Tag: Turkish-syrian border

Syria crisis: ‘Powerful’ minibus explosion kills 13

The blast happened near the Cilvegozu border post, one of the main crossing points for Syrian refugees into Turkey

A minibus exploded on the Syria-Turkey border, killing at least 10 Syrians and three Turkish nationals, Turkish officials have said.

It is not yet known what caused the blast, which wounded dozens more.

Meanwhile, rebels have reportedly seized control of Syria’s largest hydro-electric dam, in what would be a strategic loss to the government.

Activists and opposition groups said fighters were guarding the dam’s entrances and exits in Raqa province.

Reports said the dam on the Euphrates River in the country’s north was still operational.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad reiterated on Monday that he would not step down, “no matter how pressures are building up”, state-run Sana news agency reports.

“Syria will remain the beating heart of the Arab world and will not give up its principles despite the intensifying pressure and diversifying plots not only targeting Syria, but all Arabs,” he is quoted as saying by Sana.

Scene of clashes

Monday’s explosion happened in the area of the Cilvegozu customs post on the Turkish side of the border, in the southern province of Hatay.

It is one of the main crossing points for Syrian refugees into Turkey.

The Syrian-registered minibus blew up only metres away from the Turkish border gate, where scores of civilians and humanitarian workers were congregated, Turkish deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc said.

“It was a powerful explosion. But whether this was a vehicle laden with explosives or another type of explosion, I think, at the latest, will become clear tomorrow,” he said.

“All possibilities are on the table, including political motives.”

Turkey’s interior, justice and customs ministers were due to fly to the area to be briefed on the incident.

The crossing, which lies opposite the Syrian border post of Bab al-Hawa, has been the scene of clashes in recent months. Rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad captured Bab al-Hawa in July.

The latest incident comes after continued violence across the country left some 77 people dead on Sunday, AFP news agency quoted opposition activists as saying.

The Local Coordination Committees said clashes had broken out in the al-Afif neighbourhood of Damascus, near the the presidential complex.

Information from inside Syria is almost impossible to verify because of the heavy restrictions placed on international journalists there.

The fighting in Syria has killed at least 60,000 people, the UN says.

Dam ‘taken’

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activists group, said Islamist fighters now controlled the Tabqa dam. The facility provides much of the electricity to the city of Aleppo.

Rebels launched an offensive in Aleppo in July, but since then the city has been divided between fighters and government forces, with neither side apparently able to push the other out.

“The rebels took control of the dam, which is still in operation. They are guarding both entrances but have forbidden the fighters from staying inside for fear the regime will bomb it,” SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

The SOHR said Islamist fighters also took over three districts in the neighbouring town of Tabqa, where employees of the dam and their families live.

The SOHR is one of the most prominent organisations documenting and reporting incidents and casualties in the Syrian conflict. The group says its reports are impartial, though its information cannot be independently verified.

Moaz al-Khatib (file photo) Moaz al-Khatib’s offer of talks was criticised within his own movement

‘A Syrian opposition leader meanwhile has criticised the government for not taking up his offer of peace talks.

Moaz al-Khatib, of the Syrian National Coalition, said the regime’s response sent a “very negative” message to the world.

In a statement on his Facebook page, Mr Khatib said the government had “lost a chance to engage in a dialogue” to end the two-year conflict.

Last month, Mr Khatib said the Syrian National Coalition – an alliance of opposition groups – would meet Syrian officials, so long as Syria freed 160,000 political prisoners.

His overture, which has the backing of the US, was criticised by many of his coalition colleagues, who reject discussions while President Assad and his inner circle remain in power.

On Friday, Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi said the government was prepared to hold talks with the opposition without preconditions.

“We are serious about the question of dialogue,” Mr Zohbi said on state television. [But] When you speak of dialogue, it means dialogue without conditions, which excludes no-one.”

via BBC News – Syria crisis: ‘Powerful’ minibus explosion kills 13.

February 12, 2013
Syrian refugees slipping into Turkey

By James Reynolds BBC News, Ceylanpinar, Turkey-Syria border

A Syrian refugee ducks wire on the border with Turkey Some Syrians prefer to cross the border unofficially

From the edges of southern Turkey, you can see the smoke of a single cigarette inside Syria. The Turkish town of Ceylanpinar is around 50m away from the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain. The two countries are separated by a barbed wire fence.

On the Syrian side, two children pick up bullet casings and clink them together. A group of opposition gunmen holds up its rifles and grenades for spectators watching from Turkey.

For several days earlier this month the Syrian army shelled Ras al-Ain to try to get rid of the rebels. Thousands of the town’s residents fled to Ceylanpinar. Syria’s war is right next door. This makes the Turkish state nervous.

On the main road facing the border, Turkey has created a small buffer zone with a roll of razor wire. Inside this zone, Turkish soldiers in one-man trenches are positioned every 30m or so.

The soldiers instruct Syrians who want to cross to walk to a nearby military position. From there, the Turkish authorities will register the new refugees and take them to well-guarded refugee camps inside Turkey.

But many Syrians thinking of crossing do not want to be confined to official camps. They have noted that the soldiers’ border duties do not appear to include early mornings.

Burnt houses

Just before 08:00, three men approach a hole in the border fence opposite a Turkish playground. A friend standing in the playground shouts instructions to them. He tells them to cross. The men duck underneath the razor wire and jog across railway tracks into Turkey.

Syrian refugee Karim Karim is separated from his family

One curses the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad.

“Bashar forced us to leave. Bashar has no honour.”

Their friend helps them up a hillside into the small playground guarded by a roll of razor wire.

“We’ll go back very soon – I swear,” says one of men.

“People are hungry,” says Ali, one of the three. “There is no bread on the other side. They are sleeping outside. People were killed when they were in their homes.”

Later in the day, Turkish soldiers arrive to patrol the border fence. A commander fiddling with a packet of cigarettes periodically orders Syrians inside Turkey to keep their distance from the border. On the edges of the small playground, Karim talks to one of his family members on a mobile phone. His daughter clings to his legs.

“How are things over there?” he asks. “Do you have enough food?”

Karim managed to escape Ras al-Ain earlier this month when the Syrian army shelled the town. He is now trying to get the rest of his family across.

“Houses are burned down, they’re destroyed,” he says. “My family needs our help but we’re all afraid of the warplanes flying overhead.”

No place to go

Since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011, official figures show that Turkey has taken in more than 100,000 refugees. The Turkish government in Ankara is nervous about the effects of having so many Syrian refugees on its soil.

BBC map

But the local Turkish authorities in Ceylanpinar see things differently. This region is mostly Kurdish on both sides of the border. The Kurdish-speaking authorities here are keen to provide help for refugees who speak the same language, and share the same culture.

A municipal building in Ceylanpinar normally used as a condolence hall has become a canteen and a hotel. Volunteers serve dozens of refugee families a lunch of bread, rice, yoghurt and chicken.

The children have to make their way through adult-size portions. On a bench in the main hall, there is a bag of second-hand clothes for those who have left everything behind.

In the courtyard, a middle-aged volunteer wearing a suit dutifully takes his place in a circle of children playing a game. Another volunteer, Ali Kirdar, sits on a bench and rolls a cigarette. He spends his time finding newly escaped refugees and bringing them to the hall.

“Many of the refugees have no place to go,” he says.

“So you can find them in nearby parks with their belongings at their feet. They just sit and stare ahead. You can tell that they don’t know anyone and that they need help.”

Syrian refugees at border with Turkey

Local discontent

Not everyone appreciates the new arrivals. At a hairdressers in Ceylanpinar, the barber says that a refugee from Syria recently stole one of the boxes of canaries that he keeps on a ledge above the mirror.

Behind the barber’s chair, Orhan Guven waits patiently for a haircut. He sent the rest of his family away from this area – after bullets from Syria hit their house.

“A piece of shrapnel grazed my grandmother as she was sitting in our courtyard,” he recalls.

“The government has evacuated nearby villages but there are houses here only 30m from the border which have not been evacuated. We are left on our own – that’s how we feel.”

The Turkish military wants to keep the border quiet. Throughout the day soldiers try to break up crowds of Syrians shouting to their friends across the border. A water cannon is deployed to get the crowd to disperse.

The Turkish state may host tens of thousands of Syrian refugees, but it does not want them to make too much noise.

via BBC News – Syrian refugees slipping into Turkey.

November 24, 2012
Russia Opposes NATO Missiles on Turkey-Syria Border

VOA News

Russia has warned against NATO’s possible deployment of Patriot missiles near Turkey’s border with Syria.

Patriot anti-missile batteries installed at the Diyarbakir military airport in southeastern Turkey (AFP Photo / Mehdi Fedouach)

Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Thursday that Turkey’s request for deployment to the Western military alliance “would not foster stability in the region.”

NATO ambassadors met Wednesday to consider Turkey’s request, which followed weeks of talks between Ankara and NATO allies about how to shore up security on its 900 kilometer border to avoid a spillover from the Syrian civil war.

The alliance’s secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said the deployment would augment alliance member Turkey’s air defense capabilities and “would contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along NATO’s southeastern border.”

Turkey said Tuesday it had found allies who agreed to supply it with an advanced Patriot missile system. Only the United States, the Netherlands and Germany have the appropriate system available. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he had told his country’s ambassador to NATO to approve Turkey’s request.

Turkey’s border villages have been hit by artillery fire from Syria as forces loyal to Damascus battle rebels seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Rasmussen has said that any missile deployment would be a defensive measure to counter mortar rounds, and not to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria. Syrian rebels have called for a no-fly zone as they are almost defenseless against Syria’s air force.

via Russia Opposes NATO Missiles on Turkey-Syria Border.

November 23, 2012
TURKISH DECEIT: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Allah’s Boys

In a classic provocation reminiscent of the Gulf of Tonkin fairy tale that “legitimized” the Vietnam War, and Hitler’s bogus rationale for invading Poland, the Turkish war criminal gang “led from behind” by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are trying to do the impossible. Impossible, if one has half a brain. They are trying to convince the world that Syria, besieged for over a year by its once friendly neighbor, Turkey, its cities ravaged by terrorists based and financed in Turkey, wants to provoke an even wider, bloodier conflict.

A miniscule border village, Akcakale, was hit by a solitary shell of undisclosed origin. It defies logic that it came from the Syrian army. The Syrian army has no control over Syrian borders thanks to the relentless subversive efforts of the Turkish government. Its army is certainly not so incompetent as to try to defend an indefensible border when the real battle is in its interior cities. So dispense with the idea that there are such things as borders between Syria and Turkey. They have been effaced by Turkish subversion. The gates are wide open. Syria has no control. And the non-Syrian “Free Syrian Army” is a rabble under arms, undisciplined and unscrupulous.

It is widely known that Erdoğan’s motley gang, with headquarters in Adana, Ankara, and Istanbul, has been raining havoc via over-the border raids from the Hatay province in southeastern Turkey. (See my writing of 29 June entitled America’s War-Horse Harlots for the grim, deceitful details.) Surprised by the horrific violence inflicted by the Orwellian “Free Syrian Army” in Aleppo and Damascus? Don’t be. Convoys of Turkish trucks have been supplying the explosive ingredients for car bombs over the Turkish border for months. Syria has been long under a medieval siege, courtesy of its treacherous neighbor.

Is it logical that Syria would lob a single shell into a Turkish village to prompt a massive response from NATO, the bloody-handed “savior” of Libya? Hardly. Besides, the Turkish prime minister has been lusting for NATO support. And the Turkish army is itching to prove its manhood after being purged of its command and general staff by the Turkish prime minister, Turkey’s new sultan. It’s a perfect storm for a catastrophe by incompetents. The Turkish media is the functional equivalent of Pravda during the Stalin era. And the Turkish people are either under deep anesthesia or, sadly, suffering from a fatal indifference. In short, Turkey is the perfect puppet for doing America’s bidding, that is, to be “led from behind.” And America is the perfect coward to do its deceitful bloody work while hiding under the capacious skirts of Turkey’s Allah’s Boys.

The “Free Syrian Army” gangsters have been lusting for heavier weapons, a no-fly zone, and stinger missiles. So why would Syria provoke a wider war? Answer… it wouldn’t. Only if you believe in the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, and Colin Powell’s infamous UN presentation would you echo the craven chorus now being orchestrated by the likes of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Hillary Clinton, and the American stooges in the apparent form of the UN and NATO. Listen to Erdoğan shout that Syria has “breached Turkey’s borders” and one wants to laugh out loud (or vomit) at the hypocrisy. Only if you are congenitally stupid would you believe the hypocritical bilge being spewed by these ever-outraged killers from the west and their henchmen. What is infinitely more logical is that the shell was fired by the criminal elements in the employ of Turkey and America. They are the ones with the clearest of motives. And by doing so, they got what they wanted all along, NATO and UN legitimacy for their rape of Syria. But regardless of who fired the shell that hit the house in Akcakale, Turkey and its patron, America, by their actions, have fomented all the violence in Syria. Turkey has funded, plotted and armed a phony civil war in direct contravention of international law. (See my Letter to The Honorable Abdullah Gül, president of Turkey dated 9 Sept. 2012.) The onus for the death, chaos and destruction is theirs. So why should Turkey and the Turkish people be exempt from suffering the consequences of their misdeeds?

So when you hear the orchestrated script of outrage over the errant or not-so-errant shell, when you hear the barrage of adjectives like “atrocious” (Erdoğan), “depraved” (the Pentagon), “flagrant” (NATO), and the ever popular “outraged” (Clinton) remember the following. This hype is an old, dirty trick. The truth lies in using our brains to examine what is logical and what is not. The truth lies in clear reasoning, devoid of influence from the spewers of propaganda and outright falsehoods. And remember this. The likes of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has yet to explain the killing of scores of his own people by his own military because of false intelligence rendered by his friends in the Pentagon and the CIA. Moreover, he has yet to explain the downing of the Turkish reconnaissance jet that so obviously violated Syrian airspace. This latter event has given Turkey the rationale for the recent blather from the Turkish foreign minister about “rules of engagement” as if Turkey has followed any rules in its extended attempt to overthrow the duly constituted government of Syria. This arrogant, criminal activity by America and Turkey is what is truly ATROCIOUS, DEPRAVED, FLAGRANT, and OUTRAGEOUS.

James (Cem) Ryan, Ph.D.
Founder, West Point Graduates Against The War

Istanbul
4 October 2012

October 4, 2012
Moscow Alarmed As Turkey And West Hold “Operational Meeting” On Syria

Moscow Alarmed As Turkey And West Hold “Operational Meeting” On Syria – OpEd

By: VOR

August 25, 2012

By John Robles

Syria’s claims that the uprising on its sovereign territory is being orchestrated from outside the country were given further credibility, by an eight-hour-operational-meeting held in Ankara behind closed doors between US Ambassador to Turkey Elisabeth Jones, Turkish Foreign Ministry Deputy Under-Secretary Halit Cevik, diplomats, military representatives and intelligence agency representatives.

The detailed self-avowed plans for bringing about the hasty collapse of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were discussed.

Since the beginning of the crisis Turkey has positioned itself as one of the staunchest opponents of President Bashar al-Assad who was once seen as a “friend and brother” according to a recent statement by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey wishes to be one of the main players for NATO, the West and its Middle-East Allies in the region and has many times failed to support the positions of its once allies and friends, including Syria as well as Russia. Recent statements in support of Russia’s position against an armed outside intervention into Syria were obviously carefully staged lies to attempt to appease Moscow which will protect its interests in the region.

The meeting follows the recent provocation by Turkey where a Turkish F-4 Phantom Fighter was shot down in Syrian airspace but which did not bring about the planned result.

Ankara and the Western “architects” had hoped to draw NATO into the conflict by claiming Turkey was being threatened by Syria. Unfortunately for NATO and Turkey the real facts behind the incident came out and even though Turkey claimed the plane was shot down in international airspace and the wreckage somehow flew into Syrian territory, no one was buying it.

The aircraft was in violation of Syrian Airspace and was shot down in Syrian Airspace by Syrian anti-aircraft batteries with a range of only a few kilometers, those are the facts and no matter how Ankara wanted to repaint the picture that is how events occurred.

Now the anti-Assad bloc is attempting to terrorize the world into allowing it to invade Syria by using the pre-Iraq-invasion claim of chemical weapons. This has been repeated many times over the past two months and appears to be the new “point of contention” after the provocative airspace violation did not bring about the result sought by the West.

The fact that Turkey and the West have been openly funding and supplying violent insurgents, introducing Jihadists and every type of foreign mercenary and terrorist into Syria to continue the bloodshed is a point that should be causing international outrage, yet the West is unimpeded and openly admits to such violations of international law and international norms.

Turkey has admitted that along with Washington and a number of Arab countries in the Persian Gulf they are training and providing support for foreign fighters on its territory, fighters that are being sent into Syria to support and aid the insurgents. There are reports that as many as 15,000 such foreign fighters are staged along the Turkish-Syrian border.

Moscow has been opposed to foreign military intervention into the Syrian conflict since the very beginning and this includes “secret” armies being funded and trained by the West in their continuing attempt to force a violent regime change in Syria.

The West has never held talks or in any way promoted the bringing about of a peaceful resolution to the internal Syrian conflict and this has alarmingly become completely and totally evident by all the steps that the West has taken and all of the statements issued by Western Officials over the past few months. This includes an August 11th joint statement by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on their joint planning to implement mechanisms to bring about the hasty termination of the current Syrian Government.

Turkey, the West and their Persian Gulf allies are in violation of international law and internationally accepted norms and should be facing serious international resistance, yet the United Nations and the World continue to allow such infringements on the territorial sovereignty of Syria.

All contentions by the West and United States that they are the World’s “moral policemen” and “guardians of humanity” now seem to be outrageous.

The violent overthrow of a sovereign government can only be called an egregious violation of international norms. Russia has always called for stopping of the bloodshed by establishing peace in order for the Syrian people themselves to decide the fate of their own country.

The views and opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Voice of Russia.

via Moscow Alarmed As Turkey And West Hold “Operational Meeting” On Syria – OpEd Eurasia Review.

August 26, 2012
İYİ ŞEKER BAYRAMLAR!!!! FROM THE APES AND SWINE OF TURKEY

Suriye’ye kamyon kamyon nitrat gübresi götürülüyor
Trucks bringing nitrate fertilizer bomb-making material to Syria (from Turkey)

Hatay’dan Suriye’ye kamyon kamyon nitrat gübresi götürüldüğü ortaya çıktı. Bölge kaynakları, nitrat gübresinin, bomba yapımında kullanılmak için götürüldüğünü vurguladı. Bölgede kullanımı yaygın olmadığı halde özellikle Reyhanlı’da nitrat gübresinin bayilerden çekildiği belirtiliyor. Ziraat odasında bir yetkili “Bu gübreler, tarımda kullanmak üzere stoklanıyor olabilir mi?” sorusunu, “Nitrat gübresi stoklanmaz. Beklediğinde niteliğinde kaybeder. Çiftçi zarar eder” diye yanıtladı. Esad yönetimine karşı eylemler gerçekleştiren paralı askerlerin ve muhaliflerin nitrat gübresini, Suriye’de bomba yapmakta kullandıkları bildirildi.

Aydinlik Gazetesi, 19 Ağüstos 2012

____________________________________________________________________

Note to the Turkish Government:

On the holiest day of the year you are deliberately killing your fellow Muslim believers. May Allah damn you to hell. In fact, Allah already has! Read your holy Koran you religious mongering merchants of murder!

— It is unlawful for a believer to kill another believer. Koran, 4:92.

— He that kills a believer by design shall burn in Hell forever. He shall incur the wrath of God, who will lay His curse upon him and prepare for him a mighty scourge. Koran, 4:93

— Shall I tell you who will receive a worse reward from God? Those whom God has cursed and with whom He has been angry, transforming them into apes and swine, and those who serve the devil. Koran, 5:60

READ YOUR KORAN, TURKISH APES AND SWINE.

READ AND RECITE!

Cem Ryan

Istanbul

8/19/2012

_________________________________________________________________________________

August 20, 2012