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So, found this snap on Facebook today. Erdogan petting Barry like a favorite and clever pet goat, and Goat Barry looks so pleased about it. Taken at G20 sometime between yesterday and today. Is this pic interesting or significant? I find it absolutely repulsive. Have been doing reading about Erdogan to support my revulsion but haven't found enough. Hope any interested FReepers can fill in the blanks. upload img

It was quite intriguing - or maybe not - when, shortly before the Nov. 1 elections, a staunchly pro-President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan columnist for daily Yeni Akit claimed that Mr. Erdoğan would become the “new [‘ecumenical’] caliph” once he has won the executive presidential powers he much desires. Since then no one has denied Mr. Dilipak, one of Turkey’s Islamist rulers’ Islamist darlings of the press.  The last Ottoman sultan to have the honor, although it was a ceremonial title, was Abdulmecid II (in 1922-24), the 101st caliph in succession. Since then there have been no caliphs with universal recognition....

(AGI) Ankara, Nov 11 - The Turkish government is preparing to send 10,700 soldiers to Syria in mid-December to fight ISIS and create safe areas for displaced people in the north of the country, reported pro-government daily Yeni Safak. The newspaper said that Ankara will present a document analysing the situation in Syria and will include a request for funds to the great powers at the G20 summit in Antalya over the weekend. Ankara's aim would be to reverse the course of the military campaign against the jihadists and the migrant crisis. The plan provides for the entry of troops...

The discovery of the Acra last week is "a dream come true" for archaeologists, who have been speculating on the citadel's location for 100 years, the IAA said. The discovery of Acra comes at a delicate time, for it reveals the story of the Maccabees, Antiochus and the coming Antichrist. All this is understood once we connect the dots and see the parallels between the Grecian Empire at the time of the Maccabees harassing God's people and the Antichrist who is also from the same empire (Asia Minor) harassing God's people today.

On Sunday, November 1, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) claimed that it had won a majority of seats in parliament. Voting registration and voter turnout numbers prove beyond any doubt that Erdogan cheated. ... AKP supporters were registered at multiple sites and so, in effect, voted two or more times. Turkey's High Election Council (Yuksek Secim Kurulu, YSK) handles all complaints. Once they issue a decision, by law it cannot be litigated. They are no longer independent, however, but under the thumb of Erdogan. Numbers do not lie. Erdogan stole this election, plain and simple.

(Title too long: Erdogan And His Army Of Islamic Supremacists Take Over Turkey, They Are Now Declaring Him The Caliphate Of The Islamic World And Will Now Be Using The Government Of Turkey To Form The Empire Of The Antichrist And Will Work To Invade Europe) ******************************************************* When roughly 60 percent of the country voted against the AKP party in June the analysts said that Erdogan was over with. We said otherwise and Sunday’s vote secured the power of Mr. Erdogan and the A.K.P. for many more years to come, and those that were hoping to see the beginning of...

When roughly 60 percent of the country voted against the AKP party in June the analysts said that Erdogan was over with. We said otherwise and Sunday’s vote secured the power of Mr. Erdogan and the A.K.P. for many more years to come, and those that were hoping to see the beginning of the end of an era were left stunned after an electoral comeback which the Islamist party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan regained its majority in Parliament on Sunday, ensuring Mr. Erdogan’s continued dominance of Turkish politics. Now we can look at the skeptics with skepticism who in...

There is a potential black swan event taking place in Turkey on Sunday and no one seems to care. That is, the media isn’t devoting nearly enough coverage to Turkish elections considering the impact the outcome will invariably have on the situation in Syria, on the fate of the lira, and on the Pentagons strategy with regard to embedding spec ops with the YPG. As a reminder, Turkey held elections back in June and the outcome did not please President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. AKP lost its absolute majority in parliament thanks in no small part to a relatively strong showing...

Having made it no secret he seeks to transform Turkey so he can wield absolute authority with no checks and balances, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has allegedly begun the final push to implement a 'palace coup' and wrest control of the Turkish government from its parliament. Final pieces in place for Erdogan's alleged coup to take over Turkish government Having made it no secret his intention to transform Turkey so he can wield absolute authority with no checks and balances, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has allegedly begun the final push to implement a "palace coup" and wrest control of the...

Istanbul (AFP) - Turkish prosecutors have charged two schoolboys aged 12 and 13 with insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after they tore down a poster of him, local media reports said Wednesday. It is the latest case in which youngsters have been hauled before the courts in Turkey on similar charges, fuelling concerns about freedom of speech under Erdogan.... The boys are being prosecuted under an article of the penal code that punishes anyone who "undermines the image" of the head of state with up to four years in prison.

Turkey is ready to accept a political transition in Syria in which President Bashar al-Assad stays in symbolic power for six months before leaving office, and is discussing the plan with Western allies, two senior government officials said on Tuesday. NATO member Turkey has long been one of Assad’s fiercest critics, insisting that no lasting peace can be achieved in Syria without his removal from power. “Work on a plan for Assad’s departure is under way ... (Assad) can stay for six months and we accept that because there will be a guarantee of his departure,” one of the officials...

Angela Merkel agreed at a meeting with Turkish leaders to help jumpstart Ankara’s EU membership talks and relax visa requirements in exchange for a pledge to slow the flow of refugees into Europe. The German leader, under intense pressure at home to reduce the number of refugees heading for Germany, held separate meetings in Istanbul on Sunday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to win their support. The outcome amounted to a bold quid pro quo that underscored the pressure she faces to resolve the crisis quickly. “We had a very intensive and broad discussion,”...

<p>I couldn’t let the week of “Columbus Day Sales” pass without acknowledging the genesis of this now contentious holiday.  Why has Columbus Day become so controversial? Why has this intrepid adventurer come to be considered a villain rather than a hero?</p>

TEHRAN (FNA) - ISIL Leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been transferred to Turkey for treatment through a series of coordination measures by the CIA after the notorious terrorist leader was severely injured in the Iraqi army's airstrike on his convoy in Western Anbar province, media reports disclosed on Wednesday. "The CIA has drone coordination with the Turkish intelligence organization to transfer al-Baghdadi to Turkey," the Arabic-language al-Manar TV quoted unnamed sources as saying on Wednesday. The source said that two companions of al-Baghdadi who were also injured in the attack on the ISIL leader's convoy and were captured by the...

Putin has personally sent a message to the Turkish ambassador to Moscow, Mr Ümit Yardim, and warned him that Russia will stop any relationships unless the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stops supporting ISIS terrorists in Syria. According to The leaked information obtained by The Moscow Times, the meeting between the Mr.Purin and Turkish ambassador was imbued with intense mutual resentment where Mr. Yardim has repudiated all Russian accusations, laying blame on Russia for Syria’s bitter and protracted civil war. “..THEN TELL YOUR DICTATOR PRESIDENT HE CAN GO TO HELL ALONG WITH HIS ISIS TERRORIST AND I SHALL MAKE SYRIA...

Turkish police on Friday detained the editor of a leading English-language daily newspaper on suspicion of "insulting" President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a series of tweets. Today's Zaman editor-in-chief Bulent Kenes was detained at the newspaper's offices by plainclothes police who raided the building late in the evening and took him away in a car, the daily said. Samanyolu, a television channel close to the newspaper aired live coverage of his departure in police custody. Hundreds of staff members could be seen crowding round Kenes in solidarity as the police took him away to Istanbul's main Caglayan courthouse. Clutching placards...

WASHINGTON — Americans following this year's presidential campaign would never know it from mainstream media coverage, but the commander in chief we hired four years ago has set the United States on a course for unilateral disarmament. The following people hope you won't notice until after Nov. 6: Vladimir Putin, Liang Guanglie, Kim Jong-un, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, A.Q. Khan and of course, Barack Obama. The 10 individuals above share a common fascination: nuclear weapons. Vladimir Putin, Russia's modern czar; Liang Guanglie, minister of national defense for...

Turkey will not allow "terror to take root" or "fait accompli situations" next to its borders, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, in an apparent reference to Russian air strikes in neighboring Syria. Erdogan made the comment in a parliamentary speech in Ankara. The Russian air force began air strikes in Syria on Wednesday, targeting areas near the cities of Homs and Hama in the west of the country, where President Bashar al-Assad's forces are fighting a number of insurgent groups, though not Islamic State, which is based mostly in the north and east.

Two years ago a former supporter, the Lebanese editor Jihad al-Zein, wrote: “Erdogan’s behavior has seemed closer to that of an old-style Arab military ruler,” and who can disagree? The Turkish election results in June were a major setback for the ruling AK (Justice and Development) Party and even more so for President Erdogan, who had reckoned that his party would be returned with an overwhelming majority, which would make it possible to change the constitution and give him full executive power. Instead of 400 seats in Turkey’s 550-seat parliament, which Erdogan had called for, the AKP ended up with...

During the last week of August, two Protestant churches in Turkey — one in the Mediterranean city of Antalya and the other in Istanbul — received emails with a message that read, “You apostate, perverted infidels, you’ve rejected the truth despite the laws of Allah and chosen the path of infidelity. You’ve not only put faith in idolatry, but you’ve dragged along others with you. For a long time, we waited for you to return to the true religion. You [only] increased your perversion and fooled other ignorant people. Be assured that Allah will deliver your heads in our hands....