MESOPOTAMIA NEWS FOCUS : Turkish, US officials talk safe zone in Syria
ANKARA – HURRIYET – 1 May 2019 – Officials from Turkey and the United States are in talks in the capital Ankara on the issues of a planned safe zone, a Manbij road map, an Idlib memorandum, a political solution and the rebuilding of Syria.
A U.S. delegation headed by James Jeffrey, the U.S. special envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIL, separately met with presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalın and foreign ministry officials on May 1.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS TODAYS COMMENTARY : US sends Syria envoy to Ankara ahead of Geneva talks
Amberin Zaman April 30, 2019 – AL MONITOR – Article Summary – US Syria envoy Jim Jeffrey is expected to meet with Turkish officials to discuss the US-backed Kurdish militants along its border as part of his continuing efforts to arrange a safe zone in the area.
Turkey & the EU: A Doomed Engagement
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS TODAYS COMMENTARY BY BURAK BEKDIL
By Burak Bekdil April 28, 2019 – BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,155, April 28, 2019 – ISRAEL
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The March 31 elections, which blended victory with defeat for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, put a further brake on Turkey’s stalled membership talks with the EU. The Islamist strongman appears to be the willing political hostage of Turkey’s Grey Wolves.
Two decades ago, the big question in Brussels and Ankara was, “Will Turkey one day become a full member of the EU?” A decade ago, it was, “How soon can Turkey become a full member?” Today, the question is simpler: “Will it be Turkey or the EU that puts an official end to this opera buffa?”
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : CRAZY BUT TRUE !
Salvini: Russland statt der Türkei in die EU
Telepolis 28 April 2019 – Der italienische Innenminister greift eine alte Idee Charles de Gaulles auf. Der italienische Innenminister und Lega-Chef Matteo Salvini sagte dem …
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : Türkischer Außenminister trifft irakische Regierung wegen PKK
Der türkische Außenminister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu hat einen zweitägigen Irakbesuch angetreten. Ganz oben auf der Tagesordnung steht das Vorgehen gegen die Arbeiterpartei Kurdistans (PKK).
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : Turkey seeks alternate oil sources as US ends Iran sanctions waivers
READ IN: Türkçe Fehim Tastekin April 26, 2019 – AL MONITOR – ARTICLE SUMMARY
Ankara vowed to defy US sanctions on Iran, but figures show Turkey heeding US restrictions
and curtailing oil imports from Iran. Despite striking a defiant tone on Washington’s decision to end sanctions waivers for Iranian oil imports, Turkey seems to be complying with the sanctions regime, as Iranian imports recently shrank to zero. The situation, however, is bringing a new problem to light: finding alternative sellers of oil. Iranian sanctions have been added to a long list of problems plaguing US-Turkey ties, which are already strained over American support for the Syrian Kurds and Turkey’s commitment to buy the Russian S-400 air defense system. The sanctions waivers the Donald Trump administration granted to eight countries, including Turkey, to import oil from Iran have come to an end. Ankara’s efforts to negotiate an extension for the waivers failed. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that Iranian exports will be reduced to zero and there will be no more waivers.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS RELEVANT : Turkey continues to freeze Kurds out of Syria peace talks
Amberin Zaman April 24, 2019 – AL MONITOR – Article Summary – Syria peace talks continue in the Kazakh capital, with regional heavyweights battling it out over who will have a spot at the negotiating table.Senior officials from Turkey, Iran and Russia are expected to gather in the Kazakh capital of Nur Sultan tomorrow for the latest round of Syria peace talks sponsored by the regional heavyweights.
UN special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen is expected to take part in the talks in the Kazakh capital, formerly known as Astana, after meeting in Geneva with the United States’ Syria envoy James Jeffrey. The veteran US diplomat is seeking to revive UN-sponsored peace talks to end the eight-year conflict. Critics view the effort as a bid to place a US imprimatur on Syria’s post-war future. They argue it’s doomed because of the Donald Trump administration’s current policy of strangling the regime through sanctions, while demanding a full withdrawal of Iranian forces as a prerequisite for easing these. The Geneva talks need consensus between all the main stakeholders in Syria, who — with the exception of the United States — have been building just that through the Astana track, which was launched in 2017.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS TODAYS COMMENTARY : Crafting a Regional Policy to Contain Erdoğan – By Dmitri Shufutinsky
April 23, 2019 – BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,149, April 23, 2019 – Israel
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Turkey poses a long-term threat to the security of the Middle East. Containing Neo-Ottomanism requires a defensive policy that integrates Greece, Cyprus, Israel, and the Kurds into a regional alliance.
A new era has dawned in the northern Levant. The Republic of Turkey has left behind its Kemalist, secular foundations in pursuit of Islamist, authoritarian governance. The Justice & Development Party (AKP), headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has alienated the US, Israel, and the EU and abandoned the country’s pro-Western and NATO credentials.
Mesopotamia News questions . Can US convince Turkey to undo ‘done deal’ with Russia?
Metin Gurcan April 23, 2019 – AL MONITOR – Article Summary – 23 April 2019 – Although there are some signs of warming between the United States and Turkey over the situation in northeast Syria, many in Ankara feel it is too little, too late.
The United States is getting ready to ask Syrian Kurds to allow Turkish forces to deploy on the Kurdish side of the Syrian border. It’s a move designed to appease Turkey, which has national security concerns regarding the autonomous Kurdish region in northeastern Syria — but the move may not go far enough to please Ankara.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : MACRONS TREFFEN MIT DER MILITÄRISCHEN SDF-FRAKTION UNTER FÜHRUNG DER PKK/PYD (SYRIEN)
Türkei verärgert über Macrons Treffen mit SDF – © REUTERS / Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool – sputnik 21 April 2019
Der Sprecher des türkischen Außenministeriums, Hami Aksoy, hat den französischen Präsidenten Emmanuel Macron wegen des Treffens mit einer Delegation der syrisch-kurdischen Miliz „Demokratische Kräfte Syriens“ (SDF) scharf kritisiert.Das Treffen hatte am Freitag stattgefunden. Nach Angaben der französischen Seite wurde dabei die Bekämpfung der Terroristen des „Islamischen Staates“* besprochen.
Russische S-400 sind keine Bedrohung für F-35 – Türkischer Außenminister
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