Erdogan should not be leading Turkey if martyrdom is a reality within that country. This flies in the face of any type of NATO policy.
February 26, 2018President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey with Amine Tiras, 6, in Kahramanmaras on Saturday. “Maroon berets don’t cry,” he told her.
Istanbul — From a stage where he led a raucous rally (click here) exhorting Turks to support their soldiers in Syria, the Turkish president spotted a 6-year-old girl cadet in the crowd, dressed in military-style camouflage and wearing a maroon beret. Her lips trembling, she stood ramrod-straight as she gave a salute.
Beckoned by the president, the girl was lifted into the air and toward the stage to meet with him. But she looked hesitant, and eventually began crying, as the president went on to say that she would be honored if she were killed in combat.
Video clips of the encounter between the president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and the first grader, Amine Tiras, ricocheted across the internet over the weekend. While Turkish news agencies focused on the girl’s emotions — portraying her as brave and resolute — some online commentators said she had been used as a political prop and called it inappropriate.
At the very least, the themes of military service, patriotism and martyrdom seemed rather mature for a first grader....
Has there been an investigation to the coupe attempt and the effects on the country. The coupe was crushed, but, what is going on in Turkey? Child soldiers is out of the question. There is a war within NATO?
25 February 2018
By Kareem Shaheen
The US and Turkey have released opposing accounts (click here) of a phone call between Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, highlighting deepening tensions between the two countries amid a Turkish military campaign inside Syria last weekend.
According to the White House readout of a call between the two leaders, Trump relayed “concerns” over the escalating violence in the Kurdish enclave in Afrin and urged Turkey to “de-escalate, limit its military actions and avoid civilian casualties”. Trump also called on Ankara to avoid actions that risked conflict with US forces, which have provided arms and air cover for the Kurdish militias Turkey is now battling in Syria, the White House said.
However, a Turkish official said the White House readout did not accurately reflect the content of the call. Trump did not raise concerns about escalating violence in Afrin, the official said, and the two presidents had simply exchanged views on the operation.
The official also denied that Trump had “expressed concern about destructive and false rhetoric coming from Turkey”, as mentioned in the White House readout, saying Trump had instead stressed that open criticism of the US in Ankara was raising concerns in Washington....
Erdogan has become paranoid. Scaparrotti needs to call up the soldiers Erdogan has taken out of the military and give them political protections in another NATO country. This is ridiculous.
I think Erdogan is paranoid about the holy man in the USA. Recruiting children is an unbelievable human rights violation by Turkey.
December 7, 2016
By Aurthur Beesley
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s purge of alleged coup plotters (click here)
in Turkey’s armed forces has “degraded” Nato’s command operations by removing experienced senior officers, the alliance’s top general has said.
As many as 150 high-level Turkish personnel were detained, recalled from Nato or retired from active service after the failed military coup in July, said General Curtis Scaparrotti, Nato’s supreme allied commander in Europe.
“These officers served well here in Nato . . . I had talented, capable people here and I’m taking a degradation on my staff for the skill, the expertise and the work that they produced,” Gen Scaparrotti said as Nato foreign ministers met at the headquarters of the alliance in Brussels....
...The removal of Turkish Nato officers comes as the relationship between Ankara and the EU has become increasingly tense, with Brussels hardening its stance on Mr Erdogan while the Turkish president has warned that he could allow 3m refugees into Europe....
The refugees continue to be a focus with Europe and Turkey. The refugees must be allowed to return to their homeland with fighting reduced. Assad is having the effect he wants from Turkey. Assad is playing Erdogan like a fine fiddle. The more refugees into Turkey, the more tensions exist with NATO.
Assad is only interested in settling the Shi'ites into Syria. That is not realistic and will cause increased problems for the region. The refugees have a right to return and should do so as soon as possible.
Ireland is not that big a country. It is limited to the extent it can absorb refugees. The refugee issue must be solved, but, is best solved by returning them to their country. Assad is not the leader of Syria if he continues to kill the very people most weary of war.
February 24, 2018
By Sorcha Pollak
Nearly 50 Syrian refugees (click here) have arrived in Ireland from Greece this week under the Government’s relocation programme.
Twenty refugees arrived in Ireland on Wednesday followed by a further 29 people from Greek refugee camps on Thursday. These are the first Syrian refugees to arrive in Ireland so far this year.
Their arrival brings to 859 the total number of women, men and children who have arrived in Ireland from Greece under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice said another 155 people were due to arrive in Ireland from Greece in the coming weeks.
The latest commitment comes as a new wave of bombs struck Syria’s eastern Ghouta district on Friday causing further devastation and civilian casualties in the area. An estimated 462 people have been killed this week, including nearly 100 children, during a week of bombing by government forces in eastern Ghouta....
Assad is no longer fighting Daesh, he is parlaying the instability to further ethnic wars.
February 27, 2018
...What is happening? (click here)
Siege: Eastern Ghouta has been under siege by the Syrian government since 2013, and is the last rebel stronghold near the capital.
Chronic food and medicine shortages have devastated Eastern Ghouta with severe cases of malnutrition.
De-escalation zone: Turkey, Russia and Iran agreed in 2017 to designate Eastern Ghouta a "de-escalation zone", in which Syrian and Russian fighter jets were expected not to fly.
Relentless bombing: On Sunday, February 19, Syrian forces backed by Russian warplanes escalated the offensive on Eastern Ghouta with a relentless bombing that killed hundreds of people within days.
The bombing, which Amnesty International said amounted to war crimes, has damaged or destroyed six hospitals and medical centres across the city, residents say.
UN resolution: On Saturday, February 25, the UN Security Council - including Russia - voted in favour of a resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire "without delay"....
...The 104-square-kilometre district is home to about 400,000 civilians, half of whom are children under the age of 18.
In March, the civil war in Syria will enter its 8th year, with more than 465,000 Syrians killed and over 12 million displaced from their homes....
Pro-regime forces
Opposition forces
Kurdish forces
Turkey
Jarabulus
Afrin
Manbij
Aleppo
Idlib
Syria
Latakia
Hama
50 km
50 miles
Assad needs to de-escalate his attacks and allow a return of refugees to the land.
