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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 ...

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.

Kirkuk, one of Iraq's disputed territories, has Kurdish, Arab, and Turkmen populations. Kurdish peshmerga forces took control of it in 2014 when Islamic State overran around a third of Iraq and the army's northern divisions disintegrated.

"We don't agree with the claim 'Kirkuk is for the Kurds' at all. Kirkuk is for the Turkmen, Arabs and Kurds, if they are there. Do not enter into a claim it's yours or the price will be heavy. You will harm dialogue with Turkey," Erdogan said.

"Bring that flag down immediately," he said at a rally in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak, where he was campaigning ahead of an April 16 referendum on constitutional changes that would broaden his powers.

Kurds have long claimed Kirkuk and its huge oil reserves. They regard the city, just outside their semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, as their historical capital.

The local Rudaw TV channel cited the governor of Kirkuk as saying that the Kurdistan flag should fly alongside the Iraqi national flag because the city is largely under the protection of Kurdish forces.

Turkey has long seen itself as the protector of Iraq's Turkmen ethnic minority. Local media reported that leaders of Kirkuk's Turkmen communities have rejected the raising of the Kurdish flag as against the constitution.

Turkey fears territorial gains by some Kurdish groups in Iraq and neighboring Syria could fuel Kurdish separatist ambitions inside Turkey, where PKK militants have fought an insurgency against the state for more than three decades.

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Daren Butler and Nick Tattersall)

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.

BUDAPEST Hungary approved a new law on Tuesday that could force a university founded by financier George Soros out of the country despite protests against the plan in Budapest and condemnation abroad.

RIYADH British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday she would raise "hard issues" with Saudi Arabia's leaders during her visit, as critics urged her to pressure Riyadh over its war in Yemen and human rights record.

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Turkey's Erdogan calls on Iraqi Kurds to lower Kurdish flag in Kirkuk - Reuters

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (4:45 P.M.) Recently released satellite images show the Turkish Army constructing two new bases near the bordering city of Jarablus in northern Syria.

The images, taken on September last year and this April, clearly display the development of the construction works.

This comes only one week after Turkey has officially ended the Euphrates Shield military operation to curb the Islamic State as well as Kurdish forces. However, the statement didnt specify whether the troops will withdraw or not.

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Today, the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed more cross-border operations inside Syrian territories.

We have completed the first phase of the Euphrates Shield Operation with the cleaning of al-Bab, Syria, from terrorists. It is now over and there will be [operations] from now on,Erdogan said.

A clear conflict of interest has emerged between the US and its NATO ally Turkey since the former supported a Kurdish-led alliance to drive away the Islamic State.

ALSO READ Jihadi rebels foil Army attack on southern Aleppo

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Home Syria In Pictures: Turkish military builds new bases near Syrian borders as Erdogan... - AMN Al-Masdar News (registration)

At a rally in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir in Turkeys southeast this past Saturday, President Erdogan made his pitch to Kurdish voters: vote yes in the referendum on expanding the powers of the presidency on April 16. Reuters reports:

The pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), strongly supported in the southeast but cast by Erdogan as an extension of the PKK, was among the targets of the presidents ire during a rallying speech in the regions largest city Diyarbakir.

These supporters of the PKK keep on saying peace, peace, peace. Does empty talk bring peace? Could there be peace with those who walk around with weapons in their hands? he said.

We are the guardians of peace, we are the guardians of freedoms, he said as a crowd of several thousand in the city center waved Turkish flags.

It would be tempting to note the April Fools Day timing as uniquely appropriate for Erdogans outreach speech, but the idea that Erdogans AKP arethe guardians of peaceisless outlandishthan it mightfirst appear to a casual observer. While the pro-Kurdish HDP is campaigning for a no vote in the constitutional referendum, the Kurds in Turkey are not a political monolith. TheAKP has always garnered support from the large swathes of conservative, religious Kurds who reject the leftist and secularist Kurdish nationalist movementsand who instead find the AKPs more Ottomanist and Islamist vision for Turkey to be deeply appealing. Even Erdogans claim to being a peacemaker might have some resonance with an otherwise skeptical Kurdish audience.

Erdogan has also gone out of his way tovilify Europe during the campaignanother gambit designedto fire up his base. From a speech yesterday:

With this determination, we will never allow three or four European fascists from harming this countrys 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 Europegive the appropriate answer to those imposing this fascist oppression and the grandchildren of Nazism.

He went on to threatento run another referendum soon, on bringing back the death penalty to Turkey:

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 If necessary, we will take this issue to another referendum as well, he told the rally.

All theseefforts hint at the likelihood that the upcoming vote will be closer than most anticipate. Though reliable public polls have been hard to come by,theres no doubt that the AKP is keeping close tabs on opinion, and is probably not thrilled at what it sees.Erdoganscampaign, careening from conciliation to raw populism,is an attempt to delicately thread a needle ahead of what will likely be a nail-biter on April 16.

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Erdogan Courts the Kurds - The American Interest - The American Interest

Middle East Eye

Turkey's future: Cracks appear in Erdogan's heartland Middle East Eye CANKIRI, Turkey There are few posters supporting the referendum campaign of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the streets of this central Anatolian town. Cankiri is the sort of place where parks are named after Erdogan and rabia, the four-fingered ... and more »

Link:
Turkey's future: Cracks appear in Erdogan's heartland - Middle East Eye