Tag Archives: Kurds

Turkey Vows To Scuttle NATO Defense Plan Over Kurds

The Independent reports: Turkey will block NATO’s plan for the defence of Baltic countries unless the alliance recognises a Kurdish group as “terrorists”, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned. A NATO meeting on Tuesday, marking the alliance’s 70th anniversary, was set to be a tense affair with Turkey at odds with other members over its purchase of Russian missiles and …

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Erdogan Played Anti-Kurd Propaganda Clip For Trump

Axios reports: An Oval Office meeting yesterday with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took a dark turn when Erdoğan pulled out his iPad and made the group watch a propaganda video that depicted Kurds as terrorists, according to three sources familiar with the meeting. Why it matters: The meeting hosted by President Trump included five Republican U.S. senators who’ve been …

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Rand Paul: Kurdish “Ingrates” Should Be Thanking Us

ABC News reports: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul joined ABC News’ “Powerhouse Politics” podcast, saying the Kurds are acting like ‘ingrates’ in disrespecting U.S. troops. With President Donald Trump facing an eruption of dissatisfaction inside his own party over his military policy regarding Syria, Paul has emerged as a fierce defender of the idea that the U.S. has the right to …

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LIVE VIDEO: Trump Delivers Remarks On Syria/Kurds

The Hill reports: President Trump is set to deliver remarks on Syria Wednesday morning. Trump withdrew U.S. troops from northern Syria earlier this month in a move that sparked fierce bipartisan pushback from lawmakers who worried the it would be seen as a betrayal to Kurdish allies in the region. Turkey launched a military operation targeting the Kurds shortly after …

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Turkey Accused Of War Crimes Against Kurdish Civilians

Newsweek reports: Turkey, a NATO member, has allegedly used chemical weapons against civilians in northern Syria. Multiple sources have reported that white phosphorus-loaded munitions are believed to have been dropped in the border town of Ras al-Ayn after images and video surfaced of civilians, including children, suffering gruesome burns associated with the chemical. Anthony Loyd, a journalist for The Times …

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Turkey Continues Attack Despite Pence’s “Ceasefire”

The Guardian reports: Fighting is continuing on the border between Syria and Turkey, according to witnesses, despite an announcement from the US vice-president, Mike Pence, that Ankara had agreed to a five-day ceasefire to allow the US supervision of the withdrawal of Kurdish forces from the area. Intermittent artillery fire and ground clashes continued in the border town of Ras …

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Lara Trump: Most Don’t Even Know Who The Kurds Are

Mediaite reports: On Monday’s edition of Fox News at Night, host Shannon Bream asked Mrs. Trump to respond to a New York Times piece entitled “Trump Followed His Gut on Syria. Calamity Came Fast.” “Your reaction tonight?” Bream asked. “Well, Shannon, I think we should start with the fact that if you ask the average American out there, I think …

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US To “Evacuate” Remaining Troops From Syria [VIDEO]

CBS News reports: The U.S. is “preparing to evacuate” about 1,000 U.S. troops from northern Syria “as safely and quickly as possible,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper told “Face the Nation” in an interview Sunday. The move comes a week after President Trump announced the repositioning of several dozen American troops embedded with Kurdish forces in northern Syria, opening the door …

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Pentagon Objects To Turkey’s “Incursion” Into Syria

Via press release from the Pentagon: Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Turkish Minister of National Defense Hulusi Akar spoke by phone where they discussed the situation in northeast Syria. Secretary Esper made it clear that the United States opposes Turkey’s uncoordinated actions as they place at risk the progress made by the Defeat-ISIS Coalition. While the Secretary reaffirmed …

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Tony Perkins: Pray For The Kurds Abandoned By Trump

Via press release from hate group leader Tony Perkins: At this point, it would be quite proper for President Trump to respond by halting the withdrawal of forces, and taking economic action against Turkey — which he said he would do if Erdogan went too far. Turkey has violated President Trump’s own standard for the incursion, and action against Turkey …

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Erdogan Threatens To Bury Europe With Refugees

Reuters reports: The president of Turkey has threatened to “open the doors” and send three million refugees to Europe if the European Union condemns his invasion of Syria as an occupation. The military operation has been condemned by governments around the world. Responding to the condemnation from Europe on Thursday, Erdogan said in a speech: “We will open the gates …

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Trump Shrugs Off Kurds: They Didn’t Help Us In WWII

CNBC reports: In the face of growing bipartisan anger, President Donald Trump defended his decision to allow a Turkish offensive in northern Syria by saying that the U.S.-allied Kurds — who spearheaded the campaign against the Islamic State in Syria and are currently coming under Turkish attack — did not help the U.S. during World War II. “Now the Kurds …

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Turkey Begins Airstrikes On Northern Syria [VIDEO]

The Washington Post reports: Turkey’s military operation in Syria has begun just three days after President Trump ordered U.S. troops to withdraw from the area. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the beginning of the operation Wednesday morning, saying he was going to “eliminate the threat of terrorism” from his country. There were immediate reports of Turkish airstrikes in the …

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Syrian Kurds Mobilize Ahead Of Threatened Invasion

The Associated Press reports: Warning of a “humanitarian catastrophe,” Syrian Kurdish forces who are allied with the United States issued a “general mobilization” call on Wednesday in northeastern Syria, along the border with Turkey, as Ankara threatened an imminent invasion of the area. The Turkish operation would ignite new fighting in the war-ravaged country’s eight-year-old war, potentially displacing hundreds of …

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Ted Cruz: It Would Be “Disgraceful” To Abandon Kurds

CBS News reports: A long list of Republicans — including several top allies of President Donald Trump — lined up in vehement opposition Monday to the president’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from the northern border of Syria and allow a Turkish operation there. The announcement marked a major blow to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, which the …

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Trump Defiant On Syria: The US Only “Fights To Win”

NBC News reports: The U.S. military has moved its forces away from the Turkish border with northern Syria, after the White House said Sunday night that Turkey would soon begin an operation in a part of northeastern Syria where it wants to resettle Syrian refugees — and that U.S. forces wouldn’t be there to help or stop them. The U.S. …

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Trump Orders Military To Abandon US Allies In Syria

The Guardian reports: The White House has given the green light to a Turkish offensive into northern Syria, moving US forces out of the area in an abrupt foreign policy change that will in effect abandon Washington’s longtime military partners, the Kurds. Kurdish forces have spearheaded the campaign against Islamic State in the region, but the policy swerve, after a …

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Trump Threatens To “Devastate Turkey Economically”

Politico reports: President Donald Trump on Sunday vowed to “devastate Turkey economically” should the Turkish military attack U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters — a rare direct threat by Trump to a NATO ally as his administration grapples with the execution of its plan to withdraw American soldiers from Syria. The planned U.S. troop drawdown has provoked international uncertainty amid conflicting statements from …

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Pentagon: Troops Have Begun Withdrawing From Syria

The New York Times reports: The United States has started withdrawing its troops from Syria, an American military spokesman said on Friday, further muddling the Trump administration’s plans for disengagement from one of the Middle East’s most complex battlefields. As recently as Sunday, President Trump’s national security adviser, John R. Bolton, had said that the pullout was conditional on circumstances …

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Lindsey Graham To Beg Trump To Reconsider On Syria: If The US Leaves The Kurds “Will Get Slaughtered”

CNN reports: Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Sunday that withdrawing US troops from Syria could directly result in the deaths of Kurdish people there and that he plans to make a case to President Donald Trump today to reconsider his plans. “There are three things important for this country. Number one, make sure that ISIS never comes back in …

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