Free Republic

BEST EFFORT SUMMARY: Why has WEF shut down investigation of the site for 150 years? Gobekli Tepeis a 12,000-year-old temple (7,000 years older than and fifty times the size of Stonehenge and 5,000 years before the known invention of the wheel) that predates humanity's oldest known civilizations and is full of strange animal carvings and towering stone pillars. Discovered in Turkey in 1995, it is the oldest, largest and most mysterious archaeological site ever found. Composed of pillars that are upward of 20 feet tall and weigh 20 metric tons. Construction would require enormous amounts of work, ingenuity and...

Turkey was in "constant contact" with and supports Hamas, which is not a terrorist group, said the Turkish leader. ... Erdoğan has made a habit of comparing Netanyahu and Israel to Hitler and the Nazis... Last week, Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Erdoğan of acting like a “dictator” by blocking the country’s ports to Israeli imports and exports as part of a trade war. “This is how a dictator behaves, disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen, and ignoring international trade agreements,” tweeted Katz. Erdoğan’s government, which openly supports Hamas in its war against Israel, announced export restrictions...

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğa reiterated Türkiye’s offer to facilitate negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, as he said Ankara emphasizes diplomacy and dialogue to put an end to the war between the two countries. -snip- Erdoğan also said Türkiye supports Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace plan in principle. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace plan is based on a complete Russian withdrawal from Ukraine, reparations and punishment of war criminals, as well as the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war and their return under mediation by Riyadh.

Answering reporters’ questions on Friday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said strikes by United States and UK targeting Yemen was not proportionate as they claimed and accused them of trying to turn Red Sea into "sea of blood." Erdoğa said Houthis were mounting "successful defense, response" against attacks.

According to Germany's largest daily newspaper, Bild, Russia has established a new airline in Turkey. The intention is to organize a stream of refugees to Europe through the NATO country, thereby causing chaos on the continent. As early as today, December 23, the first airplane is supposed to have taken off. "Polish security authorities explicitly warn of a 'new, organized rush of refugees via Russia and Belarus'," the German newspaper reports. One of the airlines identified in the operation is the Turkish Southwind. Yesterday, Friday, Belarusian authorities also announced that the company will start flying between the major cities in...

Mayor Eric Adams admitted that he helped the Turkish consulate get approval to open two years ago despite fire concerns — saying it was simply what politicians do. His comments came as he was grilled by the media Tuesday about details of a federal probe into his campaign, that reportedly focuses on illegal foreign donations from Turkey. “This is what we do every day,” Hizzoner told a packed room of reporters in City Hall Tuesday. “When the constituency reaches out to us for assistance to another agency … you reach out to an agency and ask them to look into...

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that the US aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which happens to be the largest of its kind, and recently arrived in Israel, may contribute to serious massacres against Palestinians and destroy Gaza, amid ongoing tensions in the region. "What is the U.S. aircraft carrier doing in Israel? It will start to carry out serious massacres there by striking, destroying Gaza," Erdogan told a joint news conference with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer in the capital Ankara on Tuesday. He added: "I have to explain something here. Look, there are over 20 American bases in Syria...

...Excavations in Boğazköy-Hattusha have been going on for more than 100 years under the direction of the German Archaeological Institute. The site has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986; almost 30,000 clay tablets with cuneiform writing have been found there so far. These tablets, which were included in the UNESCO World Documentary Heritage in 2001, provide rich information about the history, society, economy and religious traditions of the Hittites and their neighbors.Yearly archaeological campaigns... continue to add to the cuneiform finds. Most of the texts are written in Hittite, the oldest attested Indo-European language and the dominant language...

A centuries-old tomb stele smuggled from the ancient Turkish city of Zeugma to Italy has been returned to its home, Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced on July 13.A stele is a standing stone slab used in the ancient world for several purposes, including grave and tomb markers, dedications, commemorations and demarcations.The repatriated tomb stele depicts a noblewoman, wearing a veil and a tunic. Her right hand is placed on her left breast. Under the bust refiguring the deceased is an inscription in ancient Greek reading, "Satornila, the wife who loves her husband, farewell!"The Venetian authorities seized...

The Turkish DNA Project, an online endeavor to track Turkish genetics, is enraged at the popular genealogy site Ancestry.com and has called for it to be boycotted for stating an inconvenient truth: many, and possibly most, modern Turks are the descendants of the Greeks who once formed the overwhelming majority of the population of the land that is now Turkey. In this as in so many other instances, the truth hurts, but that doesn’t make it any less the truth.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy collected five previously imprisoned Azov battalion commanders in a recent trip to Turkey, prompting confusion from Russia, which accused Ankara of walking back an agreement to keep them until the war's end. In a Saturday video posted by Zelenskyy, commanding members of the battalion — a white nationalist paramilitary force within the Ukrainian National Guard — can be seen hugging the Ukrainian president before they board a plane. The commanders had been captured in the port city of Mariupol. "We are returning home from Turkey and bringing our heroes home," a post on Zelenskyy's Twitter read.

Russia was the world's largest gas exporter until February 24, when Moscow invaded Ukraine, shaking global energy markets and forcing Europe to end its dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Europe imposed sanctions on Russia, which Turkey has refused to apply. Since the war began, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to play a mediating role in the conflict, supplying weapons to Kyiv while maintaining close relations with President Vladimir Putin. In response, Putin proposed in October to make Turkey a hub for Russian gas deliveries as an alternative supply route to Europe — a plan backed by Erdogan. But...

Much is being reported worldwide about the reelection Sunday of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and its impact on relations between Turkey and the U.S., Russia, China, and other world powers....According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, the 40 jailed journalists in Turkey at the end of 2022 is a big increase over the 18 who were in prison in '21....Earlier this month, the Mezopotamya News Agency reported that since June of last year, 34 journalists in 21 counties have been rounded up by the Ankara Chief Public Defender's Office as part of an investigation into their ties...

Turkey’s incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared victory Sunday in his country’s runoff election, extending his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade. With nearly 99% of ballot boxes opened, unofficial results from competing news agencies showed Erdogan with 52% of the vote, compared with 48% for his challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

On the southern US border and beyond tensions tonight as the Title 42 policy... The warring parties in Sudan reaching a preliminary agreement at talks in Saudi Arabia... French President Emmanuel Macron calling for a pause in any new European environmental regulations... Twitter's owner Elon Musk announcing a new CEO to replace himself... South Africa's government announcing an independent investigation after US Ambassador Reuben Brigety accused it of supplying arms to Russia... The British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace confirms that the UK has provided Ukraine with long range missiles... Turkish politics and one of the minor candidates in the presidential...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his doors are closed for US ambassador to Ankara Jeff Flake following the diplomat's meeting with Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the presidential candidate for the opposition alliance. "What is (US President Joe) Biden's envoy doing? He goes and meets with Mr. Kemal. Shame on you, use your brain," Erdogan was quoted as saying by Turkey's Star newspaper on Sunday amid growing tension between Washington and Ankara. "You are an ambassador. Your interlocutor here is the president. How will you ask for a meeting with the president after this," Erdogan asserted, adding that his doors were now...

The Monday night protest walks continue in Germany for Peace, Freedom and Sovereignty over one's body. They began during COVID restrictions and vaccine mandates now they are also a forum opposing Germany's support for the Ukraine War... European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says agreement has been reached on deal brokered by Western nations. The deal between Serbia and Kosovo... The Biden Administration ordering US government agencies to take down the Chinese owned TikTok app... The Canadian government banning TikTok on government devices... China says that the United States is engaged in a campaign of disinformation... Meanwhile an electric...

The number of people who lost their lives in the earthquakes in Kahramanmras increased to 12 thousand 391, and the number of survivors with injuries increased to 62 thousand 914. Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) states that two earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.7 in Pazarcik and a magnitude of 7.6 in Elbistan occurred in Kahramanmaras. While 1052 aftershocks occurred after the earthquakes, according to the latest information...

ONCUPINAR: Turkey’s army needs just a few days to be ready for a ground incursion into northern Syria and such a decision may come at a cabinet meeting on Monday, Turkish officials said, as Turkish forces bombarded a Kurdish militia across the border. Howitzers fired daily from Turkey have struck Kurdish YPG targets for a week, while warplanes have carried out air strikes. The escalation comes after a deadly bomb attack in Istanbul two weeks ago that Ankara blamed on the YPG militia. The YPG has denied involvement in the bombing and has responded at times to the cross-border attacks...

India and Türkiye emerged as major importers of Russian goods and produce, demonstrating an enormous surge of 430% and 213% respectively. Brazil, whose imports from Russia soared by 166%, was ranked third on the list. Russia’s exports to China saw an increase of 98%, while imports of Russian goods by Saudi Arabia grew by 45%.Thus, imports of Russian goods by Spain saw a surge of 112%, while Russian exports to Belgium soared 130%. The Netherlands increased imports from Russia by 74%. Japan’s purchases of Russian goods and produce grew by 40%, while Germany and Norway ramped up imports from the...