Free Republic

The government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan rushed a financial agreement between Turkey and Qatar through Parliament for approval ahead of his decision to turn over a $20 billion tank and pallet factory to a company run jointly by his associates and the Qatari army. The deal, the avoidance of double taxation agreement, came just in the nick of time before the ErdoÄŸan government presented a multibillion-dollar national tank factory on a silver platter to Turkish-Qatari armored vehicle manufacturer BMC, a company run by Ethem Sancak, a member of the MKYK executive body of the ruling Justice and Development...

As Syria’s civil war enters its fourth year, it’s become something of an open secret that ISIS, for all their bluster and Hollywood-level video editing capabilities, are at best an unhappy side effect of efforts to train and arm the Syrian resistance and at worst, are a "strategic asset" funded and supported by coalition governments. In other words, there is indeed a geopolitical chess match going on here that will have far-reaching consequences when the blood and dust settle, but it has nothing to do with ISIS’ far-fetched quest to establish a Medieval caliphate and everything to do with installing...

A Turkish NGO said it would send ships to the Gaza Strip to provide emergency aid to Palestinians trapped in a month-long offensive by Israel. The decision comes four years after Israeli commandos stormed a Gaza-bound ship, killing 10. The Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) announced in an emailed statement that members of a "coalition" of activists from a dozen countries had met in Istanbul at the weekend and committed themselves to launching an aid flotilla "in the shadow of the latest Israeli aggression on Gaza," Reuters reported. "The Freedom Flotilla Coalition affirmed that, as most governments are complicit, the responsibility...