Syria Chemical attack Caused by Third Party: Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani.

Syria Chemical attack Caused by Third Party: Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani.(IFPnews).

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani discussed the recent US military strike on Syria’s al-Shayrat airbase with his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev.

The two sides conferred on the issue during a telephone conversation on Saturday, according to a Farsi report by ISNA.

During the phone call, Shamkhani underlined the need for the establishment of an independent international committee to investigate the suspicious chemical incident in Idlib.

Syria’s chemical weapons had been destroyed by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in previous years, Shamkhani noted.

Therefore, he added, the Tuesday chemical attack on Khan Shaykhun was definitely launched by a third party in an attempt to create a pretext for a military attack on Syria.

He further blasted the US missile attack on the Syrian airbase on Friday, and stressed that the ‘aggressive and illegal’ move will only strengthen the terrorists and disrupt the ongoing fight against terrorism pursued by the governments of Russia, Syria, and Iran under the UN supervision.

Patrushev, for his part, strongly denounced the US military attack on Syria and described it as a blatant violation of international laws.

“The US move was a clear invasion of an independent country, and despite what the US government claims, served the interests of terrorists,” he noted.


The Russian official pointed to the US history of raising false allegations about Weapons of Mass Destruction [the claims about Iraq’s possession of WMDs], and said the recent political fuss on Syria is just aimed at disrupting the process of resolving the Syrian crisis and increasing pressures on the legitimate government of Bashar al-Assad.

Ankara should have tried to find out how chemical weapons and chemical materials were smuggled from Iraq to Idlib. https://t.co/2f2rV60sbM

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) April 8, 2017

@manny_ottawa Flashback - 2010. Al Nusra captures base who's of part of Syria’s chemical weapons program. https://t.co/eEoXvchvCf

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) April 8, 2017

@manny_ottawa Flashback 2013. Questions about alleged gas attack in #Syria . #AlNusra....Again. FDD's Long War Journal. https://t.co/Zs21rtIvs5

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) April 8, 2017

Video - ISIS Behind the Mask - CNN Special Report

Germany opens investigation into Turkish “Diyanet” accused of spying on Erdogan opponents in 35 countries.

Source quote here.

Germany opens investigation into Turkish “Diyanet” accused of spying on Erdogan opponents in 35 countries.(Independent).

Germany has opened an investigation into a Turkish religious organisation accused of spying on behalf of the government over an attempted coup against Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Prosecutors are reportedly probing Halife Keskin, who heads the foreign relations department of Turkey’s “Diyanet” state religious authority, over allegations imams were asked to gather information on supporters of an exiled cleric.

Investigators have a document appearing to show Keskin personally instructing Turkish missions around the world to spy on alleged members of Fethullah Gulen’s “Hizmet” movement, German media reported.

​Diyanet asked Turkish consulates in 35 countries including Australia, Nigeria, Mauritania and Mongolia to gather information about Gulen supporters, according to leaked documents.

German, Austrian and Swiss authorities have all launched investigations into whether Turkey is conducting illegal espionage on their soil.

Documents made public by an Austrian politician this week alleged that Turkish embassies on four continents had submitted reports on alleged Gulen supporters after receiving a request from Ankara in September.

“There is clearly a global network of informants,” Greens MP Peter Pilz said. 

“We cannot say exactly how long it took to build up this network. I assume that it happened in a matter of years.”

Countries routinely post intelligence officers in their embassies, and European authorities have not said in what ways the alleged Turkish activity went beyond acceptable levels of information-gathering by a foreign power.Read the full story here.

Turkish religious foundation head: Religion of ISIS is religion taught in our theology schools. ISIS are trying to put Islam into practice.

— Ankaralı Jan (@06JAnk) June 23, 2016

Video - Retired Army Lt. Gen.Flynn and Turkish Min, Son in law of Erdogan Discussed Kidnapping Turkish Cleric Gulen.

Video - Retired Army Lt. Gen.Flynn and Turkish Min, Son in law of Erdogan Discussed Kidnapping Turkish Cleric Gulen.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, while serving as an adviser to the Trump campaign, met with top Turkish government ministers and discussed removing a Muslim cleric from the U.S. and taking him to Turkey, according to former Central Intelligence Agency Director James Woolsey, who attended, and others who were briefed on the meeting.

The discussion late last summer involved ideas about how to get Fethullah Gulen, a cleric whom Turkey has accused of orchestrating last summer’s failed military coup, to Turkey without going through the U.S. extradition legal process, according to Mr. Woolsey and those who were briefed.

The Turkish ministers were interested in open-ended thinking on the subject, and the ideas were raised hypothetically, said the people who were briefed. The ministers in attendance included the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the country’s foreign minister, foreign-lobbying disclosure documents show.

Mr. Woolsey said the idea was “a covert step in the dead of night to whisk this guy away.” The discussion, he said, didn’t include actual tactics for removing Mr. Gulen from his U.S. home. If specific plans had been discussed, Mr. Woolsey said, he would have spoken up and questioned their legality.

It isn’t known who raised the idea or what Mr. Flynn concluded about it.Hmmm......See tweets below.Read the full story here.

VP @mike_pence ‘reportedly' talked w Turkish PM Yıldırım on the phone about a week ago but a readout never issued by @WhiteHouse
How come?

— ilhan tanir (@WashingtonPoint) February 13, 2017

Ankara’s readout on Pence-Turkish PM B.Yıldırım mentions about ‘FETO’ i.e. Gulen extradition.
White House readout has no mention#Diplomacy pic.twitter.com/EAk6myPzZ1

— ilhan tanir (@WashingtonPoint) February 18, 2017

Israeli ex-defense minister Moshe Yaalon says Erdogan seeking 'neo-Ottoman empire'.

Israeli ex-defense minister Moshe Yaalon says Erdogan seeking 'neo-Ottoman empire'. (DS).

Israeli ex-defense minister Moshe Yaalon accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday of seeking a "neo-Ottoman empire" while warning of growing instability in the Middle East.

Yaalon, seeking to build a campaign to become Israel's next prime minister, spoke of his concerns while addressing regional issues in a meeting with foreign journalists.

The ex-minister, forced out of office last year as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to expand his right-wing coalition, accused Erdogan of pursuing "hegemony by establishing (a) neo-Ottoman empire using the Muslim Brotherhood ideology, not just within Turkey."

He also accused NATO-member Turkey of working against Western interests.

His comments came with Turkey and the European Union undergoing an explosive crisis after key EU members the Netherlands and Germany blocked Turkish ministers from holding rallies to back constitutional changes expanding Erdogan's powers.

Yaalon named Turkey under Erdogan as one of three "radical" elements seeking to expand their influence in the Middle East, also mentioning Iran and extremist groups such as ISIS.

He said he believed the situation had evolved in that way because of what he called former U.S. president Barack Obama's administration's decision to "disengage" from the Middle East.
"And the vacuum has been filled by these three elements struggling for hegemony in the region," he said.

"I've heard too many slogans in our politics in the last couple of years, ignoring the reality on the ground, ignoring the facts – at the end, ignoring our interest."

Yaalon said the conflict with the Palestinians should be managed for now to avoid further eruptions of violence.
"We are not going to reach a final settlement in the coming future," he said. Hmmm.....I totally agree with his view. Read the full story here.

Video - Basel's annual Morgestraich Carnival in Switzerland targets Turkish 'Dictator' Erdogan.

Carnival in Switzerland targets President Erdoğan as anti-Turkey sentiment grows in Europehttps://t.co/igtTpiA9jY pic.twitter.com/bRwSmrFHav

— DAILY SABAH (@DailySabah) March 13, 2017

'Islamist Dictator' Erdogan chides Merkel over use of ‘Islamist terror’ term.

'Islamist Dictator' Erdogan chides Merkel over use of ‘Islamist terror’ term. (Komnews).

Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chided German Chancellor Angela Merkel over her use of the term “Islamist terror” when describing the Islamic State.

Responding to a comment by Merkel that a joint struggle needed to be waged against the IS group,  Erdogan said the use of the term “Islamist terror” was not correct.

“Islam means peace. Bringing together the terms ‘Islam’ and ‘terror’ will only upset Muslims around the world. I would like to ask that this term not be used to describe the jihadist terror of Islamic State,” Erdogan said.

Merkel responded to Erdogan’s comment, saying ‘Islam’ and ‘Islamist’ were not the same thing and that the German nation had stood against all kinds of terror.


“Religious freedoms are very important for me. In Germany we are doing everything we can to enable Muslims to practice their beliefs freely. Our people have the utmost respect for Muslims,” Merkel said.

RELATED:

Turkish religious foundation head: Religion of ISIS is religion taught in our theology schools. ISIS are trying to put Islam into practice.

— Ankaralı Jan (@06JAnk) June 23, 2016

Greece Warns of Turkish Plot to pour 3,000 illegal immigrants a day in to the EU.

Greece Warns of Turkish Plot to pour 3,000 illegal immigrants a day in to the EU. (AW).

Greece intelligence warned that Turkey is secretly planning to send over 3,000 refugees sailing to Greek shores every day.

Greek analysts warned thousands of dinghies and motorboats have massed along the Turkish coast as the refugee deal agreed between Ankara and Brussels looks set to unravel.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to open the borders if the EU continue to block talks on the country’s accession to the union.

The European Parliament voted to temporarily halt membership talks amid concerns about the brutal crackdown on dissent in the country following an attempted military coup in July.

Erdogan warned: "If you go any further, these border gates will be opened. Neither me nor my people will be affected by these dry threats. It wouldn't matter if all of you approved the vote".

The deal reached in March meant any refugee who arrived on Italian or Greek shores would be sent back to Turkey in exchange for EU member countries accepting another refugee from a Turkish camp on a “one for one” basis.

Ankara will also receive aid money to help it care for the refugees within its borders, visa free travel for its citizens and the speeding up of membership talks.


But according to Greek newspaper Proto Thema, Ankara has given up on hope of Brussels living up to its side of the deal and could start allowing the refugees to flee “within a matter of weeks. Hmmm.....not mentioning all the Islamist terrorists they'll allow to cross as well.

Second Most powerful democrat in Senate to hold hearings to investigate Kuwait & Turkey connections to ISIS terror funding.

2 Most powerful democrat in Senate to hold hearings to investigate Kuwait & Turkey connections to ISIS terror funding. (prnewschannel).

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the second most powerful democrat in the Senate, the ranking democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee and the founding Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, will hold hearings to investigate two key banking institutions in Kuwait and whether they helped fund terrorism, sources say.

While Durbin hasn’t commented on the reported investigation into Kuwait banks’ ties to terror, he has been very outspoken about clamping down on terror, wherever it is.

Sources say the Durbin hearings, to be conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, will target the Kuwait Finance House, a Kuwait based bank, and the Kuveyt-Turk Participation Bank, Inc., a financial institution based in Turkey, which is allegedly owned by the Kuwait Finance House.

The outfits allegedly distributed money and financial services to known terrorists organizations, such as ISIS, which has killed and maimed civilians, beheaded Christians and created a massive refugee crisis in the Middle East.

“Durbin has a made a career and headlines going after human rights violators,” says an source on Capitol Hill who did not want to be identified. “Durbin will relentlessly examine the Kuwait Finance House and the Kuveyt-Turk Participation Bank, Inc. because they are alleged to have funded ISIS which has led to a human rights crisis.” Hmmm.........State sponsors of Islamic terrorism. Read the full story here.

Kuveyt Turk's CEO was Erdogan's close ally A.Tivnikli until 2015. This hearing will be a major headache. There is ongoing case in US courts. https://t.co/3uA0nHvpyu

— ilhan tanir (@WashingtonPoint) November 20, 2016

Turkish 'Islamist Dictatorship' discussing purchase of S-400 systems from Russia.

Turkish 'Islamist Dictatorship' discussing purchase of S-400 systems from Russia. (Tass).

Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik has said that Ankara is in talks with Moscow regarding the purchase of S-400 air defense systems. He made the statement when asked about Turkey’s plans for building up its air defense potential.

"We are conducting talks with Russia over the S-400s. But we also go ahead with contacts with other countries on this issue. Russia’s stance is positive," he said.

Iran President Rouhani Says Any Foreign Intervention (Turkey) ‘Very Dangerous’.

Iran President Rouhani Says Any Foreign Intervention (Turkey) ‘Very Dangerous’. (IFP).

“We regard as very dangerous [acts of] intervention by foreign countries without any coordination with the host country and believe that [for any foreign measure,] the Syrian and Iraqi governments must request help and demand that another country act against terrorism inside their territories,” Rouhani told reporters at the end of his visit to the central Iranian province of Markazi on Monday.

“This [regulation] is based on international principles and [any move] contrary to it will exacerbate insecurity,” he added.

He said the Middle East has been grappling with the problem of terrorism for years and added that Western powers are not interested in the elimination of this phenomenon in the region despite being plagued by the scourge and its consequences.

“Some big powers are toying with terrorist groups in line with their own illegitimate goals and despite overflowing the region with tools and equipment, they are not carrying out any positive measure against them [terrorists],” the Iranian president stated.

He urged regional countries to respect the territorial integrity of other countries because “shifting borders is very dangerous.”

Turkey is adamantly insisting that it wants to play a military role in the recapture of Mosul despite Iraq’s opposition, triggering a serious diplomatic row between the two neighbors.

Ankara has deployed troops to a base near Mosul, claiming that they were there to train Kurdish militants for the battle against Daesh.

Addressing a forum of Muslim scholars and politicians in Baghdad on Saturday, the Iraqi prime minister called on Turkey and Saudi Arabia to stop interfering in the domestic affairs of his country.

“We want the good of Saudi Arabia and Turkey provided that they do not interfere in the domestic affairs of our country,” Abadi said.

He added that Turkey had sent troops without the Iraqi government’s request and emphasized that Ankara is not battling Daesh but is trying to expand its outreach.

The Iraqi premier emphasized that Ankara did not help Baghdad when it was requested.

For more than a year, Turkey has maintained a contingent of its troops in northern Iraq, alleging that it is training local forces in their fight against Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

However, tensions have escalated after the beginning of the major offensive to liberate Mosul.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on October 12 that the country’s military forces will continue their presence in northern Iraq regardless of Baghdad’s repeated protests and escalating tensions between the two neighbors.

“Turkey’s presence in Bashiqa (military camp) is legitimate. We will continue our presence there as long as it is needed,” Kurtulmus said.

Following Turkey’s deployment of its forces to northern Iraq, Syria condemned the “flagrant” move and said Ankara has repeatedly violated Syrian territorial integrity and is supporting militant groups fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkish troops are also deployed to northern Syria, a move condemned by Damascus as a violation of its sovereignty.

Video - Mosul and Aleppo belongs to Turks - Erdogan

It takes a Special kind of stupid not to realize what 'Sometimes NATO Ally' Turkey is up to.....Or complicity.

Comes from Erdogan's favorite Islamist paper's editor-in-chief: N. Mosul & Aleppo should be handed over to Turkey: https://t.co/aI8nKuohmt

— ilhan tanir (@WashingtonPoint) October 24, 2016

PM Abadi calls out Turkey for its previous lack of support and sudden insistence on helping in unwanted ways.

PM Abadi calls out Turkey for its previous lack of support and sudden insistence on helping in unwanted ways.

Iraqi PM Abadi: Thank you, but we don’t need Turkey’s help in Mosul.

Iraqi PM Abadi: Thank you, but we don’t need Turkey’s help in Mosul. (Rudaw).

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq has declined Turkey’s offer of assistance in the offensive to liberate Mosul from ISIS rule.

"I know that the Turks want to participate, we tell them thank you, this is something the Iraqis will handle," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Saturday.

"If help is needed, we will ask for it from Turkey or from other regional countries."

Abadi made his comments to reporters following a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, who was in Baghdad on Saturday.

The US has been trying to negotiate an agreement to bring an end to tensions between Baghdad and Ankara over the presence of Turkish troops on Iraqi soil and their participation in the military offensive.

Turkey has been insisting that their forces will participate in the ongoing Mosul offensive, which is led by Iraqi forces with Kurdish Peshmerga and international coalition support.

On Friday, a day after meeting the Turkish president, Carter said that Turkey and Iraq had reached an agreement “in principle” regarding the involvement of Turkish forces in the military offensive in Mosul, though the details remained to be agreed upon and Baghdad needed to give final approval.

The same day that Abadi and Carter were meeting, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave an impassioned speech about Mosul at the opening ceremony of the new campus of Haci Sevim Yikdiz in Bursa.

“Mosul was ours. Look at the history,” Erdogan said, as reported by Cumhuriyet.

“I’m talking about the Frontier Treaty and somebody is annoyed,” Erdogan was reported as saying. “I’m giving a lecture about history. Why are you bored? Our difference is that we are nationalists and patriots. From the beginning, we said that the keys of Iraq mustn’t be given to one ethnic group. It is what we also say for Syria. We say this to those countries who are active in the region.”

Families of Mosul Isis leaders reach Raqqa in Syria. Suspicion of 'Allied forces' complicity.

Families of Mosul Isis leaders reach Raqqa in Syria. Suspicion of 'Allied forces' complicity. (AN).

Raqqa  – As the Iraqi army continues its advance towards Mosul rumors are also circulating that there is a secret agreement to transfer Daesh militiamen from Mosul to Syria, specifically to Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, in Caliphate territory".

A similar transfer has already taken place under the protection and with the complicity of many countries, including some which officially are fighting Daesh in Iraq, but not in Syria.

These rumors are now substantiated. An Raqqa resident has reported seeing 10 white buses followed by 12 cars, entering the city in motorcade (see photo). The white vans are the typical means of transport that the Islamic State (IS) used for operations in Mosul.

Dozens of passengers, mainly women and children, alighted form these vehicles, many speaking foreign languages ​​and Arabic dialects that are neither Iraqi nor the Syrian. The fact that women and children were treated with great respect has made the residents of Raqqa suspect them of being family members of Isis leaders and foreign mercenaries.

The families - escorted by armed guards to ensure their protection - were accommodated in student housing in the district of Al Rumeileh.

The news quickly circulated on social media, which has overtaken traditional news agencies, sparking uproar in Iraq, among the members of the so-called "Phalange of Babylon". This is a paramilitary militia composed of Christians (Orthodox) in Mosul that fights alongside the Iraqi army and Kurdish Peshmerga to regain their lands occupied by the IS.

Some of them have expressed suspicion of Allied forces complicity in allowing Daesh fugitives, to make the journey to Raqqa.

Curiously, the Western air force engaged in air raids, did not report any sightings of them and allowed them to arrive safe and sound in Raqqa.

Late yesterday an Iraqi source told the pan-Arab TV Al Mayadeen that are already 100 prominent leaders of Daesh who have fled Mosul and arrived in Raqqa with their family.

The propaganda machine of the Daesh "Caliphate" however reports the exact opposite: "the relatives of foreign Daesh leaders are fleeing Raqqa in the direction of Mosul, considered more secure." The news of the escape from Raqqah to Mosul was even declared by Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights cited by AFP, and rebroadcast by Sky 24 network in Arabic, who spoke of the arrival in Mosul from Raqqah of 70 families of Daesh leaders.

In any case, this transit between Mosul and Raqqa seems to have taken place in complete safely. It is not clear how these families are arriving from Mosul to Raqqa (or vice versa): the strategic highway Sinjar, which links Mosul to Hassakah in Syria and then to Raqqa is under the total control of the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga.

The only other possibility is to pass further south, from Shaddadiya in Syria, or to the north, where there are Turkish troops in Baashika. Of course all these movements would be visible with satellites and from the air, where Russians, Americans, Iraqis, French aircraft patrol day and night.

Military experts say that a massive flight of Isis militiamen from Mosul to Raqqa, would transform the recapture of Mosul into a Pyrrhic victory. The military presence of Daesh on the western side of the Euphrates in Syria would allow them to take advantage of any vacuum in the future to return to Iraq, rising from the Nineveh Plain to Ramadi, Falluja and again threaten Baghdad.

The suspicion of the Iraqis is that "Daesh will only temporarily withdraw from Iraq without a landslide victory, the leaders of the Caliphate will not be captured or stopped, only to be re-used at any time by countries that already support and aid Daesh in secret."

Iraqis are convinced that after the liberation of Mosul, the Daesh leaders and fighters will not be arrested or tried for crimes against humanity of which they are guilty. They will not be subjected to interrogation to find out who their secret allies really are. (P.B.)

Russia to take steps if Islamic State moves from Mosul to Syria — Lavrov.

Russia to take steps if Islamic State moves from Mosul to Syria — Lavrov. (Tass).

Moscow will take military measures should militants of the Islamic State (outlawed in Russia as a terrorist organization - TASS) move from Mosul to Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"Mosul is a large city with a civilian population of 1.5 million, if not more," Lavrov said. "We keep an eye on this operation, of course, because all of us are interested in defeating the so-called Islamic State."

"The city is surrounded, but not completely. I do not know why. Possibly, they’ve just failed," Lavrov said. "It is to be hoped they just failed, and not were reluctant to do so."

"Anyway, the remaining corridor is fraught with the risk the Islamic State may move from Iraq’s Mosul to Syria," he said. "Of course, we will keep an eye on the situation and take both political and military decisions, if that happens, if in Syria, where our military group is present at the request of the legitimate government, there will emerge more Islamic State contingents."

According to the Russian top diplomat, it is yet unclear whether the Iraqi army’s Shia units are taking part in this operation and what is the role of the Kurd militias and Turkey.

"As you know, Turkish troops are deployed there and the Iraqi government is protesting against that," Lavrov noted.

"Moreover, there are 5,000 U.S. troops in Iraq who are referred to by Washington as ‘advisers.’ Anyway, 5,000 ‘advisers’ are a big force," he said. Read the full story here.

Video - Popular Mobilization Units (PMU-mostly Shiite militias) release new video on upcoming liberation of Mosul Iraq.

Popular Mobilization Units (PMU-mostly Shiite militias) release new video on upcoming liberation of Mosul #Iraqpic.twitter.com/fIA1dM9h2A

— Michael Horowitz (@michaelh992) October 15, 2016

'Neo Ottoman conqueror' Turkey Has 'Plan B' if Not Involved in Mosul Offensive: Erdogan.

'Neo Ottoman conqueror' Turkey Has 'Plan B' if Not Involved in Mosul Offensive: Erdogan.(SP).

Mosul has been under control of Daesh since 2014, and remains their main stronghold. The US-led coalition of more than 60 nations has been conducting airstrikes against Daesh in Iraq since then.

"We are determined to take part in an operation by coalition forces in Iraq. If they [the US-led coalition] do not want Turkey's involvement, a Plan B or Plan C will be implemented," Erdogan said addressing participants of a rally in the city of Konya. Hmmm.....As i said earlier (See tweet Below).

@EjmAlrai Good morning Eli. Thank you for your insight, my guess #Turkey will amass enough armor at the #Iraqi border to eventually go in.

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) October 13, 2016

Russia may consider delivering air defense systems to 'Sometimes NATO Ally' Turkey.

Russia may consider delivering air defense systems to 'Sometimes NATO Ally' Turkey. (Tass).

Russia may consider delivering air defense systems to Turkey, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

The presidential spokesman made this statement as he was answering questions about the visit, which Russian President Vladimir Putin had paid to Turkey on Monday.

"Indeed, the issues related to military and technical cooperation were on the agenda of contacts between Putin and [Turkish President Tayyip] Erdogan," Peskov told journalists.

"Various air defense systems were mentioned," he added.

"If the Turkish side expresses its desire, Russia may consider the possibility of their delivery to Turkey in various modifications," the Kremlin spokesman said.

"But this is a purely commercial issue, a very sensitive area of cooperation," Peskov said. Hmmm......NATO Ally my A@#%$

Sometimes NATO 'Ally' Turkey fears super powers Russia-US war over Syria.

Sometimes NATO 'Ally' Turkey fears super powers Russia-US war over Syria. (ET).

ANKARA: Turkey said on Wednesday it fears the world will be plunged into a global conflict with superpowers Russia and the US on opposing sides if the proxy war in Syria continues.

“If this proxy war continues, after this, let me be clear, America and Russia will come to a point of war,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in an interview with official Anadolu news agency.

Kurtulmus warned that the Syrian conflict had put the world “on the brink of the beginning of a large regional or global war”.

While Turkey and its Western allies call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, Moscow is a key backer of the regime in Damascus alongside Iran.

Ankara is part of the US-led coalition targeting the Islamic State group with air strikes but it has also supported Syrian opposition fighters to retake territory from the jihadist group since August 24.

Tensions between Moscow and Washington have surged in the last week as the US pulled the plug on Syria talks and accused Russia of hacking attacks.

US Secretary of State John Kerry last week called for a war crimes investigation after accusing Moscow and the regime of deliberately bombing hospitals as a Russian-backed assault on Aleppo in northern Syria continues.In the interview, Kurtulmus also insisted that Turkish forces at the Bashiqa camp in northern Iraq were “legitimate” and would remain in the country for “as long as necessary”.

Tensions are high after Baghdad called Ankara an “occupying” force last week when the Turkish parliament agreed to extend its mandate for military operations in Iraq and Syria for a year. Hmmm......Seems 'Backstabber' Turkey has already chosen sides. Read the full story here.