NATO warns Turkey it can't count on support in a conflict with Russia as tensions escalate
European diplomats warned that Ankara cannot invoke Article 5
Germany says that NATO cannot 'pay the price for a war started by Turks'
Turkey has called for international ground operation in Syria
Russia called Security Council meeting to halt Turkey's shelling of Kurds
By GIANLUCA MEZZOFIORE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 13:06 GMT, 20 February 2016 | UPDATED: 14:45 GMT, 20 February 2016
Daily Mail
"Ό,τι η ψυχή επιθυμεί, αυτό και πιστεύει." Δημοσθένης (Whatever the soul wishes, thats what it believes, Demosthenes)
Showing posts with label Syria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Syria. Show all posts
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Friday, February 19, 2016
Turkey Blames Kurdish Militia for Ankara Attack, Challenging U.S.
By TIM ARANGO and CEYLAN YEGINSUFEB. 18, 2016
The New York Time
BAGHDAD — In blaming a Syrian Kurdish militia supported by the United States for a deadly car bombing in Ankara, Turkey added new urgency on Thursday to a question its president recently posed to the Obama administration: Are you on the side of a NATO ally — Turkey — or its enemies?
The militia, which adamantly denies any role in the bombing, is the administration’s most important ground force inside Syria in the fight against the militants of the Islamic State. But it is also fast becoming an enemy of Turkey, which views the militia as a national security threat because of its links to another Kurdish militant group that is battling for autonomy within Turkey.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Kurds Warn Turkey of ‘Big War’ With Russia If Troops Enter Syria
Henry Meyer
Stepan Kravchenko
Bloomberg
February 18, 2016 — 2:51 PM EET Updated on February 18, 2016 — 5:18 PM EET
Russia has promised to protect Kurdish fighters in Syria in case of a ground offensive by Turkey, a move that would lead to a “big war,” the Syrian group’s envoy to Moscow said in an interview on Wednesday.
“We take this threat very seriously because the ruling party in Turkey is a party of war,” Rodi Osman, head of the Syrian Kurds’ newly-opened representative office said in Kurdish via a Russian interpreter. “Russia will respond if there is an invasion. This isn’t only about the Kurds, they will defend the territorial sovereignty of Syria.”
Stepan Kravchenko
Bloomberg
February 18, 2016 — 2:51 PM EET Updated on February 18, 2016 — 5:18 PM EET
Russia has promised to protect Kurdish fighters in Syria in case of a ground offensive by Turkey, a move that would lead to a “big war,” the Syrian group’s envoy to Moscow said in an interview on Wednesday.
“We take this threat very seriously because the ruling party in Turkey is a party of war,” Rodi Osman, head of the Syrian Kurds’ newly-opened representative office said in Kurdish via a Russian interpreter. “Russia will respond if there is an invasion. This isn’t only about the Kurds, they will defend the territorial sovereignty of Syria.”
Hundreds of armed rebels cross from Turkey into Syria, says monitor
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports 500 insurgents
and Islamist fighters headed for town of Azaz where anti-Assad forces have lost
ground
The Guardian
At least 500 rebels on Wednesday crossed the Turkish border,
a monitor said, and headed for the Syrian town of Azaz in northern Aleppo
province where opposition forces have suffered setbacks at the hands of Kurdish
fighters.
“At least 500 rebels have crossed the Bab al-Salam border
crossing on their way to the town of Azaz, from which they want to help the
insurgents in the face of gains made by Kurdish forces in the north of the
province,” the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel,
told Agence France-Presse.
Monday, December 7, 2015
Turkey says has duty to protect soldiers in Iraq after Baghdad ultimatum
Mon Dec 7,
2015 7:56am EST Related: WORLD, TURKEY ,
IRAQ
ISTANBUL/ERBIL
| BY DAREN BUTLER
AND ISABEL COLES
Friday, December 4, 2015
Greece Agrees to More EU Help With Migrants
EU members
were pressuring Greece
to better monitor the bloc’s external border
The Wall
Street Journal
By
VALENTINA POP
Updated
Dec. 3, 2015 5:03 p.m. ET
1 COMMENTS
Under
pressure from EU governments, including a veiled suggestion that it could be
suspended from the Schengen passport-free zone, Greece agreed to three steps to
better handle incoming migrants, including assistance from the EU Border
Agency, the European Commission said.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Russia and Turkey Hurl Insults as Feud Deepens
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
DEC. 3, 2015
DEC. 3, 2015
The New
York Times
The Kremlin
also said that the long-delayed transfer of the S-300 air defense system to Iran had started, a move that strengthens one of
Turkey ’s regional rivals
while raising concerns in Israel .
Friday, November 27, 2015
Memo to Putin: Syria Is Turkey's Ukraine
49 NOV 27,
2015 2:00 AM EST
By Marc
Champion
Bloomberg
Russian
leaders have evidently been shocked by Turkey 's
deliberate decision to shoot down one of their planes, which they say was
motivated by Turkey 's
alleged support for Islamic State and greed for the proceeds of smuggled
terrorist oil. A simpler explanation is that Russia would have done the same.
Here is the
hypothetical: What would President Vladimir Putin do if civil war broke out in
a neighboring country, which had been part of the Russian empire for centuries
before breaking away under circumstances, and with borders, that Russians still
found difficult to accept? What would he do if, in that war, some of the rebels
were ethnic Russians at risk of being brutally crushed by the armed forces of
the neighboring state?
Actually,
that's not so hypothetical; it pretty much describes eastern Ukraine . And we
know what Russia
did -- it became heavily involved in a poorly concealed invasion.
Russia Plans Sanctions After Turkey Downs Warplane
Nataliya
Vasilyeva, James Ellingworth / Associated Press
Updated: Nov. 26, 2015 12:36 PM
ΤΙΜΕ
It's
further retaliation against Turkey
after its airforce shot down a Russian jet
(MOSCOW ) — Russia plans to retaliate against Turkey for the
downing of a warplane by imposing sanctions, cutting economic ties and
scrapping major investment projects.
Since the
plane was shot down Tuesday on the Syria-Turkey border, Russia has
already restricted tourism, left Turkish trucks stranded at the border and
confiscated large quantities of Turkish food imports.
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Range of Frustrations Reached Boil as Turkey Shot Down Russian Jet
By KEITH BRADSHERNOV. 25, 2015
The New
York Times
ANKARA,
Turkey — Turkey and Russia promised on Wednesday not to go to war over the
downing of a Russian military jet, leaving Turkey’s still-nervous NATO allies
and just about everyone else wondering why the country decided to risk such a
serious confrontation.
The reply
from the Turkish government so far has been consistent: Don’t say we didn’t
warn you.
Though
minor airspace violations are fairly common and usually tolerated, Turkey had repeatedly called in Russia ’s ambassador to complain about aircraft
intrusions and about bombing raids in Syria near the border. President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday evening — and a Pentagon spokesman later
confirmed — that before a Turkish F-16 shot down the Russian Su-24 jet, Turkish
forces had warned the Russian plane 10 times in five minutes to steer away.
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
How the Migrant Crisis Could Accelerate a Grexit
Geopolitical Diary NOVEMBER 24, 2015 | 01:54 GMT
STRATFOR
Stratfor
laid out on Nov. 11 the potential dangers of Slovenia closing its borders to
migrants, establishing a barrier across the heavily transited Balkan migration
corridor. Two days later, a terrorist attack in Paris led to a hardening of attitudes across
the Continent. In response, the Slovenian government announced Nov. 19 that it
would no longer allow economic migrants — those who are not from war zones such
as Syria and Afghanistan —
to enter its territory. The announcement caused a chain reaction back along the
migration route as Croatia , Serbia and Macedonia , anticipating a backlog
forming in their territories, swiftly closed their own borders. This has left
many migrants stranded along the route, powerless to move forward and now
unable to backtrack.
Turkey downs Russian warplane near Syria border, Putin warns of 'serious consequences'
Wed Nov 25,
2015 3:03am EST
Related: WORLD , RUSSIA , TURKEY , AEROSPACE & DEFENSE
Reuters
ANKARA/MOSCOW
| BY TULAY KARADENIZ AND MARIA KISELYOVA
Russian
President Vladimir Putin said the plane had been attacked when it was 1 km
(0.62 mile) inside Syria
and warned of "serious consequences" for what he termed a stab in the
back administered by "the accomplices of terrorists".
Will this Russia-Turkey business get out of control?
The Washington Post
By Daniel
W. Drezner November 24 at 9:20 AM
Daniel W.
Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law
and Diplomacy at Tufts
University and a regular
contributor to PostEverything
When former
senator and actor Fred Thompson passed away earlier this month, it was
impossible to forget the best line he ever delivered on a film.
This line
seems particularly trenchant now, as something I worried about last month
pretty much just happened:
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Putin Says Turkish 'Stab in Back' Caused Russian Warplane Crash
By Andrey Biryukov
November
24, 2015 — 3:01 PM EET Updated on November 24, 2015 — 3:54 PM EET
Bloomberg
President
Vladimir Putin accused Turkey
of being an accomplice of terrorism for shooting down a Russian warplane in Syria and
warned of “very serious consequences” for their relations.
“We
understand that everyone has their own interests but we won’t allow such crimes
to take place,” Putin said at talks Tuesday with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Sochi . “We received a
stab in the back from accomplices of terrorism.”
Putin Has Misjudged Turkey's Erdogan
105 NOV 24,
2015 8:09 AM EST
By Marc Champion
Bloomberg
The details
of how and why a Russian jet was shot down near the Turkish-Syrian border
remain unclear, but one thing can already be said: Russian President Vladimir
Putin has misjudged his Turkish counterpart and former friend, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan.
According
to Turkey 's
military, one of its F-16s fired on a jet over Turkish territory, after the
plane's pilots ignored 10 warnings to leave. So the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization's second-largest military is claiming to have shot down an
aircraft in anger that was probably Russian, and is now "consulting"
with its NATO allies.
Friday, November 13, 2015
Kurds enter Sinjar 'from all directions' - Kurdistan security council
Fri Nov 13,
2015 7:52am GMT Related: WORLD
NEAR SINJAR TOWN
Reuters
Kurdish
peshmerga forces entered Sinjar "from all directions" on Friday to
begin clearing the northern Iraqi town of Islamic State militants, the
Kurdistan regional security council said in a tweet.
U.S. targets 'Jihadi John' in Syria air strike
Fri Nov 13,
2015 5:57am GMT Related: WORLD , UK , SYRIA , MIDDLE EAST
Reuters
The United States on Thursday carried out an air
strike in Syria
targeting the Islamic State militant known as "Jihadi John," who
participated in gruesome videos showing the killings of American and British
hostages, officials said.
One U.S. official,
speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strike likely killed Mohammed
Emwazi, a British citizen, but cautioned that it was too soon to make any
determination.
Monday, October 6, 2014
ISIS enters Kobani, city's defenders see 'last chance to leave,' sources say
By Ralph Ellis, CNN
October 5, 2014 -- Updated 2250 GMT (0650 HKT)
(CNN) --
ISIS moved closer to seizing Kobani on Sunday as militants entered the
southeastern edge of the Syrian city and street-to-street fighting began, a
fighter and a media activist inside the city told CNN.
The city's
defenders were looking for ways to escape the Kurdish stronghold strategically
located near the Turkish border, the fighter said.
"It's
the last chance to leave," the fighter said. The fighter and media
activist requested their names be withheld for security reasons.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Pentagon warns that Isis has global aspirations as US continues Iraq strikes
The
Guardian
Spencer
Ackerman in New York
The Pentagon
warned on Tuesday that Islamic State (Isis) militants have global aspirations,
ratcheting up already dire US
rhetoric against the jihadist army that has overrun much of Iraq and Syria .
U.S. Mobilizes Allies to Widen Assault on ISIS
By HELENE
COOPER and MARK LANDLERAUG. 26, 2014
The New York Times
WASHINGTON
— The United States has begun to mobilize a broad coalition of allies behind
potential American military action in Syria and is moving toward expanded
airstrikes in northern Iraq, administration officials said on Tuesday.
President
Obama, the officials said, was broadening his campaign against the Sunni
militants of the Islamic State in Iraq
and Syria and nearing a
decision to authorize airstrikes and airdrops of food and water around the
northern Iraqi town of Amerli , home to members
of Iraq ’s
Turkmen minority. The town of 12,000 has been under siege for more than two
months by the militants.
“Rooting
out a cancer like ISIL won’t be easy, and it won’t be quick,” Mr. Obama said in
a speech on Tuesday to the American Legion in Charlotte ,
N.C. , using an alternative name for ISIS . He said that the United States was building a
coalition to “take the fight to these barbaric terrorists,” and that the
militants would be “no match” for a united international community.
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