Showing posts with label Turkey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Turkey. Show all posts

Saturday, 17 October 2020

Why Turkey is flexing its muscles abroad

 


Image courtesy of Reuters, fair use doctrine.

 

Joel Kontinen

 

Since coming to power in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has opted to restore the Turkish empire, as it was under the Ottomans. He sees the west in decline and sees a China and Russia as potential sources of refuge,

 

According to the BBC, Turkey has in the past few years

"-launched three military incursions into Syria

- sent military supplies and fighters to Libya

- deployed its navy to the Eastern Mediterranean to assert its claims in the region

- expanded its military operations against Kurdish PKK rebels in northern Iraq

- sent military reinforcements to Syria's last rebel-held province of Idlib

- recently threatened a new military operation in northern Syria to confront "terrorist armed groups". "

But Kurds say the only terrorist is Mr. Endogan.

And its almost warfare with Greece and Cyprys over drilling rights in the Mediterranean that has also caused harm to Israel, who has made a treaty with Greece and others to Europe to export natural gas to Europe.  

And it has let Hamas use its soil  to attack israel,

The BBC also took up Turkey’s 2015 failed coup that led to Mr. Edgogan rise in power, leading him to punish the Kurds in Syria.  

Source:

Tol, Gonul. 2020. Viewpoint: Why Turkey is flexing its muscles abroad.  BBC New16 October.


Sunday, 22 December 2019

Turkey Lets Hamas Use Its Soil to Attack Israel

Image courtesy of Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 3.0.





Joel Kontinen

The EU and US Consider Hamas a terrorist organisation. Yet, Turkey, under its President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, plays host to its leaders, Hamas operatives are using Istanbul as a stage for launching operations on Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Last year they attempted to murder the mayor of Jerusalem. Israel has often told Turkey that Hamas is using its territory to plan attacks, but last weekend Mr Erdogan met Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas, saying that they will keep to supporting our brothers in Palestine, and even the deputy leader, who “has a $5 million US government bounty on his head, travels freely to the country without fear of arrest.”

Source:

Sanchez, Raf, 2019. Exclusive: Hamas plots attacks on Israel from Turkey as Erdogan turns blind eye. Telegraph (17 December).