Free Republic

A top adviser to President Obama is the contact person within the White House for communications with the Free Gaza Movement over plans to challenge Israel's blockade of the terrorist Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, according to a reputable source close to the Netanyahu government. The source, a career official whose reliability was established through his tips for the book, "Why Israel Can't Wait," identified John O. Brennan, deputy national security adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism, as the contact. The allegation raises the bizarre possibility that the Free Gaza Movement's flotilla action in the Mediterranean was being coordinated with the White...

Judges at the International Criminal Court have ordered the court’s chief prosecutor to reopen for the third time her probe into the May 2010 flotilla incident, during which Israeli commandos killed 10 Turkish citizens aboard a naval vessel that was aiming to break the Gaza blockade. Israel has reacted scornfully to the pre-trial chambers’s decision last week to require Fatou Bensouda to reconsider a case that she had repeatedly sought to close due to lack of gravity. One official in Jerusalem said that the court was wasting its limited resources on a frivolous suit in a manner that reflected poorly...

A small bronze coin found at an ancient site near Tashkent has the potential to reshape archaeologists' understanding of early Turkic civilization, reports Türkiye Today. According to archaeologist Gaybulla Babayarov of the Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences, the late sixth– or early seventh–century object is stamped with the phrase "Turk-Kagan" written in the Sogdian language. While the word "kagan," sometimes spelled khagan, refers to the ruler of an empire or khaganate, Babayarov argues the usage of the word "Turk" here denotes the oldest known reference to ethnic Turkic identity. Previously, the earliest known appearance of the term "Turk" came from eighth-century...

Approximately 1,000 boats will gather in Turkey on Wednesday before heading toward Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade and disrupt maritime trade coming into Israel during the war with Hamas, in an apparent repeat of similar attempts from over a decade ago. In an interview with Turkish news website Haber7, Volkan Okçu, one of the organizers of the protest, indicated the boats will carry 4,500 people from 40 countries, “including anti-Zionist Jews.” Among the 1,000 vessels would be 313 boats filled with Russian activists, and 104 filled with Spanish activists, he said. Only 12 Turkish vessels will...

Israeli officials have been holding talks in Jordan with Syrian opposition officials “in advance of a possible Israeli-U.S. operation in Syria to protect the Golan Heights,” Western intelligence sources reported Tuesday, Jan. 1. There was no further information about this operation or how rebel commanders were involved in military plans “to protect the Golan Heights.” Altogether, the goings-on on the Israeli and Jordanian borders with Syria are in deep hush. But European intelligence sources, some of them French and Russian, reveal nightly clashes taking place between US, Jordanian, Israeli special forces and Syrian rebels, on the one hand, and Syrian...

It’s time for another look at the inner machinations of Fake History. For example, some time back we examined the truth about Saladin. Although much extolled in the West for magnanimous and even “chivalrous” behavior, the Kurdish sultan was what we would call today a “radical” Muslim who beheaded Christians for not embracing Islam, and enslaved thousands of Christian women and children. Now let’s look at a similar but lesser-known example of this phenomenon of Westerners gushing over what are otherwise “radical” Muslims.

A recent photograph of Steve Bannon, former advisor to Donald Trump, has ignited a media frenzy in Turkey. The image, widely circulated on social media, features Bannon wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the phrase "Free Constantinople," a message that has been perceived by many in Turkey as provocative. The controversy began when Rahim Kassam, a British political commentator, shared the photo on X (formerly known as Twitter). Kassam captioned the image, "Steve Bannon opened his favorite Christmas present," implying the t-shirt was a gift. Unsurprisingly, the Turkish media reacted strongly, labeling the image a "provocation" and engaging in extensive commentary....

It’s confirmed! Mel Gibson set to produce epic TV series on the Great Siege of 1565 filmed in Malta We knew he was in Malta for a good reason! Hollywood star Mel Gibson has announced plans to produce a limited television series about the Great Siege of 1565, which will be filmed in Malta. After a recent visit to the island to scout locations for his ‘Passion of the Christ’ sequel, the famous actor was captivated by Malta's rich history and impressive fortifications, confirming that the series will be shot on location, in the very fortresses where the siege took...

When you've lost Cenk . . . .

In a conversation with the First Vice President, the special assistant to the Russian President stated that, by Putin's order, two advanced aircrafts with special helicopters and 50 professional mountain rescue personnel will be dispatched to Tabriz, Iranian media reported on Sunday overnight.

In comments that have prompted Israeli outcry, and led the country to withdraw its diplomatic presence, president Erdogan suggested assaults on Gaza constituted a "massacre". In the same speech, he reportedly said that Turkey can "come at any night unexpectedly” to ecstatic reception from hundreds of thousands of attendees. The footage, which is currently circulating on X, formerly known as Twitter, purportedly showed the pro-Palestine crowd responding with the chant: “Turkish military to Gaza.”

Many Americans love cappuccino, but few people know where the name comes from. Cappuccinos are named for a holy Capuchin priest who was chaplain to an army fighting Ottoman Turks to defend Christian Europe. Bl. Mark (or Marco) of Aviano is a saint celebrated by Catholics on August 13, and the name cappuccino comes from the name of the religious order Mark joined, the Capuchins. To understand the story of cappuccino, it helps to know a little about Bl. Mark himself. As a teenager, Mark set off to preach Christianity and possibly become a martyr in Crete (where Muslim Turks...

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...

Today — or rather, tonight — in history, Vlad the Impaler launched a midnight raid against Muslim invaders that would cause his name to live on forever as Dracula, the terror of the night. The year was 1462. Ottoman sultan Muhammad II (“Mehmet”) had demanded tribute, by way of gold and Romanian boys, to serve as his slave soldiers (janissaries). Vlad III Dracula — better known as Vlad Țepeș, or the “Impaler” — the ruler of Wallachia (in modern-day Romania) responded by sending the Muslim emissaries back to Muhammad with their turbans nailed onto their heads. So it would be...

This week in history witnessed one of the most stalwart defenses against the Islamic spear-thrust into Europe—the Battle of Albulena in Albania, 1457. To appreciate the significance of this epic clash, one must first appreciate the leader of the Albanian forces, George Kastrioti, better known as Skanderbeg (“Lord Alexander”). Today, he is as little known in the West as he was once widely celebrated all throughout Europe. His life, which is featured in the new book, Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, certainly validates the saying that “truth is stranger than fiction.” Born of Albanian...

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday ratcheted up his objection to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. Erdogan accused the countries of failing to take a clear stance against Kurdish militants and of imposing military sanctions on Turkey. “Neither country has an open, clear stance against terrorist organizations,” Erdogan said at a joint news conference with the visiting Algerian president. “We cannot say ‘yes’ to those who impose sanctions on Turkey, on joining NATO which is a security organization.”

The Hazara University has discovered coins, utensils and other important artefacts during excavation at the Fort Feroza in the Gullibagh the capital of the last Turk King [18th century] Sultan Mahmood Khurd...“This city known as Gullibagh witnessed fall and rise four times as it was occupied and then destroyed and re-emerged as a city,” Dr Shakar, the head of the HU’s Archaeology Department, said.He said that it was such an ancient site that infused a great interest in Archaeologists and art historians. “This is known history of the late medieval Muslim period as mentioned by the famous court historian of...

While Biden Worries About Ukraine, 13,000 Russians Invaded U.S. BorderAre the Russians invading the Ukraine or the United States? Currently, it seems like a lot more of them have been crossing our border.The current data seems to suggest we've had 13,420 Russians show up in 2021.More than 800 people from India also illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into Yuma, Arizona, in December.Nearly 5,000 Turks. Turkey is a state sponsor of Islamic terrorism.23,000 Chinese, 5,100 Romanians, and a mass migration of others from around the world.https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/2022/01/while-biden-worries-about-ukraine-13000-russians-daniel-greenfield/

In 1621, the city of Chocim in today's western Ukraine witnessed a mighty battle between the Polish-Lithuanian Empire and an invading Ottoman army. Chocim is rightly remembered by Poland as a victory, although the conflict ended in a political draw. But this stalemate was fought by only about 50,000 men against three times as many Turks and Mongols. After the death of the Polish commander-in-chief, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, it was Stanisław Lubomirski (1583–1649), not yet forty years old, who turned the tide in favor of Warsaw. Chocim was not the first battle in this war against Muslim aggression. Already in...

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.