Free Republic

An Islamic State flag in Gaziantep on the Turkish-Syrian border. An Islamic State (IS) suspect has said he met regularly with former Justice and Development Party (AKP) minister and current Gaziantep mayor, Fatma Sahin, during the height of the jihadist group’s assault on Kobani in 2014.According to a report in the Turkish daily Evrensel, Bahaa Alden Najeep, who is accused of involvement in the Gaziantep wedding attack killing 57 civilians, told police that he had set up the Association for Educating and Developing Syrian Youth in border city Gaziantep upon the request of Free Syrian Army (FSA) officials and that his responsibility was to transfer...

AKP is preparing for an extensive attack on the Kurdish Freedom Movement with support from the KDP. Recently, intelligence institutions, Turkish authorities, Iran and KDP have had several meetings. According to reports, there is a preparation for an extensive attack on PKK-held Medya Defense Zones by the end of April by AKPÂ’s demand. The MÄ°T Undersecretary first inspected the forces in Bashiqa and then he met with Masrur Barzani. Later, he met with KDP administrations in Hewler. An extensive war on Medya Defense Zones and Shengal were decided on in these meetings. TSK WILL CREATE A LINE OF ATTACK ON...

Filli Boya Paint, one of Turkey’s best-known brands of construction paints, produced a short video to celebrate International Women’s Day. Indeed, it has become a tradition in the last decade that male-dominated sectors, such as the construction industry and car manufacturing, honor women’s accomplishments in their field. This year's Filli Boya commercial was different, however. For starters, most of the speakers in the clip were middle-aged or elderly residents from rural areas. On top of that, the video gave voice to women and men from different regions of the country, identifiable by their attire. The ad was also intriguingly anti-government, but without mentioning the ruling Justice and...

When Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, it generated considerable debate between those who saw its success as a potentially liberalizing force and critics who feared it would ultimately bring the end of Turkish democracy. Depending on who you spoke to, the AKP was poised to turn Turkey into either Sweden or Iran; to finally realize Ataturk’s vision of making the country modern and Western or permanently destroy it.Today, a decade and a half later, the future of Turkish democracy certainly looks grim. With President Recep Tayyip Erdogan now leading a heavy-handed campaign to further...

The groups AKP called “Syrian Police” and stationed in Jarablus, Rai and Azaz have been revealed to be members of FSA, Al Nusra and ISIS.AKP’s political and military institutionalization in line with their Turkifying concept to become permanent in the cities they invaded continue. Most recently, they have formed a “police” organization. Volunteers gathered from Ankara, Antep, Kilis and villages of Jarablus, Rai, Azaz and Shehba are paid 200 dollars and taken in for training. The trainees are called “police”, and some 400 of them have been sent to Jarablus, 250 to Rai and 300 to Azaz. There are still...

Iran has agreed to donate $25 million to Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in order to support Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's next election campaign, the British Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.

More than a dozen Turkish navy ships are reportedly still at sea and remain unaccounted for following the botched military coup. The commander of the Turkish navy Admiral Veysel Kosele also remains missing, having been out of contact since Friday evening. It is unclear if he was part of the coup attempt or if he is being held against his will after local media reports said he was tricked into boarding one of the missing ships after being told there was a terrorist attack.

Ankara The government is close to making its decision on a Washington proposal to use the southern air base of Incirlik as a cargo hub for U.S. forces operating in the region, said a deputy from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). A decision on the issue will be made very soon. I cannot tell you when exactly since I am not in the government but it will be very soon, Murat Mercan, AKP's deputy chairman told a meeting in Washington, called, "Can the U.S.-Turkish Relationship be Repaired" Other attendees of the event, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is urging all parties in Turkey to support the democratically-elected government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey | An aging but popular exile in the United States, Fethullah Gulen is considered by many behind moves to Islamicize his native land After weeks of demonstrations in 76 cities, police forces in Turkey made one final sweep through Istanbul’s Taksim Square, arresting the remaining protesters and wiping out their tent city. That appeared to be the end of nationwide protests that injured 4,000 and left at least four dead—until a local performing artist arrived on the night of June 17 and peacefully planted himself in the square. With his hands in his pockets, the “standing man” stared solemnly...

Dani Rodrik has just returned from Turkey, shunned while defending his father-in-law, the main defendant in the military coup plot case. The Harvard professor explains his take. IN DECEMBER I traveled to Turkey with my wife and young son, as we do every year during winter break. This time, though, we had more than visiting family and friends in mind. We were on a mission to demonstrate that what many have called the trial of the century in Turkey is in fact a sham built on fabricated evidence. Nearly two hundred Turkish military officers stand accused of having plotted a...

The bombing of a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai was most probably the end result of a stealth jihad operation. That might seem like a strange way of putting it, because we usually think of stealth jihad as something that radical Muslims do to subvert non-Muslim societies. Yet, unless there were already a stealth network in place, its unlikely that an ISIS operative would have been able to get by security and place a bomb on board the Russian plane. Although ISIS has taken credit for the bombing, they probably did so with the help of another group -...

On Sunday, November 1, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) claimed that it had won a majority of seats in parliament. Voting registration and voter turnout numbers prove beyond any doubt that Erdogan cheated. ... AKP supporters were registered at multiple sites and so, in effect, voted two or more times. Turkey's High Election Council (Yuksek Secim Kurulu, YSK) handles all complaints. Once they issue a decision, by law it cannot be litigated. They are no longer independent, however, but under the thumb of Erdogan. Numbers do not lie. Erdogan stole this election, plain and simple.

There is a potential black swan event taking place in Turkey on Sunday and no one seems to care. That is, the media isn’t devoting nearly enough coverage to Turkish elections considering the impact the outcome will invariably have on the situation in Syria, on the fate of the lira, and on the Pentagons strategy with regard to embedding spec ops with the YPG. As a reminder, Turkey held elections back in June and the outcome did not please President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. AKP lost its absolute majority in parliament thanks in no small part to a relatively strong showing...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan isn’t the only loser in last Sunday’s elections. President Obama had made Erdogan a focus of his policy. The voters in that troubled NATO country voted against Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) and in so doing, slapped President Obama. President Obama went to Ankara in April, 2009, for an early edition of his Apology Tours. He spoke to the Turkish Parliament assuring deputies there that “the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam.” Every challenge that we face is more easily met if we tend to our own democratic...

Another election, another surprise. Actually, two elections, in two countries last weekend, with surprisingly pleasant surprises. And in two very large countries: Turkey (population 82 million) and Mexico (119 million), both very important to the United States. In the runup to the Turkish election, speculation in English-speaking publications centered on whether President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AKP party would get a large enough majority in the parliament to amend the constitution without a popular referendum. The AKP, usually described as mildly Islamist, has been in power since 2002. In some respects it has compiled a record that compares favorably with those...

Turkish policy in Syria, where Ankara stands accused of aiding militants like the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) group, is likely to change under a new government, the co-chair of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) said. The comments by Selahattin Demirtas follow a stunning upset in Sunday’s general elections in Turkey, where the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in 13 years and is mulling the idea of a coalition government. "Coalition governments will not be able to continue to support groups like ISIL and other extremist groups in Syria," he said in...

ISTANBUL — Turkish voters delivered a rebuke on Sunday to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as his party lost its majority in Parliament in a historic election that dealt a blow to his ambition to rewrite Turkey’s Constitution and increase his power. The election results represented a significant setback to Mr. Erdogan, an Islamist who has steadily increased his power as president, a partly but not solely ceremonial post. After more than a decade as prime minister, Mr. Erdogan has pushed for more control of the judiciary and cracked down on any form of criticism, including prosecutions of those who insult...

The mould-breaking outcome of TurkeyÂ’s general election on Sunday will be viewed as a personal rebuff for the president, Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, and as a historic political breakthrough for the countryÂ’s 18 million-strong Kurdish minority, which will be represented by a political party in parliament for the first time.

More than 53.7 million Turkish voters head to the polls on June 7 for a crucial parliamentary election. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has framed the June 7 election in Turkey as a key hurdle on the path to the powerful presidential system that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants to introduce. With about 99 percent of the vote counted and despite being well ahead of other parties with the support of around 42 percent of the populace, the AKP seemed set to received fewer than 276 seats – the bare minimum to keep its parliamentary majority. The Kurdish...