The truth about Syria

[Yervant1]

ALL RUSSIAN TOUR OPERATORS CANCEL CHARTER FLIGHTS TO TURKEY

17:33, 25 November, 2015

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 25, ARMENPRESS. All tourist agencies in Russia
have canceled chartered flights to Turkey and suspended the sale
of all trips to Turkey. As "Armenpress" reports, Dmitry Gorin, the
vice president of Russia's Association of Tour Operators made the
announcement earlier today, a day after the Turkish Air Force shot
down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft near the Syrian-Turkish
border. Goruin noted that there are no imminent plans to evacuate
Russian tourists currently present in Turkey back to Russia.

On November 24, a Russian Sukhoi Su-24 attack aircraft was shot down
in Syria earlier today, while conducting airstrikes against terrorist
targets near the Turkish border. Turkey says the plane violated its
airspace 10 times within a five-minute period, which defense officials
in Moscow flatly deny.

Russia's Federal Agency for Tourism issued a travel advisory on
November 25, warning tourist agencies against selling travel packages
to Turkey, citing the threat of terrorism there. The agency warned
tourist companies that they could be legally liable for providing
services to clients that endanger their safety.

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/827192/all-russian-tour-operators-cancel-charter-flights-to-turkey.html

[MosJan]

sorry its in Russian

 

Pilot of SU24. his ok. and the the box has been found. in his words. he did not enter in turky

 

https://www.facebook.com/1tvnews/videos/1223716620977938/

[gamavor]

Turker@ kak@ geran!

[Yervant1]

IRANIAN PRESIDENT TERMS TURKEY'S DOWNING OF RUSSIAN BOMBER "ALARMING, DANGEROUS"

Wed Nov 25, 2015 6:51

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani described the Tuesday
downing of a Russian fighter jet by Turkey over the Syrian airspace as
"alarming and dangerous".

"The incident which happened over the Syrian airspace and near the
Turkish border is highly alarming and dangerous and has complicated
the situation," Rouhani said, addressing a cabinet meeting in Tehran
on Wednesday.

He said that based on Iran's information the fighter jet was flying
over Syria, and added even if one assumes that the aircraft had
approached the Turkish borders, targeting it over the sky is an
alarming sign which shows that disorder is gradually ruling the region.

"We urge our friendly neighbor, Turkey, to watch the situation
seriously as conditions are highly sensitive," Rouhani said, adding
that Iran doesn't favor differences and darkened relations between
Ankara and Moscow.

He underlined that the root causes of terrorism should be found,
including sources of funding and arms supplies to the terrorists and
those who purchase oil from the terrorist groups.

His remarks came after a Russian Sukhoi-24 was shot down by Turkey
over Syria on Tuesday. The two pilots were able to eject from the
plane. One of them is said to have been killed by the militants
who sprayed bullets at the two pilots after they ejected. The other
pilot who was held captive by the terrorists was freed by the Syrian
commandos' special operations.

President Vladimir Putin warned on Tuesday that the tragedy with
Russian Su-24 downed in Syria would have serious consequences for
Moscow-Ankara relations.

The Russian president underscored that "either way, our pilots and
our plane were not posing a threat to the Republic of Turkey".

"This tragic event will have serious consequences for Russian-Turkish
relations. We have always regarded Turkey not only as a close neighbor,
but also as a friendly state. I don't know who needed what was done
today, but we didn't in any case," Putin said during a meeting with
Jordanian King Abdullah II in Sochi.

Russia will analyze everything that happened with its crashed Su-24
military aircraft in Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"We will, of course, carefully analyze everything that happened,"
Putin said at a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II.

"Instead of contacting us immediately Turkey addressed their NATO
partners -- as if it was us who downed their plane, not vice versa. Do
they want to put NATO at the service of ISIL?" Putin said.

"Our jet fell six kilometers away from the border, within Syrian
airspace."

The Russian Su-24 was directly tasked with the fight against the
ISIL, carrying out preventative airstrikes against terrorists,
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

"They were carrying out an operation to combat ISIL. Northern Lattakia
is a mountainous region where militants are gathered, mostly natives of
the Russian Federation. In this sense, they were carrying out their
direct task of preventative strikes against terrorists who could
return to Russia at any time. These are, of course, people who must
be considered international terrorists," Putin said at a meeting with
Jordan's King Abdullah II.

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940904001269

[Yervant1]

MILITARY EXPERT: RUSSIA WILL FIGHT WITH TURKEY IN THE TERRITORY OF SYRIA AND ARMENIA

21:36, 25.11.2015
Region:World News, Armenia, Russia, Turkey, Middle East
Theme: Politics, Analytics

Russia will not fight with Turkey in the latter's territory; it will
fight with Turkey in the territory of Syria, and not only Syria,
but also in that of Armenia. Vladimir Yevseyev, military expert and
head of the Eurasian Integration and SCO Development Department at
the Institute of CIS Countries, told the aforementioned to Armenian
News - NEWS.am.

According to him, this will happen in case the Turkish helicopters
take such impudent measures as they did recently, when they twice
trespassed on the territory of Armenia.

"I think that in these conditions Russia will most probably
place modern systems of air defense in Armenia instead of what
is installed there. Secondly, Russia may start applying modern
fighter-interceptors. In any case, I think Russia will respond from
Armenia," Yevseyev said. This kind of violations of air space will
be stopped very harshly. "From this point of view, I think that
what is happening will enhance the Russian-Armenian relations,"
the expert said.

Turkish Armed Forces helicopters violated Armenia's air space in the
direction of the town of Armavir for 2-4 minutes on October 6 and 7.

http://news.am/eng/news/298351.html

[Yervant1]

ARMENIA OFFICIAL: DANGER OF IMPUNITY BECAME MORE EVIDENT TO RUSSIAN COLLEAGUES

21:25, 25.11.2015
Region:Armenia, Russia, Turkey
Theme: Politics

YEREVAN. - Impunity gives rise to new crimes, and this became more
evident to the Russian MPs.

Eduard Sharmazanov, Armenian Parliament Vice-Speaker and Spokesman
of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) told Armenian News
-NEWS.am, referring to the draft law on the responsibility of Turkey
for not recognizing the Armenian Genocide, which has been introduced
in Russia's State Duma.

Sharmazanov stressed that Armenia has not once stated about the
unacceptability of the denial, including during the entire 2015,
which marked the 100th anniversary of the crime. According to him,
the legal acts against the denial were adopted by the parliaments of
Cyprus and Greece, as well as the European Parliament.

In Sharmazanov's words, the necessity to condemn the crimes is related
not only to the Armenian Genocide, but to any other crime against
humanity. The Armenian side has many times stated that Anakara needs
the recognition in the first place, since it will reconcile Turkey
with its own history. "But they are turning into the accomplice of
Taleats and Envers. And the impunity gives rise to new crimes. And
now they have given themselves the right to down the jet, which was
struggling against the terrorists. Perhaps this very fact revealed
the truth more clearly for our Russian colleagues," Sharmazanov said.

Sharamazanov will tomorrow meet with the Russian State Duma Speaker
Sergey Naryshkin. The situation on Karabakh, Armenian-Turkish
relations and struggle against terrorism will be among the other
issues to be discussed.

"As the head of the Armenian delegation in the CSTO Parliamentary
Assembly, I will pass on the positive opinion of the Armenian side
on the bill," Sharamzanov said.

http://news.am/eng/news/298367.html

[Yervant1]

TURKEY ONLY WANTS NO-FLY ZONE TO CARVE OUT A PIECE OF SYRIA

© Ministry of defence of the Russian Federation
Middle East
17:22 25.11.2015Get short URL
41053121

Iranian political scientist Hossein Ruyvaran told Sputnik that
Turkey's real motivation for wanting a no-fly zone above Syria is to
take territory.

© Sputnik/ Mikhail Voskresenskiy Syrian Government Forces Take Key
Regions in Latakia Province The day before shooting down a Russian
Su-24 bomber Turkey summoned the Russian ambassador to complain about
Russian airstrikes on Turkmen terrorists in Syria, more evidence that
Ankara does not intend to fight terrorism in the region, but maintain
its malign influence in Syria, Hossein Ruyvaran told Sputnik.

"On the contrary, this protest shows that Turkey was already against
fighting terrorism, and shooting down the Russian bomber on the
territory of Syria is nothing more than interference in the internal
affairs of Syria, and an attempt to unleash a conflict with Russia,
which actively supports the legitimate Syrian government."

© AP Photo Shoot Down of Russian Plane Could 'Finish' Turkey's
Erdogan Politically

"All the facts support this: The Russian bomber was hit on Syrian
territory, the pilots catapulted out on Syrian territory, and there is
no evidence that the plane entered Turkish airspace, or furthermore,
that it had received ten warnings from Turkish military aviation
authorities about that," said Ruyvaran, an expert on Middle Eastern
and Arab affairs at the University of Tehran.

"The brazen announcement by President Erdogan that a no-fly zone had
been formed in northern Syria in collaboration with Western countries
(more than likely especially for Syrian aviation and Russian bombers)
is confirmation of direct interference by Ankara in the internal
conflict in Syria, in opposition to those who are fighting terrorism."

"Turkey aims to seize Syrian territory under the pretext of creating
a no-fly zone, and the dramatic proof of that is the destruction of
the Russian warplane."

Read more:
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151125/1030741622/turkey-syria-su24-noflyzone.html#ixzz3sWDHkhu5

[Yervant1]

SHARMAZANOV: INCIDENTS OF DOWNING OF ARMENIAN HELICOPTER OVER KARABAKH AND RUSSIAN PLANE OVER SYRIA HAVE THE SAME MODUS OPERANDI

by Tatevik Shahunyan

Thursday, November 26, 12:12

The incidents of downing of the Armenian helicopter on the line of
contact between the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani troops and the
Russian plane over Syria have the same modus operandi, Vice Speaker of
the Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov has told ArmInfo. To note,
Sharmazanov is in St. Petersburg on a working visit.

"This is obvious and the international community should draw relevant
conclusions. If the downing of the Armenian helicopter had received
proper response from the international community, it would probably
have been possible to avoid recurrence of similar cases. We should all
join efforts to take preventive measures and eradicate such phenomena,"
says Sharmazanov. He notes that he is going to raise the same issue
during his meetings and speeches on the sidelines of the 8th plenary
sitting of the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly, as well as during the
bilateral meeting with Russian State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin.

He stresses that Ankara fails to draw conclusions from the developments
and aggravates the situation even more. "In particular, the matter
concerns Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's statement that
Ankara will keep exerting efforts towards "returning Nagorno-Karabakh"
to Azerbaijan. In the current situation, Ankara should mind its own
business. It is noteworthy that Davutoglu also speaks of Turkey's
striving to normalize its relations with Armenia.

This statement can be qualified only as demagogy," says Sharmazanov.

To recall, the Azerbaijani armed forces downed an Armenian Mi-24
helicopter while it was conducting a training flight near the Line on
Contact on 12 November 2014. Three officers of the NKR Armed Forces -
Sergey Sahakyan, Sargis Nazaryan and Azat Sahakyan - were on board.

The Azeri officer that shot the helicopter down was awarded a medal.

http://www.arminfo.am/index.cfm?objectid=C5F5F060-941D-11E5-A2150EB7C0D21663

[Yervant1]

U.S. SHOULD DROP NEW OTTOMAN EMPIRE AS ALLY

November 26, 2015

By Doug Bandow

Forbes

Turkey's rash decision to shoot down a Russian plane for allegedly
violating its airspace isn't likely to trigger World War III. But
Ankara has demonstrated where it stands. With the Islamic State and
against the West. The justification for Turkey's membership in NATO
and America's defense guarantee for Ankara long ago passed. Turkey's
irresponsible action proves that it is no U.S. ally.

The Obama administration's war against the Islamic State is turning
into another interminable conflict that serves the interests of
other nations far more than America. U.S. policy has been impossibly
incoherent, attempting to do everything: oust Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad, shove aside next door Iran, defeat vicious jihadist
insurgents, promote ineffectual "moderate" forces, convince the Gulf
States to act against the extremists they've been supporting, promote
diplomacy without participation by Damascus and Tehran, and convince
Turkey to serve U.S. rather than Islamic interests.

While Russia's September entry into the war outraged Washington,
Moscow showed clarity and realism. Russia simply sought to bolster
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad against insurgents dominated by
radical Islamists. Ironically, this approach was far more likely
than the administration's confused policy to advance America's core
interest of defeating ISIL and al-Qaeda affiliates such as al-Nusra.

The U.S. had little choice but to accommodate Moscow, despite nutty
proposals from some Republican presidential candidates to shoot down
Russian planes.

However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan played the fool when
his military downed a Russian aircraft, involved in striking territory
controlled by al-Nusra. The two governments' accounts conflict, but
no one believes the Putin government had the slightest hostile intent
against Ankara. Downing the plane was gratuitously provocative and
not necessary for Turkey's defense. The objectives likely were to
interfere with Moscow's operations against Islamic radicals and/or
discourage future Russian strikes against Ankara-backed Islamists. The
action obviously was contrary to Washington's interest, which would be
caught in any escalation between Russia and Turkey. Yet NATO Secretary
General Jens Stoltenberg stated that "we stand in solidarity with
Turkey and support the territorial integrity of our NATO ally, Turkey."

It's not enough to "discourage any escalation," as President Barack
Obama insisted. Washington should absorb the bitter lessons of Turkey's
perfidy and drop the alliance relationship.

Turkey is a growing threat to Western interests and values. Ankara
never has been a true friend of the West. Turkey was a useful ally
during the Cold War, though it always seemed readier to go to war with
Greece than the Soviet Union. (In 1974 Ankara seized 37 percent of the
island of Cyprus and war with Athens was narrowly averted.) In those
years Turkey was only vaguely democratic. The regime punished anyone
whose liberal sentimentalities conflicted with the hyper-nationalist
"Kemalist" philosophy of Mustafa Kemal *****, the founder of modern
Turkey (later named Ataturk, or "Father of the Turks"). The public
veneration of Ataturk mimicked the North Korean Kim dynasty's
personality cult.

President Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) came
to power in 2002, sweeping away a coalition of feckless, corrupt,
and discredited parties. Initially then-Prime Minister Erdogan played
the liberator. But once he pushed the military back in its barracks
and won his third election he dropped the liberal gloss, sacrificing
most of Turkey's human rights advances. He gained control of the police
and judiciary; conducted multiple mass conspiracy trials; and attacked
independent journalists, opposition politicians, and business critics.

He has pushed, unsuccessfully so far, to establish an authoritarian
presidency along the lines, ironically, of that created by Russia's
Vladimir Putin.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dougbandow/2015/11/25/turkey-downs-russian-plane-joins-with-islamic-state-u-s-should-drop-new-ottoman-empire-as-ally/

http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/77135

[Yervant1]

ERDOGAN DOWNED SU-24 TO REVENGE SON'S DISRUPTED OIL BUSINESS - DAMASCUS

© AP Photo
MIDDLE EAST
11:51 27.11.2015(updated 12:20 27.11.2015) Get short URL
Topic:
Russian Su-24 Jet Downed Over Syria (139)
01295100

Turkey shot down Russia's bomber to revenge the destruction of
oil smuggling business that belongs to Recep Tayyip Erdogan's son,
a Syrian minister stated.

DAMASCUS (Sputnik) - Turkey downed the Russian Su-24 Fencer bomber
over Syria in response to the destruction of hundreds of semi-truck
oil tankers sent to Turkey from Syria by the Islamic State, Syrian
Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said.

The information minister said that oil smuggled into Turkey was bought
by the Turkish president's son, who owns an oil company.

"All of the oil was delivered to a company that belongs to the son of
Recep [Tayyip] Erdogan. This is why Turkey became anxious when Russia
began delivering airstrikes against the IS infrastructure and destroyed
more than 500 trucks with oil already. This really got on Erdogan and
his company's nerves. They're importing not only oil, but wheat and
historic artefacts as well," al-Zoubi told RIA Novosti in an interview.

"The fact of the attack on the [Russian] plane in Syrian airspace
without any warning, as the surviving Russian [co-]pilot reported,
confirms once again that Turkey is lying," the information minister
said.

On Tuesday, a Turkish Air Force F-16 downed the Russian bomber 4
kilometers from the Turkish border. Both the Russian General Staff
and the Syrian Air Defense Command confirmed that the Su-24 never
crossed into Turkish airspace and was shot down over Syrian territory,
citing precise objective control data.

© AP PHOTO/ PETROS KARADJIAS 'Erdogan Family's Trace in Su-24
Downing': Revenge for Ruining Shady Oil Deals?

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the incident as a "stab
in the back, carried out against us by accomplices of terrorists."

One of the two Su-24 pilots was killed by fire from the ground
after ejecting from the plane. The second pilot was rescued in a
12-hour-long operation.

Russia has been carrying out an aerial campaign against the Islamic
State jihadist group in Syria since late September at the request of
Damascus. Moscow has repeatedly called on the UN Security Council to
take extra steps to determine who was buying oil from the militants.

Syria has repeatedly accused Turkey, as well as several Gulf states,
of funding ISIL.

Read more:
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151127/1030844619/erdogan-oil-business-turkey-russia-su-24.html#ixzz3sgOQblWc

[Yervant1]

ARMENIA SHOWS EUROPE HOW TO WELCOME REFUGEES

11:47, 27 November, 2015

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS. Armenia, a small country that
is relatively poor compared with the rest of Europe, has welcomed
the influx of refugees crossing its borders, giving help to those
who need it. As "Armenpress" reports, citing news-republic.com,
director of European Friends of Armenia Eduardo Lorenzo Ochoa writes
the abovementioned in article "Armenia shows Europe how to welcome
refugees".

As he writes since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, 17,000
Syrians have come to Armenia. Though many of them are of Armenian
descent, other persecuted communities, such as the Yazidis and the
Assyrians, have also been able to make Armenia their home, albeit
temporarily. Armenia has the third most war refugees from Syria
in Europe.

Unlike Lebanon, Turkey or Jordan, Armenia has not received any
substantial financial assistance from the EU. Nevertheless, the
Armenian Ministry of Diaspora publicly insisted that "if refugees
decide to come to Armenia, our state must do its best by means of
joint efforts with international structures and different Armenian
organisations to receive them".

"The massacres perpetrated by ISIS in Syria and Iraq have reminded
Armenians of their own history. Many Syrians who came to Armenia
are actually descendants of survivors of the Armenian Genocide and
numerous Armenians feel a moral obligation to provide them with
a safe haven. This also explains why the Yazidis, who are facing
extermination in their ancestral lands, are welcomed with open
arms," Ochoa says, adding that in theory, the member states agree
on the defence and promotion of European principles and values,
but unfortunately they differ widely in their understanding of what
should be put into practice. This has been evident throughout the
current war refugee crisis.

Throughout the refugee crisis, Armenia is quietly reminding the world
what European values really are. History shows that Europe has been at
its best when it has provided shelter for those seeking safety from
persecution and destruction. The Armenian approach to the current
crisis is a direct continuation of this praiseworthy tradition,
and proves that Armenia is fully and undeniably part of the European
community of values.

The tragic events in Paris are a direct attack on these very same
European values. Ochoa states that this explains why Armenians were
quick to gather all across the country to mourn the victims and
express solidarity with the people of France.

"Charles Aznavour, whose own parents fled to Europe after the Armenian
Genocide, said he 'will always take the side of those who knock on
doors, not the ones who shut them.' I believe that these words reflect
the feeling shared by countless Armenians and other Europeans when
they are confronted with images of people fleeing war in an attempt
to save their lives. These are the European values which unite us,
from the cliffs of Ireland all the way to the mountains of Armenia,"
Ochoa concludes.

[Yervant1]

ARE WASHINGTON'S FINGERPRINTS ALL OVER DOWNING OF RUSSIAN SU-24 BOMBER?

© AFP 2015/ Saul LOEB
POLITICS
20:12 27.11.2015(updated 20:37 27.11.2015) Get short URL
296382721

Turkey is a pawn in a NATO geostrategic game against Russia; Ankara
has long been supporting ISIL on behalf of Washington, profiting from
Syria's stolen oil, according to independent researcher and writer
Timothy Alexander Guzman.

Independent researcher and writer Timothy Alexander Guzman underscores
that Turkey's provocation against Russia "is not surprising at all,"
claiming that Washington's fingerprints are all over Ankara's recent
provocation.

"Let's consider the facts. Syrian government forces along with Russia
have turned the tide against ISIS [iSIL]. It is a known fact that the
US, France, the UK, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar had been
arming, funding, training or provided safe havens for ISIS at some
point in time," Guzman writes in his article for alternative media
site Silent Crow News.

© AFP 2015/ STR Never Gonna Give Up? Saudi Arabia Says Military
Option in Syria Still 'Viable' According to the writer it's the Turks
who are controlling the situation on the ground under Washington's
direction. Citing an unnamed Doha-based source, Guzman elaborates
that there is a "triangle, with Turkey at the top and Saudi Arabia
and Qatar at the bottom." Turkey is the main coordinator in this
clandestine triple alliance.

Ankara insists that it shot down Russia's Su-24 bomber because it
allegedly violated Turkish airspace.

"One important fact to consider is that Turkey had in place a 'buffer
zone' five miles inside Syria since 2012," Guzman emphasizes.

The writer explains that Turkey unilaterally created the buffer zone
after a Syrian defense missile shot down a Turkish fighter aircraft
that intruded in the Syrian airspace in 2012. Turkey redrew its state
border and is now claiming that the Su-24 had violated it.

However, Ankara has not been acting alone. The action was mostly likely
preplanned by Turkish policymakers and coordinated with Washington,
which seek to disrupt Russia's success in Syria, the writer believes.

"Turkey has supported ISIS [iSIL] on behalf of Washington's strategic
goal to oust Assad and has been profiting from Syria's stolen oil.

Turkey follows the dictates of Washington. Turkey shot down a Russian
SU-24 to provoke Russia into a war with NATO who is under Washington's
control. It is certain that Turkey got its green light from the Obama
administration," Guzman underscores.

© AP PHOTO/ SELCAN HACAOGLU Turkey's Grand Game: Three Reasons Behind
Su-24 Downing The writer reminds that it is not the first time the
Turkish leadership has carried out an act of aggression. Back in 1915,
the Ottoman Empire unleashed a horrific Armenian genocide that claimed
the lives of about 1.5 million Armenians, as well as Assyrians and
the Ottoman-Greeks. The Turkish government has also been involved in
massacres of Kurdish nationals since the beginning of 20th century.

In 1974, Turkey invaded Cyprus in the wake of the Cypriot coup d'état
and grabbed about 40 percent of the island's territory.

"What was the reason behind Turkey's invasion? To restore the
constitution of the Republic of Cyprus that was dismantled by the coup
plotters and for the protection of the Turkish-Cypriot minority on
the island, which was less than 18% of the population," Guzman notes.

However, in reality the coup was only a pretext to justify Ankara's
illicit invasion, he underscores.

It seems that Ankara wants to re-establish a mini-Ottoman Empire
and it has no scruples about harboring ISIL's barbaric hordes while
pursuing this goal.

In contrast to Russia, Ankara is clearly on the wrong side of history,
Guzman stresses, adding that the Turkish government "should reconsider
its foreign policy that could drag its nation into World War III
orchestrated by Washington."

Read more:
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151127/1030883576/washington-fingerprints-su24-downing-syria-nato.html#ixzz3sizapLC8

[Yervant1]

RUSSIA SAYS TURKEY WILL PAY ECONOMIC PRICE FOR 'DELIBERATE' DOWNING OF JET

The Irish Times
November 26, 2015 Thursday

Moscow accuses Ankara of fostering radical Islam and funding Isis

by Daniel McLaughlin

Russia has accused Turkey's government of fostering radical Islam and
funding Islamic State, as it launched economic retaliation against
Ankara for what it called the "deliberate and pre-planned" downing
of one of Moscow's jet fighters.

Turkey insisted that the pilots of two its F-16 jets that shot down
a Russian Su-24 near the Syria-Turkey border on Tuesday were simply
defending their state, as Moscow sent more high-tech firepower to
its military forces in Syria.

The surviving member of the two-man Russian fighter crew was rescued
yesterday in a part of northern Syrian disputed by government troops
and militia, and claimed his jet had not entered Turkish airspace or
been warned before it was hit; Ankara said it made several incursions
and was warned 10 times to change course.

"It seems that this action was deliberate and pre-planned, and pursued
a very specific purpose," Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov,
told his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, in a telephone
conversation yesterday.

"It was emphasised that, by shooting down the Russian plane . . . the
Turkish leadership was effectively taking the side of Isil," Russia's
foreign ministry said in a statement, using another name for the
group also known as Islamic State, Isis and Daesh.

Weapons and explosives

"Minister [Lavrov] noted in this regard Turkey's role in illegal oil
trade with Isil through the region where the plane was shot down,
and the terrorist infrastructure there, and caches of weapons and
explosives and control centres."

The Russian ministry said Mr Cavusoglu expressed condolences for the
death of the Su-24's pilot, but added: "At the same time, his remarks
in one way or another amounted to attempts to justify the actions of
the Turkish air force."

Russian president Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, said his compatriots
would be wise to avoid Turkey, where "the current government has for
a considerable number of years followed a deliberate domestic policy
of Islamisation".

"We're talking about support for more radical branches [of Islam],
which in itself creates a hostile environment and atmosphere," Mr
Putin said.

"And after what happened yesterday, we can't rule out other incidents.

"If they happen, we will in some way or other have to respond. And
our citizens in Turkey could be subject to significant danger."

Several major Russian holiday firms have withdrawn package deals
to Turkey - where some 4.4 million Russians holidayed last year;
chicken imports from some Turkish producers were banned from Russia
on health grounds, and Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev warned
of more significant measures to come.

With its "recklessly criminal actions", Mr Medvedev said, Turkey was
effectively "defending Isis terrorists, which is not surprising,
given the available information that certain Turkish officials
have direct financial interest in deliveries of oil products from
Isis-owned facilities".

"The direct consequences are likely to be the renunciation of a
number of important joint projects and the loss by Turkish companies
of their positions in the Russian market," he added.

Taking their lead from the outrage of Russia's leaders, protesters
hurled stones and eggs at the Turkish embassy in Moscow, smashing
several windows.

Russian bombing

In Russia's lower house of parliament, meanwhile, a pro- Kremlin deputy
proposed outlawing denial of the 1915 Ottoman Turkish massacres of
up to 1.5 million Armenians as "genocide" - a term which infuriates
Turkey's leaders.

"We have no intention of escalating this incident. We are only
defending our own security and the rights of our brothers," said
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, referring to Turkmens in
northern Syria who have suffered heavy Russian bombing.

"It has been said that they were there to fight Daesh . . . First
of all, the Daesh terrorist organisation does not have a presence in
this region of Latakia, and the north where Turkmens are based. Let's
not fool ourselves," he said.

Like Washington and other western capitals, Ankara accuses Moscow of
focussing attacks in Syria not on Islamic State but other militant
groups opposed to president Bashar al-Assad, Russia's main ally in
the Middle East.

Mr Lavrov insisted that Russia "does not plan to go to war with Turkey"
over this incident, but it was quick to announce reinforcements
in Syria.

Russia's defence ministry said its bombing of rebels in Syria would
continue, and that high-tech land and ship-based air-defence systems
would be deployed to protect its forces there.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/russia-says-turkey-will-pay-economic-price-for-downing-jet-1.2443934

[Yervant1]

TURKEY PICKS A SIDE

EurActiv, EU
Nov 26 2015

Turkey's careful balance with Russia and differences with the West over
working with Islamist forces have long been a source of frustration
for other members of NATO, writes Stratfor.

Stratfor is an American publisher and global intelligence company
founded in 1996 in Austin, Texas, by George Friedman.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the downing of a Russian
Su-24 by Turkish F-16s on Tuesday was "a stab in the back delivered
by accomplices of the terrorists." In another oblique reference to
Turkey, Putin said the Islamic State is "protected by the military of
an entire nation." He expressed concern and disbelief that Turkey did
not try to contact Russia following the incident and instead rushed
to convene a NATO meeting when Russia has "always treated Turkey as
not only a close neighbor, but also a friendly nation."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Putin have been well
aware that competition between their countries has been growing on
multiple fronts. And until Tuesday, both took great care to avoid
having that competition devolve into outright confrontation. A number
of factors will drive Moscow and Ankara to try to temper the latest
bout of hostilities, but neither leader will be able to avoid the
uncomfortable reality that geopolitical forces are once again pulling
these old rivals further apart.

Turkey and Russia cannot help but step on each other's toes. Turkey
is the gatekeeper to the Mediterranean from the Black Sea through its
control of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus. That means if Russia wants
to send container ships, oil cargoes and warships westward, they pass
through Turkey. If NATO wants to threaten the Russian underbelly from
the Black Sea, Turkey has to give the green light. This is a point
not lost on Putin's Russia.

As two Eurasian powers with long imperial pasts, Russia and Turkey
have overlapping spheres of influence in parts of the Balkans, the
Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East. This dynamic brought
both empires to war multiple times over nearly five centuries. Not
surprisingly, Turkey was profoundly uncomfortable when Russia invaded
Georgia in 2008 and Crimea in 2014 to reinforce its position in the
former Soviet space. Though Turkey saw an imperative to keep Russian
ambitions in check, it preferred letting the United States, Poland,
Romania and others take the lead. After all, Russia supplies 55% of
Turkey's natural gas needs, and Ankara was not interested in risking
disruptions to that supply or to the broader Turkish-Russian trade
relationship that could further strain the Turkish economy.

But Russia has been getting too close for Turkey's comfort more
recently. In the Caucasus, several factors are challenging the
status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh, a conflict zone that could eventually
draw Russian and Turkish intervention. In the Middle East, Russia's
military intervention in Syria on the side of the Alawite government
squarely challenges Turkey's ambitions to bring Sunni power back to
Syria through the toppling of President Bashar al Assad. Turkey's
downing of the Russian fighter jet shows that Ankara is now willing
to act on its frustration with Russia and bear the consequences.

The most immediate consequence will be felt in Syria. The preliminary
steps toward a power-sharing deal are effectively stalled for
now. The videos of Turkmen rebels shooting Russian pilots and
attacking search and rescue missions will only reinforce Russia's
claims that the rebels Turkey, the United States and others have been
sponsoring cannot be trusted and therefore do not deserve a place at
the negotiating table. There were already major doubts about whether
the rebel sponsors could be talked into negotiating with the Syrian
government at this stage of the fight anyway.

The battlefield, however, will remain just as intense. Turkey is
serious about moving ahead with a plan to create a safe zone in
northern Syria along the Turkish border to root out the Islamic State,
keep a check on the Kurds and reinforce its rebel proxies against the
al Assad government. The United States also remains committed to the
fight against the Islamic State and is willing to facilitate Turkish
operations in northern Syria toward that end. Russia is unlikely to
back down from its operations in Syria targeting both Islamic State
and rebel forces. In fact, Russia will be reinforcing its bombers with
accompanying fighter jets to deter another shoot-down. The potential
for further skirmishes on the Syrian battlefield cannot be ruled out.

The less visible, but no less significant, consequence concerns
Turkey's relationship with NATO. Turkey's careful balance with Russia
and differences with the West over working with Islamist forces have
long been a source of frustration for other members of NATO, especially
given the significant role Turkey could play in counterbalancing
Russia and in responding to threats such as the Islamic State. As the
Islamic State threat escalated and as Russia became more involved in
Syria, Turkey started drifting closer toward its NATO allies. Turkey's
recent decision to officially cancel a controversial deal to purchase
a multibillion-dollar air defense system from China gave hope to NATO
members that Turkey was prepared to remove some of the ambiguity from
its role in the security alliance. And with Turkey's competition with
Russia now on full display following the downing of the Russian Su-24,
the United States and a number of Central and Eastern European powers
will see an opportunity to draw Turkey deeper into NATO.

Russian officials and media have proposed retaliatory measures against
Turkey, such as energy cutoffs, trade restrictions and undefined
military responses. Russia certainly has the means to squeeze Turkey
economically, though cutting off natural gas would also undermine
Gazprom's commercial reputation at a time when Russia is fighting
to retain market share in the West. Russian military interference
against Turkish operations on the Syrian battlefield is also possible,
though such actions are very risky for Russia itself. So long as Russia
remains in a standoff with the United States and the West at large -
a situation that will not abate anytime soon - Russia will need to
play it carefully with Turkey. Only now, it is dealing with a Turkey
that is sitting a lot more comfortably with its NATO partners than
it was just a couple of months ago.

by Stratfor

http://www.euractiv.com/sections/global-europe/turkey-picks-side-319862

[MosJan]

http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-urges-nationals-delay-travel-russia-104842554.html

 

Putin orders sanctions against Turkey

 

 

"Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday called for sanctions against Turkey, following the downing this week by Turkey of a Russian warplane.

The decree published on the Kremlin's website Saturday came hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had voiced regret over the incident, saying his country was “truly saddened” by the event and wished it hadn’t occurred."

 

 

Erdogan’s expression of regret Saturday was the first since Tuesday’s incident in which Turkish F-16 jets shot down the Russian jet on grounds that it had violated Turkey’s airspace despite repeated warnings to change course. It was the first time in half a century that a NATO member shot down a Russian plane and drew a harsh response from Moscow.

“We are truly saddened by this incident,” Erdogan said. “We wish it hadn’t happened as such, but unfortunately such a thing has happened. I hope that something like this doesn’t occur again.”

[MosJan]

wishful thinking

 

http://bloghay.ru/index.php?newsid=299
Պուտինը կարող է զրկել Թուրքիային իր տարածքի 30 տոկոսից

 

Թուրքիան սեղմում է Սիրիայի շուրջ օղակը ու, ստանալով ԱՄՆ-ի աջակցությունը, համարձակվում է հարձակումներ կատարել ՌԴ-ի կողմը: Չճշտված տեղեկությունների համաձայն, որոնց հարկավոր է զգուշորեն վերաբերվել, անանուն աղբյուրները հայտնում են, որ «Ռուսաստանը պատրաստվում է խզել Կարսի ու Մոսկվայի պայմանագրերը, ինչի հետևանքով Թուրքիան կարող է զրկվել իր տարածքների մինչև 30 տոկոսից»,- գրում է Vesti.Lv-ն:

Մոսկվայի պայմանագիրը ռուս-թուրքական պայմանագիր է «Բարեկամության ու եղբայրության» մասին, որը ստորագրվել է 1921թ. մարտի 16-ին Թուրքիայի Մեծ ազգային ժողովի կառավարության ու Ռուսաստանի Խորհրդային Սոցիալիստական Հանրապետության կառավարության միջև: Պայմանագրի համաձայն՝ հայկական Կարս ու Արդահան քաղաքներն անցան Թուրքիային: Արարատ լեռը նույնպես մնաց Թուրքիայի տարածքում:

Պայմանագրի համաձայն՝ Ռուսաստանն այն երկարաձգում է յուրաքանչյուր 25 տարին մեկ, ու հիմա մոտենում է պայմանագրի հերթական ստորագրման ժամկետը, ինչը Ռուսաստանը կարող է օրինական հիմունքներով չկատարել: Այդ դեպքում Թուրքիան ստիպված կլինի հսկայական տարածքներ վերադարձնել:

Նշվում է, որ այդ տարածքները Թուրքիայի կազմում մինչ օրս բնակեցված չեն 1853 -1923թթ. Հայոց ցեղասպանությունից հետո, քանի որ Թուրքիան միշտ դիտարկել է 20-րդ դարասկզբին օկուպացված տարածքները վերադարձնելու հնարավորությունը, ինչի պատճառով էլ այդտեղ չեն ուղղվում ներդրումներ ու բացակայում են ժամանակակից ենթակառուցվածքները:
Պուտինը կարող է զրկել Թուրքիային իր տարածքի 30 տոկոսից (քարտեզ)

 

http://bloghay.ru/uploads/posts/2015-11/1448714980_qartez1.jpg

[MosJan]

2 tary e Hayastani bnakchutyun@ payqaruma vor aveli shat russ zinvor Hayastan chberen, vor rusi zinvor Artsaxum chlini.. vor Gyumrin vorpes zinvorakan qaghaq chdarna.. de hima turq@ sparnuma vro k@xpi hayastanin,, de hima Hayastanum "Terorist" xumb gtan.. de hima arden jogghovurd@ aveli hesht k@hamadziyni vor rus@ aveli zinvor beri hayastan, rus@ artsax mtni.. asumen nuynisk vor rus@ Stepanakerti odanavakayan@ karrogha ogtvi.. zarmanali joghovurd enq zarmanali..

[MosJan]

now turkey is voicing that will take part in Artsax fight, azeris called back there consular from turkey...
sooo our next step is ask / bagging Putin the all mighty to help. bring your army to NKR

[Yervant1]

Erdogan's Close Ties to ISIL

Wayne MADSEN | 27.11.2015 | 00:00


Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, contrary to the initial stated
policies of his Justice and Development Party («Adalet ve Kalkınma
Partisi» or AKP), is not a moderate Muslim. Erdogan is slowly turning
his nation into an Islamist revivalist entity mirroring the Ottoman
Empire. In fact, Erdogan's personal amassing of wealth and his
building of an opulent presidential palace in Ankara is also
reminiscent of the old Seljuk Muslim emperors. Erdogan seems to relish
in Turkey's imperialist past in every fashion imaginable.

Erdogan's newly-found wealth is courtesy of the Islamic State of Iraq
and the Levant (ISIL), which has used Turkish middlemen to peddle
their oil from Syria and Iraq to other countries through Turkey. One
of these Turkish middlemen is reportedly Erdogan's son Necmettin Bilal
Erdogan. The U.S. Treasury Department estimates that ISIL realizes $1
million a day from illicit oil sales on the world's petroleum spot
market with Erdogan's family cronies receiving a healthy portion of
the ISIL oil proceeds.

The Turkish media has published photographs of the Harvard-educated
Bilal Erdogan having dinner in an Istanbul restaurant with a notorious
ISIL guerrilla leader who has been responsible for genocidal acts in
Homs and Western Kurdistan in northeastern Syria. Bilal Erdogan is in
the right business for illegally shipping oil on behalf of ISIL. He is
one of three equal shareholders in «BMZ Group Denizcilik ve Ä°nÅ?aat
Sanayi Anonim Å?irketi», a marine shipping company.

There is little doubt that Erdogan has been using ISIL to battle his
many enemies ` all of whom stand opposed to Erdogan's Islamist and
jihadist policies. Erdogan, through ISIL and its surrogates, including
the Al Nusra Front and the Khorasan Group, has taken on Syria's
secular government of President Bashar al Assad; Kurdish groups in
Turkey, Syria, and Iraq; Shi'as and Christian Armenians and Greeks in
Lebanon; and the Shi'a government of Iraq. Erdogan has facilitated the
crossing of ISIL commando units into Iran and he continues to back
Muslim Brotherhood factions in Egypt and Salafist brigades in Libya.

Yet, Erdogan, who has also permitted the infiltration into Europe of
ISIL terrorists, masquerading as refugees from Syria, relies on the
protection of NATO's mutual defense umbrella. With the military
insurance policy provided by NATO, Erdogan has been emboldened to use
ISIL and its affiliates as proxies for Turkey's greater aims: the
establishment of a Turkish-dominated Islamist bloc from Morocco to
western China ` the goal of every Ottoman and Seljuk emperor.

One of the financial players involved in supporting Al Qaeda before
the 9/11 attacks on the United States, Yasin al Qadi, a Saudi
national, has been given unhindered free passage through Turkey by
Erdogan. Between February and October 2012, al Qadi entered Turkey
four times even though he was subject to a United Nations Security
Council travel ban. Turkish and Saudi pressure saw the UN remove al
Qadi from the travel ban list after his fourth trip to Turkey in
October 2012.

While Erdogan has publicly stated that he is a partner of the United
States and NATO against ISIL, the facts on the ground speak for
themselves. Erdogan's military operations against ISIL have actually
been a vicious campaign against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in
southeastern Turkey and the Syrian Kurdish PYD/YPG (Democratic Union
Party) group in northeastern Syria. Erdogan has never had any desire
to wage a war against ISIL, when, in fact, ISIL has committed
egregious genocidal warfare against Kurds in Syria and Iraq.

The U.S. Congressional Research Service (CRS) has pointed out that
Turkey is the favored route for ISIL terrorists to transfer to and
from Syria. A CRS report, dated October 5, 2015, states: «Congress and
other U.S. policymakers, along with many international actors, have
shown significant concern about the use of Turkish territory by
various groups and individuals involved in Syria's conflict'including
foreign fighters from around the world'for transit, safe haven, and
smuggling». The report quotes February 2015 congressional testimony
from National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) Director Nicholas
Rasmussen: «Violent extremists take different routes, including land,
air and sea. Most routes do involve transit through Turkey because of
its geographic proximity to the Syrian border areas where most of
these groups operate».

Rasmussen, in the same Congressional testimony, took aim at Erdogan's
support for terrorists in Syria: «Turkey will always look at its
interests through the prism of their own sense of self-interest, and
how they prioritize particular requests that we make for cooperation
doesn't always align with our prioritization». Turkey's
«self-interest» is to promote jihadism and pan-Turkic Islamist
ideology at the expense of the political stability of Syria, Iraq,
Iran, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan,
Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia,
Sudan, Yemen, Algeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia,
Bulgaria, and Morocco.

Erdogan has also called Turkey's Alevi minority, who are affiliated
with the Syrian Alawites, have old links to Shi'a and Sufi Islam, and
adhere to pre-Islamic Anatolian and Christian religious beliefs,
traitors to the Turkish state. The U.S. State Department summed up
Erdogan's policies toward the Alevis in its Religious Freedom Report
for 2013: «The government considers Alevism a heterodox Muslim sect
and does not financially support religious worship for Alevi Muslims».
The head of the secular Republican People's Party of Turkey (CHP),
Kemal KılıçdaroÄ?lu, is an Alevi Muslim and he has supported the Assad
government in Syria against its enemies. Erdogan has called
KılıçdaroÄ?lu a traitor to Turkey.

Erdogan showed his commitment to ISIL terrorism when, after ISIL
bombed a Russian Metrojet (Kogalymavia) Airbus enroute from Sharm el
Sheikh to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 passengers and crew, he told
Dubai TV, «The Russian airplanes are targeting Mujahidin in Syria and
partisans fighting to topple Syrian dictator Assad. In Syria, Moscow
seeks to tip the balance on the ground against `our brethren.'
Consequently, there should be no surprise if Islamic State take
revenge». Erdogan added, «How can I condemn the Islamic State for
shooting down a Russian plane as its passengers were returning from a
happy vacation in a time when our co-religionists in Syria are bombed
by Putin's fighter jets?.. it is the natural outcome of Moscow's
actions in Syria and the support for Assad». Erdogan has even more
reasons to support terrorist attacks on Egyptian soil. He continues to
support the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and its imprisoned
former Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi. Russia supports Egypt's
president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

In other words, Erdogan, less than a day after the terrorist murder of
Russian citizens, including women and children, could not wait to laud
ISIL and its Sinai affiliate, «Ansar Bait al-Maqdis», for targeting
Metrojet flight 9268 on October 31, 2015. More outrageously, the
United States and NATO supports the terrorism of Erdogan, which was
once again displayed, when Turkish-supported Syrian Turkoman
guerrillas operating under the NATO-supported «Free Syrian Army,» shot
at parachuting Russian Air Force Sukhoi-24 crewmen after their
aircraft was shot out of the sky by Turkish F-16 interceptors.

These same jihadist Turkoman units fired a U.S.-supplied TOW missile
at a Russian Marine search-and-rescue helicopter to save their downed
pilots. One Russian pilot and a search-and-rescue Marine were killed
in what constituted a Turkish-sanctioned violation of the Geneva
Conventions on Warfare. It is Erdogan and his government that
represent a true terrorist and jihadist state and they seem intent on
keeping up with the Saudis and Qataris in state-sponsored support for
terrorism.

http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2015/11/27/erdogan-close-ties-to-isil.html

[Yervant1]

28.11.2015 Author: Petr Lvov <http://journal-neo.org/author/lvovp/>


The Erdogan Era is All But Over

Column: Politics <http://journal-neo.org/category/columns/politics/>
Region: Middle East <http://journal-neo.org/category/locations/middle-east/>
Country: Turkey
<http://journal-neo.org/category/locations/middle-east/turtsiya/>

[image: 4534544444]
<http://ru.journal-neo.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/turkey-politics-media-rights-demo.jpg>There's
little doubt now in NATO circles and among the leading countries of the
alliance - the US, Britain, France, Germany that the downing of Russia's
bomber Su-24 was indeed an act of aggression. In fact, the Turkish Air
Force has been trying to ambush Russian bombers in border areas for days.
Everything was planned, including the presence of professional cameramen
from a Turkish channel.

Once Washington acknowledged that the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian
bomber over Syria, Ankara has been desperately trying to push the blame on
Obama in order to hide behind Washington's back. On November 26 a number of
Turkish TV-stations presented reports that the downing was allegedly
approved by Barack Obama at the G-20 summit in Antalya. But it's way too
late, Erdogan is caught at a murder scene with blood on his hands. His
political career is almost finished - the murderers of Russian pilots have
no place in politics. There's a already a contender for his post
- Prime
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who considerably strengthened his positions in
the recent elections.

Experts from around the the world have been guessing what Russia's
response
will be, for now one can already name a number of steps that Moscow has
made:

-

Complete ban of any tourist trips to Turkey. It will take no more than
two weeks. There will be no cheap trips, no charters, no nothing. This will
result in approximately 3.5 billion dollars lost by Turkey in just one year.


-

Preparations for `retaliation' strikes. To fulfill this
goal Russia has
deployed the high-end anti-air systems S-400 Triumf near Latakia. This has
de facto created a no-fly zone over Syria for the Turkish Air Force.


- Russia is reducing the number of Moscow of Turkish being sold
at Russian markets. This will affect both food and industrial consumer
goods. Turkey will be losing up to 2 billion dollars annually due to this
step.


- Russia has closed all the projects that were connected with Turkey,
including the construction of nuclear power plants. At the same time it
will ban the activities of a number of Turkish companies in Russia.


- Russia is beginning to work in close political and military
cooperations with the Kurdish political forces - the main threat to the
central government in Ankara. This will strike a severe blow to Turkey's
political stability. Especially in a situation when Erdogan's positions in
Turkey are not nearly as strong as they look. He faces a number of serious
contradictions within the ruling party, let alone the military circles.

But the most severe blow by far to Erdogan personally is an extensive media
coverage of his relations with ISIL and the role his family plays in the
smuggling business. It has been proved that president's son Bilal works for
Erdogan's classmate and childhood friend who delivers stolen oil to
Ukraine, Japan and a number of Asian countries. Revenue from these
activities amounts to the staggering 5 billion dollars a year, with 2
billions going back to ISIL command structures for them to pay `salaries'
to militants and purchase arms.

Moreover, the Erdogan family is involved in the production and trafficking
of synthetic drugs. If there's journalists openly stating that on TV
channels, one can be sure that the law enforcement agencies have already
accumulated all the evidences needed to prosecute all of Erdogan's
family
members.

Therefore, as soon as the Turkish society starts associating Erdogan's
family with ISIL, it will associates it with the terrorist attacks carried
out by ISIL in Turkey, the attacks that helped the rulling AKP party win
the last parliamentary re-elections.

So Moscow is in no hurry in this situation, and there's no way it can
accept Ankara's apologies, even if Erdogan is going to beg Vladimir Putin
for mercy, standing on his knees. As for the wave of terrorist attacks that
started in Turkey after the downing of SU-24, it can mean only one thing
-
Turkish authorities do not control the situation in the country and cannot
protect the lives of Turkey's citizens or foreign tourists. All this can
result in the rapid disintegration of the country with the Kurdish areas
breaking away, which means that the whole Southeastern Anatolia will become
independent. As for the Hatay province, that is largely populated by Arabs,
it can join Syria in the foreseeable future. It's seems about time
to
return Armenian regions in the northwest of Turkey with Mount Ararat to
Armenia.

And it won't be of any use to wait for NATO's cavalry, it just won't come.
After all, when Turkey joined NATO in February 1952, the West didn't need
this Islamic country, it was but a measure to counter the growing influence
of the Soviet Union in the Middle East. But this was a deal with the devil.

This decision was short-sighted and unforgivable. Ultimately, this step
created more problems for the West than it solved. Over the years, Turkey
has become a spoiled and capricious NATO's child to look after. Its
invasion of Cyprus in 1974 caused a split in the part of the alliance, and
until 1980 Greece withdrew from the NATO command structure. In 2012, Syria
shot down a Turkish plane that demonstratively violated its airspace. And
today the Islamist Turkey uses its membership in NATO to achieve its own
political objectives, which has nothing to do with NATO's interests.

The radical Islamism has already bit Europe, striking in its heart =80` Paris.
This resulted in the French president Francois Hollande demanding
Washington to put aside its differences and disputes with Russia in order
to fight the terrorist armies in a united broad coalition. As it was
underlined by Russia's President Vladimir Putin, Turkey has de facto made
an alliance with ISIL by supporting its oil smuggling activities. No wonder
there's a growing number of calls being voiced in the West to exclude
Turkey from NATO and establish a closer cooperation with Russia, with which
the West has much more in common than with the Islamic world.

In this regard, it's curious that a well-known French political scientist
Boualem Sansal believes that there's enemies that are way more dangerous
than ISIL, since Turkey, the last Caliphate, is in the process of
restoration of the Ottoman Empire. The scientist is convinced that there's
going to be a bitter rivalry between Ankara and Tehran in the foreseeable
future. The ambiguous position of Ankara on the migration crisis and its
connections with ISIL, should lead the European elites to a conclusion than
a tougher position towards Turkey must be adopted. It's clear that
EU
voters will be support candidates with rigid position on Islam and Turkey.

There's been a number of dramatic changes to be witnessed in the Middle
East in recent months. After urging all the parties involved in the Syrian
conflict to listen to the voice of reason for three and a half years, the
Russian government has decided to directly intervene in Syria, which led to
a dramatic change in the balance of forces in the fight against terrorism.
The situation was, however, extremely explosive, since the Syrian sky was
packed with war planes of four major world powers - the US, Russia, Britain
and France, operating without any coordination between themselves.

One shouldn't forget that Iran is also actively involved in Syria and it
will be supporting the legitimate government of Bashar al-Assad till
victory or bitter end. On the other hand Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are
convinced that Assad should leave no matter what. Allegedly, Israel is not
directly involved in the war in Syria, but one shouldn't forget that the
Hezbollah squads have been deployed there, and to this date they remain the
most dangerous enemy Israel has been fighting over the last ten years and
will most likely still be forced to fight. But at the same time the sitting
Turkish regime is the most hostile regime towards Israel throughout the
history of bilateral relations.

All the parties involved in the Syrian conflict have different interests.
As Vladimir Putin noted in his speech, there's a major flow of stolen oil
and oil products going into Turkey's territory, which provides the
Islamic
State with huge financial recourses needed to sustain its fighting
capacity. This presents us all with a serious concern - a NATO member has
been actively supporting radical Islamic terrorist groups, whether it's
ISIL in Syria and Iraq, or Hamas in the Gaza Strip. To this date for a
number of reasons Western countries refrained from demanding the Turkish
authorities to put an end to their connections with Islamist militants. As
for Israeli leaders, all of them, including Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu have repeatedly expressed outrage over the destructive role that
the Turkish authorities have been playing in the region. For a long time
Turkey has been and remains one of the few countries that provides
extensive support to the Palestinian radical Islamists for them to be able
to murder Israeli civilians.

After the tragedy with Russia's Su-24 the need to rethink its relations
with Turkey has become apparent to Moscow, which can and should demand NATO
to hold those behind this reckless attack responsible for their actions.. A
situation when a country can be considered a part of the civilized
international community and still be engaged in business activities with
the Islamic State could not last forever. If the ruling Turkish elites
perceived ISIL as its allies, then the civilized world cannot possibly be
an ally of Turkey. The Western double standards are well known across the
globe, yet even they cannot hinder the fact a NATO member is one of the key
supporters of international terrorism. Turkey's unique location has been
allowing its elites to get away with way too much way too often, but this
time enough is enough.

*Peter Lvov, Ph.D in political science, exclusively for the online
magazine `New Eastern Outlook' <http://journal-neo.org/>. *


* First
appeared:http://journal-neo.org/2015/11/28/the-erdogan-era-is-all-but-over/
<http://journal-neo.org/2015/11/28/the-erdogan-era-is-all-but-over/>*

[Yervant1]

Noose Tightens on Turkey's Sultan of Swing

Finian CUNNINGHAM | 29.11.2015 | 00:00


Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ` a self-styled neo-Ottoman
sultan ` was only a few years a darling of Western governments and
media, proclaimed as a moderniser of Turkey, overseeing a bustling
economy and positioning his country as a strategic bridge to Asia.

But Erdogan's involvement in the US-led regime-change project in Syria
is now steadily revealing his family's appreciable criminal
enterprises: from smuggling oil and stolen artefacts, to gun-running
for terrorist networks. The former Sultan of Swing is swinging
alright, but it could be at the end of an incriminating rope whose
noose is becoming ever tighter around his neck.

Russia's air strikes in support of the Syrian government in its nearly
five-year war against foreign-backed mercenary brigades are blowing
the lid on the corruption at the heart of the Turkish ruling AK Party,
and the Erdogan family business in particular.

One factor in why Erdogan ordered the fatal shoot-down of a Russian
Su-24 fighter jet this week was out of revenge for how Russia is
destroying the Turkish ruler's criminal schemes. The destruction of
hundreds of oil tankers and other facilities commandeered by the
jihadist terror network in eastern Syria and western Iraq is hitting
Erdogan's lucrative racket.

The smuggling routes ` estimated to earn $1 million per day for the
terror brigades ` are integrated by Erdogan's son, Bilal, whose
licensed shipping companies traffic the illicit goods to global
markets. Russian intelligence has laid bare this smuggling empire, as
presented by President Vladimir Putin at the recent G20 summit held in
Turkey's Antalya. Further incriminating details are expected in coming
weeks.

This week, following the downing of the Russian warplane, Erdogan
boldly dismissed the oil connections as «slander».

But as Putin retorted, with a touch of sarcasm, it's hard to imagine
how the Ankara authorities could be unaware of an illicit industry
involving thousands of oil-laden trucks criss-crossing the heavily
militarised Turk border.

Among the contraband are believed to be precious artefacts stolen from
Syria's ancient dwellings, such as the cities of Palmyra and Iraq's
Nimrod, according to the Syrian information minister, Omran al-Zoubi.
These artefacts dating from 2,000 years ago are designated as world
heritage valuables by the United Nations. It says something about the
dubious values of Erdogan and his AK Party cronies when world heritage
objects are being looted to finance personal gain and terrorism.

The trade in oil stolen from Syrian and Iraqi state-owned facilities
by the jihadists is only one half of a giant cross-border loop tied up
by Turkey.

Convoys of trucks laden with weapons are going back into Syria from
Turkey on an almost daily basis. Those weapons, paid for by proceeds
from the oil smuggling, are then distributed among the plethora of
jihadist terror groups, including the Al Qaeda-linked Al Nusra and
so-called Islamic State (IS, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh). The
arms trade is overseen by Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation
(MIT), headed up by Hakan Fidan, who is closely associated with
Erdogan and the AKP leadership.

Fidan was quoted by the state-run Anadolu news agency last month as
offering an apologia for the IS terror group. «ISIS is a reality and
we have to accept that we cannot eradicate a well-organised and
popular establishment such as the Islamic State», said Fidan, who
added: «Therefore I urge my Western colleagues to revise their mindset
about Islamic political currents¦ and thwart Vladimir Putin's plans to
crush Syrian Islamist revolutionaries [terrorists]». The statement
caused such a controversy that the Anadolu news agency later issued a
denial of its prior publication.

Despite a heavy media crackdown under Erdogan, sections of the Turkish
media have courageously carried damning reports on the oil-weapons
nexus that is fuelling the war in Syria. This week, the editor of the
Cumhuriyet newspaper, Can Dundar, was arrested on charges of «spying»
and crimes against the state because he published articles with
photographic evidence exposing the massive cross-border weapons
dealing, overseen by Turk I ntelligence. Erdogan has threatened the
editor with a life sentence for daring to reveal «state secrets».

Another Turk newspaper, Today's Zaman, also this week reported on an
unintended slip made by Adana state prosecutor, Ali Dogan, a protégé
of Erdogan. The prosecutor inadvertently revealed in a statement that
up to 2,000 trucks filled with arms and operated by Turk intelligence
have been ferrying firepower to militants in Syria.

It thus makes the claims made by the Syrian minister al-Zoubi that the
downing of the Russian Su-24 this week ` resulting in the death of its
pilot ` was an act of revenge by Erdogan owing to the severe damage
that Russia's military intervention in Syria is inflicting. That
damage includes not only huge financial losses to Erdogan and his
family entourage, but also to the entire war effort for regime change
against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In an interview with Russian media, the Syrian minister said: «All of
the oil was delivered to a company that belongs to the son of Recep
[Tayyip] Erdogan. This is why Turkey became anxious when Russia began
delivering airstrikes against the IS [islamic State] infrastructure
and destroyed more than 500 trucks with oil already. This really got
on Erdogan and his company's nerves. They're importing not only oil,
but wheat and historic artefacts as well», added al-Zoubi.

If Erdogan thought he could poke the Russian bear in the eye and get
away with it, he is sorely mistaken. Russia has stepped up its bombing
campaign along the Syria-Turkey border, hitting oil trucks heading
north and the reverse-flow of arms trucks heading south. In the Syrian
border town of Azaz, a Russian air strike this week reportedly
destroyed up to 20 vehicles believed to be stocked with weapons. Seven
people were killed in the air raid.

Ankara claims that the convoys crossing the border are carrying
«humanitarian aid» to Turkmen Syrians. Turk Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu has complained that Russian air strikes have been targeting
Turkmen «brothers and sisters» ` inferring civilians.

But these are the same Turkmen militia who gained notoriety this week
by brutally murdering the Russian pilot who parachuted from the Su-24
downed by Turk F-16s jets.

The Turkmen militia, with names like the 10th Brigade of the Coast,
are fighting hand-in-hand alongside the other jihadist terror groups,
Al Nusra and IS, to topple the government in Damascus. The Turkmen,
who reside in northern Syria but who are ethnically related to Turkish
people, have played an instrumental role in waging Erdogan's covert
war of terror in Syria.

Last year, in April 2014, Turkmen militia carried out a massacre in
the northern coastal village of Kessab, in Latakia Province, where 88
Armenian Christians were slaughtered. Thirteen of the victims were
beheaded, according to survivors. That attack also involved brigades
from al Nusra, IS and the so-called Free Syrian Army, the alleged
«moderate secular rebels» much championed by the Western governments
and media. (A follow-up column will be published on that specific
massacre in the coming days.)

Significantly, a Turkmen commander recently protested bitterly to the
Erdogan regime over it not suppling his fighters with enough weapons.

Turkmen commander Ã-mer Abdullah of the Sultan Abdülhamit Brigade was
quoted as saying: «We are trying to survive under unbearable brutality
and we need Turkey's help.» He was referring to Russian air strikes,
adding: «Every day our Turkmen brothers are dying. We expect the
[Erdogan] government to support us. Why have they abandoned us? Our
martyrs fall every day. Why are we being left alone? I don't
understand».

As Turkey's Today's Zaman points out, the Turkmen's claim of not
receiving sufficient weapons raises the bigger question about the arms
trucks that Turk intelligence, MIT, has been running into Syria. Where
have the machine-guns, artillery and mortars contained in thousands of
cross-border convoys gone to? If the Turkmen brigades are being cut
out of the supply chain then that suggests that Ankara's weapons are
being funnelled instead to the other jihadist groups, such as Al Nusra
and IS.

Russia's military intervention in Syria is turning the tide decisively
against the criminal US-led war for regime change, by decimating the
ranks for terror brigades that Washington and its allies have deployed
for that objective.

For Turkey's self-styled strongman Erdogan, Russia's intervention is
also hammering home huge personal losses. His egotistical schemes of
resurrecting Turkey as a new Ottoman regional power are being
shattered. The international reputation of the country under his
leadership is sinking into a putrid sewer.

Moreover, his family's criminal involvement in the conflict is also
being exposed. And his responsibility for fuelling a criminal war of
aggression with the loss of over 250,000 lives looms ahead of Erdogan
like a noose. The Sultan of Swing indeed.


http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2015/11/29/noose-tightens-on-turkey-sultan-of-swing.html

[Yervant1]

All countries of CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, except Azerbaijan,
condemn downing of Russian plane by Turkey

by Tatevik Shahunyan

Friday, November 27, 16:44

At a press conference following the 43rd plenary session of the CIS
Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the heads of the delegations of all
member states of the structure, except Azerbaijan, unanimously
condemned the downing of the Russian Su-24 plane by Turkey.

ArmInfo's correspondent reports from St. Petersburg that Speaker of
the Council of Federation of the Russian Federal Assembly Valentina
Matviyenko said at the press conference that the downing of the
Russian plane by Turkey was a crime. She stressed that the incident
took places over the Syrian territory. "But even if we suppose that
the Russian plane was in the air space of Turkey for a few seconds,
Ankara had no right to shoot it down, it should have only given
warnings," Matviyenko said, stressing that Moscow is waiting for
apologies from Ankara, whereas the latter keeps making harsh
statements.

For his part, Russian lawmaker Oleg Lebedev said that the relatives of
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, including his son, have very
close ties with the ISIS leadership.
The heads of all the delegations to the CIS Inter-Parliamentary
Assembly shared their Russian colleagues' arguments and unanimously
condemned the incident. Eduard Sharmazanov, member of the Armenian
delegation to the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, Vice Speaker of
the Armenian Parliament, stressed that over the past 100 years - since
the Armenian Genocide - Turkey has not changed its criminal policy.

It is noteworthy that Arif Ragimzade, the head of the Azerbaijani
delegation, did not say a single word. He was the only participant,
who delivered no speech on that issue.

http://www.arminfo.am/index.cfm?objectid=0192CEA0-950D-11E5-81370EB7C0D21663

[Yervant1]

Russia not to be caught in Turkey's trap ` Anna Glazova

12:25 ¢ 29.11.15

Russia's response to Turkey will be as strong as possible, Anna
Glazova, Head of the Center for Asia and the Middle East, Russian
Institute for Strategic Studies (RISS), told Tert.am as she commented
on the incident involving a Russian warplane downed by Turkey.

`It was an act of provocation on Turkey's part. Turkey thus wanted to
entrap Russia with a purpose of provoking a war between Russia and
NATO member-states. And it was no coincidence that, immediately after
downing the Russian jet, Turkey applied to NATO for support. But we
are not going to be caught in this trap by retaliating,' Ms Glazova
said.

Russia's response to Turkey will be cutting cooperation in different
areas. Thus, Russia has decided to reduce the number of Russian
tourists visiting Turkey for security reasons.

`Also, Russia will reduce its exports to Turkey, and I do not rule out
Russia will recall its ambassador to Turkey,' the expert said. Further
steps depend on Turkey's response, Ms Glazova said.

Asked what forced Turkey into that deliberate act of provocation, she
said that Russia's anti-terrorist actions in Syria run counter to the
Turkish leadership's interests.

`Turkey has for recent years been seeking to overthrow Bashar
al-Assad. With this end in view, it is supporting radical Islamists
thereby seeking to bring a pro-Turkish force to power in Syria.
However, Russia's anti-terrorist actions interfered with Turkey's
plans and had to be stopped,' Ms Glazova said.

As to the opinions that Russia could respond to Turkey by means of
Armenia in the context of Armenian-Turkish relations, the expert said
that Armenia and Russia are friendly nations, and all the states
supportive of Russia's actions must unite against the threat.

Armenia's support could be reflected in its supporting the Christian
minority in the Middle East, Ms Glazova said.

http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/11/29/anna-glazova/1856541

[Yervant1]

TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE: TURKISH MEDIA QUESTIONS ANKARA'S VERSION ON SU-24

© REUTERS/ Shamil Zhumatov/Files
POLITICS
14:30 30.11.2015(updated 15:16 30.11.2015) Get short URL
Topic:
Russian Su-24 Jet Downed Over Syria (183)
3123990

Analyzing the Turkish attack on a Russian Su-24 bomber in Syria last
week, Turkish journalist Umit Kivanc suggested that Ankara's narrative
on how things went down doesn't seem to mesh with the basic facts,
adding that a reasoned analysis has led him to conclude that the
attack may have been a deliberate, political provocation.

© REUTERS/ UMIT BEKTAS Turkey Hopes Russia Reconsiders Economic
Sanctions - Davutoglu In his analysis, published in Turkey's Radikal
newspaper, Kivancemphasized that the Russians were not the only ones
to condemn the shoot down, with even Turkey's ostensible allies in the
United States making harsh comments over the disproportionate response.

The journalist pointed to the commentary of Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney,
former US Air Force Vice Chief of Staff, who bluntly told Fox News
that the attack was a "very bad mistake" and a sign of "poor judgment"
on Turkey's part.

McInerney, Kivanc noted, went so far as to call the attack an
"aggressive" act, adding that the Russian plane had not made "any
maneuvers to attack [Turkish] territory." Having himself served
as a NORAD commander in Alaska, McInerney noted that he could never
imagine US planes responding to a violation of US airspace by shooting
down the plane as the first response. Ultimately, the former military
commander suggested that "this could have been a deliberate provocation
by President Erdogan."

Praising McInerney for his professionalism, and his ability to explain
the situation in a simple and clear manner, Kivanc contrasted this with
some of the rhetoric found in the Turkish press over the incident. Many
Turkish commentators, he noted, have focused all their attention on
the fact that the militants the Russian planes were bombing in the
region weren't Daesh (Islamic State).

"All this is well and good," the columnist noted, "but did anyone ever
claim that the Russians were bombing ISIL here? No, they didn't. So
why the commentary on ISIL's absence? It is well-known that in this
region, where the Syrian Army is attempting to advance, under the
cover of Russian air support, there is Al-Qaeda (Al-Nusra Front),
Ahrar al-Sham, and other armed groups, with whom Turkey has rather
close contacts. [Moreover,] according to Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov, the area contains terrorist infrastructure, including
arms and ammunition depots and command centers."

© AFP 2015/ ADEM ALTAN Erdogan Shot Down By Army Chief for Commenting
on Downed Russian Bomber "Lavrov," Kivanc added, "had mentioned this
'infrastructure' in the course of his telephone conversation with
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu," asking whether Ankara was
deliberately looking to create a buffer zone to protect the terrorists.

Moving on to Turkish authorities' claims that the Russian plane had
violated Turkish airspace, for 17 seconds, and had been warned "ten
times in five minutes," the journalist noted that several questions
could not give him piece of mind over Ankara's claims.

First of all, Kivanc noted, "we are talking about a military plane,
capable of increasing to speeds of a thousand kilometers or more
per hour. If the aircraft was first warned over the space of 'five
minutes', at what distance [from the border] did the warnings start?

Were they understandable? Was the plane flying very slowly?"

The journalist pointed out that "judging by the fact that in a
matter of 17 seconds the plane had [allegedly] flown 1.8 km into
Turkish territory, I recalled the opinion of German pilots flying
Tornado fighter bombers. In a commentary for Der Spiegel, one of them
suggested, based on the trajectory pictured in the diagram [released
by Turkish authorities], that the Russian plane could have been in
Turkish territory for 10-15 seconds. In other words, we would not
even have had the time to tell it to 'shoo', before it was gone!"

Furthermore, Kivanc recalled, "there are ways to address [airspace
violations] before shooting a plane down. These include, for example,
accompanying the plane until it exits from your airspace. This idea,
for some reason, was ignored, instead moving right away to the last
possible option."

In fact, the journalist emphasized that the plane was allegedly in
Turkish airspace "for such a short amount of time that not only was
it not necessary to shoot it down -it wasn't necessary to do anything
with it."

© SPUTNIK/ SAID TSARNAEV Payback Time: Russian Sanctions to
'Hurt Turkey Badly' Commenting on the history of airspace violations
involving his country, Kivanc pointed out that, for example, in January
2014 alone, "Turkish jets had violated Greek airspace 1017 times -up
to forty (40!) times a day. Correspondence related to the violations
of airspace was among the documents released by WikiLeaks. And if
the destruction of aircraft were to occur following each violation,
there would be no aircraft remaining."

Poring over all the details of the attack, both in Turkish and
Western media, the journalist suggested that the main issue,
in his view, was that of the "huge disparity" between the alleged
Russian violation, and the Turkish response, all of which seemed to
demonstrate that authorities in Ankara may have been looking for just
such a provocation.

Noting that the Turkish letter to the UN had declared that the
Su-24 was shot down "in Turkish airspace," Kivanc pointed out that
the map released by Turkey's own Ministry of Defense "refutes such
suggestions."

© AP PHOTO/ SELCAN HACAOGLU Asking for Trouble: Erdogan Drags Europe
Into New 'Cuban Missile Crisis'?

"The Russian plane," the journalist noted, "was not hit when it was in
Turkish airspace. Ankara acknowledges that the downed plane crashed in
Syria, but denies that it was struck on the other side of the border.

The fact that US officials know the truth, but do not want to disclose
it, was clear hours after the incident, according to Reuters. The
Russians, meanwhile, maintain that the Turkish F-16 which shot down
their plane had itself violated Syrian airspace."

All in all, Kivanc suggested, "the incident does not look like a
natural reaction of a state whose airspace has been violated. One
gets the impression that the decision was made in advance, and was
itself extreme in character, deliberately searching for a suitable
situation." This, the journalist notes, is exactly how Russia
characterizes it, with Foreign Minister Lavrov calling the attack a
"pre-planned provocation."

Noting that Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had basically
confirmed the political nature of the decision, when he noted
following the attack that he had "personally given the instructions
to the General Staff," to deal with violations in a harsh manner,
Kivanc added that "the fact that immediately following the incident,
Ankara rushed to NATO, instead of establishing direct contact with
Moscow, leads one to agree with the skeptical approach of the American
Lieutenant General."

Read more:
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151130/1030980912/turkey-media-analysis-russian-jet.html#ixzz3sybgGInu

[MosJan]

Arrest Warrant Issued Over Turkish President Son’s Link To ISIS

 

http://yournewswire.com/arrest-warrant-issued-for-turkish-president-sons-link-to-isis/

http://cdns.yournewswire.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/bilal-erdogan-ISIS.jpg

The Turkish Superior Court have issued an arrest warrant for the son of Turkey’s President, Recep Erdogan, after he failed to appear in court during an investigation into the “Erdogan criminal cartel” which has been accused of supporting ISIS militants in Syria, and murdering journalists who investigated the crimes.

 

The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service have launched an international criminal investigation into Bilal Erdogan after an agreement was made between President Putin and French President Francois Hollande to target the corrupt Erdogan family following the shooting down of the Russian Su-24 jet.

Whatdoesitmean.com reports: