Tag Archives: PKK

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is staying silent over an oil deal in northeast Syria to avoid a confrontation with Donald Trump, analysts told Arab News on Saturday. The surprise deal last week will allow Delta Crescent Energy, a US company based in Delaware, to develop oil fields under the …

Turkey is taking its decades-old conflict with Kurdish militants deep into northern Iraq, establishing military bases and deploying armed military drones against the fighters in their mountain strongholds. The cross-border campaign has attracted less attention than Turkey’s incursions into neighbouring Syria – partly because Turkish troops have long been in …

A bomb attack by the Kurdish YPG militia killed six people and wounded 11 on Tuesday in the northeastern Syrian town of Tel Abyad, near the Turkish border, the Turkish Defence Ministry said. The Arab town, from which Turkish-backed forces last October pushed out the YPG militia in a major …

Turkish authorities have detained 38 people including the local head of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in relation to an armed attack which killed two people in the eastern province of Van, governor’s office said on Friday. The attack on Thursday targeted two municipality personnel and a civilian returning …

A rocket hit an armored vehicle carrying Turkish customs personnel in an attack near the border with Iran on Friday, killing one person and injuring others, Turkish officials said, adding that clashes were under way in the area. The rocket struck the vehicle’s front wheel around 0550 GMT on Monday, …

Dr. Haytham Mouzahem, head of Beirut Centre for Middle East Studies talks to International Affairs Review on the current situation in Syria and the Turkish military operations and the implications for the region.   Please walk us through what is happening right now in north east Syria. Turkey has been invading areas …

By Damir Nazarov   While Erdogan seeks to hold meetings with Putin and sometimes Rouhani in relation to Syria every two months, the Turkish occupants are actively pursuing a policy of assimilation of the Syrian cities captured during two interventions. For example, on the twelfth of February, the deputy governor of …

Turkey takes a positive view of a U.S. move to offer rewards for information on three members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, adding it expected to see concrete steps in the fight against the militia. The United States offered the rewards on …

An American pastor on trial in Turkey has denied charges of aiding a terrorist organisation, in a case that has frayed Turkey-US relations. Andrew Brunson is accused of helping a group led by Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Muslim preacher who Turkish authorities allege was behind a failed 2016 coup. Mr …

There have been reports of looting by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels who seized control of the northern Syrian city of Afrin from a Kurdish militia on Sunday. A UK-based monitoring group said shops and military and government facilities had been raided. Turkish state media meanwhile said a booby-trap bomb left by …

Seven weeks into Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch, a mission to clear Kurdish fighters from Syrian regions along its southern border, the Turkish military says its troops and Syrian rebel allies have nearly surrounded Afrin. They announced Tuesday that the central section of the border city and other “critically important areas” …

The Turkish army on Monday took control of the outer edge of Syria’s Afrin region, state media said, as Ankara said it was readying for a “new battle” by deploying police special forces. The military and allied Syrian rebel factions pushed some Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters back from the frontier …

Turkey’s deputy prime minister has warned Syria of “disastrous consequences” should the Syrian government send forces to support Kurdish militias Ankara considers terrorist groups linked to an insurgency inside its own borders. Bekir Bozdag made the comments following reports Monday by Syrian news agency SANA that forces loyal to the …

Syrian pro-government forces will help Syrian Kurds fighting against a Turkish offensive in north-west Syria, Syria’s state news agency reports. It comes after Syrian Kurdish officials said the government in Damascus had agreed to send troops. Turkey regards the Kurdish fighters, just across its border in Afrin, as terrorists. It …

Turkey never used chemical weapons in its operations in Syria, and takes the utmost care of civilians, a Turkish diplomatic source said, after Syrian Kurdish forces and a monitoring group accused it of carrying out a gas attack in Syria’s Afrin region. “These are baseless accusations. Turkey never used chemical …

The United States and Turkey pulled back from the brink of a potentially disastrous crisis on Friday, agreeing to normalize badly strained relations over Syria and other issues that had threatened the NATO allies’ longstanding ties. However, details of the rapprochement were vague as the two sides agreed in principle …

On a celebrity gossip show here, the hosts recently projected the Instagram profiles of Turkish actors and pop stars on the screen and berated those who had not yet posted support for Turkey’s military offensive in Syria. “There are those celebrities who even post when they go to the bathroom,” …

ANKARA, Turkey — The Latest on the Syria conflict (all times local): 8:25 Syria’s state news agency says at least seven people have been killed and 10 injured in a barrage of rockets that fell on government-controlled areas in and near the capital Damascus. SANA said the 13 missiles fell …

An ancient temple has seriously been damaged in Syria’s northwestern city of Afrin, where Turkey is leading an operation against US-backed Kurdish militants. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Iron Age Ain Dara Temple was exposed to Turkish shelling. The shelling had caused significant damage but no casualties, …

Kurdish militias fighting against Turkey in the Syrian enclave of Afrin have called on the government of Bashar al-Assad to intervene and protect the area’s borders. The latest development, nearly a week into Turkey’s military offensive, could undermine Kurdish aspirations for self-governance and, if heeded, could set the stage for a direct …

President Trump urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday to scale back his country’s assault on Kurdish positions in Syria, signaling mounting American anxiety that Ankara’s latest military foray will jeopardize the U.S. campaign against the Islamic State and undermine hopes for peace talks aimed at ending the war in Syria. …

Turkey’s military incursion into northern Syria against Kurdish militia opens yet another front in the seven-year Syrian conflict, and risks giving ISIS breathing room just as it was being suffocated. Turkey has long warned that it will not tolerate control of much of its border with Syria by the “terrorist” …

Syria has threatened to shoot down Turkish warplanes in its airspace, as Turkey prepares to carry out a possible assault on a Kurdish enclave. Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said any incursion into Afrin would be considered an act of aggression. It came as Turkey sought clearance for an air …

Syria’s dominant Kurdish party on Wednesday called on the U.N. Security Council to act quickly to ensure the safety of Kurdish-controlled territories in the country’s north, including an enclave that Turkey has threatened to attack. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will launch a military offensive in the coming days …

By Graham Fuller Of all the peoples of the Middle East who have suffered through  various wars and manipulations by the US and other foreign powers over the past century, the Kurds are probably the only people whose national cause has actually improved during the more recent geopolitical turmoil. On …

THE LEVANT NEWS EXCLUSIVE – By Niazy G. Atay* – Turkey’s involvement in the Syrian crisis expanded to military action with the Operation Euphrates Shield (OES), initiated on 24 August. Hotly-debated issue of Turkey’s intervention to Syria at international and domestic levels came into existence following the reconciliation with Russia …

The Levant News — Police in Turkey raided 16 addresses in Istanbul early this morning and detained 13 people, including three foreigners, in response to Tuesday’s bombing of the Ataturk international airport. The death toll from the attack now stands at 42, with 128 people in hospitals, including 41 in …

On 11 June, President Tayyip Erdogan urged Turkey’s political parties to work quickly to form a new government, saying egos should be left aside and that history would judge anyone who stood in the way. In his first public appearance since Sunday’s parliamentary election deprived the ruling AK Party of …

BY DAREN BUTLER AND GULSEN SOLAKER for Reuters – Women wave banners with the portrait of Abdullah Ocalan, one of the founding members of the militant organisation, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, during a protest against Islamic State (IS) militant attacks on Syrian Kurds, in Istanbul September 21, 2014. REUTERS/Murad Sezer/Files …

THE LEVANT – A US airdrop of weapons will “help greatly” Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State jihadists for the Syrian town of Kobane, a spokesman for the Kurdish forces said Monday. Redur Xelil, a spokesman for the People’s Protection Units (YPG), confirmed the weapons delivery and said Kurdish fighters hoped …

The Levant Exclusive – by Samantha North* Istanbul’s protestors are out in force once more. Last night, the streets erupted, with cars blazing, windows smashed, and volleys of the usual tear gas unleashed by Turkish police. But this was not just another anti-government protest. This time, much more is at …