Regional geopolitics

[londontsi]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Armenia has potentially found a new friend.

Updated: A map of all the countries Boris Johnson has offended

http://indy100.independent.co.uk/article/updated-a-map-of-all-the-countries-boris-johnson-has-offended--W1zaTLC63rW?utm_source=indy&utm_medium=top5&utm_campaign=i100

Hooray we are not there.


.

[Artashes]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Armenia has potentially found a new friend.

Updated: A map of all the countries Boris Johnson has offended

http://indy100.independent.co.uk/article/updated-a-map-of-all-the-countries-boris-johnson-has-offended--W1zaTLC63rW?utm_source=indy&utm_medium=top5&utm_campaign=i100

Hooray we are not there.


.

So if USA chooses "the donald" and England has chosen bj, and USA/England consider themselves the "leaders" of the free world and the torch bearers of democracy, mmm, having trouble posting while laughing.

[Azad]

Re: Regional geopolitics

turkey is pushing its relationship with NATO by showing rapprochement with Russia in order to get gulen boy.

"Turkish pilots involved in downing of Russian Su-24 arrested over links to coup attempt – minister

Two Turkish Air Force pilots linked to the downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber in November have been detained in connection with the recent failed coup attempt in Turkey, the country’s justice minister has said.

"The pilots that downed the Russian jet were arrested," Haberturk TV channel quoted Turkish Justice Minister Bekir xxxdag as saying on Tuesday.

Earlier, AFP quoted an unidentified official as telling journalists that “Two pilots who were part of the operation to down the Russian Su-24 in November 2015 are in custody.” The official stressed that the military pilots have been arrested over links to the coup, not because of the attack on the Russian plane.

https://www.rt.com/news/352050-turkish-pilots-arrested-su24/

[londontsi]

Re: Regional geopolitics

WikiLeaks suffers ‘sustained attack’ after announcing megaleak of Turkey govt docs

https://www.rt.com/news/351995-wikileaks-attack-turkey-documents/

WikiLeaks reported suffering a “sustained attack” after it announced the upcoming release of hundreds of thousands of documents relating to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the wake of a failed military coup.

Despite the attack, the famous whistleblowing site promised to “prevail & publish” the first batch of documents on Tuesday. Earlier WikiLeaks announced that the release of documents, which could expose the Turkish “political power structure”, will contain 300,000 emails and 500,000 documents....

[Azad]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Earlier WikiLeaks announced that the release of documents, which could expose the Turkish “political power structure”, will contain 300,000 emails and 500,000 documents....

Watch out Hillary! She has been very active emailing for years with turkey (the country not the bird).

[Artashes]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Watch out Hillary! She has been very active emailing for years with turkey (the country not the bird).

--- the country not the bird ---
Lol.
Someone should make a picture of the bird receiving a pile of emails.

[Azad]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Someone should make a picture of the bird receiving a pile of emails.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Turkey coup attempt: Crackdown toll passes 50,000



More than 50,000 people have been rounded up, sacked or suspended from their jobs by Turkey's government in the wake of last week's failed coup.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36842073

The purge of those deemed disloyal to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan widened on Tuesday to include teachers, university deans and the media.

The government says they are allied to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, who denies claims he directed the uprising.

PM Binali Yildirim said the preacher led a "terrorist organisation".
"We will dig them up by their roots," he told parliament.

Turkey is pressing the US to extradite Mr Gulen and the issue was raised during a phone call between US President Barack Obama and President Erdogan on Tuesday, the White House said.

Spokesman Josh Earnest said a decision on whether or not to extradite would be made under a treaty between the two countries.


A Turkish government spokesman suggested that the US should be able to extradite the cleric "on grounds of suspicion" rather than requiring facts of the case against him.
"There is very strong suspicion for his [Gulen's] involvement in this coup attempt. So this is sufficient grounds," said spokesman Ibrahim Kalin.

For his part, Mr Gulen says claims he was behind the coup attempt are "ridiculous".

"I urge the US government to reject any effort to abuse the extradition process to carry out political vendettas," he said in a statement.


President Erdogan is due to chair meetings of his national security council and cabinet in the capital, Ankara, on Wednesday, after returning to the city for the first time since the attempted coup.

The BBC's Nick Thorpe in Ankara says that the meeting will be the president's first chance since the coup attempt to sit and talk in person with all key members of the government and armed forces.

Mr Erdogan's task is to re-impose stability amid the turmoil, our correspondent adds, and to reassure the country and Turkey's allies abroad that he is not embarking on a witch-hunt against his many critics.

The Pentagon said that talks also took place on Tuesday between Defence Secretary Ash Carter and his Turkish counterpart, regarding the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey.
The base is used by the US-led coalition fighting so-called Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

Meanwhile, the Turkish government crackdown widened on Tuesday to include the education sector and government departments.

Turkish media announced that:

15,200 teachers and other education staff had been sacked
1,577 university deans were ordered to resign
8,777 interior ministry workers were dismissed
1,500 staff in the finance ministry had been fired
257 people working in the prime minister's office were sacked

Turkey's media regulation body on Tuesday also revoked the licences of 24 radio and TV channels accused of links to Mr Gulen.

The news came on top of the arrests of more than 6,000 military personal and the sackings of nearly 9,000 police officers. About 3,000 judges have also been suspended.
The removal of thousands of officials has alarmed international observers, with the UN urging Turkey to uphold the rule of law and defend human rights.


A senior German official said on Tuesday that "a deep split" had opened in Turkey, and he feared the divisions would cause unrest among Germany's large Turkish community.

"The danger of an escalation in violence between Erdogan supporters and opponents has also risen in Germany," Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper.

The President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, has accused Turkey of carrying out "revenge" against its opponents and critics.

He also said a debate around restoring the death penalty was "deeply worrying". The EU has warned such a move would end talks over Turkey joining the bloc.
According to official figures, Friday night's coup attempt left 232 people dead and 1,541 wounded.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Turkey coup: National security takes a blow
By Doruk Ergun
Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies
19 July 2016
BBC

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36833733

Turkey's armed forces have been dealt a significant psychological blow by the attempted coup, and their prestige and status have been damaged.
Turks had assumed that coups were a thing of the past.
Not only does this latest plot come as a threat to the country's democracy but it has also stymied its ability to act in its key role as a provider of regional security.
The forces' integrity will be hard to salvage and chronic problems in Turkey's civilian-military relations, which many thought had been recuperating in the past few years, will now be exacerbated instead.

Public perception of the armed forces had already been hit in recent years by allegations of coup plots against the AKP government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Importantly, those cases were eventually thrown out because of mostly fabricated evidence.
This attempted coup and the previous alleged plots have been blamed on Fetullah Gulen, a controversial US-based Islamic cleric, whose movement is suspected of infiltrating public and private ranks with the eventual aim of taking over the reins of the country.

Crippled morale

Turkey's armed forces had already been trying to recover from the prosecution of high-ranking officers caught up in two cases that were eventually overturned. This botched coup has reversed this scenario.

More than 100 generals have been detained for their involvement, amounting to nearly a third of Turkey's high-ranking officers.
Almost all major army units have lost at least one of their commanding officers.
Aside from the top brass, the purges have so far resulted in the arrest of more than 3,000 soldiers and some 7,500 police officers.
Whilst the purges are undoubtedly necessary in light of the acute threat posed by the conspirators, they will inevitably cripple the morale and capabilities of the Turkish forces, which are currently facing a series of unprecedented threats.
In addition to numerous one- and two-star generals, the alleged conspirators include Adem Huduti, who commanded the 2nd Army.

The 2nd Army has the task of protecting the most perilous borders - with Syria, Iraq and Iran - and leads the fight against the Kurdish militant PKK in south-eastern Turkey. So the attempted coup may have a considerable impact on Turkey's ongoing fight against the PKK.
The failed putsch will also affect the combat against jihadist group Islamic State (IS).
IS has escalated its operations in Turkey substantially over the last year.
Both dismantling its networks within the country and preventing the transit of jihadists from Syria require close collaboration between the armed forces, police and national intelligence.
Yet by targeting the police and national intelligence headquarters and clashing with police forces throughout the night, the coup plotters have destroyed all mutual trust and confidence between the three pillars of Turkish security.
Furthermore, as long as the purges continue in both military and police ranks, neither side is likely to fully embrace the other as a trustworthy partner.
This will come as a major complication in Turkey's effectiveness in tackling IS.
This mistrust is also likely to characterise how the country's political leadership will view the armed forces, at least until it is confident that the conspirators have been weeded out.

Nonetheless, the aftershocks of the plot will continue to plague civilian-military relations for the foreseeable future.
Nato fears
What is more, Turkey's ability to contribute to Nato is likely to be reduced visibly, as both an effective deterrence posture and force projection rely strongly on the cohesion between the political and military elites over the strategic objectives of the country,
The coup attempt may also push the leadership into rethinking the country's involvement in the anti-IS coalition, given that a number of fighter planes that took part used Incirlik airbase. The base also hosts foreign aircraft belonging to the anti-IS coalition.
Though it failed to unseat Turkey's elected government, the 15 July coup plot succeeded in hampering Turkey's ability to protect itself and to act as a security provider in a volatile region that will continue to present complex security challenges for Nato.
It is not only for Turkey's sake but for Nato's too that the Transatlantic Alliance will need to stand by Turkey at this difficult time.
Doruk Ergun is a research fellow at the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM) in Istanbul.

[Artashes]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Read a criticle analysis of kerd literature from the 80's and 90's to current times. The analysis confirmed what I've been saying for years. The kerd uses the Armenian genocide to further their propaganda and highlight their plight. They down play their willing and eager participation in our genocide while highlighting their suffering.
The fraud and active conniving of the kerd has not deminished since the day they came to our lands.