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Turkey’s Kurd Party HDP sends photos of devastated Cizre to European lawmakers

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picturs send to EUTurkey’s Kurdish problem-focused opposition party has prepared a photo album showing traces of the conflict during curfews in the now-devastated Cizre district in the southeastern province of Şırnak and sent it to European lawmakers.

The album composed of 92 photographs named “Mezopotamya’nın Sevgili Şehri Cizre/The Beloved City of Mesopotamia” was sent to lawmakers from the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said on June 2 in a press release.

“As known, during curfews which have been declared on and off since July 2015, and [one] which was finally started on Dec. 14, 2015, and ended on Feb. 11, 2016, in Cizre, the city has virtually been completely wrecked and hundreds of people have lost their lives,” the HDP said.

After the curfew was lifted, a delegation from the party went to the city and prepared the album, which includes an appendix composed of oral evidence as well as reports in Turkish and English which have been drafted by civil society organizations such as the Human Rights Association (İHD), the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TİHV), the Trade Union of Employees in Public Health and Social Services (SES), the Diyarbakır Bar Association, the Association for Human Rights and Solidarity for the Oppressed (MAZLUMDER), the Libertarian Lawyers Association (ÖHD), the Mesopotamia Lawyers Association (MHD), the Asrın Law Office and the Foundation for Society and Legal Studies (TOHAV). A letter by the United Nations concerning Cizre is also included in the DVD format appendix.

It was also sent to various civil society organizations and political parties at home and abroad.

Meanwhile, HDP co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş was paying a two-day visit to Switzerland to hold talks with leading parliamentarians, as well as senior officials from international institutions.

Demirtaş will hold various talks in Switzerland during his visit on June 2-3, the party’s press office said.

Demirtaş will meet Christa Markwalder, the speaker of the Swiss House of Representatives; Raphaël Comte, the speaker of the Senate; and Christian Levrat, head of the Socialist Party and the president of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

Demirtaş will also hold talks with Martin Chungong, the secretary-general of the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), and Gianni Magazzeni, chief of the Americas, Europe and Central Asia branch of the Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Following months of fierce debate, a bill that will mainly target HDP lawmakers with the aim of stripping them of their immunity from prosecution was passed last month by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the vocal support of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the founding leader of the party.

Demirtaş, one of two leaders of the third-largest party in parliament, has long said the move is likely to create more violence and stifle democratic politics, as the country has been embroiled in a reignited conflict between security forces and militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) since July 2015.

Demirtaş has also been arguing that Erdoğan’s drive for an executive presidency was preventing the revival of a peace process between the state and the PKK.

June/02/2016

Turkey recalls ambassador following Bundestag’s Genocide resolution

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213777The German Parliament overwhelmingly voted Thursday, June 2 to label the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago as genocide, prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador to Germany, the Associated Press reports.

The motion, which was put forward by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s governing coalition of right and left and the opposition Greens, passed with support from all the parties in Parliament. In a show of hands, there was one abstention and one vote against.

The vote heightened tensions between Germany and Turkey at a time when Ankara is playing a key role in stemming the flow of migrants to Europe.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that “this decision will seriously impact Turkish-German relations,” AP says.

Speaking during a visit to Kenya, Erdogan said recalling the ambassador for consultations was a “first step” and that the Turkish government would consider further steps to be taken in response to the vote.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called the German decision a “historic error.” Yildirim said that Turkish people take pride in in their past and that “there is no event in our past that would cause us to bow down our heads in embarrassment.”

Armenia’s foreign minister welcomed the vote.

1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I..

Merkel was not present for Thursday’s vote, with officials citing scheduling reasons. Her foreign minister, who like Merkel backed the motion, was on a trip to Latin America.

Opening Thursday’s debate, Parliament speaker Norbert Lammert acknowledged that addressing historical events can be painful.

Related links:

AP. Turkey recalls Germany ambassador after genocide vote

Dink’s attorneys apply to ECHR demanding to resume prosecution of Turkish officials

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dink caseAttorneys of Hrant Dink, assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist, have filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against the Turkish court. The latter earlier decided to stop the prosecution of the officials linked with the investigation of Dink’s murder.

Dink’s attorneys also appealed to the Constitutional court, noting that those officials had to do with in the preparation of Dink’s murder.

Moreover, the attorneys noted that a number of officials weren’t involved in the investigation at all.

Kurdish forces PKK have wounded 12 Turkish security officials in bomb attack in Turkey’s southeast

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PKK wonded turkish soldierA total of 12 security officials were wounded in a bomb attack by the  Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Nusaybin district of the southeastern province of Mardin on June 1. 

Two police officers and 10 soldiers were wounded when PKK  detonated a bomb they had hidden in Nusaybin, where a curfew has been in force since March 14.

The wounded security officials were taken to Nusaybin State Hospital, where the treatment of five officials, including one in critical condition, was continuing.

Seven security officials received ambulatory treatment.

Security operations in the district were ongoing.

German Vote on Armenian Genocide Riles Tempers, and Turkey

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Turkish-Armenian women searching for the graves of relatives in the Armenian cemetery in Istanbul last year, the 100th anniversary of the genocide. Credit Bryan Denton for The New York Times

Turkish-Armenian women searching for the graves of relatives in the Armenian cemetery in Istanbul last year, the 100th anniversary of the genocide. Credit Bryan Denton for The New York Times

By ALISON SMALE and MELISSA EDDY

(nytimes) BERLIN — If modern Germany has a mantra, it is that people should learn from their history. Yet Berlin’s latest attempt at reconciliation with the past focuses on the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago.

And that gesture toward atonement has riled tempers on all sides of the already strained European relations with Turkey.

The argument is set to peak on Thursday in a debate in the German Parliament, which is expected to overwhelmingly approve a resolution that officially declares the century-old Armenian massacres to be genocide — and condemns the then-German Empire, allied with Ankara, for failing to act on information it had at the time about the killings.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey said late Tuesday that he had warned Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in a telephone call that there could be consequences if the resolution passes.

For Turkey, there is scarcely a more sensitive topic than what German and international historians say was the murder of more than a million Armenians and other Christian minorities from 1915 to 1916. The Turkish government has long rejected the term genocide, saying that thousands of people, many of them Turks, died in the civil war that destroyed the Ottoman Empire.

For Germany, the resolution comes at a delicate time for Ms. Merkel. She is relying on Turkey to stem the flow of migrants from the Middle East to Europe, a policy that has earned her criticism for allying with the increasingly authoritarian Mr. Erdogan.

“If Germany is to be deceived by this, then bilateral, diplomatic, economic, trade, political and military ties — we are both NATO countries — will be damaged,” Mr. Erdogan told Turkish reporters before leaving on an official trip to Africa.
Continue reading the main story
Related Coverage

Armenia, on Day of Rain and Sorrow, Observes 100th Anniversary of Genocide APRIL 24, 2015
NATO to Expand Patrols in Aegean Sea to Stop Human Traffickers MARCH 6, 2016
MEMO FROM GERMANY
Angela Merkel, Accused of Betraying Core Values, Faces a Balancing Act With Turkey APRIL 14, 2016
A Century After Armenian Genocide, Turkey’s Denial Only Deepens APRIL 16, 2015

To date, 11 of the European Union’s 28 members have recognized the Armenian killings as genocide and, despite initial protests, Turkey has maintained good relations with several of those countries.

When France approved legislation recognizing the genocide in 2011, Turkey temporarily recalled its ambassador and halted bilateral military cooperation. Such steps now by Ankara would be more complicated and potentially more damaging, as Germany and Turkey are both currently engaged in a NATO operation to stop migrant boats crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.

Ms. Merkel and the two most senior Social Democrat ministers — Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier — will not be in Parliament for the vote, citing prior government business in Germany or abroad.

As the vote approached, debate intensified in Germany, which is home to an estimated three million people of Turkish descent, many of them dual citizens. About 2,000 Turks demonstrated last weekend in Berlin, rallying to the slogan that Parliament is not a court and therefore should not pass judgment.

Even prominent left-wing politicians from the Turkish community are at odds with one another.

Cem Ozdemir, a co-chairman of the opposition Green Party, has been a driving force behind the resolution, which is backed by Ms. Merkel’s conservative bloc and her center-left partners in the coalition government.

All the parties sponsoring the resolution have argued that it is not Germany lecturing the Turks, but a step intended to foster reconciliation between Turks and Armenians by encouraging them to examine their history.

Michael Grosse-Brömer, a senior parliamentary leader of Ms. Merkel’s conservative bloc, recalled that the original intent was to observe the 100th anniversary of the killings last year, and to try to work through a difficult point of history.

“The intent is not, and never was, to incriminate someone,” Mr. Grosse-Brömer said on Tuesday. “The resolution was not intended to damage relations with Turkey, which is a reliable partner and NATO member.”

“It must be possible to work through a historical event that took place 100 years ago,” he added.

But Aydan Ozoguz, the government’s commissioner for integration, said that while she would vote for the resolution, “I still think it is the wrong path” and that it will backfire.

Mr. Erdogan and ultranationalist Turks “will get a huge boost,” Ms. Ozoguz said this week.

“They will use the resolution as proof of a further attack by the West on Turkey,” she said. “Reasonable, considered voices will be isolated and will have no chance to be heard for a long time.”

Mr. Ozdemir, though, argued that the resolution would not be to blame for limiting or stopping historical investigation, since Mr. Erdogan has already “intervened expressly” to squelch any such moves.

The Green leader has also been critical of Ms. Merkel, accusing her of paying little heed to Turkey for most of her decade in power and now being forced to deal with Mr. Erdogan.

Increasingly, the chancellor has engaged in a balancing act. When she visited Istanbul for a United Nations summit meeting last week, she spent time with Turkish intellectuals and lawyers critical of Mr. Erdogan before meeting the president.

After a German comic lampooned Mr. Erdogan with a crude poem in April, Ms. Merkel initially criticized the verses, giving the impression — which she later said was a mistake — that she advocated curbing the freedom of satire in Germany.

The Armenian resolution has illustrated the many sensitivities of dealing with Turkey. Mr. Ozdemir said that Ms. Merkel and her foreign minister, Mr. Steinmeier, had pushed last spring to postpone the vote on it. That was before the migrant crisis, when ties between Germany and Turkey were less complicated.

Mr. Steinmeier, who left for Latin America before Thursday’s vote, brushed aside Mr. Ozdemir’s criticism, noting that there were always complicating factors in delicate diplomatic matters.

His spokesman, Martin Schäfer, said on Wednesday that the Foreign Ministry hoped that there would be “no lasting impairments” to relations after Thursday’s vote. “We have a lot we want to tackle with Turkey,” including accession to the European Union, Mr. Schäfer said.

The two sides seem to have taken care to leave themselves room to move forward on issues such as visa-free travel for Turks to Europe, which for Ankara is a crucial point of the broad accord on migrants, and advancing Turkey’s bid to join the bloc. Billions of euros have also been pledged in European aid for Turkey to care for an estimated 2.5 million Syrians and Iraqis who have sought refuge there.

In April, Mr. Erdogan visited the Armenian Patriarchate of Turkey to observe the anniversary of the 1915-16 killings and, in a carefully worded statement, extended his condolences to those who had died.

“We will never give up working for amity and peace, and against those who try to politicize history through bitter rhetoric of hate and enmity, and to alienate the two neighboring nations, who are bound by their common history and their similar traditions,” Mr. Erdogan said.

“With this in mind, I once again commemorate the Ottoman Armenians who perished and extend my condolences to their children and grandchildren.”

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus of Turkey this week urged Germany to “act with caution,” particularly because of its large Turkish community.

“I do not think that the German Parliament will destroy this relationship for the sake of two or three politicians who put the resolution before the Bundestag,” he said.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/02/world/europe/armenian-genocide-germany-turkey.html?_r=0

Syria: On the Road to Raqqa

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on road raqqa

By Pepe Escobar

The road to Raqqa, capital of the phony ISIS/ISIL/Daesh “Caliphate”, will continue to be a riddle wrapped inside an enigma at least until the US Presidential elections. Let’s examine why.

The loose combo known as Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), led by the Kurdish YPG alongside its women’s brigade, the YPJ, are trying to advance against Daesh north and now also west of Raqqa.

The key target is Tabqa, west of Raqqa. Tabqa is crucial because it links Raqqa with Daesh positions near Aleppo — where an embryonic Mother of All Battles is gearing up. Conquering Taqba itself will be no mean feat as it implies the SDF forces crossing the Euphrates River, which happens to be a red line imposed by Turkey’s Sultan Erdogan. 

Embedded with the SDF advance is a massive P.R. operation deployed by Washington, involving a hilarious controversy on American boots on the ground. President Obama has always repeated non-stop there would not be US boots on the ground in Syria. The State Department parroted the White House line. But boots — as many as 250 — are indeed on the ground, even as they may disguise themselves with YPG insignia.  

The Pentagon maintains they are only acting in an “advise-and-assist” role — as in trademark Obama “leading from behind” format. The boots are in fact Special Forces specialized in UW (unconventional warfare). Yet the theater of war — as established by Daesh — is quite conventional. Daesh is constituted as a small army, with heavy armor and considerable artillery, against which UW is meaningless.

The lame duck Obama administration — whose Syria “policy” hardly deviates from the “Assad must go” mantra — is trying to convey the impression for US public opinion that it is actively fighting Daesh. Yet this is a fiction. With no considerable “coalition” air power (apart from some bombing of Daesh targets south of Ain Issa) and no sizeable troops, no “leading from behind” will yield a US victory in Raqqa.   

The election battlefield

It’s enlightening that the offensive on Raqqa got the go-ahead only after CENTCOM Commander Gen. Joseph Votel traveled to Kobani, in Syria, and Ankara. Yet CENTCOM only gave the green light to a partial operation — vetoing the YPG plan to go after the key border town of Jarablus, one of Daesh’s only remaining revolving doors to Turkey. That’s because the Pentagon refuses to confront a NATO ally’s red line.    

This is not even about taking over Raqqa; the SDF does not have the manpower and the resources. As SDF commander Abu Fayyad put it, this is mostly about liberating the region north of Raqqa.

Syrian Kurds though simply won’t resign themselves to not advance on Jarablus; their strategic priority for months has been to try to open a corridor between their cantons in Kobani and Afrin. While commanders insist Washington would not interfere were that to happen — and that’s highly debatable — they also point out that the lame duck Obama administration wants a “victory” in Raqqa (as well as Mosul in Iraq) before the November presidential election.

So this is what it’s all about; a “gift” from the foreign policy-handicapped Obama administration to Hillary Clinton, assuming she survives the subterranean email server scandal.  

As for the Syrian Kurds, even if they were able to conquer Raqqa with “leading from behind” assistance — again highly debatable, as Daesh will fight to the death with all its firepower — they would not be able to clear and hold it. Raqqa is a Sunni Arab city. The SDF could hardly transfer enough resources to Raqqa without compromising its defense of Rojava. 

Once again, “on the road to Raqqa” is being sold in the US essentially as a P.R. stunt, as in “we’re fighting to win”. Perversely, the P.R. stunt also carries the embedded element of a possible trap to Damascus. The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) is very much focused on trying to secure Palmyra for good — as well as multiple supply lines, oil and gas fields, small regional airbases to be used by Russian helicopters, and trying to close multiple remaining pockets of surrounded “moderate” rebels and/or jihadis. That’s a lot of work. There’s no way the SAA will overextend itself and make a play for Raqqa.   

The bottom line is that for Damascus — as well as for Moscow — Raqqa is a non-issue, for now. A much more worrying scenario is Aleppo, where Sultan Erdogan’s mercenaries, weaponized and paid-for, are gearing up for the Mother of All Battles.

The game plan

Assuming an — unlikely — scenario of Syrian Kurds managing somehow to conquer Raqqa, it’s not hard to forecast the follow-up, whoever wins in November. Washington will make Raqqa its own satrapy and invest — once again — in Divide and Rule; creating a joint Kurd/Sunni Arab vassal state within Syria, along the Euphrates.

So those “advise-and-assist” boots on the ground are in fact the vanguard for a complex game plan — through which Washington, if successful, would be able to cut off that fiction much entertained by the petrodollar gang — the Shi’ite crescent — as well as weaken a fragmented Syria for the foreseeable future.

“NATO ally” Turkey though will pose a tremendous problem to the US game plan. There’s no way Ankara under Sultan Erdogan will abolish its Syrian Kurd red lines. Quite the contrary; Sultan Erdogan is doubling down. Erdogan is avidly betting on Jabhat al-Nusra — being bribed by Turkish operators to extricate itself from al-Qaeda — to wreak further havoc in Syria in the Aleppo front.

And one should not — ever — forget the gas; after all Syria is an energy war. Syria’s gas reserves happen to lie mostly between Raqqa and Deir Ez-Zoor. It’s not hard to fathom many a US Big Oil player salivating as these reserves may one day be under proxy US control.

Which brings us to the key question; how will Moscow crack the Raqqa riddle? Here’s another riddle — inside an enigma.

Source: sputniknews.com

Stick to ‘genocide’ wording despite Turkey, Armenia urges Bundestag

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armenian orphans 250,000(DW) Armenia’s president has urged German politicians to brand deaths in 1915 Ottoman Turkey as “genocide” and not be intimidated by Ankara. Turkey’s president and prime minister have both spoken out against the wording.

Serzh Sargsyan, Armenia’s president, told Germany’s daily newspaper Bild on Wednesday that he was sure that German lawmakers would adopt the wording submitted in a motion from Germany’s opposition Greens.

The draft resolution on Thursday’s agenda of the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament, contains the word “genocide,” despite warnings by Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday, followed by new Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Wednesday.

Yildirim said the deaths were the result of “ordinary” events during war conditions.

Turkey and Armenia have long been estranged over the World War One massacre. Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed between 1915 and 1916. Ankara argues that roughly half a million died in civil strife with Ottoman rulers.

More than 20 nations, including France and Russia, have already recognized the mass deaths as genocide, albeit prompting diplomatic tension with Turkey.

Don’t allow ‘intimidation’

“I am sure: the politicians in the Bundestag see it the same way and will not allow themselves to be intimidated,” Sargsyan said, referring to the draft.

Changing the wording “just because that makes the head of state of another country angry” would not be fair, nor prudent long-term, said Sargsyan.

Erdogan, who telephoned German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday, told a news conference that the Greens’ resolution, if adopted by the Bundestag, would damage ties between Ankara and Berlin.

‘Absurd’ formulation

Reiterating that stance on Wednesday, Yildirim described as “absurd” Thursday’s pending Bundestag motion, which also has support from Merkel’s conservative bloc and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD).

“History should be left to historians,” Yildirim told journalists in Ankara.

The Greens’ draft resolution entitled “Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities in 1915 and 1916” carries the contested word throughout the text.

The pending Thursday vote collides with the bid by Merkel and the EU as a whole to get Turkey to implement a complex deal to exchange migrants with Europe.

Germany has extensive ties with Turkey, including 3 million residents of Turkish origin, dating back to a “guest worker” scheme in the 1960s and 70s.

ipj/msh (AP, Reuters, AFP)

Merkel will not attend vote on Armenian Genocide resolution

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merkel not to joinGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel agrees with her parliamentary group that the Armenian massacres should be called a genocide, her spokeswoman said on Thursday.

However, Christiane Wirtz said the Chancellor would not attend the vote at the Bundestag on Thursday due to other official engagements on her schedule, Local.de reported.

The resolution titled “Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities in 1915 and 1916” has been drafted by Merkel’s Christian Democrats and junior coalition partner Social Democrats, along with the opposition Greens.

Reports: Turkey invasion of Syria in progress: Army spotted near Aleppo

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ggr-925Turkey has reportedly launched a ground invasion of Syria over the memorial day weekend. Their army units are currently being spotted in vicinity of Aleppo.

Reports first broke Friday on the Al Mayadeen TV Channel that Turkish soldiers had set a checkpoint near the city of Afrin, a predominately Kurdish city located 60 km Northwest of Aleppo province. Prior to the troop movement, Turkish artillery had barraged areas of the Syrian Aleppo province including Menagh Military Airbase (50km from Aleppo), a captured ISIS airbase occupied by Kurdish People’s Protection Units near the city of Azaz. Pravda reported the strikes hit civilian homes.

On Monday, Ahmet Arac, a member of the Democratic Majlis of Syria and of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PDS) confirmed to Sputnik the validity of previous reports Erdogan’s forces had crossed the Turkish-Syrian border Friday.

“Yesterday the Turkish Army carried out rocket attacks on the positions of Democratic Forces of Syria,” Arac said. “Two days ago, the Turkish military entered the village of Hamam in Afrin area. We are ready to repel any attack. Meanwhile, FSA units are suffering serious defeat in clashes with Daesh. They have already lost control of 12 villages. If Daesh comes to Azaz, ‘Democratic Syrian Forces’ will repel the jihadists, and not allow them to enter the city.” Arac warned.

On Tuesday FARS News Agency, Tehran’s unofficial mouthpiece, reported that several units of the Turkish Army had crossed the border with Aleppo province in Northern Syria and have deployed forces in vicinity of Azaz and Marea. FNA quoted Sputnik’s Monday source, Ahmet Arac, as saying that “hundreds of the Turkish soldiers crossed the Syrian border at Bab al-Salameh border-crossing and deployed their forces in al-Shahba’a region near Marea and Azaz.”

“The Turkish Armed Forces are preparing an offensive in the Azaz and Marea regions that have been the scenes of tough battles between the ISIL terrorists and its rival group of the Free Syrian Army,” Arac said.

Arac also said the Turkish Army had carried out rocket attacks Sunday on the positions of Democratic Forces of Syria and that on Saturday Turkish military forces had once again crossed into Syria, were heading toward the Northern province of Aleppo, and had set up a checkpoint in the region.

The FNA article also stated that a large number of Turkish soldiers, accompanied by several armored vehicles, entered the territory of Syria from Jandires region, 700 meter away from the Northwestern lands of Aleppo, and set up a military checkpoint to monitor civilians’ movements in the border region.

ERDOGAN’S LINK TO ISIS

If true, these latest moves by Erdogan’s regime constitute an outright invasion of Syrian sovereignty. Syrian President Bashar Assad has previously condemned Turkey as a complicit arm of ISIS, and has said that the insurgent forces are receiving physical aid from the government of both Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

In an interview with Sputnik on March 31st Assad said:

“..Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia, have crossed all possible red lines, possibly from the first weeks of the Syrian war. Today, the war against Erdogan and against Saudi Arabia is a war against terrorists. The Turkish army, which is not even Turkish, is Erdogan’s army that is fighting today in Syria. Everything that Ankara and Riyadh have done from the very beginning can be considered aggression. Aggression in a political sense or in a military sense – providing terrorists with arms – or direct aggression with the use of artillery, and other military violations. Erdogan is directly supporting the terrorists as he allows them to move into Turkish territory, to carry out maneuvers with tanks. This concerns not only individuals, he finances them [terrorists] through Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and through Turkey itself, of course. Turkey trades oil that has been stolen by IS (Islamic State, Daesh), at the same time carrying out artillery attacks against the Syrian army – when it moves close – in order to help the terrorists. They are terrorists and when we attack these terrorists in Syria, this leads to Erdogan’s direct defeat..”

But if true, what exactly does Turkey look to accomplish by this land incursion and directly supporting ISIS? Andrei Manoilo, Doctor of Political Sciences and a Professor at Moscow State University told Pravda that:

“I think that Turkey is going to unblock a part of the Syrian-Turkish border, because the Russian and Syrian forces, as well as Kurdish units, intend to take the Syrian-Turkish border entirely under their control to cut the channels of illegal arms supplies from Turkey to the terrorist group in Aleppo. Storming a large city is always extremely difficult. Terrorists from Jabhat en-Nusra and ISIL still hold a half of the city. If they are deprived of supplies, if their channels are cut, then the group in Aleppo is doomed to destruction. Turkey does not like such a prospect, so they intend to change the situation – they need to push the Syrian troops away from the border.”

Previously, TRUNEWS has reported on the insidious relationship between Turkey and ISIS, as well as the oil trade which has fueled the barbarous terrorist organization.

Source: http://www.trunews.com/turkey-invades-syria-army-spotted-near-aleppo/#eFcrcVAOWgoOGYLK.99

Source: https://www.superstation95.com/index.php/world/1401

Turkey’s Erdogan warns Germany ahead of #ArmenianGenocide vote

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1920-Alexandropol

Over 250,000 Armenian Orphans

Turkish President Erdogan has warned Germany of consequences if it passes an Armenian genocide resolution. Berlin and Ankara’s deep cultural, economic, political and military ties could sour at a critical time.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Germany on Tuesday against labeling the mass death of Armenians during World War I as a “genocide,” a sensitive move that could damage relations at a critical juncture.

German lawmakers are expected to pass the resolution on Thursday, with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, coalition partner the Social Democrats as well as Greens backing the measure.

Before heading on a trip to Africa on Tuesday, Erdogan told reporters the resolution’s passage would “naturally damage future diplomatic, economic, business, political and military relations between the two countries – and we are both also NATO countries.”

Erdogan also initiated a call with Merkel on Tuesday, Turkish state media Anatolia Agency reported.

As the successor state to the Ottoman Empire, Turkey officially denies that the events that started in 1915 amounted to genocide and has lashed out at countries that have officially recognized the term.

When France formally called the displacements and killings genocide in 2011, Turkey temporarily recalled its ambassador; it did the same thing to Austria last year. It has threatened the US with the closure of critical NATO bases if the US Congress passes a resolution.

The German resolution comes at a time Merkel is relying on Turkey to implement a migrant deal with the EU. The controversial deal has already faced difficulty over Turkish demands for visa-free travel to the bloc. Erdogan’s allies have threatened to unleash a wave of migrants on Europe if the country’s demands are not met.

It also comes amid mounting concern over human rights in Turkey, Erdogan’s authoritarian bent and spill over from the war in Syria. Domestically, the resolution could stir emotions among Germany’s 3 million-strong Turkish minority.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Tuesday he didn’t believe passing the resolution would cause problems with Germany’s Turkish community. However, he did voice popular concern that passing resolution would trigger an unproductive response from Turkey and hamper efforts at reconciliation with Armenia.

Backing away from passing the resolution could also renew criticism Merkel is appeasing Erdogan. She has already come under criticism for allowing an investigation into a German comedian who insulted the Turkish president in a poem.

Militating against a sharp and sustained Turkish response against a genocide resolution is Germany’s position as Ankara’s top trading partner.

The resolution and German culpability

The resolution up for vote on Thursday uses the world “genocide” in both the headline and text.

“The fate of the Armenians is exemplary in the history of mass exterminations, ethnic cleansing, deportations and yes, genocide, which marked the 20th century in such a terrible way,” it reads.

It also notes that Germany, as an ally of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, “bears partial responsibility for the events.”

Last April 24, on the 100th anniversary of what Armenians call the Great Crime, the Bundestag postponed voting on a similar resolution to classify the mass killings as genocide. Yet German President Joachim Gauck used the term, drawing criticism from Turkey.

At the time, the governing coalition opted not to vote on the resolution, but the Greens led by Cem Ozdemir, an ethnic Turk, forced a vote this year.

Turkey officially refers to what happened as the “Events of 1915” and denies that the massacres and deportations amounted to genocide. The official line is that ethnic Armenians represented a fifth column backed by Russia during World War I, and that the mass deportation and accompanying Armenian deaths were not premeditated or intentional – a key requirement in the legal definition of genocide.

Officials in Turkey put the number of Armenians who died at around 500,000, while Armenia puts the number at about 1.5 million out of a prewar population of some 2 million. Turkish officials also point out that hundreds of thousands of Muslims died from combat, starvation, cold and disease in eastern Anatolia during the war. Armenians have documented systematic mass murder, organized banditry, raping of women, pillaging of property and other atrocities.

Nearly 30 countries have formally recognized the massacres as genocide. Keen to avoid irking a key ally, the United States has avoided using the term, although more than 40 US state legislatures have passed genocide resolutions.

cw/jr (AFP, dpa, Reuters)