information gathered by Thai police and Bangladeshi officials showed that the man departed Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, on Aug. 30 and traveled to Istanbul as his final destination, via New Delhi and Abu Dhabi.

“He departed Dhaka on Aug. 30 for Delhi by Jet Airways,” Prawut said. “From Delhi, he continued his travel to Abu Dhabi, and from Abu Dhabi he traveled on Aug. 31 to Istanbul. This is his final destination. It’s clear.”

This bolstered the theory that those behind the blast are Uighurs from the Chinese region of Xinjiang who have close ties to Turkey.

After weeks of demurring, Thailand has suggested that those behind the blast may have been from a gang involved in smuggling Uighurs. But others speculate they may be separatists or Islamist extremists angry that Thailand repatriated more than 100 Uighurs to China in July.

Uighurs complain of oppression by the Chinese government, and some advocate turning Xinjiang into a separate Uighur state.

Thai efforts to identify the members of the network believed responsible for the bombing continued on Sept. 13, when police in Bangkok raided an apartment that they suspected was linked to a bombing suspect. Police said no bomb-making materials were found in the apartment, which is in a building that serves as a hostel for women. Thai media reported that the two women tenants and a guest were taken away for questioning.

Two other key suspects are also in custody, charged with possession of illegal explosives. One of them was captured from an apartment on the outskirts of Bangkok where police also discovered bomb-making material.

The other was caught near the border between Thailand and Cambodia, and police said his fingerprints were found on a container with explosive material confiscated from the apartment.

Also on Sept. 14, Malaysia’s police chief announced that a Pakistani and two Malaysians have been detained in connection with the Bangkok bombing.

Inspector General Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters that the three were detained a few days ago following a tip-off by Thai authorities. He said one of the Malaysians is a woman.

Among those who died in the blast were five Malaysians from one family. Many of the victims were foreigners as the shrine is a popular destination for tourists and Thais alike.

Khalid did not give details or say where in Malaysia the three were detained, when they will be formally charged, or what the charges would be. He said Malaysian police will investigate and work with Thai authorities on the detainees.

Thai police say the man who may have actually planted the bomb may have fled across Thailand’s southern border to Malaysia, but Khalid refused to speculate on that.

Prawut, the Thai police spokesman, said his department had told the Malaysians that some suspects might have escaped to Malaysia.

Malaysian police then investigated and arrested suspects who are allegedly involved in illegal human smuggling and they might have some information, Prawut said.

“However, we haven’t had any confirmation. … As a preliminary step, they have arrested suspects who are allegedly involved in illegal human smuggling. Whether they are involved in our bombing incident or not we will have to wait and see,” he said.

September/14/2015

Clashes, militant bombing kill nine in southeast Turkey

September 13, 2015 By administrator

Diyarbakir, Turkey, September 13, 2015. REUTERS/Sertac Kayar

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey | By Seyhmus Cakan,

Kurdish militants killed two police officers in a car bomb attack on a checkpoint in southeast Turkey on Sunday, as authorities imposed a curfew in the region’s largest city Diyarbakir where clashes broke out, security sources said.

Turkish forces backed up by helicopters and commandos shelled a mountainous area where the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters had fled after the checkpoint attack in Sirnak province, killing six of them, the sources added.

A police officer was reported killed in another confrontation.

Hundreds of militants and more than 100 police and soldiers have died since a ceasefire collapsed in July, shattering a peace process launched in 2012. It is the worst violence Turkey has seen in two decades.

The Diyarbakir governor’s office said it had placed the central historic Sur district under a round-the-clock curfew. Security sources said seven police officers were wounded in clashes there.

In other central areas of the city, police fired tear gas and water cannon at small groups of youths who threw stones and tried to set up street barricades in protest against the curfew.

Speaking to reporters near the Sur district, the leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtas, called for the Turkish state and PKK leadership across the border in Iraq’s Qandil mountains to halt the violence and return to peace talks.

Source: reuters

BANGKOK BOMBING Arrest warrant against a Turk

September 2, 2015 By administrator

The investigation into the attack in Bangkok was directed to Turkey Wednesday, with an arrest warrant against a Turk accused of being part of the “network” behind this unprecedented attack in Thailand after two weeks an investigation has struggled to take off.
“He is wanted for illegal possession of war equipment”, said Wednesday the spokesman of the national police, Prawut Thavornsiri. The man, described as Emrah Davutoglu, (…)

Turkish man charged in Thailand over Bangkok bombing

August 29, 2015 By administrator

An arrested suspect of the recent Bangkok blast is shown in this Thai Royal Police handout released on Aug 29, 2015.PHOTO: REUTERS

BANGKOK (AFP) – Thai authorities on Saturday detained and charged a 28-year-old Turkish man over a bomb attack in Bangkok last week that killed 20 people and wounded scores more.

It is the first arrest in connection with the August 17 bombing at the Erawan shrine in the capital’s bustling downtown district, which killed mostly Asian visitors, in Thailand’s worst single mass-casualty attack.

Around 100 police and military officers – including at least a dozen bomb disposal specialists – gathered outside an apartment block in Nong Chok district on the eastern outskirts of Bangkok where the man was arrested Saturday in possession of bomb-making equipment and multiple passports.

“We believe that the suspect was involved with the bombing” at the shrine, national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri said on a live televised broadcast on Saturday evening.

He also said that the man was involved with a blast the day after the shrine bombing near a popular tourist pier which sent people scurrying but caused no injuries.

The 28-year-old has been charged with the “illegal possession of bomb-making materials such as ball bearings” and “pipes to use as a bomb container”, Prawut said.

Colonel Banphot Phunphien, spokesman of Thailand’s Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC), told AFP the man was a “Turkish national”.

For days Thai police have been searching for a prime suspect, described as a foreign man, who was captured on security footage wearing a yellow t-shirt and leaving a bag at the shrine moments before the blast on security cameras.

But authorities have not yet linked the suspect now detained in military custody with the man seen on this video footage.

“We found dozens of passports inside his room, we have to check which nationalities they belong to,” he said on the televised broadcast.

In earlier comments on Thai broadcaster Channel 3, Mr Prawut said the “clothes and bomb-making materials” found in the accused’s room were linked to both recent blasts.

“The ball bearing is the same size” as those found at the two blast sites, he said.

– Multiple theories –

The attack on the Hindu shrine in Bangkok last week has left the vibrant city rattled and dealt a fresh blow to the kingdom’s reputation as a welcoming and safe travel destination.

The majority of those killed were ethnic Chinese worshippers from across Asia, who flocked to the shrine in the belief that prayers there bring good fortune.

Investigators have said the attack was clearly aimed at damaging the tourism industry but insist that Chinese tourists – who visit Thailand in larger numbers than any other nationality – were not singled out.

Earlier this week Thai police said they were not ready to exclude any possibility about who was behind the attack.

But speculation had grown over China’s ethnic Uighur Muslim minority – or their co-religious sympathisers – being behind the attack, motivated by Thailand’s forced repatriation of more than 100 Uighur refugees last month to an uncertain fate in China.

Bangkok’s consulate in Istanbul was stormed by angry protesters after the forced repatriation.

On Friday police said three Uighur Muslims, among dozens detained in the kingdom for illegal entry last year, had been questioned in eastern Sa Kaeo province, bordering Cambodia, over the bombing but provided no further details.

Earlier this week regional security analyst Anthony Davis from IHS-Jane’s said a potential perpetrator could be people from or affilated to the extreme right-wing Pan-Turkic movement known as the Grey Wolves, who have latched onto the Uighur cause in recent years.

In comments during a discussion on the blast at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) Davis said the group had close links with Turkish organised crime, who are known to have a presence in Bangkok, and were at the forefront of the attack on the Thai consulate in Istanbul.

His remarks were widely carried in the Thai press but police refused to state whether they believed the perpetrators had a Turkish connection.

Other potential perpetrators named by the police and experts have included international jihadists, members of Thailand’s southern Malay-Muslim insurgency, militants on both sides of Thailand’s festering political divide or even someone with a personal grudge.

Source: straitstimes.com

Open Democracy: Why is Turkey bombing the Kurds? ‘neo-Ottomanism’

August 5, 2015 By administrator

“War is the continuation of politics by other means’, Clausewitz famously remarked. Nowhere is this maxim better in display than in Turkey’s current dual-offensive against the ‘Islamic State’, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), analyst Kamran Matin writes in the article “Why is Turkey bombing the Kurds?” on Opendemocracy.net.

According to the analyst, for rather than being a policy U-turn, as it has generally been described in mainstream media, this offensive is essentially a new tactic by Turkey’s ruling ‘Justice and Development Party’ (AKP) to extricate its grand strategy of domestic entrenchment and regional hegemony from a structural impasse central to which is the advancements of the Kurdish revolution in Turkey and Syria.

The AKP came to power in 2002. Emboldened by its successes the AKP adopted an ambitious strategy to end Turkey’s traditional regional isolation and over-dependence on the US, and turn the country into a key regional and global power – a project grandiosely described as ‘neo-Ottomanism’. This was rooted in the AKP’s peculiar blend of Islamist transnationalism and Turkish nationalism.
Neo-Ottomanism rested on Turkey’s central location in the Afro-Euroasian landmass, the soft power of the AKP’s ‘moderate Islam’, and, the geo-strategic deployment of the over-accumulating Turkish capital in the region.

Then came the Arab Spring.

“But the initial successes of the AKP’s fellow Islamists were short-lived. Morsi was ousted in Egypt, Islamists lost power in Tunisia, and Libya plunged into civil war.

Left with Syria to contend with the AKP completely reversed its erstwhile ‘zero problems with neighbours’ policy and made a strategic commitment to the overthrow of Bashar Assad,” the author writes.

But as the conflict prolonged, Turkey faced a more immediate, and potentially dangerous challenge: the growing power of the Syrian Kurds who had close political and ideological links with the PKK. Led by the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Syrian Kurds established three autonomous cantons and self-defense forces known as YPG and YPJ, which quickly emerged as the most effective anti-ISIS force in Syria.

The rise of the Syrian Kurds diminished Turkey’s influence in Syria, weakened the AKP’s position vis-a-vis the PKK, and challenged the influence of Barzani’s PDK both in Syria and Iraq, where pro-PKK forces also played a key role in the anti-ISIS campaign.
Thus, Turkish policy duly shifted towards the containment of the Syrian Kurds through a policy of ‘active neutrality’ towards ISIS. This reached a climax during the siege of Kobane by ISIS when Turkey prevented reinforcements reaching the town while the AKP’s leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gleefully declared ‘Kobane will fall’.

It is against this complex background of interlocking domestic, regional, and international developments that the AKP has launched its attacks on ISIS and the PKK, the latter evidently being the main target. In doing so the AKP has four main objectives.
First, it seeks to decisively win the likely snap elections in November by attracting Turkish ultra-nationalist voters through projecting a strong anti-Kurdish image.

Second, it hopes to directly check the growth of Kurdish power in Syria by formally joining the US-led anti-ISIS coalition, given that the AKP’s wager on ISIS to contain the Kurds has failed.

Third, by entering the Syrian fray, Turkey also wants to re-optimize relations with the US, which in return for access to Turkish airbases has reportedly acceded to the Turkish demand for creating a ‘safe zone’ along parts of Turkish-Syrian border, which Turkey hopes will become a barrier to the Kurds’ further advance.

And finally, the bombing campaign against the PKK in Iraqi Kurdistan also aims to boost the AKP’s key ally there, Massoud Barzani, who is currently seeking an unconstitutional third term in office as the region’s president. A Turkish bombing campaign inside Iraqi Kurdistan is intended to strengthen his position by convincing the people and main political parties that given his links to the AKP, Barzani is the leader who can handle the Turks best under such unstable circumstances.

Source: Panorama.am

Protests rage across Turkey over deadly #Suruç bombing

July 22, 2015 By administrator

AFP Photo

Protests have continued across Turkey after a suicide bombing attack in the southeastern border town of Suruç on July 20 left at least 32 people dead and more than 100 others injured.

Forty-nine protesters were detained in multiple locations in Istanbul on July 21 for staging protests against the deadly Suruç bombing in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa.

Police seized three hand-made cluster bombs, 203 Molotov cocktails, a pump-action rifle, a blank-firing pistol, 125 pieces of ammunition, two firework-launching platforms and 40 boxes of fireworks used in resistance against security forces as part of the operations, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Eleven protesters were detained on July 21 in Kadıköy, a district on the Asian side of Istanbul, after around 500 protesters gathered at 8 p.m. at a central square in Kadıköy waving black flags, placards and photos of the victims of the Suruç bombing, Doğan News Agency reported late July 21.

The police fired tear gas and water cannon at the protesters, who defended themselves with stones and fireworks before many of them fanned out into the side streets of Kadıköy.

Twenty-five others were detained after attempting to march toward the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) bureau in Istanbul’s Şişli district on July 21. Protesters, political parties and left-wing NGOs have long accused the AKP of offering either direct or tacit support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which has been blamed for the Suruç attack. At rallies across the country, protesters frequently shouted “Murderous ISIL, collaborator AKP.”

Thirteen protesters were also detained in Suruç protests in the Istanbul districts of Maltepe, Sultangazi and Küçükçekmece the same day.

In a separate protest in the eastern province of Ağrı, four protesters were detained and four police officers were slightly injured in clashes that erupted after a large number of protesters attempted to hold a sit-in following a press briefing on July 21. After declaring the action illegal, police attacked the activists with tear gas and water cannon.

Gendarmerie forces, meanwhile, discovered a bomb of around 120 kilograms on a road close to Sütlüce village in the eastern province of Tunceli, popularly known as Dersim, the Turkish General Staff said in a written statement on July 21.

Tunceli Gendarmerie Forces while on daily patrol, discovered the remote-controlled explosive device early July 21 in two gas cylinders alongside a road in the Mutlu neighborhood of Sütlüce, the statement said.

The Suruç bombing elicited sorrow and rage from several parties and spurred protests across the country, with people taking to streets to protest the deadly attack.

The suicide bomber, who has been tentatively identified as Şeyh Abdurrahman Alagöz, detonated explosives on July 20 at Suruç Municipality’s Amara Cultural Center as members of the Federation of Socialist Youth Associations (SGDF) prepared to travel to Kobane in Rojava to aid in the town’s reconstruction following its liberation from ISIL forces in January.

July/22/2015

Turkey blocks access to Twitter to stop users from calling for protests against the government

July 22, 2015 By administrator

Turkey has blocked access to Twitter to prevent the broadcast of images of the bombing in southeast Turkey that killed 32 people, the state-run Anadolu Agency said Wednesday, July 22, according to the Associated Press.

The government was also trying to block Twitter users from calling for protests against the government for not doing more to prevent the bombing, the agency said.

Officials had raised concerns that the bombing in the town of Suruc is part of a campaign of retaliation by the Islamic State group for a recent crackdown on its operations in the country.

Turkish officials say they have detained more than 500 people suspected of working with IS in the last six months. Officials say an operation this month netted 21 terrorism suspects in an investigation of recruitment networks in multiple parts of the country.

Protests have erupted in Istanbul and other cities since the bombings, with demonstrators shouting slogans blaming the government for the attack. On Tuesday, police detained some 30 people before they could march to a local ruling party office in Istanbul. Protesters also threw fireworks as police officers attempted to disperse the crowd at another protest in the city.

Earlier, a court in Suruc issued a ban on the publication of images related to the bombing in the media, including the Internet and social media platforms, and ruled that access be barred to Internet sites that do not comply with the ban, the Anadolu Agency reported.

A government official said Turkey had asked Twitter to remove 107 URLs with images of the aftermath of the bombing. Twitter had removed some 50 of the URLs and was working to remove the remaining problematic URLs.

The official said he expected the URLs to be removed soon and for the access to be restored. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of rules that bar officials from speaking to journalists without authorization.

Turkey has periodically blocked social media in the past, the AP reminds. Earlier this year the government ordered a temporary block on Twitter and YouTube during a hostage crisis in an Istanbul courthouse. Those sites were also blocked last year after audio recordings of a secret security meeting or tapes suggesting corruption by government officials were leaked on the social media sites. Turkey’s highest court, however, overturned those bans, deeming them to be unconstitutional.

Previous moves by Turkish authorities to block the social media networks have provoked widespread criticism by Western governments and human rights organizations.

AP. State media: Turkey blocks access to Twitter

Yerevan condemns the bombing of the Armenian church in Syria

January 12, 2015 By administrator

An Armenian Catholic church in the largest city of Syria, Aleppo, was partially destroyed by bombing Islamist rebels. An attack has widely condemned the Armenian government.

The Church of St. Rita was hit by mortar shells Friday. Syrian pro-government media as well as local Armenians said the church was targeted by one of the Islamist militia for the defense of the Syrian army units loyal to President Bashar Al-Assad. No one was injured in the bombing. According to them, no one was injured.

Photographs posted by AlMasdarnews.com show gaping holes in the roof and walls, as well as the church’s rubble strewn around his altar. The Arab press service said the rebels also bombed the surrounding neighborhoods.

The damaged church is at the top of the water wells used by the Syrian Armenians and other Christians in the city ravaged by war. The civil war continues in Syria has left many regions of Aleppo no running water.

Zarmig Boghigian, the editor of the Armenian magazine Aleppo Gandzasar, accused “terrorist groups” of deliberately targeting civilians and churches. “This area is not a front line,” stated Boghigian in a telephone interview with the Armenian service of RFE / RL (Azatutyun.am).

Armenia responded Saturday. “The international community must redouble its efforts to prevent such crimes against the civilian population, minorities and shrines,” said Tigran Balayan, spokesperson for the Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement.

Libyan government admits to bombing Greek-owned tanker

January 5, 2015 By administrator

A Libyan fighter jet has targeted a ship anchored in the Libyan port of Darna, killing two crew members, officials said on Monday. The UN peace talks have been postponed yet again, amid escalating violence. DW

The Libyan air force attacked the oil tanker “after the crew refused to heed orders to stop for a search operation,” Libyan government spokesman Colonel Ahmed Mesmari said on Monday. He also described the Greek-owned tanker Araevo as “suspicious,” as reported by the AFP news agency.

Two crew members – a Greek and a Romanian national – were killed and two more were injured in the Sunday airstike. The ship, which was anchored in the eastern port-city of Darna, had 26 crew members on board, and was sailing under a Liberian flag.

Darna is a stronghold for Islamic militants who have sworn allegiance to the “Islamic State.” The rebels dispute the authority of the internationally recognized Libyan government.

France needs a ‘clear mandate’

The Greek Merchant Marine Ministry said the ship was carrying 12,600 metric tons of fuel, however, Athens-based Aegean Shipping Enterprises Co, which operates the ship, claims no oil was spilled.

“There is no oil leakage, the ship’s integrity was not compromised. Damages are being assessed,” said Elias Syrros, the company’s safety manager.

The Greek ministry strongly condemned the attack, calling for the perpetrators to be identified and punished, and demanding compensation for the families of the victims.

Violence in Libya has gone up in recent months, and the country’s neighbors have repeatedly called for an international intervention.

French President Francois Hollande also urged international involvement on Monday, while making it clear that France would not act unilaterally in Libya.

“We are acting to contain terrorism in the south, but France will not intervene in Libya because it’s for the international community to live up to its responsibilities,” Hollande told French radio.

Asked if France would act in Libya under a United Nations mandate, Hollande said that a “clear mandate,” “clear organization” and the “political conditions” would have to be in place.

“We’re not yet going down that road,” he added.

Arab League to meet

A new round of the United Nations peace talks between Libyan armed groups, scheduled for Monday, has been postponed without a new date.

The talks had originally been planned for December 9, 2014, however, an escalation in fighting between the troops loyal to the government and the Islamic rebels has caused repeated delays. The internationally recognized parliament decided last week that it would not attend any negotiations if the rival legislature was invited.

Arab League ambassadors are set to meet in Cairo later on Monday to talk about developments in Libya, at the request of the Libya’s official government.

Libya has been troubled by militia violence since the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, but the United Nations says hundreds of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands more displaced since fighting intensified in May 2014.

dj/nm (AFP, dpa, Reuters, AP)