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Tag: Turkey government

  • Kurdish forces preparing to repel Turkish ground invasion

    Kurdish forces preparing to repel Turkish ground invasion

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    QAMISHLI, Syria — The commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria said his group is prepared to repel a ground invasion by Turkey.

    SDF head Mazloum Abdi told the The Associated Press that his group has been preparing for another such attack since Turkey launched a ground offensive in area in 2019 and “we believe that we have reached a level where we can foil any new attack. At least the Turks will not be able to occupy more of our areas and there will be a great battle.”

    He added, “If Turkey attacks any region, the war will spread to all regions…and everyone will be hurt by that.”

    Turkey has carried out a barrage of airstrikes on suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq in recent days, in retaliation for a deadly Nov. 13 bombing in Istanbul that Ankara blames on the militant groups. The groups have denied involvement in the bombing.

    On Wednesday, Turkey’s military struck infrastructure facilities in northeast Syria, including a telecommunication tower and oil and gas fields, according to SDF spokesman Farhad Shami. He added that one of the strikes hit near Jerkin prison near Qamishli where scores of members of the Islamic State group are held. Another strike destroyed a school in the village of Kuran near border town of Kobani, Shami said.

    The strikes came a day after shelling the town of Azaz, which is controlled by Turkey-backed opposition fighters, killing five people and wounding five others. The shelling came from positions of the SDF and Syrian government forces, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor.

    On Wednesday, the bodies of three people killed in Azaz were brought to the northwestern province of Idlib for burial. Local officials in the area said that the dead were displaced by Syria’s 11-year conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million.

    Following the weekend’s airstrikes from Turkey, Turkish officials said that suspected Kurdish militants in Syria fired rockets Monday across the border into Turkey, killing at least two people and wounding 10 others. Abdi denied that SDF had struck inside Turkish territory.

    Turkey has threatened to escalate from airstrikes to a ground invasion. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday, “We have been on top of the terrorists for the past few days with our planes, artillery and drones. As soon as possible, we will root out all of them together with our tanks and soldiers.”

    Erdogan added that the measures were for “the safety of our own country, our own citizens. It is our most legitimate right to go where this security is ensured.”

    Turkey’s allies have attempted to dissuade such measures. Russian presidential envoy in Syria Alexander Lavrentyev said that Turkey should “show a certain restraint” in order to prevent an escalation in Syria and expressed hope that “it will be possible to convince our Turkish partners to refrain from excessive use of force on Syrian territory.”

    Mazloum called on Moscow and Damascus, as well as on the U.S.-led coalition fighting against the Islamic State group in Syria, with which the SDF is allied, to take a stronger stance to prevent a Turkish ground invasion, warning that such an action could harm attempts to combat a resurgence of IS.

    The Turkish airstrikes, which have killed a number of Syrian army soldiers operating in the same area as the SDF forces, have also threatened to upset a nascent rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara. The two have been on been on opposing sides in Syria’s civil war but in recent months have launched low-level talks.

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    Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut and Ghaith Alsayed in Idlib, Syria contributed to this report.

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  • Turkey arrests 1, suspects Kurdish militants behind bombing

    Turkey arrests 1, suspects Kurdish militants behind bombing

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    ISTANBUL — Police have arrested a suspect who is believed to have planted the bomb that exploded on a bustling pedestrian avenue in Istanbul, Turkey’s interior minister said Monday, adding that initial findings indicate that Kurdish militants were responsible for the deadly attack.

    Six people were killed and several dozen others were wounded in Sunday’s explosion on Istiklal Avenue, a popular thoroughfare lined with shops and restaurants that leads to the iconic Taksim Square.

    “A little while ago, the person who left the bomb was detained by our Istanbul Police Department teams,” the Anadolu Agency quoted Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu as saying. He did not identify the suspect but said 21 other people were also detained for questioning.

    Sunday’s explosion was a shocking reminder of the anxiety and safety concerns that stalked the Turkish population during years when such attacks were common. The country was hit by a string of deadly bombings between 2015 and 2017, some by the Islamic State group, others by Kurdish militants who seek increased autonomy or independence.

    The minister said evidence obtained pointed to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and to its Syrian extension, the Democratic Union Party, or PYD. He said the attack would be avenged.

    “We know what message those who carried out this action want to give us. We got this message,” Soylu said. “Don’t worry, we will pay them back heavily in return.”

    Soylu also blamed the United States, saying a condolence message from the White House was akin to a “killer being first to show up at a crime scene.” Turkey has been infuriated by U.S. support to Syrian Kurdish groups.

    He said security forces believe that instructions for the attack came from Kobani, the majority Kurdish city in northern Syria that borders Turkey.

    In its condolence message, the White House said it strongly condemned the “act of violence” in Istanbul, adding: “We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with out NATO ally (Turkey) in countering terrorism.”

    Soylu said of the 81 people who were hospitalized, 50 were discharged. Five of the wounded were receiving emergency care and two of them were in life-threatening condition, he said.

    The PKK has fought an insurgency in Turkey since 1984. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since then.

    Ankara and Washington consider the PKK a terrorist group but they diverge on the issue of the Syrian Kurdish groups, which have fought against the Islamic State group in Syria.

    In recent years, Turkish President Erdogan has led a broad crackdown on the militants as well as on Kurdish lawmakers and activists. Amid skyrocketing inflation and other economic troubles, Erdogan’s anti-terrorism campaign is a key rallying point for him ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections next year.

    Following the attacks between 2015 and 2017 that left more than 500 civilians and security personnel dead, Turkey launched cross-border military operations into Syria and northern Iraq against Kurdish militants, while also cracking down on Kurdish politicians, journalists and activists at home.

    “In nearly six years, we have not experienced a serious terrorist incident like the one we experienced yesterday evening in Istanbul. We are ashamed in front of our nation in this regard,” Soylu said.

    On Sunday, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told pro-government broadcaster A Haber that investigators were focusing on a woman who sat on a bench by the scene of the blast for about 40 minutes. The explosion took place just minutes after she left.

    ——

    Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

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  • Sweden’s leader courts Turkey’s support for NATO membership

    Sweden’s leader courts Turkey’s support for NATO membership

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    ANKARA, Turkey — Sweden still has “many steps to take” to win Turkey’s approval for its NATO membership bid, a top Turkish official said Tuesday as Sweden’s new prime minister visited Ankara in hopes of eliminating the hurdle to his country joining the military alliance.

    Sweden and Finland abandoned their longstanding policies of military nonalignment and applied for NATO membership after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February, fearing that Russian President Vladimir Putin might target them next.

    But Turkey, which joined NATO in 1952, has not yet endorsed their accession, which requires unanimous approval from existing alliance members. The Turkish government accused Sweden — and to a lesser degree Finland — of ignoring its security concerns.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is pressing the two countries to crack down on individuals it considers terrorists, including supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and people suspected of orchestrating a failed 2016 coup in Turkey.

    Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson held talks with Turkish parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop on Tuesday and was scheduled to meet with Erdogan at the Turkish presidential palace complex.

    Turkey also has called for the lifting of an arms embargo imposed following its 2019 incursion into northern Syria to combat Kurdish militants. Sweden last month said it would lift the embargo, a step seen as an effort to secure Ankara’s approval for its NATO membership.

    Sentop said the Turkish parliament welcomed Sweden’s decision to remove restrictions in the defense industry but said groups that Turkey considers to be terrorists were still able to conduct “propaganda, financing and recruitment activities” in Sweden.

    “No progress has been made regarding our extradition requests,” Sentop added.

    Kristersson wrote Monday on Facebook that “we will do significantly more in Sweden through new legislation that provides completely new opportunities to stop participation in terrorist organizations.”

    Sweden would also support NATO’s counter-terrorism fund to support the alliance’s ability to fight terrorism, Kristersson wrote.

    Sweden’s new center-right government is taking a harder line not just toward the PKK, but also toward the Syrian Kurdish militia group YPG and its political branch, PYD. Turkey regards the YPG as the Syrian arm of the PKK

    Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said in an interview with Swedish Radio over the weekend that there were close links between the PKK and the YPG/PYD. Sweden would therefore “keep a distance” from Syrian groups in order not to harm relations with Turkey, the minister said.

    Members of Sweden’s previous Social Democratic government criticized the comments. Former Justice Minister Morgan Johansson called the new government’s handling of the NATO accession process “worrying and acquiescent.”

    Kurds in Sweden were also critical. Kurdo Baksi, a Kurdish writer and commentator who has lived in Sweden for decades, called Billström’s remarks disrespectful given the sacrifices Syrian Kurds made in fighting the Islamic State group.

    In Syria, PYD spokesperson Sama Bakdash accused Turkey of supporting “terrorist factions” in Syria.

    “We believe that the Swedish government’s bowing to Turkish blackmail contradicts the principles and morals of Swedish society and the humanitarian attitudes that characterized Sweden at the global level,” she said.

    All 30 NATO member countries must officially ratify the accession protocol for Finland and Sweden to join the alliance. Only the parliaments of Turkey and Hungary have yet to do so.

    Last week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg traveled to Turkey and urged the country to set aside its reservations, insisting the Nordic neighbors had done enough to satisfy Ankara’s concerns.

    Turkish officials have said Sweden and Finland must first meet demands that were agreed to in a joint memorandum. The 10-article memorandum was unveiled ahead of a NATO summit in June after Turkey threatened to veto the countries’ applications.

    “Both countries have taken a number of steps, but it is difficult to say that they have fulfilled their commitments at this stage,” the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying late Monday.

    Cavusoglu described Kristersson’s visit as “critical” in terms of Sweden taking “concrete steps” to meet Turkey’s demands.

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    Karl Ritter in Stockholm and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.

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    Follow AP’s coverage of NATO at https://apnews.com/hub/nato

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  • Russia rejoins wartime deal on Ukrainian grain exports

    Russia rejoins wartime deal on Ukrainian grain exports

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Diplomatic efforts salvaged a wartime agreement that allowed Ukrainian grain and other commodities to reach world markets, with Russia saying Wednesday it would stick to the deal after Ukraine pledged not to use a designated Black Sea corridor to attack Russian forces.

    The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine formally committed to use the established safe shipping corridor between southern Ukraine and Turkey “exclusively in accordance with the stipulations” of the agreement.

    “The Russian Federation believes that the guarantees it has received currently appear sufficient, and resumes the implementation of the agreement,” the ministry said, adding that medition by the United Nations and Turkey secured Russia’s continued cooperation.

    Russia suspended its participation in the grain deal over the weekend, citing allegations of a Ukrainian drone attack against its Black Sea fleet in Crimea. Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the attack, which some Ukrainian officials blamed on Russian soldiers mishandling their own weapons.

    Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Turkey’s defense minister that the deal for a humanitarian grain corridor would “continue in the same way as before” as of noon Wednesday.

    Erdogan said the renewed deal would prioritize shipments to African nations, including Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan, in line with Russia’s concerns that most of the exported grain had ended up in richer nations since Moscow and Kyiv made separate agreements with Turkey and the U.N. in July.

    U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Monday that 23% of the total cargo exported from Ukraine under the grain deal went to lower or lower-middle income countries, which also received 49% of all wheat shipments.

    Ships loaded with grain departed Ukraine on Tuesday despite Russia halting its support for the agreement, which aimed to ensure safe passage of critical food supplies meant for parts of the world struggling with hunger. But the United Nations had said vessels would not move Wednesday, raising concerns about future shipments.

    The United Nations and Turkey brokered separate deals with Russia and Ukraine in July to ensure Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia would receive grain and other food from the Black Sea region during Russia’s eight month-old war in Ukraine.

    Ukraine and Russia are key global exporters of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food to developing countries where many are already struggling with hunger. A loss of those supplies before the grain deal was brokered in July surged global food prices and helped throw tens of millions into poverty, along with soaring energy costs.

    The grain agreement brought down global food prices about 15% from their peak in March, according to the U.N. Losing Ukrainian shipments would have meant poorer countries paying more to import grain in a tight global market as places like Argentina and the United States deal with dry weather, analysts say.

    After the announcement of Russia rejoining the deal, wheat futures prices erased the increases seen Monday, dropping more than 6% in Chicago.

    At least a third of the grain shipped in the last three months was going to the Middle East and North Africa, and while a lot of corn was going to Europe, “that’s the traditional buyer for Ukraine corn. It’s not like that was so unusual,” Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington, said.

    He added that more wheat was going to sub-Saharan Africa and Asian markets that have become increasingly important buyers of Ukrainian grain.

    In Ukraine on Wednesday, thousands of homes in the Kyiv region and elsewhere remained without power, officials said Wednesday, as Russian drone and artillery strikes continued to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

    Kyiv region Gov. Oleksiy Kukeba said 16,000 homes were without electricity and drones attacked energy facilities in the Cherkasy region south of the capital, prompting power outages.

    Although power and water were restored to the city of Kyiv, Kuleba didn’t rule out electricity shortages lasting “weeks” if Russian forces continue to hit energy facilities there. In a Telegram post, he accused Russian forces of trying to prompt a serious humanitarian crisis.

    Power outages were also reported in the southern cities of Nikopol and Chervonohryhorivka following “a large-scale drone attack,” Dnipropetrovsk Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko said.

    The two cities are located across the Dniper River from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility. Russia and Ukraine have for months traded blame for shelling at and around the plant that U.N.’s nuclear watchdog warned could cause a radiation emergency.

    Continued Russian shelling across nine regions in southern and eastern Ukraine resulted in the deaths of at least four civilians and the wounding of 17 others between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

    The shelling also pounded cities and villages retaken by Ukraine last month in the northeastern Kharkiv region, wounding seven people.

    Russian fire damaged a hospital, apartment buildings in the Donetsk region city of Toretsk. Donetsk Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said Wednesday Ukrainian and Russian forces continued to fight for control of the cities of Avdiivka and Bakhmut, both key targets of a Russian offensive in the region.

    In southern Ukraine, Russian-installed authorities in the occupied Kherson region relocated civilians some 90 kilometers (56 miles) further into Russian-held territory in anticipation of a major Ukrainian counterattack to recapture the provincial capital of the same name. Russian forces dug trenches to prepare for the expected ground assault.

    The Kherson region’s Kremlin-appointed officials on Tuesday expanded an evacuation area to people living within 15 kilometers (9 miles) of the Dnieper River. They said 70,000 residents from the expanded evacuation zone would be relocated this week, doubling the number moved earlier.

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    Fraser reported from Ankara. Courtney Bonnell in London contributed reporting.

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    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine and on the food crisis at https://apnews.com/hub/food-crisis

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  • Death toll rises to 28 in Turkey coal mine explosion

    Death toll rises to 28 in Turkey coal mine explosion

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    AMASRA, Turkey — The death toll from a coal mine explosion in northern Turkey rose to at least 28 people and rescue efforts continued as a fire burned in the mine, officials said Saturday.

    There were 110 miners working in the shaft when the explosion occurred Friday evening at the state-owned TTK Amasra Muessese Mudurlugu mine in the town of Amasra, in the Black Sea coastal province of Bartin.

    Energy Minister Fatih Durmaz said rescue efforts continued for 15 people with a majority of them in the mine’s gallery where a fire still burned.

    “It’s not a huge fire, but to get there safely, the fire and carbon monoxide gas must be eliminated,” he told journalists at the site.

    Four or five other miners were trapped in cave-ins, Durmaz added. The minister earlier said that preliminary assessments indicated that the explosion was likely caused by firedamp, which is a reference to flammable gases found in coal mines.

    Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted that 28 miners were dead and 11 rescued miners were hospitalized in Bartin and Istanbul. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 58 people had been rescued alive.

    Ambulances were on standby at the site. Rescue teams were dispatched to the area, including from neighboring provinces, Turkey’s disaster management agency, AFAD, said.

    Turkey’s president was expected to visit Amasra on Saturday.

    In Turkey’s worst mine disaster, a total of 301 people died in 2014 in a fire inside a coal mine in the town of Soma, in western Turkey.

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  • Turkey, Russia to study Putin’s gas hub proposal

    Turkey, Russia to study Putin’s gas hub proposal

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    ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey and Russia have instructed their respective energy authorities to immediately begin technical studies on a Russian proposal that would turn Turkey into a gas hub for Europe.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has floated the idea of exporting more gas through the Turk Stream gas pipeline running beneath the Black Sea to Turkey after gas deliveries to Germany through the Baltic Sea’s Nord Stream pipeline were halted.

    Erdogan said Russian and Turkish energy authorities would work together to designate the best location for a gas distribution center, adding that Turkey’s Thrace region, bordering Greece and Bulgaria appeared to be the best spot.

    “Together with Mr. Putin, we have instructed our Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the relevant institution on the Russian side to work together,” Erdogan said. “They will conduct this study. Wherever the most appropriate place is, we will hopefully establish this distribution center there.”

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  • Putin tempts Turkey, suggests making it Europe’s new gas hub

    Putin tempts Turkey, suggests making it Europe’s new gas hub

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    ANKARA, Turkey — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday doubled down on his proposal to turn Turkey into a gas hub for Europe after deliveries to Germany through the Baltic Sea’s Nord Stream pipeline were halted.

    Putin floated the idea of exporting more gas through the Turk Stream gas pipeline running beneath the Black Sea to Turkey as he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a regional summit in Kazakhstan.

    It’s the second unlikely energy proposal that Putin has pitched in as many days, with European leaders calling Russia’s cuts in natural gas a political bid to divide them over their support for Ukraine. It’s created an energy crisis heading into winter that has fueled inflation, forced some industries to cut production and sent utility bills soaring.

    “This is just another attempt by Russia to use gas as a geo-strategic tool to weaken EU and NATO countries,” said Simone Tagliapietra, an energy policy expert at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels.

    Russia was “tempting Turkey to becoming an energy hub — a long lasting strategic aim of the country — while trying to create new divisions among European countries,” the analyst said, adding that Putin’s strategy was not likely to succeed.

    A day earlier, Germany rejected Putin’s proposal to step up gas flows to Europe via a link of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under the Baltic Sea – a pipeline that has never been operational. Moscow has cut off the parallel Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline over what it claimed were technical problems.

    The Russian leader first voiced the proposal on Wednesday, saying that Russia could increase the volume of its gas exports to Turkey through the Black Sea pipeline.

    “We could … make the main routes for the supply of our fuel, our natural gas to Europe through Turkey, creating in Turkey the largest gas hub for Europe — if, of course, our partners are interested in it,” Putin told a Moscow energy forum.

    On Thursday, he said the hub could help regulate “exorbitant” prices. “We could easily regulate (prices) at a normal market level, without any political overtones,” Putin said.

    “Putin is in a desperate situation. Nord Stream 1 and 2 are not operational and are unlikely to be operational for a long while,” said Mehmet Ogutcu, chairman of the London Energy Club. “Europe has made clear that it will not enter an engagement (with Russia) as long as the war in Ukraine continues.”

    “Turkey remains Putin’s only option,” he said.

    Ogutcu said Turkey was likely to tread carefully, wary of further increasing its dependence on Russia.

    “There is a delicate balancing act (by Turkey). If the balance tilts too much toward Russia this will damage (Ankara’s) relations with the West,” Ogutcu said.

    Erdogan did not comment publicly on the proposal but Putin’s spokesman, Dimitry Peskov said Turkey has reacted positively to the idea. Officials from Erdogan’s office could not immediately be reached for comment.

    Turkey’s state-run news agency however, quoted Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez as saying on Wednesday that it was “too early to assess” the proposal.

    “Technically it is possible,” Anadolu Agency quoted Donmez as telling reporters at the same Moscow energy forum. “For such international projects, technical, commercial and legal evaluation and feasibility studies need to be conducted.”

    NATO-member Turkey, which is depending on Russian for its energy needs and tourism, has criticized Moscow’s actions in Ukraine but has not joined U.S. and European sanctions against Russia. It has maintained its close ties with both Moscow and Kyiv and positioning itself as a mediator between the two. Ankara recently helped broker key deals that allowed Ukrainian to resume grain exports and led to a prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia.

    Although Russia is still conveying gas to Europe via Ukraine, the amount has plummeted drastically with the two Baltic pipelines out of commission.

    The Nord Stream 2 pipeline never came on stream because Germany blocked its operation just before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

    —-

    Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia. David McHugh contributed from Frankfurt.

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