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Terrorist State of Turkey fighter jets violate Greek national air space today

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jets_web-thumb-largeA formation of six Turkish fighter jets violated Greek national air space in the northeastern Aegean Thursday, Greek defense officials said.

The Turkish jets entered into Greece’s national air space on one occasion, the defense officials said, adding that two of the aircraft were armed and that one dogfight occurred. In all cases the Turkish jets were chased off by Greek aircraft.

The violations follow a peak in tensions between Turkey and Russia after Turkish fighter jets shot a Russian military jet near the Syrian border.

Greek island has run out of burial ground after influx of dead refugees – mayor

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5637f853c46188116c8b45c2A surge in the number of bodies of refugees whose boats capsized as they desperately tried to reach Europe has filled the burial grounds of the Greek island of Lesbos to capacity, the island’s mayor said, adding that over 50 bodies remain unburied.

The island’s morgues, cemeteries and emergency services have been overwhelmed with a record number of bodies of migrants who died trying to cross the Mediterranean in October. According to the latest UN data, over 218,000 people arrived in the EU during the month, beating the total annual number for the whole of 2014.

Some 744,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe in 2015 alone, of which at least 3,300 died while making the journey.

Mayor Spyros Gallons told the Greek media that, while five funerals were held this weekend, 55 bodies remain at the morgue and the island is having a hard time finding burial ground for them.

“Yesterday we held five funerals, but there are still 55 bodies at the morgue,” NBC News quoted Galinos as saying. “Who could have anticipated such a carnage in the Aegean?”

Lesbos, with a population of 86,000, lies in the Aegean Sea near Turkey’s cost. It has served as one of the main destinations for refugees and other migrants trying to escape violence and poverty in Syria and other conflict zones in the Middle East and Africa.On Monday, the tragic situation was exacerbated, as 11 refugees, most of them children, drowned in the Aegean Sea while trying to reach Lesbos. Moreover, on Sunday another 15 people, including six children, died in the Aegean after their boat capsized off the Greek island of Samos.

 

Greece President: We will continue supporting Armenian Cause

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greece-presidentGreece will continue to support the Armenian Cause.

The President of Greece, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, stated the aforesaid at his talk Monday in Athens with Catholicos Aram I of the Great House of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Aram I, for his part, first welcomed the conference titled “Peaceful Coexistence of Religions and Cultures in the Middle East,” and which Greece had organized.

The Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia also highly praised the stance of Pavlopoulos, who has supported the Armenian Cause ever since entering politics and today maintains this stance as the President of Greece.

President Pavlopoulos, in turn, stated that he has respect for the Armenian people and their just cause, and also praised the Armenian community of Greece.

Armenia News – NEWS.am

Beam in Own Eye: Greece Scrambles Jets After Turkish F16s Violate Airspace

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1028276084Greece scrambled fighter jets to intercept a pair of Turkish F16 planes over neutral waters of the Aegean Sea in a move condemned by Ankara but described by Athens as fully consistent with international procedure.

Two Greek Air Force F16s had their missiles locked onto six Turkish F16 jets during what the Turkish military said was a training mission in international airspace over the Aegean Sea.
“Just as six Turkish F16 fighter planes conducted a training flight over the Aegean Sea two Greek war jets held them in their crosshairs for 2 minutes and 13 seconds,” the Turkish General Military Staff said in a statement Friday.
The Greek military website defensenet.gr had earlier reported 39 violations of the country’s airspace by Turkish military aircraft.
According to the Greek side, three groups of Turkish F16 and F4A warplanes, as well as three CN-235s and a helicopter, entered the Greek airspace 39 times.
The planes were intercepted and identified in line with standard procedure.
Turkey and Greece have seen a rapid increase in incidents since 2013. In the first month of 2014 alone, Turkish aircraft allegedly violated Greek airspace 1,017 times.
This was twice the number of total airspace violations between the two countries for the first half of 2013.

Greek PM declines the snake-oil salesman Turkey Davutoğlu’s offer for joint visit to Cyprus

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230395Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras conditionally declined an offer from his Turkish counterpart, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, to pay a joint visit to ethnically divided Cyprus to boost recently revived peace negotiations, a Greek Cypriot official has told the Greek media.

Davutoğlu proposed a joint visit to the island, divided along ethnic lines into north and south, in a meeting on the sidelines of the UN summit in New York last week.

Nikos Christodoulides, spokesman for the Greek Cypriot government, said Tsipras turned down the offer, suggesting that the two leaders should visit the island once the Cyprus dispute is resolved.

“Let’s first solve the Cyprus issue, then visit the island,” Tsipras reportedly told Davutoğlu.

According to a report on the website of the To Vima daily, Christodoulides said he was informed by Greek sources in Athens.

The division of the island has caused a headache for Turkish-Greek relations. After moderate Mustafa Akıncı swept the presidential elections in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) last April, talks with the Greek Cypriot administration have gained new momentum.

Cyprus was split when Turkey intervened on the island in 1974 after a Cypriot National Guard and Greek military junta staged a military coup with the aim of annexing the island with Greece. While UN-backed diplomatic initiatives have failed in the past, the recent round of peace talks have ignited strong hopes for reunification of the island.

Greece: Triumphant Tsipras returns to fight for Greek economy, debt relief

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s3.reutersmedia.netATHENS | By Renee Maltezou and Lefteris Papadimas  Reuters

Alexis Tsipras said on Monday he would revive Greece’s banks and its crippled economy, while demanding debt relief from creditors in his “first big battle” following an unexpectedly clear election victory that returned him to office as prime minister.

Preparing to be sworn in for a second term, he set those priorities at the top of a dauntingly long “to do” list that also includes implementing austerity polices and dealing with waves of migrants landing on Greek shores.

In Sunday’s election, voters gave Tsipras and his Syriza party a second chance to tackle Greece’s problems, and with it the benefit of the doubt over a dramatic summer U-turn, when he ditched his anti-austerity platform to secure a new bailout and avert ‘Grexit’ – a Greek exit form the euro zone.

His immediate objective would be the full restoration of stability in the economy and Greek banks, a Syriza official quoted Tsipras as telling party officials on Monday. The banks were shut for three weeks and the wider economy set back sharply in July before Tsipras caved in to accept austerity terms and an 86 billion euro bailout.

The official said Tsipras had also announced that his “first crucial battle” would be securing debt relief.

Tsipras has promised to implement the tax increases, spending cuts and market reforms mandated by creditors under the bailout program, which restrains much of his ability to set policy. But his party says there is still enough flexibility to cushion the impact on the most vulnerable Greeks.

Its election manifesto refers to “grey areas” in which details can still be adjusted, such as labor reforms – important in a still heavily unionized country – pension cuts, and plans to tackle the non-performing loans that have crippled banks.

Creditors say that if Greece seeks to adjust the terms by easing austerity in one area it must tighten somewhere else.

STRONGER THAN EXPECTED

Syriza’s stronger-than-expected win secured it 145 of 300 parliamentary seats, meaning the party requires only one small coalition partner to form a government in Greece’s notoriously fractious legislature.

It will govern with the same junior party it teamed up with in January, the once stridently anti-bailout right-wing Independent Greeks (ANEL), which won 10 seats. Its leader Panos Kammenos said Tsipras would announce his cabinet by Wednesday.

That alliance gives Tsipras more authority to steer the implementation of the bailout than he might have enjoyed with a broader coalition. He says his victory gives him a mandate for a full four-year-term, extraordinary in a country that has gone through five general elections in six years.

“This is a major personal triumph for Tsipras,” said political commentator Aristides Hatzis. “His political hegemony is (now) unprecedented.”

But some analysts said creditors would have preferred Tsipras were restrained by a broader coalition, and that his stronger position would keep the threat alive of a future quarrel with the creditors – and even Grexit.

“Tsipras managed to convince a large part of the electorate that he was a tougher negotiator than previous governments,” said Mujtaba Rahman, of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.

“The return of a second Syriza-ANEL government will concern Greece’s creditors …(and we) maintain a 30 percent risk of Grexit over the next two years.”

The big victory makes it easier for Tsipras to reinstate trusted members of the cabinet that served during the often turbulent seven-month coalition he formed after his first election win in January.

 

Independent Greeks leader says ready to form coalition again with SYRIZA

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kammenos--2-thumb-largeGreece’s right-wing Independent Greeks party said on Sunday it would ally with election winners SYRIZA to form a coalition government.

“From tomorrow morning, with Alexis Tspiras as Prime Minister we will form a government,” Independent Greeks president Panos Kammenos told reporters.

SYRIZA was emerging as the clear winner in Sunday’s poll, with 35.5 percent based on more than half of votes counted. That would give it 145 seats in the 300-strong parliament.

Kammenos’s party was polling about 3.7 percent, with an estimated 10 seats.

[Reuters]

Greece election: Syriza takes early lead

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Breaking-News-gagrule-1Greece’s left-wing Syriza party has taken an early lead over the conservative New Democracy, with counting under way in the nation’s fifth election in six years.
With 10% of votes counted, Alexis Tsipras’s Syriza had 35% of the vote, according to interior ministry data, with New Democracy on 28%.
The snap election was called after Syriza lost its majority in August
Mr Tsipras’s popularity plummeted after he agreed a new financial bailout deal.
The final exit poll suggested Syriza had a lead of between 4.5 and 5 points over New Democracy.
Syriza supporters at the party’s main electoral HQ in Athens cheered and clapped as the exit polls were announced.
Mr Tsipras was hugged by party supporters as he arrived there.
However, a result along these lines will not give Mr Tsipras an absolute majority.
The BBC’s Richard Galpin in Athens says this will mean another period of political instability just as deadlines loom for the implementation of a series of key financial reforms.
Mr Tsipras had signed the bailout deal shortly after holding a referendum in which more than 60% of voters rejected the austerity measures creditors wanted to impose.
In interviews leading up to the election, Mr Tsipras said he had put his country above his party. He said that had he not agreed to the three-year bailout, Greece would probably have had to leave the eurozone.

In Major Escalation, Washington Demands Greece Blocks Its Airspace For Russian Flights To Syria

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by Tyler Durden,

Last week, when reporting that at least according to the White House,Russian presence in Syria is no longer disputed, we said that regardless if Russian troops are indeed on the Syrian ground, this admission that the current Syrian state of play “effectively ends the second “foreplay” phase of the Syrian proxy war (the first one took place in the summer of 2013 when in a repeat situation, Russia was supporting Assad only the escalations took place in the naval theater with both Russian and US cruisers within kilometers of each other off the Syrian coast), which means the violent escalation phase is next. It also means that Assad was within days of losing control fighting a multi-front war with enemies supported by the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and Putin had no choice but to intervene or else risk losing Gazprom’s influence over Europe to the infamous Qatari gas pipeline which is what this whole 3 years war is all about.”

Moments ago, following ever louder hints – if still unconfirmed by the Kremlin – that Russian forces are either en route to Syria or already there (Russian soldier’s VK post stating troops are in Syria, intercepted communication from a Russian An-124 military cargo plane en route to Latakia, Russian Roll-on/roll-off ship allegedly carrying military equipment to Syria), the US made a dramatic diplomatic escalation ahead of what is now assured to be the second major showdown between the US and Russia in Syria, over a Qatari gas pipeline no less, when according to Reuters, it asked Greece to deny Russia the use of its airspace for supply flights to Syria, a Greek official said on Monday, after Washington told Moscow it was deeply concerned by reports of a Russian military build up in Syria.

Reuters also notes that the Greek foreign ministry said the request was being examined. “Russian newswire RIA Novosti earlier said Greece had refused the U.S. request, quoting a diplomatic source as saying that Russia was seeking permission to run the flights up to Sept. 24.”

We very much doubt Athens will refuse to comply with western (either US or European) demands: now that Greece is officially a European debt colony with permanent capital controls, and deposits whose evaporation is merely a function of Brussels (and Frankfurt’s) good will, what the “democratic powers” demand – if only from Greece – the “democratic powers” get, which is why we are confident that within 48 hours Greece will fully roll over and make it clear to Putin that all Russian military flights will have to be diverted going forward.

We have previously explained the state of play, which Reuters summarizes as follows:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Saturday that if reports of the build-up were accurate, that could further escalate the war and risk confrontation with the U.S.-led alliance that is bombing Islamic State in Syria.

Lavrov told Kerry it was premature to talk about Russia’s participation in military operations in Syria, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman told RIA Novosti on Monday.
Lavrov confirmed Russia had always provided supplies of military equipment to Syria, saying Moscow “has never concealed that it delivers military equipment to official Syrian authorities with the aim of combating terrorism”.
Russia has been a vital ally of President Bashar al-Assad throughout the war that has fractured Syria into a patchwork of areas controlled by rival armed groups, including Islamic State, leaving the government in control of much of the west.

Foreign states are already deeply involved in the war that has killed a quarter of a million people. While Russia and Iran have backed Assad, rebel groups seeking to oust him have received support from governments including the United States, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

The Syrian army and allied militia have lost significant amounts of territory to insurgents this year. Assad said in July the Syrian army faced a manpower problem.
Still, the simplest confirmation and the proof that the Syrian intervention was never about ISIS (which from day one was a US creation designed to remove Assad from power), is that Russia has been trying to build a wide coalition including Damascus to fight Islamic State.

But the idea has been rejected by enemies including the United States and Saudi Arabia, who see Assad as part of the problem.

But wait a minute, the only reason Assad is on the verge of losing control is because of ISIS which earlier today was reported to have captured a key Syrian oil field near the city of Palmyra. It appears that only when it comes to affairs involving ISIS, the enemy of America’s enemy is double its enemy.

Then again, once one realizes that ISIS was from day one nothing but window dressing for a mythical opponent created in Hollywood, and designed to spook the masses into providing the media cover for what is shaping as an inevitable western intervention in Syria, and that the real enemy was none other than the same Assad who in the summer of 2013 was shown on a fabricated YouTube clip to have gassed his population in another transparent attempt to rally the population around the offensive war flag, then all falls into place.

Meanwhile, what we first reported is quietly but rapidly taking place behind the scenes: Russia is preparing for what appears to be the latest inevitable proxy war: one which will pit Syria (with Russian support, on and off the ground) against ISIS, the “moderate Syrian rebels”, and various Turkish forces (with US support, on and off the ground).

From Reuters:

A senior U.S. official told Reuters on Saturday that U.S. authorities have detected “worrisome preparatory steps,” including transport of prefabricated housing units for hundreds of people to a Syrian airfield, that could signal that Russia is preparing to deploy heavy military assets there.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Moscow’s exact intentions remained unclear but that Kerry called Lavrov to leave no doubt about the U.S. position.

A Syrian military official has said Syrian-Russian military relations have witnessed a “big shift” in recent weeks.
A Lebanese newspaper reported on Monday that Russian military experts who arrived in Syria weeks ago have been inspecting air bases and working to enlarge some runways, particularly in the north, though Moscow had yet to meet a Syrian request for attack helicopters.

As-Safir, citing a Syrian source, said there had been “no fundamental change” in Russian forces on the ground in Syria, saying they were “still operating in the framework of experts, advisers, and trainers”.
Well would you look at that: the US is not the only country that can send military “instructors”, “consultants” and “trainers” to a distant country to prepare the locals for war.

As-Safir said the Russians had “started moving toward a qualitative initiative in the armament relationship for the first time since the start of the war on Syria, with a team of Russian experts beginning to inspect Syrian military airports weeks ago, and they are working to expand some of their runways, particularly in the north of Syria.”

The newspaper, which is well-connected in Damascus, said nothing had been decided about “the nature of the weapons that Damascus might receive, though the Syrians asked to be supplied with more than 20 Russian attack helicopters, of the Mi-28 type”.
Bottom line: the battle lines are now fully drawn and the only question, just like in the case of the Greek near-default, is who gets the blame: if the western full court media press to represent Syria as colluding with Putin – when in reality Assad’s forces were about collapse under relentless US pressure, which with the help of ISIS, meant from day one to remove the Syrian president from power and replace him with a pro-US puppet, one who would allow the passage of the Qatari gas pipeline – succeeds, then the media spin is already prepared. It will mean that the imminent invasion in Syria by US and European powers will be portrayed as another escalation involving Russia, just like in 2013 and 2014.

And yes, we said Europe because as France’s president pivoted earlier today, Europe’s refuge crisis is about to be portrayed as the responsibility of Assad (but apparently not of the Western powers whose intervention in Syria has led to the country being torn by a bloody civil war), and as a result France is now preparing to bomb Syria to retaliate for a tragic refugee crisis, that has been years in the making not without Washington’s, or CIA’s, blessing. In other words, just like the fabricated “chemical attack” youtube clips of 2013 were the media pretext to attack Syria, so Europe’s great refugee crisis of 2015 will be the catalyst for the second attempt to remove Assad from pwoer.

On the other hand, Russia will deny any involvement in Syria, a la Crimea, even as its troops are positioned deep inside Syrian territory in preparation for what will soon be the latest mid-east proxy war.

None of the above, however, should not detract from the seriousness of the situation: suddenly Syria is months if not weeks or even days away from a repeat of the summer of 2013 which some may have forgotten, but on several occasions the US and Russia were this close from launching another world war.

Which is also why while we appreciate the impact of China’s economic hard landing on the price of oil, should the upcoming conflict, which now seems inevitable, spark a metaphorical (or literal) fire in, say, Saudi’s Ghawar oil fields – an outcome Putin would be delighted by – then oil may be poised for substantial upside from here.

This is what we said last week:

Finally, while we have no way of knowing how the upcoming armed conflict will progress, now may be a safe time to take profits on that oil short we recommended back in October, as the geopolitical chess game just shifted dramatically, and with most hedge funds aggressively short, any realization that the middle east is suddenly a far more violent powderkeg – one which may promptly include the Saudis in any confrontation – could result in an epic short squeeze.
With every day that we get closer to the all-out Syrian war, said squeeze becomes virtually assured.

Source: zerohedge.com

Plan B: Russia May Use New Aid Flight Routes to Syria Bypassing Greece

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1013810801Russia may use new flight aid routes to Syria if Greece closes its airspace to Russian aircraft, first deputy head of the international committee of the Russian Federation Council Vladimir Jabbarov said.

Earlier Monday, a source told Sputnik that Greece had received a request from the United States to deny Russian aircraft providing humanitarian aid to Syria use of the country’s airspace.

“This is an absurd move and if it is supported by Greece, it will be an unfriendly move toward Russia,” Jabbarov said.

On Saturday, the US embassy appealed to the Greek government with a request to prohibit the flights of Russian aircraft providing aid to Syria, however, Athens refused to do so, a source told RIA Novosti.

The Russian senator stressed that there Iran, Turkey and Central Asian states may assist Russia with regard to its humanitarian mission in Syria.

Commenting on the US’ request to close Greek airspace to Russian humanitarian flights to Syria, the Russian senator said that Washington “is afraid of any assistance that Russia is providing to the Syrian people.”

Jabbarov commented on Western media reports concerning Russia’s alleged increased weapons supplies to Syria saying that “the purpose of this campaign is to spark anti-Russian hysteria.”

The senator also noted that if the United States had the right to do so, it would have closed all countries’ airspace to Russian aircraft.

However, Russia can create new flight routes under international agreements, he concluded.

Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011 as government forces loyal to President Assad have been fighting several opposition and radical Islamist militant groups, including Nusra Front and Islamic State.

A number of Western countries have long supported what they call “moderate” rebel fighters, while Russia has repeatedly stated that Assad is the legitimate president of Syria, and that the people of Syria must choose their government and leaders without outside intervention.

In August, the Syrian president said that he highly appreciated Russia’s assistance, by which Moscow had proved its firm position in supporting Damascus during the military conflict.

Source: sputniknews.com