Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler PARIS — A vital American ally has gone geopolitically adrift in the wake of Turkey’s failed military coup, and the subsequent crackdown on all forms of domestic political dissent by the strongman ruler Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The bloody coup in which hundreds died, nonetheless served as a tragic […]
by WorldTribune Staff, August 15, 2016 Turkish officials have said that finally the U.S. is sending “positive signals” on the extradition of cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara said engineered the July 15 coup attempt. “We have started to receive some positive signals on the calls we have made,” Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in […]
by WorldTribune Staff, August 11, 2016 Turkey and Russia agreed to revive the multibillion-dollar “Turkish Stream” natural gas pipeline after a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Aug. 9. Putin had threatened to cancel the pipeline that would run from Russia to Turkey, and potentially the […]
by WorldTribune Staff, August 3, 2016 A Turkish lawyer has accused top U.S. military officials of conspiring with Turkish coup plotters at Incirlik air base. The lawyer on Aug. 2 filed a criminal complaint against Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff; Gen. Joseph Votel, the top U.S. commander for […]
by WorldTribune Staff, August 3, 2016 Germany’s vice chancellor said the EU “will not be blackmailed” after Turkey threatened to walk away from its agreement to reduce the flow of migrants into Europe. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara would bail on the agreement if it does not receive visa-free travel for Turks in […]
by WorldTribune Staff, July 31, 2016 The powerful imams in Turkey’s 85,000 mosques played a major role in thwarting the attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and in so doing unleashed attacks on Christian places of worship, reports say. After the coup was launched on July 15, the imams echoed Erdogan’s call for Turkey’s […]
by WorldTribune Staff, July 31, 2016 Some 7,000 security forces, some in armored vehicles, surrounded Turkey’s Incirlik air base late on July 30 after rumors surfaced of a new coup attempt, a report said. The entrance to the base, which is being used by the U.S.-led coalition to conduct airstrikes against Islamic State of Iraq […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Norman Bailey HAIFA, Israel — In 2015 column on Turkey, I wrote: “At the point that chaos threatens, the army will step in and take over”. Well, the army stepped in nine months later, but did not take over. The recent coup attempt was so badly planned and executed that it […]
by WorldTribune Staff, July 28, 2016 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has become a regime and is now cracking down in particular on the media, closing more television and radio stations and newspapers. Thus far, the Ankara government has shut down three news agencies, 16 TV channels, 23 radio stations, 45 newspapers, 15 magazines […]
by WorldTribune Staff, July 27, 2016 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is using the aftermath of the failed coup to reign in his foes and move toward his ultimate goal of “one-man rule,” self-exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen said. Gulen, in an op-ed piece written for The New York Times, denied any involvement in the coup and […]