Turkey

Turkey’s military operation in Afrin, Syria, is only possible because Russia is permitting it, as Russia controls the airspace. Turkey has given its blessing for Russian bases in Syria and is no longer insisting that hated Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must step down. Turkey has refused to go along with the accusations by the UK, the EU, and the United States that Russia is responsible for the recent nerve gas poisoning of a former Russia agent on British soil. Turkey is a transit country for Russian natural gas shipments to Europe. In addition, on Tuesday, Putin and Erdogan broke ground on a $20 billion Russian-made nuclear power plant being built on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast at Akkuyu. The project was already launched once before in February 2015, but was canceled after Turkey shot down the Russian warplane. Putin said on Tuesday, “This scale of the project is difficult to exaggerate. This marks a new stage in the development of Turkey’s … [Read more...] about World View: Russia Accelerates Delivery of S-400 Anti-Aircraft Missiles to Turkey

After days without any new arrivals on the Greek island of Chios, 177 migrants landed on its beaches on Wednesday, prompting an official at the Greek Citizens’ Protection Ministry to say that the incident “clearly proves that the Turkish president controls the flows toward Greece and, by extension, to the European Union”. … [Read more...] about Turkey Accused of Allowing Migrants to ‘Surge’ into Europe as Europol Tracks 65,000 People-Smugglers

They rejected all attempts to create new realities on the ground under the pretext of combating terrorism and expressed their determination to stand against separatist agendas aimed at undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria as well as the national security of neighboring countries. Underlined that, in the fight against terrorism, separating the above-mentioned terrorist groups from the armed opposition groups that had joined and would join the ceasefire regime bore utmost importance with respect to preventing civilian casualties. … [Read more...] about Putin in Ankara: Russia Is ‘Founding Turkey’s Nuclear Sector’

At a border crossing between Syria and Turkey, a smuggler preparing a group of seven Syrian asylum seekers to enter Turkey told a 13-year-old boy to cross. He pointed toward the other side of a wide street, and said, ”See there? Run over there, that is Turkey.” The boy ran. Moments later shots rang out and the boy fell dead on the street. The smuggler turned to the rest of the group and told them, ”You can cross now, they will not shoot again.” … [Read more...] about Turkey: When the path to safety for Syrians is anything but

“The defeat of Daesh means the defeat of America’s regional policy and thus we should expect that this defeat would probably mark the beginning of a new era of hostilities and regional tensions,” Hatami said at the Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS). … [Read more...] about Iran, Russia, and Turkey Strategize About Syria’s Future as Trump Seeks U.S. Exit