Kurds

Erdogan cheers Kurdish leaders’ prosecution as crackdown intensifies

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– Erdogan cheers Kurdish leaders’ prosecution as crackdown intensifies:

Turkey’s president has welcomed a criminal probe into the leaders of the pro-Kurdish HDP opposition over their calls for autonomy. Ankara has been cracking down on protesters supporting the Kurdish minority in the country.

The criminal investigation was opened last week after the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) issued a statement calling for the Kurdish population in the southeast of the country to be given self-government.

Read moreErdogan cheers Kurdish leaders’ prosecution as crackdown intensifies

Why ‘Turkey Can Easily Become a New Syria’

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Why Turkey Can Easily Become a New Syria

– Why ‘Turkey Can Easily Become a New Syria’:

100 Kurdish women and children were killed in southeastern Turkey over the past six months, said the Human Rights Watch and added that the number is not exact. The victims died during government special operations and armed clashes.

Tensions between Turkish authorities and Kurdish opposition escalated in July after the latter broke a ceasefire agreement and accused Ankara of supporting Daesh (Islamic State). After, HRW called on the Turkish government to suspend military operations and launch a full-scale investigation.

Read moreWhy ‘Turkey Can Easily Become a New Syria’

Germany to supply more heavy weapons & ammo to Kurdish militia

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– Germany to supply more heavy weapons & ammo to Kurdish militia:

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters will get large weapons supplies, including anti-tank missiles and munitions, from Germany, Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday. Meanwhile, some German small arms are surfacing on the black market.

The Peshmerga militia fighting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) are to receive 4,000 G36 assault rifles and 6 million rounds of ammunition. Several German shipments will also include 200 Milan anti-tank missiles and 6 Dingo armored personnel carriers, as well as spare parts to Kurdish-operated Dingos already in use, according to Der Spiegel.

Read moreGermany to supply more heavy weapons & ammo to Kurdish militia

Seven Kurds killed in clashes with Turkish troops as Ankara’s crackdown continues

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Turkey descending into civil war, as predicted.


Demonstrators cover their faces as they clash with riot police during a protest against the curfew in Sur district, in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, Turkey, December 14, 2015

– Seven Kurds killed in clashes with Turkish troops as Ankara’s crackdown continues:

Seven Kurds have been killed following clashes with Turkish security forces in the southeast of the country. Two died in the city of Diyarbakir as protesters fought with police, while a further five lost their lives in the Mardin province.

Around 5,000 people gathered for a march in Diyarbakir on Monday, according to AP, which was called by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP). They are unhappy about round-the-clock curfews being implemented in the region. Diyarbakir province, in the southeast of Turkey, is a stronghold of the Turkish Kurds.

However, the protests turned violent, with police using tear gas and water cannon to disperse the demonstrators. Two people were killed as police clashed with the crowds, a hospital official and witnesses said, as cited by Reuters.

Read moreSeven Kurds killed in clashes with Turkish troops as Ankara’s crackdown continues

Kurds Say US Troops Engaged in Covert Ground War With ISIL for Months

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Related:

– British SAS Special Forces ‘Dressed Up As ISIS Rebels’ Fighting Assad in Syria

– Kurds Say US Troops Engaged in Covert Ground War With ISIL for Months:

US President Barack Obama has maintained that the redeployment of 300 military “advisers” into Iraq is not a return to combat operations. But according to Kurdish fighters, US soldiers have been involved in a covert ground war for months.

In June, President Obama announced a major shift in strategy. To combat Daesh, also known as ISIL/The Islamic State, the US would redeploy 300 “military advisers” into Iraq. But to appease a war-weary constituency, the president insisted that these forces could not be considered combat troops.

Read moreKurds Say US Troops Engaged in Covert Ground War With ISIL for Months

Turkey’s Jets Fire On Syrian Kurds Allied With U.S. Against ISIS

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– Turkey’s Jets Fire On Syrian Kurds Allied With U.S. Against ISIS:

Turkey has acknowledged attacking a Kurdish militia group that has been a U.S. ally in the fight against ISIS, saying fighters had crossed into an off-limits area in Syria. Turkey also says it has attacked ISIS within its own borders.

The attacks underscore the complications the U.S. and its allies face when forming a strategy against the extremist ISIS terrorist group in an area where regional and sectarian conflicts continue to play out.

Discussing Turkey’s role in the region and its two strikes on the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, in Syria, Turkey’s prime minister said, “Turkey has not laid all of its cards on the table yet. The picture will be different when it does so. Everyone should watch its steps,” according to Hurriyet Daily News.

Read moreTurkey’s Jets Fire On Syrian Kurds Allied With U.S. Against ISIS

Russia Sends More Tank Landing Ships, Military Aircraft To Syria

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Now that Europe’s migrant crisis is making international headlines on a nightly basis, France and Britain are set to use the influx of aslylum seekers as a pretext for airstrikes in Syria. The timing could not be more convenient as new “intelligence” suggests that Russia is expanding its presence in the Assad stronghold around Latakia. For its part, Germany is out warning the Kremlin against “military engagement.”

Russian president Vladimir Putin

– Russia Sends More Tank Landing Ships, Military Aircraft To Syria (ZeroHedge, Sep 9, 2015):

On Wednesday, Jean-Claude Juncker unveiled Europe’s preliminary “plan” to try and cope with the massive influx of asylum seekers fleeing the violence in war-torn Syria. Brussels’ approach to the crisis will reportedly involve a list of so-called “safe countries of origin.” As WSJ reported earlier today, migrants from those countries who are denied asylum will be subject to fast-track repatriation.” Here’s what we said about the proposed “safe” countries list:

Because there are “safe” countries of origin that must mean there’s a list of “unsafe” countries of origin as well, and we can only assume that list includes Syria, which Europe will make safer by bombing it. 

That was a reference to reports out earlier this week that suggested French President Francois Hollande’s response to Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II would involve bombing the very place from which the refugees are fleeing. Here’s what Bloomberg (and Hollande himself) said on Monday:

Read moreRussia Sends More Tank Landing Ships, Military Aircraft To Syria

Angry Mobs Torch Kurdish Offices, Shops As Turkey Descends Into Chaos

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– Angry Mobs Torch Kurdish Offices, Shops As Turkey Descends Into Chaos (ZeroHedge, Sep 9, 2015):

History is replete with examples of US-backed world leaders oppressing their people with Washington’s implicit blessing and despite the fact that the eyes of the world are trained squarely on Syria and, by extension, on any neighboring country that has a role to play in determining the outcome of the Syrian civil war, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan has managed to orchestrate a political coup of epic proportions in plain sight by plunging his people into civil war as NATO looks the other way.

What Erdogan has done, in the space of just three months, is nullify a democratic election outcome by first obstructing efforts to form a coalition government on the way to calling for new elections, then launching a military campaign against the PKK, knowing full well that if enough people are killed between now and the time Turks return to the ballot box in November, the public’s negative perception of the PKK will likely translate to diminished support for the pro-Kurdish HDP, which was in part responsible for AKP losing its absolute parliamentary majority in June.

This is all possible because Erdogan was effectively allowed to trade access to Incirlik (which gives the US army a forward operating base for what will eventually be a ground incursion in Syria) for NATO’s acquiescence to the extermination of the Kurdish opposition in Turkey. 

Read moreAngry Mobs Torch Kurdish Offices, Shops As Turkey Descends Into Chaos

Turkey Invades Iraq: Two Battalions Launch Ground Incursion In “Hot Pursuit” Of “Terrorists”

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Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan (Left) attends a CIA-Al-Qaeda meeting in Libya.

Just another elite puppet …

– TURKEY’S ERDOGAN IS JEWISH? (Aangirfan, Nov 10, 2011)

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– Turkey Invades Iraq: Two Battalions Launch Ground Incursion In “Hot Pursuit” Of “Terrorists” (ZeroHedge, Sep 8, 2015):

On Monday we warned that the violence in Turkey stemming from Ankara’s politically-motivated, NATO-sponsored crackdown on the PKK is escalating rapidly as are efforts to censor the media and attack (verbally or otherwise) the pro-Kurdish HDP, whose strong showing at the ballot box in June triggered an absurdly transparent effort on the part of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to undermine the country’s fragile democracy by using ISIS as a smokescreen to gain international support for the resumption of civil war with the Kurds.

As a reminder, Ankara is on the offensive after a series of attacks blamed on the PKK killed multiple Turkish soldiers over the weekend. Here’s what we said yesterday: Erdogan told the the press that the war on terror would now be waged “with much greater determination” and that means more violence and more crackdowns on the media and anyone deemed to be a PKK sympathizer. Sure enough, AKP supporters massed outside the headquarters of the Hurriyet newspaper on Sunday, accusing the paper of misquoting Erdogan and on Monday, HDP offices were attacked across the country. More from Zaman:

Read moreTurkey Invades Iraq: Two Battalions Launch Ground Incursion In “Hot Pursuit” Of “Terrorists”

US Allows Ally Turkey to Bomb Only Group Effectively Fighting ISIS

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See also:

– British SAS Special Forces ‘Dressed Up As ISIS Rebels’ Fighting Assad in Syria

– US Allows Ally Turkey to Bomb Only Group Effectively Fighting ISIS (The Anti-Media, Aug 4, 2015):

Late in July, the Anti-Media reported that Turkey joined the U.S. led coalition conducting airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL). Since then, it has become clear that Turkey’s strategy is part of a larger agreement with the U.S. to conduct a war against “extremism” in the region.

The deal between the U.S. and Turkey has the following contours: Turkey will allow the U.S. to use its military base at Incirlik to conduct airstrikes against the Islamic State. In exchange, the U.S. will allow Turkey to create a buffer zone on Syrian soil free of Islamic State and Kurdish fighters. The stated aim of the “safe zone” is to create a refuge for internally displaced Syrian civilians inside Syria. According to the New York Times,

“The plan would create what officials from both countries are calling an Islamic State-free zone controlled by relatively moderate Syrian insurgents, which the Turks say could also be a ‘safe zone’ for displaced Syrians.”

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For Turkey, however, the real aim is to prevent the YPG Kurdish fighters from linking up their three zones of control (Efrin, Kobani, and Cizir pictured below; Tal Abyad is already under YPG control) in northern Syria with each other. These Kurdish fighters also happen to be the sole force that has shown the ability to effectively defeat ISIS in battle. However, the real aim of Turkey was voiced by the leader of the Kurdish opposition party—HDP— in the Turkish parliament, Selahattin Demirtas:

Read moreUS Allows Ally Turkey to Bomb Only Group Effectively Fighting ISIS

Pro-ISIS Radicals With Machetes, Knives Attack Kurds In Germany (VIDEO)

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– Pro-ISIS radicals with machetes, knives attack Kurds in Germany (VIDEO) (RT, Oct 8, 2014):

Peaceful protests against IS in Syria and Iraq organized by Kurdish nationals in several German cities ended with serious clashes with pro-jihadist Muslims in Hamburg and Celle. Police had to request reinforcements to restore order.

Police in Hamburg, a port city of 1.8 million people, used water cannons, batons and pepper spray late Tuesday to disperse crowds of warring Kurds and pro-jihadist Muslims, armed with knives and brass-knuckles, following a protest against Islamic State militants who are attacking the Kurdish town of Kobani in Syria near the Turkish border.

At first, on Tuesday afternoon about 80 Kurdish protesters occupied Hamburg’s central train station for an hour, NDR.de reported. The Kurdish protesters left the railways voluntarily after 6pm, a police spokesman said.

A bigger group of about 500 Kurdish demonstrators marched through downtown Hamburg. On their way, they damaged several cars and Turkish snack bars, breaking panes of glass and throwing around plastic chairs. Police detained 14 rioters.

Read morePro-ISIS Radicals With Machetes, Knives Attack Kurds In Germany (VIDEO)

Turkish security troops clash with Kurds, as thousands flee ISIS (VIDEO)

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– Turkish security troops clash with Kurds, as thousands flee ISIS (VIDEO)(RT, Sep 21, 2014):

Turkey’s security forces closed the border with Syria through which thousands of Kurds are trying to flee IS, after clashes between Kurds and soldiers on the Turkish side of the divide.

The separatist Turkey-based Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is classed as a terrorist organization by Istanbul, called for a solidarity demonstration on Sunday, after 70,000 Kurds crossed from Syria in just 24 hours.

Hundreds of Kurds duly showed up near the barbed wire border fence – some volunteering to join the struggle against IS, others asking to bring over aid to the refugees on the other side of the border.

…

Kurdish Forces Seize Two Iraqi Oilfields And Pull Out Of Country’s Unity Government

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– Kurds seize two Iraqi oilfields and pull out of country’s unity government (RT, July 11, 2014):

Armed Kurdish forces seized control of two state-run oilfields on Friday in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk as the Kurdish political bloc withdrew from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government, deepening the rift between the Kurds and the PM.

Baghdad’s national oil ministry has slammed the Kurdish takeover, as Arab workers were replaced with Kurdish employees at sites in Bai Hassan and Kirkuk, saying there would be serious repercussions if they didn’t immediately withdraw, reported Reuters.

“We appeal to rational Kurds about the need to understand the danger of such [an] attitude and to ask the people responsible for this disorderly behavior to withdraw immediately from these sites in order to avoid dire consequences,” a ministry spokesman said, as reported by France 24.

Read moreKurdish Forces Seize Two Iraqi Oilfields And Pull Out Of Country’s Unity Government

Ritter says White House preparing for war in Iran

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MIDDLEBURY – Scott Ritter, former head of weapons inspection in Iraq who protested there were no weapons of mass destruction to justify an invasion, believes the same is true for Iran.

But there is an 80 percent chance of war with Iran, he told about 200 people Wednesday at Middlebury College as part of a series of talks facilitated by the Vermont Peace and Justice Center.

The pattern of preparations for such a conflict has been steadily developing and involves Congress as well as the Bush-Cheney administration, he said.

Read moreRitter says White House preparing for war in Iran