Tag Archives: Turkey

Via press release from the State Department: The United States strongly objects to Turkish President Erdogan hosting two Hamas leaders in Istanbul on August 22. Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S and EU and both officials hosted by President Erdogan are Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The U.S. Rewards for Justice Program is seeking information about one …

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump ignited a tempest online for clarifying that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had been “very good” to him, while talking to a Christian pastor who had been imprisoned by Erdogan, during the first night of the Republican National Convention. That Trump would take time out of a hostage’s story to actually praise the man who …

Courthouse News reports: Three White House cabinet members received pitches last week to dramatically increase trade with Turkey. Capitalizing on the coronavirus pandemic, the letters came from Mehmet Ali Yalçındağ, the chairman of Turkey’s oldest state-sponsored trade group who partnered with Ivanka Trump and the president on the Trump Towers Istanbul deal. “Well before Covid-19 and the new set of …

NBC News reports: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday threw his weight behind Turkey’s top Muslim cleric, who caused a storm by claiming homosexuality “brings disease and causes this generation to decay.” In his first sermon during the holy month of Ramadan on Friday, Ali Erbas also maintained that hundreds of thousands of people every year are exposed to HIV …

The New York Times reports: Expanding his footprint in a volatile region, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey received overwhelming approval from Parliament on Thursday for a new military intervention abroad, this time to dispatch troops to Libya. Coming just months after mounting a third military incursion into Syria, the Libya gambit is the latest example of Turkey’s growing self-confidence …

The Associated Press reports: A Turkish court on Friday convicted six journalists and one other employee of an independent newspaper of aiding the network of a U.S.-based cleric who is accused of masterminding the failed coup in 2016, the state-run news agency reported. The seven were accused of supporting the coup through their work for the newspaper Sozcu, which has …

France 24 reports: President Donald Trump’s administration said Tuesday it does not consider the mass killings of Armenians in 1915 to be genocide, seeking to placate Turkey which was angered that the US Congress recognized it as such. “The position of the administration has not changed” after the votes by Congress, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a terse …

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 …

The Daily Beast reports: Senior White House staff asked Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to block the resolution that would officially recognize the Armenian genocide passed by the House in October because it was likely to infuriate Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Graham confirmed to Axios that after he was asked to block the measure, he said, “Sure.” “The only reason …

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 …

NBC News reports: Former national security adviser John Bolton derided President Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law during a private speech last week and suggested his former boss’ approach to U.S. policy on Turkey is motivated by personal or financial interests, several people who were present for the remarks told NBC News. According to six people who were there, Bolton also …

The Associated Press reports: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday issued a veiled threat suggesting Turkey could release the Islamic State group prisoners it holds and send them to Europe, angered at a EU decision to impose sanctions on his country over its drilling for gas in Mediterranean waters off Cyprus. Speaking to reporters before a visit to the …

USA Today reports: The Pentagon is preparing to send tanks and armored vehicles to Syrian oil fields, according to a U.S. official – a stunning reversal of President Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from the war-torn country after he declared victory over ISIS. The deployment of heavy armor to Syria would represent a significant escalation in the fight, requiring …

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 …

NBC News reports: In the days after President Donald Trump paved the way for Turkey to invade Syria, several of his closest allies went to the White House — twice — to try to change his mind, according to four people familiar with the meetings. Retired Gen. Jack Keane, a Fox News analyst, first walked the president through a map …

The New York Times reports: American forces and their Kurdish-led partners in Syria had been conducting as many as a dozen counterterrorism missions a day against Islamic State militants, officials said. That has stopped. Those same partners, the Syrian Democratic Forces, had also been quietly releasing some Islamic State prisoners and incorporating them into their ranks, in part as a …

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump is prepared to use military force against Turkey over its actions in Syria in the event that such is “needed,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday as U.S. troops withdraw from the region. “We prefer peace to war,” Pompeo told CNBC’s Wilfred Frost in a taped interview that aired on “Closing Bell” on Monday. …

Roll Call reports: This week the House will consider a package of sanctions against Turkey and an election security measure, while the Senate will finally bring some fiscal 2020 appropriations bills to the floor. The Turkey sanctions measure is being brought to the House floor despite last week’s U.S.-Turkey announcement of a 120-hour ceasefire in northern Syria. Speaker Nancy Pelosi …

Politico reports: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday trolled President Trump over his recent letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, tweeting a mock archival letter from former President Kennedy to former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev that originally appeared on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” “Don’t be a dick, ok? Get your missiles out of Cuba. Everybody will say …

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 …