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Geopolitics Ideas Terror in Europe

Europe Pays For Betting On Erdogan And Gulf Petrodollars

The Brussels attacks are a reap-what-you-sow moment for Europe, after biding its time and coddling its dangerous allies for too long.

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Assad’s Future, Brazil Protests, Bollywood Anniversary

SYRIA PEACE TALKS IN GENEVA Syrian opposition negotiator Mohamad Alloush said during the Geneva Syria peace talks Saturday that Syria’s political transition could only start once Bashar al-Assad was no longer president. “We consider that the transitional period starts with the fall of Bashar al-Assad or his death,” The Jerusalem Post quoted him as saying. […]

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Geopolitics Syria Crisis

The Bosnia Solution, How Russia Plans To Split Syria In Three

Moscow is quietly working toward a federal future for war-torn Syria, with a central government but the nation divided into three different ethnic zones. It’s a nod to Kurdish ambitions and lessons from the Balkans.

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blog

Men Wrestling — Video Quote Of The Day

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High Power

I like the juxtaposition between this minaret and the improbable electrical entanglement in the foreground: Clearly, you needed to have faith to believe the whole thing was going to hold up.

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Geopolitics Ideas Syria Crisis

The Syrian Trap: Is Russia Sending NATO To Its Grave?

-Analysis- PARIS — Could the trap of the Syrian crisis break up NATO? This question, which carries potentially grave implications for the security of the West, might sound overblown. After all, NATO’s unfailing cohesion eventually brought down one of the most formidable war machines of all time, the Soviet Union. Still, the spreading corrosive capacities […]

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Second Turkey Attack, Obama To Cuba, Moka Maker

TURKISH TROOPS HIT AGAIN IN DEADLY ATTACK Photo: Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua/ZUMA A Turkish military convoy in southern Turkey was targeted by a roadside bomb this morning, an attack that killed at least six soldiers and wounded another, Hürriyet reports. It came just hours after a car bomb in Ankara also targeted military personnel yesterday, killing 28 […]

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Geopolitics Migrant Lives Syria Crisis

Billions In EU Aid To Turkey Hasn’t Stopped Wave Of Refugees

Turkey is supposed to guard our borders against more refugees and receive financial aid for its services. But refugees fleeing to Europe across the Mediterranean keep coming.

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blog

Modern Living In A Rock Mushroom

In Cappadocia, these fairy chimneys date back to the 4th century, drawing curious tourists from around the world. But some of the ancient troglodyte structures still serve as people’s homes.

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Economy Future Ideas

Turkey’s Frantic, Failing Quest To Be A Technology Leader

-Op-Ed- ISTANBUL — Anyone who has ever visited a toy store with a child who doesn’t really know what he wants can understand Turkey“s technological predicament. There is the mad run from shelf to shelf, listening to the child explain why he desperately needs toy after toy. And then, in the end, there is the […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Letter From A Turkish Prison, When A Journalist Writes About Erdogan

Just days after Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dündar accepted the 2015 Press Freedom Prize in France, he was arrested along with a colleague. He wrote this letter from the Istanbul jail where he faces life in prison for publishing articles about

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Istanbul Blast, N. Korea’s Faked Launch, Marrying Murdoch

AT LEAST 10 DIE IN ISTANBUL BLAST Photo: Zeynep Cermen/Xinhua via ZUMA An explosion in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet tourist district killed at least 10 people and wounded 15 others today, CNN Türk reports. Local authorities have said they believe an ISIS suicide bomber caused the blast, Turkish daily Hürriyet reports. UN CALLS FOR EVACUATING 400 […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Turkey In Iraq, Erdogan Reveals His Sunni Agenda

After its standoff with Moscow over the downed Russian fighter jet, Ankara is making waves with its troop presence in Iraq. But Turkey does not want Shia militia to be the heroes to “rescue” Mosul from ISIS.

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Migrant Lives Syria Crisis

At The Syria-Turkey Border, Suddenly Shut Off To Refugees

After the Paris attacks last month, an emergency accord between Turkey and the European Union has sealed a border that was once so porous. It has real-life effects on desperate refugees, and entire towns.

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Geopolitics

Turkey-Russia Feud Reignites Armenian Question

Since Turkey shot down a Russian military jet, discord between the two sides has escalated. The upshot could be unfreezing a war between Azerbaijan and an Armenian minority who have occupied its territories.

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blog

On This Day – November 27

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Chilling Paris Revelations, Tunis Terror, Pope In Africa

TURKEY-RUSSIA TENSIONS REMAIN HIGH Photo: Russian Look/ZUMA “An unprecedented crisis,” warns Turkish daily Hürriyet on the front page of its Wednesday edition, a day after two Turkish jets shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border. Although the downing of the plane sparked fears of increased tension between the two nations, Turkey’s President Recep […]

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Turkish Daily Warns Of ‘Unprecedented Crisis’ With Russia

“An unprecedented crisis,” warns Turkish daily Hürriyet on the front page of its Wednesday edition, a day after two Turkish jets shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border. Although the downing of the plane sparked fears of increased tension between the two nations, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised speech, […]

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Geopolitics Ideas Terror in Europe

Turkey’s Opportunism, Using Paris Attack To Undermine Kurds

-OpEd- ANTALYA — Opportunism may be one of the accepted facts of life in foreign policy, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. The Turkish government is busy right now trying to make the most of two pieces of the Syrian crisis that have come to the fore: The recent flood of refugees to […]

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blog

At Your Doorstep

Hopefully this bakery in central Turkey didn’t get its flour delivered the way it did its coal.

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blog

Two Months After Syrian Boy’s Death, Two More Die A Day

Libération, Nov. 5, 2015 “Everyday, two Aylans,” French daily Libération writes on Thursday’s front page, which also features a photograph of the body of a yet-to-be-identified 10-year-old Afghan boy washed up on a beach of the Greek island of Lesbos, off the coast of Turkey. The picture and headline both echo the similar drowning death […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

How AKP Won In Turkey: A Broken Opposition, A Quieter Erdogan

-Analysis- ISTANBUL — Why did those who gave 60% of the vote to opposition parties in the June 7 parliamentary elections turn to the ruling AKP on Sunday? The message to the various forces of the opposition was clear: “You couldn’t find a ruling coalition with 60% of the vote. You made a mess of […]

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Erdogan AKP Party Storms Back In Turkish Election

Zaman, Nov. 2, 2015 “Alone in power,” writes Turkish daily Zaman on its Monday front page, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) swept back to victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections. In a defeat for political moderates, secularists and Kurds, the AKP will return to governing the country alone after winning […]

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Xi In The UK, New FIFA Scandal, World’s Longest Baguette

XI IN THE UK Chinese President Xi Jinping will arrive in Britain today for his first state visit to the country, a sign of the current “golden era” between London and Beijing, The Guardian reports. In contrast to Xi’s recent U.S. visit, which was marked by tensions over cyber security, the two countries are expected […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

After Ankara: Terrorism, Responsibility And Erdogan’s Short Memory

Turkish President Erdogan was quick to blame U.S. and French leaders after terror attacks struck those countries, but has failed to take responsibility for allowing the deadly Ankara attacks to occur.

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Just One Foot

Four shoeshiners for one foot. That’s how fierce competition was in Turkey, at a time when tourist feet were not as plentiful as today.

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Iran Approves Nuke Deal, Cardinals Question Pope, Playboy Buttons Up

IRAN LAWMAKERS APPROVE NUCLEAR DEAL Iran’s parliament today approved the nuclear agreement reached in July with six world powers, clearing the way for its implementation, state news agency IRNA reports. The deal was passed with 161 votes for, 59 against and 13 abstentions. It authorizes lifting sanctions against Iran in exchange for Tehran limiting its […]

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Ankara Bombings: ‘The Cost Of Peace’

Milliyet, Oct. 12, 2015 “The cost shouldn’t be so high,” Turkish daily Milliyet writes on Monday’s front page, quoting and featuring a picture of İzzettin Çevik, the blood-covered school teacher who became one of the symbols of the toll of Saturday’s deadly bombings in Ankara. Çevik, who was photographed by Reuters amid the carnage, lost […]

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Geopolitics Ideas

Ankara Attack, The Government Must Share The Blame

Saturday’s bombings in Turkey’s capital may be the worst in the nation’s history, with a toll approaching 100 dead. Some point the finger at President Erdogan’s ruling AKP party.

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Helpful Home Erosion

Millions of years of erosion shaped the fairy chimneys — also called tent rocks, hoodoos, earth pyramids — of Cappadocia. All that man needed was a bit of carving and digging to make himself at home in these troglodyte dwellings.

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Geopolitics Migrant Lives Syria Crisis

A Tale Of Two Syrians Who Tried To Swim To Europe

Two Syrian refugees who attempted to swim part of the way to Europe recounted why they wound up making such a dangerous journey.

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Migrant Lives

Izmir, The Hub Of Turkey’s Migrant Smuggling Ring

A vacation destination in western Turkey is now at the center of the human trafficking of Syrian refugees and other migrants trying to make the perilous sea journey to Europe.

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Geopolitics Ideas

From Armenian Genocide To Kurdish Rebels, Turkey Is A Nation In Denial

Turkish political leaders and ordinary citizens are blind as ever to why Kurds continue to fight for freedom. It recalls another open chapter in the nation’s troubled history.

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blog

Extra! Turkey Wants To ‘Wipe Out’ PKK After Attack

“Trapped in the fog: 16 martyred,” reads Tuesday’s front page of Turkish daily Hürriyet, after PKK fighters reportedly ambushed and killed 16 Turkish soldiers in southeastern Turkey Sunday by taking advantage of the bad weather. According to the Turkish news agency Anadolu, two armored vehicles were targeted with roadside bombs between Daglica and Yuksekova in […]

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Geopolitics Migrant Lives

How Newspapers Featured Shocking Photos Of Drowned Refugee Boy

PARIS — Shocking photographs of the body of a Syrian toddler, whose body had washed up on a Turkish beach after his family’s failed attempt to reach Europe, are sparking global outcry. Will the publication of the hard-to-look-at images mark a turning point in raising global consciousness of the plight of refugees? The series of […]

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Geopolitics

Exclusive: Why Turkey Arrested Two Foreign Journalists

Two British reporters for VICE news, and their translator, have been charged as supporters of Kurdish group PKK, though they were first accused of being pro-ISIS.

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Syria Crisis

Nour, The Syrian Child Refugee I’ll Never Forget

A volunteer who led a writing workshop for Syrian child refugees of the war did what he could to offer the aspiring writers some hope. His heart was touched in return.

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Economy Society

It’s Not Just Security Driving Turkey’s Ebbing Tourism

What were once quaint and distinguishable summer beach towns have become Disneyfied versions of themselves, identical places to buy knockoff brands and chain store coffee.

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Geopolitics

Who Benefits From PKK-Turkey Clash? Assad And Iran

ISTANBUL — The end of the ceasefire between Turkey and the PKK (The Kurdistan Worker’s Party) is a development that will undermine both sides’ bigger plans in the region. The Turkish government may be hoping to gain the nationalist vote and weaken the legal pro-Kurdish party (The People’s Democratic Party or HDP) by going after […]

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Geopolitics

The Aborted European Escape Of The Yazidis

The ordeal of the Yazidis ethnic minority began one year ago, escaping an impending ISIS massacre in northern Iraq. Tens of thousands fled to Turkey. But what happened next?

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