Turkey for the month of June

Turkey says Iraqi Kurdish plan
for independence vote a ‘terrible mistake’
Turkey called a plan by Iraqi Kurds to hold a referendum on independence a "terrible mistake", saying on Friday that Iraq's territorial integrity and political unity was a fundamental principle for Ankara.
Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region said this week it would hold a referendum on independence, a move that is also unlikely to be welcomed by the central government in Baghdad....

Car bomb in southeast Turkey
 wounds three people: governor's office
Two soldiers and a civilian were wounded when a car bomb exploded outside a gendarmerie station in Turkey's southeastern province of Batman on Friday, the local governor's office said.
The bomber was a suspected Kurdish militant who drove a stolen car through a police checkpoint and blew it up in front of the station in the Bekirhan district, the governor's office said....

At least 1 killed, 4 hurt in gunfire
and bomb attack in Turkey
Two suspected Kurdish militias on Friday opened fire on a car belonging to a local mayor, then blew up their vehicle near a military police station in southeast Turkey, officials said.
one person was killed and four people were wounded in the attacks and one of the assailants was killed, officials said.
The governor's office in the mainly Kurdish province of Batman said the attackers missed the vehicle of the mayor of Kozluk, but hit another car, killing a teacher and slightly wounding another passenger.....

Turkish military will protect Qatari regime if necessary
In the deepening crisis between Qatar and a Saudi-led coalition, Ankara faces yet another test of its rhetoric versus its actual abilities. Ankara tried to give the impression of being a mediator in the first two days of the crisis but suddenly made a dramatic reversal and adopted a pro-Qatar position. Ankara cannot easily resume its mediator role, especially since the parliament authorized Turkey to send 3,000-5,000 soldiers to Qatar, which allows them to assist with internal security should there be mass popular movements against the rule of Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani....

Turkish crackdown snares Amnesty International chair
As the Turkish government keeps up the witch hunt against even its mildest critics, it seemed inevitable that it would shift its gaze to international rights groups monitoring the ballooning abuses across the country. Sure enough, on June 6, police detained the local chair of Amnesty International, Taner Kilic, together with 22 fellow lawyers over their alleged links to Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based Turkish cleric whose disciples appear to have participated in large numbers in the failed July coup.

Turkey opposition MP jailed for 25 years
 for 'spying'
Enis Berberoglu, sentenced for passing video of Turkish trucks heading to Syria loaded with weapons, is first CHP MP to be jailed since 1980
A Turkish court sentenced main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) politician Enis Berberoglu to 25 years in prison for "espionage" on Wednesday, making him the first sitting CHP MP to be imprisoned since the 1980 military coup....

Police arrest two
 over US Turkish embassy brawl
Videos show one of the suspects kicking protesters during Erdogan's visit to Washington, according to report

Dozens held in probe into FETÖ-linked
 Bank Asya
Arrest warrants issued for 78 suspects including former executives of Islamic lender
Turkish police arrested Friday at least 42 suspects as part of an ongoing investigation into Bank Asya, an Islamic lender affiliated with Fetullah Terrorist Organization........

Over 700 soldiers get food poisoning
at military base in western Turkey
Over 700 soldiers have required medical aid since complaining of nausea and vomiting after a tainted meal at a military compound in the western Turkish province of Manisa, which already saw a mass food poisoning last month that left one soldier dead.
The Manisa Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement on Sunday that 731 soldiers have been affected........

Turkey's Erdogan calls for review
 of Nato over US arming of Kurds fighting Isil in Syria

Erdogan rejects Saudi demand 
to pull Turkish troops out of Qatar
Turkey’s president condemns request as a ‘very ugly approach’ and dismisses other demands made of Qatar by Gulf states
Turkey’s president has described as disrespectful a demand by Saudi Arabia and its allies that it withdraw its troops from Qatar as a step towards ending a deepening dispute with the besieged Gulf state......
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened the US on Sunday over its arming of Kurdish forces in Syria, calling for a review of the Nato military alliance in response.  
“At one side we will be together in Nato but on the other side you will act together with terror organisations,” he said in reference to the US-led coalition support to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is dominated by the Kurdish People's Protection Forces (YPG) Turkey considers terrorists......

Kurdish YPG plans to take Azaz-Jarablus area in Syria: statement
The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia aims to "liberate" the area between Azaz and Jarablus held by Turkey-backed Syrian rebels, a YPG commander said in a statement.
Commander Sipan Hemo did not give a timeline or details of plans to take the area, which was seized by the Turkey-backed rebels last autumn from Islamic State, but said he regarded Turkey as an occupying force there.........