Free Republic

The mayors of three major cities in southern Turkey were arrested Saturday, state-run media reported, joining a growing list of opposition figures detained since the mayor of Istanbul was imprisoned in March. Abdurrahman Tutdere, the mayor of Adiyaman, and Zeydan Karalar, who heads Adana municipality, were detained in early morning raids, according to Anadolu Agency. Both are members of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP. The CHP mayor of Antalya, Muhittin Bocek, was arrested with two other suspects in a separate bribery investigation by the Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Anadolu reported. CHP officials have faced waves of...

The leader of a Swedish criminal network accused of assisting Tehran in attacks on Israeli-linked targets in Europe is currently living in Iran under the protection of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), sources told Iran International. Rawa Majid received funds from Iran’s embassy in Denmark to help coordinate attacks against Israeli diplomatic facilities in Copenhagen and Stockholm, according to a source familiar with the matter inside the IRGC. The source also said the gang leader travels between Iran and Afghanistan for operations overseen by the IRGC. Majid leads a criminal group, Foxtrot, recently sanctioned by the UK and the...

WASHINGTON — Today, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Foxtrot Network, a transnational criminal organization (TCO) primarily based in Sweden that has trafficked illicit drugs and that carried out attacks on Israelis and Jews in Europe, along with its fugitive leader Rawa Majid. In January 2024, the Foxtrot Network orchestrated an attack on the Israeli Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, on behalf of the Government of Iran. “Iran’s brazen use of transnational criminal organizations and narcotics traffickers underscores the regime’s attempts to achieve its aims through any means, with no regard for the cost to communities across Europe,”...

A notorious Kurdish gangster has fled Turkey to avoid extradition on drug-trafficking charges, a Swedish prosecutor has told The National. Rawa Majid, 39, known as the Kurdish Fox, had been living in Turkey, where his citizenship protected him from being extradited to Sweden, and was widely accused of playing a major part in gang violence. Authorities had hoped Majid’s prosecution on forgery charges would result in his citizenship being revoked, allowing his return to Sweden. But Henrik Soderman, who submitted the first extradition request to Turkey, has now confirmed that Majid, who leads the Foxtrot Network of criminals, is no...

Three explosions rocked the Swedish capital of Stockholm over just a four-day period as the country is coming off a record year for gang-related bombings. After a few months of relative calm, gang wars in the Nordic nation once again appear to be on the rise, as three explosions at residential buildings in Stockholm have been seen since Friday when a large blast went off at an apartment in Sundbyberg where a man with ties to a criminal gang lives. This was followed by an explosion on Saturday outside a hair salon in the industrial area of Vällingby. Finally, on...

Less than an hour from the capital of the European Union, gangs fight gun battles in the streets or bomb each other’s outposts. Crime reporters, police and prosecutors are bought off or killed. Torture cells are set up in shipping containers and bodies can be cleanly disposed of, but when the gangs really want to send a message they set up a public execution or fire off a rocket. That’s the way things are done, not in Bogota or Beirut, but in Antwerp. Europe’s initial Islamic migration followed port cities. Among those leading port cities were Rotterdam and Antwerp which...

The head of one of Sweden's biggest crime organizations, accused of instigating a surge in violent crime, has been arrested more than 1,600 miles away in Turkey, Swedish police said on Friday. Police did not identify the man by name but Swedish media named him as 35-year-old Ismail Abdo, head of the Rumba crime organization and alleged to have been orchestrating operations from abroad. Abdo is one of Sweden's most wanted criminals and the subject of an international arrest warrant since 2024. The Scandinavian country, once known for its low crime rates, has struggled for years to rein in organized...

The former mayor of Izmir, a stronghold of opposition to President Erdogan, along with 109 municipal officials from the Republican People's Party (CHP), were arrested on Tuesday on charges of corruption and misconduct. The party has rejected the accusations. There is a feeling of déjà vu in Turkey. After the publication of a political cartoon, which Turkish authorities said depicted the Prophet Muhammad, led to the arrest of four journalists on Monday, June 30, in Istanbul, authorities carried out a large-scale sweep in Izmir at dawn on Tuesday. Izmir, the country's third-largest city, is a bastion of the Republican People's...

The government of Turkey offered a warm welcome to a delegation representing the jihadist terrorist organization Hamas on Wednesday, expressing support for its cause and accusing the government of Israel of “genocide” for engaging in self-defense operations against the group. Muhammad Ismail Darwish, the head of the Hamas Islamic “shura council,” met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara to “discuss developments in ceasefire negotiations and the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” according to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. Darwish is one of the few remaining high-ranking leaders within Hamas after several Israeli operations targeting both the “political” and “military”...

Former Iranian deputy parliament speaker on Monday criticized Russia for refusing to provide Iran with the S-400 air defense system, despite Tehran supplying drones used in the war in Ukraine. “Russia has given the S-400 air defense system to Turkey and Saudi Arabia, but does not give it to Iran, which has provided it with drone assistance in the war with Ukraine, because it might be used against Israel,” Ali Motahari wrote in a post on X. “This is what the strategic cooperation with Iran that Mr. Putin talks about looks like,” he added.

A man suspected of gathering information on Jewish locations and individuals in Berlin for Iranian intelligence, possibly with a view to carrying out attacks, has been arrested in Denmark, German prosecutors say. The Danish national, identified only as Ali S., was arrested on Thursday in the Danish city of Aarhus, federal prosecutors say in a statement. They say that the man was tasked by an Iranian intelligence service early this year with gathering information on “Jewish localities and specific Jewish individuals” in Berlin and spied on three properties in June.

Turkish authorities on Monday detained three cartoonists associated with the weekly magazine Leman following the publication of a satirical drawing that has ignited controversy and drawn condemnation from government officials and religious conservatives, Reuters reported. The illustration, widely seen as depicting Prophets Moses and Muhammad shaking hands above a scene of conflict, has been interpreted by many as a commentary on religious harmony amidst earthly strife. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya publicly announced the apprehension of cartoonist Dogan Pehlevan, sharing a video on X showing Pehlevan being taken into custody. "I once again curse those who try to sow discord by...

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was fortunate enough to be out of country on Saturday night during the US strikes on the Iranian nuclear sites. On Saturday night the United States military under the direction of President Donald J. Trump bombed three nuclear facilities in Iran in Operation Midnight Hammer. The US dropped 14 bunker busting bombs on Iran’s largest nuclear site in Fordow. It was the largest ever attack by B-2 stealth bombers by the United States. It was also the longest flight the bombers have made since 2001. The US strike involved more than 125 US aircraft. Menu...

President Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan quietly sought to arrange a meeting between senior U.S. and Iranian officials in Istanbul this week amid Israel's escalating war with Iran. But the effort collapsed when Iran's supreme leader — in hiding due to fears of assassination — couldn't be reached to approve it, according to three U.S. officials and a source with direct knowledge of the matter. -snip- Behind the scenes: Trump received a phone call from Erdoğan on Monday while meeting with G7 leaders in Canada. Erdoğan proposed hosting a meeting in Istanbul the next day between U.S. and...

The escalating Iran-Israel confrontation is quickly reaching “the point of no return,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday and announced plans by Ankara to boost production of medium- and long-range missiles so no country dares attack Turkey, sparking fears of a regional arms race. “Unfortunately, the genocide in Gaza and the conflict with Iran are quickly reaching the point of no return. This madness must end as soon as possible,” Erdogan said, warning the consequences could affect the region, Europe and Asia “for many years.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed full confidence that Iran will emerge victorious amid rising tensions with Israel, calling the Netanyahu government the greatest threat to regional peace and stability. Speaking at an emergency summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul on Saturday, Erdogan likened Israel’s current actions to those of Nazi Germany under Hitler, warning that Tel Aviv’s policies are setting the region—and the world—on fire. “We are confident that victory will be on Iran’s side,” Erdogan said, adding that “just as the spark ignited by Hitler 90 years ago set the world ablaze, Netanyahu’s...

At least two killed in an apparent Israeli assassination in the Iranian city... The liberal pro-European Union Armenian Prime Minister...visiting Turkey... Confrontation in the South China Sea today as Philippine ships... A state of emergency declared in western Panama where demonstrators... "We're not prepared to negotiate with them anymore, as long as the aggression continues" That is Iran's Foreign Minister... Federal agents deploying tear gas and smoke...just outside Los Angeles... Los Angeles Dodgers...one million dollars...families impacted by the immigration crackdown... Spanish police raiding offices of the ruling Socialist Party... Illegal immigrants may still be able...President Trump suggesting.., The Louisiana law...

The Pentagon's inspector general admitting that some arms sent to Ukraine are ending up in the wrong hands... A Russian researcher says Poland may send troops into Ukraine... Russian President Vladimir Putin warning Poland about any military action against Belarus... In Guatemala the offices of an opposition political party raided today... North Korea conducting multiple cruise missile launches into the Yellow Sea... Here in the US the Federal Bureau of Investigation improperly used the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) against a US senator, a state senator and... In Canada a retired Mountie is charged with obtaining information and doing other...

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey has long coveted the Greek Aegean islands in the disputed waters between the two countries, and now it has made its claim official. ... Turkey “has provoked Greece by submitting a map to UNESCO claiming parts of the Aegean Sea – which has been the primary point of contention and discussions between the countries ... Erdogan refuses to recognize the Treaty of Lausanne, which ceded the Aegean islands in question now to Greece, despite the fact that the Republic of Turkey duly ratified the treaty on Aug. 23, 1923, as well as the fact that Turkey...

MADISON, Wis. -- An apartment occupant reportedly used tequila to marinade a home-cooked turkey Sunday evening, causing the oven door to "blow open." According to the Madison Fire Department, the 911 caller said they were cooking a turkey in the oven for eight minutes when the oven door "blew open." Firefighters arrived at the 5000 block of Old Middleton Road at 6:16 p.m. to check the oven. A thermal imaging camera was used, and firefighters opened the oven, which had blue flames that came out. The oven was removed from the apartment, and the occupant said they have used this...