Special to WorldTribune.com As recently as a few weeks before the March 22 terror attacks in Brussels, Israel had warned Belgian officials of numerous security deficiencies at Zaventem Airport. Israeli security officials who assess safety measures at international airports that operate flights to Tel Aviv found “significant shortcomings” at Zaventem, Israel’s Channel 2 reported on […]
Special to WorldTribune.com One of the few remaining independent voices that routinely published viewpoints opposite of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been taken over by the Turkish government. Zaman, Turkey’s best-selling opposition newspaper, came under government control on March 4 as Erdogan’s government continued its assault on press freedom. Protesters opposed to the takeover were […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Insulting the president in Turkey is a crime. Apparently, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan doesn’t like being insulted – and a lot of people are doing it. “The justice ministry has allowed 1,845 cases on charges of insulting Erdogan to go ahead,” Bekir Bozdag said, responding to questions in parliament. “I am unable […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Turkey and Russia risk setting off an “accidental war” which threatens to bring NATO into the equation, analysts say. “Both Russia and Turkey are looking to position for strategic advantage,” Tim Ash, head of emerging-market strategy at Nomura in London, said on Feb. 15. “The risk is of an actual Russo-Turkish military […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Some 35,000 Syrians are stranded at the Turkish border after fleeing a Russian-backed Assad regime offensive in Aleppo. Turkish humanitarian groups warned of a desperate situation in the making as they set up camps and sent in truckloads of aid on Feb. 8 for people, many of them women and children, amassed […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Saudi Arabia and Turkey are considering sending ground troops into Syria to support rebels fighting the Russia-backed Bashar Assad regime, analysts say. “The Saudis believe that the chance of a peaceful solution for the Syrian crisis is very limited,” said Mustafa Alani of the independent Gulf Research Center. “They don’t see that […]
Special to WorldTribune.com A group of academics who criticized Turkish military action against Kurds in the country’s southeast were briefly detained by Turkish security forces. The 27 academics were part of a group of 1,000 signatories of a published document critical of the military campaign against Kurdish PKK forces. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced the […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Turkey is continuing to press its brutal siege on the Kurdish de facto capital. Kurds represent about 20 percent of Turkey’s population, and Kurdish fighters have been the only successful fighting force against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). The months-long battle for Diyarbakir, a walled city on the Tigris […]
Special to WorldTribune.com The Egyptian government has asked Israel for clarification on talks aimed at repairing relations between Jerusalem and Turkey. Egypt is calling on Israel not to give in to Turkey’s demands on the lifting of the naval blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, senior clerks in Jerusalem told Haaretz on Jan. 7 on condition of […]
