Free Republic

YEREVAN, MARCH 20, ARMENPRESS. The Turkish operation in Syria code-named “Olive Branch” is an act of disrespect towards the territorial integrity of sovereign state of Syria, since the Turkish troops freely invaded the Syrian territories and carries out military operations under the pretext of fight against terrorism, ARMENPRESS reports turkologist, Dean of YSU Faculty of Oriental Studies Ruben Melkonyan said during a press conference on March 20.“Erdoğan’s steps have domestic and external components. The external component is, naturally, increasing Turkey’s influence in the region and the reinforcement of its position as a key regional power. Turkey tries to show that in...

"They'd said they wouldn't pour concrete on the protected area" "They've dismantled some parts of wooden walkway project that started in 2013 because they plotted another route. The new route is right on where Klaus keeps spacious to prevent crowded guest groups. They had said that they would build the walkway down to the guest center and wouldn't pour concrete on the protected when Klaus was alive". "I say 'destruction', they say 'road'" "They are doing everything in a rush that Klaus didn't want as he knew it will destroy Göbeklitepe. I cannot explain the extend of the destruction which...

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The United Nations asked the Turkish government on Tuesday to end the state of emergency in place since July 2016 and grant its human rights office access to the country’s Kurdish-populated region where “massive and serious” human rights violations occurred. A report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the violations committed by security forces “included killings, torture, violence against women, the excessive use of force, destruction of housing and cultural heritage, prevention of access to emergency medical care, safe water and livelihoods, and severe restrictions of the...

The Turkish army has banned entry to the Afrin center after they invaded. Civilians trying to return to their homes are being arrested. With the invaders entering, looting and pillaging has taken hold in Afrin, while the same forces have banned entry to the city. Turkish soldiers and their collaborator gangs hold the entrances and exits of the city and are barring civilians from entering. Reports say young people who coulndn’t leave Afrin or who wish to come back are forced to choose between two inhumane options, prison and joining the FSA. Many young men are being held on these...

Data published by the German newspaper Die Welt suggest that Greece has been undermining the European Union-Turkey deal signed two years ago to stem the flow of refugees and migrants to the continent. Citing unnamed officials in Berlin, Brussels and the EU's border agency Frontex, the report alleges that the Greek government has moved a large number of asylum seekers from the Aegean islands to the mainland, effectively preventing their return to Turkey. The message is that any asylum seeker who manages to land on one of the Greek islands, he can then move on to central Europe, officials told...

A British woman fighting with a Kurdish armed unit has died in Syria, her father has said. Anna Campbell, 26, from Lewes, East Sussex, died on March 15 in Afrin while with the Kurdish Women's Protection Units, the YPJ. It is feared she was killed by Turkish airstrikes. Ms Campbell - who had dyed her fair hair black so she would not stand out - is the first British woman to have been killed in Syria with the Kurds and the first Briton to be killed in the battle for Afrin. Seven other Britons have died in the country while...

Eight Security Council nations say it's "imperative" that the U.N. body "immediately pursue decisive action" to achieve a cease-fire in Syria if U.N. member states, especially Russia and its ally Syria, don't implement a resolution demanding a cessation of hostilities. A letter sent to all 15 council members on Monday expresses "profound concern" about the lack of implementation of the Feb. 24 resolution demanding a cease-fire throughout Syria without delay to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate the critically ill and wounded. It singles out Russia and Syria as key to implementation. The letter was signed by France, Kuwait, Peru, Poland,...

A famed archaeologist well-known for discovering the sprawling 9,000-year-old settlement in Turkey called Çatalhöyük seems to have faked several of his ancient findings and may have run a "forger's workshop" of sorts, one researcher says. James Mellaart, who died in 2012, created some of the "ancient" murals at Çatalhöyük that he supposedly discovered; he also forged documents recording inscriptions that were found at Beyköy, a village in Turkey, said geoarchaeologist Eberhard Zangger, president of the Luwian Studies Foundation. Zangger examined Mellaart's apartment in London between Feb. 24 and 27, finding "prototypes," as Zangger calls them, of murals and inscriptions that...

Press StatementHeather NauertDepartment Spokesperson Washington, DC March 19, 2018 The United States is deeply concerned over reports from Afrin City over the last 48 hours. It appears the majority of the population of the city, which is predominantly Kurdish, evacuated under threat of attack from Turkish military forces and Turkish backed opposition forces. This adds to the already concerning humanitarian situation in the area, with United Nations agencies reporting a displaced population in or from Afrin district in the hundreds of thousands, who now require immediate shelter and other assistance to meet basic needs. We are also concerned over reports...

British woman Anna Campbell is believed to have died while fighting against Isis in Syria. It is claimed that the 26-year-old from Lewes, East Sussex, was part of the all female Kurdish Women’s Protection Unit in Afrin, a besieged city. According to the Guardian the convoy she was travelling in was hit by a Turkish missile on Friday. She is said to have dyed her hair black so that she looks less like a westerner and begged her commanders to send her to the front line. Her father Dirk Campbell told the paper: ‘Anna was very idealistic, very serious,...

WASHINGTON – When Turkey’s semi-official newspaper Yeni Safak called for urgent action in forming a 57-nation “Army of Islam” to besiege and attack Israel, a suggestion undoubtedly approved with at least a wink and nod by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it would signal the possible intent to create the largest military force on the planet – one nearly as large as the total population of the Jewish state. More at link: http://www.wnd.com/2018/03/army-of-islam-would-be-worlds-biggest-military/

Fighter pilots aren't cheap. The U.S. Air Force estimates that training a new pilot to fly a plane like the F-35 costs $11 million. And that doesn't count the priceless experience of a veteran pilot who has been flying for years. That's why the U.S. Air Force is willing to offer half-million-dollar bonuses to retain experienced fighter pilots. So a nation that throws its fighter pilots in jail is not just wasting money, but also an extremely valuable resource. Yet in the name of politics, Turkey's government has purged its air force so badly that it can barely fly its...

Turkish identification papers have been found on the terrorist who was reportedly eliminated by security forces after he stabbed a security guard on Hagai Street in Jerusalem's Old City. .....

In a joint statement from the YPG and the Autonomous Administration in Afrin, it was promised that ‘the resistance in Afrin will continue until every inch of Afrin is liberated, and the people of Afrin will return their villages’. The Kurdish led administration also claimed that they have asked civilians to leave in order to avoid atrocities now that the conflict has reached a new stage. “We would like to declare that our war against the Turkish occupation and the Takfiri forces calling themselves the Free Army has entered a new stage, the transition from direct confrontation war to hit-and-run...

Aleppo Province – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: Afrin area is witnessing Turkish aerial, artillery and rocket shelling, which did not calm down all last night, where the shelling targeted areas in Afrin city, its outskirts and its vicinity, in conjunction with ongoing displacement of citizens towards the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that the number of people displaced from Afrin city exceeded 150 thousand citizens who has been displaced since Wednesday night, the 14th of March 2018, towards the towns of Nubl and Al-Zahraa in the northern countryside of...

American pastor Andrew Brunson, behind bars in Turkey on terrorism-related charges, risks up to 35 years in jail in a politically loaded case that critics describe as “an eclipse of reason.” (held in Turkey since October 2016 on terror-related charges, he is seen in an undated picture.) A Turkish prosecutor is seeking up to 35 years in jail for Andrew Brunson, the American pastor at the heart of a bitter diplomatic spat between Ankara and Washington. Held on terror-related charges since October 2016, Brunson has seemingly become a bargaining chip, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggesting last year that...

AFRIN – Afrin ‘s people have been forced to leave their homes due to shelling of the Turkish occupation army by warplanes and heavy artillery thousends of the people are still in Afin city . Amid continuing shelling .The aircraft and artillery of the Turkish occupation army  has been continuing  to target civilians and public facilities, especially  Afrin ‘s hospitals on the 57th day of Resistance to the Age , so the people who are subjected to massacres and genocide to flee their homes.Today, thousands of  Afrin ‘s residents headed to al-Shabba canton in order to preserve their lives...

Senior Kurdish officials on Friday evening say that Afrin’s hospital was hit by Turkish air strikes and that dozens of civilians were killed in heavy air strikes amidst reports that the Turkish army is closing in on Afrin, a Kurdish majority town. “Afrin hospital was the only medical facility under service. It has been hit by 3 missiles. 15 bodies has been identified, many more are scattered all over the place. We are waiting for more details," Aldar Xelil, a senior Kurdish official told the Region. “The Turkish army has bombarded the only hospital in Afrin, there are reports of...

DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria — Standing on a windswept mound, Brig. Gen. Jonathan Braga pointed to the spot just a mile away from where Russian mercenaries and fighters loyal to the Syrian government fired at his soldiers. "Those artillery rounds could have landed and killed Americans, and that's why we continue to prepare our defenses," said Braga, the director of operations for the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition. U.S. troops who came under fire from Russian mercenaries prepare for more attacks Only steps away sits a sprawling oil and gas refinery that American forces captured from ISIS last year and that is...

the White House held a Middle East summit that demonstrated Tillerson’s basic assumptions have the problems of the Middle East precisely backwards.Under the leadership of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, along with Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s senior negotiator, Israeli officials sat in the White House for the first time with Arab officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar. Representatives from Egypt and Jordan, with which Israel enjoys open diplomatic relations, were also in attendance. Canadian and European officials participated as well. Although they were invited, the Palestinians chose to boycott the conference. Their boycott was...