Jeppe Juhl on the disaster of Sweden
Published on Feb 20, 2016
Once again, Danish commentator, Jeppe Juhl, a sort of Scandinavian Pat Condell, nails it. This is a powerful and valuable document for the vestiges of reason in Denmark.
H/T E.J. Bron
Posted tagged ‘Jihad’
The disaster of Sweden
February 21, 2016Turkey calls for unconditional US support against YPG
February 20, 2016Turkey calls for unconditional US support against YPG
February 20, 2016, Saturday/ 19:16:29/ REUTERS | ISTANBUL
Source: Turkey calls for unconditional US support against YPG
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu speaks with an official as he arrives for a security meeting at the Governor’s Office in Ankara, Feb. 20, 2016. (Photo: AP, Burhan Özbilici)
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Saturday called on the United States to give unconditional support in the fight against Syrian Kurdish militants, illustrating growing tension between Ankara and Washington over policy in northern Syria.
Davutoğlu also said Turkey would tighten security across the country, especially the capital, after a car laden with explosives was detonated near military buses in Ankara on Wednesday, killing 28 people.
Turkey says the Syrian Kurdish YPG, which the United States is backing in the fight against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria, was involved in the bombing, working with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Washington, which does not consider the YPG a terrorist organisation, has said it is not in a position to confirm or deny Ankara’s charge the militia was behind the bombing.
“The only thing we expect from our US ally is to support Turkey with no ifs or buts,” Davutoğlu told a news conference following a five-hour security meeting with members of his cabinet and other officials.
“If 28 Turkish lives have been claimed through a terrorist attack we can only expect them to say any threat against Turkey is a threat against them.”
The disagreement over the YPG risks driving a wedge between the NATO allies at a critical point in Syria’s civil war, as the United States pursues intensive talks with Syrian ally Russia to bring about a “cessation of hostilities”.
The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK), a group that once had links to the PKK, on Friday claimed responsibility for the bombing. However, Davutoğlu said that did not rule out the responsibility of the YPG, calling the TAK a “proxy” that claimed the bombing to shield the international reputation of the Syrian Kurdish fighters.
US President Barack Obama on Friday spoke to Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan in an 80-minute telephone call, sharing his concerns over the Syrian conflict and promising his support.
On Friday, a State Department spokesman told reporters Washington would continue to support organisations in Syria that it could count on in the fight against Islamic State – an apparent reference to the YPG.
Also on Saturday, Erdoğan’s spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said the US administration cannot see the whole picture on Syria. “… But the US administration has a dilemma. If you build your fight against Daesh on supporting YPG, you lose the whole picture. The fight against Daesh is continuing now, so does the one against Assad regime. Apart from all these, we have Russia’s huge military concentration in this region. If you disregard all relations and connections among these and only say ‘I will send weapons to the YPG so that they can do this’ , you cannot get the whole strategic picture,” Kalın said in televised remarks, using Daesh as an acronym for ISIL.
Daesh Terrorists: A Multifunction Tool in Hands of Ankara, Riyadh, NATO
February 20, 2016Daesh Terrorists: A Multifunction Tool in Hands of Ankara, Riyadh, NATO
15:29 20.02.2016
Source: Daesh Terrorists: A Multifunction Tool in Hands of Ankara, Riyadh, NATO
The West and its Mideast partners are playing deceiving Machiavellian games in Syria, F. William Engdahl told Sputnik, adding that Russia is in a most risky situation if it believes that the other actors involved in the conflict, such as Recep Erdogan or King Salman and his impulsive son Prince Mohammed, are reasonable, as hate knows no reason.
© AFP 2016/ FAYEZ NURELDINE
While tensions are simmering over the prospect of a Turkish-Saudi invasion of Syria, six members of the UN Security Council, including the US, UK and France, have voiced their objections to a Russian draft resolution aimed at restoring the sovereignty of the Middle Eastern state, fanning the flames.The draft resolution, which denounces any actions that undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria and condemns any plans for a foreign military invasion, has been dismissed by the US and French UN ambassadors as “having no future.”
It is rather surprising that the proposed resolution, aimed at peace in Syria and the protection of the fundamental values of the UN charter, has immediately come under fire from Washington and the major European powers. However, there is an obvious explanation: the Western powers have repeatedly violated international law, having acted militarily in Syria without official permission from the legitimate government of President Bashar al-Assad.
In light of this, the contours of the Western strategy in Syria are getting clearer. The question then arises whether the Syrian Arab Army, backed by Russia’s Air Force, will help Damascus restore sovereignty and re-unite Syria?
“What I feel is that at present the energy in Syria is, regrettably, one of death and destruction, everywhere. This cannot easily be healed such that Syria becomes a healthy sovereign nation as it was perhaps a century ago, prior to World War I. This is the destructiveness of war. It is not a question of military reconquest of land lost in the past five years of war. Were it so easy, the world would have healed the scars of all wars centuries ago. No one side ‘wins’ in war, only in peace,” American-German researcher, historian and strategic risk consultant F. William Engdahl told Sputnik in an exclusive interview.
© AFP 2016/ MUSTAFA OZER
By stepping in in Syria, Russia has actually entered a geopolitical chess tournament with crafty Western players. Will Vladimir Putin and Bashar Assad beat Washington’s geopolitical grandmasters at their own game?”This is a very difficult question to answer. My honest feeling is that the American Patriarchs as I prefer to call them, not grandmasters, have a deep plan with their many wars in the Middle East. The plan is simple — spread hate, destruction, a killing energy, not only in the Middle East oil countries but also in the EU as well as inside the United States, in China, everywhere, with their wars over oil in the end,” Engdahl pointed out.
© AP Photo/
Fighters of the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul, Iraq. (File)
If the world is busy with such destruction, those Patriarchs have the misguided feeling they will prevail, the strategic risk consultant underscored, adding that we are in a kind of world war already.
“They ignited the Maidan Square coup in February 2014 to disrupt growing, positive economic and political relations, especially between Germany and Russia, to an extent between the EU and Russia. They have demonized Russia and her President in their media. China will be next in their sights,” Engdahl stressed.
Indeed, a belt of instability has stretched from North Africa and the Balkans to Central Asia and beyond. Five years have passed since the “Day of Rage” in Libya which was aimed against the rule of Muammar Gaddafi. The uprising, enthusiastically supported by the West, has lured the country into constant turmoil. Meanwhile, in another part of the world, the Afghani failed state is still desperately fighting against Islamic extremists.”I believe that they felt they were losing their control to nations [which were] acting more independently and sovereign in recent years, like Russia, like Germany, like China, like Iran and other states encouraged to assert national autonomy against the wishes of NATO. Of course, in the end they will only lose, but if we are not conscious of who we are, and who they are, as Sun Tzu said, they will manage to create huge destruction before that point. Simply think about the deep scars of the war 75 years ago,” the researcher told Sputnik.
© Sputnik/ Iliya Pitalev
A soldier of the Syrian Arab Army is seen here in Aleppo
Does that mean the notorious Daesh (ISIL/ISIS) is a kind of “agent of destruction”?
“Daesh, simply said, is Saudi Arabia’s monarchy. In my most recent book, The Lost Hegemon: Whom the gods would destroy, I describe in great detail the perverse ‘unholy alliance,’ brokered by the CIA in the early 1950s to mate the Egyptian death cult known as the Muslim Brotherhood with the primitive Saudi Wahhabist branch of Islam. The consequence of that was Mujahedeen, the Chechen wars, Bosnia’s Mujahedeen war against the Serbs, and now Al Qaeda-Al Nusra and Daesh. Erdogan’s family, supported in a perverse alliance by this Saudi monarchy, is embracing Daesh as a weapon to kill Kurds and create some kind of New Ottoman Sultanate, and to enable Saudi control of the oil and gas of Iraq, of Syria and of Yemen,” Engdahl elaborated.
“But they will fail,” the researcher remarked.
Despite the fact that the international community has repeatedly expressed its deep concerns over Daesh’s “extraordinary levels of funding” and the imminent danger this poses to the Western civilization, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman admitted on February 9 that the terror group continues to sell stolen oil on the global market.Some experts believe it would be impossible, hadn’t a “tacit agreement” been concluded by European and American decision-makers. Back in June 2014 French intellectual, founder and chairman of Voltaire Network Thierry Meyssan called attention to the fact that Daesh and al-Nusra Front were selling stolen crude on the international market, “so monitored by Washington,” without hindrance. That can only mean one thing, Meyssan suggested: they are either authorized by Washington or linked to storefront oil companies.
So, why do Washington and Western “oil barons” allow Daesh to continue selling stolen oil, replenishing its vaults with more money for war, terror and destruction?
“NATO uses Daesh and allows the oil to flow to that end, luring Erdogan and Salman into a well-planned trap. NATO, of course, is controlled by Washington and those American Patriarchs who steer the military-industrial complex and their oil barons. We need only to look at the statement recently of Hakan Fidan, head of Turkish MIT intelligence, urging the West to see Daesh as legitimate Muslims with a right to be respected and you get the idea,” Engdahl emphasized.
“Everyone in this war is deceiving, playing Machiavellian games — Erdogan, Salman and his son, Prince Salman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, John Kerry, Obama, Cameron, Hollande. Russia is in a most risky situation in Syria if it and its leading people have any illusion that the other actors are reasonable. Hate knows no reason,” the researcher warned.
From Hitler to Erdogan: Liberal Passivity in the Face of Another Rising Fascist Empire
February 19, 2016From Hitler to Erdogan: Liberal Passivity in the Face of Another Rising Fascist Empire
By Saladdin Ahmed
Thu, 18 Feb 2016, 01:07 PM
Had Hitler been confronted in Spain, the world could have been spared World War II, saving many millions of lives both in Germany and elsewhere. Instead, international passivity in the face of Hitler’s aggressions in Spain from 1936 to 1938 emboldened him to invade the rest of Europe and launch his genocidal campaigns. Today, 80 years on, Erdogan is building a similar fascist front, and the revolution in North and West Kurdistan stands alone in its uncompromising opposition to that Neo-Ottoman project.
In 1936, the fate of the anarcho-communist revolution against fascists and nationalists led by Franco was met with similar indifference on the part of foreign governments. The struggling republic, which was born after the fall of the monarchy only five years prior, had the sympathy of liberal governments in the West (with the exception of some Catholic and conservative fractions that sympathized with the nationalists), but it was a cowardly sympathy completely lacking in action.
Progressive intellectuals around the world recognized that the Spanish Civil War would be a turning point in history, that it was the last hope to stop fascism from spreading to all of Europe. Yet, in spite of the tens of thousands of volunteers who joined the International Brigades, not a single Western government came to the aid of the poorly-armed revolutionaries. This continued even as Hitler and Mussolini ordered warplanes to bombard Barcelona and Madrid on daily bases and openly shipped weaponry and troops to bolster Franco’s forces. As the Munich Agreement proved, as late as October 1938, France and Britain were still trying to avoid any confrontation with Hitler, preferring to submit to his bullying politics.
Today’s Middle East and North Africa share striking parallels with late 1930s Europe. It is a region teeming with fascism, albeit of an Islamist persuasion, and at the very heart there is again a powerful populist leader with a deadly vision for the world.
Notwithstanding the influence of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Erdogan is for Sunni Islamism what Hitler was for fascism. Turkey under Erdogan has been the single most powerful ally of Sunni Islamists from the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas to Al-Nusra and the Islamic State. Moreover, Erdogan’s popularity among Sunni Islamists of all backgrounds exceeds that of any other populist leader, and, to make things worse, his agenda has gone largely unnoticed, especially amidst the chaos in Iraq and Syria.
While Kurds and their allied progressive forces struggle to stop this rise of Islamism, the West has done little more than yield to Erdogan’s bullying politics with bad faith, hoping that he would one day stop supporting the Islamic State and other Islamist forces. Passive solidarity or sympathy alone will not enable Kurds and allied forces to stop Islamists in Syria. This is particularly the case given that Turkey, with the silent approval of NATO, continues to use all its power to destroy Kurds in both Turkey and Syria, just as Nazi Germany was directly involved in suppressing the ant-fascist revolution in Spain.
If the world remains reluctant to stop Erdogan, the impending disaster will indeed be comparable to World War II. While his two-faced politics with the liberal West – again resembling those of Hitler from 1936 to 1938 – continue for the time being, Erdogan’s imperialist Caliphate is already taking shape. At the same time, his politics of blackmailing the European Union with the refugee crisis and the United States with the prospect of (largely unmaterialized) support in the war on the Islamic State have proven extremely effective.
Erdogan intends to establish an Islamist empire by 2023, and if the popular support he enjoys at present is any indication, the coming empire will have the backing of the vast majority of Sunni Islamists. Turkey’s genocidal campaign against Kurds is therefore just the beginning. With time, the world will no doubt realize that Erdogan is a fatal threat to international peace; unfortunately, however, it will likely be too late. Just as world leaders were too late in putting a stop to Hitler in 1939, just as they failed to support Catalonian, Basque, and Spanish progressives, not to mention Jews, the world today stands idly by as the revolutionaries in Kurdistan confront NATO’s second largest army.
saladdinahmed.com
Turkey wants secure line made 10 km within Syria, including Azaz, Deputy PM says
February 17, 2016Turkey wants secure line made 10 km within Syria, including Azaz, Deputy PM says
DAILY SABAH WITH REUTERS
Source: Turkey wants secure line made 10 km within Syria, including Azaz, Deputy PM says – Daily Sabah
Displaced Syrians fleeing areas in the northern embattled province of Aleppo, walk past tents at the Bab al-Salama camp, set up outside the Syrian city of Azaz on Syria’s northern border with Turkey (AFP Photo)
Turkey wants a secure strip of territory 10 km (6.2 miles) deep on the Syrian side of its border, including the town of Azaz, to prevent attempts to “change the demographic structure” of the area and for humanitarian purposes, Deputy Prime Minister Yalçın Akdoğan said on Wednesday.
Assad forces backed by Russian air strikes have advanced towards the Turkish border in a major offensive in recent weeks. YPG fighters, regarded by Ankara as terrorists, have taken advantage of the violence to seize territory from Syrian rebels.
Turkey has accused the YPG of pursuing “demographic change” in northern Syria by forcibly displacing Turkmen and Arab communities.
“There is a game being played with the aim of changing the demographic structure. Turkey should not be part of this game,” Akdoğan said in an interview on the AHaber television station.
“What we want is to create a secure strip, including Azaz, 10 km deep inside Syria and this zone should be free from clashes,” he said.
Azaz is the last rebel stronghold before the border with Turkey north of the Syrian city of Aleppo, part of what was, before the Assad offensive, a supply route from Turkey to the rebels fighting Assad.
It has come under heavy assault in recent days, but Turkey has said it will not let the town fall into the hands of the Kurdish YPG militia.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel had also said that she supports Ankara’s proposal for a no-fly zone in northern Syria.
Ankara has been requesting that the U.N. establish “safe zones” in Syria since 2012 but could not find the necessary international support.
Turkey, home to more than 2.6 million Syrian refugees, has long pushed for the creation of a safe zone in northern Syria to protect displaced civilians, avoiding the need to bring them into Turkey.
But the proposal has so far gained little traction with Washington or NATO allies who fear it would require an internationally patrolled no-fly zone which could put them in direct confrontation with Assad and his allies.
Akdoğan said another 600,000 people could flee to the Turkish border if Aleppo falls to the Syrian army.
UNSC urges Turkey to ‘comply with intl law’ in Syria after Russia requests meeting
February 17, 2016UNSC urges Turkey to ‘comply with intl law’ in Syria after Russia requests meeting
Published time: 16 Feb, 2016 21:01 Edited time: 16 Feb, 2016 22:30
Source: UNSC urges Turkey to ‘comply with intl law’ in Syria after Russia requests meeting — RT News
Following a briefing requested by Russia, the UN Security Council has urged Ankara to comply with international law in Syria. The closed-door meeting was called to discuss recent Turkish shelling of Kurdish YPG militia targets in Syria’s north.
READ MORE: Turkey shells Kurdish forces in Syria for 4th successive day
“UN Security Council members are concerned with the Turkish attacks on a number of Syrian regions,” Venezuelan Ambassador Rafael Ramirez, who now chairs the UNSC, said after the meeting, as cited by TASS.
The UN Security Council received a letter from the Syrian government in which Damascus condemned Turkey’s attacks in the north of Syria, Ramirez explained, noting that the entire council expressed “concern” about these violations.
“All members of the Security Council … agreed to ask for Turkey to comply with international law,” he added.
The UNSC also reiterated its commitment to the Munich agreement, expecting that all parties involved in the discussions will work toward a ceasefire to “allow humanitarian access for every place in the Syrian territory.”
Read more
When asked if the UNSC discussed the shelling of the hospitals and schools in Northern Syria on Monday which left close to 50 people dead, Ramirez said the Council indeed discussed the issue, but reached “no agreement” or “consensus” because of “different sources” of information on the incidents.
“Everybody is concerned about air strikes over humanitarian installations,” said Ramirez, stressing that the UNSC is trying to get “more information.”
The UNSC president highlighted the need to have Kurds represented in the Syrian peace process, and for Ankara not to escalate the situation even further.
“One of the issues expressed by some countries, including Venezuela, is that the Kurdish people have to be included in the discussion. Now that is the principle concern of Turkey,” Ramirez said during the briefing.
“Something that is important – the Kurds are fighting against the terrorist groups on the ground and this is an important factor for everybody,” Ramirez emphasized.
Turkish artillery units have been shelling targets in Syria for the fourth day in a row, as Ankara maintains its commitment to stopping the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) from claiming more territory in the north of the country. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, both government and opposition-held towns over the border from Turkey have fallen under Ankara’s shelling.
While the Kurdish forces remain one of Washington’s main allies on the ground in Syria, Turkey being a NATO member is also a key partner in the US-led anti-ISIS coalition. The US State Department on Tuesday urged all sides to avoid escalation of tensions on the Syria-Turkey border.
“I am aware of the reports… that they [Turkish forces] have struck the YPG affiliated forces,” State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said. “We have urged the YPG to avoid moves that will heighten tensions with Turkey. But at the same time we have also urged Turkey to cease any artillery… its artillery fire across the border.”
Turkey calls allies to launch ground offensive in Syria, continues to hit PYD
February 16, 2016Turkey calls allies to launch ground offensive in Syria, continues to hit PYD
February 16, 2016, Tuesday/ 17:41:49/ TODAY’S ZAMAN | ANKARA
Source: Turkey calls allies to launch ground offensive in Syria, continues to hit PYD
Turkish artillery struck positions in northern Syria for the fourth straight day on Tuesday. (Photo: AP)
While Ankara and Moscow continued to exchange harsh remarks on Tuesday, Turkey once again hit Democratic Union Party (PYD) targets near the town of Azaz in Syria and called on its allies, including the US, to launch a ground offensive in Syria as Russian-backed Syrian regime forces come closer to Turkey’s borders.
A Turkish official speaking to reporters in İstanbul on Tuesday said Turkey wants a ground operation in Syria.
The official who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak more freely said: “We want a ground operation. If there is a consensus, Turkey will take part. Without a ground operation it is impossible to stop this war.”
The official also ruled out a unilateral ground operation in Syria carried out by Turkey. “Turkey is not going to have a unilateral ground operation … We are discussing this with allies,” the official said.
The Turkish military has been hitting PYD targets in Syria since Saturday and continued to shell the PYD militants in Azaz near the Mennagh air base on Tuesday.
In the meantime, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned Turkey and Saudi Arabia that any ground incursion in Syria will have “global repercussions” and says sending in troops will be “no picnic.”
Commenting on the agreement reached last week among the US, Russia and other world powers for a temporary cessation of hostilities in Syria, Assad said, “Cease-fires occur between armies and states, but never between a state and terrorists.”
“They say they want a cease-fire within a week. All right, who will talk to a terrorist organization if it refuses to cease fire? Who will punish it?’” he asked. Assad spoke in Damascus late Monday during a meeting with members of the Bar Association. The comments were his first since the agreement on Friday to bring about a temporary pause in fighting within a week.
Washington has ruled out a major ground operation in Syria and a large-scale joint ground operation is still unlikely. But Turkey’s request shows how swiftly a Russian-backed advance in recent weeks has transformed a conflict that has drawn in most regional and global powers.
The offensive, supported by Iranian-backed Shiite militias as well as Russian air strikes, has brought the Syrian army to within 25 kilometers (15 miles) of Turkey’s frontier. Kurdish fighters regarded by Turkey as hostile insurgents have also exploited the collapse of positions held by other rebel groups to seize ground and extend their presence along the border.
The advances have increased the risk of a military confrontation between Russia and Turkey.
Turkish artillery returned fire into Syria for a fourth day straight on Tuesday, military sources said, targeting the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which Ankara says is being backed by Moscow.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu spoke with his French counterpart and expressed Ankara’s dissatisfaction with the French foreign ministry’s comments regarding the Turkish operations against Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) targets in Syria, diplomatic sources said.
Davutoğlu: Shameless Russia
Speaking at the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu gave harsh remarks targeting Russia particularly and calling Moscow “inhumane,” “merciless” and “barbaric.”
Davutoğlu said the PYD and its armed wing, the YPG, are an offshoot of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and are killing people in Syria for the Russian and Syrian regimes. He stressed that Turkey will do anything to prevent the attack on Azaz and will retaliate whenever necessary.
Calling the developments in Syria “a national security threat” to Turkey, Davutoğlu said Russia is attacking Syrian rebel groups and civilians. Mentioning some of the photos that he has seen where Russian jets pounded Tel Rifaat and Azaz, Davutoğlu asked Russia what they want from this territory.
Davutoğlu said Russian jets are bombing any area around Azaz, adding that making 200 sorties around a small town like Azaz does not make sense other than if the aim was to get rid of all expired bombs in one’s stock.
“Russia is killing both civilians and Syrian rebels, as well as supporting the Syrian regime. They are also getting rid of obsolete bombs in their stock in Syria instead of destroying them in their own country. They have such a vile and inhuman plan. Russia, Assad and the PYD are cooperating and pounding the area to cut the way to the aid corridor to the Syrian people. Russia and Assad are using the PYD as a tool to change the ethnic structure. Russia has not once attacked ISIL [the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant],” said Davutoğlu.
Davutoğlu also stressed that Turkey has been shelling the PYD since Saturday and will continue to do so in order to stop a new refugee influx to Turkey. He said the latest attacks near Turkey’s border are clearly targeting Turkey and posing a threat to Europe due to an increased refugee influx.
Davutoğlu pointed out that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has finally confirmed the need to establish a no fly zone in Syria. He said if the world leaders agreed with Turkey three years ago, many lives in Syria could have been saved.
“No one should doubt that Turkey will react in the same way against anyone threatening its border security,” said Davutoğlu.
He said the PYD does not represent the Kurds in Syria and has become a legionnaire for Russia in the region with the priority of harming Turkey, especially since Turkish-Russian relations have become tense following Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian jet in November last year.
“While Russia is bombing civilians, it complains about Turkey to the UN Security Council for defending Turkish air space. It is shameless,” said Davutoğlu. He also criticized the West, particularly the US, for not openly condemning the Russian bombardment in the area. “We are not afraid to say this. Coward Russian jets committed to this bombardment. We want to see a clear attitude [from the West] against this inhuman massacre,” said Davutoğlu.
He stressed that Turkish foreign policy is not based on ethnicity. He said if Kurds have a state, it is the Turkish Republic. He recalled that Turkey has embraced the Kurdish refugees who fled from ISIL in the town of Kobani in Syria.
Davutoğlu also said that Russia is pursuing a “dirty foreign policy” by mentioning the possibility of a World War III. “If there is a threat of war in Syria, Turkey is not the one creating the environment for it,” said Davutoğlu, adding that despite the chaos in the region the Turkish government is keeping the country out of war. He claimed that Turkey is taking measures to eliminate the threats close to it in order to stay away from war.
Russia categorically rejects statements from Turkey
Moscow on Tuesday strongly rejected Turkish accusations that it had committed a war crime after the missile strikes.
“We categorically do not accept such statements, the more so as every time those making these statements are unable to prove their unfounded accusations in any way,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“Our relations (with Turkey) are in a deep crisis. Russia regrets this. We are not the initiators of this.”
Turkey on Monday accused Russia of an “obvious war crime” after missile attacks in northern Syria killed scores of people and warned the YPG that it would face the “harshest reaction” if it tried to capture a town near the Turkish border.
Saudi Arabia confirms sent aircraft to Turkey to fight against ISIL
February 14, 2016Saudi Arabia confirms sent aircraft to Turkey to fight against ISIL
February 14, 2016, Sunday/ 10:38:20/ REUTERS WITH TODAY’S ZAMAN
Source: Saudi Arabia confirms sent aircraft to Turkey to fight against ISIL
Royal Saudi Air Force jets fly in formation in Riyadh. (File photo: Reuters)
Saudi Arabia confirmed late on Saturday it sent aircraft to NATO-member Turkey’s İncirlik air base for the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants, although Turkish sources reportedly denied arrival of any Saudi aircraft.
Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Assiri, adviser in the office of Saudi Arabia’s minister of defense, told pan-Arab Al Arabiya television that the kingdom was committed to stepping up the fighting against ISIL and that the move was part of those efforts.
He also said that the current presence in the air base was limited to aircraft and no ground troops had been sent.
“What is present now is aircraft that are part of the Saudi Arabian forces,” Assiri said in response to a question on whether ground troops were included.
Turkey’s Hürriyet daily, however, quoted Turkish military sources as denying the arrival of Saudi jets at the İncirlik air base. According to the military sources, Saudi jets had not arrived at İncirlik yet and their arrival would take two to three weeks, Hürriyet reported.
Saudi Arabia has resumed its participation in air strikes against ISIL in recent weeks and US Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Thursday welcomed its commitment to expand its role.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told the Yeni Şafak newspaper on Saturday that Saudi Arabia had carried out inspections at the air base in preparation for sending aircraft.
Turkey continues to shell PYD positions in northern Syria
February 14, 2016Turkey continues to shell PYD positions in northern Syria
KİLİS – Anadolu Agency
February/14/2016
Source: Turkey continues to shell PYD positions in northern Syria – MIDEAST
Turkish troops are continuing to shell Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) positions in Syria’s Azaz district, located in the countryside north of Aleppo, Turkish security sources confirmed on Feb. 14.
The shelling was first reported on Feb. 13 night when Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the army had returned artillery fire after coming under attack by PYD forces based around Azaz in northern Syria. He had said the response was within Turkey’s rules of engagement.
According to the Turkish military, the Akcabağlar base in Turkey’s border province of Kilis was shelled on Feb. 13 by “PYD/PKK [the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party]” forces.
On Feb. 14 the Turkish army continued to shell PYD positions, military sources said. Artillery fire could also be heard in Kilis.
Turkish military sources added that several Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) positions had been destroyed and the militants also reportedly suffered casualties.
Azaz in Aleppo province has been the scene of recent heavy fighting and the YPG have advanced to Azaz, just six kilometers from the Turkish border.
Turkish military repeatedly shell Assad forces; Kurds confirm to RT being hit by massive attack
February 14, 2016Turkish military repeatedly shell Assad forces; Kurds confirm to RT being hit by massive attack
Published time: 13 Feb, 2016 16:17 Edited time: 14 Feb, 2016 00:56
Source: Turkish military repeatedly shell Assad forces; Kurds confirm to RT being hit by massive attack — RT News
The Turkish army has shelled Syrian government forces in Aleppo and Latakia provinces, while also hitting Kurdish targets near the city of Azaz in northwestern Syria, including an air base recently retaken from Islamist rebels, with a massive attack.
Anatolia news agency reported that the Turkish military hit Syrian government forces on Saturday, adding that the shelling had been in response to fire inflicted on a Turkish military guard post in Turkey’s southern Hatay region.
Turkish artillery targeted Syrian forces again late on Saturday, according to a military source quoted by RIA Novosti. The attack targeted the town of Deir Jamal in the Aleppo Governorate.
The agency also cited details of an earlier attack on Syrian government army positions in northwestern Latakia.
“Turkey’s artillery opened fire on the positions of the Syrian Army in the vicinity of Aliya mountain in the northwestern part of the province of Latakia,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the Turkish shelling of Kurdish positions continued for more than three hours almost uninterruptedly, a Kurdish source told RT, adding that the Turkish forces are using mortars and missiles and firing from the Turkish border not far from the city of Azaz in the Aleppo Governorate.
The shelling targeted the Menagh military air base and the nearby village of Maranaz, where “many civilians were wounded,” local journalist Barzan Iso told RT. He added that Kurdish forces and their allies among “the Syrian democratic forces” had taken control of the air base on Thursday.
According to Iso, the Menagh base had previously been controlled by the Ahrar ash-Sham Islamist rebel group, which seized it in August of 2013. The journalist also added that Ahrar ash-Sham militants at the base had been supported by Al-Nusra terrorists and some extremist groups coming from Turkey.
Ahrar ash-Sham is a militant group that has trained teenagers to commit acts of terror in Damascus, Homs, and Latakia provinces, according to data provided to the Russian Defense Ministry by Syrian opposition forces.
The group, which has intensified its attacks on the Syrian government forces since January, was getting “serious reinforcements from Turkey,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during a briefing in Moscow on January 21.
A source in the Turkish government confirmed to Reuters that the Turkish military had shelled Kurdish militia targets near Azaz on Saturday.
“The Turkish Armed Forces fired shells at PYD positions in the Azaz area,” the source said, referring to the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Ankara views as a terrorist group.
A Turkish security official told Reuters that the shelling of the Kurds had been a response to a shelling of Turkish border military outposts by the PYD and forces loyal to Damascus, as required under Turkish military rules of engagement.
Turkey’s PM Davutoglu also confirmed that the country’s forces had struck Syrian Kurdish fighters and demanded that the Kurds retreat from all of the areas that they had recently seized.
“The YPG will immediately withdraw from Azaz and the surrounding area and will not go close to it again,” he told reporters, adding that Turkey “will retaliate against every step [by the YPG],” Reuters reports.
A Kurdish official confirmed to Reuters that the shelling had targeted the Menagh air base located south of Azaz.
According to the official, the base had been captured by the Jaysh al-Thuwwar rebel group, which is an ally of PYD and a member of the Syria Democratic Forces alliance.
Syrian Kurds are actively engaged in the fight against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group and have been recently described as “some of the most successful” forces fighting IS jihadists in Syria by US State Department spokesman John Kirby, AFP reports.
Earlier, the US also called the PYD an “important partner” in the fight against Islamic State, adding that US support of the Kurdish fighters “will continue.”
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Turkey’s shelling of the Syrian Kurds comes just days after a plan to end hostilities in Syria was presented in Munich after a meeting of the so-called International Syria Support Group (ISSG), in which Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and UN Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura participated.
‘We will strike PYD’ – Turkish PM
Earlier on Saturday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu threatened Syrian Kurds with military action, saying that Turkey will resort to force against the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) if it considers the step “necessary.”
“As I have said, the link between the YPG and the [outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party] PKK is obvious. If the YPG threatens our security, then we will do what is necessary,” Davutoglu said on February 10, as quoted by the Hurriyet Daily.
“The leadership cadre and ideology of the PKK and PYD is the same,” he argued in a televised speech in the eastern city of Erzincan on Saturday, AFP reports.
Davutoglu also said that if there is a threat to Turkey, “we will strike PYD like we did Qandil,” referring to a bombing campaign waged by Turkey against the PKK in its Qandil mountain stronghold in northern Iraq, Daily Sabah reports.
Turkey regards the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing, the YPG, as affiliates of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged a decade-long insurgency against Turkish authorities, demanding autonomy for Turkish Kurds.
The latest developments come as Turkey continues a relentless crackdown on Kurds in its southeastern region. Ankara launched a military operation against Kurdish insurgents from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in July of 2015, breaking a ceasefire signed in 2013.
Turkey’s General Staff claim that Turkish forces killed more than 700 PKK rebels during the offensive in the southeastern districts of Cizre and Sur. Meanwhile, Amnesty International has reported that at least 150 civilians, including women in children, were killed in the Turkish military operation, adding that over 200,000 lives have been put at risk.
According to the Turkish Human Rights Foundation, at least 198 civilians, including 39 children, have been murdered in the area since August of 2015.
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