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Turkey Tag

Posted by Amy Miller on July 23, 2015 7 Comments
The Wall Street Journal is reporting via defense officials that Ankara has agreed to allow the United States to launch air strikes against ISIS from the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey. This is a departure from previous Turkish policy, which until now only allowed drone launches from the base. No Turkish aircraft will be used in any strikes launched by the US. Reuters reports that a deal between President Obama and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan may have been reached as early as Wednesday; White House press secretary Josh Earnest told the media today that the two leaders have reached an agreement to "deepen" cooperation in the fight against ISIS, but didn't go into details. Turkey's concerns about the violence in Syria go beyond the threat ISIS poses to the rest of the world. Until now, Turkish officials have refused to lead on the Islamic State pushback, citing concerns that merely taking out ISIS will not quash the violence caused by intra-Syrian conflict. Ankara has advocated for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in exchange for a larger role.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 07, 2015 7 Comments
I was against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before it was cool to be against Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. My first post warning of his anti-democratic, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic tendancies was on January 31, 2009, barely four months after the launch of Legal Insurrection in mid-October 2008. We continued to follow Erdogan's progression over the years, as he became more and more authoritarian and Islamist, undermining secular institutions such as the judiciary and military, repressing the press, and cracking down on social media. Erdogan was an obsessive Israel hater long before the deaths on board the Gaza Flotilla Erdogan's party helped organize in 2010. Those 2010 deaths, when Israeli soldiers boarding the main ship were attacked, turned Erdogan's anti-Israeli obsession wild. But more than anything, Erdogan turned to Jew-baiting to whip his supporters into frenzies. Erdogan became a paranoid bully who saw Jewish conspiracies behind opposition to his policies. On the eve of parliamentary elections held today, Erdogan lashed out at "Jewish" media:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 15, 2015 8 Comments
We have been warning about for years about Turkey's Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Erdogan systematically has set out to dismantl civil society and the secular military and foamed at the mouth about Israel, often through then Foreign Minister, now Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu: The Islamist terror attacks in Paris have not changed Erdoğan's theatrics and paranoia:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday blasted Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu for "daring" to attend an anti-terror solidarity march in Paris, accusing him of leading "state terrorism" against the Palestinians. The comments, at a press conference in Ankara with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, were the latest verbal assault against Netanyahu by Erdogan under whose rule Turkey's relations with Israel have steadily deteriorated.
Is Erdoğan crazy? He sure has crazy theories that cover up for the Turkish intrigue in allowing the flow of Islamist fighters into Syria and Iraq:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 12, 2014 18 Comments
We've been writing about the lack of a free and independent Kurdistan for years, It’s time for a free and independent Kurdistan. While the Palestinian agenda has dominated every international forum, the much more populous and ethnically distinct Kurds have been mostly ignored.  In part, this is because the Kurds span several nation states created by colonial powers after the implosion of the Ottomon Empire.  Turkey particularly has threatened war if a Kurdish nation emerges. In part it is because creating an independent Kurdistan does do not serve a political purpose of snuffing out the only Jewish state in the region. Developments are moving fast that could change everything. Syria lost control of its Kurd territory during the ongoing civil war, and the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan has operated independently for years. With Iraq losing control of vast territory, and the U.S. not anxious to do anything to help, the Kurds have claimed Kirkuk for their own, as the BBC reports, Iraqi Kurds 'fully control Kirkuk' as army flees:
Iraqi Kurdish forces say they have taken full control of the northern oil city of Kirkuk as the army flees before an Islamist offensive nearby. "The whole of Kirkuk has fallen into the hands of peshmerga," Kurdish spokesman Jabbar Yawar told Reuters. "No Iraq army remains in Kirkuk now." Kurdish fighters are seen as a bulwark against Sunni Muslim insurgents.

Posted by Mandy Nagy on June 01, 2014 1 Comment
Saturday marked the one year anniversary of the Gezi Park protests that subsequently persisted for months in Turkey last year.  As many tried to gather to commemorate that anniversary, authorities responded on Saturday by blocking access to some locations and cracking down on some of the protesters. From Reuters:
Turkish police fired teargas and water cannon on Saturday to disperse protesters in central Istanbul who sought to mark the one-year anniversary of the country's biggest anti-government demonstrations in decades. Authorities closed roads and stopped public transport to deny access to Taksim Square and the adjoining Gezi Park where government plans to raze the green space and build a shopping mall sparked last year's unrest. Police lines kept back activists who had hoped to read a statement at Taksim Square and lay flowers at the park to commemorate the deaths of at least six people in the protests against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's rule. Another half-dozen people died in sporadic unrest in the ensuing months as anger at Erdogan and his AK Party simmered.
Turkish plainclothes police also harassed a CNN reporter Saturday as he was in the midst of a live broadcast. From CNN:

Posted by Mandy Nagy on April 03, 2014 2 Comments

The government of Turkey says it is lifting a recent ban on Twitter after a court ruling declared that the ban violated freedom of expression. From the Associated Press: Turkey's government said Thursday it is lifting its ban on Twitter, a day after the country's highest court...

Posted by Leslie Eastman on March 22, 2014 2 Comments
One of the memes hitting the blogosphere recently has been that the US just "gave up control of the internet". This week on Canto Talk, Legal Insurrection's Mandy Nagy explained why that wasn't the case. (Skip ahead to 14:50 for Mandy's appearance; she also gives us her regular Obamacare update).
Popular Politics Internet Radio with Silvio Canto Jr on BlogTalkRadio
As Mandy explained it, the US has been responsible for coordinating the Internet’s domain names (e.g. "legalinsurrection.com") and with the number-based IP address that computers use to bring order to the different devices and destinations on the Internet. The government has subcontracted this function out for years (probably why it works as well as it does). It essentially has done nothing more than send the work to another subcontractor. A Fox News piece provides further details:

Posted by Leslie Eastman on December 28, 2013 9 Comments
Christmas is a celebration of "peace on Earth, goodwill toward men", and Santa Claus is famed for spreading joy to children throughout the world. However, reports from Turkey and the Balkans show that the image of Saint Nick is taking a beating. Literally. From the Hurriyet Daily News, which covers Turkey and the region:
A Muslim youth group and a neighborhood authority led two separate anti-Santa campaigns on the eve of Christmas in Turkey. The Istanbul University branch of a group called Anatolia Youth Association (AGD) released an illustration of a Muslim youth punching Santa Claus in the face and announced that it would make a press statement against Christmas on Dec. 26 in Istanbul. The group announced the event with a statement titled “Muslim, return to yourself!” adding that “Christmas is a Christianity practice.” The group also criticized the celebration of New Year’s Day, saying that the two dates were “mixed” and “united.” It claimed that celebrating Christmas and New Year’s Day was “wrong” and constituted “a blow dealt to Muslimism.”
The Blaze reports the image has spread to the Balkans:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 03, 2013 2 Comments
In an interview airing now on Lebanese OTV television, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah discusses the Iranian nuclear deal (summary translation via NOW Lebanon):
The Iran nuclear deal has significant repercussions. The region’s peoples are the biggest winners from this deal because regional and international forces have been pushing for war with Iran which would have had dangerous repercussions in the region. The deal pushed off the [potential Israeli and US] war [against Iran]. Israel cannot possibly bomb nuclear facilities without the US’ green light. Monopoly of power is no longer present. All American wars have failed. John Kerry made it clear that the US does not want more wars. The US and Europe have failed in the region. It is unlikely that normalization will take place. Iranians wanted to reassure the Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia. [interview in progress, check link for more]
More translation at Naharnet:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 14, 2013 23 Comments
While everyone has been focused on the Obamacare and Iranian-nuke debacles, the Kurdish region of Syria declared itself autonomous, which combined with the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq and the large Kurdish region in Turkey, may mark a significant step towards the establishment of a Kurdish state. Since the Kurds are not in conflict with Jews (and generally are quite friendly towards Israel), Kurdish national aspirations don't get much attention at the U.N. or elsewhere. No one much cares that Kurds, a truly distinctive cultural identity who number several times the "Palestinians," do not have a nation of their own. As reported by Al Arabiya:
Following a series of military gains, Syrian Kurds in the northeast of the country announced on Tuesday the formation of a transitional autonomous government. The latest declaration comes amid a general strengthening of Kurdish rights in neighboring Turkey, and increasing moves towards independence by Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region. Long oppressed under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his father before him, Kurds view the civil war as an opportunity to gain the kind of autonomy enjoyed by their ethnic kin in neighboring Iraq. The announcement was made after talks in the mostly-Kurdish town of Qamishli, and comes after Kurdish leaders announced plans to create the temporary government in July.
Intra-Kurdish rivalries pose a major danger to the autonomy holding. Turkey, which repeatedly has taken military action against Kurdish separatists (resulting in world silence, unlike when Israel defends itself against outside attack), is not pleased:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 02, 2013 2 Comments

But you knew that, because we have been following the antics of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for years. Erdogan blames the Jews for Egypt and he has video! (so do we) Turkish Deputy Prime Minister blames “Jewish Diaspora” for Gezi Park protests Turkish Prime Minister drops...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 20, 2013 17 Comments

Don't say we didn't warn you repeatedly about Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his administration: Turkish Deputy Prime Minister blames “Jewish Diaspora” for Gezi Park protests Turkish Prime Minister drops what little is left of his moderate mask Turkish Foreign Minister salutes “all those martyrs who were...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 11, 2013 23 Comments

Why not? The Kurds out number Palestinians several times over, and unlike Palestinians, have a real ethnic and cultural distinction from surrounding Arabs (and in Turkey, Turks). But for Europeans drawing lines on maps and Turkish national ambitions, there should have been an independent nation for...

Posted by Mandy Nagy on August 06, 2013 4 Comments

A former military chief in Turkey was sentenced to life in prison and more than a dozen others received lengthy prison sentences after a court handed down verdicts Monday in a long-standing case that has divided the country. From the New York Times: A Turkish court sentenced...

Posted by Mandy Nagy on July 06, 2013 4 Comments

Police in Turkey were cracking down Saturday on protesters who returned to Taksim Square, a site that has been the subject of protests for over a month.  Reports indicate that police are using water cannons and tear gas against the protesters. From the Associated Press: Police on...

Posted by Mandy Nagy on July 03, 2013 4 Comments

In a June decision that was just published Wednesday, a Turkish court ruled that plans to redevelop Istanbul’s Taksim Square and adjacent Gezi Park must be canceled.  The site was a trigger point for protests that grew into a larger anti-government movement, fueled by opposition to...

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 02, 2013 9 Comments

We have noted time and again that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's hostility towards Israel seemed pathological, not political.  It's not just Erdogan.  The Turkish Foreign Minister has praised the martyrs against Israel. Now the Deputy Prime Minister has has suggested a Jewish conspiracy behind the protests centered...

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