Greater Middle East
Aleppo and Cizre: fearful symmetry
Supposed antagonists Assad and Erdogan are both in the process of reducing cities to rubble: Aleppo and Cizre, both with the connivance of the Great Powers.
Tag: Turkey
Europe
Greek court rules Turkey unsafe for refugees
A court on the Greek island of Lesbos ruled that Turkey is an "unsafe third country" for asylum seekers, throwing into doubt the EU-Turkey migrant deal.
Greater Middle East
Turkish authorities block opposition party congress
Turkish police prevented members from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) from holding a party congress in direct opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Greater Middle East
Chemical attack against Syrian Kurds: report
Amnesty International notes claims that chemical weapons were used by Syrian rebels against the besieged Kurdish enclave of Sheikh Maqsood in the divided city of Aleppo.
Greater Middle East
Turkey refuses to modify anti-terrorism law
Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄźan announced that he does not plan to change the country's anti-terrorism law, a requirement of the deal struck between Turkey and the EU.
Greater Middle East
More Green Berets to Syria: on whose side?
Obama is to mobilize 250 troops to Syria, helping Arab militias fight ISIS. Will these militias be brought under the Kurdish-led coalition—or will the Kurds be isolated to appease Turkey?
Greater Middle East
Revolution in Syria and Turkey: mutual betrayal?
One of the greatest tragedies on the global stage now is that revolutions are going on in both Syria and Turkey—and they are being pitted against each other in the Great Game.
Europe
Mass deportations to Turkey must stop: rights groups
Thousands of migrants are being held in detention camps in Greece and many are returned to Turkey without proper asylum hearings, rights groups and aid agencies protest.
Greater Middle East
Amnesty: Turkey forcibly returning Syrian refugees
Turkey has been forcibly returning up to 100 refugees to Syria per day since mid-January, Amnesty International charges—casting doubt on Ankara’s migrant deal with the EU.
The Caucasus
Nagorno-Karabakh in Russo-Turkish game
As the worst fighting since a 1994 truce breaks out in Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey’s President Erdogan asserts himself as protector of Azerbaijan, pledging to back Baku “to the end.” (Map: Wikipedia)
Greater Middle East
Syria: CIA-armed rebels vs. Pentagon-armed rebels?
Is the Kurdish-Arab fighting in northern Syria pitting the Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces against FSA-aligned Islamist factions armed by the CIA?
Greater Middle East
War criminal Erdogan calls for Assad trial
Turkey's President Erdogan, escalating to genocide in his counterinsurgency against the Kurds, called for the prosecution of Syria's Assad by the International Criminal Court.