Free Republic

The Turkish Incirlik airbase in Adana, Turkey, which houses NATO forces, U.S. forces and at least 50 nuclear devices, experienced massive protests this week, yet the media and President Barack Obama have been conspicuously silent. Turkish citizens stormed the base, protesting U.S. presence there. RT reported that regional media was covering the protests, and social media reports indicated that there may have been up to 1,000 protesters present. According to RT, protesters were heard yelling anti-America and anti-Israel slogans and seen burning the U.S. and Israeli flag. According to the U.S. State Department, the consulate was closed during the protests.

Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan’s purge of political enemies after a counterfeit coup attempt has compromised U.S. led operations against the Islamic State. Many of the senior Turkish officers who were working with the United States have been either removed from military service or jailed. After the staged coup, President Erdogan began purging the military, with approximately 1,700 military personnel receiving dishonorable discharges including nearly half of the nation’s admirals and generals. The Turkish military had traditionally been the vanguard against the country being taken over by a dictator. Erdogan, however, greatly increased the size and strength of Turkey’s national police...

[Original title too long: American Soldiers At Incirlik AFB In Turkey Are Under Active Siege Right Now By Erdogan, All Food, Water, And Power Has Been Cut To The Base] While Americans are bickering about the election this November, what we predicted two weeks ago is under way right now: a repeat of the horrors of Ben Ghazi. So far I have not received reports about the status of the soldiers, or that Incirlik AFB in Turkey has been taken over by Erdogan. However, the situation is not good and is actively worsening. This does not just come from “on...

In December 1997, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current Turkish president but at the time the mayor of Istanbul, recited a famous poem by Turkish nationalist poet Ziya Gökalp during a speech in the eastern Turkish city of Siirt. One line read: “The minarets are our bayonets, the domes our helmets, the mosques our barracks, and the faithful our soldiers.” At a time when Turkey’s strictly secular military still held sway over Turkish politics, the militarized reference to Islam was interpreted as a threat to the secular order established by modern Turkey’s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Erdogan was arrested, sentenced to...

Some 7,000 armed police with heavy vehicles have surrounded and blocked the Incirlik air base in Adana used by NATO forces, already restricted in the aftermath of a failed coup. Unconfirmed reports say troops were sent to deal with a new coup attempt. Hurriyet reported earlier that Adana police had been tipped off about a new coup attempt, and forces were immediately alerted. The entrance to the base was closed off. Security forces armed with rifles and armored TOMA vehicles used by Turkish riot police could be seen at the site in photos taken by witnesses....

Visitor posts: Maryanne Lavelle Today at 4:35pm.Everyone is a panic about why there are police at the airbase right now and the entrances blocked. Can you give us an update of what's going on? Edin Sokan Today at 4:28pm.According to a local news Turkish police have closed all access to Incirlik airbase ( 10th Tank Base)

Mid the cacophony of police sirens, low-flying helicopters and rifle fire, there was another sound during the attempt to overthrow president Recep Tayyip Erdogan: The wailing of Turkey’s imams. From the nations’s 85,000 mosques, their amplified voices were heard calling upon the faithful to take to the streets and defy the plotters. The people listened. Some bravely stood in front of tanks as they defended the democratically elected president. Around 240 from both sides died and 1,400 were injured. For others the night presented different opportunities as hardline Muslim Sunnis, whipped up to a frenzy, targeted Turkey’s Christian community. In...

What you see on the news from Turkey are protesters shouting anti-American and anti-Israel slogans, but what most are not seeing are the convoys headed towards the Incirlik base where U.S. Air Force is stationed to stage a massive rally against the U.S.: A convoy of massive numbers of vehicles headed towards Incirlik where US Air Force are stationed. It is not only demonstrators who are moving toward Incirlik Air Base in the southern Turkish city of Adana for anti-U.S. protests, but images circulating on Twitter on July 28 show convoys of Muslim Brotherhood supporters heading that way. The base...

The Turkish leader is attempting to get a tactical advantage over the US and EU, playing the hero for his domestic audience and to get his hands on Fethullah Gulen, political scientist from the Helwan University in Cairo, Dr. Maged Botros, told RT. Turkey has banned all academics from leaving the country as the crackdown following the failed coup intensifies. *snip* Many Western leaders have called for "restraint and moderation" after Erdogan began his crackdown. The US Secretary of Defense has pledged allegiance to Ankara when asked whether Turkey's NATO membership could be affected by the recent turn of events....

Tue Jul 26, 2016 | 2:58 AM EDT U.S. Embassy says family of staff authorised to depart Turkey (Reuters) - The U.S. Embassy in Ankara said on Tuesday the State Department has authorised the voluntary departure of employees' family members in Turkey after a failed military

Much has been made of the Islamic State’s claim to the caliphate. But the Islamic State is fast losing ground in Syria and Iraq, and without a territorial claim, its claim to the caliphate is a shaky one. According to some sources, ISIS has already been preparing its followers for the fall of the caliphate. Meanwhile, an Islamist power with a much better claim to the caliphate has been gathering strength. Whether the failed coup in Turkey was the real thing or whether it was staged, as some have claimed, President Erdogan’s hold over the Turkish nation has been immeasurably...

Turkey on Monday issued warrants for the detention of 42 journalists suspected of links to the alleged organizers of a failed military uprising, intensifying concerns that a sweeping crackdown on alleged coup plotters could target media for any news coverage critical of the government. While the Turkish government said it is investigating the journalists for possible criminal conduct rather than their reporting, critics warned that a state of emergency imposed after the July 15 coup attempt poses a threat to freedom of expression. ... Journalists wanted for questioning include Nazli Ilicak, whose columns in the Ozgur Dusunce newspaper criticized Erdogan’s...

Amnesty International says it has 'credible evidence' Turkish police are holding detainees, denying them food, water and medical treatment and in the worst cases some have been subjected to severe beatings and torture Turkish troops imprisoned after the failed military coup are being raped, starved and left without water for days, it is claimed. Many of the 10,000 detainees are locked up in horses' stables and sports halls - some hogtied in horrific stress positions, according to human rights campaigners. Amnesty International has called for immediate access to prisoners after the coup a week ago which sparked a brutal crackdown...

By Ralph Peters Fox News Posted 2016-07-22 05:11 GMT If today's Western leaders possess one general trait, it's a genius for self-deception. Insisting that Islamist terror has nothing to do with Islam, or that religion has no strategic impact, or that all human beings want freedom and democracy, amounts to declaring that up is down, right is left and night is day. And midnight is coming for millions in Turkey, even as we insist that a dying flashlight is the sun. Over the past few years, many Americans heard the term "caliphate" for the first time as ISIS declared that...

Why NATO has a ticking time bomb on its hands. On Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg insisted that the purge of thousands in the Turkish military – including a third of the serving generals – did not weaken the military.

Stoltenberg told Reuters, “Turkey has a large armed force, professional armed forces and... I am certain they will continue as a committed and strong NATO ally.”
 It would be interesting to know whether the 1,500 US soldiers who have been locked down at Incirlik Air Base along with several hundred soldiers from other NATO countries since the failed coup Friday night...

Before the coup attempt last week, the pupils, aged between 14 and 17, were made to dress up in camouflage and were handed guns with empty magazines, according to their lawyers. The children have been taken to prison and not allowed to speak to their parents as they were accused of treason against the Turkish State. The mum of a 15-year-old boy caught up in the arrest, Emre, while waiting for news outside Istanbul’s Maltepe Prison said: “Our child has never held a gun before. “They were used, they were forced to do this.” The incarcerated kids families and lawyers...

The pupils, aged between 14 and 17, were made to dress up in camouflage and were handed guns with empty magazines, according to their lawyers Before the coup attempt last week, the pupils, aged between 14 and 17, were made to dress up in camouflage and were handed guns with empty magazines, according to their lawyers. The children have been taken to prison and not allowed to speak to their parents as they were accused of treason against the Turkish State. The mum of a 15-year-old boy caught up in the arrest, Emre, while waiting for news outside Istanbul’s Maltepe...

Turkish lawmakers convened Thursday to endorse sweeping new powers for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that would allow him to expand a crackdown in the wake of last week's failed coup. The 550-member parliament is set to approve Erdogan's request for a three-month state of emergency. Erdogan's Justice and Development Party account for 317 members in the chamber. In an address to the nation late Wednesday, Erdogan announced a Cabinet decision to seek the additional powers, saying the state of emergency would give the government the tools to rid the military of the "virus" of subversion.

Turkish state media say authorities are acting to close down 626 private schools and other educational establishments, in the latest step of a crackdown after last week's attempted coup. The schools are linked to exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, who set up a network of schools across Turkey to promote his teachings.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday evening declared a three-month state of emergency following last week's failed coup, Sky News reported. In a speech in which he announced the state of emergency, Erdogan warned there "may be more plans" from dissidents to try and overthrow the government again. He added that the state of emergency was in order to "take the most efficient steps in order to remove this threat as soon as possible, which is a threat to democracy, to the rule of law, and to the rights and freedoms of citizens in our country". Earlier, noted Sky...