Trump: US will withdraw from Syria ‘very soon’

March 30, 2018 By administrator

US will withdraw from Syria

US President Donald Trump said Thursday that the US would “be coming out of Syria like very soon,” just hours after the Pentagon highlighted the need for US troops to remain in the country for the immediate future, the CNN reports.“We’re knocking the hell out of ISIS. We’ll be coming out of Syria like very soon. Let the other people take care of it now,” Trump told supporters at an Ohio event on infrastructure.”We are going to have 100% of the caliphate, as they call it, sometimes referred to as land … But we are going to be coming out of there real soon. We are going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be,” Trump added.

One US defense official directly familiar with the ISIS campaign said it is unclear what the President meant by the comments.

The military’s current assessment is that now is not the time to consider withdrawal, citing numerous challenges in Syria.

The official pointed to several challenges, including figuring out what to do with the some 400 foreign ISIS fighters currently being held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces as one example of the obstacles to a US withdrawal.

The official also noted that the US still needed to decide on a policy with regard to the future of Syrian President Bashar al Assad and Russia’s continued military presence in the county as additional complicating factors.

Senior administration officials have been discussing for some time the way ahead in Syria and what conditions would need to be met to permit a US withdrawal, the official said, but added that while Trump could decide at any time to pull out, military commanders were not recommending that course of action at this time.

A second defense official told CNN earlier that senior officials have had meetings to discuss the US role in Syria and the challenges facing US policy there.

Trump’s remarks on pulling out of Syria were made just hours after Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White told reporters that “important work remains to guarantee the lasting defeat of these violent extremists” in the country.

Despite Trump’s focus on the terror group’s dwindling control of territory, White said the military was focused on more than just ISIS-controlled areas, saying “our commitment to win must outlast the so-called physical caliphate, and the warped ideas that guide the calculated cruelty of ISIS.”

“We must not relent on ISIS or permit these terrorists to recover from their battlefield loses,” she said, noting that the group still poses a threat.

And while Trump said the US would soon have total victory over ISIS, US defense officials have recently publicly acknowledged that progress against ISIS has been largely halted due to Turkey’s recent military incursion into Afrin, Syria, an operation that has caused US-backed Kurdish fighters to divert from the ISIS fight.

“The Turkish actions in northern Syria — let me be specific here — Afrin area have distracted the (Syrian Democratic Forces) from the fight going against the remnants of ISIS,” Secretary of Defense James Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon Tuesday.

“We are no longer in an offensive effort on the ground against them as this has drawn off the attention,” Mattis added.

Asked about Trump’s comments, State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said that she had not seen the comments but was not aware of any plan for the US to pull out.

“As a general matter, this administration looks to other countries to help out,” Nauert said.

The President’s apparent desire to exit Syria as soon as possible is likely to raise concerns among US allies in the region, particularly the Syrian Democratic Forces, and could embolden the forces of the Syrian regime, Iran, and Turkey, all of whom have mostly resisted attacking US allies in Syria due to concerns about US retaliation.

New Armenian Genocide movie’s (Caravan) director is forced to withdraw film from Turkey cinemas

October 14, 2017 By administrator

The director of the movie “Kervan (Caravan) 1915,” which is about Armenian Genocide and which hit the large screens in Turkey several days ago, has announced that he is forced to remove the film from the country’s cinemas.

Turkey’s movie theaters are deliberately showing this film by director İsmail Güneş only in the early morning, and this has made the director to withdraw the film from the cinemas, according to Cumhuriyet (Republic) daily of Turkey.

Güneş stated that some forces obstructed him in every way during the shooting of this movie, and this continues to this day. The director stressed that cinemas in Turkey deliberately show his movie solely once in the morning so that only few people would watch it.

“For that reason, I have to call the film back from movie theaters,” he added.

As reported earlier, the Turkish director of “Kervan 1915” had said this film does not attempt to show whether or not there was genocide, but it just tells the story of a coachman, who was instructed to transfer 200 Armenians from Giresun to Aleppo, during which he “selflessly” defends the Armenians who were “entrusted” to him, from the attacks by bandits.

The director of the movie had stressed that on their way from Giresun to Aleppo, the characters of the film also witness scenes of massacres.

Breaking News: Trump formally pulls U.S. out of TPP with executive order

January 23, 2017 By administrator

Although the deal had not been approved by Congress, the decision to withdraw the American signature at the start of President Trump’s administration is a signal that he plans to follow through on promises to take a more aggressive stance against foreign competitors.

WASHINGTON — President Trump planned to formally abandon the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Monday, pulling away from Asia and scrapping his predecessor’s most significant trade deal on his first full weekday in office, administration officials said.

Mr. Trump sharply criticized the partnership agreement during last year’s campaign, calling it a bad deal for American workers. Although the deal had not been approved by Congress, the decision to withdraw the American signature at the start of Mr. Trump’s administration is a signal that he plans to follow through on promises to take a more aggressive stance against foreign competitors.

He may also talk about renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement and is scheduling meetings with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, the two main partners in that pact, first negotiated by the elder President George Bush and pushed through Congress by President Bill Clinton. Nafta has been a major driver of American trade for nearly two decades, but it has long been divisive, with critics blaming it for lost jobs and lower wages.

Greece urges Turkey to withdraw troops from Cyprus

July 20, 2016 By administrator

greece ask turkey Greece will never become reconciled with the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey and demands from Turkey to withdraw the occupying forces from that territory , said the Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias .

“Today is the 42th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. It was proceeded with the continuing illegal Turkish occupation of more than a third of the territory of Cyprus, a country that is a member of the UN and the EU , ” said the statement. Kotzias expects that there will be a fairly strong , universally acceptable decision of the Cyprus issue based the UN resolutions.

As earlier reported, the Turkish troops invaded the north of Cyprus and occupied 37 percent of the territory on the night of July 20 to 21 of 1974. In 1983, the occupied territory was declared the Turkish Republic of the Northern Cyprus which is recognized only by Turkey. Since 1975, the UN Secretary General performs his Good offices mission in Cyprus, which aims to influence the Greek and Turkish communities of the island to cooperate in the context of negotiations on the settlement of the Cyprus problem.

Terrorist State of Turkey Refuses to Withdraw Its Troops From Northern Iraq Despite Ultimatum

December 7, 2015 By administrator

In the face of fierce protests from the Iraqi government and the international community, Turkey is refusing to withdraw troops from northern Iraq.

Over the weekend, Ankara deployed approximately 600 additional troops to a camp in Iraq’s Ninevah province, close to the city of Mosul.

“It is our duty to provide security for our soldiers providing training there,” Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, told Kanal 24. “Everybody is present in Iraq…The goal of all of them is clear. Train-and-equip advisory support is being provided. Our presence there is not a secret.”

But the Iraqi government, viewing the move as a clear breach of sovereignty, condemned the action, and gave Turkey 48 hours to remove its troops.

But Turkey has refused to comply with the order, insisting it informed the Iraqi government of its actions, and that there was demand for Turkish support in the area.

“The military personnel for training will stay. Not because we them [there] particularly but because there is a demand from the Iraqi side,” a Turkish official told reporters, according to the Guardian. “The discussion with the central government still continues.”

Iraq had previously indicated that if Turkey failed to withdraw its troops, a complaint would be filed with the United Nations.

“In case we have not received any positive signs before the deadline we set for the Turkish side, then we maintain our legal right to file a complaint to the [UN] security council to stop this serious violation to Iraqi sovereignty,” said Iraqi government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi, according to the Guardian.

Turkey’s actions were also condemned by the Arab League, which described the troop buildup as “blatant intervention.” Nabil Elaraby, Secretary-General of the Arab League, released a statement saying that his organization would also support Iraq’s appeal to the UN Security Council.

Even the United States, one of Turkey’s key allies, has stressed that it does not support troop deployments on Iraqi territory without the consent of the central government.

While Turkey is ostensibly in Iraq to fight Daesh, also known as ISIL/The Islamic State, Ankara has, in actuality, been more focused on combating Kurdish militias. Russia has presented evidence that Turkey benefits directly from Daesh’s illegal oil trade, and thus has little interest in eliminating the terrorist group.

On Friday, Iran also said it has “irrefutable evidence” of Turkey’s involvement in illegal oil smuggling.

“Iranian military advisors in Syria have taken photos and filmed all the routes used by ISIL’s oil tankers to Turkey,” Iran’s Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaie told reporters.

“If the Turkish authorities are unaware of the Daesh oil sales in their country, then we can provide them with such intelligence.”

Ankara has faced intense criticism since the downing of a Russian bomber along Turkey’s Syrian border. An unprovoked attack, the incident left two dead.

Baghdad showing Back bone ‘Incursion’: Baghdad demands Turkey withdraw ‘training’ troops from northern Iraq

December 4, 2015 By administrator

REUTERS/Sertac Kayar – RTX1R28Z

The Iraqi government has demanded that Ankara withdraw the more than 100 Turkish forces that entered Iraq with tanks and artillery for alleged “training” of troops near Islamic State-occupied Mosul. Baghdad stressed the unsanctioned move was a breach of its sovereignty.

The Iraqi foreign ministry said in a statement early on Saturday that the Turkish troops were acting in violation of the country’s sovereignty and demanded the forces withdraw immediately. “Around one regiment armoured with tanks and artillery” has entered the northern Nineveh area, according to the statement from the Iraqi Prime Minister’s media office.

The unauthorized presence of Turkish troops in Mosul province is a serious breach of Iraqi sovereignty https://t.co/s051sa8ls6

— Haider Al-Abadi حيدر العبادي (@HaiderAlAbadi) December 4, 2015

However, according to two US defense officials quoted by Reuters, Turkey’s deployment is not part of the efforts of the US-led coalition battling Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

On Friday, 130 Turkish soldiers equipped with heavy weapons were deployed at a military base on the outskirts of the city of Mosul, which is currently held by IS, according to the Daily Sabah newspaper.

According to Cumhuriyet newspaper, the number of the deployed Turkish troops amounts to at least 150.

The town of Bashiqa is located about 10 kilometers northeast of Mosul.

Mosul, Iraq’s second biggest city, was seized by Islamic State in June 2014 and has been fully governed by militants ever since. Moreover, the extremist group captured large stockpiles of weapons and ammunition that were stored in the city.

“In the collapse of Mosul, we lost a lot of weapons,” Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in an interview with Iraqiya state TV in June. “We lost 2,300 Humvees in Mosul alone,” he added.

The Turkish intrusion into Iraq comes shortly after Ankara’s motives in the war on Islamic State have been questioned by Moscow, Tehran, as well as by Baghdad.

The Russian government has been particularly vocal in pointing the finger at the illegal oil trade between IS terrorists and the Turks. Moscow-Ankara relations deteriorated after a Turkish F-16 jet downed a Russian Su-24 bomber on the Syrian-Turkish border for an alleged airspace violation on November 24, while the Russian jet was returning from an anti-terrorist mission. In the days after, the Russian Defense Ministry presented detailed photo and video evidence showing three huge “live pipelines” made of oil trucks effortlessly crossing the Syrian border into Turkey in militant-controlled areas.

Canada: New PM Tells Obama Canada to Withdraw Fighter Jets From Syria, Iraq

October 20, 2015 By administrator

Mere hours after defeating Stephen Harper, Canadian Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau has told US President Obama that he will withdraw Canadian jets from Syria and Iraq.

According to Reuters, the pledge was made as President Obama called to congratulate Trudeau on his election win.
The Liberal leader ran on a promise to withdraw Canada’s CF-18 bombers from the US-led coalition’s military campaign against the self-proclaimed Islamic State terrorist group. Earlier this year, Canada’s Liberal Party fought against the Conservative government’s proposal to extend combat missions from Iraq into Syria.

On the campaign trail, Trudeau also floated the idea that his administration may consider bolstering local forces in the region, and increasing Canada’s humanitarian aid.
Earlier on Tuesday, the US State Department addressed questions as to whether or not it was concerned that Canada’s new government may not support US foreign policy regarding IS presence in Afghanistan.

“These are all decisions the Canadian people have to make and Canadian legislators have to make…and their Prime Minister [has to make],” department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

“We have stood shoulder to shoulder with Canadian armed forces…in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he added.