Tag Archives: Turkey

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 …

CBS News reports: President Trump insisted Friday that Kurdish allies who were being forced from northern Syria to avoid slaughter are “very happy about the way things are going,” describing the already breached ceasefire brokered with Turkey like a business deal. The president also said the U.S. has taken control of oil in the region, although it’s unclear what he …

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 …

The Washington Post reports: Sen. Mitt Romney delivered perhaps the most thorough Republican rebuke of President Trump’s Syria withdrawal Thursday, calling Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds there “a bloodstain on the annals of American history.” But while that line will get a lot of play, there’s something else Romney said that shouldn’t escape notice. He also floated a theory about …

ABC News reports: Turkey has agreed to a ceasefire in northern Syria between its forces and their allied rebels and U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds, Vice President Mike Pence announced. Pence met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thursday to push for a ceasefire. Erdogan had repeatedly rejected the idea, saying his government would not negotiate with what it considers a terrorist …