Turkey: Police And Protesters Battle For Taksim Square In Istanbul

Turkish police fired tear gas at demonstrators before retreating from Taksim Square in Istanbul.

– ?Turkish police and protesters battle for Taksim square (Telegraph, June 1, 2013):

Some protesters hurled objects at officers and police vehicles, prompting police to fire several rounds of tear gas.

In Ankara, a police vehicle hit two demonstrators who were crouched in the middle of the street, barricading themselves behind rubbish bins.

One of the men who was hit was seen being rescued by other demonstrators and loaded into an ambulance while flashing a “V” for victory sign.

The other man was thrown in the air but appeared to not have been seriously injured.

A demonstration that started in Istanbul on Friday as a peaceful sit-in to save an inner-city green space has turned into nationwide anti-government protests in Turkey, revealing the depth of public anger against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Many Turks view him as increasingly authoritarian and dismissive of opposing views.
Protesters who had camped out at Taksim were angry over the planned removal of trees in the square, one of the few bits of green in sprawling Istanbul.

Read moreTurkey: Police And Protesters Battle For Taksim Square In Istanbul

Meanwhile, In Turkey … FULL-SCALE RIOTS (Video & Photos)

Meanwhile, In Turkey… (ZeroHedge, May 31, 2013):

While most of the headlines this week have centered on Syria, Sweden (and Switzerland), Turkey has been cooking and today has broken into full-scale riots. As Reuters reports, Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon on Friday at demonstrators in central Istanbul, wounding scores of people and prompting rallies in other cities in the fiercest anti-government protests for years. The growing unrest centers on disquiet at the authoritarianism of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (who just visited Obama). “We do not have a government, we have Tayyip Erdogan … Even AK Party supporters are saying they have lost their mind, they are not listening to us.” The protests somewhat surprisingly were sparked by the uprooting of trees but rapidly escalated (as seen below) into riot police, water cannon, and tear gas battles as protesters exclaim, “we’re fed up… we don’t like the direction the country is heading.”

Via Reuters:

Thousands of demonstrators massed on streets surrounding Istanbul’s central Taksim Square, long a venue for political unrest, while protests erupted in the capital Ankara and the Aegean coastal city of Izmir.

The unrest reflects growing disquiet at the authoritarianism of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

There have also been protests against the government’s stance on the conflict in neighboring Syria, a tightening of restrictions on alcohol sales and warnings against public displays of affection.

“We do not have a government, we have Tayyip Erdogan … Even AK Party supporters are saying they have lost their mind, they are not listening to us,” said Koray Caliskan, a political scientist at Bosphorus University who attended the protest.

“This is the beginning of a summer of discontent.”

Read moreMeanwhile, In Turkey … FULL-SCALE RIOTS (Video & Photos)

PM Erdogan Happy About Turkey-Syria Tensions: Turkish Journalist

Erdogan happy about Turkey-Syria tensions: Turkish journalist (PressTV, Oct 22, 2012):

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is happy about the rising tensions between his country and Syria, as he seeks to have a war waged against Turkey’s crisis-hit Arab neighbor, a Turkish journalist tells Press TV.

“The tension is higher and higher mainly in the area of common frontier between Turkey and Syria, more or less between Hatay and Mardin. So, nobody is really happy about that in Turkey, apart from Prime Minister Erdogan,” Turkish journalist Ragheb Toran said in an interview with Press TV on Saturday.

Toran stressed that tensions between Ankara and Damascus heightened over the past months after the Turkish government began supporting the foreign-backed insurgents in Syria.

Read morePM Erdogan Happy About Turkey-Syria Tensions: Turkish Journalist

Turkey Says Syrian Plane Carried Russian Munitions

See also:

William Engdahl: Syria, Turkey, Israel And A Greater Middle East Energy War


Turkey says Syrian plane carried Russian munitions (Reuters, Oct 11, 2012):

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday a Syrian passenger plane forced to land in Ankara was carrying Russian-made munitions destined for Syria’s defence ministry, ratcheting up tensions with his country’s war-torn neighbour.

Damascus said the plane was carrying legitimate cargo and described Turkey’s actions as an act of “air piracy”, while Moscow accused Ankara of endangering the lives of Russian passengers when it intercepted the jet late on Wednesday.

Read moreTurkey Says Syrian Plane Carried Russian Munitions

William Engdahl: Syria, Turkey, Israel And A Greater Middle East Energy War

Syria, Turkey, Israel and a Greater Middle East Energy War (Veterans Today, Oct 11, 2012):

Syria, Turkey, Israel and a Greater Middle East Energy War

…by  F. William Engdahl


Pipeline Roulette

On October 3, 2012 the Turkish military launched repeated mortar shellings inside Syrian territory.

The military action, which was used by the Turkish military, conveniently, to establish a ten-kilometer wide no-man’s land “buffer zone” inside Syria, was in response to the alleged killing by Syrian armed forces of several Turkish civilians along the border.

There is widespread speculation that the one Syrian mortar that killed five Turkish civilians well might have been fired by Turkish-backed opposition forces intent on giving Turkey a pretext to move militarily, in military intelligence jargon, a ‘false flag’ operation.[i]

Read moreWilliam Engdahl: Syria, Turkey, Israel And A Greater Middle East Energy War

Turkey Deploys At Least 25 More F-16 Fighter Jets To Syria Border

Turkey Deploys 25 F-16s To Syria Border (ZeroHedge, Oct 9, 2012):

Turkey has confirmed that it is deploying at least 25 additional F-16 fighter jets at its Diyarbakir air base close to the border with Syria. Al Jazeera reports that Erdogan, Turkey’s PM, noted that he does not want war but needs to prepare for anything and at the same time NATO’s secretary general has “all necessary plans in place to protect and defend Turkey if necessary.”

Via Al Jazeera:

Turkey has confirmed it is deploying more fighter jets to an airbase close to the border with Syria, amid artillery exchanges along its tense southeastern border with Syria.

Read moreTurkey Deploys At Least 25 More F-16 Fighter Jets To Syria Border

PM Erdogan Tells Turks To Prepare For Syria War If Necessary

See also:

Pro-Syria, Pro-Assad, Anti-US Protests In Turkey! (Video) – Thousands Protest For Peace After Turkey Declares War On Syria


Erdogan tells Turks to prepare for Syria war if necessary (Press TV, Oct 8, 2012):

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on his nation to be prepared for a possible war with the neighboring Syria if need be.

“You have to be ready at every moment to go to war if it is necessary. If you are not ready for this, you are not a state, if you are not ready for this, you are not a nation,” Erdogan said in a speech on Sunday.

Read morePM Erdogan Tells Turks To Prepare For Syria War If Necessary

Turkish-Syrian Artillery Exchanges Resume On Sunday

Turkish-Syrian Artillery Exchanges Resume On Sunday (ZeroHedge, Oct 7, 2012):

The Syrian-Turkish artillery exchanges are becoming a nearly daily tradition: first on Wednesday, when NATO member countries had to be woken up late at night at the request of Turkey to opine on whether Syria had breached Article 4 (leading to a lot fo harsh language by Hillary Clinton), then again on Friday, and now on Sunday, when Syria, (or at least various Al Qaeda factions inside of it, presumably not those endorsed by Turkey) is once again provoking Turkey by firing into the same location as on the previous two occasions, leading to the inevitable Turkish retaliation. All this of course is happening as Turkey deploys ever more military at its Syria border. One of these days, after the latest Syrian ‘provocation’, Turkey will just snap and invade, taking advantage of the Bill recently passed in Parliament which gives the country permission to invade Syria if it so chooses in retaliation, and of course of NATO’s unconditional backstop. And just to add spice to the situation, an unidentified drone will quietly fall out of the skies just because.

From Reuters:

Turkey’s military fired an artillery round into Syria on Sunday in immediate retaliation after a shell fired from Syria landed in the Turkish border town of Akcakale, broadcasters said, the second such incident in five days.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned Syria on Friday that Turkey would not shy away from war if provoked, but a series of mortar bombs fired from Syria have hit Turkey since then.

Read moreTurkish-Syrian Artillery Exchanges Resume On Sunday

Turkey PM Warns War Is Near – Turkey ‘Responds To Fresh Syrian Mortar Fire’

Imagine Turkey would be doing THIS …

’15,000 Strong’ Army Gathers To Take On Syria (Telegraph, Nov. 3, 2011):

An insurgent army which claims to be up to 15,000 strong is being coordinated from Turkey to take on President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, which risks plunging the region into open warfare.

… to the U.S. and not to Syria!!!

Turkey would have been bombed into the stone age a long time ago.


Turkey prime minister warns war is near as his forces pound Syria for third day (McClatchy, Oct 5, 2012):

ISTANBUL — One day after winning blanket authority to send forces into Syria, Turkey’s prime minister warned Friday that his country is “not far from war” and said that it would be a “deadly mistake” for the Syrian government to test Turkey’s will.

Turkey ‘responds to fresh Syrian mortar fire’ (BBC News, Oct 6, 2012):

Turkey has fired into Syria for a fourth day after a Syrian mortar landed near a Turkish village, reports say.

Turkish troops responded immediately after the mortar landed near the village of Guvecci in Hatay province, according to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.

Turkey has been firing into Syria since Syrian mortar fire killed five Turkish civilians on Wednesday.

Read moreTurkey PM Warns War Is Near – Turkey ‘Responds To Fresh Syrian Mortar Fire’

Pro-Syria, Pro-Assad, Anti-US Protests In Turkey! (Video) – Thousands Protest For Peace After Turkey Declares War On Syria


YouTube Added: 06.10.2012

Description:

Pro Syrien, Pro Assad Demonstrationen in der Türkei! Die Syrien Lüge (2012)
Pentagon’s Stabschef in der Türkei, Botschaft vor Demonstranten abgesperrt 17.September 2012 http://alles-schallundrauch.blogspot.de/2012/09/nach-pro-assad-demo-gleicht-a…

5,000 Turkish Chant: “No to War” in a Pro-Assad demonstration on 4th Oktober 2012 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/9588458/Thousands-pro…

Original Upload im März 2012 von:
https://www.youtube.com/TurkIslamAlevi

Some of the German subtitles translated into English:

“Syria, the Turkish youth is with you.”

“The US is a murder … leave the middle east America.”

“Syria is a brother – America is a traitor.”

“The Turkish nation is not a dog of the US.”

“We are the sons of a nation that has fought for its freedom.”

“We have fought for our independence, so when the imperialists attack Syria we will not be afraid to stand with our Syrian brothers.”

“Hold on Syria. The Turkish youth is with you.”

“This war will not be like the wars the ones the US has fought before. Iran, Lebanon, Hezbollah, Russia, China and the Turkish people will be taking part.”

“Down with American imperialism.”

“Slave of the USA – Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”


Thousands protest in Turkey over Syria mandate (Telegraph, Oct 4, 2012):

Protesters take to the streets in Ankara and Istanbul after Turkey’s parliament approved military operations against targets in Syria following the deaths of five Turkish citizens from Syrian shelling.

Around 5,000 people took to the streets of Istanbul on Thursday evening in an anti-war protest which turned into a demonstration against Turkey’s ruling AK Party. Protesters chanted slogans against the war as they carried anti-government banners.

“We are going through an ugly provocation of war. The Turkish and Syrian people are not enemies, but the ruling AK Party government is trying to drag our country into a war with Syria in compliance with US interests,” said protester Nevzat Evrim Onal.

The Turkish slogan “savasa hayir” (“no to war”) was the top trending item on Turkey’s Twitter on Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, in Ankara, what started as a peaceful demonstration soon turned violent as protesters clashed with police after they tried to block them from moving around the city.

Webster Tarpley: US-Turkey Alliance Against Syria, ‘Lethal Embrace’ (Video)


YouTube

US-Turkey alliance against Syria, ‘lethal embrace’: Analyst (PressTV, Aug 25, 2012):

An analyst has warned that Turkey’s close alliance with the US and the West against the government of Syria would be “a lethal embrace” for Ankara, Press TV reports.

“They (Turkish authorities) have to understand that the alliance with the US and the British is a lethal embrace, in other words, the Anglo-Americans are going to love them to death,” Dr. Webster Griffin Tarpley, author and historian from Washington, told Press TV on Friday.

Tarpley added that Ankara’s support of the Western-backed insurgents in Syria would also harm the national interests of the country in the future.

“They will play them against Syria, in the full knowledge that the blowback from that conflict is likely to destroy modern Turkey. So they should cease and desist, there is nothing to gain in this and everything to lose and it has a lot to do, I am afraid, with the psychology of Erdogan and Davutoglu, who have been, essentially, conned by Obama,” he said.

Since the onset of the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria, Turkey has actively played the CIA assigned role of arming, funding and supporting the anti-Syrian terrorists.

Turkey, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, has also set up a secret base near its border with Syria to send military supplies to the insurgents.

Read moreWebster Tarpley: US-Turkey Alliance Against Syria, ‘Lethal Embrace’ (Video)

Turkey Accuses France Of Genocide In Armenia Row, Freezes All Political Relations

Turkey freezes all political relations with France over genocide row (Guardian, Dec. 22, 2011):

Recep Tayyip Erdogan recalls ambassador after Paris’s decision to prosecute people who deny killing of Armenians was genocide

Turkey has frozen relations with France, recalling its ambassador and suspending all economic, political and military meetings in response to French MPs’ approval of a law that would make it a crime to deny that the mass killing of Armenians in 1915 by Ottoman Turks was genocide.

The furious Turkish reaction to Paris’s parliamentary vote marked an unprecedented low between the Nato partners.

Turkey accuses France of genocide in Armenia row (Telegraph, Dec. 23, 2011):

The war of words between France and Turkey has escalated, when the Turkish premier accused Paris of committing genocide in Algeria and of stirring hatred of Muslims.

Furious that the French lower chamber had voted on Thursday to outlaw denial of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit back directly at France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Earlier, Turkey’s ambassador to France had left Paris and Ankara had announced diplomatic sanctions – banning political visits between the countries – and frozen military ties between the nominal Nato allies.

“France massacred an estimated 15 per cent of the Algerian population starting from 1945. This is genocide,” Mr Erdogan said, accusing Mr Sarkozy of “fanning hatred of Muslims and Turks for electoral gains.”

Read moreTurkey Accuses France Of Genocide In Armenia Row, Freezes All Political Relations

Turkey On Brink Of Open Confrontation With Syria (Video)

See also:

And Now Syria: Army Defectors Attack Major Military Base Near Damascus

’15,000 Strong’ Army Gathers To Take On Syria:

An insurgent army which claims to be up to 15,000 strong is being coordinated from Turkey to take on President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, which risks plunging the region into open warfare.

– Global Research’s Michel Chossudovsky: Syria’s ‘Peaceful Protesters’ Are ‘Death Squads Directly Supported By Turkey And Israel’ Armed With Heavy Machine Guns (Video)

Flashback:

U.S. General Wesley Clark (Ret.) (Video), explains that the Bush Administration planned to take out 7 countries in 5 years:

Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Iran.


Turkey was on the brink of open confrontation over its border with Syria on Tuesday night, announcing its first economic sanctions against Damascus and saying President Bashar al-Assad’s regime was “on a knife-edge”.

Turkey on brink of open confrontation with Syria (Telegraph, Nov. 15, 2011):

The Turkish government, which has turned from Assad ally into his fiercest critic in a few short months, said it was suspending joint oil exploration and considering stopping electricity supplies to its neighbour.

For the first time, a senior official openly discussed the possibility of imposing a buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border to give sanctuary for refugees. That would imply direct military action.

Read moreTurkey On Brink Of Open Confrontation With Syria (Video)

Turkey’s Top 4 Military Chiefs Quit Ahead Of Key Meeting

Turkey’s military chiefs quit ahead of key meeting (Reuters, July 29, 2011):

Turkey said on Friday its top four military chiefs were all seeking retirement, in moves that appeared to reflect a deep rift between the secularist military and a government with roots in political Islam.

State-run Anatolian news agency said the head of the armed forces General Isik Kosaner and the commanders of the ground, naval and air forces were all stepping down, in what some Turkish media initially described as resignations.

The reason for the generals’ move was not immediately clear, but tensions between the military and the government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan have run high in recent years.

Read moreTurkey’s Top 4 Military Chiefs Quit Ahead Of Key Meeting

Now truth is bad for you: ‘Obama warns Erdogan international Gaza flotilla probe bad for Turkey’

Obama, an elite puppet President we can believe in:

Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Paul Craig Roberts: ‘AIPAC Owns The US Puppet Government’

The truth is bad for Israel:

Former US Marine Disarms Israeli Commandos, Describes Mass Murder By Israeli Soldiers

Autopsy Results Reveal That Gaza Flotilla Activists Were Shot In Head At Close Range (Guardian):

Israel was tonight under pressure to allow an independent inquiry into its assault on the Gaza aid flotilla after autopsy results on the bodies of those killed, obtained by the Guardian, revealed they were peppered with 9mm bullets, many fired at close range.

The results revealed that a 60-year-old man, Ibrahim Bilgen, was shot four times in the temple, chest, hip and back. A 19-year-old, named as Fulkan Dogan, who also has US citizenship, was shot five times from less that 45cm, in the face, in the back of the head, twice in the leg and once in the back. Two other men were shot four times, and five of the victims were shot either in the back of the head or in the back, said Yalcin Buyuk, vice-chairman of the council of forensic medicine.

Robert Fisk: The Truth Behind The Israeli Propaganda (Independent)


United States President Barak Obama warned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that an international probe into Israel’s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla could have negative consequences for Turkey, British Arabic-language daily al-Hayat reported Saturday.

obama-erdogan
Turkish PM Erdogan and U.S. President Obama at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on April 12, 2010 (AP)

According to the report, Obama warned Erdogan that the international probe which Turkey has demanded could turn into a “double edged sword,” as it could lead to accusations against the passengers on board the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara ship, some of whom were members of the pro-Palestinian IHH organization.

The two leaders met in Canada on the sidelines of the G-20 summit earlier this week.

Following the Israeli Navy commandos’ raid in May in which nine Turkish activists were killed Turkey announced that it was recalling its ambassador to Israel.

Erdogan said the incident represented a complete violation of international law and called for an international probe into the military action.

Read moreNow truth is bad for you: ‘Obama warns Erdogan international Gaza flotilla probe bad for Turkey’

Turkey: Prime Minister Erdogan Vows Kurdish Rebels Will ‘Drown In Their Own Blood’

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments follow the deaths of eleven soldiers and 12 PKK guerrillas during a battle in Hakkari

recep-tayyip-erdogan

Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said today that Kurdish militants would “drown in their own blood” as he led political and army chiefs in paying his respects to troops killed in a clash with the rebels during fighting on Saturday. Eleven soldiers and 12 Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) guerrillas died in the south-eastern province of Hakkari, near the Iraq border.

At a ceremony in the city of Van, Erdogan said: “I say here very clearly, they will not win. They will gain nothing. They will melt away in their own darkness … they will drown in their own blood.” The death toll in Saturday’s clash was one of the highest in recent years in a conflict which has killed more than 40,000 since the PKK took up arms against the state in 1984 with the aim of creating a homeland in the south-east.

Read moreTurkey: Prime Minister Erdogan Vows Kurdish Rebels Will ‘Drown In Their Own Blood’