Turkey

War Grips Kurdish Lands Again

As Turkey Targets Militants, War Grips Kurdish Lands Once Again Tim Arango, New York Times 24 August 2015   Image: Police officers conducted searches during a security operation in Diyarbakir in southeast Turkey this month. Credit Usame Ari/Associated Press   DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — Across the Kurdish lands of southeast Turkey, a bitter war that had long been stilled by a truce has suddenly come roaring back, threatening to undo a hard-won economic

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Turkey Says Suicide Bombing Kills Dozens in Town Near Syria

Turkey Says Suicide Bombing Kills Dozens in Town Near Syria Karam Shoumali and Ceylan Yeginsu 20 July 2015   Image: A wounded man after an explosion in Suruc, Turkey, on Monday. Credit Reuters ISTANBUL — A suicide bombing hit a cultural center in a Turkish town near the Syrian border on Monday, killing at least 30 and wounding more than 100 in an attack that Turkey’s prime minister suggested had been plotted by the Islamic State. The assault,

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Turkey Arrests 21 Suspected of Ties to ISIS

Turkey Arrests 21 Suspected of Ties to ISIS Ceylan Yeginsu, New York Times 10 July 2015 Image: Turkish police officers in Istanbul on Friday with a suspected member of the Islamic State. Officers also seized arms and ammunition in the dawn raids. CreditEuropean Pressphoto Agency ISTANBUL — Under pressure from its Western allies to do more to combat Islamist extremists, the Turkish authorities arrested 21 suspected Islamic State members on Friday,

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Kurdish Forces Seize Syrian Border Town of Tal Abyad from the Islamic State

Kurdish Forces Seize Key Border Town from the Islamic State As Arabs flee northern Syria, claiming ethnic cleansing by Kurds, reports from the Islamic State stronghold in Raqaa say the caliphate is bracing for a siege. David Kenner, Foreign Policy 15 June 2015     AKCAKALE, Turkey — Syrian Kurdish fighters seized the Syrian border town of Tal Abyad from the Islamic State on Monday, handing the jihadi group a major defeat and cutting off

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Middle East Update: Turkish Elections, Libyan Peace Talks and other developments

  The Middle East Daily: a news brief from the Middle East ChannelForeign Policy 08 June 2015   Erdogan Loses Majority in Turkish Election Turkey’s dominant Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its parliamentary majority in elections yesterday. Though it retains a plurality of seats after receiving 41 percent of the vote, the election marked its worst showing since 2002. Analysts say it may struggle to form a coalition government -- already,

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White House Acknowledges Armenian Genocide, but Avoids the Term

White House Acknowledges Armenian Genocide, but Avoids the Term Peter Barker, New York Times 21 April 2015   WASHINGTON — The White House urged on Tuesday “a full, frank and just acknowledgment” of the Armenian genocide a century after the deaths of as many as 1.5 million people, but once again refused to use the word genocide. Although President Obama vowed during his 2008 campaign to use the term once he got to the White House, he has

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A Century After Armenian Genocide, Turkey’s Denial Only Deepens

A Century After Armenian Genocide, Turkey's Denial Only Deepens Tim Arango, New York Times 16 April 2015 CUNGUS, Turkey — The crumbling stone monastery, built into the hillside, stands as a forlorn monument to an awful past. So, too, does the decaying church on the other side of this mountain village. Farther out, a crevice is sliced into the earth, so deep that peering into it, one sees only blackness. Haunting for its history, it was there that

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The Word Obama Can’t Bring Himself to Say

The Word Obama Can’t Bring Himself to Say Adam B. Lerner, POLITICO Magazine April 2015   In April, there is a Washington ritual as predictable as budget debates and cherry blossoms. This is the month that Armenian lobbyists, public relations groups, diplomats, grassroots activists, celebrities and a handful of sympathetic lawmakers attempt to convince the U.S. government — and the president, in particular — to use the word genocide

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Germany, defying Turkey, to call 1915 Armenian massacre ‘genocide’

Germany, defying Turkey, to call 1915 Armenian massacre 'genocide' Erik Kirschbaum, Reuters 20 April 2015   (Reuters) - The German government backed away on Monday from a steadfast refusal to use the term "genocide" to describe the massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces 100 years ago after rebellious members of parliament forced its hand. In a major reversal in Turkey's top trading partner in the European Union and

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Pope’s genocide comments spark indifference, frustration among Turks

Pope's genocide comments spark indifference, frustration among Turks Tuvan Gumruku and Ece Toksabay, Reuters 13 April 2015   (Reuters) - When Pope Francis became the first pontiff to publicly call the 1915 Armenian massacre a genocide this weekend, the reaction from Ankara was swift and irate: it summoned the Vatican ambassador for a dressing down and recalled its own envoy. Reaction in the Turkish media on Monday ranged from indignant to indifferent,

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