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Foes on the Run as Erdogan Makes Power Personal New York Times Members of the Gulen religious movement insist they are innocent of plotting against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, but he has chased them into the shadows, and they fear for their lives and livelihoods. At the same time, Mr. Erdogan has ... Turkey's Erdogan slams Europe, as latest poll suggests support risingReuters Up to 100 Dutch citizens 'prevented from leaving Turkey after criticising President Erdogan'The Independent Erdogan battles to win Kurdish hearts in Turkey referendumFinancial Times People's World -Voice of America -Al-Monitor all 100 news articles »

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Foes on the Run as Erdogan Makes Power Personal - New York Times

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to launch military operations in Iraq and Syria against the Kurdish rebel group the PKK, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization.

In a television interview to curry support for next weeks referendum to extend his presidential powers, Erdogan announced the military is preparing new cross-border operations against the PKK. He said Turkey's ending of Operation Euphrates Shield, which targeted both the PKK and Islamic State in Syria, was not the end of such incursions into its southern neighbor.

Erdogan said, "...future operations would have an Iraqi dimension along with a Syrian dimension.

Observers point out that a tough stance against the PKK, which is fighting for minority rights, plays well with Turkish nationalists being courted by Erdogan in the referendum. Ankara has pledged to eradicate the Syrian Kurdish group the PYD and its YPG militia, which it accuses of being affiliated with the PKK.

The PYD controls large swathes of territory along Turkeys border and the Turkish army has deployed a large military force on the frontier.

The United States and Russia strongly back the Syrian Kurdish fighters who comprise the backbone of Syrian Democratic Forces besieging Raqqa, Islamic States self-declared capital.

Washingtons deepening collaboration with the SDF, has seen it stepping up its presence in the PYD controlled region, We see now four operational forward bases constructed by the United States, in addition to an extended airbase which will be operational, said Aydin Selcen, a former senior Turkish diplomat who severed widely across the region.

Selcen warned such a deployment has implications for Ankara too, The U.S. presence is definitely an insurance policy for the Kurds near future.

Voices are increasingly warning any Turkish military incursion into the Syrian Kurdish region would risk serious repercussions beyond its fight against the PKK.

It's not only going to be a matter of Turkish Kurdish relations, it's going to be Turkish Arab relations, Turkish Russian, Turkish American, Turkish Iraqi Turkish Syrian, predicted Ertugral Kurkcu a deputy for the pro-Kurdish HDP in the Turkish parliament. And maybe it's the abyss for Tayyip Erdogan if he cannot refrain from such miscalculated attempts. If this happens it's going to be total disaster for everyone. But I think others will help Turkey to refrain from such actions.

FILE - Militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, run as they attack Turkish security forces in Nusaydin, Turkey, March 1, 2016.

Erdogan warns Turkish troops may intervene against PKK backed militia in the Iraqi Sinjar region, as well as also targeting its bases deep in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Observers point out such operations are fraught with military risks and the possibility of further exacerbating already tense relations among neighbors.

Despite such risks some analysts don't rule out such a military operation, It's very difficult to know, if the president has been reckless enough to accuse Germany of Nazi like behavior you wonder how much rationality has been left in this administration, political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners pointed out.

I think it's a non-negligible possibility that there would be some kind of move against the Kurds directly from the border. I am very afraid of it because it would create a fire storm in the world community and it would mean war with the Syrian Kurds and could spread to Kurds in Turkey, he said.

Observers point out Turkish foreign policy is increasingly falling victim to the referendum campaign. With opinion polls indicating the result remaining too close to call political calculations could well trump all other considerations in the coming days.

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Erdogan Threatens New Military Incursions Targeting PKK - Voice of America

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan, who has been waging a relentless war against followers of the faith-based Glen movement in Turkey for the past several years, has said Glen movement sympathizers in the country will not enjoy the right to life.

Speaking at a rally in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak on Tuesday, Erdoan said: We are purging every Glenist in the army, in the police and in state institutions. And we will continue cleansing [these organizations of] them because we will eradicate this cancer from the body of this country and the state. They will not enjoy the right to life. They divided this nation, this Ummah [Islamic nation]. Our fight against them will continue until the end. We wont leave them wounded.

Turkey survived a military coup attempt on July 15 which killed over 240 people and wounded more than a thousand others. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Erdoan pinned the blame on the Glen movement.

The movement denies any involvement.

In the currently ongoing post-coup purge, over 135,000 people, including thousands within the military, have been purged due to their real or alleged connection to the Glen movement, according to a statement by the labor minister on Jan. 10. As of March 1, 93,248 people were being held without charge, with an additional 46,274 in pre-trial detention.

According to a statement from Interior Minister Sleyman Soylu on April 2, a total of 113,260 people have been detained as part of investigations into the Glen movement since the July 15 coup attempt while 47,155 were put into pre-trial detention.

The AKP government and Erdoan launched their war against the Glen movement in late 2013 in the aftermath of the eruption of a corruption scandal in which Erdoans close circle was implicated. Erdoan also accuses the movement of masterminding the corruption investigations to topple his government while the movement strongly denies the charge.

(Turkish Minute)

*Video courtesy of The Globe Post.

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President Erdogan: Glenists will not enjoy right to life in Turkey ... - Turkey Purge

ANKARA President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday called on Turkish voters in Europe to defy the "grandchildren of Nazism" and back a referendum this month on changing the constitution, comments likely to cause further ire in Europe.

Erdogan has repeatedly lashed out at European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, in campaigning for the referendum, accusing them of "Nazi-like" tactics for banning his ministers from speaking to rallies of Turkish voters abroad.

Both the Germans and Dutch have been incensed by the comparisons to Nazism and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the references must stop.

"With this determination, we will never allow three or four European fascists ... from harming this country's honor and pride," Erdogan told a packed crowd of flag-waving supporters in the Black Sea city of Rize, where his family comes from.

"I call on my brothers and sisters voting in Europe...give the appropriate answer to those imposing this fascist oppression and the grandchildren of Nazism."

Erdogan is counting on the support of expatriates in Europe, including the 1.4 million Turks eligible to vote in Germany, to pass constitutional changes that would give him sweeping presidential powers.

But ties with Europe have deteriorated in the run-up to the campaign. Erdogan last month said Turkey would reevaluate its relationship with the bloc, and may even hold a second referendum on whether to continue accession talks.

On Monday, he said he could take the issue of whether Turkey should restore the death penalty to referendum if necessary.

"The European Union will not like this. But I don't care what Hans, George or Helga say, I care what Hasan, Ahmet, Mehmet, Ayse and Fatma say. I care what God says... If necessary, we will take this issue to another referendum as well," he told the rally.

Turkey abandoned capital punishment more than a decade ago as part of its bid to join the European Union, but Erdogan has repeatedly told crowds calling for it following the July 15 failed coup that he would approve its restoration if parliament passed it.

Restoring capital punishment would all but end Turkey's bid to join the EU, officials from the bloc have said.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk)

ANKARA Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday called on Iraqi Kurds to lower the Kurdish flag in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, warning that failure to do so would damage their relations with Turkey.

CARACAS Venezuelan security forces quelled rowdy protesters with tear gas, water cannons and pepper spray in Caracas on Tuesday after blocking an opposition rally against unpopular socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

CAIRO Islamic State said on Tuesday the United States was drowning and "being run by an idiot".

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Erdogan says Turks in Europe should defy grandchildren of ...

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At a rally in his family hometown of Rize on the Black Sea, Erdogan said, we will never allow three or four European fascists to harm Turkeys honor and pride.

Erdogan really poured on the Muslim solidarity argument in his remarks: The European Union will not like this. But I dont care what Hans, George or Helga say, I care what Hasan, Ahmet, Mehmet, Ayse and Fatma say. I care what God says.

He called on his brothers and sisters voting in Europe to give the appropriate answer to those imposing this fascist oppression and the grandchildren of Nazism.

Erdogan has been blasting European leaders for refusing to allow his ministers to rally Turks living in European cities to vote in favor of the referendum to expand his powers. Euro leaders have naturally objected to Erdogan and his ministers calling them Nazis.

At a rally in Ankara on Sunday, Erdogan deployed more heavily loaded language by accusing the European Union of forming a new Crusader alliance against Turkey. Islamists often claim Europe and the United States are eager to launch a new Crusade against the Islamic nations.

All the leaders of the EU countries went to the Vatican and listened to the pope submissively. Do you now understand why they have not been taking Turkey into the EU for 54 years? The situation is quite loud and clear, it is a Crusader Alliance. April 16 will also be the day to evaluate this, said Erdogan, as reported byHurriyet Daily News. April 16th is the date of the Turkish referendum.

Hurriyetwrites that Erdogan peppered his speech with Koranic verses and was often interrupted by chants from the public.

He also made ominous suggestions that Turkeys opposition party is effectively staging a coup against him and assaulting the legitimacy of the presidency by opposing the referendum.

The July coup is still very much on Erdogans mind. Reuters reported on Monday that at least 262 Turkish diplomats and military personnel are seeking asylum in Germany, reflecting a dramatic surge in applications since the coups.

The German government said in December that 5,166 Turkish citizens had applied for asylum in the first 11 months of last year, compared with 1,767 applications received in the whole of 2015. Some 80 percent of the applicants were ethnic Kurds, Reuters adds.

The Turkish government has been urging European nations to reject asylum applications from coup plotters, and from anyone affiliated with exiled imam Fethullah Gulen, who has been portrayed as the mastermind of the coup by Erdogans government. (Coincidentally, the British parliament recently released a report that concluded there is no hard, publicly available evidence to support Turkeys contention that Gulen or his movement as a whole were behind the coup attempt, although some individual Gulenists have been accused of playing a role in it.)

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Erdogan to Turkish Voters in Europe: Defy 'Grandchildren of ...