Tag Archives: Turkey

NATO – ISIS – Turkey’s Weakened Stance

10 Wednesday Sep 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Politics, Regions, Turkey

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Under perhaps the pretext of defending Turkey from ISIS, Turkish Prime Minister, now President Recept Tayyip Erdogan appears to have methodically trounced basic western values in the maintenance of open responsible and responsive governance.

When this past June ISIS took control of Turkey’s embassy in Mosul, Iraq, which site it today uses for its headquarters, and kept hostages, then Prime Minister Erdogan ordered coverage of the matter kept out of the state’s news: whatever was to happen, Turks would not be able to follow it in a free press.

When ISIS then “offered” (or ordered, for this matter also appears dark) ISIS oil in exchange for Turkish cash, it appears then Prime Minister Erdogan accepted the offer (which perhaps he could not refuse, either for defensive purposes or patently offensive ones — i.e., perhaps nothing beats hiding a venal intent behind one’s own hostages).

In the matter of NATO radar defense arrangements in Turkey, then Prime Minister Erdogan whined across months that the same not be used to protect Israel (“the only democracy in the”  yada-yada and once robust trading and defense partner with Turkey).

Finally, and with unmistakable reference to anti-Semitism, now President Erdogan has refused Israel an oil pipeline westward.

Back in May: “At least 10 firms bid for Israel-Turkey gas pipeline: Report.”

Yesterday: “Turkey nixes energy partnerships with Israel.”

While Turkey may wish to look strong as a Muslim-majority state and reliable as a NATO partner, anti-Semitism itself has a reputation as a great deflector of attention away from mediocrity and weakness.

Additional Reference

Turkey’s discomfort with NATO and its pro-Semitic western stance comes through its lax border control, which it is now being asked to address, its battering relationship with the Jewish State, and its perhaps compliant position with the Islamic State — and saying it ain’t so won’t prove it ain’t so as now President Erdogan perhaps walks down both a familiar and increasingly lonely road.  He may feel enlarged, as autocrats do, by the “narcissistic supply” arranged through deflection and cultivated with pandering,  but as that story grows large too in the chaos and disruption it engenders, it never ends well for the host.

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When ISIS took Turkish photojournalist Bunyamin Aygun hostage in 2013, he said the militants repeatedly told him “Turkey is next.” After the first few weeks of his detainment, he was transferred to an ISIS brigade made up of mostly Turks. “They rained curses on Erdogan, and Davutoglu, saying they were ‘infidels,’” Aygun told al-Monitor. “They claimed that if Turkey sealed the border gates that were under IS control they would hit one Turkish village after the other and trigger a civil war inside Turkey.”

http://www.ibtimes.com/nato-coalition-against-isis-turkey-role-mostly-symbolic-1680708 – 9/7/2014.

Since Turkey’s 49 consulate staff and their family members were taken hostage in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on June 11, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has taken all measures to keep the public in the dark on the issue.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/daloglu-mosul-hostage-crisis-erdogan-isis-iraq-turkey.html#ixzz3Cv1ThPsZ – 6/25/2014.

Mahmut Tanal, a lawmaker from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told The Daily Beast he was trying to get an official government comment on reports saying that ISIS was exporting up to 4,000 tons of fuel to Turkey every day and earning $15 million every month from the trade. “I am expecting some answers here,” he said.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/08/is-nato-ally-turkey-tacitly-fueling-the-isis-war-machine.html – 9/8/2014.

“For energy projects to proceed, the human tragedy in Gaza will have to be stopped and Israel will have to instate a permanent peace there with all elements,” Yildiz told reporters in Ankara, referring to the recent counter-terror Operation Protective Edge.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/184930#.VBBOQcJdV8E -“Turkey Refuses to Transfer ‘Inhumane’ Israeli Gas to Europe” – 9/9/2014.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/zaman-isis-turkeys-mosul-consulate-headquarter-iraq.html – 7/17/2014

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/turkey-tomb-suleiman-shah-syrian-territory-pretext-incursion.html# – 3/27/2014.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/04/turkey-syria-borders-smuggling-guns-conflict-kurds-pkk-isis.html##ixzz3Cv7wzwGu – 4/30/2014.

An 18-vehicle convoy was dispatched to the Tomb of Suleiman Shah to rotate the troops and resupply. The convoy entered Syria from the YPG-controlled Kobani and returned via ISIS-controlled Jarablus. A Syrian Kurdish source told Al-Monitor that, as per the accord reached with the officials of the “Kobani canton” who recently visited Turkey, the YPG provided security to the Turkish army convoy while passing through Kurdish-controlled area. According to this source, the convoy was stopped by ISIS in Cadde village, three kilometers [two miles] from the tomb, after it left the Kurdish area. Since official sources kept mum on what transpired at Cadde and along the way, speculation grew.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/09/turkey-usa-syria-iraq-isis-coalition.html##ixzz3CvAeBuNa – 9/8/2014.

Needless to say, if Obama would find an enthusiastic NATO ally in his quest to construct a coalition to deal with IS, his attitude toward his Turkish counterpart might be different. Yet, Turkey’s reluctance in taking part in the efforts led by the United States against IS is also confirmed by Turkey’s media outlets following the Erdogan-Obama meeting.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/15/us-nato-turkey-israel-idUSBREA0E0NZ20140115 – 1/15/2014.

(Reuters) – Turkey has accepted assurances a planned NATO missile defense system in which it is playing a part is not designed to protect Israel as well, the alliance’s deputy secretary-general said on Wednesday.

Alexander Vershbow said objections by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government had resulted in part from confusion about a Turkish-hosted NATO radar. Ankara had been further assuaged by alliance Patriot anti-missile batteries assigned to protect its territory from Syria.

Related:

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-based-nato-radars-israel-protection-in-question.aspx?pageID=238&nID=69424&NewsCatID=483 – 7/22/2014.

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http://www.worldtribune.com/2014/08/04/nato-commander-u-s-radar-turkey-wont-used-help-israel/ – 8/4/2014.

Turkey has opposed Israel’s participation in NATO exercises. Officials said Ankara was abandoning plans to improve relations with Israel.
“Normalization with Israel is a fantasy,” Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc said.

* * *

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/umut-ozkirimli/stoking-the-fire-antisemi_b_5779302.html – 9/8/2014.

Yet something was different this time around.   Something to do with the intensity and audacity of displays of anti-semitism, and the not so covert official backing they received, which was one of the talking points of the recent meeting between U.S. President Obama and Turkish President Erdoğan who discussed, according to the statement by the NSC Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden “the importance of … combating the scourge of anti-Semitism,” among other things.

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http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703279704575335043894776482 – 6/29/2010.

Brothers in Arms

Some major Israeli arms contracts with Turkey

1997: $632 million order for Israel to outfit Turkish F4E Phantom aircraft with advanced avionics.

1998: $90 million order for Israel to provide AGM-1 and Popeye-1 missiles for the upgraded Phantoms.

2002: $687.5 million deal to upgrade Turkey’s M60-A1 tanks to Israeli Sabra-3 version, the last of which was delivered in April.

2005: $183 million deal to provide 10 Heron drones.

Note: All contracts completed except drones, which are being delivered. Source: Serdar Erdurmaz, Turkish Center for International Relations and Strategic Studies

* * *

http://www.dailysabah.com/mideast/2014/09/10/over-40-states-combine-forces-against-isis – 9/10/2014.

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From Gaza to Mosul With Some Dwelling on Ankara in Relation to the Enabling of Islamic Jihad

23 Wednesday Jul 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Islamic Small Wars, Politics, Religion

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The groups that comprise “Islamic Jihad” do worse than push innocents out in front of their violence: they hide in plain sight, infiltrate target communities, and creep forward with programs of intimidation, theft, and murder until they have a developed opportunity to surface in an attack. From Boco Haram to the “islamic State” north of Baghdad, that’s how they work. Moreover, noting Turkey’s apparent cooperation with the Islamic State (underscored by its failure to call the NATO card in on the takeover of its embassy in Mosul), containing this force calls for active blocking and dismantling wherever it is found.

The agony experienced in Gaza may be only prolonged by indecision as regards the “islamist” enterprise and the full spread of its overt objectives, including the genocide of the Jews, and its underlying motivations related to malignant and unbridled narcissism and the criminality it generates.

The note responds to the suggestion that civilians in Gaza be allowed into Egypt to flee the fighting on the strip.  However, as all know, and not least the Egyptian military, “the terrorists” look like anybody when it suits them, and Egypt has appropriately restricted traffic through the Rafah Crossing.

The allusion to Turkish cooperation with the “Islamic Stat” stems from a WordPress article, possibly reposted here, asserting that “ISIS gets men and $800 million from Turkey” (Money Jihad, July 8, 2014).  The body of that piece appears to have been based on a piece in The Algemeiner (June 22) that no longer appears online.

😦

Was the Algemeiner report real?

Has the report allegedly appearing there been suppressed?

Welcome to journalism from the web’s second row seat to history (and see the addendum to this piece).

Be that as it may, I’ve compiled a short list of articles having to do with the character of the Turkish-ISIS relationship.  The salient points that might be best defended via online information sourcing:

  • Whatever the process involved or the stat’s position on it, Turkey has long served as a transfer point for fighters transiting through to Islamic Jihad groups in Syria.  The effect of that lax security makes it as if the state abetted terrorists on their way to battle.
  • The attack by ISIS on Turkey’s embassy in Mosul has been accepted to the extent that the “Islamic State” has been using the facility as its headquarters and without interruption.  The story, which may be slugged “Mosul hostage crisis” has been suppressed within Turkey, and I / we may not know what talk-talk-and-more-talk has been taking place between Prime Minister Erdogan’s government and BadDaddy Baghdaddi’s murderous machinery. In its attempt to manage its blackened eye — the Turks have lost evident sovereignty over both their embassy in Mosul and its personnel — the Turkish state machinery has moved the hostages off the front page and hidden its negotiations and attendant politics from the Turkish constituency at large.
  • Turkey’s issues with the Kurdish community play through in the politics attending its stance toward al-Qaeda / Brotherhood-type organizations on top of its own AKP-driven government.  The longer the secular constituency remains secondary in the power structure of the state, the worse fascist tendencies may be expected to become, and that may include the passive-aggressive response of enabling rogue Islamic Jihad by simply going soft with it.

For about a month now, Erdogan’s government has muzzled the press and the opposition with regard to the Mosul hostage crisis:

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has taken all measures to keep the public in the dark on the issue. The prime minister first warned the media on June 15 not to write or talk about the developments in Mosul. A Turkish court followed up on the warning the next day by imposing a gag order to all print, visual and Internet media. The government is now applying a similar gag order to opposition party members in parliament, denying their requests to be informed about the issue.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/daloglu-mosul-hostage-crisis-erdogan-isis-iraq-turkey.html#ixzz38IWGWWg5 – 6/25/2014.

The situation is so absurd that on look-up, this header appeared just last week: “Iraqi Kurds Offer Turkey Intel on Mosul Hostages” (Hurriyet Daily News, July 16, 2014).

Reference Arranged by Ascending Date of Publication

http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_isil-seizes-turkish-consulate-in-mosul-takes-diplomats-captive_350080.html – 6/11/2014.

http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_isil-seizes-turkish-consulate-in-mosul-takes-diplomats-captive_350080.html – 6/12/2014.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/daloglu-nato-turkey-syria-isis–al-qaeda-mosul-iraq.html – 6/11/2014. “Turkey not asking NATO for help with ISIS.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/14/america-s-allies-are-funding-isis.html – 6/14/2014.

http://english.cntv.cn/2014/06/16/ARTI1402877168646586.shtml – 6/16/2014.  “NATO chief to visit Turkey amid worsening situation in Iraq.”

http://www.danielpipes.org/14486/turkey-isis – 6/18/2014 – “Turkish Support of ISIS.”

http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2014/06/turkeys_new_neighbor.php – 6/21/2014.

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/zaman-salih-muslim-turkey-blind-eye-isis-mosul-syria-iraq.html – 6/23/2014 – “Syrian Kurdish leader: Turkey turns blind eye to ISIS.”

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/07/zaman-isis-turkeys-mosul-consulate-headquarter-iraq.html – 7/17/2014.

http://www.todayszaman.com/national_hostages-relatives-davutoglu-has-been-testing-our-patience_353461.html – 7/20/2014.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2014/Jul-22/264649-turkeys-benign-neglect-helped-spur-the-islamic-states-rise.ashx#axzz38IL0BDe2 – 7/22/2014.

http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2014/07/23/turkeys-top-cleric-calls-new-islamic-states-caliphate-illegitimate/ – 7/23/2014.

Addendum

One Turkish opposition politician estimates that Turkey has paid $800 million to ISIS for oil shipments. Another politician released information about active duty Turkish soldiers training ISIS members. Critics note that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has met three times with someone, Yasin al-Qadi, who has close ties to ISIS and has funded it.

Apparently, as comment reflects, The Algemeiner article was that by Daniel Pipes from which the above excerpt was taken.

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FTAC – On Turkish Courts Indicting Israeli Military in Relation to the Mavi Marmara Incident

03 Tuesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Anti-Semitism, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, Islamic Small Wars, Political Psychology, Psychology

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The “Gaza Boat Show” and Mavi Marmara incident trace back to deeply anti-Semitic and terrorist enthusiasms, and not only should there not have been a “compensation package” — plain political extortion! — drawn from Israel, but this drift in Turkish politics should have been stopped cold by the Turks themselves exactly when and where it started.  God willing, most will understand the only true axis in conflict and conflicted Islamic-majority state politics has to do with the despotic vs the democratic.  What PM Erdogan’s government and courts have done: despotic.  Evil.  

Source of inspiration: Schanzer, Jonathan and Merve Tahiroglu.  “Schanzer and Tahiroglu: When Turkey has problems, Israel always gets the blame.”  National Post, June 3, 2014.

In politics, anti-Semitism has become the signal of the criminal and weak: it’s expressed through disingenuous speech enforced, when it can be, by the tactics of political mafia.  In Turkey, Prime Minister Erdogan has been tripped in his tracks a time or two by a passionate Kamalist and otherwise mixed opposition, but when the heat in the streets diminishes, he returns to the comfort of his script.

Much of what I would bring to bear in telegraphic thought has been stabilized on a few BackChannels pages: “Malignant Narcissism“, for example, and there’s another most relevant here: “Paranoid Delusional Narcissistic Reflection of Motivation“.

Appeasement fails to appease the needs of such a personality, and, in fact, encourages its development.

Speaking to the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations forum in Vienna on Wednesday, Erdoğan made the following remark: “Just as with Zionism, anti-Semitism and fascism, it has become impossible not to see Islamophobia as a crime against humanity.”

Shwayder, Maya.  “Erdogan’s Anti-Zionist Comments Draws Criticism From West, But Typical For Turkey These Days.”  International Business Times, March 1, 2013.

Whatever Prime Minister Erdogan may be thinking, and that may include possession of the favor of God as affirmed by Turkish realpolitik, his personality would seem to be asking a fair political question: why stop if not stopped?

Related Reference

In reverse chronological order —

Castillo, Mariano.  “Turkish cops harass CNN reporter on air.”  CNN, May 31, 2014.

Gezi, Kadri.  “Gezi resistance anniversary recalls impact on Turkey.”  Al Monitor, May 29, 2014.

Gursel, Kadri.  “Erdogan’s dictator defense.”  Al Monitor, May 25, 2014.

Watson, Ivan and Alan Duke.  “Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan declares victory after local elections.”  CNN, March 31, 2014.

Fisher, Max.  “Here’s the video of Turkey’s prime minister comparing Zionism to fascism.”  The Washington Post, May 19, 2013;

Ynet News.  “It’s all personal: Op-ed: PM Erdogan’s venomous verbal attacks on Israel do not reflect Turkish people’s opinion of Israel.”  March 3, 2013;

Ynet News.  “Erdogan’s long-term plan: Op-ed: Turkish PM systematically imposing Islamic law; sense of helplessness, rage spreads.”  September 12, 2012.

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Turkey – May Radicals Muddy the (People’s Democratic Ongoing) Struggle?

25 Sunday May 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Political Psychology, Politics, Syria, Turkey

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Assad : al-Nusra, ISIS, etc. | Erdogan : DHKP-C ?

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Turkish police were forced to respond with rubber bullets and tear gas after coming under attack by extreme left-wing DHKP-C members in the Istanbul district of Okmeydani on Thursday.

Bystander Ugur Kurt and Ayhan Yilmaz died as a result of their injuries they sustained during the clashes, as DHKP-C members hurled grenades, Molotov cocktails and stones at police.

World Bulletin.  “DHKP-C brandish guns in Istanbul riots.”  May 24, 2014.

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It’s too soon — and yet never soon enough — to note the possibility of Prime Minister Erdogan’s using the surfacing of the long outlawed DHKP-C as a foil with which to ramp up the repression of more moderate democratic people’s resistance to both his potential and so far evident drift toward greater absolute authority.

As much has been accomplished by Bashar al-Assad’s uneven decisions about barrel bombing noncombatants while leaving, as author Aboud Dandachi has suggested, terrorist havens intact, the better to cast himself as the Hero of the Secular Engaged in Fighting Islamic Terrorists.

While the possible path — Putin : Assad : Syrian Resistance–> Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party – Front (DHKP/C) vs Erdogan / Turkey : NATO/US — may seem ironic in its mirrored facet, the effect may be to taint modest internal Turkish resistance to Erdogan’s authority with the vivid red brush of a faction of the New Old Now Old Far Out and Lost Left.

As regards the interests of the global human rights community, these games help no one; as regards the interests of dictators, letting the fox slip into the hen house may give the farmer the excuse he needs to pick up his shotgun and go in and shoot the place up.

* * *

By April 2011, over 500 people had been taken into custody and nearly 300 formally charged with membership of what prosecutors described as “the Ergenekon terrorist organization”, which they claimed had been responsible for virtually every act of political violence—and controlled every militant group—in Turkey over the last 30 years.

Wikipedia.  “Ergenekon (organization)”.

On the other hand, as regards Turkey’s deeply compartmentalized politics, the noise made in the streets — and occasional bombing — by the now and then visible DHKP/C may be just part of the chaos roiling the currents beneath the surface of comparatively calm waters.

Additional Reference

Cetinkaya, Aliye.  “INDICTMENT SHEDS LIGHT ON TERRORIST ORGANIZATION DHKP-C.”  Daily Sabah, April 29, 2014.

FAS. “Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) Devrimci Sol (Revolutionary Left) Dev So”.

Khazan, Olga.  “Turkey bombing: What is the DHKP/C terrorist group?”  The Washington Post, February 1, 2013:

If the reports are true, it might mean that the terrorist group, which some experts describe as long past its heyday, is seeing a revival now that the Syrian conflict has given the U.S. and Turkey new reason to cooperate on foreign policy.

Hurriyet Daily News.  “DHKP/C claims responsibility for the attack on U.S. Embassy.”  February 1, 2014.

Start.UMD. “DHKP/C”.

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Turkey — May Day Rallies Banned — Tear Gas, Water Cannon, Plastic Pellets Deployed

01 Thursday May 2014

Posted by in Asia, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Politics, Regions, Turkey

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May Day March, Izmir, Turkey, May 2, 2014. Photographed by Tolga Yildiz.

May Day March, Izmir, Turkey, May 1, 2014. Photographed by Tolga Yildiz.

Related

Tuysuz, Gul and Ivan Watson.  “Turkey bans May Day rallies, uses tear gas, water cannon on demonstrators.”  Video and story.  CNN, May 1, 2014. ” . . . barricaded the downtown, shut the subway, closed many ferry services . . . .” says conflict veteran Ivan Watson.

* * *

The Istanbul governor’s office said it had received advanced information that “illegal terror organizations and their extensions” would resort to violence to stoke unrest.

Yackley, Ayla Jean and Evrim Ergin.  “Riot police clash with May Day protesters in Istanbul.”  Reuters, May 1, 2014.

Orwell is laughing!

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Partial Guest Post by Tolga Yildiz – My Name is Tolga Yldiz – On Political Sentiment in Turkey

26 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Politics, Religion

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My name is Tolga Yıldız.

I am interested in global policy and diplomacy.

Turkey’s geopolitics status is very important in the Middle-East and Caucasia. Middle-east is very important with strategic and energy power. Today we need new politic, social and economic strategies for new World System. There are many social, economic, political problems in the World. I am a citizen of the Turkish Republic.

Today Middle East is Islamic area.

Turkey is secular country in the Middle-East. Turkey is an important country between East and West. Turkey is first Secular Muslim Country in the Middle east. Today Turkish government(AK Party) is Islamic government. AKP want to moderate islamic administration in Turkey. But Turkish Nation know that Turkey is Atatürk’s secular country not islamic arab country.

We will always defend secular system and Democracy.

______

I’ve made minor grammatical corrections and added paragraphs to what was a two paragraph submission.

In correspondence, Tolga described the above as “short but gist important article“.

“Gist important” — I like that!

Is it an article?

Is it important?

The passage contains is an important message for Prime Minister Erdogan and the AKP: “We will always defend secular system and Democracy.”

As regards, “Today Middle East is Islamic area” . . . well, it is a Muslim-majority region, but it is not entirely Islamic: it is a little bit Jewish too, or perhaps more Jewish than it knows considering the changes Hillel the Elder brought to the Jewish community, by extension Israel, and the world re-envisioned by both Jesus-Paul-Constantine and General Muhammad.

America’s Founding Fathers, perhaps intent on avoiding the kind of religious warfare that ran amok across Europe set forth in principle and constitution a system enabling belief and faith of every kind, most connected to some version of metaphysics, a few rejecting metaphysics altogether.  The purpose: whatever it is in the head, let’s not fight over it — we’d rather a society, and by the mid-20th Century “One nation under God” notwithstanding, purposed toward the well being of its inhabitants, and at that, inclusively, without regard to race, creed, religion, origin, gender, or sexual orientation.

Done.

Knowing President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s vision for Turkey, Tolga Yildiz would appear to understand the connection between secular democracy and the assertion and confirmation of human dignity and freedom guaranteed by equality under the law.

No dhimmi.

No caliphate.

No dictator.

No scapegoats.

Instead: equal stature — again, under the law — and the freedom to speak and vote and to experience being — and voting — within a society free of coercion and cynical manipulation.

That’s quite a message.

From Turkey.

Thank you, Tolga Yildiz.

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Turkish Unrest – The Death of Berkin Elvan, Young Passerby, Spurs Anti-Government Protests

11 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by in Asia, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Political Psychology, Politics, Turkey

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Berkin Elvan, then 14, got caught up in street battles in Istanbul between police and protesters on June 16 while going to buy bread for his family. He slipped into a coma and became a rallying point for government opponents, who held regular vigils at the hospital where he lay in intensive care.

Death of Turkish boy hurt in protests rekindles unrest across country | Reuters

* * *

. . . Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the main target of last year’s demonstrations, has so far declined to apologise for any of the protesters’ deaths. He has riled opponents, however, by praising the police response to what he and his allies depict as a foreign-backed coup attempt as “heroic”.

Protests erupt in Turkey after death of boy hurt in 2013 unrest – FT.com

Dictators fear making apologies, which perhaps would make them look wrong, or much worse, weak.

Related: AFP: Clashes erupt in Turkey after protest teen dies

* * *

Between the Islamic Small Wars and its pack of malignant narcissists and renewed Russian imperialism driven by the vertical of the hour Putin and his coterie, I think we’re going to see a lot of breathtakingly callous violence perpetrated by the same and lied about in similar ways.

The recent revolution in Ukraine cannot be Yanukovych’s fault, except perhaps for being weak in the face of western-backed nationalist fascist aggression, or so he might say; ditto for whatever Russians may be thinking about Putin tonight while he most certainly intends to annex Crimea, regardless of the true fealty, or lack thereof, on the part of Crimean Ukrainians: and so it goes for Assad and Khamenei and too many others around the world.

Put it in common punk talk: “They wasn’t doin’ nothin’.”

Related: AFP: Clashes erupt in Turkey after protest teen dies; 40 Tragic Pictures From Turkey As Clashes Erupt After Death Of 15-Year-Old Berkin Elvan; Erdogan’s silence shows absence of moral compass – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East – 3/12/2014.

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FNS – Fast Scan

16 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Fast News Share, Politics

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Brief

What to say to Pandora: “Don’t open the box!  Don’t look!”

The “fast scan” takes about an hour at human speed, ignores specific situations, and gets an “ah hah!” moment when one realizes that for causes that are often neither meaningful nor justifiable by those blowing themselves up, pulling triggers, and waving knives (is that still done?), conflict would seem just another natural cause of death.

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, people just plain don’t like other people.

Dress up the hate with poetry or scripture, crude talk, politico talk, lies, or a whole lot of truth, somebody’s got it in for somebody else by clan, class, ethnicity, nationality, race, or religion — no need to get personal: just box it, label it, and tear it apart!

Afghanistan

Afghanistan frees suspected Taliban prisoners over U.S. objections – The Washington Post – 2/13/2014.

Afghan forces have proved surprisingly effective – 2/15/2014.

Burma

The truth is, as Phuketwan first revealed on October 21, that Thai authorities pretend to deport the Rohingya, taking their names and fingerprints for the record, then actually deliver them into the arms of people traffickers.

Sordid Deception Fails to Hide Truth – Phuket Wan – 2/14/2014.

I don’t know what the sordid truth is out of Burma, but I know it’s bad and should be — now has — a place on the open source conflict overview circuit.

Central African Republic

Christian threats force Muslim convoy to turn back in CAR exodus | World news | theguardian.com – 2/14/2014.

* * *

“If you want to disarm the anti-balaka, it is better to first disarm the Seleka,” said resident Ngaro Nadine. “It is the Seleka who have been massacring and killing. Now it is the anti-balaka who are strong.”

Foreign troops round up 10 in crackdown on CAR militias – UPI.com – 2/16/2014.

Egypt

Brig. Gen. Alaa Mahmoud said 33 tourists from South Korea were on the bus and had visited the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. Catherine’s, in the Sinai Peninsula. The bus was headed to Israel and was waiting in line near a border crossing, he said.

Tourist bus blast kills 4, wounds 14 in Egypt – CNN.com – 2/16/2014.

Taba, Sinai, was the location of the bombing of a Hilton in 2004.

Related: Egypt bomb attack kills four on tourist bus – 1/17/2014.

Iraq – Fallujah and Anbar Province

UN envoy concerned about Fallujah deteriorating situation : Aswat Al Iraq – 2/14/2014.

Iraq PM makes historic visit to Anbar « ASHARQ AL-AWSAT – 2/16/2014.

Pakistan

Clashes over Valentine’s Day celebration in Pakistan leaves 4 injured – Khaama Press (KP) | Afghan News Agency – 2/14/2014.

Militancy and politics in the shadow of a ceasefire – Daily Times – 2/17/2014.

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A faction of the Pakistani Taliban said Sunday that it executed 23 paramilitary soldiers who have been held captive since 2010, even as other elements of the militant group continue preliminary peace talks with the country’s government.

Pakistani Taliban says it executed 23 captured Pakistani soldiers – The Washington Post – 2/16/2014.

Syria

“They can’t have it both ways,” the senior official said of the Russians. “They can’t say they’re in favor of negotiations in Geneva and a transitional governing body with full executive authority and humanitarian access and have a happy Olympics, and then be part and parcel of supporting this regime as it kills people in the most brutal way.”

U.S. official takes Russia to task for its role in Syrian conflict – The Washington Post – 2/15/2014.

Can negotiations resolve the Syrian conflict? – Inside Syria – Al Jazeera English – 2/16/2014.

Syrian rebels or international terrorists? – The Hindu – 2/17/2014.

Tunisia

The ministry said a National Guard patrol was sent to investigate reports that a civilian and a prison warden had been shot dead at a roadblock set up by armed men in Jendouba.

“Upon their arrival, terrorist elements opened fire,” killing two policemen and wounding another two, it said.

Ministry: Jihadists kill 4 in Tunisia – Al Arabiya News – 2/16/2014.

Turkey

Turkey has spent at least $2.5 billion on serving these guests since the war began and hosts around 600,000 Syrian refugees – around a quarter of all Syrian refugees. While many reside in the camps, a little over half have opted to settle in urban settlers and make their own living.

Turkish refugee camp ‘nicest’ in the world | General | Worldbulletin News – 2/14/2014.

Earlier this month, the Turkish army opened fire on a convoy of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) – a jihadist group active in Iraq and Syria. This was in retaliation for a series of cross-border strikes that hit Turkish soil. Turkey has also warned of possible terrorist attacks in Istanbul after receiving intelligence that al-Qaeda-linked jihadists were planning to disrupt the Syrian peace talks.

Why Turkey needs to stand up against al-Qaeda | neurope.eu – 2/16/2014.

Ukraine

Ukraine protesters end two-month occupation – 2/17/2014.

Venezuela

Venezuela split by pro- and anti-Maduro protests — The Tico Times – 2/16/2014.

Venezuela Anti-Government Protests: Security Forces Search For Opposition Leader | Fox News Latino – 2/16/2014.

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http://youtu.be/ATLiO5VPmDY

RAW VIDEO OUT OF VENEZUELA PROTEST MARCH AND SHOOTING AT PROTESTERS —- 2-16 – YouTube – 2/16/2014.

Yemen

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Yemen is grappling with a growing threat from one of al Qaeda’s most active wings, which has killed hundreds of people in assaults on state and military facilities in the past two years.

Attack on prison in Yemeni capital kills 11 | Reuters – 2/14/2014.

Zimbabwe

allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: Violence Rocks MDC-T Harare Meeting – 2/15/2014.

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