The truth about Syria

[Yervant1]

SYRIAN FORCES WIN BACK STRATEGIC AL-NUBA MOUNTAINS NORTH OF LATTAKIA

Wed Dec 16, 2015 12:53
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940925000245

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Syrian Army announced minutes ago that its soldiers
alongside the popular forces have taken full control over Jabal
al-Nuba near border with Turkey after hours of heavy clashes overnight.

The army said that the 103rd Brigade of the Republican Guard, National
Defense Forces (NDF) of Qurdaha, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party
(SSNP), and Muqawama Souri (Syrian Resistance) imposed full control
over the strategic al-Nuba Mountains after a week-long battle with
al-Nusra Front and the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

"The Syrian Armed Forces captured all of the heights along the al-Nuba
Mountains when al-Nusra's frontlines became fractured; this forced the
terrorist group to retreat North and flee into the Turkey's territories
to evade the swarming pro-government soldiers," the army added.

The al-Nuba Mountains are located between the Jabal al-Turkmen and
Jabal Al-Akrad Mountains of Northeastern Lattakia.

The Syrian Armed Forces have made it evident that their massive
Lattakia offensive is primarily to seal off both the Idlib province
and Turkish borders with this province, leaving no entry for Nusra
and the FSA.

The Syrian government forces have carried out many of their operations
under the coverage of Russian or Syrian fighter jets.

Battlefield sources said on Tuesday that remaining centers of the
militant groups in the mountainous regions of Lattakia province
have been under massive attacks by the Russian warplanes, leaving no
opportunity for the terrorists to fortify their positions.

"The Russian bombers, in several combat sorties, targeted the gathering
centers of the militant groups, in the rural area in Jabal al-Akrad
and Jabal al-Turkmen regions, which claimed the lives of many militant
and wounded some more," the sources said.

The sources further added that the Syrian army's artillery units also
shelled the strongholds of the militant groups in Jabal al-Akrad and
Jabal al-Turkmen regions, killing and wounding many terrorist.

"The militant groups have been pinned down in their positions as a
result of coordinated attacks of Russian air fleet and the Syrian
artillery and can not regroup or find better shelters.

[MosJan]

this should go to Commedistan but it's ok


TURKISH GOVERNMENT: WE CAN OCCUPY RUSSIA IN SEVEN DAYS

 

"Since the crash of" Sukhoi-24 "russian, Russia has taken every conceivable opportunity to undermine Turkey. Certainly my government behaves like a mature and experienced government, but our patience has limits. Faced with Russian efforts, we have, no fear, no remorse. We act with moderation, to bring our relations back to normal, if necessary, I assure you ,we can can occupy Russia in less than seven days with NATO and our regional allies "

The Pentagon has responded to a globally-released 'Kill List', asking law enforcement to give extra protection for military personnel whose personal information was released, News Channel 10 reports.

 

http://de.awdnews.com/top-news/turkish-government-we-can-occupy-russia-in-seven-days

[Yervant1]

Stupid Bird (Furkey) forget NATO tell us what you can do! Don't hide behind the skirt of NATO.

[Yervant1]

SEIRAN OHANYAN: TURKEY VIOLATED ARMENIAN BORDER, THERE WERE OTHER CASES OF TRESPASSING

Lragir.am
Country - 16 December 2015, 18:44

Related

What Scares Erdogan and Makes Him Use Terrorism: Turkey Ahead of
Election

The Armenian minister of defense Seiran Ohanyan and the Greek minister
of national defense Panayotis (Panos) Kammenos discussed regional
security issues during the news brief at the bilateral meeting
in Yerevan.

"We have neighbors who support the Islamic State, we condemn Turkey's
actions aimed against our strategic partner. We think that Turkey's
underground activities do not allow implementing the objectives
against international terrorism," Seiran Ohanyan stated, Armenpress
reported. He added that Turkey often violates the Greek air space,
and there were attempts at violating the Armenian border, hence Turkey
should demonstrate tolerance towards that step, especially that the
Russian jet had not crossed the Turkish air border.

The Greek minister of defense also condemned Turkey's steps to support
the "Islamic state", at the same time stressing that Turkey was never
able to prove that the Russian jet crossed the Turkish state border.

- See more at:
http://www.lragir.am/index/eng/0/country/view/35068#sthash.iVW7mdeg.dpuf

[Yervant1]

GREEK DEFENSE MINISTER: ANKARA OBVIOUSLY SUPPORTING ISLAMIC STATE

YEREVAN, December 17. /ARKA/. Ankara is obviously supporting Islamic
State, Greek National Defense Minister Panagiotis Kammenos said
Wednesday at a joint briefing with his Armenian counterpart Seyran
Ohanyan in Yerevan.

In his words, Turkey is involved in illicit trade and transportation
of oil, arms and drugs as well as in human trafficking.

Kammenos is quoted by Novosti-Armenia as saying that the money received
illegally is used for supporting terrorism.

Turkey, he said, is periodically violating Greece's air and sea
borders.

If Turkey wants to be in conformity with international norms, it
should stop such actions. --0----

http://arka.am/en/news/politics/greek_defense_minister_ankara_obviously_supporting_islamic_state/

[Yervant1]

PUTIN ON S-400 DEPLOYMENT IN SYRIA: LET TURKISH AVIATION FLY NOW

© Sputnik/ Dmitriy Vinogradov
POLITICS
12:39 17.12.2015(updated 13:06 17.12.2015) Get short URL
Topic:
Putin's 2015 Annual Year-End Press Conference (25)
104886554

Turkey will not be able to violate the Syria airspace after Russia had
deployed S-400 defense system in Hmeymim airabse, Russian president
Vladimir Putin told journalists during the press-conference in Moscow.

With Russia's deployment of the S-400 anti-aircraft system, Turkey
will not be able to violate Syria's airspace with impunity, as they
had previously done, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday at
his annual press conference.

"They [Turkish authorities] thought that we would turn tail and run!

No, Russia is not that country. We have increased our presence in
Syria, have increased the number of combat aircraft deployed there.

There was no Russian air defense system there -now there's the S-400.

If before, Turkey had constantly violated Syrian airspace, let them
try it now."

© AP PHOTO/ DUSAN VRANIC
Russia's Stance on Syria Not Changed: Syrian People Will Decide Their Fate
Following the incident involving the Russian Su-24M bomber which was
shot down by a Turkish F-16 over Syria on the Turkish border, Russia
deployed its latest anti-aircraft missile system - the S-400 to Syria,
also deploying the missile cruiser Moskva and the submarine
Rostov-on-Don off the shores of Syria in the Mediterranean.

The S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name SA-21 Growler) is Russia's
next-generation air defense system, carrying three different types of
missiles capable of destroying aerial targets at short-to-extremely
long range.

In late November, the S-400 systems were deployed at the Hmeimim
airbase near the Syrian port city of Latakia to protect anti-terror
operations by Russia's Aerospace Forces. The decision was made one day
after Turkey shot down a Russian Su-24 aircraft.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151217/1031887147/putin-press-conference-s400.html#ixzz3uZmtk830

[Yervant1]

The epicenter of the Syrian war is shifting--and it could mean 'a near
total defeat' for Turkey's Syria policy

By Natasha Bertrand
Dec. 16, 2015


Russian airstrikes across northern Syria have been steadily shifting
the epicenter of the war toward a corridor north of Aleppo, through
which Turkey smuggles aid and supplies to the rebel groups it
supports.

A stepped-up Russian bombing campaign in the Bayirbucak region of
northwest Syria, near the strategically important city of Azaz, has
primarily targeted the Turkey-backed Turkmen rebels and civilians--and
the Turkish aid convoys that supply them.

As a result, Turkey's policy in Syria of bolstering rebels fighting
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime--and establishing a "safe
zone" for displaced Syrians that might hinder the regime's efforts to
take Aleppo--is quickly unraveling.

Another important component of Turkey's strategy in Syria is also at
risk of collapse as a result of Russia's campaign in the
north--namely, restricting the movements of the Kurdish YPG, with whom
Turkey has clashed, along the Turkish-Syrian border.

In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to help the
Kurds consolidate their territorial gains in northern Syria by linking
the Kurdish-held town of Kobane with Afrin. That could feasibly be
accomplished if the Kurds were able to advance west across the
Euphrates--Turkey's "red line" for the YPG--and seize the rebel-held
Azaz.

Following the downing of the Russian warplane, Putin has apparently
begun to make good on his promise to arm and support one of Turkey's
primary regional enemies in the name of cutting Turkey's rebel supply
line to Aleppo.

"Earlier this month, Moscow delivered weapons to the 5,000 Kurdish
fighters in Afrin, while Russian aircraft bombed a convoy of trucks
that crossed the Turkish border into Syria at Bab al-Salam," the
Washington Institute's Fabrice Balanche wrote last weekend in an
analysis of the Azaz corridor's strategic importance.

"Rebel positions north of Aleppo were struck as well, preparing the
ground for an offensive by the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG),
the PYD's main militia."

Russia, for its part, denies that it is deliberately targeting anyone
other than "terrorists."

"Any objective observer cannot have a shadow of a doubt about the true
intentions of Russia's airstrikes," ministry spokeswoman Maria
Zakharova said at a recent briefing, according to The Wall Street
Journal.

Russian Col. Gen. Andrey Kartapolov echoed this sentiment.

"As a result of the airstrikes, the terrorists have suffered
considerable losses in manpower," he said.

But some experts say the Russian airstrikes have actually created an
opening for ISIS to make significant gains near Azaz and advance
toward Aleppo. As Balanche wrote, whether Azaz falls to ISIS or to the
Kurds ultimately makes little difference to Russia--as long as the
corridor remains inaccessible to the rebels backed by Turkey.

"With the Azaz border link closed, Russia could then help the Syrian
army and its Shiite allies lock other Turkish crossing points between
Bab al-Hawa and Jisr al-Shughour, effectively putting the entire
province of Idlib in a net," Balanche said.

He added: "This would mean a near total defeat for Ankara's Syria policy."
A 'de facto no-fly zone'

Turkey's ability to retaliate against the Russian bombing campaign is
now severely limited by "the de facto no-fly zone" Russia has created
in the north, said Metin Gurcan, a Turkish military expert.

Following Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane last month, Russia
reportedly equipped its jets flying in Syria with air-to-air missiles
for self-defense and sent a state-of-the-art S-400 missile system to
the Russian Hemeimeem air base near Latakia--about 30 miles south of
the Turkish border.

"As a result," Gurcan told Business Insider, "Turkey has lost its
capacity to change the strategic situation both on the ground and in
Syrian airspace as an independent actor."

Paul Stronski, a senior associate in the Russia and Eurasia Program at
the Carnegie Endowment, agreed that the close proximity of Russia's
airstrikes to the Turkish border--a "matter of minutes" for fighter
jets--has made it much more difficult for Turkey to defend its
airspace and retain northwestern Syria as a Turkish sphere of
influence.

Turkey could try to change the facts on the ground by intervening--but
it would "undoubtedly have serious drawbacks," Aykan Erdemir, a
nonresident fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies and a
former member of Turkish parliament, told Business Insider.

Still, Erdemir said it would be unwise to underestimate Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's interest in pursuing "a more
adventurous policy" there.

"Erdogan wouldn't like to experience the humiliation of the total
defeat of his Syria policy. Furthermore, he could see direct Turkish
involvement in Syria and the ensuing crisis as an opportunity to
strengthen his bid for an executive presidential system," Erdemir
said.

He added: "We should also keep in mind that Erdogan now has almost
total control over the Turkish media, and possesses a strong capacity
to shape and steer public opinion, which would allow him to market
even as risky and unattractive an idea as entering the Syrian
battlefield."

Even so, there is little Turkey can do about the Russian airstrikes
without provoking a situation in which NATO would be forced to come to
its defense--any intervention, Erdemir said, "could further escalate
the Turkish-Russian crisis, prompting heavier sanctions, and even new
episodes of clashes between the two armies."


http://www.businessinsider.com/turkey-syria-policy-2015-12

[MosJan]

Video Shows Israeli Commandos Rescuing Wounded Jihadists From Syria

Video

Nearly every night, Israeli special ops forces secretly rescue wounded fighters in Syria, among them jihadists, as seen in dramatic footage the Daily Mail captured while embedded with the military force.

The Daily Mail reported that the secret nighttime missions have saved more than 2,000 people since 2013, some of them members of Al Qaeda-affiliated groups in Syria.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3315347/Watch-heart-pounding-moment-Israeli-commandos-save-Islamic-militants-Syrian-warzone-risking-lives-sworn-enemies.html#v-1005669583935587312

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/12/08/14/2F0768E000000578-3315347-image-a-1_1449584136653.jpg

[Johannes]

ISIS/Rebels

http://hyeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=34759&p=337023

 

նշուած տարածքը կը փաստէ թէ շատ տարբերութիւն չկայ ապստամբի եւ առնախում դայիշականի միջեւ, քանի որ միասին կը կառավարեն կամ կը սերտաճին իրարմով՝ նոյն տարածքին վրայ։

If rebels are moderate armed opposition, how can they live or rule the same area with Daesh (Isis).

Edited December 17, 2015 by Johannes

[MosJan]

Բարի տեսանք Յովհաննէս

[Yervant1]

RUSSIAN WARPLANES DESTROY IS TANKER COLUMN, 100 FUEL-TRANSFER STATIONS IN SYRIA

13:38, 18 Dec 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The Russian Air Force has conducted 59 combat missions hitting 200
ISIL targets in 7 Syrian provinces over the past 24 hours, the Russian
Defense ministry said.

"Over the past 24 hours Russian warplanes have conducted 59 sorties,
hitting 212 ISIL targets in the Syrian province of Aleppo, Idlib,
Lattakia, Hama, Homs, al-Hasakah an Raqqa," the Defense Ministry
spokesman told journalists.

Aircraft from Russia's Aerospace Forces in Syria have also destroyed
more than 300 militants and scores of armored vehicles over the last
24 hours, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said
Wednesday, Sputnik reported.

"More than 320 militants and 34 armored vehicles of terrorists,
including two tanks, one infantry fighting vehicle, 15 jeeps equipped
with large-caliber guns were destroyed," Konashenkov told journalists
in Syria's Lattakia.

In the past 24 hours, Russian jets have also destroyed a column
of tanker trucks and more than 100 fuel-transfer stations used by
terrorists, Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov added.

"In order to disrupt terrorists' sources of income, Russian Su-34
bomber jets destroyed 94 fuel-transfer stations near Deir Ezzur,"
he said.

According to Konashenkov, in the al-Hasakah province during the "free
hunt" mission Su-34 has destroyed column of 15 fuel tankers which were
carrying oil in northern direction extracted from terrorist-controlled
areas.

Having received the intel from the Syrian opposition, the Russian
aviation has destroyed an ISIL base in the Homs province and
terrorists' stronghold in the Aleppo province, Igor Konashenkov said.

"Near the Al-Qaryatayn in the Syrian province of Homs Su-24M destroyed
a hidden ISIL base. In the dungeons terrorists have organized a
command post, arm depot and outqaurters," Maj. Gen. Konashenkov added.

He noted that terrorists' objects were destroyed using direct strikes.

A Russian Su-25 fighter jet has destroyed a major military base
of ISIL terrorists in Maarrat al-Nu'man, Syrian province of Idlib,
the General said.

Konashenkov said all Russian aircraft had successfully returned to
the Hmeymim air base after the mission.

Russia has been assisting both the government and civilians in
the war-torn Syria. Since September 30, Moscow has been conducting
precision airstrikes on terrorists positions in Syria, following a
request from president Bashar al-Assad.

http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/12/18/russian-warplanes-destroy-is-tanker-column-100-fuel-transfer-stations-in-syria/

[Yervant1]

GERMANY SET TO COOPERATE WITH ASSAD, SET UP INTEL AGENCY IN DAMASCUS

© AP Photo/ Collage
EUROPE
14:25 18.12.2015Get short URL
137181

In a dramatic move, Germany is set to become the first western nation
and NATO member to break ranks and begin cooperating with Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad and set up an intelligence agency branch
in Damascus.

© AP PHOTO/ SANA, FILE West Should Play on Assad's Terms to Defeat
Int'l Terrorism - French Media Although there has been no official
announcement, anonymous sources quoted in the German Bild newspaper,
confirmed that the federal government is keen to establish a branch
of its Federal Intelligence Service (BND) in Damascus in an effort
to counter Daesh, also known as ISIL.

The source said a decision on the move to renew ties with the Syrian
intelligence agencies could be made as early as 2016 and may even
involve reopening the German embassy in Damascus, which was closed in
February 2012, when the German ambassador was withdrawn. The BND is
reported to be anxious to quickly set up as a so-called Residentur in
the Syrian capital, with a view to permanently stationing staff there.

There has been a long history of intelligence-sharing between Berlin
and Damascus, which Germany believes is an important partner in the
fight against radical Islamists. Diplomatic relations were broken off
in 2012 when, the then Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle expelled
the Syrian ambassador from Germany. The German ambassador to Damascus
was withdrawn and the embassy closed for safety reasons.

© AFP 2015/ STEPHAN JANSEN The entrance to Germany's intelligence
agency Bundesnachrichtendienst BND in Pullach, southern Germany.

High Alert

Germany has been put on high terror alert this years, following both
the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January and the November 13 Paris attacks,
which killed 130 people and injured hundreds more. The latter attack
had links with Germany and one man was arrested in Stuttgart for
allegedly supplying weapons to the Paris attackers.

© AFP 2015/ PIERRE CONSTANT Soldiers walk in front of an ambulance as
rescue workers evacuate victims near La Belle Equipe, rue de Charonne,
at the site of an attack on Paris on November 14, 2015

The threat from Daesh is now being taken very seriously by Germany,
which recently voted in parliament to begin support operations with its
coalition partners against Daesh in Syria and Iraq. Police arrested
three Islamists believed to have planned an attack in Dortmund, and
a fourth man, in Stuttgart, believed to have supplied weapons to the
jihadists who carried out the Paris attacks.

© AP PHOTO/ FRANCOIS MORI European Intel Agencies Slammed Over Paris
Attack Failures

The threat of terror was further brought home in September 2015 when
a 41-year-old self-proclaimed Islamist was shot dead in Berlin after
he severely stabbed and injured a policewoman in an incident on a
public street in Berlin.

Meanwhile, security officials in Germany are interrogating a man --
known only as "Harry S", a 27-year-old from Bremen -- who returned
from Syria where he took part in the execution by Daesh militants
of six or seven prisoners. He told the officials that Daesh were
recruiting Germans, training them and calling on them to carry out
terrorist attacks against Germany.

Read more:
http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151218/1031955727/germany-assad-cooperation-bnd-intel-branch-damascus.html#ixzz3ufiLNd3n

[MosJan]

i wounder how much will this effect the price of OIL ?
might it be part of it's agenda to bring price of oil up ??

[Johannes]

i wounder how much will this effect the price of OIL ?

might it be part of it's agenda to bring price of oil up ??

– Ռուսիան եւ Իրանը հարուածելու համար Սաուդեան Արաբիան նուազեցուց գինը։

– Իրանի հանդէպ հաստատուած երկարամեայ պատիժները ջնջելը դարձեալ ազդեց գիներու նուազման, իրանեան նաւթի շուկայ գալուն առթիւ։

– ԱՄՆ Կոնգրեսն ալ կարծեմ վերցուց ամերիկեան նաւթի արտածման դէմ դրուած արգելքը։

– Տնտեսական ճգնաժամներու պատճառով նաւթի պահանջքը պակսած է։

[Yervant1]

'RUSSIA SMASHING DAESH WHILE TURKEY ATTACKS US' - SYRIAN KURDISH COMMANDER

© AFP 2015/ DELIL SOULEIMAN
MIDDLE EAST
20:20 18.12.2015(updated 20:27 18.12.2015) Get short URL
020511

Asked to comment on the situation on the ground in the Syrian
Kurd-controlled areas of northern Syria, YPG People's Protection Units
commander Huseyin Kocer told Sputnik that while Russian airstrikes
have been dealing a "a very serious blow" to Daesh (ISIL), the Turkish
military has been attacking Kurdish areas instead.

Speaking to Sputnik Kurdistan on Friday, Kocer explained that "Turkey's
attacks began after YPG forces managed to liberate Tel Abyad," a town
in northern Syria located about 2 kilometers from the Turkish border.

"They are trying to provoke us by their attacks. Before the area
was liberated, Turkey traded with Daesh through the border crossing
point at Tel Abyad. But after the jihadists were kicked out of there,
Turkey's cards got all mixed up, and they began provoking us in every
possible way."

© AFP 2015/ DELIL SOULEIMAN Syrian Kurds Say Turkey's 'Moderate
Rebels' are Trying to Annihilate Them Kocer emphasized that for their
part, "the representatives of the YPG consider Turkey as our neighbor,
and do not want war. We are convinced that war will not bring anything
good to anyone. We want to maintain good relations with neighboring
countries."

Asked to comment on Ankara's allegations that Kurdish self-defense
groups have harassed Turkmen and the local Arab population living in
the area, Kocer responded by noting that "in this situation, Turkey
is not acting as a defender of the Arabs. Its goal is to sow discord
in the region - to sow disunity among the ethnic groups living on
the territory of Syria."

"In Tel Abyad," the commander added, "there has not been and will not
be any discrimination against Kurds, Turkmen or Arabs. We are against
any oppression and discrimination. The Arab population in the region
joins the ranks of the Democratic Forces of Syria, [an alliance of
Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, Armenian and Turkmen militias seeking to expel
Daesh from Syrian territory], and participates in city government. The
co-chairman of the Tel Abyad's City Council is an Arab. Arabs hold
high management positions in many local organizations."

"The YPG brigades are a force stepping out in defense of the entire
population, not just one nation. They are composed not only of Kurds,
but include Arabs and the other peoples that inhabit the region. We
are fighting for the creation of a democratic Syrian state."

© AP PHOTO/ MISHA JAPARIDZE Run for the Hills: ISIL Fighters Fleeing
Stronghold of Raqqa Amid Russian Air Campaign Asked to comment on the
Russian campaign of airstrikes against jihadist positions in Syria,
Kocer emphasized that "thanks to Russia's actions, Daesh and the
other terrorist organizations which seek to destroy Syria have been
dealt a very serious blow, and they continue to bear heavy losses."

Meanwhile, Turkey, according to the commander, is providing the
terrorists with tremendous support. "Daesh jihadists freely cross the
border into Syria from Iraq and from Turkish territory. During clashes
with the terrorists, we have repeatedly taken prisoners turning out
to be Turkish citizens. Turkey is providing Daesh with large-scale
support. It is in Turkey that the jihadists undergo training, and get
treatment after they've been injured. A large number of Daesh's new
recruits are from Turkey. Erdogan's government supports Daesh with
money, weapons, and intelligence."

"The majority of our clashes with Daesh occur on the Turkish border.

Until our liberation of the city of Ras al-Ayn [in Syria's northeastern
province of Hasakah], the jihadists there had received serious support
from Turkey. After we managed to take control of the city, the route
supporting the terrorists was effectively blocked. The same thing
happened in Tel Abyad. Daesh oil had been going to Turkey through Tel
Ayab, Azaz and other areas. In Tel Abyad, we have found a number of
oil storage facilities and shelters, leading to Turkey.

These facts are evident."

Read more:
http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20151218/1031986818/ypg-turkey-attacks-commentary.html#ixzz3uh7YYgqv

[Yervant1]

I AM CHRISTIAN, I WAS SAVED FROM A GENOCIDE THANKS TO ISLAM

Morocco World News
December 13, 2015 Sunday

By Kevork El Massian
Beirut

Beirut, Dec. 13 -- Since almost everybody is speaking about Islamic
terrorism and many people are accusing Islam of being a violent
religion, I'd like to share this opinion, which is originally a speech
I delivered in Stintino, Italy in January 2015, during the Dialogando
(inter faith dialogue) conference.

First of all, I'd like to tell you a short history of my family. I'm
a Syrian Christian of Armenian origin. My ancestors were victims
of the Armenian genocide, which was committed by the Ottomans in
1915. Those who perpetrated the first genocide in the 20th century
used very similar methods to the terrorist organizations in the Middle
East such as ISIS, Al-Nusra Front, the Islamic Front, Ahrar Al-Sham,
the so called Free Syrian Army, and many others.

If we speak objectively, the people who committed and are still
committing these crimes claim to be Muslims. But I am a Christian
whose family managed to reach Syria in 1915 and was protected by the
Syrian Muslims.

Today, I'm alive and able to write on Facebook thanks to the true
teachings of Islam, which consider Christians "people of the book"
(God's book). These are the same teachings that told the Muslims of
Syria to protect Christians fleeing the massacres in Turkey. That's
the Islam that my father told me about, and that's the Islam that I
experienced in Syria.

However, after the so-called "revolution" in Syria and the rise of
terrorist organizations, Islam is again accused of being a violent
religion. Personally, I can't deny the fact that some Muslims in the
Middle East and around the world are behaving violently toward other
sects and religions, but what is the origin of this modern terrorism?

The answer is in Wahhabism, which is the school of thought in Saudi
Arabian law.

In different eras, various communities acted violently, and their
violence was justified by religious interpretations, and that's the
same thing with Islam. The Wahhabi interpretation of Islam generated
and organized violence among some Muslims. Therefore, I refuse to
call Saudi Arabia the representative of Sunni Islam, because those
who adopted the Wahhabi ideology killed the most Sunni Muslims in the
Islamic world compared to other sects and religions. They even killed
Sunni clerics who refused their interpretation of Islam. For example,
they assassinated Imam Ramadan al-Bouti, who was the idol of modern
and moderate Islam in the Levant.

Historically, this started in Afghanistan when Saudi Arabia, with the
blessing of the CIA, supported the so-called Mujahedeen to expel the
Soviet Union from the country. These "freedom fighters", according
to the American narrative, formed the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization
and attacked the US on 9/11.

Unfortunately, the American administration adopted the same strategy
to weaken the government of Syria under the pretext of democracy and
human rights. The so-called Free Syrian army was only a mask to cover
the dirty face of the fundamentalists who were leading the uprising
against the government since the very beginning of the crisis. In
other words, the US and some European governments gave political cover
to these extremists in order to reshape the balance of power in the
Middle East, and the result was the rise of ISIS, Al-Nusra Front,
and other terrorist organizations.

Therefore, Westerners should hold their governments responsible for
their policies that weakened the central government in Syria and
gave the opportunity to radical elements to jump over the popular
demands for a better political system and turned Syria into a hell
for everybody.

Terrorism cannot be divided. There is no moderate and extremist
terrorist. We condemned the attacks in Paris and elsewhere, because we
believe in humanity, and there are many mutual values among us, but
we also ask you to express solidarity with the victims of terrorism
in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine, because by doing so, we unify
our efforts against the same enemy.

Now what is the solution for the current Islamic violence? Dialogue
is extremely important, and let's face the truth: we lack dialogue in
the Middle East. We don't know the culture of dialogue, and we are
mostly not able to tolerate other opinions. However, this dialogue
should be in parallel with a political solution.

The Western governments should withdraw the legitimacy from their
allies who radicalize the youth in the Middle East. Geopolitics should
never be an excuse for human tragedy. We, in Syria, suffered enough.

It is time to stop the countries that created Islamic extremism. I'm
asking the Western governments to stop their intervention in our
internal affairs, because if Syrians were demanding democracy in
2011, now they are looking for bread to feed their kids and fuel to
heat them.

Fighting terrorism cannot be done by airstrikes. We should dismantle
the ideological sources of this terrorism, and I believe it is not
difficult to trace them. We can find it in the speeches of some
clerics, such as the influential cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi, who
issued a fatwa to kill everybody (civilians and soldiers) who dare
to stand against their radical revolution. Many other Wahhabi clerics
in Saudi Arabia who issue similar fatwas on influential news channels
such as Al-Arabiya, and many others, who put all journalistic values
aside and act as a machine of radical indoctrination to our youth
and a warhead for the foreign policy of their backward dictatorships.

If they continue with these policies, the near future will witness
more wars, much more brutal than the one in Syria and Iraq. Therefore,
I have the responsibility to shed the light on these realities and
urge our friends and brothers and sisters in humanity to solidify our
efforts to fight this extremely dangerous cancer that is destroying
human civilization all around the world.

http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2015/12/175017/i-am-christian-i-was-saved-from-a-genocide-thanks-to-islam/

[Yervant1]

IS REMINDS LOCAL ASSYRIANS OF ATROCITIES

Telegram & Gazette (Massachusetts)
December 14, 2015 Monday

Telegram & Gazette Staff

HIGHLIGHT: Elias Hanna and Harvard Prof. Eden Naby(sp?) talk about
the memorial dedicated at the North Grafton Assyrian Chuch in October
to commemorate the centennial of the Armenian genocide. Implications
today for current ethnic/religious conflicts. 30 inches.

GRAFTON -- One hundred years ago, two-thirds of the Christian Assyrians
living in what is now southeast Turkey, Iraq, Syrian and Iran --
estimated as up to 750,000 people, according to Rutgers University
researchers -- were murdered by the Ottoman Turks and other Muslims,
who aimed to destroy non-Muslims in the land.

Others fled along with similarly persecuted Armenians and Greeks,
with many coming to work in the factories of Lowell, Watertown and
Worcester.

Elias Hanna of Grafton is a board member of the Assyrian American
Association of Massachusetts. A century ago his grandmother witnessed
the execution of her Assyrian father and other Christian men in
their Syrian village. His own family left Syria years ago, facing
continuing prejudice.

Today on the news he sees non-Muslims being murdered, tortured,
kidnapped and raped by Islamic extremists such as the Islamic State
group, also known as ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

"I feel like history is repeating itself," Mr. Hanna said in an
interview.

The Assyrian American Association of Massachusetts commemorated on
Oct. 24 the centennial of the 1914-1923 Assyrian Genocide with the
dedication of a memorial at the Assyrian Cultural Center, 10 Overlook
St., North Grafton.

The memorial, called "Hope," is among the first Assyrian memorial
monuments in the country, along with one in Chicago and another in Los
Angeles, according to Middle Eastern scholar Eden Naby of Brimfield
and Cambridge.

Ms. Naby was born in Iran.

SEE memorial, A8

She said some 16 monuments have been erected worldwide.

Assyrian artist Ninos Chammo created a relief of a wounded lioness
and Assyrian star, resembling a cross, with female imagery that
represents the suffering of women who were often raped and forced
to watch their husbands and children die. The word "seyfo," meaning
sword, illustrates how many died by the sword of Islam. But the title,
"Hope," reveals the strength of the community.

"These monuments will be reminders forever that these atrocities
happened," said Sargon Hanna, Elias' son and president of the Assyrian
American Association of Massachusetts.

He said the monument, which stands outside the Cultural Center
facing the street, wasn't meant just to educate people about the
Assyrian genocide but also of the last ethnic community in the world
that preserved Aramaic as a native language, the language spoken by
Jesus Christ.

"There's a deep, rich, amazing culture that came out of there,"
he said.

The parallels to current ethnic and religious violence spreading
from the Middle East to Europe and, most recently, San Bernardino,
California, are striking but not surprising, according to Ms. Naby.

"Within the culture of the Middle East there is prejudice, there is
intolerance against non-Islam," Ms. Naby said. "ISIS is only the tip
of the iceberg because intolerance has always existed. And we don't
know how to talk about it. As Middle Easterners, we understand the
mentality, the different world view."

Ms. Naby said the intolerance is built deep within the religious
teachings of Islam. "There are so many restrictions, you cannot vary
from it."

Women have been particularly brutalized, Ms. Naby explained. She said
her father's sister, at age 16, was taken to an Ottoman army rape
camp in 1914. Her father eventually won her release, with the help of
Christian missionaries, but her aunt was diseased and psychologically
traumatized.

Now, she said, Islamic women have 30 or more years of reproduction
imposed on them, being married at younger and younger ages. They are
raising too many children that their communities can't take care of.

The growing population of disaffected, desperate, often uneducated
young people can't fit into modern society, according to Ms. Naby. So
they become radicalized.

"That's what ISIS is: It's a big gang," she said. "But it's difficult
to find the language to say these things without sounding like
a bigot."

She continued, "We don't want to be intolerant; we want to be true
to American values. Can we tolerate intolerance?"

Elias Hanna and Ms. Naby said that the Muslim community needs to
speak out more against violence against non-Muslims.

"To just condemn ISIS isn't enough. It's to condemn intolerance," Ms.

Naby said. "They can talk about misinterpretation of the Quran all
they want, but they have to condemn... the inbred intolerance that
is taught."

U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, a Worcester Democrat, gave the keynote
address at the commemoration program, calling the Assyrian genocide
the "systematic destruction of a people based on their religion and
ethnicity," part of a constellation of crimes against humanity that
culminated 20 years later in the Holocaust and extermination of
millions of Jews.

"All of those hopes, all of those dreams, all of those possibilities
were erased. And this was done deliberately," Mr. McGovern said.

"With ISIS has come another form of genocide: The war against the
history of mankind," he continued. "We cannot sit idly by and watch
the destruction continue."

-- Contact Susan Spencer at susan.spencer@telegram.com Follow her on
Twitter @SusanSpencerTG

>From Page A1

Eden Naby stands at a memorial to the 1914-1923 Assyrian genocide at
the Assyrian Cultural Center on Overlook Street that was dedicated
by the Assyrian American Association of Massachusetts in October.

Photo/Chris Christo

Elias Hanna, center, talks about the Assyrian Genocide Memorial in
front of the North Grafton Assyrian Church. At left is his son, Sargon
Hanna, president of the Assyrian American Association of Massachusetts,
and at right is Eden Naby. Photo/Chris Christo

http://www.telegram.com/article/20151213/NEWS/151219685/101357?rssfeed=true

[Yervant1]

Loose Cannon on Deck: Turkish Gov't Poses Threat to Neighbors, Own People
By Philip Giraldi
Dec. 18, 2015

(from Sputnik)

The Turkish leadership has become the proverbial loose cannon on deck:
no one knows which way Ankara will roll, but everyone realizes that
the results will be very damaging, a former CIA Case Officer Philip
Giraldi remarks.

Turkey with its unique geographic position, a 600,000-strong army and
a vibrant and diversified economy is both "indispensable" as well as a
dangerous power in the Middle East, former CIA Case Officer and Army
Intelligence Officer Philip Giraldi underscores.

"It is perhaps Turkey's indispensability that is part of the problem,
as it has given its current government a hubristic sense of
entitlement that has developed into a conceit that it can be the
arbiter for all its neighbors while also transforming itself into an
autocracy at home," Giraldi writes in his article for The Unz Review.

The former CIA official calls attention to the fact that a largely
secular Turkish republic has now turned into an "illiberal democracy"
increasingly run on "Islamic principles." Turkey's independent media
have been eradicated, protesters beaten and shot and the opposition
ruthlessly suppressed.

Giraldi stresses that it was Turkish President Recep Erdogan who is
responsible for this embarrassing transformation.

So, it is hardly surprising that Ankara has been repeatedly spotted
colluding with radical Islamists, most notably Daesh (IS/ISIL), in
Syria and Iraq.

"As Turkey is nominally a US ally in combatting ISIS [Daesh] going
after another de facto ally would seem to be a strange choice, but it
ignores the fact that Ankara has been duplicitous from the beginning
in terms of its real objectives," Giraldi notes.

Indeed, during the US-led operation against Daesh Turkey allowed
jihadists to travel through it in and out of the war zone in the
Middle East. Turkey's motif is understandable: Ankara's major goals in
Syria are to eliminate the Kurdish military forces and topple Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad.

According to the former CIA officer, Recep Erdogan has no interest at
all in defeating Daesh, quite the contrary.

"One might reasonably go a step farther to assert that Turkey has been
an ally of ISIS [Daesh], supporting from the beginning radical Sunni
groups that eventually came together to form the terrorist
organization," the former CIA Case Officer underscores.

Giraldi refers to that fact that back in 2014 he himself saw a certain
number of Daesh supporters collecting money for Islamic extremists in
various Istanbul neighborhoods.

It has long been rumored that Ankara is funding terrorists, providing
them with arms and treating wounded Daesh militants in Turkey's
hospitals. However, when two well-known Turkish journalists stepped
out to provide ample evidence of Ankara's complicity in terrorism they
were immediately detained and charged with treason.

But it is only a part of the story. On the other hand, Turkey has been
twisting the EU's arm, threatening the European leaders with flooding
the European Union with refugees from the Middle East and North
Africa.

"It has been taking advantage of the refugee crisis, which it has
helped create, and exploited legitimate fear of ISIS [Daesh]
infiltration. Erdogan has promised to slow the human wave engulfing
Europe only if the European Union comes up with 3 billion Euros to
cover expenses," Giraldi points out.

In light of this Turkey resembles nothing so much as a blackmailer and
a racketeer, not a credible partner.

Furthermore, Ankara has been involved in oil smuggling from Daesh-held
territories in Syria and Iraq. The president's son Bilal Erdogan, the
principal owner of BMZ Group Denizcilik, is transporting the stolen
oil to Asia and Israel, according to the former intelligence official.
Turkey is also smuggling Kurdistan oil despite vocal protests from the
Iraqi government.

"Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is now seeking to
increase his own considerable de facto powers, has certainly become a
danger to all its neighbors but mostly inflicts damage on itself,"
Giraldi emphasizes, adding that Ankara's treacherous attack against
the Russian Su-24 proved this assumption once again.

"Erdogan has become, internationally speaking, the proverbial loose
cannon on deck. No one knows which way he will roll, but everyone has
become absolutely certain that the results will be very, very
damaging," the former CIA Case Officer concludes.


http://sputniknews.com/politics/20151217/1031915847/turkish-government-erdogan-threat-syria-iraq-europe.html

[Yervant1]

Dump New Ottomans from NATO: Shoot Down of Russian Plane Shows Turkey
to be Dangerous Ally

By Doug Bandow
Dec. 18, 2015

Turkey's rash decision to shoot down a Russian plane for violating its
airspace hasn't triggered World War III. But Ankara 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
last month his military downed a Russian aircraft, involved in
striking territory controlled by al-Nusra. 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." Oddly,
the alliance previously protested when Syria downed an errant Turkish
warplane over the former's territory.

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
Republic 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 Erdogan, who began as prime minister,
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.

President Erdogan also is moving Turkey in a more Islamist direction.
Although no one expects him to turn his nation into another Iran or
Saudi Arabia, he has done more than end strict Kemalist secularism.
Worse, his government has enabled the Islamic State, allowing
relatively free transit of personnel and materiel for the most
dangerous and destabilizing force in the Middle East. Moreover, there
is evidence of more direct assistance--providing equipment, passports,
training, medical care, and perhaps more to Islamist radicals. While
refusing to take military action against the self-proclaimed caliphate
on its border, Ankara has attempted to manipulate the U.S. into
ousting Syrian president Assad, who controls the important ground
forces containing ISIL. Despite recently agreeing to assist Washington
against the Islamic State, the Erdogan government appears to have
played the U.S., directing most of Turkey's fire against America's
Kurdish allies.

Shooting down the Russian aircraft was even more irresponsible.
Whatever the circumstances of the alleged incursion, Ankara knew that
no attack on Turkish forces was planned. President Putin stated the
obvious when he declared: "our pilots, planes did not threaten Turkish
territory in any way. It is quite clear." Downing the plane was a
direct attack on Moscow for supporting the Assad government against
various insurgents, of whom the Turkish-supported radicals are the
most important. Whether to punish Russia for opposing Ankara's
objectives or deter Moscow from taking further action, the attack
raises tensions not only with Turkey but also NATO, including America,
the alliance's most important member. Striking nuclear-armed Russia
for an alleged overflight lasting just a few seconds appears to be
seeking war. The U.S. should shun Ankara for playing chicken with
Moscow.

Turkey demonstrates that NATO is a bad deal for America. Military
alliances should be based on circumstances and defense guarantees
should serve U.S. interests. Any conceivable existential threat
against Turkey ended along with the Cold War. Ankara and Russia had no
conflicting issues likely to lead to war. Turkey's large military far
outclassed those of its neighbors, especially after the U.S. invaded
Iraq and Syria collapsed into civil war.

At the same time, the shared interests between Turkey and the West
dissipated. The Erdogan government has moved Turkey in a much more
independent and even hostile direction. Doing so is Ankara's
prerogative, but eliminates any lingering justification for the West
to guarantee Turkey's security. The alliance should not be responsible
for defending Ankara as the latter attempts to overthrow the Assad
government and, even worse, commits a gratuitous act of war seemingly
designed only to provoke Moscow.

Indeed, Turkey is merely the latest example of alliance members
seeking to drag the U.S. into conflicts of no interest to America.
Britain and France largely orchestrated the Libya war, in which
Washington helped deconstruct yet another Muslim country without
purpose. NATO members in Eastern Europe, most notably the Baltics,
want American garrisons even though they were not viewed as vital U.S.
security interest even during the height of the Cold War. Georgia and
Ukraine are more distant and aren't members of the alliance but they,
too, lobby America to confront a nuclear-armed power on its border
over interests at most peripheral for Washington. Turkey is more
powerful than its neighbors and Europe is more powerful than Russia.
The U.S. should disentangle itself from the defense of its free-riding
"allies."

Moscow is a better and more reliable partner than Turkey for America
in the Middle East. Vladimir Putin is a nasty character. Under him
Russia is acting like a traditional great power, focused on protecting
security and winning respect, without the slightest concern for
liberal Western values. He has created an ugly autocracy at home,
suppressing the civil liberties and political freedoms Americans and
Europeans value.

But President Erdogan differs little from President Putin. The former
profits from power, jails journalists, seizes media companies, abuses
presidential power, and triggers conflict for political gain. It
should surprise no one that Ankara's chances of entering the European
Union are nil. Indeed, after having squeezed all of the political
benefit from formally seeking membership, President Erdogan probably
doesn't want to join.

Where Presidents Putin and Erdogan dramatically diverge is their
policies toward radical Islamists. As noted earlier, Ankara has
consistently aided the murderous jihadists of most concern to America.
Turkey once was committed to maintaining a stable and moderate
political environment in the region. Now the Erdogan government is
aiding ISIL and al-Nusra, targeting Kurdish and Syrian government
forces, and shooting down Russian aircraft bombing Islamic extremists.

In contrast, in the Middle East U.S. and Russian interests broadly
coincide. Exactly why the U.S. feels duty-bound to oust Assad--whom
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once described as a
"reformer"--isn't clear. Both Iraq and Libya dramatically demonstrated
that it's not enough to get rid of the bad guy. You need a good guy as
successor. Washington has none in Syria. The Obama administration
merely pretends that if Assad fled or ended up hanging from a lamppost
that Syria's George Washington would magically emerge, unify the
insurgents, protect the minorities, and get everyone to hold hands
while singing Kumbaya and roasting marshmallows around a fire.

In fact, despite the obliviousness of most Republican presidential
wannabes, such as Marco Rubio and Chris Christie, American policy in
the Mideast has failed catastrophically: persistent intervention has
triggered sectarian war in Iraq, turned religious minorities into
refugees, spawned the Islamic State, empowered Iran, turned Libya into
another failed state filled with conflict and terrorists, discouraged
a negotiated settlement in Syria, backed the least effective Syrian
insurgents, inadvertently armed the most dangerous insurgents, and
conducted a largely ineffectual campaign against ISIL without apparent
end. Yet the Obama administration is committed to doing more of the
same in the forlorn hope of achieving a different result. The majority
of GOP candidates believe there's no problem that another war or two
wouldn't solve.

Nor does President Putin's policy elsewhere challenge fundamental
allied security interests. It's not fun being a onetime Soviet
republic on his border. Just ask Georgia and Ukraine. However,
contrary to claims of an imminent Russian blitzkrieg, in 15 years this
supposed Hitler-lite has "gained," if one can call it that, Abkhazia,
Crimea, Donbass, and South Ossetia. That's a pitiful empire. Indeed,
there is no evidence that Moscow has the slightest interest in
conquering non-Russian areas. His bullying of his neighbors rightly
offends the principles of justice, but is no cause for military
conflict with the West.

Cooperating with Russia against the Islamic State and other dangerous
radicals doesn't require befriending President Putin or creating a
formal alliance. Rather, such a policy would be simply transactional,
with the two governments working together where and when doing so
serves both nations' interests. That's more than occurs with Turkey
today. It is difficult for the U.S. to articulate a single genuine
shared interest with Ankara.

The Turkish shoot down of the Russian jet moves the Mideast conflict
into a dangerous new phase. With some justification President Putin
called the action "a stab in the back by the terrorists' accomplices."
The chief lesson for Washington should be to abandon outdated
alliances and stop covering for "the terrorists' accomplices," most
importantly Turkey. Russia may not be an ally, but at least it is
friendlier and less dangerous than Ankara today.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/doug-bandow/dump-new-ottomans-from-na_b_8836998.html

[MosJan]

Putin: The Russian army music band alone is enough to overthrow Turkish president; I urge Erdoğan to study World War II history meticulously

 

According to Moscow Times, the Russian president Vladimir Putin has sharply rebuked Turkey’s war-like policy in the troubled Middle-East and reiterated his country’s firm stance in supporting a political solution for Syria’s nearly five-year civil war.

“The American administration has turned a deaf ear to the international community’s calls to end its double-track policy in the Middle-East. I told Americans that you cannot fight terrorism unless you desist from backing the main ally of ISIS which is Turkey's Erdoğan. In fact, The Russian army band alone is enough to unseat Erdoğan and terminate his malevolent interfering in Syria, but we seek a peaceful resolution to the current standoff,” Moskovskaya Pravda cited the Russian President as saying in a meeting with State Duma's Defense Committee on Tuesday.

Ignoring Iraq’s sovereignty, the Turkish army sent a battalion near the Iraqi city of Mosul, allegedly to train Kurdish militias which prompted Baghdad to summon Turkish ambassador to protest at the Ankara’s increasingly dubious role in the ongoing war with the Islamic State.

Erdoğan must understand, added Mr. Putin, that he cannot attack and infringe on the international law like a hooligan and Erdoğan also must realize that Russians defeated much more vicious dictators than him and his liking.

“So-called Mr. President [Erdoğan], you must read the history of Hitler and his bitter downfall. Your dreams of reviving the Ottoman Empire are perilous for Turkey and already doomed to fail,” said Putin. Russia and Turkey continue to trade accusations since Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet

 

http://www.awdnews.com/top-news/putin-the-russian-army-music-band-alone-is-enough-to-overthrow-turkish-president-i-urge-erdo%C4%9Fan-to-study-world-war-ii-history-meticulously

 

[Yervant1]

Your dreams of reviving the Ottoman Empire are perilous for Turkey and already doomed to fail,

 

 

We will wait and see if it's all talk or action, they might even kiss and make up and give more Armenian lands with a new treaty. I hope this time around it doesn't end up like it did several times before.

[Yervant1]

ISIL RINGLEADER'S MOBILE PHONE SPEAKS LOUD OF TURKEY'S SUPPORT FOR TERRORISM

Mon Dec 21, 2015 5:55

TEHRAN (FNA)- A commander of the Iraqi volunteer forces (Hashd
al-Shaabi) revealed that a mobile phone found with one of the killed
ISIL ringleaders proved the Turkish spy agency's support for the
terrorist group.

"The mobile phone was found with one of the killed ISIL leaders
in the Northern parts of Salahuddin province two days ago," Jabbar
al-Ma'mouri told Soumeriya news on Monday.

He said that the mobile set and history files contain messages from
the Turkish intelligence agency which show that Ankara supports the
ISIL terrorist group through providing security at the points of
entry used by ISIL militants from Turkey to Iraq.

"The mobile phone also contains other important information which
cannot be disclosed now, and it has been delivered to the specialized
security groups for further scrutiny," Ma'mouri said.

In relevant remarks on November, Russian Ambassador to France Alexander
Orlov said that Turkey has played an "ambiguous" role in the campaign
against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) while acting
as an accomplice to the terrorist group's activities.

Also last month, former US Department of State senior advisor David
Phillips said Turkey has blatantly provided material support to the
ISIL because they share an ideological connection along with a common
foe in Syrian President Bashar Assad.

"Turkey's role has not been ambiguous -- it has overtly supported
the ISIL," Phillips, currently Director of Columbia University's
Peace-building and Rights Program, said. "It has provided logistical
support, money, weapons, transport and healthcare to wounded warriors."

Phillips explained that Turkey has been supporting the ISIL to remove
Syrian President Bashar Assad from power and because of a "spiritual
bond" that exists between Turkey's governing party and the jihadists.

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940930001299

[Yervant1]

DOWNING OF RUSSIAN JET BY TURKEY WAS A CHALLENGE TO EFFORTS AGAINST TERRORISM: ARMENIAN PRESIDENT

21:56, 21 Dec 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

The downing of the Russian Su-24 by Turkey was a challenge to the
fight against international terrorism, the efforts targeted at the
settlement of the situation in Syria and establishment of peace in
the region, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said, addressing the
session of the CSTO Collective Security Council. He added that "any
support to terrorism should be strongly criticized.

"In case of the developments connected with the downing of the Russian
jet we witnessed how practical military-political alliance is being
formed. The unequivocal support of the NATO member states, i.e.

Greece, to Turkey, obviously sows that the principle of "one for all
and all for one" is a compulsory condition for the effectiveness of
such alliances. Even though when Turkey's actions contradicted all
norms and principles of friendship and good-neighborly relations, even
though it shot down a jet on military mission against terrorism, no
NATO member stat questioned the auctioned the actions of the Turkish
side. We must draw lessons from this," President Sargsyan said.

http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/12/21/downing-of-russian-jet-by-turkey-was-a-challenge-to-efforts-against-terrorism-armenian-president/

[Yervant1]

ISIS, ASSAD, AND WHAT THE WEST IS MISSING ABOUT SYRIA

CWR Archive: Analysis
Analysis

December 15, 2014

Syria, once home to a unique, multireligious society, is being
destroyed. The West is turning a blind eye to the real cause of
the tragedy.

Alessandra Nucci

Debris is seen inside a badly damaged church in the Monastery of Mar
Sarkis in the ancient Christian town of Maaloula, Syria, April 14.

(CNS photo/Khaled al-Ha riri, Reuters)

Last year Pope Francis called for a day of prayer and fasting for peace
in Syria, the Middle East, and the whole world, setting the date for
September 7 and himself presiding over a prayer vigil in Rome. In a
recent piece for the Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan reports that
in September of 2013, "the American people spontaneously rose up and
told Washington they would not back a bombing foray in Syria that would
help the insurgents opposed to Bashar Assad. That public backlash was
a surprise not only to the White House but to Republicans in Congress,
who were--and I saw them--ashen-faced after the calls flooded their
offices. It was such a shock to Washington that officials there still
don't talk about it and make believe it didn't happen."

That, of course, was before ISIS, the Islamic State, appeared on the
scene, cutting through a third of Syria and Iraq and advancing rapidly,
tragically, into the area with the strongest Christian presence in
Iraq. A shocked world witnessed the ghastly beheadings of innocent
Westerners, along with the displacement, raping, and murdering of Iraqi
Christians and Yazidis, the looting and burning down of churches,
and the marking out of Christian homes. The leaders of the Western
world all vowed to take immediate action. The president of the United
States solemnly committed to "degrade and destroy" ISIS.

Yet in a matter of months, even the beheadings seem to have receded
into the background. It would seem that if you dither long enough, even
the most acute world-wide indignation will fade away, as observers
become increasingly inured to outrages. Only days after President
Obama's solemn denunciaton, the anti-government Syrian "rebels"
announced a deal with ISIS. What for? To join forces against their
common enemy: Bashar al-Assad.

Despite a stunning one-time-only admission by President Obama
to a delegation of patriarchs in Washington last September--in
which he reportedly said, "We know Assad has been protecting the
Christians"--the bipartisan attitude towards the Syrian government
has continued to hover between aloof and openly hostile.

The depiction of Assad by credible witnesses is quite different.

Speaking at a private meeting held at the Veritatis Splendor Diocesan
Center in Bologna, Italy last October, Msgr. Giuseppe Nazzaro, former
apostolic visitor to Aleppo and former Custodian of the Holy Land,
had this to say:

[Assad] opened the country up to foreign trade, to tourism within
the country and from abroad, to freedom of movement and of education
for both men and women. Before the protests started, the number of
women in the professional world had been constantly increasing, the
university was open to all, and there was no discrimination on the
basis of sex. The country was at peace, prosperity was on the rise,
and human rights were respected. A common home and fatherland to
many ethnicities and 23 different religious groups, Syria has always
been a place where all were free to believe and live out their creed,
all relationships were characterized by mutual respect. The freedom
that is purportedly being brought to us by the rebels is precisely
what this rebellion has taken away from us.

Msgr. Nazzaro was also among the heads of the Churches of the Middle
East who were invited to speak at the UN headquarters in Geneva on
September 16, where he denounced the "massacres and the atrocities,
together with the crimes against humanity" committed by the Islamic
State in both Syria and Iraq. The Syrians pinned great hopes on this
meeting, but were bitterly disappointed.

Syrian Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan, in Rome for the recent
synod on the family, told about the time the host of a French
prime-time news program asked him about Syria's "awful president,"
saying, "He's a monster. He's killing innocent people, children and
women." To which Patriarch Younan replied with the story of a Capuchin
priest from a Syrian town on the Euphrates River which is 98 percent
Sunni Muslim. The Capuchin told Younan that as the town was being
attacked by anti-government rebels, he sheltered four Missionaries of
Charity sisters and 12 elderly women in their care within his parish
center. When the situation was no longer sustainable, the Capuchin
said, the nuns called Damascus. "And Damascus sent military vehicles
to evacuate [them] from the parish compound--there were the nuns,
12 elderly people, and [the Capuchin], and they took all to safety,
in Damascus."

"Now," Patriarch Younan had said to the French news-show host, "you
can judge for yourself if this person, Assad, is a monster or not."

The West's dogged insistence on doing away with Mr. Assad
first--considering this a priority even with respect to stopping the
ISIS cutthroats--is predicated on the existence of "moderate Muslims"
among the machine-gun toting rebels. But if they will not listen to the
Christians, then why don't they look for moderates among the Muslims
who don't sack and pillage and are in fact against the war? In Syria,
the tradition of peaceful, brotherly coexistence among religions is
a national trait of which all Syrian groups have always been proud,
including Syrian Muslims, for whom the differences between Sunnis
and Shiia are not cause to rend the fabric of the nation.

"Although Syria is a Muslim-majority country, Syrians reject radicalism
and the Islam they practice is a moderate form of Islam," confirmed
Msgr. Mario Zenari, current apostolic nuncio to Syria, in a recent
interview with Vatican Radio.

A good example is the Grand Mufti of Syria. An intriguing figure, Dr.

Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun is a staunch supporter of the need for a
dialogue among religions, a cause to which he has dedicated more than
just words. Faced with personal tribulation when his 22-year-old son
was killed two years ago in retaliation for his father's recognition
of the Assad government, he has never spoken of revenge. "I've always
explained," he said in an interview with Italian daily Il Giornale,
"that if Mohammed had asked us to kill, he would not have been a
Prophet of the Lord. This is why I have forgiven my son's murderer
and I ask all those who undergo a tragedy of this kind to do likewise."

In a press conference on the plane home from Turkey on November 28,
Pope Francis called on Muslim leaders worldwide to speak out and
condemn all violence committed in the name of their faith, asking
them to declare that "this is not Islam." "We all need a world
condemnation," said the Pontiff, "including by the Muslims, who have
that identity and who should say: 'That is not who we are. The Qu'ran
is not this thing here.'"

This is precisely what Dr. Hassoun has been doing. He tells the
young Muslims swarming in from everywhere to fight against the Syrian
government "not to sell out your brains."

"Our religion teaches peace, not war," he said in his Il Giornale
interview. "To these young people, I ask that they study the Qu'ran
well and not believe those who exort them to go fight abroad. A good
Muslim travels to build peace, not to fight."

With regard to Christians, when Msgr. Giovanni Battista Morandini--the
apostolic nuncio--left Syria and retired to Italy, the Grand Mufti
sent word to then-Pope Benedict XVI that "Christians are full-fledged
Syrians, Syria is their home, they shouldn't abandon it; wherever
they go they will always be foreigners, which they aren't in Syria,
because here they are in their own home."

For their part, the Christian clerics of Syria return the compliment.

Melkite Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III Laham never tires of reminding
the faithful that Christian Arabs have a specific mission.

"The 'Church of the Arabs,'" he said in an interview with AsiaNews,
"means the Church of Jesus Christ, which lives in an Arabian setting
and in a profound and intimate relationship with the Arab world,
with its pain and its hopes, its joys and its sorrows, its problems
and its crisis. The Church is Emmanuel, a Church with, for and in
this Arab society, without forgetting its Arab roots and nature,
thanks to our history and our geography."

This is the civilization that Western world is helping tear down by
dragging its feet in going after the Islamic State.

In the Middle East, apart from the Kurdish peshmerga, the only army
with any clout that has taken on ISIS is Assad's. But Assad must go.

A secular administration, with widely popular multireligious support,
which has guaranteed religious freedom in what remains to this day
a Muslim-majority country, has to go.

Scores of authoritative figures, as well as the thousands who voted
in the elections, are ready to attest that Assad has not committed
genocide, and indeed has been protecting his people. Yet at all costs,
he must go.

In the meantime, ISIS has entrenched itself further into the territory
carved out of Iraq and Syria, and has so far advanced in building
itself a nation that it is reported to be working on a national
currency. ISIS's tentacles have reached Libya, where it has taken
over the town of Darnah, now an outpost of the Caliphate. Darnah
used to be home to poets, merchants, ministers, and the religious;
today it a place where they behead young people for posting unapproved
words on Facebook. The graffiti on the walls of Darnah's main square
say "No to al-Qaeda" because ISIS considers the al-Qaedists to be a
bunch of unacceptably moderate sissies. Eight hundred miles from Rome,
Darnah will be ISIS's starting place if they carry out their repeated
intentions to attack the capital of Christianity.

Consider that the fighting on the ground has been delegated to the
Kurdish people, including many brave women soldiers, but NATO-member
Turkey--wary lest Kurds gain in strength and advance their historical
demand for an independent Kurdistan--lets reinforcements and truckloads
of supplies flow freely across its border into the hands of ISIS.

As it was observed in Britain's Daily Telegraph,

If the insurgents win the war, there will be no Christian churches
in Syria any more (just as there aren't in Saudi Arabia at the moment).

Life will be similarly terrible for many of the ordinary Muslims who
make up the great majority of the population.

There are no "good guys" in Syria's civil war. But we should not be
blind to the fact that there is a project out there to destroy its
rich, pluralist, and unbelievably intricate culture and replace it
with a monochrome version of Wahhabi Islam, of the kind favoured by
Saudi mullahs. And for reasons that history may come to judge very
severely, Britain, the United States, and the West have been aiding
and abetting this project.

This, in so many words, is the message that so many Christian
religious figures--nuns, priests, and patriarchs of various different
traditions--have been trying to convey to the West, through anyone
willing to listen.

Alessandra Nucci is an Italian author and journalist.

http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/3570/isis_assad_and_what_the_west_is_missing_about_syria.aspx

[Yervant1]

TURKISH LABS PROCESSING AFGHAN OPIUM INTO HEROIN TO DELIVER TO EUROPE

18:36, 22 Dec 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Photo: Flickr/ UK Ministry of Defence

Turkish laboratories are processing Afghan opium into heroin for
deliveries to Europe, the director of Russia's Federal Narcotics
Control Service said Tuesday, Sputnik News reports.

Earlier on Tuesday, Viktor Ivanov said that Russian and Afghan drug
police confiscated more than 600 kilograms (over 1,300 pounds) of
opium in the province of Baglan in December in a joint operation.

"The cargo traveled along the route of Badakhshan-Doshi-Bamiyan-Herat,
then further through Iran and into Turkey, where the opium was
processed in well-equipped laboratories ... into high quality heroin,
and then was to be sent to Europe and Russia," Ivanov said during an
anti-narcotics committee meeting.

the Islamic State is receiving between $200 million and $500 million
annually from smuggling Afghan heroin into Europe, he said.

"According to our figures, the amount of revenue could be from $200
to $500 million annually," Viktor Ivanov told journalists, adding
that Turkey was used as a transit country for the deadly drug.

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151222/1032126314/turkey-heroin-europe.html
http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/12/22/turkish-labs-processing-afghan-opium-into-heroin-to-deliver-to-europe/