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Friday, March 2, 2018

Tracking Turkey for the month of February 2018


Erdogan's days will come to an end pretty soon .... I hope.

Turkey resumes pressure on US Consulate staff
Turkey has reneged on its pledge to not hound locally employed staff at US missions on its soil, with police interrogating a Turkish citizen working for the US Consulate in Istanbul yesterday, Al-Monitor has learned. The move could likely accelerate the US administration's plans to apply targeted visa sanctions against Turkish officials deemed to be involved in the unlawful detentions of US Consulate staff, provided that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gives final approval, sources close to the Donald Trump administration told Al-Monitor.

Turkey roundtable: War at two fronts?
Experts evaluate Turkey's recent incursions against the ISIL and the PKK.
In the aftermath of the July 20  suicide attack in Turkey's southern town of Suruc on the Syrian border, the Turkish army engaged in a series of military strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) as well as the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Al Jazeera asked four Turkish political experts to share their assessment on Turkey's policy shift vis-a-vis the war on ISIL, following months of reluctance to militarily act against the group.......




Turkey detains nearly 600 for opposing Syrian offensive
Turkey has so far detained 573 people for social media posts and protests criticizing its military offensive in Syria, the government said on Monday.
The crackdown, which has extended to the national medical association, has deepened concerns about free speech under President Tayyip Erdogan, who has criticized opponents of the military intervention as “traitors”. ....

Over 20 FETÖ suspects arrested across Turkey
Police rounded up suspects for their alleged links to FETÖ terror group in various provinces
More than 20 suspects were arrested over links to Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup attempt, as part of nationwide counter-terror raids, police sources said Monday....

Erdogan’s war on Syria 
Turkey’s decision to invade northern Syria has foreign policy implications far beyond the Middle East. What are Ankara’s objectives in Syria and the region? Does it facilitate or hinder a final peace settlement to Syria’s proxy civil war. And what is Turkey’s future in NATO?
CrossTalking with Dan Glazebrook, Sami Ramadani, and Cengiz Tomar.

Two Turkish troops killed after military helicopter shot down in Syria 
during operation against Kurdish forces
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says those responsible will 'suffer the consequences'
A Turkish military helicopter has been shot down in northern Syria during an operation against Kurdish forces, killing two soldiers, according to Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Speaking in Istanbul, Mr Erdogan did not mention the name of the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units or YPG but said those responsible would pay for their actions.......




Pro-government fighters move into Syria's Afrin
Convoy of 20 vehicles with dozens of fighters enters the besieged Kurdish-held region but met by Turkish artillery. ..




ANALYSIS: Turkey's adultery debate, when the personal becomes political
Erdogan's push to re-criminalise adultery reignites row that has dogged politics for decades - and left many secularists feeling creep of religion
It was a bolt out of the blue when Turkey's president once again asked for the criminalisation of adultery in the middle of a government process to seek tough punishments, including chemical castration, for child abusers.
On 20 February, after the announcement that tough new measures against child abusers were being brought to parliament, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "During the EU process – and I must admit this is self-criticism – an error was committed by us.....




Turkish Warships Threaten To Sink Italian Drillship In Cypriot Waters
Amid escalating tensions between Cyprus and Turkey in the Mediterranean Sea, the two countries appear headed towards an inevitable resource war....

Turkey's march on Manbij stalled by wall of reality

Turkey’s Syria adventure is heading into deeper uncertainty, facing obscure American and Russian moves and the bitter realities of the field. The idea was to finish the operation against the Kurds in Afrin quickly and march on to Manbij. Then, Turkey's military planned to cross to the eastern side of the Euphrates River and deliver major blows to the main body of the Kurdish "democratic autonomy" in areas like Ras al-Ain and Tell Abyad, where Kurds do not have ethnic majorities.

Turkey deploys special forces to Afrin, Syria in ‘preparation for new fight’ 

 Ankara has sent police special forces units to the northern Syrian region of Afrin in anticipation of a new phase of its campaign against the Kurdish militias. It also says the UN-backed ceasefire does not affect its operation.

The special forces units crossed into Syrian territory from the southern Turkish provinces of Kilis and Hatay, local media reported. The new forces are expected to hold villages taken by Turkish troops from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) as well as to take part in urban combat as Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch apparently moves from the countryside to the major settlements....

Satan's eating habits latest topic of Turkish public debate
Diyanet, Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate, has become one of the most popular trending topics on social media lately. On Feb. 3, Diyanet’s latest religious decree caused an uproar. On its high-traffic, interactive web page — where the public can post questions and religious experts share their replies — a controversial topic recently appeared....

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been criticised 
for telling a young girl dressed in a military uniform that she would be honoured if she were "martyred" for Turkey.

Mr Erdogan spotted six-year-old Amine Tiras, who wept and saluted as part of the crowd while he delivered a speech at his ruling party's congress in the city of Kahramanmaras on Saturday, and had her brought on stage.
After trying to comfort the girl by kissing her on both cheeks, Mr Erdogan told the crowd: "She has the Turkish flag in her pocket. If she becomes a martyr, God willing, this flag will be draped on her."
Some people were appalled and took to Twitter to criticise the president....
Posted by MariaS at 16:00
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