Free Republic

It’s been formally acknowledged that U.S. NATO ‘ally’ Turkey is providing safe haven to leaders of Hamas, a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) so designated by the U.S. State Department. By its very definition, an FTO should be considered declared enemy of the U.S. Despite this, Turkey doesn’t appear to be paying any price. Another player in all this is the small nation of Qatar. It is desperately trying to play both sides of a political fence as leaders of Hamas – to include the terrorist organization’s political leader Khaled Meshaal – has been forcibly relocated to Turkey. The reason these...

Former armed forces commander Ä°lker BaÅŸbuÄŸ stormed from an Istanbul courtroom on Tuesday and denounced his trial on coup plot accusations as an assault on the entire military leadership and a "black stain" on the country's history. General BaÅŸbuÄŸ's outburst on the second day of a terrorism trial was the most dramatic demonstration yet of tensions that have simmered between the armed forces and the prime minister, Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, who has reined in their influence since winning power in 2002. BaÅŸbuÄŸ, who headed the military between 2008-2010, declared the trial a "comedy" and said he did not recognize the judges'...