MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : TRUMP THOUGH CONTRA ERDOGAN – FBI says Ankara’s Iran sanction-busting woes not over
Amberin Zaman August 29, 2018 – AL MONITOR – Article Summary – When a US federal agent spoke publicly about the investigation into a Turkish-Iranian sanctions-busting scheme and verified rumors that Turkey had tried to get the defendants freed, she confirmed Ankara’s fear that more fallout from the scandal is still to come. An FBI agent investigating a massive Turkish-Iranian sanctions-busting scheme confirmed that the Turkish government had pressured Washington for the release of key defendants in the illicit trade and that legal proceedings against co-conspirators were far from over. The remarks, the first of their kind by an American official at a public event, spell further trouble for Turkey’s creaky finances and fraught ties with the United States.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : Will Turkey’s ‘strategic partnership’ with Russia cover Idlib?
Semih Idiz August 29, 2018 – AL MONITOR – Article Summary – Ankara is looking to Moscow to prevent an attack on Idlib by the Russian-supported Syrian army.
Syria’s Idlib region is rapidly turning into what could be the final and bloodiest flashpoint in the Syrian conflict. Millions of predominantly Sunni civilians, and tens of thousands of Syrian opposition forces and jihadis, have sought refuge in the region, which has taken on the appearance of being a de facto Turkish protectorate, although not a very secure and stable one.Meanwhile, President Bashar al-Assad appears determined to recapture the region and is reportedly continuing with military preparations to launch his attack.Turkey has 12 military outposts in Idlib governorate under an agreement with Russia and Iran arrived at last year on setting up “de-escalation zones” in the region. Turkish forces are holding positions between Syrian opposition forces and the Syrian army.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : US offer of F-35s falls flat as Turkey clings to Russian missiles
Jasper Mortimer August 28, 2018 – ALMONITOR – Article Summary – A delegation of US Congress members has failed to convince Ankara to give up on acquiring its Russian missile defense system in return for fulfillment of its order of American fighter jets.
ANKARA — Turkey flatly rejected a proposal today by visiting US Congress members that it abandon its purchase of Russian S-400 air defense missiles in order to receive the F-35 fighter planes that it had ordered from the United States.
Speaking on a visit to Lithuania, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the purchase of the Russian missiles would go through: “We have to protect our airspace. This is a must for us.”
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : GENERALBERICHT MENSCHENRECHTSVERLETZUNGEN IN DER TÜRKEI / DEMOKRATISCHES TÜRKEIFORUM (DTF)
Meldungen des DTF im Juli 2018
Die folgenden Nachrichten wurden im Juli 2018 vom DTF erfasst und oft gekürzt oder zusammenfassend übersetzt.
Türkei: Normalisierung des Ausnahmezustandes
Human Rights Watch, 20.07.2018
Ein durch das türkische Parlamentgejagter Gesetzesentwurf wird viele der missbräuchlichen Machtbefugnisse, die dem Präsidenten und der Exekutive unter dem gegenwärtigen Ausnahmezustand –der formal am 18. Juli 2018 endet -gewährt waren, aufrecht erhalten…
Der Gesetzesentwurf wird den Behörden unter der Präsidentschaft in den nächsten 3 Jahren erlauben, Richter und andere Staatsbedienstete willkürlich zu entlassen. Es wird den Behörden auch erlauben, Bewegung inner-halb der Türkei einzuschränken, öffentliche Versammlungen zu verbieten und der Polizei erlauben, Verdächtige bis zu 12 Tagen ohne Anklage festzuhalten und sie wiederholt im Rahmen der selben Ermittlungen festzuneh-men. Der Entwurf sieht keine angemessene Übersicht der Gerichte über die Anwendung dieser Machtbefugnis-se oder eine bedeutende Wiedergutmachung von Opfern vor, wenn diese Machtbefugnis ihre Rechte verletzt…
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS TODAYS REVIEW : Turkey Made a Bet Against Assad—And Lost / The Kurds Are Right Back Where They Started – By Joost Hiltermann – Human Rights Watch Director
Back in 2011, Erdoğan supported the rebels against the Syrian regime in hopes of gaining influence across the Middle East. Things haven’t gone according to plan.
Before the war in Syria broke out in 2011, a budding personal friendship between Bashar al-Assad, the leader of Syria, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the president of Turkey, augured close economic ties and an open border. That would be only the beginning: Turkey saw Syria as the launching pad for its plans to become the dominant economic force in the Arab world, a region it had largely retreated from after losing its vast Arab provinces with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.But the Syrian uprising forced Turkey to reconsider. Erdoğan severed his ties with Assad and cast his lot with the popular, predominantly Sunni opposition, making the bet that they would overthrow the minority Alawite-based regime. Meanwhile, Turkey gradually found itself on the outs with Washington, a close strategic partner for decades. Following the recent hostile rhetoric from the Trump administration and the imposition of sanctions on Turkey for detaining an American pastor, tensions have grown.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : Kurdische Ex-Abgeordnete flieht nach Griechenland
25 August 2018 – Eine ehemalige kurdische Parlamentsabgeordnete ist aus der Türkei geflohen und hat Asyl in Griechenland beantragt. Leyla Birlik, die von der türkischen Justiz wegen «Präsidentenbeleidigung» verurteilt wurde, habe sich am Mittwoch der Polizei in der Grenzstadt Alexandroupoli gestellt, hiess es am Freitag aus Polizeikreisen.
Zuvor hatte die 44-jährige demnach illegal die türkisch-griechische Landgrenze überquert. Birlik stellte den Angaben zufolge einen Antrag auf Asyl wegen politischer Verfolgung in ihrem Heimatland.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : ANKARA’S “NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT!”
Turkey amasses force of Syrian rebel factions at Idlib
Fehim Tastekin August 21, 2018 – AL MONITOR – Article Summary – It’s not clear what plans Ankara has for the National Liberation Front, a collection of Syrian opposition groups Turkey has established at Idlib. Bargaining between Russia and Turkey on a potential military operation at Idlib, Syria keeps getting bogged down in endless debate over distinguishing “moderates” from “terrorists.”Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu hosted his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Ankara Aug. 13-14. He responded to the Russian persistence for an operation with “We have to identify the terrorists and eliminate them. It will be a catastrophe to bomb schools and hospitals because there may be terrorists there. We must distinguish between the moderate opposition and terrorists.”
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : WO NAHLES ECHTEN EINSATZ ZEIGT …..
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Nahles verteidigt ihren Türkei-Vorstoß
Die SPD-Vorsitzende warnt vor den Folgen einer Destabilisierung der Türkei – diese könnte auf die ganze Region übergreifen. Wirtschaftsverbände …
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MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : Ankara to continue targeted killings of PKK leaders abroad
Metin Gurcan August 22, 2018 – AL MONITOR – Article Summary – Turkey is encouraged by the success of its surgical airstrike in Iraq that killed outlawed Kurdish leader Ismail Ozden. – When Turkey recently conducted an operation to kill a senior leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), an outlawed militant group, it entered Iraq to do so and revealed its growing military capabilities. Before this operation, no other country in the region except Israel had the means to carry out targeted killings beyond its own borders.
The operation indicates that Turkey is testing sensitive guided munitions developed locally, that this capability is used effectively and that it’s likely to be expanded.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : GAZA PEACE & THE AMERICAN PASTOR / DEBKA FILES ISRAEL
How Gaza truce parley got tangled in Trump-Erdogan spat
21 Aug 2018 – DEBKA FILES – Exclusive: By defaulting on his bargain with President Donald Trump over the release of an American pastor, Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan steps into the stalled haggling over a Gaza truce
After US President Donald Trump persuaded Israel to release a Turkish woman held as a Hamas confederate, Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan denied he had agreed to free the American pastor detained in Turkey in return. Trump responded on Monday, Aug. 21: “I got that person out for him” – Israel released and deported Ebru Ozkan on July 15 – “I think it’s very sad what Turkey is doing. “I think they’re making a terrible mistake. There will be no concessions. It can’t be a one-way street.”
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