Turkey orders 177 police detained, extending post-coup crackdown: Anadolu

Turkish authorities ordered the detention of 177 police officers, the state-run Anadolu agency said on Thursday, widening a crackdown against people accused of links to a failed coup in July. The suspects, from 25 provinces, were being sought on suspicion of using ByLock, an encrypted smartphone messaging app, the agency said, citing the Ankara prosecutor’s […]

Alt-Qaeda: Lindsay Lohan meets with Erdogan and Aleppo Twitter girl

While Al-Qaeda Prime lurks in their caves in Afghanistan, triangular-shaped compounds in Pakistan, and bombed out buildings in Syria, the Alt-Qaeda camp had their meeting this week at the Turkish Presidential palace.  It was the perfect storm for the Alt-Qaeda movement.  The non-autonomous biological entity known as The Lohan shook hands with the Neo-Ottoman empire’s […]

Greece, Turkey, a coup, and eight souls at stake

On July 15th 2016, a coup d’état was attempted in Turkey. The coup was badly organized, as we learned later, with units believing they were headed to an anti-terrorism exercise (hence their deployment in urban centers). And it failed badly, with soldiers getting executed by an angry mob of President Erdogan supporters. In the wake […]

Handcuffs and hair-pulling: Turkey’s parliament debates, then approves new powers for the president

ISTANBUL — After weeks of raucous parliamentary debate that included fisticuffs and chair-throwing, lawmakers in Turkey overwhelmingly passed several constitutional amendments early Saturday that, if approved by the public, would grant President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greatly enhanced powers. The changes include amendments that would abolish the post of prime minister, curb governmental oversight by the […]

Erdogan says early Turkish election not desirable, but not unthinkable

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday early elections would not be out of the question if parliament becomes unable to do its job, as lawmakers debate constitutional changes which would introduce a full presidential system. Speaking to reporters after Friday prayers, Erdogan said he had always been against early elections and he hoped the […]

Turkey’s parliament to debate greater powers for Erdogan as president

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is moving to consolidate more power to the office of the president, in a move that raises many questions for the future of democracy in Turkey. Vasilis Chronopoulos  Turkey’s parliament, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, is considering the introduction of constitutional amendments that would hand sweeping executive powers to the office […]

Two military officers sentenced to life in prison over failed Turkey coup

Two senior Turkish military officers were jailed for life on Thursday for involvement in July’s failed coup attempt that killed almost 250 people, marking the first conviction related to the putsch, news agencies said. The court found that a colonel and a major had been assigned duties as provincial commanders after the intended overthrow of […]

Russia, Turkey: US supporting Syria ‘terrorist’ groups

Turkey and Russia have separately accused the United States of backing what they call “terrorist groups” in Syria, on the same day they agreed to push for talks in Kazakhstan next month over the conflict. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that he had evidence that US-led coalition forces give support to the […]

Russia, Iran, and Turkey meet on Syria, excluding U.S.

Russia, Iran, and Turkey meet and discuss Syria without the United States in Beirut, Lebanon. Leaving the U.S. in an awkward diplomatic position. The U.S. was not invited and the UN wasn’t notified. No official reaction has come from either the White House or the President-elect’s transition team. Although it’s certain, there will be a […]

Former CIA officer on the ramifications of Russian ambassador assassination

Monday the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, was shot and killed while speaking at the opening of a photo exhibit in Ankara, Turkey. The gunman, Mert Altintas, was a Turkish policeman, although there are conflicting reports as to whether he had been dismissed from his position prior to the attack. In any event, while Altintas was not part of […]