Military coup underway in Turkey

Erdogan: 'Fresh page' for US relations with Trump

ISTANBUL (AP) April 28, 2017 — Turkey's president says a "fresh page" in Turkish-American relations can be opened with President Donald Trump's administration, as high-level dialogue has intensified since January. Speaking in Istanbul on Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he sees "signs that Mr. Trump will exhibit a more decisive stance than the previous administration in terms of combatting terror."

Erdogan repeated his criticism of the U.S. alliance with Syrian Kurdish militias that Turkey deems "terrorists." He says that giving the Kurds concrete support "is damaging the spirit of alliance and partnership."

Erdogan adds: "Now Turkey, the Free Syrian Army, along with the coalition led by America, can clear these 2,500-5,000 terrorists. It's not difficult for us and we would succeed." Erdogan and Trump are scheduled to meet in Washington on May 16.

Wait a minute, which Kurds is he talking about? The marxist ones or the sane ones?

Just announced on TV - Turkey has stopped access in the country to Wikipedia, no reason given.   LL

https://turkeyblocks.org/2017/04/29/wikipedia-blocked-turkey/

Right.......

Report: Turkish military convoy moves closer to Syrian Kurds

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey's military has relocated a convoy of armored vehicles and personnel carriers to a base near the Syrian border as tensions with U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militants escalate, local media and activists reported Saturday.

Footage shot Friday night showed a long line of trucks carrying military vehicles driving to the area. The private Ihlas news agency reported the convoy was heading to southeastern Sanliurfa province from Kilis in the west. The agency said the relocation comes after Turkish officials announced the completion of a phase of Turkey's cross-border operation in Syria, adding that the force may be used against Syrian Kurdish militants "if needed."

Turkish officials announced the conclusion of Euphrates Shield in March but have said they would continue combatting terror to make its borders safe, pointing to both the Islamic State group and Kurdish militants.

The reported relocation comes as tensions between Turkey and Syria's Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) have been rising. Turkey conducted airstrikes against the group in Syria and Iraq on Tuesday, saying it killed at least 90 militants and wounded scores. The Kurdish group said it lost 20 fighters and media activists in the strike, which was followed by cross-border clashes between the two sides.

The military said the YPG has targeted Turkish border posts from Afrin and Tal Abyad, areas held by the group in northern Syria. Turkey's military responded with howitzers. Ankara views the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds as a terror organization and an extension of Kurdish militants waging a three-decade-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

The YPG forms the backbone of the U.S-backed Syria Democratic Forces and is Washington's ally in the fight against IS on the ground in Syria. Redur Khalil, the spokesman for the YPG in Syria, said his group has information that Turkey is reinforcing its border posts opposite Tal Abyad as well as other border posts. He said the purpose of the military reinforcement was not clear.

"We hope that this military mobilization is not meant to provoke our forces or for another purpose linked to entering Syrian territories. We don't want any military confrontation between us since our priority is to fight Daesh in Raqqa and Tabqa," Khalil told The Associated Press in a series of text messages, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Khalil said his forces are not building up in the area and added that the international coalition is now "monitoring" the border. The escalation led to U.S. patrols along the border in Syria. Kurdish officials said the patrols are to monitor the border and prevent an increase in tensions with Turkey, a NATO member and U.S. ally.

Turkey's president on Saturday repeated his call to the U.S. to cease its support of the YPG in combatting IS. "The YPG, and you know who's supporting them, is attacking us with mortars. But we will make those places their grave, there is no stopping," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Instead of working with the Syrian Kurds, Turkey is pressing the U.S. to let its army join the campaign for Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of IS. Stating that his country is leading the most effective campaign against IS, Erdogan said: "Let us, huge America, all these coalition powers and Turkey, let us join hands and turn Raqqa to Daesh's grave."

So, we've got one NATO member attacking the proxy army of another NATO member? The world's gone mad.

Turkish court formally blocks access to Wikipedia

ISTANBUL (AP) — In a move that social media users called censorship, a Turkish court on Saturday blocked access to Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, enforcing an earlier restriction by Turkey's telecommunications watchdog.

The Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) said an Ankara court ordered Saturday that a "protection measure" related to suspected internet crimes be applied to Wikipedia. Such measures are used to block access to pages or entire websites to protect "national security and public order."

In response, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales tweeted his support for those who labeled the decision censorship: "Access to information is a fundamental human right. Turkish people I will always stand with you to fight for this right."

Turkey Blocks, an internet censorship monitor, said users in Turkey have been unable to access all language editions of Wikipedia since 8 a.m. Saturday. "The loss of availability is consistent with internet filters used to censor content in the country," the monitor said.

The site had initially been blocked by BTK under a provisional administration measure. The exact reason for the ban remains unclear. But Turkey's official news agency, quoting the Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications, said Saturday the site was blocked for "becoming an information source acting with groups conducting a smear campaign against Turkey in the international arena."

The state-run Anadolu Agency said officials had warned Wikipedia to remove content likening Turkey to terror groups but the site "persistently" did not. Turkey had demanded that Wikipedia open an office in the country, act in line with international law and abide by court decisions and not be part of "blackout operation against Turkey," according to the agency.

Anadolu said if these demands are met and the content removed, the site would be reopened. Opposition lawmakers also criticized the court order. Republican People's Party parliamentarians Eren Erdem tweeted the ban puts "Turkey in line with North Korea" while Baris Yarkadas called it "censorship and a violation of the right to access information."

Turkey's status is listed as "not free" on the 2016 Freedom on the Net index by independent rights watchdog Freedom House. It says over 111,000 websites were blocked as of May last year. Wikipedia, a collaborative online reference work, says it is ranked among the 10 most popular websites.

Tensions rise between Turkey, US along Syrian border

ISTANBUL (AP) — Tensions rose Saturday along the Turkish-Syrian border as both Turkey and the U.S. moved armored vehicles to the region and Turkey's leader once again demanded that the United States stop supporting the Syrian Kurdish militants there.

The relocation of Turkish troops to an area near the border with Syria comes a day after U.S. troops were seen patrolling the tense border in Syria. Those patrols followed a Turkish airstrike against bases of Syrian Kurdish militia, Washington's main ally in combating Islamic State militants in Syria.

More U.S. troops were seen Saturday in armored vehicles in Syria in Kurdish areas. Kurdish officials describe U.S. troop movement as "buffer" between them and Turkey. But Turkey views Syria's Kurdish People's Protection Units, known as YPG, as a terrorist organization and an extension of the Kurdish militants who have been waging a three-decade-long insurgency against Turkey.

"The YPG, and you know who's supporting them, is attacking us with mortars. But we will make those places their grave, there is no stopping," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Footage shot Friday night showed a long line of Turkish trucks carrying military vehicles driving to the border area. The private Ihlas news agency IHA reported the convoy was heading to southeastern Sanliurfa province from Kilis in the west. The base is 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Syria's Tal Abyad, a town controlled by the Kurdish militia.

The agency said the relocation comes after Turkish officials announced the completion of a phase of Turkey's cross-border operation of Euphrates Shield in Syria, adding that the force may be used against Syrian Kurdish militants "if needed."

Tensions in the border area rose this week when Turkey conducted airstrikes against bases for YPG group in Syria and Iraq on Tuesday. The Turkish military said it killed at least 90 militants and wounded scores. The Kurdish group in Syria said 20 of its fighters and media activists were killed in the strike, which was followed by cross-border clashes.

Erdogan hinted his country is also ready to repeat its attacks in Sinjar, Iraq, to prevent it from turning into a base for the Kurdish militia. Kurdish officials said the U.S. patrols are monitoring the Turkish-Syrian border to prevent an increase in tensions with Turkey, a NATO member and U.S. ally.

On Saturday, more U.S. troops in armored vehicles arrived in Kurdish areas, passing through Qamishli town, close to the border with Turkey. The town is mostly controlled by Kurdish forces, but Syrian government troops hold pockets of territory there, including the airport.

The convoy was followed by another of YPG militia. Some footage posted online showed Kurdish residents cheering American-flagged vehicles as they drove by. U.S. officials say the troop movement is part of its operations with the Kurdish forces in northern Syria.

Ankara sent its troops into Syria last August in a military operation triggered in large part by the Kurdish group's expansion along its borders. The issue has been a source of tension between Ankara and Washington that threatens to hamper the fight against IS. Instead of working with the Syrian Kurds, Turkey is pressing the U.S. to let its army join the campaign for Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of IS.

Erdogan is due in Washington on May 16 for his first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. Claiming that his country is leading the most effective campaign against IS, Erdogan said: "Let us, huge America, all these coalition powers and Turkey, let us join hands and turn Raqqa to Daesh's grave," using the Arabic acronym for IS.

The YPG forms the backbone of the U.S-backed Syria Democratic Forces. Redur Khalil, the spokesman for the YPG in Syria, said Turkey is reinforcing its border posts opposite Tal Abyad as well as other border posts.

"We hope that this military mobilization is not meant to provoke our forces or for another purpose linked to entering Syrian territories. We don't want any military confrontation between us, since our priority is to fight Daesh in Raqqa and Tabqa," Khalil told The Associated Press in text messages.

Khalil said his forces were not building up in the area.

What a clusterf*ck.

Turkey threatens further strikes on US-allied Syrian Kurds

BEIRUT (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday his country may take further action against Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria, as U.S.-backed forces in Syria closed in on the last neighborhoods of a former stronghold of the Islamic State group.

The U.S. views the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as the most effective partner to counter the Islamic State group in northern Syria, an assessment bolstered by the SDF's steady advances against the jihadists. But it has complicated relations with Turkey, which views the group's Kurdish component as an extension of a terror group operating inside its own borders.

In Istanbul, Erdogan insisted that U.S. support for such groups "must come to an end," and said he would bring up the matter at a meeting with President Donald Trump next month. The SDF, which include Arab fighters, seized six neighborhoods from IS militants in Tabqa on Sunday, according to the affiliated Hawar news agency.

Tabqa is 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of the Islamic State group's de facto capital Raqqa and an important stronghold for the militants. It lies next to the Tabqa Dam, one of several controlling the flow of the Euphrates River.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the SDF's control of Tabqa was "practically total." A U.S. air lift of artillery and special forces advisers to place them behind IS lines in March was a turning point in the Tabqa offensive and underscored the closeness between Washington and the SDF.

Turkey, however, has remained hostile to the Kurdish People's Protection Units, known by their Kurdish acronym the YPG, which form the backbone of the SDF. The YPG are close to the Kurdish PKK insurgent group in Turkey, which is designated as a terror organization by NATO and the U.S.

Last week, Turkey struck at YPG positions inside Syria, killing 20 fighters and media activists, according to the group, prompting Kurdish parties to call for a U.S.-enforced no-fly-zone over northern Syria.

U.S. troops were seen Saturday in armored vehicles in Syria in Kurdish areas in a show of force apparently intended to dissuade Turkey and Syrian Kurdish forces from attacking one another. Kurdish officials describe the U.S. troop movement as "buffer" between them and Turkey.

Video from northern Syria showed the U.S. patrols parked alongside Kurdish units flying the YPG flag. "We will be forced to continue (our offensives)," Erdogan said. "We won't provide a date and time for when we'll come. But they will know that the Turkish military can come."

Erdogan is due in Washington on May 16 for his first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. The YPG is distrusted by Turkish-backed anti-government forces in Syria, who say the group is an ally of President Bashar Assad's government. The YPG and Syrian government forces have largely avoided confrontation over the course of the country's six-year-long civil war.

Other Kurdish parties accuse the YPG's political arm, the PYD, of squelching dissent and embracing authoritarianism.

Erdogan: Turkey to hold referendum on EU membership

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) May 01, 2017 — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey will decide in a referendum whether to continue pursuing membership in the European Union. In an interview Monday on India television, Erdogan accused the EU of not being "sincere or honest" and of making Turkey wait at its gates.

Erdogan said: "Turkey will choose the next path of a Brexit-like referendum." Turkey, a Muslim-majority nation that straddles the Bosporus, began EU membership negotiations in 2005 but talks have made little progress.

Ties with EU nations soured before a divisive Turkish referendum in April on expanding presidential powers, with Erdogan voicing harsh criticism of several EU nations. The EU said this weekend that Turkey must provide clearer signals on whether it intends to meet EU criteria on human rights and the rule of law.

But most of the EU will heave a sigh of relief if Turkey flounces off. Any chance of them flouncing out of NATO, too?

Turkey's president rejoins ruling party after referendum win

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's president on Tuesday rejoined the ruling party he co-founded in a step on his path toward solidifying his grip on power, following his narrow victory in last month's referendum.

Most of the constitutional changes ushering in a presidential system, approved in the April 16 referendum, will take effect after the November 2019 election. But an amendment that reverses a requirement for the president to be non-partisan and cut ties with their party come into effect immediately, allowing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to return to the Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party, or AKP.

The party is expected to re-elect Erdogan as its chairman at an extraordinary congress on May 21. Erdogan symbolically signed a membership form in an emotional ceremony at the AKP's headquarters, where some party members were seen weeping. Erdogan was also seen wiping his eyes with a handkerchief.

"I am today returning to my home, my love, my passion," Erdogan said. "This yearning (for my party) is ending after 979 days." Erdogan, who was prime minister between 2003 and 2014, was forced to resign from the AKP when he became president. The father of four continued to lead the party — he once described it as his fifth child — from behind the scenes. For example, Erdogan had the final say on the list of candidates running for parliamentary seats.

The changes formalize a de-facto situation but also allow him to maintain a tighter grip on the party. Recent political history saw former Presidents Turgut Ozal and Suleyman Demirel lose control over their parties, after they become heads of state and left their parties.

"In effect, the existing, de-facto situation will become legal," said Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, director of the Ankara office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. "Erdogan attaches as much importance to controlling his party as he does the new presidential system," Unluhisarcikli said. "Political parties play an important part in the Turkish political system and a leader who controls a party holding a majority controls many things."

Erdogan arrived at the AKP headquarters in a 13-vehicle motorcade, the five-minute journey broadcast live on television channels. He was greeted at the entrance by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and other party executives.

"Welcome back to the home that you founded," Yildirim said. "Today is a historic day for Turkish politics and its democracy." Yildirim reaffirmed that Erdogan would be nominated as chairman at the congress later this month.

Erdogan's "yes" camp won the referendum with 51.4 percent of the vote against 48.6 percent for the "no" side, according to final results announced last week. The main opposition party contested the outcome, citing irregularities, and is challenging the referendum at the European Court of Human Rights, following unsuccessful Turkish high court appeals.

During his speech Tuesday, Erdogan said, however, that the European court has no jurisdiction over the referendum. "It has no right to intervene in this country's internal affairs concerning elections," Erdogan said.

The vote switches Turkey's system from a parliamentary one to a presidential system, abolishing the office of prime minister while enhancing the president's powers. Critics fears the change will lead to a one-man authoritarian rule with too few checks and balances. Erdogan and his supporters argue that a strong presidency will bring stability and more efficient government.

Erdogan and his supporters argue that a strong presidency will bring stability and more efficient government.

And no doubt the trains will run on time, too.

Erdoğan is furious that Trump agreed to arm Kurdish militants in Syria.

U.S. President Donald Trump angered ally Turkey on Tuesday, approving the Pentagon’s proposal to directly arm Syrian Kurdish militants as part of its operation to retake Raqqa from ISIS. The decision puts greater strain on the relationship between the two countries, just a week before the Turkish president’s first meeting with Trump, and risks further inflaming regional tensions that have flared in recent months.

President Tayyip Erdoğan called on Washington to reverse the decision Wednesday, saying the U.S. should support its ally, and not a terror group, as Ankara considers the Kurdish forces.

“We want to know that our allies will side with us and not with terror organizations,” Erdoğan said.

U.S. support for Kurdish forces has been a flashpoint of late in U.S.-Turkish relations. In March, the U.S. deployed troops to Manbij, Syria, to act as a buffer between feuding Turkish and Kurdish forces. U.S. forces have also patrolled the Syria-Turkey border to discourage Turkish attacks on the Kurdish militia.

Turkey provides key support to the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, including allowing airstrikes against the Sunni extremist group to be flown from an airbase in Incirlik. But the two NATO allies are starkly at odds over their positions toward Kurdish militants operating in northern Syria, known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG.

Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has been fighting for decades for an independent state for the Kurdish minority in Turkey’s southeast, and is considered a terror group by Turkey, the U.S., and the European Union. Ankara fears the Syrian Kurdish forces will establish an autonomous Kurdish statelet on its southern border, fueling the separatist ambitions of Turkish Kurds; Turkish forces have repeatedly struck Kurdish fighters in Syria.

“Both the PKK and the YPG are terrorist organizations and they are no different, apart from their names,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a news conference during a visit to Montenegro Wednesday. “Every weapon seized by them is a threat to Turkey.”

But the U.S. views the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — a diverse rebel group whose ranks are dominated by the YPG — as a critical component of its war on ISIS. Since the Obama administration, the U.S. has been assisting the group with air support and through direct arms supplies to Arab components of the SDF — some of which have indirectly made their way to Kurdish YPG fighters.

Fadi Hakura, an analyst at the Chatham House think tank, said that while the Turkish government would be “furious” over the U.S. decision, it was not unexpected as it was essentially an escalation of an Obama-era policy, now that the goal of an assault on Raqqa was in sight. He did not expect any significant blowback from Ankara, as “there’s not really much they can do.”

Since November, the SDF – with support from the U.S.-led coalition – has been advancing on Raqqa, the capital of ISIS’ so-called caliphate, ahead of a planned assault on the city that is expected to be the terror group’s last stand. Announcing the decision to step up support for the SDF Tuesday, Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said the group was “the only force on the ground that can successfully seize Raqqa in the near future.”

White stressed that the U.S. was aware of Turkey’s security concerns, and wanted to reassure the Turks that the U.S. was “committed to preventing additional security risks and protecting our NATO ally.” To this end, U.S. officials have assured their Turkish counterparts that Arab SDF fighters will lead the battle into Raqqa, and upon victory the city will be returned to local Arab governance. “We do not envision a long-term YPG presence,” White said. She also said that military equipment provided to SDF forces would be “limited, mission-specific, and metered out incrementally as objectives are reached.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said during a visit to Lithuania Wednesday that he was confident Washington and Ankara would be able to resolve the tensions. “We’ll work out any of the concerns. We will work very closely with Turkey in support of their security on their southern border,” he said.

But those assurances did little to allay Turkish concerns, with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim warning the decision would hurt Washington.

“The U.S. administration still has chances to consider Turkey’s sensitivities on the PKK,” he said. “If there is a decision otherwise, this will surely have consequences and will yield a negative result for the U.S. as well.”

Ankara has long argued that the U.S. should instead support a group of Turkish-trained Syrian rebels to lead the assault on Raqqa. But Fadi Hakura, a Turkey expert at the Chatham House think tank, said the U.S. viewed those forces as inadequate for the task, and that ultimately Erdogan doesn’t have much room to negotiate the issue.

“Erdoğan is hemmed in, with the U.S. continuing its cooperation with the YPG, while Russia is fully backing the Assad regime in Damascus,” Hakura said.

Aydin Sezer, head of the Turkey and Russia Center of Studies, said that it was now widely expected that Kurdish forces would succeed in creating an autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria — something Ankara has long feared. But he added that Turkish leadership would take comfort in knowing that key power brokers in the conflict ­— the U.S., Russia, Iran – were all committed to preserving Syria’s territorial integrity.

“Turkey is sure that there will be no independent Kurdish state in the foreseeable future,” he said.

https://news.vice.com/story/erdogan-is-furious-that-trump-agreed-to-arm-kurdish-militants-in-syria

So, Erdogan is in a bit of a pickle?

Syrian Kurds seek 'neighborly' Turkey relations.

BEIRUT (AP) — The main Kurdish force in Syria says it will seek "neighborly relations" with Turkey, which views it as a terrorist organization. Redur Khalil, the spokesman for the Kurdish militia known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG, on Thursday called on Turkey to let go of its "unjustified" fears of the group, which is battling Islamic State militants with the help of U.S.-led airstrikes.

The Trump administration says it will supply the Syrian Democratic Forces, of which the YPG is the main component, with heavier weapons ahead of a push on the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the IS group's de facto capital.

Ankara views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has been waging a decades-old insurgency in Turkey. The U.S. and other Western nations also view the PKK as a terrorist group.

Khalil dismissed the label, saying the U.S. would not supply arms to terrorists.

Khalil dismissed the label, saying the U.S. would not supply arms to terrorists.

Khalil dismissed the label, saying the U.S. would not supply arms to terrorists.



As U.S. armed forces attack ISIS in Libya, WikiLeaks is poised to remind us that ISIS is in Libya — indeed, that ISIS is ISIS — thanks to disastrous policies championed by Hillary Clinton as President Obama’s secretary of state. Also raised, yet again, is the specter of Mrs. Clinton’s lying to Congress and the American people — this time regarding a matter some of us have been trying for years to get answers about: What mission was so important the United States kept personnel in the jihadist hellhole of Benghazi in 2012? Specifically, did that mission involve arming the Syrian “rebels” — including al-Qaeda and forces that became ISIS — just as, at Mrs. Clinton’s urging, our government had armed Libyan “rebels” (again, jihadists) to catastrophic effect?

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/438605/hillary-clinton-wikileaks-benghazi-scandal-arm-syrian-rebels-al-qaeda-isis-libya-turkey

'Erdoğan's bodyguards' in violent clash with protesters in Washington DC.

Nine people hurt and two arrests made during the altercation at the Turkish ambassador’s residence in the US capital.

Nine people were hurt and two arrests were made during an altercation at the Turkish ambassador’s residence in the US capital during a visit by prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, police have said.

Doug Buchanan, a DC Fire and EMS spokesman, said two of those hurt were seriously injured and were taken to hospitals by ambulance. He said by phone that emergency personnel were called to the residence about 4:30pm Tuesday.

According to witnesses, the brawl erupted when the Turkish president’s security detail attacked protesters carrying the flag of the Kurdish PYD party outside the residence.

A local NBC television affiliate reported Erdoğan was inside the building at the time.

Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Dustin Sternbeck said the altercation broke out between two groups but he didn’t elaborate on the circumstances. He said two people were arrested, including one who was charged with assaulting a police officer.

The altercation came the same day that Erdoğan met with President Donald Trump at the White House. The State Department declined to comment.

Earlier Trump and Erdoğan had stood side by side at the White House and promised to strengthen strained ties despite the Turkish leader’s stern warning about Washington’s arming of a Kurdish militia.

Fresh from securing his grip on Turkey with a referendum to enhance his powers, Erdoğan came to the Oval Office with complaints about US support for Kurdish fighters and what Ankara says is Washington’s harbouring of the mastermind of a failed coup.

But both leaders also tried to put a brave face on their differences and to renew a key alliance between Nato’s leading power and its biggest Muslim member, partners in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

“It is absolutely unacceptable to take the YPG-PYD into consideration as partners in the region, and it’s going against a global agreement we reached,” Erdoğan said, referring to the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) in Syria.

“In the same way, we should never allow those groups who want to change the ethnic or religious structures in the region to use terrorism as a pretext,” he added, suggesting that the Kurds were using the anti-Isis fight as cover for separatist nationalism.

Has the entire world gone mad? No need to answer.....

Warrants issued for 4 people at critical newspaper in Turkey

ISTANBUL (AP) — Detention warrants were issued Friday for four senior staff at an opposition newspaper, Turkey's state-run news agency said, drawing criticism from the country's pro-secular opposition.

The state-run Anadolu news agency said Friday the warrants against the nationalist Sozcu newspaper's owner and three others were for committing crimes on behalf of the network of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen without being members.

The government blames Gulen for last summer's failed coup attempt — an allegation he denies. Sozcu is a staunch supporter of the secular legacy of Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and a sharp critic of Turkey's president and government.

Mediha Olgun, the editor of Sozcu's website, was detained and owner Burak Akbay is abroad, according to Anadolu. The private Dogan news agency said warrants were also issued for the newspaper's head of finance, Yonca Kaleli, and reporter Gokmen Ulu.

Anadolu said the prosecutors are also investigating the four for "armed rebellion against the Turkish government" and "assassinating and assaulting the president" in reference to an article by journalist Ulu on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's location hours before the coup attempt.

Sozcu's lawyer told reporters warrants for search and seizure at their homes were issued but not for detentions. The chief prosecutor in Istanbul, however, confirmed the investigation. Akbay said he was being "targeted for correct and honest journalism."

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party said the "operation" against Sozcu was "unacceptable" and called on the judiciary to act. "Turkey cannot take this pressure on the media," he said.

Lawyer Celal Ulgen called the decision "absurd, shocking" and insisted there could be no Gulen followers at Sozcu. He said the newspaper opposed the cleric. Leading columnists at the paper protested the investigation. "This is what happens to the opposition in Turkey, this is what will happen to opposition newspapers but we won't give up and we won't be silent," said Emin Colasan, a senior journalist.

Since the declaration of a state of emergency after the July 15 failed coup, some 140 media organizations have been closed by executive decrees. More than 47,000 people have been arrested for alleged links to groups Turkey lists as terror organizations, including Gulen's network. Among them are 165 journalists, according to Platform 24, an independent watchdog.

This is getting really bad, LL, and nothing and no-one seems to be able to stand up to Erdogan.

I watched the video of his thugs attacking protesters in Washington - it's here, among other sites:





Ceren Borazan claimed a member of President Erdogan's security detail threatened to kill her outside the Turkish embassy in Washington where Kurdish people were holding a protest

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4519858/Erdogan-s-security-guards-tried-kill-me.html#ixzz4hYjbzcxG
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If they feel able to behave like that in the US, in front of the US police and cameras, I shudder to think what they are doing inside Turkey itself.