MEZOPOTAMIAN 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 TODAYS RELEVANT TWEETS & SHORT CUTS (II)
CIA’s #Syria ‘vet/equip’ program is of under-appreciated significance. Thanks @MarkMazzettiNYT @mattapuzzo for this: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/world/middleeast/us-relies-heavily-on-saudi-money-to-support-syrian-rebels.html?_r=0 …
Another excellent piece by @mahmutbozarslan – this time from Silopi. Both sides pummeling the city http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/en/originals/2016/01/turkey-clashes-pkk-devastated-kurdish-town.html …
“Turkey will do everything to prevent the PYD from having a role in the talks, although they are the main US… http://fb.me/1VaKSwjk0
MESOP : SENSATIONEL ! – ENERGY FOR EUROPE FROM US
First US crude exports arrive in Europe. http://www.theoilandgasyear.com/news/first-us-crude-exports-reach-europe/ …
WEST KURISTAN (SYRIA)
MESOP Syria Daily: Did Kerry Give Ultimatum to Opposition Over Talks With Regime?
January 25 – by Scott Lucas – eaworldview – A “high-level source in the Syrian opposition” has accused US Secretary of State John Kerry of giving the opposition-rebel bloc an ultimatum: enter negotiations with the Assad regime or face a cut-off of support. According to the London-based al-Araby, Kerry delivered the message in a meeting with the coordinator of the opposition-rebel team, former Prime Minister Riad Hijab, in Riyadh on Saturday. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70490
MESOP : Latest Media Coverage of the New Report Series / “U.S. Grand Strategy: Destroying ISIS and Al Qaeda” Reports 1 & 2
By Frederick W. Kagan, Kimberly Kagan, Katherine Zimmerman, Jennifer Cafarella, Harleen Gambhir, Christopher Kozak, and Hugo Spaulding
At an on-the record press breakfast, ISW and AEI’s Critical Threats Project laid out their first two reports (see below) in a new series titled: U.S. Grand Strategy: Destroying ISIS and Al Qaeda. Representatives of major broadcast, print, and online outlets met with the reports’ authors for a 90-minute discussion of the findings, their implications, and the next reports coming in this series. Of particular interest to the reporters was the fact that the al Qaeda affiliate in Syria — Jabhat al-Nusra (JN) — is actually benefiting from the focus on the anti-ISIS fight. As the West maintains its narrow attention on ISIS, al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate is working its way into Syrian opposition groups and society in a way that is more dangerous to Western interests than ISIS is now.Here’s some of the coverage so far and details about the reports below that. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70494
MESOP : KERRY’S REPRESSION PRO PUTIN & TEHRAN
Robert Ford @fordrs58 5m5 minutes ago – per article, Kerry (1) said Geneva 3 talks are not negotiations; (2) implied Assad stays 4 now in unity govt. Did he ?
#Kerry threatens Syrian opposition – join #Assad in a puppet “unity” government or face the “consequences”: http://www.alaraby.co.uk/politics/2016/1/24/ – www.mesop.de
MESOP: THE DIALOGUE OF THE DEAF / KERRY – LAVROV et.al.
25 Jan 2015 – MESOP – Syrian peace talks that were slated to begin today have been postponed, but U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, while on a visit to Laos, played down posturing by the Syrian regime and opposition as “just tensions.” “We’re going to have the meetings and they’re going to start, but what we’re trying to do is make absolutely certain that when they start everybody is clear about roles and what’s happening, so that you don’t go there and wind up with a question mark or a failure,” Kerry said, saying he hoped the situation would be resolved in the next day or two. His comments come after a stop in Riyadh over the weekend to discuss the planned proximity talks to be held in Geneva. The political tensions, though, were clear in a closed-door meeting between Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, and several senior diplomats in Davos last week, which a participant characterized as “a dialogue of the deaf.”
As both sides prepare for talks, aid organizations have accused the Assad regime of using humanitarian access a bargaining chip, citing starvation tactics being used by besieging forces. Assad regime forces have made new gains against Syrian rebel forces, retaking the town of Rabiaa, near the Turkish border, but are under increased pressure from the Islamic State in the city of Deir al-Zour, where control is divided by neighborhood. Speaking alongside Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Turkey on Saturday, Vice President Joe Biden said that the United States is prepared to proceed with a “military solution to this operation in taking out Daesh” if talks fail. www.mesop.de
MESOP TODAYS COMMENTARY ON PYD/PKK & SYRIA
“Turkey will do everything to prevent the PYD from having a role in the talks, although they are the main US partner against the ‘Islamic State,'” Wladimir van Wilgenburg, a Kurdish affairs analyst with the Jamestown Foundation, told DW. “And by doing this, Turkey is pushing the PYD/YPG into the arms of Russia, something which the US wants to prevent.” http://m.dw.com/…/syrian-talks-jeopardized-by-di…/a-19000838
NORTH KURDISTAN (TURKEY)
MESOP TODAYS OPINION ON TURKEY BY SONER CAGAPTEY / BIDEN SHOULD ASK TURKEY TO DOUBLE DOWN ON ITS COMMITMENT TO THE WEST
By Soner Cagaptay – Hurriyet Daily News – January 23, 2016 – (….) In the last decade though, Turkey has swung to the religious right with the rise of the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP). Led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the AKP oriented Ankara’s foreign policy towards Muslim countries, also eliminating Ataturk’s firewall between religion, politics and education. The Turkish pendulum is ready to swing again. This time, there are two nearly opposite paths it could take — one auspicious, the other ominous. The Jan. 12 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attack in Istanbul, which killed 10 tourists, signaled just how dire the path could become.From a positive perspective, Turkey continues to be a thriving pluralistic society, despite 14 years of single-party rule by Erdogan, who wants to change the country’s parliamentary form of government into a presidential system with himself at the helm. This may be a tall order for Erdogan. For starters, the country’s economy is still controlled by large pro-Western businesses despite the president’s attempt to create a crony class of capitalists by awarding mega construction projects to businesses supporting his party. Turkey’s pluralism extends into the political sphere as well. The country’s 76 million citizens are split in the middle, between those who voted for the AKP and those who did not in the November 2015 polls. Erdogan faces additional barriers: Turkey’s 10-million-strong Alevi community will resist further erosion of the country’s secular traditions. Nationalist Kurds, nearly half of Turkey’s 10-12 million Kurdish community, oppose Erdogan politically. And despite his effort to control them, the Turkish high courts remain mostly independent. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70508
MESOP : AFTER SOME TACTICAL “I’M NOT SURE!” – HE AGREEED AS EXPECTED – THE “KURDISTAN OBAMA”
Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party reelects co-leaders Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag
ANKARA,— 25 Jan 2016 – Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party on Sunday reelected its co-leaders Figen Yuksekdag and Selahattin Demirtas, as it seeks to maintain support amid the deadly conflict in the southeast.The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) unanimously reelected Yuksekdag and Demirtas as co-leaders at a congress in Ankara, the party said in a statement. The party splits its top posts between a man and a woman to promote gender equality. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70498
MESOP INTEL : ISIL Indictment Reveals Recruitment of Foreign Fighters Via Turkey
By Arif Tekdal – Todays Zaman – 2016-01-24 18:35 GMT – An indictment listing 67 suspected members of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Turkey exposes how militants arrange for the pickup of foreign nationals from Istanbul airports and their travel to Turkey’s southeastern provinces, so they can cross into Syria to join ISIL.The Istanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office prepared the 315-page indictment for 67 individuals suspected of being ISIL members, some of whom are of Moroccan, Libyan, Colombian and Tunisian nationality. The indictment was accepted by the Istanbul 13th High Criminal Court in December 2015. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70502
MESOP FROM BRUSSELS : EU calls for ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Turkey’s Kurdish region: Mogherini
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini 2016 davos. Photo: Courtesy/European External Action Service
ANKARA,— 25 Jan 2016 – EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini on Monday called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Turkey’s Kurdish region (Turkish Kurdistan) where the Turkish army is waging a relentless campaign against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants.“We call for an immediate ceasefire in the southeast and strongly condemn all kinds of terrorism,” Mogherini told a joint press conference with Turkish ministers in Ankara.“ Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70506
SOUTH KURDISTAN (IRAQ)
MESOP NEWS : Germany is Iraqi Kurdistan’s top arms supplier: official
aa.com.tr – 25 Jan 2016 – HEWLÊR-Erbil, Kurdistan region ‘Iraq’,— Most of the weapons and military vehicles recently supplied to Iraq’s Kurdish Regional Government (KRG)’s Peshmerga forces have come from Germany, a KRG official said Monday.“It is Germany that has sent most of the arms to Peshmerga forces and continues to do so,” Anwar Haji Osman, the KRG’s deputy minister for Peshmerga affairs, told Anadolu Agency.“German weapons are very effective in thwarting terrorists that target Peshmerga positions,” he said. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70504
THE GERMAN KURDISH CHAPTER
Syrien-Konferenz Die schwerste Aufgabe der Unterhändler / Thomas Gutschker (FAZ) – WELCHE AUTONOMIE-LÖSUNG FÜR KURDEN ?
25 Jan 2016 -Es soll jetzt endlich losgehen, mit den Friedensverhandlungen für Syrien. Nicht an diesem Montag, wie es der UN-Sondergesandte Staffan de Mistura vorhatte. Aber doch noch in der neuen Woche. So haben es die Außenminister der Vereinigten Staaten und Russlands, John Kerry und Sergej Lawrow, vereinbart. Es werde „keine größeren Verzögerungen geben“, sagte Kerry. Dass es mindestens kleinere gibt, liegt an der Frage, wer in Genf am Tisch sitzen darf. Das ist keine Petitesse, sondern eine ziemlich große Sache. Denn an diesem Tisch soll über die politische Zukunft Syriens entschieden werden. Volltext http://www.mesop.de/?p=70492
Drei Jahre ohne Plan / VON THOMAS VON DER OSTEN-SACKEN
Jungle world 25 Jan 2016 – Die westlichen Staaten und die UN haben im Syrien-Konflikt völlig versagt. Nichtssagende Stellungnahmen und moralische Friedensappelle sind alles, was sie dem syrischen Regime entgegensetzen.
Nach monatelangen heftigen Kämpfen eroberten am Sonntag Truppen der syrischen Armee, unterstützt von Kämpfern der Hizbollah, die bislang von Rebellen gehaltene Stadt Yabroud an der libanesischen Grenze. Ein Grund zum Feiern für das syrische Regime und dessen enge Verbündete, den Iran und die Hizbollah, denn nun können weitere von der Opposition kontrollierte Stadtviertel in Damaskus und Umgebung von jeder Versorgung abgeschnitten und gezielt ausgehungert werden. Read all http://www.mesop.de/?p=70500