Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances... Rantburg

The Grand Turk
Turkish Opposition Slams Erdogan after Cenbank Governor Ousted
2021-03-24
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Opposition parties say The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
is paying a steep price for President His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
’s wayward economic policies after his shock firing of the central bank governor sent Ottoman Turkish financial markets reeling.

Erdogan dismissed Naci Agbal on Saturday, two days after the governor raised rates to curb inflation. Erdogan then appointed a critic of tight policy who is expected to reverse recent rate hikes, fueling fears of political meddling in monetary policy.

The lira slumped as much as 15% after the move, stocks dived and government yields jumped, piling pressure on the credit-fueled emerging economy, which has been prone to booms and busts during Erdogan’s 18 years in power.

Sahap Kavcioglu, a former politician from Erdogan’s ruling AK Party (AKP) who shares the president’s unorthodox view that high interest rates cause inflation, is Turkey’s third central bank chief since mid-2019.

"Turkey is paying the price for Mr. Erdogan’s thoughtless and reckless decisions with high interest rates, unemployment and high inflation," Iyi Party chairwoman Meral Aksener told her party’s politicians in a speech in parliament.

Erdogan recently announced an economic reform package but Aksener said it lacked credibility. She said Turkey’s economic woes - with inflation above 15%, high unemployment and a gaping current account deficit - left no alternative to high rates.

"High interest rates have become necessary. High interest rates are a fever medicine, not a permanent cure. As the treatment is delayed, it is inevitable for the patient to die," said Aksener, head of the fifth largest party in parliament.

’Unprecedented incompetence’
Faik Oztrak, deputy head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), slammed what he called the AKP’s "ideological blindness".

"It is truly unprecedented incompetence to cause the Ottoman Turkish lira to lose more than 10% in a single day two days after interest rates were raised," he told a Monday news conference.

Erdogan has not commented on the move but a deputy head of the AKP, Nurettin Canikli, said Agbal had been dismissed because he did not use monetary policy instruments rationally.

Aksener said her party supported Agbal prioritizing price stability and faulted Erdogan’s economic management, under a presidential system which came into force after a 2018 election.

"Turkey has no macroeconomic problems. Turkey has macro-Erdoganic problems... What is the solution? To immediately get rid of this failed system and return to a parliamentary democracy," she said.
Link


India-Pakistan
Turkey to sell 30 ATAK helicopters to Pakistan in major military export deal
2018-07-14
[PRESSTV] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
and Pakistain have finalized a deal for the sale of 30 multi-role and all-weather TAI/AgustaWestland T129 ATAK attack helicopters in an agreement that has been billed as one of Ankara’s largest single defense industry exports.

"Contract negotiations on T129 ATAK helicopters between Ottoman Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) and the Pak Ministry of Defense Production were finalized," Turkey’s official Anadolu news agency cited the Ottoman Turkish Defense Industries Undersecretariat (SSB) as saying on Friday.

Military sources, requesting anonymity, said the helicopters will be delivered gradually over five years, and that the TAI has also agreed to provide logistics, spare parts, training, and ammunition services.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Anadolu in November 2017, former Pak Minister for Defense Production and Minister for Science and Technology Rana Tanveer Hussain said his country planned to procure 30 attack helicopters and four naval ships from Turkey.

On July 5, Ottoman Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli said Ankara had won a tender to build four corvettes for the Pakistain Navy, describing the deal as "the largest defense export of Turkey in one agreement."
Link


The Grand Turk
US 'blackmails' Turkey into scrapping S-400 deal with Russia: Minister
2018-06-15
[PRESSTV] Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli has slammed as "blackmail" Washington's pressure on Ankara to scrap its finalized deal to with Russia to purchase the S-400 air defense missile systems.

"Such a demand goes beyond any permissible norms of diplomacy and trade relations. The fulfillment of this demand is unacceptable. The situation can be characterized as blackmail," Turkey's Anadolu news agency quoted Canikli (pictured below) as saying on Thursday.
But did it work?
Link


The Grand Turk
Turkey detains 150 soldiers over alleged coup links: Report
2018-05-12
[AlAhram] Ottoman Turkish police on Friday detained 150 soldiers over suspected links to the movement Ankara blames for the 2016 failed coup, state media reported.

The Istanbul prosecutor had issued arrest warrants for 300 soldiers, including 211 on active duty, state news agency Anadolu said.

Since the July 2016 attempted putsch more than 50,000 people have been placed in durance vile
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
and 140,000 public workers, including military personnel, have been sacked or suspended over alleged links to the US-based preacher Fethullah Gülen
... a Turkish preacher living in Pennsylvania whom the current govt of Turkey considers responsible for all the ills afflicting Turkey and possibly the entire world...
or Kurdish krazed killers.

Istanbul police took 150 soldiers into custody during the latest operation, Anadolu reported said, as part of an investigation into the Gulen movement inside the armed forces.

Some 8,500 Ottoman Turkish armed forces personnel have been sacked so far, including 150 generals, which is more than half of the military's pre-coup contingent of top-ranking officers.
More than half? That seems unwise.
Last month, Ottoman Turkish Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli said authorities would soon dismiss nearly 3,000 more military personnel via emergency decree.

Five days after the coup bid, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
introduced a state of emergency which was renewed for a seventh time last month despite Ankara's Western allies calling for it to end.
Link


The Grand Turk
Turkey to continue measures in Syria's Afrin until threats eliminated: Defence minister
2018-04-11
[AlAhram] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire....
will continue to take measures in Syria's Afrin region, from which it drove the Kurdish YPG militia in an offensive this year, until all terror risks there are eliminated, Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli said on Tuesday.

Speaking to news hounds in parliament, Canikli said Afrin would be handed over to a central government in Syria when a new administration has been formed following elections, once terror threats in the region have been eliminated.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
UN adds uncertainty to Turkey’s Afrin operation
2018-03-05
[ARABNEWS] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s military operation in the Syrian district of Afrin has now progressed unabated for more than 40 days. The military authorities have announced that the border is clear of Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) fighters, while the Ottoman Turkish army has also captured several villages on the road to Afrin that will allow it to tighten its grip around the city.

According to figures disclosed by Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli, Turkey has so far lost 157 soldiers in the Afrin operation: 116 being members of the Turkey-trained Free Syrian Army
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Turkish military and FSA ‘advances in Afrin, claiming third town center’
2018-03-05
[Hurriyet Daily News] The Ottoman Turkish military and the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
(FSA) have advanced on the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) forces of Evil in Syria’s Afrin district, claiming several strategic points, including a town center and at least five villages.

"Shaykh al-Hadid, located in the west of Afrin, is the third town center to be liberated since the launch of the operation. Bulbul and Rajo town centers have also been liberated... Four more villages and a mountain were liberated. They include: Bafliun village and its mountain in the Sharan district, Hulilu village in Rajo, Souuldjouk and Araendi villages in Shaykh al-Hadid district," state-run Anadolu Agency reported on March 4.

"The village of Haji Khalil in Rajo, located northwest of Afrin, has been cleared of terrorists," it added. Ankara sees the YPG as a terrorist group for its links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, which is listed as a terror organization by The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, the U.S, and the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
.

’134 strategic points captured so far'
Turkey launched "Operation Olive Branch" on Jan. 20 along with elements of the FSA to remove YPG forces of Evil from Afrin.

According to state-run Anadolu Agency, the number of strategic points, including 102 villages and 22 mountains and hills, Ottoman Turkish military and the FSA captured has risen to 134.

Some 2,612 YPG forces of Evil have been "neutralized" in Turkey’s ongoing cross-border operation, the Ottoman Turkish military stated on March 4.

The authorities use the word "neutralized" in statements to imply that the forces of Evil in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli stated on March 2 that 41 Ottoman Turkish soldiers and 116 Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces of Evil have been killed since the start of "Operation Olive Branch."

Ottoman Turkish PM: Afrin is surrounded
Many of the areas over Turkey’s southeastern border, including the town of Rajo in northern Syria, have been cleared of "terrorists," Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on March 3, referring to YPG myrmidons.

"Afrin is surrounded. We have cleared all nearby border areas of terror nests," Yildirim said during the ruling Justice and Development’s (AKP) congress in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.

Yildirim said Ottoman Turkish soldiers, Special Forces, gendarmeries, coppers and FSA elements are advancing "step by step" in Afrin.

"Our Ottoman Turkish soldiers are making history in Afrin. They have also cleared Rajo of terrorists," he added.

Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Afrin Activities: Turks advance slightly into kill box, explain sensitive and gentle shelling of aid convoy
2018-02-24

Turkish-backed rebels score small advance in Afrin -- map

[ALMASDARNEWS] The Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels scored a small advance in the Afrin region of Aleppo on Friday after a fierce battle with the Kurdish-led YPG forces.

According to pro-opposition activists, the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels captured the town of Muskan in the Rajou District, forcing the YPG to retreat further south towards the city of Afrin.

In addition to their advance at the Rajou District, the Ottoman Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
(FSA) seized the town of Balfour near the imperative Jandaris axis in southern Afrin.

YPG activists claimed that at least ten FSA rebels were killed during their attack, while the overall corpse count for the Kurdish forces is unknown.

As a result of this advance, the Ottoman Turkish-backed forces now control over 415 square kilometers of territory inside the Afrin region of Aleppo.

Turkish forces yesterday shelling convoy headed to Syria's Afrin region

[AlAhram] The Ottoman Turkish army struck a convoy entering Syria's Kurdish-held Afrin region, which Ankara said carried fighters and weapons but Kurdish forces said was made up of civilians entering with food and medicine.

In a statement on Friday, the Ottoman Turkish military said a fleet of some 30-40 vehicles of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia had approached the main town of the northwest Afrin region. It said artillery targeted the convoy "carrying terrorists, weapons and ammunition".

The YPG said the convoy, which arrived in Afrin late on Thursday, had transported civilians from the Jazeera region further east and other towns under the control of Kurdish forces.

Birusk Hasaka, the YPG front man in Afrin, said the convoy included hundreds of people. The shelling set some cars ablaze, wounding at least ten people and killing one passenger.

"The convoy was headed to stand in solidarity with the people of Afrin, carrying food aid and medical supplies," he told Rooters.

"As always all attention and sensitivity was shown so that civilians were not harmed," the Ottoman Turkish military said on Friday. It released aerial video footage showing a series of kabooms and smoke rising from a country road.

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday the Ottoman Turkish army was making every effort to avoid harming any civilians, which was extending the duration of the operation. Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli has previously dismissed reports of harmed civilians as false.

Human Rights Watch said on Friday it had investigated three attacks in Afrin last month in which Ottoman Turkish troops failed to prevent civilian casualties. The air strikes and shelling, on a cluster of tents, a poultry farm, and a house, killed 26 civilians, including 17 children, it said.

"It appears that vulnerable civilians are facing displacement and death because of the way The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
's latest offensive is being conducted," said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at the U.S.-based group.

Since the onset of Syria's conflict in 2011, the YPG and its allies have carved out three autonomous cantons in the north. Their territory expanded as they defeated Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
with U.S. help, although Washington opposes their autonomy plans, as does the Syrian government.

This week, militias allied to Damascus deployed to Afrin to help fight the Ottoman Turkish assault. The Damascus government has also been allowing Kurdish fighters, civilians, and politicians to pass through its terrority to reach Afrin in recent weeks.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Russia says hundreds killed in Turkish operation in Syria’s Afrin
2018-02-01
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Several hundred people, including civilians, have been killed during The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s military operation in Syria’s Afrin, Interfax news agency cited Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying on Wednesday.

Rockets fired from northern Syria into a Ottoman Turkish border town killed a teenage girl and maimed another person on Wednesday, Turkey’s state-run news agency
...and if you can't believe the state-run news agency who can you believe?...
reported amid Ankara’s intensifying offensive on a Syrian Kurdish-controlled enclave.

It was the latest in a string of rocket attacks on the border towns of Reyhanli and Kilis since Jan. 20, when Turkey’s military launched a cross-border operation to drive out the Syrian Kurdish militia from the northern enclave of Afrin. Ankara considers the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, an extension of the outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting an insurgency inside Turkey.

Rockets fired in Afrin
Earlier today, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency said Syrian Kurdish fighters in Afrin fired two rockets Wednesday, hitting a house and a garden wall in Reyhanli.

Two people were hospitalized after the attack and one, 17-year-old Fatma Avlar, died from her wounds, the agency said. The attacks inside Turkey have so far killed four people, including Avlar. Two of the victims were Syrian refugees.

The Kurdish militia, meanwhile, accused Turkey of firing Katyusha rockets into Afrin, and reported that at least 12 people were maimed from the shelling that targeted the neighborhood of Ashrafieh. The maimed were brought to Afrin hospital.

As Turkey’s military operation in Syria continues, officials in the US-led international coalition against ISIS have warned the offensive could destabilize recent gains against ISIS along the Iraq-Syria border in the Euphrates River valley.

The top US general in Iraq said Tuesday, after a visit to a coalition outpost near the Iraq-Syrian border town of Qaim, that he is "very much concerned" the fight in Afrin could remove pressure on pockets of ISIS fighters in other parts of Syria.
Al Ahram adds Agence France Presse’s take on events:
Clashes raged between Ottoman Turkish-backed forces and Kurdish militia in Syria's Afrin region on Wednesday, as maimed civilians fled intense Ottoman Turkish air strikes.

The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund....
and allied Syrian rebels have pressed on with Operation Olive Branch in the Kurdish-controlled Afrin enclave despite mounting international concern and reports of rising civilian casualties.

An AFP correspondent in Afrin heard warplanes flying overhead, and Kurdish officials said rocket fire on the town maimed 12 civilians.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said heavy bombardment and Ottoman Turkish air strikes were accompanying ground fighting around Jandairis and Rajo, two areas to the west of Afrin near the Ottoman Turkish border.

The Britannia-based war monitor reported that Ottoman Turkish-backed forces had seized control of the border village of Shinkal to the northwest.

"Ottoman Turkish forces dispatched new military reinforcements overnight, including fighters and equipment, to Shinkal in an attempt to consolidate their control over several points and support attacking forces," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

Turkey and its Syria rebel allies launched Operation Olive Branch against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), on January 20.

On Wednesday, the Ottoman Turkish army said it destroyed 22 YPG targets overnight.

Ankara has denied hitting civilians in its military operations, but hospitals in Afrin say they are receiving civilian casualties on a daily basis.

The Observatory says the Ottoman Turkish operation has left 67 civilians dead so far, 20 of them children.

Ottoman Turkish Defence Minister Nurettin Canikli insisted on Tuesday that Ankara's forces and its rebel allies "have not harmed any civilian" during the operation.

Since launching the assault, Turkey and rebel allies have captured 11 villages and the strategic Barsaya hill, according to the Observatory.

Barsaya overlooks both the rebel-held Syrian town of Azaz, and Kilis across the border in Turkey.

Advancing fighters were facing "fierce resistance from YPG fighters holed up in the mountains, in spite of Turkey's massive firepower," said Abdel Rahman.

The Observatory said that 91 YPG fighters and 85 pro-Ankara rebels had been killed in the fighting so far.

Turkey says seven of its soldiers have been killed.
No doubt that is completely true. The other dead Turkish soldiers and paramilitaries were carefully not mentioned, thuogh their families will eventually notice.
On Wednesday, rockets launched from Syria killed a 17-year-old girl and maimed another resident of a Ottoman Turkish border town, officials said.

Erdogan has vowed to "clean up" the YPG-held city of Manbij east of Afrin, where the US has troops as part of its operations against IS.
Link


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Turkey says 5 soldiers killed in Syria's Afrin as offensive continues
2018-01-31
[PRESSTV] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli says five Ottoman Turkish soldiers and 24 allied gunnies from the so-called Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
(FSA) have bit the dust in the ongoing cross-border offensive in Syria’s northwestern region of Afrin against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).

Addressing parliament on Tuesday, Canikli denied reports of civilian deaths in the offensive, saying, "No civilian has been harmed in Operation Olive Branch of Ottoman Turkish Armed Forces and the FSA."

He added that a total of 649 YPG gunnies had been killed since the beginning of the operation on January 20.

Link


The Grand Turk
Turkey hints at imminent Afrin operation
2017-11-30
[ARABNEWS] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
’s top security body, the National Security Council (MGK), on Tuesday recommended that the government deploy forces around Syria’s Kurdish-held Afrin canton and in western Aleppo.

The MGK emphasized Turkey’s determination to secure its borders against terrorist groups. Afrin is controlled by the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara views as the Syrian affiliate of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

On Monday, Ottoman Turkish Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli hinted at a possible operation in Afrin, saying such an operation "may be tomorrow or... sooner than tomorrow."

Last week, he said the PKK/YPG presence in Afrin poses a "serious danger and threat that should be removed in line with Turkey’s rights arising from international law."

The Ottoman Turkish military recently completed the formation of its third observation post in Syria’s northwest Idlib province, as part of a cease-fire co-guaranteed with Russia and Iran.

Earlier this month, Ottoman Turkish President Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey...
said his country needed to clear Afrin of the YPG after accomplishing its military operation in Idlib.

But Serhat Erkmen, a Middle East expert at the Ankara-based 21st Century Turkey Institute, told Arab News: "Following the agreement reached in Sochi last week between Moscow, Tehran and Ankara, a comprehensive military operation that would escalate regional tension is unlikely."
Link


The Grand Turk
Turkey's S-400 purchase not a message to NATO
2017-11-13
[Al Jazeera] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's decision to buy an advanced missile defence system from Russia is not aimed at sending any political messages, a Ottoman Turkish official has said, a day after Ankara announced the finalisation of a deal that might affect its relations with NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
Ahmet Berat Conkar, head of the Ottoman Turkish delegation to NATO Parliamentary Assembly, said the purchase of the S-400 anti-aircraft missiles was solely based on technical and financial reasons.

"Turkey's picked S-400 over other options because the missile system possesses more advanced technical features than its rivals, with a better price and shorter delivery time," Conkar, who is a member of parliament for the ruling AK Party, told Al Jazeera.

His comments came after Nurettin Canikli, Turkey's defence minister, said on Saturday that the S-400 deal with Russia was "done".

"The S-400 missiles are purchased. Only small details are left to handle at this point," Canikli told news hounds in the northern city of Giresun.

Link



Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More