Turkish War Against ISIS & PKK

[BLACKEAGLE]

Nearly 400 PKK rebels killed in two weeks of Turkish strikes

A Turkish Kurdish woman with a child sits next to a PKK flag with a picture of the imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan. (File photo: Reuters)

AFP, Ankara
Sunday, 9 August 2015

Nearly 400 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have been killed and hundreds injured in two weeks of Turkish airstrikes on positions in northern Iraq, the official Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday.

The report, which could not be independently verified, said at least four PKK leaders and 30 female rebel fighters were among the dead.

Anatolia generally bases its information on security and Turkish intelligence sources.

Turkey last month launched a two-pronged "anti-terror" offensive against ISIS jihadists in Syria and PKK militants after a wave of attacks inside the country. But so far the Kurdish rebels have borne the brunt of dozens of airstrikes, while just three have been officially recognized as targeting ISIS.

"So far 390 terrorists have been rendered incapable of causing harm and another 400 have been injured, with 150 suffering serious injuries," Anatolia said.

The PKK has meanwhile kept up its attacks on the Turkish state, killing at least 20 members of the security forces since the start of the latest cycle of violence that has shattered a ceasefire declared in 2013.

In the latest incident, a policeman was killed and another injured in an attack believed to have been carried out by the PKK in Midyat, a town in predominantly Kurdish southeast Turkey, according to the Dogan agency.

The PKK's insurgency for greater rights and powers for Turkey's Kurdish minority began more than 30 years ago and has left tens of thousands dead

Last Update: Sunday, 9 August 2015 KSA 14:13 - GMT 11:13
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/09/Nearly-400-PKK-rebels-killed-in-two-weeks-of-Turkish-strikes.html

 

[Redheart]

6 US F-16 fighter jets arrive at Turkey's Incirlik Air Base to join fight against IS | Fox News

Six U.S. F-16 fighter jets arrived at Turkey's southern air base on Sunday to join the U.S.-led coalition fight against ISIS militants, the U.S. military said.

The U.S. European Command said in a statement that the U.S. air force deployed a "small detachment" of six F-16 jets, support equipment and about 300 personnel at Incirlik Air Base. The detachment is part of the 31st Fighter Wing based at Aviano Air Base, in Italy, it said.

Turkey carried out airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria last month following a suicide bombing that killed 32 people and the killing of a soldier by ISIS militants and agreed to allow the U.S. to use the strategically-located base. The moves ended months of reluctance by Turkey, giving it a more active role in the U.S.-led coalition against the extremist group.

Last week, U.S. armed drones taking off from Incirlik struck ISIS positions, and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said an "extensive" fight against the extremists would soon begin.

"The United States and Turkey, as members of the 60-plus nation coalition, are committed to the fight against ISIL in the pursuit of peace and stability in the region," the U.S. military said, using an alternative name for the militant group.

Turkish media reports say the U.S. is expected to deploy around 30 fighter jets at Incirlik for strikes against ISIS.

Incirlik is located close to ISIS strongholds across the border in Syria, allowing the U.S. to move more swiftly and nimbly against ISIS targets. Its use would enable the U.S. -led coalition to conduct better surveillance over Syria and act quicker on intelligence than when it was limited to launching flights from places like Iraq, Jordan and the Gulf states.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Several killed in wave of attacks across Turkey

Attacks comes at a time of a sharp spike in violence between Turkish security forces and rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. (AP)

By Agencies | Istanbul
Monday, 10 August 2015

Two women were shot at the U.S. consulate in Istanbul on Monday and at least eight people were killed in a wave of separate attacks on Turkish security forces, weeks after Ankara launched a crackdown on ISIS, Kurdish and far-left militants.

The NATO member has been in a heightened state of alert since starting its "synchronised war on terror" last month, including air strikes against Islamic State fighters in Syria and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in northern Iraq. It has also rounded up hundreds of suspected militants at home.

Police armed with automatic rifles cordoned off streets around the U.S. consulate in the Sariyer district on the European side of Istanbul, following the gun attack there.

Ahmet Akcay, a local resident who witnessed the attack, told Reuters that one of the women fired four or five rounds, aiming at security officials and consulate officers.

"Police were shouting 'drop your bag, drop your bag'. And the woman was saying: 'I will not surrender'," Akcay said.

Terror group
The attack was claimed by a Turkish far-leftist group known as The Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C), according to Reuters news agency.

The group said in a statement on its website that the United States was an “enemy of the peoples of the Middle East”.

The Revolutionary People's Liberation Army-Front is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and Turkey.

It has claimed responsibility for similar attacks in the past, including a suicide bombing at the U.S. embassy in Ankara in 2013 which killed a Turkish security guard.



A police car stands outside the destroyed police station in the Sultanbeyli district in Istanbul (AFP)

Earlier, the attack targeting the police station in Istanbul's Sultanbeyli neighborhood and caused a fire that collapsed part of the three-story building, according to Anadolu news agency. The explosion also damaged neighboring buildings and around 20 cars parked nearby, the private Dogan news agency reported.

An official said the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was behind a suicide attack that resulted in clashes that left three militants and one top police official dead.

Increasing violence
On the other side of Istanbul, a vehicle laden with explosives was used in an attack on a police station, injuring three police officers and seven civilians, police said.

One of the attackers was killed during the bombing, while two others and a police officer died in a subsequent firefight, the Istanbul governor's office said. Broadcaster CNN Turk said the officer was a senior member of the bomb squad who had been sent to investigate the attack.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either of the attacks, but U.S. diplomatic missions and police stations have been targeted by far-left groups in Turkey in the past.


Turkish police officers run for cover during a gunfight near the site of an overnight explosion at a police station in Istanbul's Sultanbeyli neighborhood (AP)

The attacks also come at a time when Turkey is taking a more active role against militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Last month it conducted aerial strikes against ISIS positions in Syria and agreed to let the U.S.-led coalition use its bases for its fight against ISIS.

The move followed a suicide bombing blamed on ISIS which killed 32 people and after militants fired at Turkish soldiers from across the border in Syria, killing one soldier.

Police cordoned off the area but people gathered outside the police station shouted slogans against the PKK, Hurriyet newspaper reported.

(With Reuters, AFP and the Associated Press)

Last Update: Monday, 10 August 2015 KSA 17:25 - GMT 14:25
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/10/Bomb-targets-Istanbul-police-station-injures-seven.html

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

U.S. denies reaching agreement with Turkey on Syria ‘safe zone’

The two NATO allies have been working on plans to provide air cover for Syrian rebels and to sweep Islamic State from land along the Turkish border. (File photo: Reuters)

By Gulsen Solaker, Reuters | Ankara
Wednesday, 12 August 2015

Turkey said on Tuesday it had agreed with the United States on terms for setting up a "safe zone" inside northern Syria as part of their campaign against ISIS militants, but the U.S. State Department denied there was any such agreement.

The two NATO allies have been working on plans to provide air cover for Syrian rebels and to sweep Islamic State from land along the Turkish border.

CNN Turk quoted Turkish foreign ministry undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu as saying the countries had agreed to create a 98 km (61 miles) long and 45 km wide area to be patrolled by members of the opposition Free Syrian Army.

In a later statement, Turkey’s foreign ministry quoted Sinirlioglu as saying: "The control and protection of this region cleared of (Islamic State) will be conducted by Syrian opposition forces and the necessary air defence and support for this ... will be provided by the United States and Turkey."

Asked about the report, however, U.S. State Department Mark Toner said: "There’s no agreement on some kind of zone."

Toner said he had not seen the Turkish official’s remarks and could not address them. "I’m not denying his claims," he added.

"We’ve been pretty clear from the podium and elsewhere saying there’s no zone, no safe haven, we’re not talking about that here. What we’re talking about is a sustained effort to drive ISIL out of the region," Toner told a news briefing.

ISIL is another name for Islamic State, which has seized large swathes of land in both Syria and Iraq.

Under the Turkish-U.S. strategy, moderate Syrian rebels, trained by the U.S. Army, will fight the Islamist militant group on the ground and help coordinate air strikes by the U.S. coalition, launched from Turkish air bases.

U.S. and Turkish forces would hit Islamic State or Kurdish militants if they entered the safe zone, CNN Turk quoted Sinirlioglu as saying.

Diplomats familiar with Ankara’s plans have said cutting off one of Islamic State’s lifelines could be a game-changer in this corner of Syria’s complex war. The core of the U.S.-trained rebels, who number fewer than 60, will be highly equipped and be able to call in close air support when needed, they say.

U.S. officials have previously said discussions are ongoing about the size and scope of a safe zone along the border, but that the aim would be to clear it of Islamic State fighters and allow moderate rebels to operate freely. They have ruled out a formal no-fly zone.

Last Update: Wednesday, 12 August 2015 KSA 00:02 - GMT 21:02
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/12/U-S-denies-reaching-agreement-with-Turkey-on-Syria-safe-zone-.html

 

[Sinan]

U.S. denies reaching agreement with Turkey on Syria ‘safe zone’

The two NATO allies have been working on plans to provide air cover for Syrian rebels and to sweep Islamic State from land along the Turkish border. (File photo: Reuters)

By Gulsen Solaker, Reuters | Ankara
Wednesday, 12 August 2015

Turkey said on Tuesday it had agreed with the United States on terms for setting up a "safe zone" inside northern Syria as part of their campaign against ISIS militants, but the U.S. State Department denied there was any such agreement.

The two NATO allies have been working on plans to provide air cover for Syrian rebels and to sweep Islamic State from land along the Turkish border.

CNN Turk quoted Turkish foreign ministry undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu as saying the countries had agreed to create a 98 km (61 miles) long and 45 km wide area to be patrolled by members of the opposition Free Syrian Army.

In a later statement, Turkey’s foreign ministry quoted Sinirlioglu as saying: "The control and protection of this region cleared of (Islamic State) will be conducted by Syrian opposition forces and the necessary air defence and support for this ... will be provided by the United States and Turkey."

Asked about the report, however, U.S. State Department Mark Toner said: "There’s no agreement on some kind of zone."

Toner said he had not seen the Turkish official’s remarks and could not address them. "I’m not denying his claims," he added.

"We’ve been pretty clear from the podium and elsewhere saying there’s no zone, no safe haven, we’re not talking about that here. What we’re talking about is a sustained effort to drive ISIL out of the region," Toner told a news briefing.

ISIL is another name for Islamic State, which has seized large swathes of land in both Syria and Iraq.

Under the Turkish-U.S. strategy, moderate Syrian rebels, trained by the U.S. Army, will fight the Islamist militant group on the ground and help coordinate air strikes by the U.S. coalition, launched from Turkish air bases.

U.S. and Turkish forces would hit Islamic State or Kurdish militants if they entered the safe zone, CNN Turk quoted Sinirlioglu as saying.

Diplomats familiar with Ankara’s plans have said cutting off one of Islamic State’s lifelines could be a game-changer in this corner of Syria’s complex war. The core of the U.S.-trained rebels, who number fewer than 60, will be highly equipped and be able to call in close air support when needed, they say.

U.S. officials have previously said discussions are ongoing about the size and scope of a safe zone along the border, but that the aim would be to clear it of Islamic State fighters and allow moderate rebels to operate freely. They have ruled out a formal no-fly zone.

Last Update: Wednesday, 12 August 2015 KSA 00:02 - GMT 21:02
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/12/U-S-denies-reaching-agreement-with-Turkey-on-Syria-safe-zone-.html

As much as i understand there will be a Daesh free-zone. Which will be controlled by FSA. Kurdish groups won't be allowed to enter this zone. US officials doesn't refer this zone as a safe zone but ISIS clear zone. Turkish officials however refer this zone as safe zone. I think Turkish officials are thinking about constructing refugee camps in this zone and send some of the Syrian Immigrants to this zone, also new incoming refugees would be also placed in this zone.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

As much as i understand there will be a Daesh free-zone. Which will be controlled by FSA. Kurdish groups won't be allowed to enter this zone. US officials doesn't refer this zone as a safe zone but ISIS clear zone. Turkish officials however refer this zone as safe zone. I think Turkish officials are thinking about constructing refugee camps in this zone and send some of the Syrian Immigrants to this zone, also new incoming refugees would be also placed in this zone.

The US messed up the Syrian conflict. I think if Turkey can fix it's relations with Egypt and yet other GCC countries, we can be more than capable of solving Syrian conflict together.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Iran shuts border post into Turkey after truck attacked

Supreme leaders of Iran, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (L) and Ayatollah Ali Khameni (R), are seen on the top of a hill from the Turkish side of the border near the Esendere crossing between Turkey and Iran on June 25, 2012 in Yuksekova. (AFP)

By AFP | Tehran
Wednesday, 12 August 2015

Iran has closed its main border crossing post into Turkey after an Iranian truck was torched in a fresh attack on vehicles entering from the Islamic republic, state television said Wednesday.

The report did not say who carried out the attack or what the motive was, but there has been growing unrest in Turkey in recent weeks involving Kurdish separatists.

“Following a new attack yesterday evening on an Iranian truck in Turkey, the Bazargan border post into the country has been closed,” said Davoud Keshavarzian, head of the road traffic organisation.

However, he said the border remains open from Turkey into Iran.

“Luckily, the driver is alive but his truck was burnt,” Keshavarzian said.

He added that he had spoken with the Turkish ambassador and asked that “the Turkish government ensure the safety of Iranian drivers in Turkey as Iran does for Turkish drivers”.

More than 71,000 trucks have passed through Bazargan, located in northwestern Iran, since the beginning of the Iranian fiscal year on March 20.

On Saturday, Iran warned citizens to avoid land travel to neighbouring Turkey after an Iranian bus was attacked by gunmen in the east of the country.

At the end of July, Iran suspended train services between Ankara and Tehran after two bomb blasts on the railway in eastern Turkey.

And a bomb exploded last month on the Iran-Turkey gas pipeline in Agri province in eastern Turkey.

Attacks have been on the rise since a bombing killed 32 people in a mainly Kurdish town in southern Turkey on July 20, ending a two-year truce between Turkey and the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), who are active in eastern Turkey.

Turkey claimed the bombing was carried out by the jihadist Islamic State (ISIS) group, and launched airstrikes on a few ISIS positions in north Syria, as well as PKK targets in northern Iraq.

The events have sparked a cycle of reprisals between the Turkish state and the Kurdish rebellion.

Last Update: Wednesday, 12 August 2015 KSA 19:18 - GMT 16:18
Turkish War Against ISIS & PKK | Page 5 | World Defense

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Erdogan vows no let-up in fight against Kurdish rebel

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara on August 12, 2015. (AFP)

By AFP | Ankara
Wednesday, 12 August 2015

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday vowed to fight on against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, in the face of mounting attacks on security forces blamed on the Kurdish rebels.

“Let me put it clearly, the operations will continue,” he said in a televised speech in Ankara, as Turkey presses on with air strikes on PKK targets in the country’s southeast and in northern Iraq.

“We will never stop in the face of all these attacks. We will continue to fight with determination,” he added.

Erdogan vowed “no concessions” in the fight against “terror”, saying: “A state subjected to an armed attack has the right to defend yourselves with arms.”

Turkey is currently pressing a two-pronged “anti-terror” offensive against Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists in Syria and PKK militants following a wave of attacks.

But, so far, the air strikes have overwhelmingly concentrated on the separatist Kurdish rebels, to the frustration of Western commentators who want to see Turkey ramp up its involvement in the fight against IS.

The state-run Anatolia news agency reported over the weekend that so far 390 “terrorists” had been killed in the campaign against the PKK.

But the Kurdish rebels have hit back, leaving a 2013 truce declared by the PKK in tatters.

According to an AFP toll, 29 members of the security forces have been killed in violence linked to the PKK since the current crisis began.

Erdogan called on the PKK, which is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community, to law down arms and bury them “under concrete”.

Until it did so, the Turkish state would continue its offensive, he said.

“The most important task of a state is to protect lives.”

“We extended our hand but they responded with arms,” Erdogan said, referring to the Kurdish militants, reaffirming his verdict that the peace process was now “on ice”.

Erdogan launched a new bitter attack on the leader of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), Selahattin Demirtas, who Erdogan accuses of being a front for the PKK.

Picking up on a recent visit to Brussels by Demirtas, Erdogan said: “The party that is controlled by a terrorist organisation is looking for a solution in Brussels.”

“It has become so alienated from an understanding of its own country and nation that it must look for a solution elsewhere.”

In a sometimes bombastic speech, Erdogan also claimed that US President Barack Obama had pleaded with him for Turkey to help prevent the fall of the mainly Kurdish Syrian town of Kobane to ISIS jihadists in 2014.

“Mr Obama reached me and said ‘there are two days left before Kobane falls’. And he said ‘here we want to have your help’.”

Last Update: Wednesday, 12 August 2015 KSA 17:57 - GMT 14:57
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/12/Erdogan-vows-no-let-up-in-fight-against-Kurdish-rebel.html

 

[Sinan]

rdogan vows no let-up in fight againstl Kurdish rebe[/QUOTE]
Western biased new agencies.

There is no Kurdish rebellion, there is PKK terrorists attacking with suicides attacks and IEDs.

 

[Lieutenant]

What is IDEs?

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

What is IDEs?

Improvised explosive device - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

iiiiiiiii

Is a good or bad thing?

 

[Sinan]

Is a good or bad thing?

Can you detail your question,bro ?

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Can you detail your question,bro ?

I'm referring to the bold part in your #69 post.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Turkey has no plan to send ground forces to Syria

With a mosque’s minaret in the foreground, a United States Air Force cargo plane takes off from the Incirlik Air Base, in the outskirts of the city of Adana, southern Turkey. (File photo: AP)

Staff writer, Al Arabiya News
Thursday, 13 August 2015

Turkey does not expect to deploy ground forces in Syria to fight Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), although that option should remain on the table, Foreign Minister Mevult Cavusoglu said in a television interview on Thursday.

“Right now, no ground operation is envisaged, but in the future whatever is needed to fight ISIS - including ground operations - should be done, this is my personal opinion,” Cavusoglu told HaberTurk TV.

His statements come after the U.S. State Department denied there was an agreement between Washington and Ankara to great a “safe zone” in northern Syria.

Turkish Foreign Ministry undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu reportedly said that the two countries had agreed to create a 98 km long and 45 km wide area to be patrolled by members of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army.

In a related story, the U.S. on Wednesday launched its first airstrikes by Turkey-based F-16 fighter jets against ISIS targets in Syria, the Pentagon said. The airstrikes mark a limited escalation of a yearlong air campaign that critics have called excessively cautious.

Last Update: Thursday, 13 August 2015 KSA 13:58 - GMT 10:58
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/13/Turkey-does-not-plan-to-send-ground-forces-to-Syria-FM.html