Turkey Targeting Greece – Again, Cyprus in 1974, Syrian city of Afrin this March, virtually no global reaction

April 20, 2018 By administrator

Turkey Targeting Greece – Again

by Uzay Bulut,

With the illegal seizures and occupation of northern Cyprus in 1974 and the Syrian city of Afrin this March — with virtually no global reaction — Turkey apparently feels unchallenged and eager to continue; this time, it seems, with the oil-and-gas rich islands of Greece.
“To take an interest in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Crimea, Karabakh, Bosnia and other brotherly regions is both the duty and the right of Turkey. Turkey is not just Turkey. The day we give up on these things will be the day we give up on our freedom and future.” — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 2016.
Turkish needs are in reality supplied by its association with the US. Turkish officials usually get whatever they want from the West, but they seem to have chosen to align themselves with Iran and Russia, possibly in attempt to blackmail the West for more.

Turkey has been harassing Greece consistently. Most recently, this week, on April 17, two Turkish fighter aircraft harassed the helicopter carrying Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the Greek Armed Forces Chief Admiral Evangelos Apostolakis as they were flying from the islet of Ro to Rhodes.

With the illegal seizures and occupation of northern Cyprus in 1974 and the Syrian city of Afrin this March — with virtually no global response — Turkey apparently feels unchallenged and eager to continue; this time, it seems, with the oil-and-gas rich islands of Greece.

Another provocation by the Turkish government recently took place when three young Greek men recently paid tribute to a dead pilot by planting five flags in some islets in the Aegean.

According to the Turkish media, Turkey first urged Greece to remove the flags, then carried out a military operation against a tiny islet, Mikros Anthropofagos, at night: special operation units (SAT) of the Turkish Navy allegedly removed them on April 15.

“Do not take dangerous steps,” Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, warned Greece: “Our soldiers might cause an accident.”

Many Turkish media outlets proudly covered the operation as if Turkey, in a triumphant battle, had conquered new realms. The Greek media, however, reported that according to witnesses in the area, all five flags are apparently still in place.

The Aegean islands that Turkey keep threatening to invade, legally and historically belong to Greece.

Since Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Greece last December, the Turkish media has escalated its anti-Greek, pro-war reporting concerning “the Greek occupation of the islands.” Some newspapers claim that “Greece has become home to terrorists hostile to Turkey.” Others say, “Greece is planning to invade Turkey.” Some columnists claim that “Turkey can fight against Greece in the Aegean”, while others accuse Greek consular officials in Istanbul of trying to revive the Greek Byzantine Empire through an exhibition the Greek consulate organized in Istanbul from December 2017 – January 2018.

Why are so many Turks obsessed with Greece?

In 1923, after a major attack against Anatolian Greeks — the 1913-1923 genocide — the Turkish republic was founded. Since then, Turkey’s expansionist goals seem to be inspired by a seeming historical aggression, hatred towards Greeks, neo-Ottomanism and an Islamic tradition of conquest, or jihad.

From the mid-15th century until the proclamation of the first Hellenic republic in 1822, modern Greece’s borders were occupied by the Ottoman Empire. Erdogan has been open about his goals of resurrecting the Empire or at least expanding Turkish territory as much as possible:

“There are physical borders and there are borders in our hearts,” he said. “Some people ask us: ‘Why do you take an interest in Iraq, Syria, Georgia, Crimea, Karabakh, Azerbaijan, the Balkans, and North Africa?’… None of these lands is foreign to us. Is it possible to divide Rize [in Turkey] from Batumi [in Georgia]? How can we consider Edirne [in Turkey] to be separate from Thessaloniki [in Greece]? How can we think that Gaziantep [in Turkey] has nothing to do with Aleppo [in Syria], Mardin [in Turkey] with Al-Hasakah [in Syria], or Siirt [in Turkey] with Mosul [in Iraq]?

“From Thrace to Eastern Europe, with every step you take, you will see traces of our ancestors… We would need to deny our true selves for us to think Gaza and Siberia, with whom we speak the same language and share the same culture, is separate from us. To take an interest in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Crimea, Karabakh, Bosnia and other brotherly regions is both the duty and the right of Turkey. Turkey is not just Turkey. The day we give up on these things will be the day we give up on our freedom and future.”

Erdogan also referred to the Misak-ı Milli (“National Pact”), a set of decisions made by the Ottoman Parliament in 1920 concerning the borders of the future Turkish state to be established in Ottoman Turkey. The National Pact is commonly referenced by Turks when calling for Turkish territorial expansion.

The Turkish newspaper Hürriyet wrote:

“Some historians say that according to the National Pact, the Turkish borders include — in addition to the current borders of Turkey — Cyprus, Aleppo [in Syria], Mosul, Erbil, Kirkuk [in Iraq], Batumi [in Georgia], Thessaloniki [in Greece], Kardzhali, Varna [in Bulgaria], and the Aegean islands.”

On April 18, the Turkish foreign ministry asserted, “the Kardak rocks [Greece’s Imia islets] and their territorial waters and airspace above them are exclusive under Turkish sovereignty.”

Major political parties in Turkey unite in their desire to invade the Aegean islands — what they disagree on is who is guilty of having allowed Greek sovereignty over the islands in the first place. The main opposition party, the CHP, (Republican People’s Party) accuses the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) of “letting Greeks occupy Turkish islands”; the AKP accuses the CHP, the founding party of Turkey, of “letting Greeks take the islands through the 1923 Lausanne treaty.”

Turkey’s quests for new economic gains from additional tourism, but especially from the newly-found Aegean oil and gas potential, seem to have intensified Turkey’s renewed interest in Greece.

In 2011, after facing an economic crisis, Greece re-launched its own gas and oil exploration. Last year, France’s Total and Italy’s Edison companies signed a lease for oil and gas exploration off Greece, Reuters reported.

Although Greece might well be willing to partner with Turkey in economic agreements, Turkey appears to prefer “other means.”

Turkish needs are in reality supplied by its association with the US. Turkish officials usually get whatever they want from the West, but they seem to have chosen to align themselves with Iran and Russia, possibly in attempt to blackmail the West for more.

In the meantime, Turkish politicians threaten Greece on Turkish national television. Yiğit Bulut, a chief advisor to Erdogan, recently said that he wants to avenge the blood of his grandfather, whom he claims was killed by Greeks:

“Anatolia [Turkey] will walk all over Greece. And no one can prevent this. Greece should know its place. If they try to attack and rape this geography like they did 100 years ago by trusting [French President] Macron, England, the U.S., Germany and [Angela] Merkel, these attempts will end terribly.”

The time to stop Turkey is now.

Uzay Bulut is a Turkish journalist born and raised in Turkey. She is presently

Human Rights Watch has criticized the Ankara ‘Turkey targeting civilian populations in Syria’s Afrin’

February 23, 2018 By administrator

‘Turkey targeting civilian populations in Syria’s Afrin’

Human Rights Watch has criticized the Ankara government’s ongoing cross-border offensive in Syria’s northwestern region of Afrin against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), stating that the Turkish military has failed to adopt necessary measures to avoid civilian casualties.

The New York-based group, in a statement released on Friday, pointed to three attacks in the Afrin region in late January, stating that they claimed the lives of 26 civilians, including 17 children.

It also called upon Turkey to thoroughly investigate these strikes, and then publicize the findings.

Also on Friday, the YPG accused Turkish military forces of bombing a convoy of civilians crossing into Afrin to protest Turkey’s offensive.

The US-backed Kurdish militants said the attack left scores of people wounded, who were taken to hospitals in Afrin for treatment.

Syria’s state-run television reported late on Thursday that Turkish artillery units had hit an Afrin-bound aid convoy, inflicting casualties.

Ankara views the YPG as the Syrian branch of the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that has been fighting for an autonomous region inside Turkey since 1984.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said that Afrin should be cleared of “terrorists,” and demanded the deployment of Turkish troops there during a speech back in November 2016.

This is while US officials regard the YPG as the most effective fighting force against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in northern Syria, and have substantially increased their weaponry and technology support to the terrorist group.

The controversy over a possible Syria border force first started on January 14 when a report emerged on Reuters saying that the military coalition led by the United States in Syria was planning to set up a large border force of up to 30,000 personnel with the aid of its militia allies.

The Syrian government has already condemned the “brutal Turkish aggression” against Afrin, rejecting Ankara’s claim about having informed Damascus of the operation.

Damascus “strongly condemns the brutal Turkish aggression on Afrin, which is an inseparable part of Syrian territory,” Syria’s official news agency, SANA, cited a Syrian Foreign Ministry source as saying on January 20.

“Syria completely denies claims by the Turkish regime that it was informed of this military operation,” the source added.

Turkey Now Targeting Academic Freedom in Europe

October 9, 2017 By administrator

BY UZAY BULUT,

Turkey’s targeting of dissident academics seems to have crossed the borders of the country. Academic freedom in Europe and in the U.S. is being stymied by the Turkish government and nationalist groups.

Most recently, Turkey targeted a conference held September 15 to 18 at the European Academy Berlin entitled “Past in the Present: European Approaches to the Armenian Genocide.” It was part of the “Workshop on Armenian Turkish Scholarship (WATS),” a series founded by the University of Michigan in 2000. It was co-organized by the University of Michigan, the Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies of the University of Southern California (USC), and Germany’s Lepsiushaus Potsdam.

Before the conference took place, nationalist groups, media outlets, and Turkey’s government-funded Council of Higher Education (YÖK) targeted the organizers and participants in a PR campaign.

This led to academics working in Turkish universities to withdraw.

The head of the ultra-nationalist Homeland Party (Vatan Partisi) and a long-time avid denier of the Armenian genocide, Doğu Perinçek, were prominent leaders of the PR campaign. At a press conference on September 6, Perinçek accused the conference and Sabancı University — one of the organizers of this year’s conference — of engaging in “a betrayal of science, university identity, law, and the homeland.” He added:

This workshop serves the project of “Kurdistan,” or more correctly, “a second Israel” of USA imperialism. Particularly the fifth panel of the workshop discusses the “unity of fate” of Armenians and Kurds against Turkey. This is an imperialistic confession.

Perinçek called on the YÖK to prevent Turkish academics from joining the conference.

Following Perinçek’s denunciation of the workshop, the ultra-nationalist paper Aydınlık attacked Sabancı University with an article headlined: “Hey Sabancı, Stop This Disgrace.”

The pressure on the universities and academics by the YÖK and the media bore fruit. Sabancı University withdrew from the event.

On September 8, Aydınlık proudly reported its “victory” in a headline that read: “No academics for the workshop of lies.” In another report, Aydınlık referred to those who participated in the workshop as “fake academics,” and listed the PR campaign’s “accomplishments” concerning the workshop:

The conference has literally “fallen to pieces” after the head of the Homeland Party, Doğu Perinçek, warned that the conference was a betrayal of science and homeland.

So, there is no longer a Turkish university left in the workshop of betrayal. The beginning date of the workshop has been postponed to the next day; the withdrawn Turkish academics have been replaced with foreigners and the access to the program is now subject to permission. It would be an insufficient explanation if we did not say the persevering and determined attitude of the YÖK has greatly contributed to getting these results.

In reality, the academics who participated in the event are top scholars engaged in vital, critical research, and are highly regarded for their academic endeavors on a global scale.

The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) of North America and its Committee on Academic Freedom has issued a written statement about the pressure placed on the conference and the academics:

As part of his broader campaign against the conference, Perinçek brought the topic and list of participants to the attention of YOK, which subsequently rescinded permission for Turkey-based academics to travel to the conference. In line with this policy, Dr. Murat Cankara, who is on the faculty at the Ankara Social Sciences University, was subjected to a travel ban preventing him from participating in the conference.

In addition, ultra-nationalist Turkish diaspora organizations, in apparent coordination with Perinçek’s party, have mobilized against the conference and are threatening a show of force at the Lepsuishaus, the main organizer of the event in Germany. No doubt, anyone who attends the conference is at risk of being filmed/photographed, blacklisted, and hounded by social media trolls in Turkey.

The smear campaign led by the daily Aydınlık, associated with Perinçek and his party, targets the private Koç and Sabancı Universities and accuses especially the latter of treason. The atmosphere of intimidation and threats has grown so alarming that the cancellation of the conference is being considered.

We strongly condemn the private and public harassment of academics for their planned participation in this conference and call on YÖK to immediately reverse its policy of preventing academics from traveling from Turkey to attend the conference.

We consider this action to be an assault on the academic freedom of scholars in Turkey.

Despite the pressure and the threats, many academics from Turkey who are currently based outside the country did participate in the event as speakers. However, they were still targeted.

The ultra-nationalist People’s Liberation Party (Halkın Kurtuluş Partisi, HKP) filed a criminal complaint against two participants and the presidents of Koç and Sabancı universities based on article 301 of Turkish criminal law, which punishes those who “insult Turkishness.”

Yektan Türkyilmaz, a prominent Armenian genocide scholar from Turkey who attended the conference as a speaker, and who is now based in Germany, said:

Source: https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/2017/10/09/turkey-now-targeting-academic-freedom-europe/

Russia admits to targeting a ‘list’ of militants in Syria, not just IS

October 1, 2015 By administrator

Reacting to criticism that it is targeting opponents of the Syrian government, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted on Thursday, October 1, that Russia’s airstrikes in Syria are targeting not only Islamic State militants but also other groups, the Associated Press reports.

Russia on Wednesday carried out its first airstrikes in Syria in what President Vladimir Putin called a pre-emptive strike against the militants. Twenty airstrikes destroyed a command center of Islamic State militants as well as ammunition depots, the defense ministry said.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday that Russia was going after IS militants as well as a “list” of other groups.

“These organizations are well known and the targets are chosen in coordination with the armed forces of Syria,” he said, without giving specific names.

Sergei Ivanov, Putin’s chief of staff, said on Wednesday that “the operation’s target is solely air support for the Syrian government forces in their fight against the ISIS.”

Speaking later in the day, Putin said Russia would be fighting “gangs of international terrorists” and then went on to talk about IS.

Asked Thursday whether Putin was satisfied with the way the Russian campaign was going, Peskov said it was “too early” to say.

In Paris, Russian Ambassador Alexander Orlov insisted that Russian warplanes in Syria were hitting at the same extremists targeted by the United States and denied American claims that its military failed to coordinate the airstrikes, describing the allegations as a “war of disinformation.”

Photo: AFP

Turkey arrests over 250 in raids targeting IS, Kurdish militants

July 24, 2015 By administrator

Photo: aim.org

(Reuters) Turkish police launched raids targeting Islamic State and Kurdish militants in 13 provinces across Turkey on Friday, July 24, the Prime Minister’s office said, saying it was determined to fight all “terrorist” groups “without distinction”.

It said in a statement that 251 people had so far been detained in the simultaneous raids, Reuters reports.

Turkish security forces launch operation targeting Kurd PKK

March 24, 2015 By administrator

Turkish security forces have launched an operation targeting shelters and stores believed to belong to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the military said on Tuesday, March 24, days after the group’s jailed leader called its armed struggle “unsustainable”.

Teams in the southeastern Mardin province were looking for outposts of the group, which has waged a three-decade insurgency against Ankara, according to Reuters.

“Security forces are conducting an operation with five teams with the aim of identifying and destroying shelters and stores believed to belong to the separatist terrorist group in the Mazidag countryside of Mardin,” the military said in a statement.

On Saturday jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan called for his group to hold a congress on ending its armed struggle, which he said had become “unsustainable”. However, he stopped short of declaring an immediate end to the struggle.

President Tayyip Erdogan, then prime minister, launched talks with Ocalan in late 2012 to end an insurgency that has killed 40,000 people, ravaged the region’s economy and tarnished Turkey’s image abroad. Progress has been faltering since then, but Kurdish faith in Ocalan remains undiminished.
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