MESOPOTAMIA NEWS TODAYS FOCUS : ERDOGAN IN WASHINGTON – SETTING THE AGENDA FOR A PIVOTAL VISIT
by Soner Cagaptay, Anna Borshchevskaya, Conor Hiney, Dana Stroul, and Charles Thepaut
PolicyWatch 3212 – November 7, 2019 – The Trump administration needs to treat the meeting as a chance to frankly address congressional concerns and defuse a host of hot-button issues, from Syria policy to F-35 production.
When President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Trump sit down for their planned face-to-face in Washington on November 13, their conversations will take place against a backdrop of increased U.S.-Turkish tensions on foreign policy issues, along with concerns about a potential repeat of what happened last time he was in town. During Erdogan’s May 2017 visit, his security detail was involved in a violent brawl with protestors in Sheridan Circle, an incident that significantly damaged Turkey’s image in the United States. Given the current mood in Washington, he could face even larger protests this time around, risking a public diplomacy debacle. More important, Congress may soon issue sanctions targeting Ankara if he fails to mollify angry legislators. To minimize these risks, President Trump should use his strong rapport with Erdogan to iron out differences on the following issues.
US delegation to visit Turkey ahead of meeting between Trump and Erdogan
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : PREPARING FOR ERDOGAN IN WASHINGTON
Donald Trump confirmed the meeting with Turkish leader next Wednesday – Ambassador James Jeffrey will be leading the delegation. AFP 8 Nov 2019
A US delegation will head to Turkey on Saturday to meet high-ranking members of its government ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to the White House next week.
The US State Department said on Wednesday that the special envoy for the global coalition against ISIS, James Jeffrey, would travel to Turkey “for meetings with senior Turkish officials and members of the Syrian opposition”.The meetings are expected to take place on Saturday and Sunday in Ankara and Istanbul.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS EXCLUSIV : ABU AL BAGHDADI’S BROTHER IN TURKEY
6 Nov 2019 – THE NATIONAL – Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi’s brother travelled in and out of Istanbul as his courier for months
Exclusive: Iraqi intelligence officials say ISIS leader’s sibling Juma made regular trips to Europe’s largest city from northern Syria earlier this year on his behalf, Jack Moore reports from Iraq
A brother of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi travelled several times to Istanbul, Europe’s largest city, from northern Syria in the months before the terror chief’s death, acting as one of his most trusted messengers to deliver and retrieve information about the group’s operations in Syria, Iraq and Turkey, according to two Iraqi intelligence officials.
The hunt for the elusive architect of ISIS, a man once known as the “invisible sheikh”, concluded on October 26 in a dramatic, covert US special forces raid on his isolated villa in the north-western Syrian border village of Barisha, in Idlib province. He killed himself by detonating his explosive vest when backed into a tunnel with no escape, US President Donald Trump said.
Now, The National can reveal new details about the movements of one of the key members of Al Baghdadi’s inner circle and how he made several 2,300-kilometre round trips deep into the territory of a Nato member, the terror chief’s use of an old-fashioned militant method to evade detection while directing the group from the shadows and the joint efforts of Western and Middle Eastern security services to catch a trail that could lead them to one of the most wanted men in the world.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS “THE NATO ALLY” ! :TODAYS THOUGHT BY SETH J. FRANTZMAN / 6, Nov 2019
A thought !
A certain large country, a “NATO ally” allowed 50,000+ people to cross its border to join ISIS in 2014…ISIS expanded rapidly and committed genocide of Yazidis and laid siege to Kobane.
In response the besieged YPG was able to help save Yazidis and also partnered with the US to push ISIS back from Kobane. The US said “let’s create the SDF so this will not just be a Kurdish force.” So the YPG did that.
Then the YPG liberated areas from ISIS.
Then the country that had allowed all these ISIS members to go to Syria became angry at the SDF progress and invaded Syria to stop the progress…then it bombed Sinjar where YPG-linked elements were living with Yazidis they helped save…then it invaded Kurdish Afrin and then it invaded Tel Abyad.
If that “NATO ally” had not let ISIS grow in the first place by enabling so many to cross the border, or if it had helped stop the genocide of Yazidis or stop ISIS from taking Tel Abyad and other areas…there would have been no rise of the YPG and SDF…and no excuse for invasion in October 9, 2019…and airstrikes on Sinjar on Nov 4-5, harming Yazidis.
So what’s happening?
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS FOCUS : Where the Russia-Turkey deal leaves players on the ground
ANTON MARDASOV – November 5, 2019 – Article Summary – AL MONITOR – The initial glow of the Putin-Erdogan deal has faded, and the parties are now in for some on-the-ground challenges. On Oct. 29, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed his Turkish counterpart about the earlier-than-expected withdrawal of Kurdish armed groups from the 30 kilometer security zone along the Syrian-Turkish border. “Both Syrian border guards and Russian military police have entered the area,” Shoigu said. The next day, however, Shoigu conceded that implementation of the Russian-Turkish memorandum on Syria signed Oct. 22 by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi faced some challenges.
Shoigu did not specify what kind of difficulties the parties were experiencing, but just before Russian and Turkish troops met up at the Darbasiyah border crossing in Hasakah province, the zone had been assaulted by Turkish artillery, with Syrian TV reporting that six people had been injured due to the shelling. Russia’s Reconciliation Center for the Opposing Sides Parties in the Syria Arab Republic later refuted this narrative, asserting that an unidentified party had detonated an explosive and calling the incident a “provocation.” Moreover, despite a cease-fire, occasional clashes continued between the Turkey-supported Syrian National Army (SNA) and Syrian government forces and between the SNA and Kurdish fighters.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : Baghdadi’s death complicates Turkey’s plan in Idlib
Fehim Tastekin November 4, 2019 Article Summary – AL MONITOR – The US raid targeting the Islamic State’s leader undermined Turkey’s plans to let the status quo prevail in Idlib as the Syrian Constitutional Committee concludes its work. Although Turkey is trying to curb operations against Syrian opposition groups in Idlib, back-to-back American operations hunting down notable Islamic State (IS) members have complicated Ankara’s efforts to maintain the status quo.
The United States has ceded control of northeastern Syria to Turkey and Russia, but the operation that ended the life of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi put Turkey in a tough position. Baghdadi’s death — particularly the location of the raid — turned the tables in favor of the Kurds, who have long said that Turkey does not effectively fight IS militants in regions under its control.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : WHY TURKEY IS RAISING THE STAKES IN THE EAST MEDITERRANEAN
by Soner Cagaptay with Deniz Yuksel and Matthew Hernandez
PolicyWatch 3210 – November 4, 2019
Ankara is willing to take provocative and risky steps around Cyprus because it views the island’s gas resources and strategic location as crucial to countering rivals and securing interests in the neighborhood.
On October 5, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Greek foreign minister Nikos Dendias for the third time in less than three months. At a joint press conference following the meeting, Pompeo stated that Washington had warned Turkey against “illegal drilling” in the East Mediterranean and would make sure international laws are upheld on the matter.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS DOKUMENTE : Verbotsverfahren gegen DITIB Herne gefordert
Nachfolgend der uns zugesandte Antrag auf Einleitung eines Verbotsverfahrens gegen die DITIB Herne.
schriftlich an: Ministerium des Innern des Landes NRW – Friedrichstraße 62-80, 40217 Düsseldorf
und
Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz – Merianstraße 100, 50765 Köln
Antrag auf Einleitung eines Verbotsverfahrens gegen:
DITIB – Türkisch Islamische Gemeinde zu Herne e.V. Hauptstraße 336, 44649 Herne
Aufgrund des § 14 (Ausländervereine) und § 3 (Vereine) des Vereinsgesetzes i.V.m. Artikel 9 (2) des Grundgesetztes. Alle drei Vorschriften sind weiter unten im Antrag unter Punkt 4) aufgeführt.
1) Sachverhalt
Nach dem Einmarsch der türkischen Armee in Syrien, im Oktober 2019 wurde bekannt, dass u.a. in der DITIB Moschee in Herne öffentlich für den siegreichen Ausgang der Kriegshandlung und für die türkische Armee gebetet wurde. Entsprechende Artikel der WELT und Kölner Stadtanzeiger folgen. Hierbei wurde die Sure 48 (Der Sieg) in der Moschee in Herne öffentlich vorgelesen. Die beiden Artikel und die Sure 48 des Koran sind unten unter Punkt 3) aufgeführt.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : UN JOINT VENTURE WITH ERDOGAN !
Guterres in Turkey: UN to study ‘new settlement areas’ plan for Syrian refugees
Presidential Press Service 2 Nov 2019
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday presented UN Secretary-General António Guterres with a plan for resettling hundreds-of-thousands of Syrian refugees, in the wake of the country’s offensive into northeastern Syria last month to remove Kurdish forces, aimed at creating a so-called “safe zone” along the border for returnees.
The UN chief is on a visit to Turkey, and in a statement following their bilateral meeting, both he and President Erdogan expressed their “full backing” for the on-going Syria Constitutional Committee meetings, which constitute the first face-to-face talks between Government and opposition from the war-torn country in nearly nine years of brutal civil war.
MESOPOTAMIA NEWS : TURKISH-RUSSIA – Ankara in quiet negotiations to buy Russian Su-35 fighter jets
Diego Cupolo October 31, 2019 – Article Summary – AL MONITOR – Following Ankara’s expulsion from the F-35 program, Turkish officials are looking to Moscow to upgrade Turkey’s aging warplane fleet with Russian-made Su-35 jets. Turkish-Russian relations are entering a new stage as they prepare to start joint patrols of a strip 10 kilometers (six miles) deep inside northeastern Syria Friday following Ankara’s incursion into the region this month to expel US-backed Kurdish forces.
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