Turkey - Snap election return Erdoğan who refuses to condemn ISIS - 11/01/2015

Turkish president Erdoğan: I can’t condemn the Islamic State for shooting down the Russian airplane as it is the natural outcome of Putin’s support for Assad

ITCW,

1 November, 2015

According to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has raised eyebrows around the world capitals by justifying ISIS terrorists who brought down a Russian passenger plane in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula early saturday, killing all 224 people aboard.

” the Russian airplanes are targeting Mujahidin in Syria and partisans fighting to topple Syrian dictator Assad. In Syria, Moscow seeks to tip the balance on the ground against our brethren. Consequently, there should be no surprise if Islamic State take revenge,” Dubai TV cited the Turkish official as saying.

Having been isolated internationally for his obstinate support for hard-line Islamist rebels in Syria, the 61-year-old President Erdoğan expressed his refusal to condemn Ansar Bait al-Maqdis—infamous Sinai-based jihadist group whose members swore allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) — for targeting Kogalymavia Flight 9268, killing 217 passengers including 17 children.

“How can I condemn the Islamic State for shooting down a Russian plane as its passengers returning from a happy vacation in a time when our co-religionists in Syria are bombed by Putin’s fighter jets? …it is the natural outcome of Moscow’s actions in Syria and the support for Assad,” said Erdoğan, adding, Turkey will continue to advocate the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and ousted ex-President Morsi in Egypt.

Earlier today Terror Monitor, an online terrorist monitoring organization, said it had received a statement from Islamic State militants claiming responsibility for the attack.

The website, which watches terrorist groups around the world, tweeted an image of the Arabic statement and wrote: “#IslamicState (#ISIS) terror group claims downing of Russian aircraft in #Sinai.”

AKP returns to power in Turkey with outright majority

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tightens grip on power but leftist, pro-Kurdish HDP party passes 10% of vote share, enough to deny president a ‘supermajority’

Turkey’s strongman president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, tightened his grip on power decisively on Sunday as his ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) swept back to single-party government with an unexpectedly convincing win in national elections.

The high-stakes vote, Turkey’s second in five months, took place in a climate of mounting tension and violence following an inconclusive June poll in which the conservative, Islamic-leaning AKP failed to secure an outright majority for the first time since coming to power in 2002.

The result could exacerbate divisions in a country deeply polarised along both ethnic and sectarian lines; Erdoğan is adored by supporters who hail him as a transformative figure who has modernised the country, but loathed by critics who see see him as an increasingly autocratic, even despotic leader.

With 97.4% of votes counted, the AKP had won 49.4%, the state broadcaster TRT reported, giving the AKP at least 315 seats in the 550-member parliament, more than enough to form a government on its own.

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