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The two conquerer of Middle east, Israel and Turkey ramp up tension with tit-for-tat diplomat dismissals

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Israel and Turkey have continued tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats over violence in Gaza that has killed at least 60 Palestinians. It comes ahead of a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to discuss “Israeli aggression.”

Turkey has ordered the Israeli consul general in Istanbul, Yosef Lefi-Sfari, to temporarily leave the country, in the latest development of an ongoing spat between the two countries, Turkish state media reported Wednesday.

The move comes after Israel’s Foreign Ministry summoned a top Turkish diplomat to be reprimanded for his country’s “harsh” treatment of Israel’s ambassador in Ankara, Eitan Naeh, who Turkey temporarily expelled on Tuesday.

Also on Wednesday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said Umut Deniz, the Turkish charge d’affaires in Tel Aviv, was being summoned because of the “inappropriate treatment” of Naeh.

The spat between the two countries has seen Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan exchange heated words on Twitter.

Erdogan tweeted that Netanyahu “has the blood of Palestinians on his hands.”

Netanyahu hit back on Twitter, saying “Erdogan is among Hamas’s biggest supporters and there is no doubt that he well understands terrorism and slaughter. I suggest that he not preach morality to us.”

Arab foreign ministers to hold talks 

Arab foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting at the Arab League on Thursday to “confront the Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people,” state media reported Tuesday.At least 60 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since protests amplified on Monday following the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem and the Nakba commemoration of Israel’s founding.

Egypt’s state news agency MENA quoted an Arab diplomatic source as saying the meeting was also “to confront the illegal decision taken by the United States to move its embassy to occupied Jerusalem.”

The source also said the Arab League was due to hold a preparatory meeting on Wednesday at the level of permanent representatives.

Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia released a brief statement of condemnation and reaffirmed its support for “the Palestinian brotherly people” and their “legitimate rights.”

Guatemala first to follow US

Despite condemnation from much of the world on the US embassy decision, Guatemala also moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Wednesday, making it the first country to follow in the footsteps of the US.

“This is an important moment for the future of our peoples,” Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said at the embassy inauguration ceremony.

“It is not a coincidence that Guatemala is opening its embassy in Jerusalem right among the first, you were always among the first. You were the second country to recognize Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Paraguay is next in line to move its embassy to Jerusalem later this month.

Early this month while visiting Venezuela, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for Latin American countries not to move their embassies to Jerusalem, saying East Jerusalem was “the capital of the Palestinian state.”

TURKEY The Erdowie song Erdowo Erdogan creates tension between Ankara and Berlin

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arton123863-480x270Ankara, (AFP): The wrath of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about a satirical song on German television has led to a skirmish between Ankara and Berlin on freedom of expression, did on Tuesday Turkish and German diplomatic sources.

The case began with the release of 17 March mocking title “Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdogan,” produced by public regional broadcaster NDR, which displeased the head of the Turkish state as to cause the convening by Ankara German Ambassador to Turkey, Martin Erdmann.

Erdmann was requested “last week” to go to the Turkish Foreign Ministry “to express our protest about this issue that we condemn and we asked to stop its spread,” said AFP a Turkish diplomatic source who requested anonymity. According to the German Foreign Ministry, Martin Erdmann has “made it clear” on Tuesday and “a few days ago,” “the rule of law, independence of justice and the protection of fundamental freedoms, including freedom of the press and opinion, “must be” protected jointly “by the two countries.

“In recent weeks already, the Ambassador Erdmann stressed to the Turkish Foreign Ministry that political satire over in Germany the freedom of press and opinion”, and can as such be subject to a “government action”, is continued in the ministry. NDR chain has in turn protested Tuesday against the Turkish decision. “What the Turkish government clearly active diplomatically because of the show + Extra 3+ is not compatible with our concept of freedom of the press and opinion,” railed the editor of NDR Andreas Cichowicz, quoted by the German news agency DPA. Satirical song about two minutes to Erdogan, produced by NDR for the show “Extra 3” broadcast by ARD public television, is especially addressing the violations of press freedom committed by the Islamic-conservative president. It also criticizes the Pharaonic expenses incurred for the construction of a luxurious palace near the Turkish capital, Ankara.

“He leads a lavish lifestyle, the boaster of the Bosphorus, a journalist who writes does not please Mr. Erdogan is found the next day behind bars,” quips the offending song. Erdogan in power since 2002, first as prime minister and president since 2014, is accused of authoritarianism by its detractors. He strongly criticized these days the presence Friday from Western diplomats, including those of Germany and France in particular, to the trial of two opposition journalists in Istanbul.

In the aftermath, Ankara protested Monday from several European countries from the comments posted on social networks diplomats present at the trial against the editor of the daily Cumhuriyet, Can Dündar and his bureau chief in Ankara Erdem Gül. The two journalists charged with espionage, risk life imprisonment for an article questioning the Turkish regime in deliveries of arms to Islamist rebels in Syria, in January 2014.

The German government has in turn been criticized by German media for controversial agreement completed between the EU and Turkey, and strongly supported by Chancellor Angela Merkel. The media accused Berlin of granting too many concessions to Ankara.

Turkish-Russian tension spills into South Caucasus

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236681The South Caucasus has emerged as yet another arena for muscle-flexing and a tug-of-war between Turkey and Russia, two countries whose relations have sunk into mutual hostility but are still short of actual war, with the region seeing a revival of a frozen conflict and a shifting of regional alignments last week.

In addition to Syria, Ankara and Moscow seem set to face off in the troubled South Caucasus, with the dispute between them leaving its impact across the region.

Relations between Turkey and Russia took a hit after the Turkish Air Forces (THK) shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in late November. Since then, the decades-old conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh has escalated, with Azerbaijan firing from tanks for the first time since the early 1990s. Last week, Yerevan announced that the cease-fire, which technically halted fighting in 1994, if not totally erasing clashes, is no longer in effect.

It is noteworthy that the armed clashes over the mountainous enclave gathered new pace immediately after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu‘s visit to Azerbaijani capital Baku earlier in December. Last week also saw a number of meetings between regional actors. The Turkish, Georgian and Azerbaijani defense ministers held a meeting in Turkey to discuss cooperation against regional threats. Then Russian and Armenian defense ministers signed a treaty on Wednesday to create a joint regional air defense system. The main target of the cooperation was no secret.

A Russian military official told  Sputnik news agency at the time the treaty is aimed against Turkey. “In my opinion, this decision is connected with the events in Turkey. Today, aviation plays a major role in combat. Turkey is a NATO member and there are US aircraft present in Turkish airfields. There is a need for a more secure system that can keep the air borders protected and this requires joint efforts,” Sputnik quoted the former deputy commander of Russia’s Air Defense Forces, Lt. Gen. Alexander Luzan, as saying.

Russia has already sent more than a dozen new aircraft, including advanced attack helicopters and military transport planes, to its base near Yerevan.

Defense officials in Ankara told Today’s Zaman that it is only a matter of time before the tension over Nagorno-Karabakh relapses into war. Watching events there with wary eyes, Turkish officials believe that Russia has deliberately brought the tension with Turkey over the jet dispute to the region, opening a new theater to place additional pressure on Turkey.

Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Assistant Professor Fatih Özbay, a Russia expert at İstanbul Technical University, said Russia is sending a signal to Turkey and Azerbaijan through Armenia by arming Yerevan. For him, Russia is evidently pursuing a policy of containment against Turkey in many regions by escalating the geographical scope of the tension. “The Russia-Turkey dispute has already gone beyond the Syrian theater. Turkey now faces a strategy of containment from Crimea to the Caucasus, from Iran to Syria and the east Mediterranean. The jet crisis has only served as a pretext; it accelerated the process,” he said.

According to Özbay, Russia is drawing the lines of its geopolitical sphere of influence in these regions against NATO and the West. Özbay, who lived in Moscow for several years, also said Russia is seeking an opportunity to take revenge for its jet that was downed by Turkey and is looking for opportunities for tit-for-tat reprisals. “Armenia’s defense is entirely deferred to Russia and Russian soldiers. Russia, thirsty for revenge, will not hesitate to shoot any Turkish warplane that accidentally enters Armenian airspace,” he said.

Source: Zaman

Armenia-Azerbaijan Border tension reaches highest point – Seyran Ohanyan

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f5668484b84226_5668484b8425d.thumbThe situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and on the Line of Contact is under proper control, Armenia’s Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan told reporters as he answered Tert.am’s question about the situation on the border after Azerbaijan opened tank fire at the Armenian positions.

“Tension has actually reached its highest point. They are firing not only small arms, but also mortars. In the south-eastern section of Artsakh they also opened tank fire. Those were not pointed strikes. This is the enemy’s tactic of destabilization,” Mr Ohanyan said.

Azerbaijan’s step could not only cause foreign policy problems, but also result in domestic political one.

“The Middle East situation could be a reason for the two presidents’ meeting as in many respects it involves our region. I want our people to be sure we have developed containment mechanisms,” Mr Ohanyan said.
In response to Tert.am’s question as to the reasons for Armenia not applying to international organizations – the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and UN Security Council – as Azerbaijan has repeatedly applies heavy weapons, Mr Ohanyan said:

“We are dealing with a neighbor that does not understand human speech. A dialogue requires a ceasefire and mutual arrangements. An international investigation can identify the guilty party. It is time for serious work to ensure serious work to develop mechanisms for international investigations for specifically addressed assessments to be made.”

Speaking of his talk with Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Mr Ohanyan said he had informed Mr Kasprzyk of the situation.

The Armenian side showed restraint during the parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan.

“However, our referendum [on constitutional reforms] caused a 4-5-day-long tension. That prevented many of the commanders from leaving the positions to [vote in the referendum],” Mr Ohanyan said.

HDP Leaders Meet US, European Envoys Amid Tension with AKP

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Co-chairs of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Figen Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas (Source: Hurriyet Daily News)

Co-chairs of the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) Figen Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas (Source: Hurriyet Daily News)

ANKARA (Hurriyet Daily News)—The co-leaders of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) have met with foreign ambassadors in Ankara to inform them about recent tensions with the Turkish government, as clashes between militants and security officials have intensified in recent days across Turkey.

Co-chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag met with Iranian Ambassador to Turkey Ali Reza Bikdeli on July 29, with US Envoy John Bass and UK Ambassador Richard Moore on July 30, and with the ambassadors of EU countries on July 31, the party said in a written statement.

The meetings come at a time when HDP leadership is under intense pressure from the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has accused the group of having links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). This pressure is being further leveled as summaries of proceedings on a number of HDP lawmakers, including Demirtas and Yuksekdag, have been introduced to parliament in a move that could presage prosecution for the pair.

In response to AKP’s increased pressure on Demirtas’s and Yuksekdag’s party, which won 80 seats in parliament last month effectively ending AKP’s 13-year majority rule, the HDP has filed a criminal complaint against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu for using their influence over judicial acts against its party officials.

“Prosecutors have launched operations that resulted in the detention and arrest of party officials after President Erdogan’s and Prime Minister Davutoglu’s statements that they had given instructions. As a result of these operations and according to the data provided to the Peoples’ Democratic Party, 1,033 have been detained and 125 of them have been arrested without concrete evidence since July 24,” the petition issued by HDP read.

Recalling consecutive statements by Erdogan and Davutoglu against Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag, the petition said these statements were directly influencing judicial independence and impartiality.

Influencing the judiciary was a crime under article 277 of the Turkish Penal Code, the statement read.

Demirtas’s and Yuksekdag’s meetings with envoys were focused on the ongoing political tension between the AKP and the HDP, as well as escalating tension between the army and the PKK in the southeastern Anatolian region.

Demirtas, speaking to the media on July 31, underlined the need for a resumption of dialogue between the PKK and the government to reach a settlement of the Kurdish issue. “The peace process should be restarted although it has been going very slowly in the last three years. Dialogue is not something humiliating. Not for the PKK either. Instead of calls for surrender, calls for dialogue are more humane,” Demirtas said.

“As the people of Turkey, we should say, ‘Remove your hands from the trigger, solve this issue at the table.’ Pushing democratic political channels to the end in such periods is part of the settlement. Taking about party closures and the removal of immunities would only block these democratic political channels,” he added.

Stating that he will meet with the Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu next week over these issues, Demirtas said, that “our doors are open for even those who fully ignore us. We’ll knock on any doors for peace. These are the views of our party, not my personal views. We should focus on peace rather than elections. Otherwise going to elections is easy.”

Kurdish-Turkmen tension on the rise in Kirkuk

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Kirkuk’s Turkmen vow to take up arms if the city is not returned to Iraqi central government.

Aljazeera Kirkuk, Iraq – Wearing a flak jacket with a pistol on his hip, the president of the Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF), Arshad Salihi, announced yesterday the mobilisation 2014617123322313734_20of a new Turkmen militia in the city of Kirkuk, saying that if the Kurdish Peshmerga forces “refuse to return Kirkuk [to the Iraqi government] we will fight back”.

Heavily armed men gathered at the offices of the ITF in Kirkuk.  The announcement came after Kurdish forces seized control of the city on June 12 following the complete withdrawal of Iraqi army forces in the face of rapid advances by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants.

Yousif Mohammed Sadiq, the parliamentary speaker of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), said that the KRG has no plans to hand back control of Kirkuk, a city which has long been at the centre of disputes between the KRG and Baghdad.

Kirkuk has been extremely important to the Kurds both culturally and economically. It is a mixed city with Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen and Assyrian populations and is frequently subject to attacks on the security forces and civilians carried out by militants aligned with al-Qaeda. Large oil reserves in the region of Kirkuk are a major factor in the dispute over control of the city.

RELATED: Analysis: The Kurds take Kirkuk, now what?

Many observers argue that after gaining complete military control of Kirkuk without confrontation, it is highly improbable that the KRG will relinquish it.

A statement on the KRG’s website said that: “People living in areas under Peshmerga control … have nothing to fear because the Peshmerga will loyally protect them.”

The secretary-general of the Kurdish security forces, Jabber Yawar, reiterated this to Al Jazeera, saying of the ITF’s statement: “This is media propaganda. Today the Peshmerga are fighting to protect [the Turkmen village of] Mullah Bashir and fighting ISIL there. In Kirkuk, the Peshmerga are there to protect all the different ethnicities.”

However, Salihi expressed concern that “without the Iraqi army there will be radical political achievements for other sides”.

He went on to clarify that he was referring to the KRG framing his response in belligerent terms; “If they try to impose something that we do not accept, how can we live together? If today we don’t have forces, tomorrow we will have. We are asking people to carry weapons and defend themselves.”

The ITF’s announcement came a day after the predominantly Turkmen city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, fell to insurgents from ISIL.

A Turkmen engineer from Kirkuk who asked to remain anonymous, said: “We don’t trust the Peshmerga because they only look after their own interests. They opened the gates of the army bases and allowed normal people to take what they want. Then they allowed those weapons to be sold on the street. This is evidence that they do not care about law and order in Kirkuk. How can we trust them? People are saying that yesterday they looted the army bases, tomorrow they may loot our shops.”

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/06/kurdish-turkmen-tension-rise-kirkuk-2014617122142958412.html