Mediaboss Marketing

Irans President Hassan Rouhani, left, Russias President Vladimir Putin, right, and Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lock hands during a group photo in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. The leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey are meeting in the Turkish capital for talks on Syrias future. The leaders are expected to reaffirm their commitment to Syrias territorial integrity and the continuation of local cease-fires when they meet Wednesday. (Tolga Bozoglu/Pool Photo via AP)

As we are waiting for the other shoe to drop in Syria, there has been a falling out of thieves in that country.

Back in late January, Turkey actually invaded Syria. Their target was neither the regime nor ISIS but the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) that Turkey was concerned was getting too cozy with the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), a group Turkey classifies as a terrorist organization.

By March 1, Turkey was able to announce the seizure of the city of Afrin and the end to their adventure. And on April 4, Presidents Hassan Rouhani of Iran, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Vladimir Putin of Russia held a summit meeting which looked to foreshadow a new strategic alliance in the region.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan renewed vows to drive out Syrian Kurdish militants across Turkeys borders after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Irans President Hassan Rouhani in Ankara today.

Speaking at a joint press conference, Erdogan said, Turkey will not stop until all regions under PYD/PKK control, including Manbij, are secured. We will never allow either Syria or our region to be attacked by a few terrorist groups. The PYD is the acronym for the Democratic Union Party, the dominant Kurdish group in northern Syria whose armed wing, known as the Peoples Protections Units (YPG), is the US-led coalitions top ground force in the fight against the Islamic State. PKK is short for the Kurdistan Workers Party, the militia that is fighting for Kurdish self-rule inside Turkey and is closely allied with the PYD. Turkey says they are one and the same.

The summit to discuss the trios future steps in Syria is part of the so-called Astana process to end hostilities between regime forces and opposition rebels through a series of cease-fires, the establishment of humanitarian corridors and the deployment of peace monitors in the countrys north, west and south, which fall outside the United States zone of influence. Of immediate concern is the fate of Idlib province, the last remaining rebel stronghold on the Turkish border where infighting among jihadi groups is weakening their grip.

Also unanswered was what to do about the turf Turkey had paid for in blood.

Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed the opinion that the logical thing to do was for Turkey to hand the conquered territory over to Assad.

Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Russia expects Turkey to bring the Syrian town of Afrin the focus of a Turkish military operation under the control of the Syrian government, AP reported.

In his statement on Monday, Lavrov expressed that Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, had never said that Turkey wants to occupy Afrin, noting that Russias expectation is for Turkey to bring the area previously controlled by the Peoples Protection Units (YPG) which Turkey deems as a terrorist organization under Syrian government control.

Just a day later, Erdogan told Lavrov to FOAD:

Speaking to reporters, Erdogan called Lavrovs remarks a very wrong approach. We know full well to whom we will give back Afrin. He added, We will personally hand over Afrin to the people of Afrin when the time is right. But the timing of this is up to us. We will decide this, not Mr. Lavrov.

The exchange highlights fissures in Turkeys relations with Russia, even as the two sides have grown closer in recent years and are working together to find a solution to the seven-year Syrian civil war. During the first week in April, Erdogan hosted his Iranian and Russian counterparts at a summit in Ankara to discuss their joint effort to stabilize Turkeys southern neighbor.

The daily Cumhuriyet reported that Lavrovs call has angered Turkish officials. Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli claims that predominantly Kurdish Afrin still poses a threat to Turkey and has said that its forces will remain in the region until the risks are completely gone, and we will continue to remain there until our work is finished, indicating that Turkey wants to see a political resolution of the war before withdrawing.Meanwhile, after a Cabinet meeting on April 9, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said that Turkey will return Afrin to the local inhabitants and will support the administration they form.

The Turkish Armed Forces are not occupiers in Afrin, and they are not there permanently, he added.

Therein, as the man said, lies the rub. Which local inhabitants are they talking about

While the claims of ethnic cleansing are unproven, at this point, the Turks have shown over the years that they are more than willing to break a few eggs for the sake of an omelet. The best color you can put on the situation is that Turkey intends to hold onto the territory it has acquired until things stabilize. The growing view is that Turkey is going to set up a Turkish puppet state composed of people it has imported while driving the Kurds out of their homes.

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

More here:
Turkey Just Told Russia to Pound Sand Over Syria so What Is ...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hit out at the French government for providing support to terrorism, and appeared to refer to Saturdays vehicle attack in Germany by warning the same will happen in France.

Speaking on Saturday afternoon as the drama was still unfolding in Muenster, Turkeys President appeared to assume the attack was an act of political extremism.

You are seeing what is happening in Germany, right? The same will happen in France," he told a meeting of supporters during a visit to the southwestern province of Denizli. "The West will not be able to free itself from terror. The West will sink as it feeds these terrorists.

Later reports from Germany suggested the perpetrator of the attack which killed two people and injured about 20 was a German with mental health problems. The authorities said there was no indication it was an Islamist attack.

Relations between Ankara and Paris have deteriorated recently. French opposition to Turkeys military operation in northern Syria against Kurdish forces has angered Erdogans government.

Tensions increased at the end of March when President Emmanuel Macron met a delegation from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) at the Elysee Palace which included the Kurdish YPG considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey.

The French head of state said France was ready to facilitate dialogue between the SDF and Ankara, and noted the group's commitment to having "no operational link" to terrorist groups.

The Turkish president sees it differently. France, you are abetting terrorism, supporting it by then hosting them at the Elysee Palace, he said on Saturday.

Erdogan made further accusations against France, acccusing French business of aiding "YPG terrorists", the pro-Erdogan Daily Sabah newspaper reported.

France, like the United States, has already extended arms and training to the YPG-led militia in the fight against the self-styled Islamic State, and has dozens of special forces members based in the region.

Ankara says the YPG is an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), that has waged an insurgency in southeastern Turkey since the 1980s.

President Macron was at the forefront of international criticism of turkey when its forces drove the YPG from Afrin in northwest Syria last month.

See the original post here:
Turkey: Erdogan lashes out at France warning of more terror ...

Turkish PresidentRecep Tayyip Erdoganrenewed vows to drive out Syrian Kurdish militants across Turkeys bordersafter talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Irans President Hassan Rouhaniin Ankara today.

Speaking at a joint press conference, Erdogan said, Turkey will not stop until all regions under PYD/PKK control, including Manbij, are secured. We will never allow either Syria or our region to be attacked by a few terrorist groups. The PYD is the acronym for the Democratic Union Party, the dominant Kurdish group in northern Syriawhose armed wing, known as the Peoples Protections Units (YPG), isthe US-led coalitions top ground force in the fight against the Islamic State.PKK is short for the Kurdistan WorkersParty, the militia that is fighting for Kurdish self-rule inside Turkey and is closely allied with the PYD. Turkey says they are one and the same.

The summit to discuss the trios future steps in Syriais part of the so-called Astana processtoend hostilities between regime forces and opposition rebels through a series of cease-fires, the establishment of humanitarian corridorsand the deployment of peace monitors in thecountry's north, west and south, which fall outside the United States zone of influence. Of immediate concern is the fate of Idlib province, the last remaining rebel stronghold on the Turkish border where infighting among jihadigroups is weakening their grip.

In a statement issued at the conclusion of the summit, the three presidents declared there was no military solution to the seven-year Syrian conflict and "reiterated the necessity to assist the Syrians in restoring the unity of their country and in achieving a political solution of the ongoing conflict through an inclusive, free, fair and transparent Syrian-led and Syrian-owned process."

The picture of unity displayed by the leaders, however, belied the extent to which they also differ intheir respective priorities in Syria. For Turkey it is to dismantle PYD rule. For Iran, it is to ensure the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remains intact. For Russia, it is to consolidate its strategic foothold in the eastern Mediterranean though a mix of diplomatic dexterity and military muscle.

In comments carried by Irans official news agency IRNA, Rouhani repeated calls for the United States to go. The fact is that the illegal presence and interference of the United States in Syria lead to the increase of tension and the countrys disintegration, he said. Irans state television quoted Rouhani as also telling Erdogan and Putin that Turkey must hand control of the mainly Kurdish enclave of Afrin, which it captured last month from the YPG, back to the Syrian regime.

All must have been dazed by the flurry of conflicting messages coming out of Washington as to whether some 2,000US special operations forces will remain in Syria. Over the past week President Donald Trump said twice that US forces would be leaving soon. Today, US officials quoted by Reuters affirmed that the president still wantsthe troops to return but had reluctantly agreed to their continued deployment until IS is defeated.

Turkey is fiercely opposed to an American presence thatrelieson the YPG, but is equally alarmed at the prospect of a hasty US withdrawal that would see sophisticated weapons given to the Kurds to fight IS left in Kurdish hands. Erdogan reportedly aired those concerns in his April 2 telephone conversation with Trump, sources familiar with the substance of the exchange told Al-Monitor.

Ankarawants the Pentagon to partner with rebel groups it mentors instead, foremost in Manbij, an Arab-majority town the coalition helped YPG forces wrest from IS in August 2015. Manbij lies just to the west of the Euphrates River, which Turkey labeled a red line the Syrian Kurds must not breach. The Pentagons failure to fulfill pledges to end the YPG presence once Manbij fell sparked escalating tensions between Ankara and Washington, culminating in veiled threats by Erdogan to confront US forces in Manbij if need be.

Brett McGurk, the US special envoy for the counter-IS fight at the State Department, outlined the difficulties of the Turkish plan at a US Institute of Peace panel yesterday. He dwelledin particular on the Islamist nature of Turkeys rebel allies, which is why the Pentagon remains leery of working with them.

McGurk reminded a packed audience that the reason the United States partnered with the YPG to take Manbij, where major attacks against the West had been planned, was because earlier attempts to do so with the Turkish-backed rebels had failed. The clearing of Manbij in turn facilitated Turkeys own Euphrates Shield operation against IS in Jarablussoon after. McGurk said,The complexity of this is not justUS-Turkey conversation, it is on the ground in Syria.These are mostly people from Manbij, there are Arabs thatlive in Manbij, but the people working with the Turks are also from Manbij, but they have a very different orientation." He said that many of the opposition groups outside of Manbij have"a more Islamist orientation, wherein Manbijright now some women are covered, some are not. It is a much more, for lack of abetter word,secular environment.

Go here to see the original:
Erdogan, Putin, Rouhani tout alliance, eye US for next move

ANKARA (Reuters) - The leaders of Turkey and Russia marked the official start of work to build Turkeys first nuclear power station on Tuesday, launching construction of the $20 billion Akkuyu plant in the southern province of Mersin.

The plant will be built by Russian state nuclear energy agency Rosatom and will be made up of four units each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkeys Tayyip Erdogan marked the start to construction, watching by video link from Ankara.

When all four units go online, the plant will meet 10 percent of Turkeys energy needs, Erdogan said, adding that despite delays Turkey still planned to start generating power at the first unit in 2023.

Speaking at a later news conference with Putin, Erdogan said the cost of the project may exceed the planned $20 billion for the 4,800 megawatt (MW) plant, part of Erdogans 2023 vision marking 100 years since the founding of modern Turkey and intended to reduce Turkeys dependence on energy imports.

Since Russia was awarded the contract in 2010, the project has been beset by delays.

Last month, sources familiar with the matter said Akkuyu was likely to miss its 2023 target start-up date, but Rosatom, which is looking for local partners to take a 49 percent stake in the project, said it is committed to the timetable.

The Interfax news agency cited the head of Rosatom saying the sale of the 49 percent stake was likely to be postponed from this year until 2019.

Turkish companies have been put off by the size of the financing required as well as by concerns they will not receive a sufficient share of the lucrative construction side of the deal, two industry sources have said.

Erdogan told the news conference Turkey may cooperate with Russia on defense projects besides the S-400 missile defense system which Moscow has agreed to supply to Ankara. He did not give further details.

Turkey signed an agreement to buy the S-400 system in late December in a move which raised concern in the West because it cannot be integrated into NATOs military architecture.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will join Erdogan and Putin for a three-way summit on Syria in Ankara on Wednesday.

Additional reporting by Ece Toksabay and Denish Pinchuk in Ankara and Andrey Ostroukh in Moscow; Writing by Dominic Evans and Daren Butler; Editing by Robin Pomeroy

See the original post:
Erdogan, Putin mark start of work on Turkey's first nuclear power plant | Reuters

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu a terrorist on Sunday, escalating an exchange of insults that started after he criticized Israels lethal military response to a demonstration on the Gazan border.

Israel has defended the killing of 15 Palestinians during Fridays demonstration and Netanyahu tweeted that the Israeli army will not be lectured by those who have indiscriminately bombed civilian populations for years, referring to Turkey.

Erdogan told supporters on Sunday: We dont have the shame of invading on us, Netanyahu. You are an invader and right now are present in those lands as an invader. At the same time, you are a terrorist.

In another speech he said: You are a terrorist state. It is known what you have done in Gaza and what you have done in Jerusalem. You have no one that likes you in the world.

In a later tweet, Netanyahu said: Erdogan is not accustomed to being answered back to, but he should start getting used to it. He who occupies northern Cyprus, encroaches on Kurdish territory and massacres civilians in Afrin cannot preach to us on values and morals.

Israels defense minister has rejected calls for an inquiry into Fridays events.

Hamas, the dominant Palestinian group in Gaza, said five of the dead were members of its armed wing. Israel said eight of the 15 belonged to Hamas, designated a terrorist group by Israel and the West, and two others came from other militant factions.

Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Editing by Robin Pomeroy

The rest is here:
Erdogan calls Netanyahu 'terrorist' as insults fly after ...