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Erdogan’s Turkey: Making Trouble Everywhere, Including investigating 6.9 million of its own citizens

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  • (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

    (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

    Since the failed coup in August 2016, the government says, it has purged more than 107,000 government employees for alleged links to the coup attempt. Worse, according to a Supreme Court justice, the Turkish government is investigating a total of 6.9 million citizens, or about 8.6% of all Turks.

  • Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has warned international companies drilling for oil and gas off Cyprus that these hydrocarbons are within Turkey’s continental shelf. Cavusoglu said that Turkey “is prepared to take all necessary measures” to protect its rights, and those of the Turkish Cypriots, in the eastern Mediterranean.
  • On January 26, several thousand Turkish Cypriots marched against what they say is Turkey’s unwanted influence. Protesters braved pounding rain to voice their opposition to Turkey’s agitation of “fascist and extremist” segments of their society.
  • Erdogan’s Turkey apparently has an ideological incompatibility with the word “peace.” This outright bullying can target any nation at any time. Optimists who think it might fade away will be proven wrong once again.

In official language, Turkey is in a state of emergency ever since a failed putsch, allegedly masterminded by a self-exiled cleric, killed nearly 250 people on the evening of July 15, 2016. Since then, the government says, it has purged more than 107,000 government employees for alleged links to the coup attempt. Worse, according to a Supreme Court justice, the Turkish government is investigating a total of 6.9 million citizens, or about 8.6% of all Turks.

Even “not-warmongering” can be associated with being a terrorist. More than 300 activists were arrested for their opposition to Turkey’s military incursion into northern Syria. That number did not include the 11 doctors who are members of the Turkish Medical Association who were arrested for calling for a halt to the offensive. (They were later released but will stand trial). In addition, Turkey has asked Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to remove posts on the military offensive.

Outside its borders, hardly a day passes without confrontation, clashes or tensions. Turkey says it had “neutralized” nearly 1,000 Kurdish militiamen since Operation Olive Branch in Syria took off on January 20. But not all of Turkey’s wars involve artillery, bombings and casualties.

On Jan. 26, for instance, hundreds of Kurds living in Beirut gathered in front of the Turkish embassy in order to protest Operation Olive Branch. France’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian has told Ankara not to worsen the situation in Syria. He also, while condemning civilian casualties, called Turkey’s military operation in Afrin (in northern Syria) a violation of international law. A week before that, thousands rallied in Paris to protest the Turkish operation.

Afrin Turkey’s Vietnam, Erdogan 3 Hour turn to 3 days now 3 weeks.

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Afrin Erdogan Vietnam

Afrin Erdogan Vietnam

YPG commander Manî Egîd believes that Afrin will become a second Vietnam for the Turkish state.

Within three hours, the Turkish state wanted to conquer Afrin with the help of recruited Islamists. Meanwhile, 23 days have passed and the second largest NATO army still hangs in the border area. YPG commander Manî Egid told ANF about the situation in Afrin:

“Afrin is being attacked from all sides, but the Turkish military has not made any real progress after more than three weeks. At the beginning it was said that Turkey would take Afrin within three hours. The three hours turned into three days and then a week. Today, however, is the 23rd day of resistance. Resistance is being mounted throughout Afrin. The comrades are in defensive positions. The second largest NATO army and its militia recruited by ISIS and el-Qaeda have not progressed.”

TECHNOLOGY AGAINST WILLPOWER

“The Turkish army and allied gangs are still in the border area. In some places they have penetrated three kilometers, at one point five kilometers. They succeeded only because of their technical capacity. To take a place, they use fighter jets, reconnaissance drones, grenade launchers and tanks. They trust in technology, we trust in our willpower.”

AFRIN MEANS DOWNFALL OF THE AKP

“Erdoğan embodies all fascist elements and wants to occupy Afrin. We consider this war a final. It will be over with the AKP if it fails in Afrin. It attacks the Kurds everywhere, but Afrin will mean their downfall. We will make Afrin a second Vietnam for the second largest NATO army.”

INVASION ATTEMPT BEFORE THE EYES OF THE WORLD PUBLIC

“The Turkish state is trying to occupy Afrin in the eyes of the world public. Here a people lives in its own land and another country arrives and wants to invade it. It is an invasion against which everyone should do something. We call on young people from all four parts of Kurdistan to join the resistance in Afrin. We will break the attacks of the Turkish army in Afrin.”

DEMOGRAPHY OF KURDISTAN IS INTENDED TO BE CHANGED

“The Turkish state says it wants to accommodate refugees from Syria in Afrin. So far, the Syrian refugees have always been used as a lever against Europe. Now they serve as justification for the occupation of Afrin. Erdoğan wants to massacre and drive out the population of Afrin, so that the militia of the ISIS and the Al-Qaeda, who are in bondage with him, can settle in Afrin with their families. He is not concerned with refugees. He wants to kill two birds with one stone. The demographics of Kurdistan is intended to be changed and the Kurdish achievements are intended to be obstructed. We will not allow that and we are prepared for it.”

PREPARED FOR OVER A YEAR OF RESISTANCE

“In the villages and districts of Afrin, we have made preparations that are sufficient for a period of over one year. In the city center, we are prepared for a much longer period of resistance. Should they come, they should advance a bit further, we will be waiting for them. They’ve been hanging around the border for over three weeks. As I said, we are prepared, logistically as well as militarily. “

Erdogan named honorary president of the program “Jerusalem Capital of Islamic Youth 2018”

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been named honorary chairman of the board of directors of the “Jerusalem Capital of Islamic Youth 2018” program.

This is reflected in a statement released by the Youth Forum of the Islamic Conference for Dialogue and Cooperation.

The launch of the “Jerusalem Capital of Islamic Youth 2018” program was carried out in Palestine with the participation of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Ministers from ten countries, including Turkish Minister of Youth and Sport Osman Askin Bak, and representatives from more than 30 countries attended the inauguration ceremony.

Speaking during the ceremony, Abbas thanked Erdogan and Turkey for hosting the Forum.

The statement announces that the Turkish President has been appointed Honorary President of the program.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) declared last year in Istanbul, Turkey, the occupied city of Jerusalem “capital of Islamic youth for the year 2018”.

Each year, a capital of Islamic Youth is designated to promote dialogue between young people from different Muslim countries.

Sunday, February 11, 2018,
Stéphane © armenews.com

Erdogan sent food taster to Italian president’s kitchen, Arrive with entourage of 150 people

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Ottoman Sultan

Ottoman Sultan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sent a “chief food taster” to the kitchen during a visit to the Italian president’s palace, prompting comparisons between Erdoğan and an Ottoman Sultan, a column in Turkey’s Cumhuriyet newspaper reports.

According to NIlgun Cerrahoglu, a columnist Cumhuriyet, Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s food chef assured Erdogan’s chief taster that the kitchen was “very good. Plus it’s healthy and safe.”

The Italian newspaper Repubblica described the Turkish president’s arrival in Italy, alongside an entourage of 150 people, as being reminiscent of a sultan. “And just like a Sultan he tried to get his chief taster into Mattarella’s kitchen. This report indicates that a Middle East autocrat has just arrived Rome,” continued the newspaper.

Until last December, the Turkish president had not spoken to Pope Francis for two years since the Pope’s announcement recognising the Armenian Genocide. However, the Turkish president called the Pope twice in December to discuss the status of Jerusalem, ignoring altogether the Armenian issue.

During these talks, according to the Italian newspaper, Erdogan asked the Pope to see him in person. After securing an appointment with the Pope, Italian government leaders could not refuse to meet with the Turkish president.

“War, Jihad, Martyrdom” chanted at a youth convention at the presidential palace in Ankara

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War, Jihad, Martyrdom

War, Jihad, Martyrdom

Turkey remains an ally in the most important military alliance of Western powers, NATO. If the United States, the United Kingdom and others want to maintain together this cornerstone of our collective defense strategy, then the health of NATO and its constituent members is of utmost importance. This is just one reason why the lack of coverage of what is happening inside this country should be so worrying. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has gone from being prime minister to president, seems to want to even be a caliph. In December, he took advantage of his country’s organization of the 57-member meeting of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation to oppose President Trump’s announcement on the US embassy in Israel. In anticipation of a meeting with the pope, Erdogan told the Italian newspaper La Stampa that at the meeting, his ” first priority is Jerusalem. “Then, during a visit to the head of the world’s Catholics, Erdogan introduces himself as the leader of the world’s Muslims. It’s a long and perfectly open game.

Last week, the Erdogan Family Foundation organized a major youth convention at the Ankara Presidential Palace. Erdogan explained how he planned to use his faith to turn the world around. A large part of his audience then stood up and began chanting “War, Jihad, Martyrdom”. Glazing.

Video to see here: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/456105/erdogan-turkey-internationalist-elites-parochialism

Tuesday, February 6, 2018,
Claire © armenews.com

#Erdogan said he is meeting with Pope @Pontifex as representative of 1.7 billion Muslims worldwide,

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Due to Erdogan’s visit, extraordinary security measures were taken in the city

3,500 law enforcement agencies and NBCR teams who are experts against nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological hazards also served.

While “green zone” was declared in the city, demonstrations were not allowed in the regions where Erdogan was in contact.

Police officials said that these measures taken to protect Erdogan and his delegation

President Erdogan criticized the Pope in his speech in Istanbul on March 26, 2017, before the April 16 referendum.

Erdogan gave the Pope a gift from Iznik

Erdogan gave the Pope the Italian and English prints of the Mesnevi and the miniature Iznik tribe who depicted the old Istanbul in 24 pieces. The Pope presented Erdogan with a statement expressing a medal of peace, anguish over the evil, “This medallion represents a world based on peace and fairness”.

#Erdogan suggests he is meeting with Pope @Pontifex as representative of 1.7 billion Muslims worldwide, recalls #Turkey‘s term presidency of OIC, says US is isolated on #Jerusalem issue.

“These are not honest. Now the members of the European Union came together in the Vatican. These developments evoke something; no, why did you come together in the Vatican, why did you come together in the presence of the Pope. Since when has the Pope been a member of the European Union? The Crusader alliance showed up at last. What did they tell us so far? ‘You are saying this to us, but there is not such a thing’. Yes, because you do not let Muslim Turkey. I have spoken to them, see you tomorrow. “

Erdogan meet Pope in Vatican which he called the Head of the Crusaders

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Erdogan selling Islamic State to POPE

Erdogan selling Islamic State to POPE

The Turkish president has found common ground with the Vatican on the status of Jerusalem after the US recognized the city as Israel’s capital. But Kurdish groups and a far-right party have criticized the visit.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Pope Francis on Monday, the first Vatican visit by a Turkish head of state since 1959.

Despite previous clashes, the two leaders found common ground on Jerusalem after the US unilaterally recognized the city as the capital of Israel.

“The status of Jerusalem is a central issue for both Muslims and Christians; both the pope and myself are committed to protecting the status quo,” said Erdogan in an interview published by Italian newspaper La Stampa on Sunday.

“No nation in the world has a right to take unilateral steps on a city which is dear to billions of people, ignoring international laws.”

Pope Francis and Erdogan were also expected to discuss terrorism, the migration crisis and Syria, where Turkey last month launched an offensive against Kurdish forces in Afrin near the Turkish border.

Kurds in Armenia brand Erdogan ‘terrorist’ in crowded rally

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Members of the Kurdish community in Armenia on Friday rallied outside the United Nations’ office, voicing calls upon the international community to condemn the violence against their compatriots in Syria.

With their slogans branding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a terrorist, the crowd was also urging for a strong reaction by the UN, considering the superpowers’ silence an attempt to back the Turkish aggression in Afrin.

“Those offensives were agreed with Russia; they are being conducted with the NATO military supplies and accompanied by the United Nations’ silence. And that contributes to the annihilation of many local civilians,” said Knyaz Hasanov, a Kurdish member of the Armenian National Assembly (ruling Republican Party).

The demonstrators later submitted a letter-complaint to Enoch Penney-Laryea, Security Advisor at the UN Country Office. who had joined the crowd to hear their concerns. He promised to pass the letter to the country coordinator.

‘Worse than Afrin’: Erdogan’s aide threatens to ‘break legs’ of Greek ministers over disputed isles

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Greek officials who set foot on contested islands in the Aegean Sea will face Turkey’s wrath that will be “worse than that in Afrin,” a Turkish presidential advisor has charged. Athens swiftly denounced his rant.

“We will break the arms and legs of the [Greek] Prime Minister [Alexis Tsipras] or of any minister, who dares to step onto Imia in the Aegean,” Yigit Bulut, a senior advisor to the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told the Turkish TRT broadcaster Thursday. The official was referring to a pair of uninhabited isles in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea that have long been the subject of a bitter territorial dispute between Turkey and Greece.

If Athens would further attempt to infringe upon what Ankara claims to be its territorial sovereignty, it would “feel the anger of Turkey, worse than that in Afrin,” the official warned, referring to the ongoing Turkish military operation in the northern Syria targeting local Kurdish militias. His angry remarks were apparently prompted by the Greek Defense Minister’s recent attempt to visit the contested territories.

On January 28, Turkish media reported that Turkey’s coast guard “blocked” the Panos Kammenos from approaching the islands. Kammenos was heading to the disputed territories to lay a wreath in commemoration of three Greek officers who died there in a helicopter crash in 1996.

Following the warning from the Turkish military, the vessel carrying the minister left the area without any incident, Turkey’s Anadolu news agency reported, citing the the Turkish interior minister and the General Staff.

The Greek Foreign Ministry slammed Bulut’s threats by calling them “unspeakable.” Such remarks “are alien to European political culture,”the ministry said in a statement, adding, that “such positions do not contribute to improving relations” between Athens and Ankara.

It also pointed out that “the legal status of the Aegean is clear and guaranteed by international law,” apparently implying that the disputed islands are Greek territory.

The incident adds further fuel to already escalating tensions between the two neighboring NATO allies. Greek media reported about “a spike in Turkish airspace violations in the Aegean.” While Turkish news outlets said “the Turkish Armed Forces continue to determinedly protect the nation’s rights and interests stemming from international law and agreements.”

Bulut, a former editor-in-chief at the Turkish news channel Haberturk TV, is known for his controversial statements. In 2013, he claimed that some foreign powers had been trying to kill Erdogan using telekinesis. The Turkish president was PM at the time. The same year, he also claimed that German airline Lufthansa were fuelling anti-government protests in Turkey, allegedly concerned over passenger flows being diverted from Germany to Turkey.

The Imia islands, also known as the Kardak islands in Turkey, are two small islets that together occupy a total area of some 40,000 square meters. The isles lie 4.6 kilometers from the nearest Greek island and 7 kilometers away from the Turkish coast.

The territorial dispute over the islands has already pushed Greece and Turkey to the brink of war. In 1996, tensions around the contested territory escalated rapidly with both Athens and Ankara sending Special Forces to the area. The crisis prompted the US to intervene to prevent an armed conflict between the two NATO member states.

Terrorist State of Turkey claim it killed 260 Kurdish fighters in Syria

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As Turkey continues its offensive in Syria’s Kurdish enclave of Afrin, Ankara says it has killed 260 enemy fighters. Washington and Moscow have called for restraint as the United Nations readies aid supplies.

Turkey’s military said on Tuesday it has killed at least 260 Syrian Kurdish fighters and “Islamic State” (IS) militants in the first four days of operations in northwest Syria’s Kurdish-dominated region of Afrin.

There is no known IS presence in Afrin, which is under the control of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described the fighting as “very violent” to the northeast, northwest and southwest of Afrin, which lies adjacent to Turkey’s southern border.

The Observatory said 28 civilians were killed; a number vehemently denied by the Ankara government which insists it is only targeting militants. The monitoring group also said 43 Turkish-backed rebels had been killed as well as 38 Kurdish fighters, a number far lower than that provided by the Turkish military. Three Turkish soldiers have been killed since the offensive began on Saturday.

Artillery and drone strikes

The Turkish military and their Syrian rebel allies on Wednesday continued an offensive against the YPG, which the US is backing in the fight against IS, but who Ankara accuses of links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party waging a more than three decade fight in Turkey.

The military offensive has opened up a new front in Syria’s seven-year war, which could extend wider still and lead to a confrontation between Turkey and its NATO ally the US.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday said the operation could spread into the town of Manbij to the east, where some US troops are positioned alongside the SDF. He reiterated Ankara’s call for Washington to stop supporting the YPG.