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.

ISIS allegedly Transported Oil from Syria’s Oil Field to 'Sometimes U.S. & NATO ally' Turkey: Report.

ISIS allegedly Transported Oil from Syria’s Oil Field to 'Sometimes U.S. & NATO ally' Turkey: Report.  (Alwaght).

ISIS terrorist group has reportedly transported oil from Syria's Jabisah oil field to Turkey via its stronghold, Raqqa.

Recently liberated from ISIS, Jabisah oil field and facility, located near the town of Shaddadi in northern Hasaka province, was a major source of funding for the extremist group.

RT Arabic cited  people living near the oil field as saying that the terrorists had been transporting oil from the facility first to their de facto capital Raqqa and then to Turkey.

Ghazi Hussein, a resident of Hasakah province, who witnessed the terrorists having Jabisah under their control, told RT ISIS terrorists were transferring oil to their stronghold in Raqqa and then to neighboring Turkey through the Tell Abyad checkpoint on the Turkish-Syrian border.

“Then they sold it [oil] to Turkey in exchange for dollars and weapons,” Hussein said, adding that Syrian historical artefacts were also smuggled to Turkey.

“All the tankers were from Iraq. They were filled with Syrian oil. The oil was taken to Raqqa and then to Turkey,” another resident of Hasakah province, Amir Al Hajj, told RT Arabic.

The jihadists used hundreds of oil tankers they obtained after capturing the Iraqi city of Mosul to transport the illegal oil, the locals say.

One of the largest oil fields in Syria, Jabisah is capable of producing 2.2 million cubic meters of gas and 80,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

Late in 2015, the Russian military released a batch of evidence, including satellite images of columns of oil tanker trucks moving into Turkey from the areas controlled by the ISIS in Syria.

EU[nuchs] surrender to Turkey 'Agrees' on Migrant Crisis Deal

EU[nuchs], surrender to Turkey 'Agrees' on Migrant Crisis Deal. (Novinite)

EU leaders have said an agreement was reached between them and Turkey on a deal that is expected to ease pressure that hundreds of thousands of migrants have been applying on Europe over the past year.

A European Council meeting is taking place on Thursday and Friday, with EU leaders having smoothed out differences before meeting Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on the second day.

Finland's Prime Minister Juha Sipilä was the first EU leader to make the announcement on Twitter, saying the agreement had been reached. An official confirmation has yet to be made by other member states.

It was not immediately clear whether objections by several member states, such as Bulgaria and Cyprus, had been dropped. Bulgaria in particular demands that a deal include stepped up measures at its borders with Turkey, and not only between Turkey and Greece as initially planned.

At a meeting with Davutoglu last week, EU leaders agreed in principle to step up cooperation with Turkey in stemming the migrant flow from Turkey into Europe, with the deal to be finalized at this week's European Council.

Apart from the implementation of the EU-Turkey Action Plan, the EU leaders also agreed on the full application of the Schengen Borders Code, closure of the Western Balkan migrant route and reinforcement of humanitarian assistance to Greece.

The so-called “one-in, one-out” deal foresees the return of all migrants traveling to Greece from Turkey, the rule entering into force on Sunday (March 20) midnight. For each Syrian returned to Turkey, another Syrian already in Turkey will be resettled in the EU.

In exchange for accepting the deal, the EU has proposed to double the financial aid it had previously promised to Turkey from EUR 3 B to EUR 6 B, accelerate the negotiations for Ankara's accession to the EU and provide Turkish citizens with vise-free access to countries from the Schengen Area.

The process of both sending back those who reached Turkey and relocation of Syrian refugees from Turkish camps is to begin over the weekend.

EU leaders say the deal will be implemented in accordance with international law.

Ankara is now expected to submit a budget proposal to inform Brussels about how it intends to spend the money.

A new chapter of Turkey's accession talks with the EU, No. 33 (Budgetary and Financial Affairs), by June.