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Turkey
President Erdogan denounced the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for “incit[ing] hatred and racism.” Shabazz Suleman, a British jihadist who was among some 180 Islamic State fighters turned over to the terrorist group in October in exchange for 46 Turkish hostages, claimed that while in a Turkish prison he and fellow fighters were allowed contact with the Islamic State. According to reports, the suicide bomber who carried out the Jan. 6 attack in Istanbul was Diana Ramazova, a Dagestani who had been married to Islamic State jihadist Abu Aluevitsj Edelbijev, a Norwegian of Chechen origin who died in Syria in…
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Iraq
Morocco cracks down on ISIS backers
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Free Syrian Army
Turkey Bans Publication of Reports on Syria Arms Delivery
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Germany
Germany closer to confiscating Islamist IDs
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Iraq
Suicide bomber in Saudi border attack recruited family members to join ISIS: source
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Iraq
World losing capacity to prevent conflict: UN refugee chief
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Turkey
A female suicide bomber detonated at a police station in downtown Istanbul, killing one policeman and wounding another; the attack came less than a week after the DHKP-C (Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front) threw a grenade at police near the prime minister’s office and threatened further attacks. A Dutch journalist was arrested on terrorism charges but released.
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Turkey
Turkey’s new legal definitions lead to increase in arrests
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Turkey
A senior Foreign Ministry official said that an agreement with the US is expected to be reached this month on the training and equipping of Syrian rebels in Turkey. Negotiations continue over the nature of the rebels to be trained, the use of İncirlik airbase for coalition operations, and the creation of a no-fly zone along the Syrian border.
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Turkey
Citing state secrets, a judge stopped a defendant from testifying about a visit to Turkey by Yasin al Qadi, an alleged al Qaeda financier who has been a guest of President Erdogan in recent years. Counterterrorism police arrested 14 people suspected of membership in a group linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party in Erzincan.
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Iraq
Obama Envoy John Allen: No ‘Short-Term Solutions’ for Stopping Islamic State
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Turkey
The Foreign Ministry rejected claims in a November UN report that said arms for the Islamic State and the Al Nusrah Front are being smuggled primarily through Turkey. Increasing numbers of Turkish Jews are leaving the country due to security concerns. Mehmet Ali Ağca, who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981, was deported by Italy after entering the country illegally to visit the pope’s tomb.
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Al Nusrah Front
The Child Soldiers Who Escaped Islamic State
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Islamic State
The Cost of the US Ban on Paying for Hostages
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Turkey
The CIA has reportedly asked Turkey for the second time to track down the sources of Islamic State videos being posted from Turkey; so far the government has taken no action in response. A lawmaker asked Parliament about a recent report alleging that Turkey has sent some 2,000 trucks of weaponry to Syria between September 2012 and October 2014. Prime Minister Davutoğlu invited Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to speak at the ruling AKP party’s annual convention in Konya. At least two people were killed in clashes between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Islamist group Turkish Hizbollah near the…
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Iraq
Iraq seeks Turkish support in fight against ISIS
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Iraq
Senior Kurdish rebel leader warns Iraq must stay united to defeat ‘savage’ ISIS
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Free Syrian Army
Syrian authorities halt ferries to Turkey
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Turkey
Mehmet Dogan, the leader of Turkey’s Tahşiye group, said he “loves Osama bin Laden”; President Erdogan has defended Dogan. Authorities arrested over 100 members of a teachers’ union in Ankara yesterday as they marched in support of secular education, after attacking them with water cannons and tear gas. A Turkish criminal court issued an arrest warrant on Dec. 19 for Fethullah Gülen, an Islamic scholar with a large following who has lived in the US since 1998.
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Turkey
In the ongoing investigation into incidents in January when Turkish intelligence trucks headed into Syria were stopped and searched, 19 new suspects have been charged with spying and obtaining state secrets. The trucks reportedly carried weapons destined for Syrian rebels. Terrorism charges were filed against the editor and general manager of a major Turkish newspaper. Turkey was called the 10th worst country in the world for journalists in 2014 by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
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Iraq
UN Security Council renews cross-border Syria aid authorization
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Egypt
IS threat led to closure of Western embassies in Egypt
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Turkey
Turkey’s Religious Schools Rise as Erdogan Exerts Sway
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Turkey
Antiterrorism police in Istanbul arrested Z.M., a Russian national of Chechen origin, on suspicion of assassinating Abdullah Bukhari, 38, a dissident Uzbek religious leader in the city. On Dec. 5, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov claimed that Akhmat Umarov, a brother of late Caucasus Emirate leader Doku Umarov, was behind the deadly Dec. 4 attack in Grozny and demanded his extradition from Turkey. Turkish police arrested at least 31 people, including the editor of a leading newspaper, in simultaneous raids conducted in 13 provinces in a crackdown on opposition media. Police officers who had investigated al Qaeda cells in Turkey were…
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Algeria
Egypt looks to roll back Islamist militias in Libya
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European Union
EU foreign policy head Mogherini set for key Turkey talks
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Free Syrian Army
An exclusive look at life in Syrian town of Kobane
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Iran
Turkey not expected to revise Syria policy
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Iran
Iran confirms it carried out air strikes against Islamic State extremists in Iraq
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Iraq
Syria’s Assad downplays US strikes on Islamic State
