Free Republic

Hassan Huballah, Lebanese MP from Hizbullah, confirmed that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah to Turkey, on the recommendation of Hamas political bureau head Khaled Mash'al. It was reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was examining the possibility of attending the meeting in order to emphasize the Iran-Turkey-Syria alliance with Hizbullah and Hamas. It was also reported that Hizbullah had made Nasrallah's visit conditional upon Turkish guarantees of Nasrallah's safety and the provision of security by Iran's Islamic Re volutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). According to Huballah, Erdogan will be invited to Dahiya to attend...

US Secretary of State John Kerry says the US will double its non-lethal assistance to Syria's opposition as the rebels' top supporters vowed to enhance and expand their backing of the two-year battle to oust President Bashar Assad's regime. The additional aid, which brings total non-lethal US assistance to the opposition to $250 million since the fighting began, highlighted the United States' support for a political solution to the crisis in Syria, Mr Kerry said.

A statement from the Turkish government promises “unprecedented and incalculable reprisals” against Israel for the Israeli Navy’s seizure of the Marmora, a Turkish vessel, which was leading a fleet of ships through the Gaza blockade over the weekend. The statement has received the support of Hezbollah, an arm of the Iranian government, and Hamas, the Palestinian network. Such measures will not be confined to diplomatic censure. Reports from Ankara, the capital of Turkey, state that the government, which remains under the control of the Justice and Democratic Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma, AKP), is planning to continue pounding the Israeli blockade...

srael will not sell Turkey advanced naval Barak-8 interceptor DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 27, 2010, 4:50 PM (GMT+02:00) srael has turned down several Turkish requests for advanced military hardware, according to Israeli and Western intelligence sources. Sources in Ankara say that the impact from Prime minister Tayyep Recep Erdogan's alignment with Syria and Iran and poisonous attacks on Israel is beginning to cut into the Turkish army's operational capabilities. In recent weeks, Turkish naval chiefs tried to find out in particular if Israel would be willing to sell the Barak 8 missile interceptor, whose radar provides 360-degree coverage against incoming...

Intense military cooperation has been the driving force behind once-booming Turkish-Israeli ties, now on the skids over what Turkey's Islamist-rooted government sees as lack of Israeli commitment to peace in the Middle East. Underscoring the deep roots of the relationship, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak visited Ankara Sunday, refusing to cancel the trip despite a severe diplomatic row that saw Ankara threaten to recall its ambassador from Tel Aviv. NATO's sole predominantly Muslim member and the Jewish state signed a landmark military cooperation accord in 1996, much to the ire of Arab countries and Iran, marking the outset of what...

'There is no doubt he is our friend," Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, says of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, even as he accuses Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman of threatening to use nuclear weapons against Gaza. These outrageous assertions point to the profound change of orientation by Turkey's government - for six decades the West's closest Muslim ally - since Erdogan's AK party came to power in 2002. Three events this past month reveal the extent of that change. The first came on October 11 with the news that the Turkish military - a long-time bastion of secularism and advocate...

A decade ago, Western and Israeli leaders could count on Turkey as an ally. A solid NATO member, Ankara took decisions based on pragmatic calculations of interest - and erred on the side of caution if at all. But under the rule of the Islamic conservative AKP, this has changed. In the face of Hamas rockets, Israel could have expected more understanding from a country long suffering from aggressive PKK terrorism. The vehemence with which Turkish leaders attacked Israel, and their apparent willingness to convey Hamas' position to the United Nations, came as a surprise to many. Some of this...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said economic isolation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) should be ended. Putin has signaled for concrete steps to be taken in this regard. Russian President hosting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as an "honorary guest" in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi noted, the "meaningless" embargo imposed on TRNC must be lifted and his country will have direct contacts with both the Turkish and Greek Cypriot societies on the island. The two leaders emphasized their opinions overlapped on many issues. "The first thing we must do is to solve the problem...

Throughout the 1990s, Turkish foreign policy analysts had an easy job. After all, Turkish foreign policy was predictable. Ankara cooperated enthusiastically with Washington, whether in the Middle East or in the Balkans. Turkey aligned itself with Israel and kept at arms length from Middle Eastern neighbors such as Syria and Iran. In Europe, Ankara traded heavily with the European Union (EU) but did not allow the EU to dictate foreign policy. The European Union's frequent allegations and criticism of human rights abuses in Turkey, especially with regard to Turkey's fight against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK, Partiya Karkaren Kurdistan) terrorists, soured...

Israel's Sharon government is currently embroiled in a heated internal debate over the merits of "disengagement" from the Gaza Strip. But another, equally far-reaching crisis may be brewing on the horizon. Since their start in the early 1990s, the military and defense ties between Ankara and Jerusalem have evolved into one of the Middle East's most important geopolitical alliances. But now, that strategic partnership has begun showing signs of serious strain. Angered by Israel's recent offensive against the Hamas terrorist organization, eager to boost ties with Europe and new regional allies, and responding to the demands of its core Islamist...

Time's up: Cheney apppeal fails, aid offer to Turkey withdrawn SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COMSunday, March 16, 2003 The United States has withdrawn its offer of $15 billion to Turkey for the deployment of up to 62,000 American troops. U.S. officials said the Bush administration has determined that Turkey failed to respond to the offer in time. They said Washington has implemented contingency plans that do not envision Turkey as a major participant in any northern front against Baghdad. The officials said Turkey was warned several times over the last two weeks that the U.S. aid compensation package would be...