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The conflicting interests of the US in Syria continued. Turkey hates the Kurds, but the US is using them to fight ISIS, despite them being terrorists in the eyes of their ally. This makes it sound like Erdogan is growing defiant and may provoke action by the US.

In Feb. the United Nations demanded Turkey to open its borders to thousands of Syrian refugees. Erdogan responded "are you mocking us?" and accused the UN for overstepping its powers and to basically back off from the Syrian conflict.

Another issue Turkey is constantly dealing with, is the problem with the thousands of Syrian refugees at their border, in addition to the mini-civil war w/the Kurds, and its questionable oil business with ISIS. This article points out Erdogan's requests for the EU to deliver more funds to control the border situation. Different point of view from the other two articles I bookmarked this week.

This is an article for Hurriyet Daily News, an online newspaper based in Istanbul.On October 5, many neighborhoods on Turkey's border with Syria were evacuated. I thought this news article was interesting because it quotes a speech by Turkey's president in which he addresses his viewpoint on the PKK. The organization has been banned in Turkey and is considered a terrorist organization. He says that ISIS/ISIL and the PKK are equivalent groups, and that the PKK is using the current conflict with ISIS to manipulate public opinion.

This is an article for Hurriyet Daily News, an online newspaper based in Istanbul.On October 5, many neighborhoods on Turkey's border with Syria were evacuated. I thought this news article was interesting because it quotes a speech by Turkey's president in which he addresses his viewpoint on the PKK. The organization has been banned in Turkey and is considered a terrorist organization. He says that ISIS/ISIL and the PKK are equivalent groups, and that the PKK is using the current conflict with ISIS to manipulate public opinion.

The news today says that ISIS has all but taken a Syrian Kurdish border city with Turkey, called Kobane. Not surprised that Erdogan would conflate the two groups, while the US is trying to activate Kurdish militants to resist ISIS. I was chatting with another student in my office today and we were wondering if the duty and suffering that have devolved onto the Kurds in this crisis might reinvigorate their push for a nation-state of their own.

Turkey has denounced the United States for providing support to the Democratic Union Party, who any are calling a terrorist group. This is contributing to the bloodshed. 

Turkey is mad at U/S over their support for Syria's Kurdish group. Turkey claims them as a terrorist group. Refugees are still fleeing from Syria.

US support of Syrian extremist group, the Democratic Union Party, has been denounced by Turkish president Erdogan. The recent fighting has displaced 50,000 people and cut off key supply routes for bringing in aid. Turkey has vowed to continue to accept refugees.w

Assad is pointing the finger at Turkey and Saudi Arabia. He claims that Erdogan's forces are heavily involved in Syria, and that they are "crossing a red line." I will be curious to follow the relations between these two countries.

This news report in International Business Times covers quite a bit of information, as a lot has happened during the past week in regards the conflict with ISIS. The US has declared support for the PKK and other Kurdish forces, because they are fighting against ISIS. Meanwhile, Turkey's President Ergodan, has condemned the US for supporting the PKK, as the US and Turkey are long-standing allies, and the PKK and Turkey have been embroiled in a decades-long conflict. Kurdish fighters are currently battling ISIS forces in the Syrian town of Kobani, and Turkey is opposing giving the fighters any weapons, and equating them with the PKK.

the president of Turkey think holding thew fire in Syria could give Assad a rest to take a breath. also the president think Russia, USA and European union positions are negative and they not taking the Syrian crisis seriously.

It really frustrates me that the US is often very outspoken about rights, freedom and democracy. Yet time and time again, I have seen that politics are nothing more than a pursuit of interests. The US continues its "ambiguity" of action in Syria, essentially furthering the spread of chaos. Now Turkey, and important US ally is frustrated that the US has been siding with alleged Kurdish terrorist groups.

The Turkish President was subject to international criticism after his remarks at a gathering in Istanbul aimed at discussing women's rights and freedoms, in which he said that gender equality is "against nature". In his speech, Ergodan stated that Islam has defined a role for women in society, and that that role is motherhood. He also offered a strong admonishment to Turkish feminists, whom he says have rejected motherhood. Women's and human's rights activists have consistently criticized Ergodan and the AKP party since they came into power in 2003, claiming that Turkey has increasingly become authoritarian and politically conservative.

Turkey has said it will allow Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters to cross its borders and join Syrian Kurdish forces battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the Syrian town of Kobane. The reported shift in Turkish policy came after a phone call between US President Barack Obama and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Here is a personal account of an innocent civilian family affected by the daily and ongoing fight between the PKK and the Turkish Republic. A two-year ceasefire has been broke, as Turkey has increased its bombing campaign against the Kurds in the mountains.

UN says the deal between the EU and Turkey regarding Syria's refugees would not be "consistent with European law" and is not consistent with International law. Turkey offered to take back all refugees and migrants who cross into Europe from its soil in return for more money, quicker visa travel for Turkish peoples, and faster EU membership talks.