MEZOPOTAMIA KURDISTAN DAILY INDEPENDENT NEWSSERVICE
Mezopotamian Development Society (Registered) GERMANY – FRANKFURT
THE MOST REQUESTED DAILY & ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWSSERVICE ON KURDISTAN FOR THE HIGHLY INVOLVED PEOPLE – email : mesop@online.de – Watch our website : www.mesop.de
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MESOP BREAKING
MESOP – SALIH MUSLIN & ENTOURAGE – CHANGING HOTELS FROM LAUSANNE TO GENEVE – AS 2nd CLASS GUESTS BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Breaking #pyd delegation have changed their residency from Lozan to #Geneva #TwitterKurds #Syria – Watch picture : http://www.mesop.de/?p=70675
MESOP : Moscow fundamentally liars
Article On Pro-Government Russian Website Suggests Litvinenko Was Assassinated By U.S.
….. Dear Vladimir, … Nothing else was to be expected! But why not the Mossad? – Watch the Russian / Putin Website – http://www.mesop.de/?p=70644
MESOP TODAYS RELEVANT TWEETS & SHORT CUTS
MESOP : GERMAN FOREIGN OFFICE TODAY
GermanForeignOffice @GermanyDiplo 4h4 hours ago – Fight against ISIL/Daesh: German Parliament approves more soldiers for training mission in @KurdistanRegion, #Iraq. www.mesop.de
MESOP : NOT JUST OIL ONLY – HARD WORK & PRODUCTION
Economic diversification in the Kurdistan Region: Interview with Bilal Wahab | MERI http://www.meri-k.org/multimedia/meri-interview-bilal-wahab/#.VqpNMm_Qmmw.twitter …
MESOP : MORE MONEY TO ERBIL
WAARmedia English @WAARmedia_En – EU to allocate special budget for Peshmerga: official – http://waarmedia.com/english/eu-to-allocate-special-budget-for-peshmerga-official/ …
MESOP INTEL VOICE FROM MOSCOW
маяковский @moscow_ghost Jan 27 – Sunni monarchies in the Gulf turn down #SyriaRefugees over security threat #Syria http://www.dw.com/en/arab-monarchies-turn-down-syrian-refugees-over-security-threat/a-19002873 … @EjmAlrai @edwardedark @BBassem7
Denise Natali @dnataliDC 7h7 hours ago – Look forward to discussing Mid.East energy & geopolitics at @ACGlobalEnergy this am w/ @anniemedaglia@jackfranck@websterdrake@David_Goldwyn
MESOP : NO “RED WINE IN EUROPA ON THE TABLE !
France draws its red line.
Omid Memarian Verified account @Omid_M – Lunch b/w the French & Iranian leaders Cancelled aftr Prez Hollande refused 2 take wine off the menu 4 his meeting http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3419814/Lunch-French-Iranians-CANCELLED-President-Hollande-refused-wine-menu-meeting-Muslim-counterpart-Rouhani.html … www.mesop.de
MESOP : SPOT ON A CORRUPT SITUATION
Ranj Alaaldin @RanjAlaaldin Jan 27 – Useful insight into governance issues & PUK factionalism, highlights contentious nature of politics in Kurdistan
Sarkawt Shams @SarkawtShams
@BarhamSalih : when I was #KRG PM some senior @ThePUKofficial said ” it is better to handover cabinet to @KDPinfo coz Barham Gov hurts #PUK
MESOP TODAYS OPINION BY ANDREW J. TABLER / FIXING GENEVA III
PolicyWatch 2549 – January 28, 2016 – By Andrew J. Tabler
Pushing the Syrian opposition to the negotiating table while the regime’s onslaught continues will only worsen the situation, so Washington should press Russia for a true ceasefire if it wants the talks to produce actual progress.With only days to spare before the latest deadline, representatives of the Syrian regime and opposition are scheduled to take part in UN-sponsored proximity talks in Geneva on January 29. It remains uncertain which opposition elements will show up and, most important, stay — the Higher Negotiating Committee (HNC), representing the largest swath of armed and civilian groups, has stated that it will not attend, though the talks are reportedly still on. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70652
TODAYS MESOP COMMENTARY (II) BY SONER CAGAPTEY
A TURKISH-FRIENDLY ZONE INSIDE SYRIA – PolicyWatch 2550 – January 29, 2016 – By Ed Stafford and Soner Cagaptay
29 Jan 2016 – Tighter border security would pose an existential threat to IS, not to mention hindering its travel, smuggling, and recruitment efforts. The attack earlier this month in the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, Turkey’s financial capital, is more likely to harden Ankara’s resolve against the Islamic State than to deter it from plans to intensify cooperation with the anti-IS coalition to better seal Turkey’s border with northwestern Syria, where IS controls a nearly 60-mile-wide and 20-to-30-mile-deep territory known as the Azaz-Jarabulus (corresponding to Kilis-Cerablus, in Turkey) belt. But the question remains as to how effectively Turkey can seal this long border with IS. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70681
MESOP TODAYS COMMENTARY BY EDITOR’S : THE GUARDIAN – UK
Fake Diplomacy is No Diplomacy (FACING GENEVA – PUTIN – OBAMA et.al)
29 Jan 2016 – There can be no more urgent matter than putting an end to the terrible human tragedy and the lethal regional destabilization produced by the Syrian conflict. This is a war in which 300,000 people have died, which has internally displaced half the country’s population and which has caused more than 4 million to flee the country altogether. Syria has become the worst humanitarian catastrophe of our time. The plight of its people is also dangerously destabilizing Europe and exposing weaknesses in its institutions. If the humanitarian crisis were not enough on its own, then the need to resolve Europe’s refugee crisis at its source would be reason enough to pay close attention to the peace talks that are scheduled to begin on Friday in Geneva. Yet even getting everyone round the table is looking fraught. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70663
WEST KURDISTAN (SYRIA
MESOP : NOT INVITED TO GENEVA – AS A REACTION THE PYD/PKK THREATENS TURKEY TO MOVE WEST OF THE EUPHRATES
Syrian Kurds are planning a big attack on an ISIS-controlled portion of Turkey’s border
Tom Perry, Reuters – 28 Jan 2016 – BEIRUT (Reuters) – The powerful Syrian Kurdish YPG militia and its local allies have drawn up plans for a major attack to seize the final stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border held by Islamic State fighters, a YPG source familiar with the plan said on Thursday. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70646
MESOP : THE ASSAD WAR CRIME GANG – NOT GOING TO DEN HAAG – BUT INVITED TO GENEVA
Syria Daily: “Peace Talks” Open in Geneva — But Who Will Be There?
29 Jan 20116 UPDATE 1000 GMT: The Assad regime delegation is scheduled to arrive around noon Geneva time (1100 GMT), and will meet with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura.
By Scott Lucas – eaworldview – ORIGINAL ENTRY: “Peace talks” for Syria open in Geneva on Friday, but it is uncertain if anyone will attend apart from an Assad regime delegation and several domestically-based Syrian politicians. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70665
MESOP : PUTIN’S “WAY TO PEACE” GOES VIA GROSNY GRAVEYARDS
Russian bombs damage British-funded bakery designed to help 18,000 Syrians – The air strike on the Syrian village of Hazano came hours before the DFID-funded facility was due to open
By Lauren Williams, Gaziantep, Turkey – 29 Jan 2016 – TELEGRAPH UK – Russian warplanes severely damaged a British-funded bakery in northern Syria a few hours before the facility was due to start providing food for 18,000 people. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70667
Syria direct – ROUNDTABLE: Is the PYD the legitimate representative of Syrian Kurds? – PROMINENT SYRIAN KURDS SAY”NO!”
Ismail Sharif, a former media activist from Amouda in Al-Hasakah, currently in Germany / Masoud Ibo, also known as Abu al-Majd Komaleh, a spokesman for Liwa Ahfad Salaheddin, a Kurdish FSA brigade in the northern Aleppo countryside / Shirvan Ibrahim, a former member of the PYD Foreign Affairs Committee / Yashar Ali, a current member of the Kurdish National Council and a member of the Kurdish Reform Movement-Syria:
Representatives of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) have not been invited to participate in the third round of Syrian peace talks in Geneva, scheduled to begin on Friday.
Leading up to Friday’s talks, regime-allied Russia and pro-opposition Turkey have disagreed on whether or not the PYD should be included as part of the delegation negotiating for the opposition to embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70642
MESOP : THE STRUCTURE OF THE SYRIAN DEMOCRATIC FORCES (SDF) & THE LIAISON OF THE US WITH PYD/PKK – THE US COMMANDO CENTER IN KOBANE
The Syrian Democratic Forces – By Jonathan Spyer
(….) What comes next, I asked Colonel Talal Silu, spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, at a facility in the city of Hasakeh. The SDF, whose existence was announced on October, is the 40,000 strong military alliance with which western air power and special forces are partnering at the present time in the war against the Islamic State. Silu, an ethnic Turkmen from northern Syria and a member of the ‘Jaysh al Thuwar’ (Army of Revolutionaries) group, is himself a living example of the purpose of the SDF. The victories against IS at Kobani and in the area to its east were won by the combination of determined Kurdish ground forces and US air power. This partnership works militarily. Politically, however, it is problematic. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70671
SOUTH KURDISTAN (IRAQ)
MESOP REPORT : Kurdish Trenches Alarm Iraq’s Minorities
28 Jan 2016 – By nrttv – Kurdish authorities dig a trench around the current Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Peshmerga occupied territories outside the region’s technical area, January 28, 2016 (REUTERS).KIRKUK — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are digging trenches which they say are security measures to prevent attacks in areas bordering territory controlled by Islamic State (IS), which has taken control of parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria. The trenches start in Rabai town on the Syrian border and stretch to Khanaqin on the Iranian border, with the measure alarming the country’s ethnic Turkmen minority, who say they are concerned that Iraq’s Kurds are trying to establish borders. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70659
NORTH KURDISTAN (TURKEY)
PYD-YPG Has No Future in Syria, Says Turkey’s Top National Security Body / HURRIYET DAILY NEWS
29 Jan 2016 – Neither the current regime under President Bashar al-Assad nor any “terrorist organization” has a place in Syria’s future, Turkey’s top national security body has reiterated, while also pledging to take measures to compensate civilians for damages incurred during ongoing deadly operations in Southeast Anatolia. A regular meeting of the National Security Council (MGK), which brings together top civilian and military officials, lasted for almost seven hours on Jan. 27, as Ankara has been increasingly alarmed over the prospects of the inclusion of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in planned U.N.-backed talks on Syria. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70661
MESOP : NO ROOM – NO FREE SPACE FOR KURDS – THE SULTAN REPEATED
No room for autonomy seekers, says Erdogan
29 Jan 2016 – HURRIYET / MESOP – Turkey’s president has blasted calls for autonomy for several southeastern Kurdish towns in a speech in Ankara on Jan. 28, making clear that there would be no room for autonomy seekers.“It should be known that we will bring the whole world down on those who seek to establish a state within a state under the name of autonomy and self-governance,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Jan. 28 at the “All United for New Constitution” event at the ATO Congresium in the Turkish capital, Hurriyet daily reported. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70669
MESOP : CHRISTIANITY AS COLLATERAL DAMAGE – Fighting Between Turkish Army and Kurdish PKK Damages Assyrian Church
2016-01-29 AINA – St. Mary Assyrian Church in Diyarbakir, Turkey, has sustained damage from the fighting between Turks and Kurds.Diyarbakir, Turkey (AINA) — The Turkish campaign against Kurdish PKK party in southeast Turkey has reached St. Mary church, an Assyrian church Diyarbakir, which has sustained damage from heavy bombardment. A portion of the wall surrounding the church has fallen. The priest of the church, Father Yusuf Akbulut, is sheltered with his family in his home, which is connected to the church, and he states the church is under fire. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70656
MESOP SPECIAL : Jihadi rivalry: The Islamic State challenges al-Qaida / RECOMMENDATION
By: Charles Lister – THE NEW BOOK
International jihad has undergone a wholesale internal revolution in recent years. The dramatic emergence of the Islamic State (IS) and its proclamation of a Caliphate means that the world no longer faces one Sunni jihadi threat, but two, as IS and al-Qaida compete on the global stage. What is the relationship between the groups and how do their models differ? Is IS’s rapid organizational expansion sustainable? Can al-Qaida adapt and respond? Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70673
THE GERMAN KURDISH CHAPTER
MESOP DIE FARCE VON GENF / KOMMENTAR – Schwenken die USA in Syrien auf die Linie Russlands und des Iran ein?
Von Alexander Gruber – MENA WATCH – 29 Jan 2016 – Vor einigen Wochen war auf The Daily Beast über vermehrte Hinweise zu lesen, dass Russland damit begonnen habe, die Hisbollah aufzurüsten und Raketen, Anti-Panzerwaffen sowie anderes Kriegsgerät an die schiitische Terrororganisation zu liefern. Aktuell macht die libanesische Nachrichtenplattform NOW News mit einem Bericht auf, der die enge Kooperation zwischen russischen Streitkräften und den Einheiten der Hisbollah bestätigt. So hätten russische Spezialeinheiten die libanesische Miliz und syrische Regierungstruppen bei deren Vorstößen in den Bergen nördlich der Küstenstadt Latakia unterstützt: Volltext http://www.mesop.de/?p=70679
MESOP “GOD LEVEL” – ONLY 100% POLITICAL CORRECTNESS ACCEPTABLE
ATHEIST EVENT DROPS DAWKINS OVER ANTI-FEMINIST TWEET
The Northeast Conference on Science and Skepticism (NECSS) withdrew its invitation for famed atheist author Richard Dawkins to be keynote speaker after he retweeted a video the organization found offensive. “We believe strongly in freedom of speech and freedom to express unpopular, and even offensive, views,” the statement read. “However, unnecessarily divisive, counterproductive, and even hateful speech runs contrary to our mission and the environment we wish to foster at NECSS.” The video Dawkins retweeted from a fan depicts a caricature of a feminist with the title “Feminists Love Islamists.” www.mesop.de