Turkey's Referendum 'The day after': Abundant signs of manipulation.

Turkey's Referendum 'The day after': Abundant signs of manipulation. (Freedomhouse).

Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) announced last night that the “Yes” vote had won, but by a slim margin: 51.4 percent to 48.6 percent amid high turnout. The ideologically diverse opposition—the secular-nationalist Republican People’s Party (CHP), the left-wing and pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), and a dissident faction of the religious-nationalist Nationalist Action Party (MHP) represented by Meral Akşener—all cried fraud.

During the day, videos circulating on social media showed scattered violations across the country. Monitors were denied access to polling stations; two men entered one booth and put multiple ballots into the same box; poll workers were seen stamping multiple ballots “Yes.”

Most shockingly, as the polls were about to close, the YSK announced that it would accept votes that had not received the official seal of the local polling station—in other words, the stamp that proves the ballot came from the polling station, and not from somewhere else. The YSK explained the decision by claiming that a number of stations had used the wrong stamp by accident, but it also noted that the decision was based on complaints from the AKP, and was taken “so that the will of the voter could be heard.”

The opposition claims that several million such votes were accepted, enough to swing the outcome. There is no way to know: The YSK admits that it is not sure how many were accepted, and the ballots may have been stamped during the counting anyway, rendering them indistinguishable from properly validated votes.

The preliminary conclusions of the international observation mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe/Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) were harsh. 

Even with its characteristic understatement, the mission could not avoid describing the extent of the damage to Turkey’s electoral system. The report observed that the campaign took place on an unlevel playing field, in an atmosphere where fundamental freedoms had been curtailed. 

Most strikingly for Turkey, whose reputation as a democracy has increasingly rested on the narrow credential of fairly counted votes, the mission expressed sharp concerns about the administration of the referendum. 

The YSK’s decisions were nontransparent, and many were not even published; the mission said that the last-minute decision to allow unstamped ballots to be counted as valid removed an important safeguard against fraud and contradicted Turkish law. OSCE/ODIHR statements do not get much stronger. 

Erdoğan today said that the next referendum could be to reintroduce the death penalty, and cast Sunday’s vote as a rebuke of the West. 

With his domestic legitimacy weakened, he will lean more and more on the notion that Turkey is under threat from external enemies, as he did throughout the last month of the campaign. Since 2013, Turkey has been living through a series of deepening crises that are largely of Erdoğan’s making. 

The unfortunate outcome of this flawed referendum is that the current crisis will now grow even more profound.Read the full story here.

Erdogan’s AKP Party’s main mouthpiece: "Erdogan is now ‘the Caliph’ who needed to be trusted and obeyed.

Erdogan’s AKP Party’s main mouthpiece: "Erdogan is now ‘the Caliph’ who needed to be trusted and obeyed.' (Shoebat).

With the expected victory, Yeni Safak’s journalist, Ergün Yıldırım, on Resurrection Sunday began publishing to push the cult of Erdogan, proclaiming him as part and parcel of God Himself, saying that Erdogan is now ‘the Holy Spirit’ and ‘Caliph’ who needed to be trusted and obeyed while the Ottoman Turkey ‘resurrects’ from the dead. Yeni Safak is not some lunatic blogger, it is Erdogan’s AKP Party’s main mouthpiece.

In the article, Yıldırım began to redefine a new era for Islam under the newly resurrected ‘Caliphate’ dividing the societal structure in what he termed as “the subject” (the Caliph) who is “God the Holy Spirit” and literally calling him “our Lord” while “the slave” becomes the rest of the people needed to simply trust and obey their god and savior:

'God addresses nations the same way that he addresses individuals in our Holy Book. He regards them as the subject, for example, he says, "the societies that think," and "the society that changes itself." The subject is the fate/destiny of the person, thus when a society is the subject, it too has a destiny. The person that is the subject is the khaliph. He is a piece of God's spirit, he uses his will. He chooses good or evil.'

Turkey has been sentenced to act according to the will of other societies for the past 200 years. They have been tamed with authority, parties, fears and powers.

“ Now We are waking up to our own fate. We are breaking free from our [western] chains. We are waking up [from the dead] to existence. We are waking up in general. In the darkest of times we hear our poet Akif saying, ‘Wake up Muslim society.’ We are rising. We are being reborn. Every birth is a scream and we are screaming too. This is our final scream. It is the scream of birth and existence.

Today the nation will scream for the last time. It is the day that society will once again exist with its own fate. It is the day that we will leave the TIH Desert for the last time. It is the day we are honored with being a nation again. It is the last time we say “yes” to our Lord [Erdogan] calling out, “Aren’t I your Lord [God]?” Hmmmm.....And the 48.5 % who did not vote for Erdogan? Will they be 'disposed' of? Read the full story here.

U.S. to extradite Gulen to 'Islamist Dictatorship' Turkey?

U.S. to extradite Gulen to 'Islamist Dictatorship' Turkey? (DailyStar).

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim that Washington was keen for a new start in relations between the two countries, sources in Yildirim's office said, after ties soured during the Obama administration.

Pence and Yildirim met on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich, Germany, and discussed improving ties, boosting cooperation in the fight against terrorism and the need to work together to find a permanent solution in Syria.

Yildirim told Pence that moves by the United States to meet Turkey's demands over Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based cleric blamed by Ankara for masterminding and orchestrating a failed coup last July, would pave the way for a fresh start in relations.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and the government want Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, extradited. Gulen denies involvement in the coup attempt.

Ankara has also been angered by U.S. support for a Kurdish militia group fighting ISIS in Syria. Turkey sees the group as an extension of the outlawed PKK, which has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey and has been behind a spate of recent bombings.

Erdogan believes ties will improve under U.S. President Donald Trump. A phone call between the two earlier this month was very positive, sources in Erdogan's office have said. Hmmmm.....While many believe Erdogan orchestrated the coup to take out all opposition, Pres Trump aiding an Islamist Dictator? 

RELATED: 

Is ‘Gülenist coup’ a hoax?.. ‘Turkey has become a country that’s devouring itself’ 

  ‘The dominant assessment in NATO is clear: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan staged the coup against himself’

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

Video - The U.S. must recognize the Muslim Brotherhood for what it is "A terrorist Organization".

SIGN THE PETITION NOW: http://counterjihad.com/designate

Turkey overidentified with Muslim Brotherhood, says CHP after trip to Egypt

Turkey overidentified with Muslim Brotherhood, says CHP after trip to Egypt. (HD).

The Egyptian authorities say Turkey “overidentified itself with the Muslim Brotherhood,” a main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy has said after talks in Cairo.

CHP Deputy Chair Öztürk Yılmaz said at a March 30 press conference that Egyptian officials are “uneasy with the language” used by Turkish leaders against the country.

“They said Turkey overidentified itself with the Muslim Brotherhood and this is wrong. They stressed that Turkey should not interfere in the domestic affairs [of Egypt],” Yılmaz said.

The visit was aimed at “opening new channels with a new mindset and language,” taking cooperation as a basis while also showing utmost care to the principle of not interfering in domestic affairs, Yılmaz said, adding that they had informed the Turkish chargé d’affaires based in Cairo regarding the details of their meetings.

“Egypt wants Turkey to cooperate with the current administration, not to use an offending language, and not to overidentify itself with the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said.

Ties between Ankara and Cairo have been strained since former army chief, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, after mass protests against his rule. The Turkish government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have expressed anger over the coup targeting one of their key regional allies.

Obama allegedly rejects Erdogan offer on joint Maryland mosque opening.

Obama allegedly rejects Erdogan offer on joint Maryland mosque opening. (PressTv)

US President Barack Obama has turned down an offer by his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to participate in the planned inauguration of a Turkish-funded mosque in Maryland.

According to The Wall Street Journal, citing US officials, Obama also has no plans for a formal one-on-one meeting with Erdogan during this week’s Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in Washington.

The fourth and final NSS convention will kick off on Thursday in the US capital where Obama is expected to tell delegations from 51 nations, plus major groups such as the European Union and United Nations, about steps taken to ensure nuclear materials do not fall to militant groups.

Senior administration officials told the Journal, though, that Obama’s decision should not be taken as a slight since the two leaders met in November at the Group of 20 summit in Turkey, and spoke by phone in February. Hmmm......Meanwhile Erdogan’s newspaper Yeni Safak reports: “Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdoğan and US President Barack Obama are expected to open the mosque.”

“The $100 million mega-mosque in Maryland, US will soon be open in the Washington, DC area, as Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdoğan is expected to open the mosque during his official visit to the US between March 29 and April 2.” More on this story here.

Wall Street Journal: Obama turned down one-on-one meeting with Erdogan at nuclear summit.https://t.co/UCGl7RPFDQ

— Mustafa Edib Yılmaz (@MustafaEdib) March 28, 2016

Hamas delegation from Muslim brotherhood 'Den' Qatar returns to Cairo for more talks with Egypt.

Hamas delegation from Muslim brotherhood 'Den' Qatar returns to Cairo for more talks with Egypt. (AlAhram).

A Hamas delegation returned to Cairo from Doha on Sunday to resume discussions with Egyptian officials in the second leg of talks on the future of the Islamist movement's relationship with Egypt.

The visit to Cairo by officials from Hamas, which has ruled the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip since 2006, comes less than two weeks after Hamas officials held similar talks with their Egyptian counterparts in Cairo.

Hamas is expected to respond on Sunday to Egyptian requests made in earlier talks.

Prior to the delegation's arrival in Cairo, a member of the Hamas politburo, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, said that the movement is going to treat the Egyptian demands "positively."

Egypt has stipulated several demands to improve its relations with Hamas, according to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, including a pledge of non-interference by Hamas in Egyptian affairs; cooperation with Cairo on investigations over issues that affect Egyptian security; and stopping extremists and hostile parties from entering or leaving the Strip from Sinai.

The demands also include severing Hamas' ties with the banned Muslim Brotherhood and the prevention of cross-border smuggling activity.

Hamas will present its requests to the Egyptian side during the visit, including the opening of the Rafah border crossing, which has been closed most days of the year by Egyptian authorities since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013; a halt of media campaigns against the movement, an end to the Egyptian flooding of cross-border tunnels; and the return of four Hamas members who "disappeared" last year in Sinai.

Hamas also wants more trade between the two sides; the resumption of Egyptian efforts in mediating the mutual observation of a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel; and the continuation of Cairo's role in mediating between Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and Israel.

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Sinai is the only way for 1.5 million Palestinians who live under Israeli siege in Gaza in and out of the Strip.

A Palestinian diplomatic source privy to recent developments in Hamas-Egypt relations told Ahram Online that the movement has recently changed its attitude towards Egypt.

The source said Hamas has taken action on the ground in Gaza on security issues of concern to Cairo, and has revised its relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood ahead of today's visit.

According to media reports, the Palestinian Islamist movement has removed posters and slogans of the Muslim Brotherhood and its leaders around Gaza streets following the first round of talks with Cairo in an act of reconciliation with Egypt.

Relations between Hamas and Egypt soured following Morsi's ouster, with Egyptian officials repeatedly linking Hamas to terror acts in Egypt.

Egypt has regularly accused Hamas of supporting Islamist militants who have been waging a 10-year-old insurgency against Egyptian security forces in North Sinai.

Earlier this month, Egypt's interior minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar accused Hamas members of conspiring with the Brotherhood to assassinate Egypt's prosecutor-general Hisham Barakat in June 2015.


The Palestinian group has repeatedly denied these accusations.

'Neo Ottoman conqueror' Turkey demands “NATO replaces Greek islets names with …numbers! And Authority over Aegean Sea”

'Neo Ottoman conqueror' Turkey demanded “NATO replaces Greek islets names with …numbers!” HT: KeepTalkingGreece.

We had seen it coming. That the NATO involvement in the Aegean would trigger anew Ankara’s appetite to bring back the focus on the so-called “Grey Zones in the Aegean”. 

And indeed. During the heated NATO talks last month about the deployment of the SNMG2 force aiming to stem the flow of refugees, the Turkish representative at the military Committee submitted a document demanding among others that

The NATO does not refer to 16 small Greek islets in the Aegean with [their Greek] names but with numbers!!!

According to daily Kathimerini that obtained the confidential 17-point document, Turkey demanded:

1. the Alliance replaces the term “Aegean air space” with “NATO air space”
2. the Alliance refrains from using the Greek names of several tiny islands “that may been seen as the promotion of national interest”
3. NATO ships do not dock at ports of the Dodecanese islands in the southeast Aegean
4. Turkey demanded permission to enter the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR) without submitting flight plans, thus disputing the 10-mile Greek airspace
5. Turkey claimed supervision of almost half the Aegean Sea for Search and Rescue operations.

The document was submitted by General Ethem Buyukisik.

“It was the first time that had Turkey disputed Greek sovereignty via an official NATO document,” Kathimerini stresses adding that the NATO Militares rejected the Turkish request.

On Friday, during a joint press conference with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias in Athens,

Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu openly challenged the Greek sovereignty in the Aegean and claimed:

“It makes no difference who is the owner of an island, when it comes to rescue people.”

To hear such a proposal by a country that does not allow neither the Frontex vessels nor the NATO ships to operate in its own 3-nautical-miles of territorial waters, sound if  nothing else like a joke – and a bad one, when he makes such a statement in Athens. Hmmm........History has shown again and again that dictators only grow bolder with each illegal step they take.

@HasanSari7 Appeasement makes dictators only more dangerous. #NATO #EU How much longer? https://t.co/Gz86nCB1gX

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) October 8, 2015

Video - Islamist Turkey selecting who qualifies as refugee to Canada.

Video - Islamist Turkey selecting who qualifies as refugee to Canada. (TheRebel).

The operation to resettle as many as 5,000 Syrian refugees from Turkey to Canada is being slowed by the additional “complexities” of the situation in that country, Canada’s ambassador to Ankara said in an interview.

The situation in Turkey is different from both Jordan and Lebanon, the other countries from which Canada is accepting Syrian refugees, because the Turkish government and not the UN High Commissioner for Refugees registers and keeps track of refugees in the country. The sheer size of Turkey – as well as concerns about security in the southern regions where most of the Syrian refugees are registered – create additional complications.

John Holmes, Canada’s ambassador to Ankara, told The Globe and Mail that the Turkish government last week submitted a list of 5,000 names that Turkey was suggesting for resettlement to Canada. The Canadian embassy will now hand the list to the International Organization for Migration, which will try to establish whether those 5,000 still reside at the addresses where they’re registered by Turkish authorities, and whether those families are indeed willing to move to Canada.

Those verified by the IOM will then be given appointments for medical checks, as well as security screening by Canadian officials who are due to arrive soon in the Middle East. There’s a concern that the Turkish list may be outdated, and that many of the young men, in particular, may have joined the massive refugee exodus to Europe in recent months.

Mr. Holmes said Canada is in discussions with the Turkish government about using one of Gaziantep or Adana airports – the two main international terminals in the region – as a hub for the operation in Turkey. He said the Turkish list includes a mix of refugees residing in both urban areas and the official government-run camps of southern Turkey.

Security is an additional concern. Mr. Holmes said many of the Syrians on the list proposed by the Turkish government are registered in areas near the Syrian border, such as Gaziantep, Kilis, Mardin and Batman. These are all provinces that the Global Affairs Canada website currently advises Canadians to avoid – other than essential travel – “due to an unpredictable security situation.”

Ankara has been accused of letting various Syrian rebel groups – including some of those that grew into the so-called Islamic State – use south Turkey as a de facto rear base as they fought against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. 

The region has become even more tumultuous in recent months as fighting has resumed between the Turkish army and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which seeks an independent Kurdish state. Hmmmm...........To use at your own peril. 


Related: http://syrianrefugees.eu

Militarization of the Turkish Syrian refugee camps and the city:   (PDF Report).

Many locals have expressed their concern about the presence of armed Syrians in the camps and in the city. They have stated that most of the Syrians a re not innocent refugees or victims of war, but rather they are Islamic militants and Jihadists Migrants’ The long beards and the style of dress are given as proof. Locals argue that neither the camps nor the apartments rented by Syrians in the city are f amily homes. Rather, they are military bases where Syrian and non - Syrian armed groups stay and get military training.

Germany arrests Syrian suspected of at least once belonging to Nusra: https://t.co/cnsLsvzbgp.

— Max Abrahms (@MaxAbrahms) January 22, 2016

Iraqi FM says could use military option against 'Neo Ottoman Conqueror' Turkey if forced.

Iraqi FM says could use military option against 'Neo Ottoman Conqueror' Turkey if forced. (ET).

Iraq’s foreign minister said on Wednesday it could resort to military means if forced to defend itself from what it says is an intrusion of Turkish forces into part of its north.

Turkey said it had deployed a force protection unit earlier this month to the area due to heightened security risks near a camp where its troops were training an Iraqi militia to fight Islamic State insurgents. Ankara acknowledged that there had been a “miscommunication” with Baghdad over the deployment.

Iraqi security forces have had only a limited presence in Nineveh province where the camp is located since collapsing in June 2014 in the face of a lightning advance by Islamic State.

Foreign Minister Ibrahim al Jaafari said Iraq was committed to exhausting peaceful diplomatic avenues to avoid a crisis with its northern neighbour Turkey, but insisted that all options remained open.

“If there is no other solution but this (military), then we will adopt this solution. If we are forced to fight and defend our sovereignty and riches, we will be forced to fight,” he told reporters in Baghdad. Read the full story here.

'Islamist' Turkey's foreign policy in the Balkans promotes a neo-Ottoman agenda.

'Islamist' Turkey's foreign policy in the Balkans promotes a neo-Ottoman agenda. (Huffington).By David L. Phillips.

Turkey's foreign policy in the Balkans promotes a neo-Ottoman agenda, aimed at expanding its influence in former territories of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey exports Islamism under the guise of cultural cooperation. It also seeks economic advantage, using business as leverage to consolidate its national interests.

The Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) is a vehicle through which Turkey advances its ideological agenda. TIKA is the vanguard of Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP), which supports Muslim Brotherhood chapters around the world. TIKA runs a parallel and complementary foreign policy to official state institutions, coordinating with Turkey's Ministry of Culture and the Presidency of Religious Affairs to promote the AKP's Islamist agenda.

In addition, TIKA supports regional Islamic unions and institutions. It subsidizes community based social mobilization projects, which promote Islam. TIKA's network of Muslim community leaders and imams, which includes imams from Turkey, actively promotes Islam. Its benevolence includes food for the Iftar meal during Ramadan, delivered to impressionable Kosovars in poor rural areas.

Erdogan asked the Government of Kosovo to close schools established by Fetullah Gulen, with whom he had a falling out. Kosovo officials acquiesced, though Gulen schools offered quality education to Kosovars.

Turkish businessmen also benefit from Turkey's aggressive religious and cultural promotion. A well-respected Turkish scholar asks of the AKP, "Are they Islamists or just thieves with a religious rhetoric?"

Since become Speaker of Kosovo's Parliament, however, Vaseli has not said a word about Turkey's economic dominance. He and other prominent Kosovo politicians, including Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci, have close ties to Erdogan, as well as Turkish business and political leaders.

Turkey has cemented its influence through security cooperation. Around 2,000 Turkish soldiers were deployed as part of the KFOR peacekeeping mission in 1999. There are still 350 Turkish soldiers in Pristina and Prizren. Turkey has indicated its willingness to assume control of Bondsteel, the US base in Kosovo, as US forces withdraw.

Davutoğlu explicitly linked Turkey's foreign policy to its Ottoman legacy during a trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2009. "The Ottoman centuries of the Balkans were a success story. Now we have to reinvent this." He announced, "Turkey is back."

Faster integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions is the best antidote to Turkey's influence in Kosovo and the Western Balkans. US interests would also be served through intensified engagement in the region.

Closer cooperation between the US and Kosovo would be a bulwark against Turkey's export of Islamism. It would also prevent the further radicalization of Kosovo society, staunching the flow of Kosovars to join ISIS. Hmmmm........Sadly with Obama being the BFF Of Erdogan this Islamist advance won't be stopped, hopefully the next POTUS Will recognize the danger. Read the full story here.

Arab League Denounces 'Neo Ottoman conqueror' Turkey's Troop Deployment in Iraq.

Arab League Denounces 'Neo Ottoman conqueror' Turkey's Troop Deployment in Iraq. (Naharnet).

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi condemned on Thursday a Turkish military deployment in Iraq as a violation of international law, at a meeting called by Baghdad to pressure Ankara on withdrawing the forces.

"The Turkish military incursion into Iraq is a clear violation of international law and Iraqi sovereignty," Arabi said at the start of the foreign ministers meeting in the Cairo headquarters of the pan-Arab bloc.

Turkey announced on Saturday that it had begun withdrawing troops in a bid to de-escalate a bitter row with Baghdad and following a call from U.S. President Barack Obama.

Earlier this month, Turkey deployed troops to a base in Nineveh province where it has a long-running training program for forces battling the Islamic State jihadist group.

In an Arab league meeting in Cairo, Iraqi FM accuses Turkey of retracting its promise to withdrew from #Iraq https://t.co/pWMYXnkbBn

— Nervana Mahmoud (@Nervana_1) December 24, 2015

Iranian Official Warns Turkey Over Normalizing Ties With Israel.

Iranian Official Warns Turkey Over Normalizing Ties With Israel. (Matzav).

An Iranian official has warned Turkey not to engage in negotiations to normalize relations with Israel.

“The Muslim governments should adopt policies which meet their and the Islamic Ummah’s interests as well as the rights of the Palestinian nation,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari told reporters in Tehran, the Fars News Agency reported.

“The Turkish government shouldn’t pursue a different path (in relations) with the Quds (Jerusalem) occupying regime under such conditions that its relations with the neighboring governments have gone under certain developments,” Ansari said.

Ansari’s comments follow reports that Israel and Turkey are close to normalizing diplomatic relations after the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident in which Israeli commandos boarded the flotilla that was attempting to break the blockade of Gaza and nine Turkish citizens were killed in clashes.

On Monday, Turkey expelled Hamas’ senior representative in Istanbul, Saleh al-Arouri, which was one of Israel’s requests for normalization.

However, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan reportedly said he will continue to support Hamas in spite of Israel’s request to end relations. Hmmm........Any Israeli trusting the Erdogan 'Regime' should be institutionalized.
JNS.ORG

UN Security Council members chose Egypt to head the Counter-Terrorism Committee, starting January 2016.

UN Security Council members chose Egypt to head the Counter-Terrorism Committee, starting January 2016.  (AlAhram).

Egypt has been chosen to head the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and two other committees starting January 2016, spokesperson to the Egyptian foreign ministry, Ahmed Abu Zeid, said in a statement.

Abu Zeid said that the choice of Egypt [to head the CTC] reflects the confidence of Security Council members in Cairo. The committee, comprising all 15 Security Council members, is tasked with monitoring implementation of Resolution 1373 (2001), which mandates UN member states implement a number of measures to enhance their legal and institutional ability to counter terrorist activities at home.

Abu Zeid also said that Egypt will be heading two other committees at the UN Security Council.

"Egypt will also be heading the commission ... to follow up on the sanctions regime on Iraq, and the commission ... to follow up on penal system [reform] in the Democratic Republic of Congo," the statement read.

Following the announcement, Abu Zeid, said Egypt will work “vigorously” to defend and support African and Arab priorities at the Security Council. Hmmm.......First action should be kick out Turkey and Qatar, second action outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood....and that's just for starters.

#Russia and #Egypt determined to make list of terror groups in #Syria. https://t.co/qZKTmYa3BM pic.twitter.com/owP5dmfmJo

— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) December 5, 2015

'Sometines NATO Ally' Erdogan: 'Israelis created the 'occupation state' in 1948.

'Sometines NATO Ally' Erdogan: 'Israelis created the 'occupation state' in 1948. (INN)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is at it again. On Wednesday, the Islamist leader expressed his personal support and his country's support for the Palestinian issue and for "the struggle of the Palestinian people against injustice, destruction and the Israeli occupation," as he put it.

This message was passed on Erdogan’s behalf by the Turkish deputy foreign minister, Naci Koru, during a rally in support of the Palestinian Arabs which was held in Ankara.

Erdogan, in his message, noted that "the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the most serious obstacle to the achievement of stability and peace in the Middle East. The Israelis established their state of occupation in 1948, depriving the Palestinian people of their right to establish their independent state."

"It is impossible to reach a just and comprehensive peace to the Palestinian problem as long as this historical injustice is not repaired," said the Turkish president, who added that his country is fully supportive of the Palestinians.

But despite his ongoing incitement against Israelis, Erdogan earlier this week claimed in a conversation with an Israeli radio station that he thinks it would be possible to repair the strained ties between his country and Israel, in light of the events in the region. Hmmmm.......The 'Caliph of the Muslim Brotherhood' having good ties with Israel? NEVAH.

Video - Turkish authorities delays passage to Russian ships in Bosphorus Strait.

Video - Turkish authorities delays passage to Russian ships in Bosphorus Strait. (SP).

The Russian Navy transport ship Yauza was met by a Turkish Navy submarine while passing through the Dardanelles Strait on Monday, Russia's RT reports, citing Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News.

The video also comes on the heels of reports that two Turkish Navy subs are following the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, off coast of Syria. The Moskva is charged with protecting the Russian air base at Hmeymim in the Syrian province of Latakia.
In a clear violation of international norms, Turkish authorities have created hurdles for Russian vessels passing through the Bosphorus Strait; as a result, dozens of Russian ships have been waiting for hours to obtain the green light from Turkey for passage, media reports said.

RIA Novosti quoted Viktor Kravchenko, former chief of staff of the Russian Navy, as saying that a possible unilateral closure by Turkey of the Bosphorus Strait for Russian ships would be out of line with international law.

"Turkey will not close the strait to Russian vessels en route to Syria because it would be a violation of international law and the Montreux Convention, in particular, — a document that was signed by most counties at the time", he said.

The 1936 Montreux Convention on the Regime of the Straits regulates the passage of civilian and naval ships through the Bosphorus Strait and the Dardanelles.  According to Article 2, "merchant vessels shall enjoy complete freedom of transit and navigation in the Straits, by day and by night, under any flag and with any kind of cargo, without any formalities."