In addition to the investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election, Special Counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly now also probing an alleged plan by White House National Security Adviser Mike Flynn to deliver a Muslim cleric living in the U.S. to Turkey in exchange for millions of dollars, the Wall Street Journal reports. Flynn…
The federal investigation of possible ties between the Trump presidential campaign and Russian officials now includes a grand-jury investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. According to Reuters, three sources said the investigation—led by newly appointed special counsel Robert Mueller—will expand to look into Flynn’s paid work as a lobbyist for Turkish business magnate…
On Tuesday, President Trump will hold a meeting at the White House with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Key topics are expected to be Turkey’s opposition to a Trump plan to arm Kurdish fighters for an offensive to capture the Islamic State capital of Raqqa, and Turkey’s call for the U.S. to extradite a Muslim…
The White House on Tuesday denied the House Oversight Committee’s request for documents relating to former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired in February for lying to the vice president. Additionally, the committee’s leaders said Flynn “inappropriately” accepted money from foreign governments. In a letter to the committee’s chairman, Jason Chaffetz, White House…
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won Sunday’s referendum that replaces the country’s current system of parliamentary democracy with an executive presidency. The country’s electoral board said that with 99.45 percent of the ballots counted, the “yes” side received 51.4 percent of the vote. The ruling Justice and Development Party put forward the 18-article reform package,…
Just a few weeks after sending 500 troops into Syria Trump claimed in his latest interview with Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo that he would not send ground troops into Syria. “We’re not going into Syria, but when I see people using horrible, horrible chemical weapons which they agreed not to use under the Obama administration…
Russia confirmed Friday that it received advanced warning from the U.S. about its strike on Syria, in which the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the first American assault on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Moscow condemned the strike and gave notice that Russia is pulling out of all agreements to minimize risk of…
Dozens of people are dead in a northern Syria province after a suspected chemical attack on a rebel-held town. Activists and monitoring groups reported early Tuesday that strikes carried out by the Syrian government or Russian jets dumped a substance on Idlib that caused at least 58 people to choke to death, with responders on…
The suspected shooter in the New Year’s Eve attack on an upscale nightclub in Istanbul was captured late Monday night and then reportedly confessed to his actions. Abdulkadir Masharipov, reported to be from Uzbekistan, appears in photos posted by Turkish state media with a heavily bruised face. Masharipov, who was detained in the Esenyurt district…
ISIS claimed responsibility Monday morning for a deadly New Year’s Eve gun attack on Istanbul’s popular Reina nightclub, seeming to confirm the assessment of Turkish and U.S. intelligence officials. Turkish police have reportedly detained eight people in connection with the attack, although the gunman — who killed 39 people including 25 foreigners — is still…
Police in Turkey announced that 16 foreign nationals were among the 39 people killed in a New Year’s Eve attack on a popular Istanbul nightclub early Sunday. The attack took place shortly after 1 a.m., when an attacker stormed in and began firing at partygoers with what Istanbul Governor Vasip Sahin described as some kind…
On Thursday, Russian state media announced a cease-fire between the Syrian government and Syrian rebel groups. “Reports have just arrived that several hours ago there was a development that we all have looked and worked for for so long,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “Three documents have been signed. A cease-fire between the Syrian government…
Russia is believed to have tested an anti-satellite weapon, sources told CNN early Wednesday. U.S. officials, who tracked it, said they believe it did not destroy anything because it did not create debris. They also believe Russia sent kamikaze satellites, known in Russia as “Kosmos 2499,” which have the power to cripple or destroy U.S.…
Video showing the moments after Russia’s ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov was shot dead in Ankara. Russia’s ambassador to Turkey shot dead: CLICK HERE for LIVE COVERAGE The assassin says ‘don’t forget Syria and don’t forget Aleppo’ Video showing the moments after Russia's ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov was shot dead in Ankara. https://t.co/VguZ5TZp8S —…
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the suicide bomber who killed 51 people at a wedding in Gaziantep on Saturday was a child working for Islamic State terror group. In one of the worst attacks in Turkey this year, the bomber detonated at an outdoor wedding in a Kurdish neighborhood near the Syrian border, injuring…
According to a U.S. official and Turkish media, Akhmed Chatayev, also known as “Akhmed One-Arm,” directed the suicide attackers who killed 43 people in the Istanbul airport on Tuesday. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said Chatayev was responsible for the shooting and bombing and his whereabouts are unknown.…
A Chechen jihadi fighting with the Islamic State terror group is among the three men reportedly identified by Turkish officials as the assailants in Tuesday night’s deadly suicide attack at Istanbul’s airport. Local media named that suspect as Osman Vadinov, who allegedly crossed into Turkey from Raqqa, ISIS’s stronghold in Syria. The other two alleged…
The death toll has risen to 41 in the bombings at the Istanbul airport. Reports suggested that the fatalities included at least 23 Turkish citizens and 13 foreign nationals while officials worked to identify the others. At least 230 people are reported to have been injured in the suicide attack. “The bombs that exploded in…
Germany’s Bundestag passed a resolution qualifying the Ottoman Era Armenian killings ‘genocide’. The lower house of parliament voted almost unanimously, with one vote against the motion and one abstention. House speaker Norbert Lammert spoke of a “remarkable majority.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the leader of the Socialdemocrats Sigmar Gabriel failed…
Turkey’s military hit Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq with airstrikes Monday, hours after a suicide bombing in Ankara killed 37 people and wounded 125. In the airstrikes, nine F-16s and two F-4 jets raided 18 positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), including ammunition depots, bunkers, and shelters. A woman suspected of belonging to…
The Turkish military on Wednesday released an audio recording of what it says was proof it gave warning to a Russian warplane before it was shot down near the Syrian border earlier this week. A voice on the recording is heard saying, “Change your heading south immediately.” The audio release comes just hours after the…
Turkish F-16 fighter jets shot a Russian SU-24 warplane out of the sky Tuesday after it ignored warnings for violating the country’s airspace near the Syrian border. The plane reportedly crashed in the area known by Turks as “Turkmen Mountain” in northern Syria near the border. Turkey had not warned the coalition that it was…
Turkey has struck a military and security cooperation pact with the US that could greatly enhance the effectiveness of coalition air strikes. But what US officials describe as a game-changing deal also comes with a potentially high price tag: the escalating spillover of the Syria-Iraq conflict into neighboring Middle East countries. In cutting the deal,…
A mortal explosion killed at least 20 people in the Turkish border town of Suruc on Monday. The bomb ripped through an encampment of youth workers who were planning to travel to Kobane, an ISIS-besieged city on the Iraqi side of the border. A Turkish official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters: “Our initial…
UPDATE: Turkey’s foreign minister says on Twitter that prosecutor injured in hostage standoff has died. A prosecutor who probed the dead of a teenager hurt by authorities in an 2013 demonstration, Mehmet Selim Kiraz, appeared in a film Wednesday held by terrorists . He was taken in the morning by people of the Revolutionary People’s…
Turkey’s foreign affairs minister confirmed that the common-law wife of the terrorist who attacked a kosher supermarket in Paris crossed into Syria on Jan. 8. Hayat Boumediene, the spouse of Amedy Coulibaly, arrived in Istanbul on Jan. 2 and stayed in a hotel. That was nearly a week before the attacks in Paris that killed…
Anti-American protesters shouting “Yankee, go home!” roughed up three U.S. sailors in Istanbul near where a U.S. warship was docked on an inlet of the Bosphorus Strait in the Black Sea. As many as 10 protesters shouted at them, calling them killers and said they should leave Turkey. The protesters, who carried a banner of…
Turkish authorities on Friday launched an investigation after an unidentified yellow powder was found in a package sent to the Canadian consulate in Istanbul. Turkey’s disaster management agency, AFAD said in a statement, “The letter containing a yellow substance was examined in line with regular procedures.” The statement said, one Canadian consulate employee came directly…
Turkey has agreed to let the United States use its military bases in the campaign against ISIS militants. National Security Adviser Susan Rice says the U.S. welcomes the new agreement, which includes use of the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey. Rice says the agreement includes using Turkish bases and territory “to train moderate Syrian…
As criticism of its inaction mounts, Turkey’s foreign minister declared Thursday that it is not “realistic” for everybody to expect Turkey to launch a ground war against ISIS. Mevlut Cavusoglu also said that it is not possible for airstrikes to “clean the whole region of ISIS and other terrorists.” Criticism within Turkey has also increased…
