Research Paper: ISIS-Turkey List

Is Turkey collaborating with the Islamic State (ISIS)? Allegations range from military cooperation and weapons transfers to logistical support, financial assistance, and the provision of medical services. It is also alleged that Turkey turned a blind eye to ISIS attacks against Kobani.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu strongly deny complicity with ISIS. Erdogan visited the Council on Foreign Relations on September 22, 2014. He criticized "smear campaigns [and] attempts to distort perception about us." Erdogan decried, "A systematic attack on Turkey's international reputation, "complaining that "Turkey has been subject to very unjust and ill-intentioned news items from media organizations." Erdogan posited: "My request from our friends in the United States is to make your assessment about Turkey by basing your information on objective sources."

Columbia University's Program on Peace-building and Rights assigned a team of researchers in the United States, Europe, and Turkey to examine Turkish and international media, assessing the credibility of allegations. This report draws on a variety of international sources -- The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Daily Mail, BBC, Sky News, as well as Turkish sources, CNN Turk, Hurriyet Daily News, Taraf, Cumhuriyet, and Radikal among others.

Long list of NATO member Turkey supporting ISIS at the link.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-l-phillips/research-paper-isis-turke_b_6128950.html

Turkey could cut off Islamic State’s supply lines. So why doesn’t it?

In the wake of the murderous attacks in Paris, we can expect western heads of state to do what they always do in such circumstances: declare total and unremitting war on those who brought it about. They don’t actually mean it. They’ve had the means to uproot and destroy Islamic State within their hands for over a year now. They’ve simply refused to make use of it. In fact, as the world watched leaders making statements of implacable resolve at the G20 summit in Antalaya, these same leaders are hobnobbing with Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a man whose tacit political, economic, and even military support contributed to Isis’s ability to perpetrate the atrocities in Paris, not to mention an endless stream of atrocities inside the Middle East.

How could Isis be eliminated? In the region, everyone knows. All it would really take would be to unleash the largely Kurdish forces of the YPG (Democratic Union party) in Syria, and PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ party) guerillas in Iraq and Turkey. These are, currently, the main forces actually fighting Isis on the ground. They have proved extraordinarily militarily effective and oppose every aspect of Isis’s reactionary ideology.

But instead, YPG-controlled territory in Syria finds itself placed under a total embargo by Turkey, and PKK forces are under continual bombardment by the Turkish air force. Not only has Erdoğan done almost everything he can to cripple the forces actually fighting Isis; there is considerable evidence that his government has been at least tacitly aiding Isis itself.

It might seem outrageous to suggest that a Nato member like Turkey would in any way support an organisation that murders western civilians in cold blood. That would be like a Nato member supporting al-Qaida. But in fact there is reason to believe that Erdoğan’s government does support the Syrian branch of al-Qaida (Jabhat al-Nusra) too, along with any number of other rebel groups that share its conservative Islamist ideology. The Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University has compiled a long list of evidence of Turkish support for Isis in Syria.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/18/turkey-cut-islamic-state-supply-lines-erdogan-isis

Daily Press Briefing - November 24, 2015

U.S. general: Human error led to Doctors Without Borders strike

Source: CNN

A U.S. airstrike that mistakenly killed 30 people at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, last month was, in part, the result of military personnel inadvertently aiming at the wrong target -- the hospital compound -- instead of a suspected nearby site, from which Taliban fighters were firing, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan said Wednesday.

The military personnel most closely associated with the strike have been suspended from their duties, pending the full adjudication process, according to Gen. John Campbell, the top NATO and U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

The October 3 mission had several technical and human errors, several administration officials acknowledge. A U.S. military fact-finding investigation into the incident detailed the mistakes and revealed that the U.S. aircraft targeted the wrong facility.

"This was a tragic but avoidable accident caused primarily by human error," Campbell told reporters in Kabul Wednesday.


Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/25/politics/afghanistan-kunduz-doctors-without-borders-hospital/

Tensions rise as Russia says it's deploying anti-aircraft missiles to Syria

Source: CNN

Tensions in the Middle East ratcheted up dangerously Wednesday, a day after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane, with the Turkish President accusing Russia of deceit and Russia announcing it would deploy anti-aircraft missiles to Syria.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said on his ministry's Twitter feed that the country would deploy S-400 defense missile systems to its Hmeymim airbase near Latakia, on Syria's Mediterranean coast.

The missiles have a range of 250 kilometers, according to the missilethreat.com website -- or 155 miles. The Turkish border is less than 30 miles away.


Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/25/middleeast/syria-turkey-russia-warplane-shot-down/

Russia's Gazprom Halts Ukraine Gas Supplies

Source: Sky News

Gazprom said that by 7am GMT on Wednesday Ukraine had received all the gas it had paid for and would not be sent more because the country had yet to pay in advance for future supplies.

Chief executive Alexei Miller warned that the stoppage posed a serious risk to the secure transit of gas to Europe via Ukraine, as well as to Ukrainian consumers.

Some 15% of the gas used in Europe travels through Ukraine.

In response to the announcement, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said his government would stop state energy firm Naftogaz from buying any more gas from Russia to reduce its energy dependence on Moscow.

Read more: http://news.sky.com/story/1593946/russias-gazprom-halts-ukraine-gas-supplies

Russian jet hit 'inside Syria' when shot

Source: Sky news

The United States believes the Russian jet shot down by Turkey was hit inside Syrian airspace after a brief incursion into Turkish airspace, a US official told Reuters.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the assessment was based on detection of the heat signature of the jet.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Barack Obama have agreed on the need to reduce tensions after Turkish forces shot down a Russian plane on the Syrian border for allegedly violating Turkish air space.

'They were in accord on the importance of de-escalating tensions and making arrangements to prevent a repeat of such incidents,' the Turkish presidency said in a statement following telephone talks between the two leaders.

Read more: http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2015/11/25/turkey-warned-russian-jet-10-times--us.html

Graham: Turkey punched Russia in the nose, good for Turkey

NATO urges calm after Turkey shoots down Russian plane

Source: CBS News

The head of NATO is calling for calm tonight after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane, killing at least one of two pilots.

It's the first time the North Atlantic alliance has downed a Russian or Soviet plane since the 1950s.

Russian President Vladimir Putin insists the plane was in Syrian airspace. But the Turks released a radar image which, they say, shows the path of the plane as it briefly entered Turkey.

snip

Russia may be causing problems but, in this particular incident, U.S. officials blame Turkey for overreacting to a minor violation of its air space.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nato-urges-calm-after-turkey-shoots-down-russian-plane/

Video of US backed rebels blowing up Russian helicopter with US made TOW missile.

Many snakbars, you can tell these are Jihadists.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=27a_1448375727

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BGM-71_TOW