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Imamoglu, the popular 53-year-old mayor, was seen as the next opposition party candidate for the Turkish presidency and was expected to be nominated on Sunday. Charges for the arrest, which Imamoglu and his party reject, include terrorism and organized crime. In a statement, Imamoglu's Republican People's Party flatly rejected the charges against the Istanbul mayor, calling the move a coup. The Turkish lira fell to a record low against the dollar and the country's benchmark stock index dropped by as much as 7% following the surprise arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu — a rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and a popular figure, had basked in the glow of what he often jokingly dubbed his political miracle — the only person to have beaten Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party in not one, but three local elections. On Wednesday, dozens of police officers raided his residence around dawn and detained him for questioning as part of investigations into alleged corruption and terror links. Many see the arrest as part of a broader campaign to undermine the mayor and eliminate a key challenger to Erdogan before the next presidential elections. The...

For 14 years, Syria has been engulfed in a civil war. Until three months ago, dictator Bashar al-Assad controlled the government, but he was overthrown by the Jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist organization. While Assad had many faults he did protect the Christian minority in Syria. However, as noted by commentator Tucker Carlson, as the civil war progressed, “the percentage of Christians in Syria went from ten percent to two percent.”

Where are all the self proclaimed human rights organizations???

The news out of Syria is nothing short of horrific, and it provides a fresh illustration of what a catastrophic failure the Obama strategy ... “hundreds of Christians, including Greek Orthodox, and Alawites have been killed after clashes broke out on Thursday in the Latakia and Tartous regions on Syria’s Mediterranean coast ... That death toll may be a tragic underestimation . ... the death toll could be as high as 1,800, mostly Alawites, but also Christians.” The perpetrators are members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamic jihad group that toppled the Assad regime and took control of Syria several...

Since Thursday, more than 1,000 people—including Christian minorities and Alawites, the sect to which Assad belongs—have been killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) and local reports. [...] Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has vowed the new government will respect all communities and affiliations. He is working to gain international legitimacy and has recently met with regional leaders. However, this intense violence could undermine those efforts. Syria has been mired in conflict for more than a decade, [...] The recent fatal clashes mark the worst violence since al-Assad was thrown out, with high casualties reported among religious...

U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the closure of the U.S. military base in Alexandroupoli, Greece, according to the Greek newspaper Dimokratia. However, the reports remain unconfirmed by Greek defense officials. The reported decision from Trump may indicate a shift in U.S. military strategy in the region against Russia and has reportedly raised concerns among Greek officials. US military base in Alexandroupoli and Türkiye’s concerns. The U.S. base in the region was a major source of tension between the U.S. and Türkiye. However, U.S. officials repeatedly reassured Türkiye that the U.S. forces’ deployment in the area was not against the...

Israel will release major terrorists, including those who have murdered dozens of civilians, in exchange for the 33 hostages who will be freed by Hamas from captivity in Gaza, where they have been held illegally for 470 days of war. Under the terms of the deal, there will be a ceasefire lasting six weeks (42 days), during which Hamas will free several living hostages once a week, plus twelve hostages in the final week, freeing living hostages before deceased ones. In return, Israel will withdraw partially from Gaza, and will release roughly 1,900 terrorists — including nearly 1200 who were...

After seven hours of discussion, the Israeli cabinet today approved a deal to release around 2,000 terrorists, over 100 of whom are serving life sentences for mass murders, in exchange for 33 hostages living or dead. 24 ministers voted in favor of the deal, and 8 opposed, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, as well as Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli and MK David Amsalem from Netanyahu’s Likud Party. The deal will take effect on Sunday, Arutz Sheva reported. Josh Waller of The Israel Guys called the Hostage Deal “disastrous” and a “sinister scheme going on...

Shamima Begum, who left London when she was 15 to travel to Syria and join Islamic State, has lost a legal case over her British citizenship, meaning she will not be able to return to the UK. Begum had her British citizenship stripped from her in 2019, on national security grounds by then-home secretary Sajid Javid. She was found at a displacement camp in Syria and told the media she wished to return to Britain, the country where she was born. In 2019, she showed no remorse for her role in Islamic State. The Home Office has repeatedly asserted she...

PM says the government will probe the claims and expects intelligence agencies to follow the rules Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood behind the country's top civilian intelligence agency Wednesday in response to an allegation that one of its contractors helped traffic three British teenage girls to Islamic State extremists seven years ago. A new book by U.K. based writer Richrd Kerbaj--"The Secret History of the Five Eyes"--is set to be published on Thursday. It claims that an informant for the Canadian Security and Intelligence Servicw (CSIS) smuggled Shamima Begum, 15 at the time, and her school friends Kadiza Sultana and...

Given how totally obsessed liberal-lefties are with condemning imaginary Nazi behaviour, it’s amazing how squeamish they are about confronting the real thing. Burning people alive in cages? Raping, torturing and crucifying? Slave trading? Destroying and looting priceless ancient artefacts? Blowing up and machine gunning people at pop concerts and restaurants? Chopping prisoners’ heads off? I’d say that all the above are pretty Nazi-level evil. So I’m a bit surprised that liberal-lefties are so keen to welcome back to Britain someone from an organisation which frequently perpetrated such crimes against humanity.

Young boy at refugee camp says he wants to join the Islamic State and kill infidels OCT 5, 2019 5:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER Meanwhile, our young people are choosing their pronouns and learning to twerk and fight global warming and white privilege. What will happen when these two groups meet? “Young boy at Syrian jihadi camp is filmed declaring he wants to join ISIS, kill ‘infidels’ and become a lethal ‘inghimasi’ suicide fighter,” by Tim Stickings, Mailonline, October 3, 2019 (thanks to Henry): A young boy at a Syrian refugee camp told a visitor that he wants to join...

ISIS bride from UK wants to return: “There is more safety in a British prison, more education and access to family” SEP 27, 2019 3:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER Yes, of course, and this will probably work. After all, it shouldn’t be hard to find British officials who will consider her safety, not that of British citizens, to be paramount. “JIHAD IT Shamima Begum moans she was an ISIS ‘baby machine’ during time as jihadi bride and demands to return home as British prisons are cushier,” by Jenny Awford, The Sun, September 26, 2019: ISIS bride Shamima Begum has claimed...

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abdul Momen said Bangladesh had 'nothing to do with' the runaway schoolgirl He warned that his country's policy is to execute 'anyone involved with terrorism' Ms Begum was stripped of British citizenship in February after pleading to return Speaking to ITV News, Mr Momen said: 'We have nothing to do with Shamima Begum. She is not a Bangladeshi citizen. She never applied for Bangladesh citizenship. 'If anyone is found to be involved with terrorism, we have a simple rule, there will be capital punishment. And nothing else.' Describing his country's laws as a 'model in eliminating all...

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said the UK government should consider allowing Shamima Begum, who left the country to join the Islamic State group in 2015, to return to the UK. "I've never wanted to. I've instinctively never wanted to. But I'm now thoughtful, I'm thoughtful. I don't classify her as an ISIS, an all out ISIS killer," Farage told ITV News Political Correspondent Harry Horton. "So she's sort of less... She is a lesser part of the equation," he added. Farage made the comments after Donald Trump's terror chief Seb Gorka said on Thursday that ISIS members in...

Shamima Begum could be freed 'within days' from the Syrian detention camp where she has being held. The 25-year-old is currently being held in Al Roj, a filthy, brutal temporary tent city teeming with dangerous ISIS loyalists. But the Isis bride could be set free by the guards holding her there after dictator President Bashar al-Assad 's regime was toppled in Decembe

Recent reports in the Arabic and Turkish media and social media claim that Turkey intends to establish new military bases in Syria as part of a defense agreement with the new Syrian government formed by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) under the leadership of Ahmed Al-Sharaa (aka Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani). Turkey has been the primary supporter of HTS, which has a jihadist background “Damascus and Ankara are drafting a mutual defense agreement that includes the establishment of two bases in Homs and Damascus and the deployment of an air defense system against Israeli attacks.”

The United States has raised concerns with Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, the new foreign minister in Syria’s transitional administration, over recent reports of violent attacks carried out by militant groups across the country, US officials told Axios on Monday. According to the report, US officials fear that reprisals by militants aligned with the rebels who ousted the Assad regime earlier this month, especially those targeting minority communities or individuals associated with the ousted regime, could jeopardize stabilization efforts in the war-torn nation. Al-Shibani serves as the chief aide to Ahmed al-Sharaa, the de facto leader of Syria and head of Hayat...

In the fall of 2012, when Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the military power now in charge of Syria, was a mere minor terrorist organization, a band of their fighters in Aleppo took me prisoner. Back then they were known as Jabhat al-Nusra. I remained in the group’s custody for two years—often in solitary confinement cells, but not always. During this time, it often happened that news of some stupendous victory would make its way, via the fighters’ two-way radios, into our prisons. It was a surreal experience then to listen as a government checkpoint got blown into the sky, for...