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The observers in question are a former Turkish intelligence official, a current legislator with Erdogans AKP party, and a representative of the National Council of Syrian Turkmen. The Turkmen are a sizable ethnic minority in Syria, supported by Turkey. The Turkmen played a role in the November 2015 Turkish downing of a Russian warplane on the Syrian border, an eventwhich provoked a diplomatic crisis between Russia and Turkey that was only recently ameliorated.

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The Turkmen were repressed by the Assad regime and joined the rebellion against him in 2011, but representative Abdurrahman Mustafa told Sputnik his group is now more concerned about the Kurds fragmenting Syria by forming an independent state.

The US goal is tosupport cooperation withthe Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the PKK, and tocreate a corridor underthe PYD, said Mustafa. The US have been trying to divide Syria from the very beginning. This is an American project. We, Syrian Turkmen, are against this.

The PKK is the violent separatist group Turkey has been fighting. As lawmaker Ahmet Berat Conkar stresses in the Sputnik piece, Turkeys official position is that Kurdish militia units in Syria are terrorist allies of the PKK. The United States officially regards the Syrian Kurds as battlefield allies against the Islamic State, independent of the PKK.

Former Turkish General Staff intelligence chief Ismail Hakki Pekin also made the charge that Americas plan is to turn Syria into a federation and include the Kurds in this federation.On the other hand, the Russian state publication quoted him lauding their employer, the Russian Federation, for trying to keep Syria together and advised the Erdogan government to accept the Assad regime as the lesser of two evils compared to Kurdish autonomy.

The main issue for Ankara is cooperation with Syria, said Pekin. If Turkey, having established contacts with the Syrian leadership, proves able to conduct a balanced policy in relations with both the US and Russia, the creation of an autonomous Kurdish region in northern Syria will become extremely difficult.

Russian media clearly wants to transmit that message to Turks, who have long been skeptical of the Syrian regime that Russia saved through military intervention. Moscow still has some problems with Ankara they are currently squabbling over grain exports but the Russians know the formation of an independent Kurdish state, or even Syrian Kurdish autonomy in close proximity to Turkeys PKK, is the deepest Turkish concern.

Russia also wants to hammer that U.S. has a secret plan to carve up Syria talking point to exploit tensions between Turkey and NATO. Turkey has lately been telling its longtime partners in NATO that it wants to see what China and Russia have to offer. President Erdogan is fresh off a war of words with Europe in which he used the word Nazi with abandon. Yesterday, he castigated the European Union for dragging its heels on Turkish membership and pugnaciously declared, Turkey is no ones whipping boy. He frequently threatens to carpet-bomb Europe with more refugees.

It is not difficult for Russia to see an opening there. Turkeys enmity for the Syrian regime is a major sticking point, but if the Russians can prod Turkey into measuring Bashar Assads survival against the specter of a Kurdish state midwived by the U.S., they know how the scales will tip.

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Russian Media: Turkish 'Observers' Warn Erdogan to Support Assad or Live with Kurdish Rule in Syria - Breitbart News

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Turkey could hold another referendum on whether to continue talks on accession to the EU after the nationwide vote on constitutional reform next month which could give him sweeping new powers.

Right now we are holding a referendum on 16 April, and after that we could choose to do a second one on the [EU] accession talks, and we would abide by whatever our people would say there, Erdogan told reporters in the southern city of Antalya at the weekend.

The suggestion comes amid highly strained relations with several EU member states.

Erdogan accuses Merkel of Nazi practices: Any country that harms a Turk will "face the consequences"

The Presidentis at loggerheads with both Germany and The Netherlands, countries which cancelled planned yes campaign rallies on their soil for dual nationals.

Both Berlin and Amsterdam said the rallies were cancelled due to security concerns, but Mr Erdogan accused them of impeding free speech and using Nazi methods.

Mr Erdogan commented last week that all non-financial ties with the bloc, including the landmark 2015 refugee deal, will be on the table for renegotiating regardless of the outcome of the April vote on extending his executive power.

Turkey has waited at the door [of the EU] for 54 years, he said on Saturday, referring to the 1963 trade deal between Ankara and the then purely economic union.

What? If a yes comes out on 16April, they would not take us into the European Union? Oh, If only they could give this decision! They would make our work easier, he continued.

We will put this [EU-Turkey] business on the table because Turkey is no ones whipping boy.

No EU leader has said that a yes vote which would give Mr Erdogan the power to appoint and dismiss government ministers and possibly stay in office until 2029 will spell the end of Turkeys accession to the bloc.

However, concerns over Turkeys human rights record, as well as the fate of Cyprus, have been contributing factors to the snails pace at which talks have progressed since 2005.

Reuters contributed to this report

Originally posted here:
Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Turkey could end decades-long EU bid because we are 'no one's whipping boy' - The Independent

BERLIN Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who accuses Chancellor Angela Merkel of using "Nazi methods" against Turks in Germany, is setting back their integration by years, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said.

Berlin is growing increasingly frustrated about Erdogan repeatedly accusing it of applying "Nazi methods" by banning rallies aimed at drumming up support among Turks in Germany for a referendum that would strengthen the power of his presidency.

Turks workers began moving to Germany in the 1960s and the country now has about 3 million people of Turkish background. Some are fully integrated while others live in ethnic communities with less contact with the majority population.

"Erdogan's rhetoric makes me stunned," Schaeuble, a veteran member of Merkel's Christian Democratic (CDU) party, told the Welt am Sonntag weekly newspaper.

"In a short time, it wilfully destroys the integration that has grown over years in Germany. The repair of the damage will take years," he said.

Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul on Sunday: "You call the president of the Turkish Republic a dictator. When we call them fascists, they get annoyed. When we call them Nazis, they get annoyed."

"You are fascists, you are. Be annoyed as much as you want with Nazi practices. If you draw swastikas on the walls of our mosques and don't hold anyone accountable, you cannot take off this stain," Erdogan said.

Turkish voters living in Germany begin on Monday casting their ballots in the constitutional referendum.

Last Tuesday, organizers said Turkish leaders would hold no further campaign rallies in Germany before the referendum - to be held on April 16 in Turkey - after a Merkel ally said they were not welcome.

On Wednesday, Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier used his first speech as president to warn Erdogan that he risked destroying everything his country had achieved in recent years.

Erdogan responded by saying that Europeans would not be able to walk safely on the streets if they kept up their current attitude toward Turkey, his latest salvo in the row over campaigning by Turkish politicians in Europe.

(Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

BEIRUT The U.S.-led coalition said on Monday it saw no imminent danger to a major hydroelectric dam that allied Syrian militias are fighting to take from Islamic State, unless the jihadists planned to blow it up.

LONDON British police said on Monday they had found no evidence that Khalid Masood, who killed four people in an attack on Britain's parliament last week, had any association with Islamic State or Al Qaeda, but he was clearly interested in jihad.

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Erdogan setting back integration in Germany by years: Schaeuble | Reuters

By Sorwar Alam

ISTANBUL

Daesh and other terrorist groups have caused the greatest havoc for Muslims, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday.

Speaking at a youth gathering in Istanbul organized by the Turkey Youth Foundation (TUGVA), Erdogan said Muslims had suffered the most harm at the hands of Daesh, the YPG and the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).

Prominent terrorist groups such as Daesh, YPG and FETO traitors cause the most harm to Muslims, he said.

YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK -- listed as a terror group by Turkey, the EU and the U.S. -- and FETO is accused of orchestrating a military coup attempt in Turkey last year that martyred 249 people.

Erdogan said modern-day "Lawrence of Arabia" figures were still working to destabilize the region.

The Turkish president was making reference to T. E. Lawrence, a British army officer credited with instigating an Arab insurgency against then Ottoman Turkish rule during World War I.

A century ago, there was a Lawrence, speaking Arabic language dressed like locals. Today, the modern Lawrences with cloak and beards are doing the same thing.

He said there were attempts to redraw the borderlines around Turkey over terrorist groups.

The president slammed Europe for adopting an anti-democratic stance against himself and the Turkish government.

We witness that Europe disregards its concepts that were described as supreme principles, Erdogan said, referring to banned rallies in Germany and the Netherlands on the April 16 referendum on constitutional changes.

Erdogan also repeated his criticism of the Swiss government over a rally of members and sympathizers of the PKK terrorist group in the country's capital, Bern.

Later, speaking at another opening ceremony in Istanbul, he said: They made my poster in front of the [Swiss] parliament building that showed a gun pointed at my head and the words Kill Erdogan.

He added that Life is given by god and can only be taken by god.

Some 250 PKK members and supporters took part in a rally in front of the federal parliament building in Bern on Saturday. In the meeting, a banner, which read "Kill Erdogan", pictured him with a gun pointed at his head.

Erdogan said Europe was experiencing "ignorance" reminiscent of pre-Islamic era.

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Daesh, YPG, FETO hurt Muslims most, says Erdogan - Anadolu Agency

Dozens of supporters of far-right PEGIDA movement waving German flags poured into the streets of the German city of Nuremberg on Sunday to protest immigration policy and the Turkish presidents recent Nazi taunts, as they celebrated the local branchs anniversary.

The event saw participants, carrying national and party symbols, gathering around 1pm in central Jakobplatz before marching down the streets for a rally. Despite the declared peaceful nature of the gathering, police undertook extra efforts to ensure security and prevent potential clashes with rival groups, cordoning off the streets along the PEGIDA activists route.

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While it was reported that a counter-demonstration was called for by a local Nazistopp union, no incident has been reported at the PEGIDA rally, which centered around the movements traditional anti-Islam and anti-immigrant agenda.

Violence-free and united against religious wars on German soil, read one of the placards at the head of the procession.

READ MORE:Clashes erupt as PEGIDA, pro-immigration supporters hold rival rallies in Denmark (VIDEO)

Another called on the Germans to wake up unless they want to see the rule of the Sharia law as the countrys near future.

Sharia law will become the supreme law. The constitution will land on the garbage heap of history. Do you want this? Then finally wake up! the sign read.

The activists also denounced NATO and the EU with a banner calling for resistance to NATO warmongering and EU dictatorship and for direct popular democracy.

Apart from that and feeding into fears of a perceived Islamization, the organizers of the rally also took aim at recent rhetoric by Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who drew parallels between the Third Reich and modern Germany, igniting the ire of its government and public.

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"Your practices are not different from the Nazi practices of the past," Erdogan said in March, after several rallies in support of a controversial Turkish constitutional reform were canceled by the German authorities over security concerns. Despite a strong rebuke from the German government, with Chancellor Angela Merkel calling Erdogans remarks unjustifiable, the Turkish leader continued the taunt, most recently stating that he would only stop comparing European governments with Nazis when they cease calling him a dictator.

READ MORE:Massive PEGIDA rally in Dresden marks 2 years of anti-immigrant movement (VIDEO)

One of the speakers at the PEGIDA march, prominent far-right activist Michael Strzenberger, lashed out at Erdogan, accusing him of being the only one who uses Nazi practices, alleging that the Turkish leader, known for his authoritarian penchant, is copying the seizure of power by Hitler, known in Germany as Machtergreifung.

PEGIDA, (which stands for Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West) has been thriving on popular discontent with the migrant influx since its emergence in Dresden in late 2014. Its rallies spread far outside the Germany borders and have been held across all Europe in recent years.

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PEGIDA marks anniversary with Nuremberg march against Islamization, EU & Erdogan (VIDEO) - RT