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Baghdad ultimatum to Ankara expires, Moscow to discuss Turkish military invasion at UNSC

December 8, 2015

Baghdad ultimatum to Ankara expires, Moscow to discuss Turkish military invasion at UNSC

Published time: 8 Dec, 2015 10:15 Edited time: 8 Dec, 2015 19:05

Source: Baghdad ultimatum to Ankara expires, Moscow to discuss Turkish military invasion at UNSC — RT News

© Murad Sezer
© Murad Sezer / Reuters
The Iraqi PM has called on NATO to intervene shortly after the deadline of a Baghdad-issued ultimatum demanding that Turkish troops leave its territory expired. Ankara has refused to withdraw.

Iraq “is incumbent upon NATO to use its powers to urge Turkey to withdraw immediately from Iraqi territory,” a statement posted on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s website said on Tuesday.

The statement was made after the Baghdad government’s 48-hour deadline for Turkish withdrawal expired. Al-Abadi has already spoken with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg by telephone regarding the matter, the statement added, saying that the PM “reiterated during the call that these forces are present without the knowledge and consent of the Iraqi government.”

READ MORE: ‘Hostile act:’ Iraqi PM denounces US ground forces deployment on Iraq’s territory

Meanwhile, Russia intends to bring up Ankara’s invasion of northern Iraq at the UN Security Council on Thursday.

“The issue will be raised at a closed-door meeting,” TASS cited a diplomatic source within the organization as saying. The source also dismissed earlier reports that Moscow was going to call a separate UNSC meeting.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed grave concern over reports of the US-led coalition’s missile airstrike on the Syrian Army base near Ayyash in the Deir ez-Zor province, which killed three Syrian soldiers, as well as an airstrike in Al-Hasakah Governorate that resulted in multiple civilian casualties.

“Generally, these facts serve proof that the situation on the frontline with Islamic State is heating up,” the Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department acknowledged.

“An additional and extremely dangerous factor promoting international tensions is the unlawful presence of the Turkish armed forces on Iraqi territory near the city of Mosul, which arrived there without a request and approval of the legitimate government of Iraq,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“We consider this [military] presence unacceptable,” the statement says, adding that violation of international law principles, such as respect towards other states’ sovereignty is “at the core of the emerging problems.”

READ MORE: ‘NATO member Turkey gets immunity from violating international law’

According to Iraqi media,Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has put the Iraqi Air Force on high alert and the ruling National Iraqi Alliance has given the prime minister the go-ahead to take “any measures” to ensure territorial integrity and protect its borders, including addressing the UN and the Arab League.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that the country is suspending further deployment of troops to Iraq, but refuses to withdraw servicemen and hardware already on Iraqi soil.

Baghdad was informed of Ankara’s decision in a phone conversation between the Turkish and Iraqi foreign ministers late on Monday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterated Ankara’s respect for Iraq’s territorial integrity, Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic told reporters.

In a separate statement, Turkish PM Davutoglu expressed readiness to visit Baghdad as soon as possible to discuss the current troop deployment crisis between Ankara and Baghdad.

Iraqi media reported earlier that on December 4 Iraq’s PM said: “Turkish troops numbering around one regiment armored with tanks and artillery entered Iraqi territory,” labeling the incident as a “serious breach of Iraqi sovereignty.” He added that the move “does not conform with good neighborly relations,” and called on to Ankara to “withdraw immediately from Iraqi territory.”

Ankara’s reaction has been offhand. It claimed up to 150 of its troops had crossed into Iraq to train forces battling Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).

Although the US-led anti-IS coalition was aware of Turkey’s move, it emerged later that Ankara’s deployment is not part of the efforts of the US-led coalition battling Islamic State.

Turkish troops did not simply cross the Iraqi border into the Nineveh province, but penetrated 100 kilometer into Iraq, according to Reuters. They reached the Bashiqa region, about 10 kilometers northeast of Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, which has been occupied by IS terrorists since June 2014.

Turkey is lying when it says it received Baghdad’s blessing to invade part of its territory, according to the Iraqi PM.

On Monday, the governor of the Iraqi province of Nineveh told Sputnik that the number of Turkish servicemen there has reached 900.

On December 6, Baghdad warned that “Iraq has the right to use all available options, including resorting to the UN Security Council if these forces are not withdrawn within 48 hours,” reiterating the same ultimatum on Monday giving Ankara 24 hours to leave the area.

READ MORE: ‘Incursion’: Baghdad demands Turkey withdraw ‘training’ troops from northern Iraq

Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled Obeidi turned down his Turkish counterpart’s invitation to visit Ankara. A spokesman for the Iraqi Defense Ministry said the visit will take place only after Turkey sends “positive signals” regarding the withdrawal of its troops from northern Iraq.

Ankara refused to extract its military, claiming that heavily armed troops deployed to a camp near Mosul are needed to protect an Iraqi Kurd training mission, which is taking place near the frontline with Islamic State.

“It is our duty to provide security for our soldiers providing training there,” the Guardian cited the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu as saying in an interview with Kanal 24 television. “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.”

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Whistleblower Warned Turkey Would Attack A Russian Jet

December 7, 2015

Whistleblower Warned Turkey Would Attack A Russian Jet Tyler Durden’s picture

by Tyler Durden on 12/05/2015 21:25 -0500

Source: Whistleblower Warned Turkey Would Attack A Russian Jet | Zero Hedge

Society needs whistleblowers. They serve as a check on corruption and governmental overreach and in the private sector, they are often the only thing that stands between unbridled corporate greed and the otherwise clueless masses.

As Edward Snowden demonstrated, even the most “developed” of nations need checks on government and that goes double in places like Turkey, where an autocracy is masquerading as a largely developed democracy.

Despite the fact that Erdogan has managed to create an environment in which the press and the police are afraid to pursue the truth for fear of brutal reprisals from Ankara, there’s one Turkish citizen who stands against the suppression of free speech: Fuat Avni.

Fuat Avni is a pseudonym used by an anonymous government whistleblower. He has more than 2.3 million followers on Twitter (so, half as many as Donald Trump).

Here are two excerpts from an interview Vocativ conducted with Fuat Avni last year:

Vocativ: Is there a reason why you chose the name Fuat Avni?

 

FA: I did not open the account with this name initially. I used different names. But I did not want any other person to be hurt because of what I wrote, so I changed user names frequently. Fuat Avni means “a helping heart.” I thought it to be suitable and I continued with it.

 

Vocativ: Do you alone control the Twitter account? 

 

FA: There is no team behind it, only me. I don’t need to get any information from anyone because for years I have been working at in sensitive positions within the AKP [Turkey’s ruling party]. Because of my position, I have information about people at critical points. The reports and information come to my desk as well. It is ridiculous to think that an insider gets information from an outsider. Only I and Allah know who Fuat Avni is.

 

Well, on Sunday, October 11, Fuat Avnil tweeted something interesting.

fuatavni @fuatavni_f

18. Seçimden çok korkan Yezid, iç savaş çıkarmanın yanısıra Rus jetlerini düşürüp ülkeyi fiilen savaşa sokmayı bile düşünüyor.

5:46 PM – 11 Oct 2015

That, allegedly, is the tweet that foretold Ankara’s move to shoot down a Russian Su-24 near the Syrian border late last month in the first incident of a NATO member engaging a Russian or Soviet aircraft in more than six decades.

The prediction didn’t go unnoticed.

Late last month, Russia’s sharp-tongued, US foreign policy critic extraordinaire Maria Zakharova cited the Fuat Avnil tweet in accusing Turkey of purposefully downing the Russian warplane. Here’s Today’s Zaman (whose editor in chief just resigned under legal pressure from Erdogan):

In comments on Turkey’s recent downing of a Russian jet over violation of its airspace, a spokesperson from the Russian Foreign Ministry has recalled that famous Turkish Twitter whistleblower claimed back in October that the Turkish government was planning to down a Russian jet to remain in power.

 

At a press conference on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed that Turkey “purposefully” downed the Russian Su-24 at the Turkish-Syrian border on Tuesday and said the “unprecedented” incident will have serious repercussions.  

 

She also quoted statements of Turkish Twitter whistleblower Fuat Avni who claimed in October that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an were  planning to down a Russian jet to bring Turkey to brink of war with Russia to ultimately keep its power. “This is very interesting,” Zakharova said.

 


Yes, it is “very interesting” that Turkey’s most famous whistleblower and anonymous Twitter personality should predict such a dramatic event more than a month ahead of time. As Zaman goes on to note, “Fuat Avni’s identity is unknown and has prompted wide speculation, but the account has previously revealed numerous details that would appear to indicate that the user is close to or inside the government and the account has attracted a large following.”

Fuat Avni also predicted the widespread crackdown on the media ahead of of November’s elections. The government also attempted to have his account blocked in October after he tweeted information about Bilal Erdogan’s finances (again, from Today’s Zaman):

Fuat Avni said in a series of tweets on Oct. 4: “In Italy, Bilal will manage accounts in Switzerland and other countries. Bilal has billions of dollars to manage.” Claiming that Bilal flew to Italy on Sept. 27 and plans to remain there for a while, with family members possibly joining him later, Fuat Avni wrote: “They are planning to keep Bilal in Italy until the [Nov. 1] election. They will decide whether or not he will come back depending on the situation after the election.” The whistleblower said there is a plan in place for President Erdogan and his family to flee a possible trial on corruption charges if necessary after Nov. 1 and that Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioglu is organizing the plan.

 

After Fuat Avni’s claims were reported by media outlets, Bilal Erdogan’s lawyer filed a complaint against Fuat Avni’s Twitter account, asking for a court to block access to it on the grounds that the tweets breach his rights. In a decision on Oct. 6, the ?stanbul 7th Penal Court of Peace decided to demand that Twitter block access to the account in Turkey, but the popular social media website has refused to implement the court decision.

As you can see, this is a serious thorn in the side of the Erodgan regime and in case the implications of the above aren’t clear enough, we’ll close with a quote from Istanbul-based Cihan News – which is controlled by Zaman owner Feza Publications – ca. October 12:

Avni, who claims to be among Erdogan’s inner circle, says the president of Turkey has seen the latest polls in the run-up to the snap election in November, and is convinced that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) cannot regain a single-party majority. 

 

Avni purports that Erdogan is even thinking of declaring war on Russia and taking advantage of the de facto situation, consolidating his grip on power. 

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US-led coalition airstrike hit Syrian regime camp for the first time, kills four soldiers

December 7, 2015

US-led coalition airstrike hit Syrian regime camp for the first time, kills four soldiers

Source: US-led coalition airstrike hit Syrian regime camp for the first time, kills four soldiers – Daily Sabah

 U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle from the 48th Fighter Wing lands at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, November 12, 2015 (Reuters Photo)

U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle from the 48th Fighter Wing lands at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, November 12, 2015 (Reuters Photo)

An air strike believed to have been carried out by the U.S.-led coalition killed four Syrian military personnel in Deir al Zor province, which is mostly held by Daesh, a monitoring group said on Monday, in what would be the first time coalition warplanes had hit Syrian government forces.

A source close to the Syrian government confirmed the strike and said there had been casualties and vehicles destroyed.

Syria Foreign Ministry said that four jets from U.S.-led coalition targeted Syrian army camp with nine missiles, killing three soldiers, wounding 13 on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, the US-led coalition denied the allegations saying its planes carried out air strikes that killed at least three Syrian regime troops.

“We’ve seen those Syrian reports but we did not conduct any strikes in that part of Deir Ezzor yesterday. So we see no evidence,” said Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the coalition.

He said the coalition’s only strikes in Deir Ezzor on Sunday were some 55 kilometres (34 miles) southeast of the area where the troops were allegedly killed, near the town of Ayyash.

“We struck 55 km away from the area that the Syrians say was struck. That was the only area in Deir Ezzor we struck yesterday,” he told AFP.

“There were no human beings in the area that we struck yesterday, all we struck was a wellhead,” he added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike hit part of the Saeqa military camp near the town of Ayyash in western Deir al Zor province and wounded 13 military personnel in the first such incident since the coalition began its bombing campaign against Daesh in Syria.

The strike had hit some time in the last 24 hours, it said.

The U.S.-led force’s campaign is against Daesh, which controls most of Deir al Zor, including its capital, and has regularly targeted the group in the eastern Syrian province.

In Deir al Zor city, another air strike believed to be carried out by the coalition overnight killed a woman and two of her children, the Observatory said.

Deir al Zor province links Daesh’s de facto capital in Raqqa with territory controlled by the group in Iraq, and its oilfields are a major source of revenue for the group.

 

 

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Iraq Could Ask Russia for Help After ‘Invasion’ by Turkish Forces

December 6, 2015

Iraq Could Ask Russia for Help After ‘Invasion’ by Turkish Forces

19:08 06.12.2015

Source: Iraq Could Ask Russia for Help After ‘Invasion’ by Turkish Forces

The head of Iraq’s parliamentary committee on security and defense, Hakim al-Zamili, in an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, said that Baghdad could turn to Moscow for help after Turkey had allegedly breached Iraq’s sovereignty.

Turkish troops
© AP Photo/ Vadim Ghirda
‘Turkish Troops on Iraqi Ground Could Be Used to Fight Against PKK’

Numerous reports suggest that on Friday Turkey sent approximately 130 soldiers to norther Iraq. Turkish forces, deployed near the city of Mosul, are allegedly tasked with training Peshmerga, which has been involved in the fight against Daesh, also known as ISIL.On Saturday, Baghdad described the move as “a serious violation of Iraqi sovereignty,” since it had not been authorized by Iraqi authorities.

“We may soon ask Russia for direct military intervention in Iraq in response to the Turkish invasion and the violation of Iraqi sovereignty,” Iraqi lawmaker al-Zamili said.

Turkish soldiers
© AFP 2015/ BULENT KILIC
‘Turkish Invasion’: Iraq Should Treat All Intruders ‘Like It Treats Daesh’

Earlier, Hakim al-Zamili threatened Turkey with a military operation if the Turkish soldiers do not leave Iraq immediately.The parliamentarian reiterated that Turkey sent troops into Iraqi territory without notifying the government.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Abadi urged Ankara to immediately pull out its forces, including tanks and artillery, from the Nineveh province. Iraqi President Fuad Masum referred to the incident as a violation of international law and urged Ankara to refrain from similar activities in the future, al-Sumaria TV Channel reported.

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Turkish military to have a base in Iraq’s Mosul

December 6, 2015

Turkish military to have a base in Iraq’s Mosul

ANKARA

Source: Turkish military to have a base in Iraq’s Mosul – MIDEAST

This still image taken from a video shared on the social media reportedly shows Turkish tanks being deployed to Mosul's Bashiqa region.

This still image taken from a video shared on the social media reportedly shows Turkish tanks being deployed to Mosul’s Bashiqa region.

Turkey will have a permanent military base in the Bashiqa region of Mosul as the Turkish forces in the region training the Peshmerga forces have been reinforced, Hürriyet reported.

The deal regarding the base was signed between Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Massoud Barzani and Turkish Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioğlu, during the latter’s visit to northern Iraq on Nov. 4.

At least 150 Turkish soldiers, accompanied by 20-25 tanks, were deployed to the area by land late on Dec. 4, Anadolu Agency reported.

Turkish army sources told Anadolu Agency on Dec. 5 that they had been training fighters across four provinces in northern Iraq to fight ISIL.

According to the military, the Peshmerga forces have been trained for fighting with homemade explosives, heavy machine guns, mortars, artillery and also received first-aid training.

More than 2,500 Peshmerga, including high-ranking officers, have attended the Turkish training, the military added.

The KRG’s deputy Peshmerga minister, Major General Karaman Kemal Omar, said that the training given by Turkish soldiers made a huge contribution to an operation by Iraqi Kurdish forces to retake Sinjar district from ISIL on Nov. 12.

Sinjar is a town located 120 kilometers west of Mosul with an Ezidi majority. It fell to ISIL in August 2014.

For more than two years, Turkey has had a group of soldiers in Bashiqa, located 32 kilometers north of Mosul, which is under Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) control. The soldiers have been training the Peshmerga forces and other anti-ISIL groups.

Some 150 Turkish soldiers and 20 tanks were deployed to the base to take over the mission from the 90 soldiers who have been in the region for two years.

With the increased number of Turkish soldiers deployed to the base, an increase is expected in the number of militia trained.

ISIL militants overran Mosul, a city of more than one million people, in June 2014, but a much anticipated counter-offensive by Iraqi forces has been repeatedly postponed because they are involved in fighting elsewhere.

A statement from the Iraqi prime minister’s media office confirmed that Turkish troops numbering “around one armed battalion with a number of tanks and cannons” had entered its territory near Mosul without request or permission from Baghdad authorities. It called on the forces to leave immediately.

In a separate statement flashed on state TV, the Iraqi foreign ministry called the Turkish activity “an incursion” and rejected any military operation that was not coordinated with the federal government, Reuters reported.

In Washington, two U.S. defense officials said that the United States was aware of Turkey’s deployment of hundreds of Turkish soldiers to northern Iraq but that the move is not part of the U.S.-led coalition’s activities.

Another senior Turkish official told Reuters the soldiers in the region were there to train the Peshmerga forces.

“This is part of the fight against Daesh [ISIL],” he said, adding that there were around 20 armored vehicles accompanying them as protection.

December/05/2015

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US unwilling to acknowledge Turkey-ISIS oil trade ‘smacks of direct patronage’

December 6, 2015

US unwilling to acknowledge Turkey-ISIS oil trade ‘smacks of direct patronage’

Russian top brass

Published time: 5 Dec, 2015 20:22 Edited time: 5 Dec, 2015 20:23

Source: US unwilling to acknowledge Turkey-ISIS oil trade ‘smacks of direct patronage’ – Russian top brass — RT News

© Stringer
© Stringer / Reuters
Russia’s Defense Ministry has slammed Washington’s reaction to the outing of the secret oil trade between Turkey and Islamic State terrorists, calling it a “theatre of the absurd” and saying it looks rather like “direct patronage.”

“Finally, our colleagues from the State Department and the Pentagon have confirmed that the photo-proof, which we presented at a briefing [on December 2], of the origin and destination of the stolen oil, coming from the areas controlled by the terrorists, is authentic,” Major General Igor Konashenkov, a Defense Ministry spokesman, told a media briefing on Saturday.

“However, the US claim that they ‘don’t see the border crossings with tanker trucks crossing the border,’ raises a smile, if only, because the photos are still images,” he added.

The spokesman advised the American side to have a look through the videos, which were also presented by the Russian Defense Ministry, showing “how the tanker trucks not only drive through checkpoints at the Turkish border, but pass through them without even stopping.”

f the Russian evidence is not enough, the US and its allies should look at the footage from their own state-of-the art drones, “the number of which has recently tripled above the Turkish-Syrian border and oil-rich areas controlled by the terrorists,” he said.

According to Konashenkov, it should be impossible for the Western coalition to miss the oil smuggling business running between Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Turkey, given their range of technical capabilities in Syria and Iraq.

READ MORE: US-led coalition not striking ISIS oil trucks despite evidence – Russia’s General Staff

“So when US officials claim that they do not see oil smuggled by terrorists to Turkey, this is already not dodging the issue, but smacks of a direct patronage,” he added.

Read more

December 3, 2015. Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly at the Kremlin's St. George Hall. © Ramil Sitdikov

‘Allah took their sanity’: Putin accuses Turkish leadership of ‘aiding terror’

The spokesman pointed out that the coalition’s drones and warplanes have been intensively using Incirlik Air Base in Turkey for their operations.

On Friday, an unnamed US State Department official confirmed to Reuters that the Russian photos of thousands of oil tanker trucks in Syria were authentic.

However, the official stressed that he hasn’t seen “the imagery of the border crossing with trucks crossing the border, and that’s because I don’t believe that exists.”

Konashenkov also commented on a recent statement by US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, who said at a Senate hearing that “over the past several weeks” the Pentagon has “intensified the air campaign against ISIL’s war-sustaining oil enterprise.”

With the US-led air campaign against Islamic State beginning in September 2014, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman wondered: “Does this mean that over the last one and a half years the Americans were only destroying non-war-sustaining infrastructure of the militants?”

“Now we know where the bandits got the money to buy weapons, recruit new supporters, and stage bloody acts of terror, and why the territory controlled by IS increased by hundreds of times during this period,” he said.

Read more

Col. Steve Warren © Khalid Mohammed

‘Great partners’: Pentagon rejects Russian evidence of Turkey aiding ISIS

Konashenkov called recent statements by the US State Department and Pentagon “‘a theater of absurd,’ based on double standards and the wordplay.”

“First, they see something – then they don’t. They divide the opposition into moderate and non-moderate. Even terrorists, in their view, can be bad or very bad,” he said.

“We are convinced that terrorism has no comparative degrees or nationalities. Terrorism – an absolute evil that must be fought in all its manifestations,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry released photo and video proof that the main smuggling route for oil produced by Islamic State terrorists runs through Turkey, accusing Turkish leadership, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of being involved in the criminal trade.

Russia’s claims were denied by both Ankara and Washington, with Colonel Steve Warren, a spokesman for the US-led coalition, calling Turkey “a great partner.”

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Russia Devouring the Eastern Mediterranean?

December 5, 2015

Russia Devouring the Eastern Mediterranean?

by Burak Bekdil

December 5, 2015 at 5:00 am

Source: Russia Devouring the Eastern Mediterranean?

  • Turkey shot down a Russian jet. No gain, but plenty of damage to its economy. Russia gave up one jet to Turkey and has made its military presence in Syria and the strategic eastern Mediterranean permanent.
  • Turkey can no longer speak to Russia about the possibility of ousting Assad.
  • Putin seems to be making sure that NATO will do nothing.

At this year’s G-20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, said that the radical jihadist Islamic State (IS) was being financed by donors from at least 40 countries, including some G-20 member states — clearly pointing his finger, without naming names, at Saudi Arabia and Turkey. A few days later, two Turkish F-16 jets shot down a Russian SU-24 warplane, and claimed that the Russian jet had violated Turkish airspace for 17 seconds on the country’s Syrian border — a violation Russia denies. This was the first time a Soviet or Russian military aircraft was shot down by a NATO air force since the end of WWII.

Turkey and Russia have long been in a proxy war in Syria: Russia, together with its quieter partner, China, supports the Shi’ite Iran-backed Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad; and Turkey explicitly supports Assad’s Sunni opponents [“moderate” jihadists] — apparently in the hope of building a Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas-type of regime in Damascus that would be friendly to its own Islamist government. After the downing of the Russian jet, the Turco-Russian proxy war has become less proxy.

No more Mr. Nice Guy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin twice refused to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the Paris Climate Summit this week. Pictured: President Putin with then Prime Minister Erdogan, meeting in Istanbul on December 3, 2012. (Image source:kremlin.ru)

An angry Putin called the incident “a stab in the back.” He declined Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s requests to discuss the issue. He twice refused to meet Erdogan on the sidelines of the Paris Climate Summit.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, quickly cancelled his official visit to Turkey — a visit that had been scheduled for the day after the downing of the Russian jet. At the outset, NATO member Turkey had taught Russia a good lesson. In reality, judging from the consequences, it all looks like a Russian gambit, with Turkey shooting itself in the foot and risking a new NATO-Russia conflict.

Russia’s ire seemingly is being expressed in economic terms:

  • Moscow said it will introduce visa restrictions for Turkish citizens, beginning Jan. 1, 2016.
  • Russian authorities detained a group of Turkish businessmen on charges of “false statements about their trip to the country.”
  • Press reports noted that Russia was considering limiting or excluding Turkish construction companies from the country, a potentially multi-billion dollar loss for the Turkish economy.
  • Moscow warned its citizens against visiting Turkey — a ban that could deal a big blow to Turkey’s lucrative tourism industry. Last year 4.5 million Russians visited Turkey, mostly its Mediterranean coast. Russian tour operators were warned to suspend business with Turkey.
  • The fate of two huge Turco-Russian energy projects remains unknown, as Russia’s energy minister, Alexei Ulyukayev, did not rule out sanctions hitting the Turkish Stream gas pipeline and a planned Russian nuclear energy plant in Turkey. Turkey buys about 55% of its natural gas from Russia. Its second largest gas supplier is Iran, Russia’s ally — and Turkey’s rival — in Syria.
  • Russia’s Minister of Agriculture, Alexander Tkachev, said that Russia would be replacing Turkish food imports with goods from Iran, Israel and Morocco.
  • Shipments of wheat to Turkey from key Russian ports were put on hold.
  • The Kremlin officially announced a wide range of sanctions on Turkey, including a ban on Turkish workers (with estimates that 90,000 will be fired by Jan. 1, 2016), restrictions on imported goods and services from Turkey and calls for “strengthening of port control and monitoring to ensure transport safety.”
  • Around 1,250 trucks carrying Turkish exports were blocked from entering Russia on Nov. 30 and were stranded at border posts, awaiting clearance.
  • Russian soccer clubs will be banned from signing Turkish players during the upcoming winter break.

All of that is commercially punitive. There is a more serious side of the Turco-Russian conflict that concerns NATO and western interests in the Middle East.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on Nov. 25 that Russia would deploy S-400 surface-to-air missile systems in its Hmeymim air base in Syria.

Turkey shot down a Russian jet. No gain, but plenty of damage to its economy. Russia gave up one jet and has made its military presence in Syria and the strategic eastern Mediterranean permanent. It has reinforced its bases in Syria and intends to build a new military base there. Turkey can no longer speak to Russia about the possibility of ousting Assad.

In a further move to escalate tensions, the Russian General Staff deployed one of its largest air defense ships at the edge of Turkish territorial waters in the Mediterranean. Russian military spokesman General Sergei Rudskoi said that Russian bomber aircraft would be “supported by chasers, and any kinds of threats will be responded to instantly.” Accordingly, The Moscow, one of the Russian Navy’s two largest warships and the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, will be deployed where Turkey-Syria territorial waters connect.

In addition, Putin issued orders to deploy nearly 7,000 troops, plus anti-aircraft missiles, rocket launchers, and artillery to the Turkish border, and asked them to be in readiness for full combat.

There have been other military repercussions, too. Since the shooting down of the Russian jet, the Russian military has been regularly pounding the Syrian villages near the Turkish border that populated by the Turkmen, a Turkish ethnicity that supports jihadists in Syria — and is supported by Ankara. The Russians also have been hitting Turkish aid convoys bound for Turkmen villages. More than 500 Turks and Turkmen have been killed in Russian airstrikes. Meanwhile, the U.S.-led allied air strikes against IS have come to a halt. Neither Washington nor Ankara is keen for another conflict with Russia. So, IS and Russia keep on flourishing.

The Russian military has scrapped all contacts with the Turkish military, possibly waiting for the first Turkish military aircraft that violates foreign airspace to shoot.

Turkey has every liberty to challenge Russia and, inevitably, become the victim. But with its geostrategic, Islamist ambitions, it is exposing NATO allies to the risk of a fresh conflict with Russia — and at a time when the wounds of previous conflicts remain unhealed.

Putin has accused Turkey’s leaders of encouraging the Islamization of the Turkish society, which he said was a “problem.” He was not wrong. In fact, Islamism and neo-Ottoman ambitions are the source of Turkey’s (not-so) proxy war with Russia in the Syrian theater. Although Turkey, officially, is a NATO member and part of the allied campaign against IS, its Sunni Islamist ambitions over Syria hinder the global fight against jihadists. A Turco-Russian conflict is weakening the fight.

Putin seems to be making sure that NATO will do nothing.

Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

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

December 5, 2015

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

Published time: 4 Dec, 2015 20:12 Edited time: 5 Dec, 2015 02:34

Source: ‘Incursion’: Baghdad demands Turkey withdraw ‘training’ troops from northern Iraq — RT News

Turkish soldiers © Sertac Kayar
Turkish soldiers © Sertac Kayar / Reuters
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.

READ MORE: Kurds & US Special Forces should be used to seal Turkish-Syrian border – Russian FM

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 Iraqi authorities call on Turkey to respect good neighbourly relations and to withdraw immediately from the Iraqi territory,” the statement said, stressing that the Turkish troops entered “without the request or authorization from the Iraqi federal authorities,” which is a “serious breach of Iraqi sovereignty.”

The foreign ministry called Turkey’s move “an incursion,” Reuters reported.

READ MORE: ‘Everyone knows what’s going on’: Istanbul residents on Turkey-ISIS oil trade

According to the agency’s source, the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition was aware of the Turkey’s move.

“Turkish soldiers have reached the Mosul Bashiqa region. They are there as part of routine training exercises. One battalion has crossed into the region,” the source told Reuters without revealing the exact number of troops.

He added that the Turkish forces are “training Iraqi troops.”

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.

READ MORE: Turkey skeptical about US proposal to close border ‘under ISIS control’

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.

© Google Maps
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.

READ MORE: Mosul blame game: Iraqi ex-PM Maliki accused in fall of key city to ISIS

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.

Russian President Vladimir Putin described Turkey’s move as “a stab in the back by accomplices of the terrorists,” while the Defense Ministry directly tied the illegal Syrian and Iraqi oil trade – a chief lifeline for IS terrorists – to the family of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

READ MORE: Russia says Turkey’s Erdogan & family involved in illegal ISIS oil trade

Erdogan has dismissed the accusations as “slander” and continued to defiantly present the downing of a non-hostile jet as a rightful move aimed at defending the Turkish border. The surviving Russian pilot has insisted the crew was in full control of the course of the flight and had never entered Turkey, while adding they had never received any visual or radio warning from the F-16. One Russian pilot, the commander of the jet, was killed by Turkmen rebel fire while parachuting from the plane, and one Russian Marine was killed during the search and recovery operation.

Meanwhile, as the US has stepped in for Turkey, supporting its refutation of Russia’s IS oil claims, other powers have come forward to back Moscow’s charges concerning Ankara’s trade with the terrorists. On Friday, Tehran said that it has collected photo and video evidence of IS oil entering Turkey by truck.

READ MORE: ‘Great partners’: Pentagon rejects Russian evidence of Turkey aiding ISIS

“If the government of Turkey is not informed of Daesh [derogatory term for IS] oil trade in the country, we are ready to put the information at its disposal,” Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Expediency Council Secretary, Mohsen Rezaie, as saying. The official added that they are also ready to present the proof to the public.

While officially Baghdad is now considering whether there is enough evidence of Turkey’s involvement in oil trade with IS to file a formal protest at the UN Security Council, an Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman, Naseer Nuri, told Sputnik on Wednesday that “general information about the smuggling of Iraqi oil by trucks to certain countries, including Turkey” is already available to them, and “this oil is used to fund Daesh.”

Other Iraqi officials have openly accused Turkey of knowingly trading with the terrorists.

There is “no shadow of a doubt” that Ankara knows about the oil smuggling operations, Iraqi MP and former national security adviser Mowaffak al Rubaie told RT.

“The merchants, the businessmen [are buying oil] in the black market in Turkey under the noses – under the auspices if you like – of the Turkish intelligence agency and the Turkish security apparatus… There are security officers who are sympathizing with ISIS in Turkey. They are allowing them to go from Istanbul to the borders and infiltrate … Syria and Iraq,” he said.

“Money and dollars generated by selling Iraqi and Syrian oil on the Turkish black market is like the oxygen supply to ISIS and it’s operation,” Rubaie added. “Once you cut the oxygen then ISIS will suffocate.”

READ MORE: ‘Oxygen for jihadists’: ISIS-smuggled oil flows through Turkey to intl markets – Iraqi MP

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General Wesley Clark: ISIS Serves Interests Of US Allies Turkey And Saudi Arabia

December 4, 2015

General Wesley Clark: ISIS Serves Interests Of US Allies Turkey And Saudi Arabia Tyler Durden’s picture Submitted

by Tyler Durden on 12/03/2015 23:15 -0500

Source: General Wesley Clark: ISIS Serves Interests Of US Allies Turkey And Saudi Arabia | Zero Hedge

Submitted by Claire Bernish via TheAntiMedia.org,

“Let’s be very clear: ISIS is not just a terrorist organization; it is a Sunni terrorist organization. That means it blocks and targets Shi’a. And that means it’s serving the interests of Turkey and Saudi Arabia – even as it poses a threat to them.” – Retired Gen. Wesley Clark

Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General and retired U.S. General Wesley Clark revealed in an interview with CNN that the Islamic State (Daesh, ISIS) remains geostrategically imperative to Sunni nations, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, as they clamor for strategic power over Shi’a nations, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. He explained that “neither Turkey nor Saudi Arabia want an Iran-Iraq-Syria-Lebanon ‘bridge’ that isolates Turkey, and cuts Saudi Arabia off.”

When asked by the CNN host if Russian President Vladimir Putin’s suggestion that Turkey was “aiding ISIS” had any validity, he responded:

 “All along there’s always been the idea that Turkey was supporting ISIS in some way. We know they’ve funneled people going through Turkey to ISIS. Someone’s buying that oil that ISIS is selling; it’s going through somewhere – it looks to me like it’s probably going through Turkey – but the Turks haven’t acknowledged that.”

After explaining this virtual gateway for the Islamic State’s oil, Clark was quick to emphasize that Putin’s allegations about Turkey’s support for terrorist organization, ISIS, aren’t without their own hypocrisy. Russia, of course, has been upholding President Bashar al-Assad’s administration in Syria against rebel groups backed by the U.S. — despite continuing denials by U.S. officials that that particular theater is its primary interest in the region.

He said, “Putin would like to dirty Turkey by saying it’s supporting terrorists, but the truth is that he’s supporting terrorists. I mean, the tactics used by the Assad regime have been terror tactics. They’re dropping barrel bombs on innocent civilians.”

Clark concludes the interview with a statement that encapsulates growing sentiment of many Westerners who’ve grown war-weary with such geopolitical wrangling overseas:

 “There’s no good guy in this – this is a power struggle for the future of the Middle East.”

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Kurds & US Special Forces should be used to seal Turkish-Syrian border

December 3, 2015

Kurds & US Special Forces should be used to seal Turkish-Syrian border -Russian FM

Published time: 3 Dec, 2015 01:36

Source: Kurds & US Special Forces should be used to seal Turkish-Syrian border – Russian FM — RT News

This is a master set on the chess board .

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov © Sergei Karpukhin
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov © Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters
With Kurdish militia and US Special Forces on the ground, there is a realistic way to shut off the illegal flow of oil from Syria into Turkey, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at talks with his Serbian counterpart, Ivica Dacic.
Trends Islamic State, Su-24 downing, Syria-Turkey

Sealing the border between Turkey and Syria is more important at the moment than finding out who is buying the oil produced by Islamic State (IS, ISIS/ISIL), Lavrov said while speaking with Dacic in Belgrade on Wednesday. The talks come on the eve of a two-day conference of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), currently chaired by Serbia.

“Rather than launching a lengthy procedure of investigation, one must take an absolutely obvious step, i.e. close the Turkish-Syrian border,” Lavrov said, stressing that “Turkey’s efforts will not be enough and it will need help,” RIA Novosti reports.

“As for specific ways of sealing the border between Turkey and Syria, as well as between Turkey and Iraq, one must proceed from the real situation on the ground. Kurdish militia forces, which are allies of the US-led coalition, could be used both on the Syrian and Iraqi side of the border,” he added, as quoted by TASS.

Lavrov did not rule out involvement of US Special Forces stationed in Iraq in the border closure process either, but stressed that the process must be coordinated with Damascus. “Washington claims they could be also used in Syria. I am convinced that it could be done only with consent of the Syrian government,” Lavrov stressed.

At the same time, the minister announced that the facts concerning Turkey’s oil trade with Islamic State would be officially presented at the UN to all parties concerned.

“We have repeatedly publicly stated that oil from the IS-controlled territories is transported abroad, particularly to Turkey. The facts that substantiate these claims will be formally presented in the UN in particular, and to all parties concerned,” he said.

Referring to the November 24 downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber by a Turkish jet over Syria, Lavrov refuted Turkey’s claim that Russia had earlier refused to create “a hot line” between the militaries of the two countries, saying that such a line had been established, but that Ankara had never used it.

“Turkey’s media claim that he [Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu] proposed creating a “hot line” between the Defense ministries, but we [Russia] refused. This is a lie, as such a line was established at the earliest stage of the Russian Air Space Forces operation [in Syria] at Russia’s initiative,” he said.

“Turkey has never used it. It did not use it even in the incident on November 24,” Lavrov added, referring to the downing of Russia’s bomber.

The Russian foreign minister also stressed that, if by shooting down the Russian warplane Turkey had been trying to hinder talks on Syria in Vienna, or thwart Russia’s operation in Syria, it had failed.

“If Turkey’s downing of Russia’s plane on November 24 was aimed at sabotaging the political process within the Vienna group, then I can assure you that Turkey will not succeed in this matter,” Lavrov said after the talks with Dacic, who is also the current OSCE Chair.

However, Lavrov also said during the negotiations that he was ready to meet with his Turkish counterpart on the sidelines of the OSCE conference in order to try to lower recent tensions between the two countries.

“As far as the meeting with Turkish Minister [Mevlut] Cavusoglu goes, we are ready to make such a meeting on the sidelines [of the OSCE conference],” Lavrov told reporters as he arrived in Belgrade on Wednesday.

At the same time Lavrov warned that “it will be sad if we hear nothing new.”

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