One killed in explosion in Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport
DHA
Photos
One
cleaning staff member was killed early Dec. 23 at Istanbul’s Sabiha
Gökçen Airport in an explosion whose cause has yet to be
determined, while another was wounded.
Zehra
Yamaç sustained fatal injuries in the explosion that occurred at 2
a.m. on Dec. 23 on the airport’s apron, while Canan Burgulu was
also wounded in the explosion.
Burgulu
is continuing to receive treatment at the Marmara Education and
Research Hospital.
“An
explosion whose cause remains undetermined took place on the apron of
Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport at 2:05 a.m. on Dec. 23, 2015,”
Pegasus Airlines announced in a written statement.
“Two
fellow janitors who were inside a Pegasus aircraft at the time of the
incident were wounded in the explosion and transferred to a hospital.
There were no passengers inside the boarding bridge or inside our
plane,” the statement added.
Some
witnesses, however, claimed to have heard three consecutive
explosions.
The
company which operates the airport, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen
International Airport Investment Development and Operation, also
released a statement noting that an investigation was ongoing to
determine the cause of the explosion.
“There
are no problems in take-offs or landings at our terminal; our flights
are continuing smoothly,” it said.
Police
launched an investigation with a helicopter to determine the cause of
the incident and apprehend any possible suspects.
DHA
Photos
Zehra Yamaç sustained fatal injuries in the explosion that occurred at 2 a.m. on Dec. 23 on the airport’s apron, while Canan Burgulu was also wounded in the explosion.
Burgulu is continuing to receive treatment at the Marmara Education and Research Hospital.
“Two fellow janitors who were inside a Pegasus aircraft at the time of the incident were wounded in the explosion and transferred to a hospital. There were no passengers inside the boarding bridge or inside our plane,” the statement added.
Some witnesses, however, claimed to have heard three consecutive explosions.
The company which operates the airport, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport Investment Development and Operation, also released a statement noting that an investigation was ongoing to determine the cause of the explosion.
“There are no problems in take-offs or landings at our terminal; our flights are continuing smoothly,” it said.
Police launched an investigation with a helicopter to determine the cause of the incident and apprehend any possible suspects.
Turkey ‘officially acknowledges’ attack on Su-24 was a planned step - Russian MoD
©
Dmitry Vinogradov / Sputnik
RT,
23
December, 2015
A
recent statement by a Turkish official revealing detailed awareness
of Russian Air Force sorties in Syria can be regarded as “official
acknowledgment” that the operation to down the Su-24 was a planned
step, Russia's Ministry of Defense said.
“When
on November 24 the Turkish fighter jet treacherously fired a rocket
at our Su-24, the Turkish General Staff was perfectly aware about
when and where our two bombers would be carrying out their mission,”
ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov told journalists on
Wednesday.
The
statement recently made by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan
Kurtulmus in which he provides information on Russian sorties in
Syria, “can
be regarded as official acknowledgment by Turkey that the operation
to destroy the Russian jet in Syria and kill Russian soldiers was a
planned step,”
he said.
RT
Flight recorder of Turkey-downed Russian Su-24 damaged, can’t be read now – Defense Ministry https://www.rt.com/news/line/
Ankara’s
awareness of Russian military operations in Syria confirms that all
intelligence given to the US under the memorandum signed
between the two countries and regulating the operations of their air
forces in Syria was passed to the Turkish General Staff, he dded.
Russia strikes 1,000+ terror targets in Syria over 6 days
Meanwhile,
the Russian Air Force has conducted 302 sorties targeting 1,093
terrorist targets from December 18-23, the ministry spokesman said.
The strikes were carried out in Aleppo, Idlib, Hama, Homs and Deir
ez-Zor provinces.
Russian
Su-34 jets destroyed two oil storage facilities and three
installations for oil extraction located in Syria’s eastern Deir
ez-Zor region, he said. The jets also targeted a command post
discovered by Russian drones in Aleppo province.
In
Idlib province, a terrorist training camp was destroyed by Russian
strikes, Konashenkov said.
Syrian opposition provides Russian Air Force with coordinates to target terrorists – MoD http://on.rt.com/6zkf
According
to the intelligence obtained on the camp, the terrorists who arrived
there via Turkey also included CIS citizens. The information was
provided by the Syrian opposition.
Amnesty’s report full of ‘cliches,’ includes no evidence
Speaking about the report published on Wednesday by Amnesty International, Konashenkov said it includes no facts, only “clichés” and groundless accusations.
The
NGO’s report accused
Russia of failing to acknowledge it carried out strikes that “killed
hundreds of civilians and caused massive destruction in residential
areas.”
The report was based on eyewitness testimonies and videos “showing
the aftermath of the attacks,”
the human rights group said.
Amnesty
concluded the attacks were “identified
as suspected Russian air strikes”
after analyzing the material. It also suggested the attacks “may
have violated international humanitarian law and may, in some
circumstances, constitute war crimes.”
Konashenkov
said there is nothing new in the report and the most striking thing
are the words “seem”
and “appear,”
which are used to describe the reports of the so-called “Russian
attacks.”
The
report consists of “continuous
assumptions, without any evidence,”
he said. Some of the Western media which published the report did so
without specifying it included assumptions and instead presented them
as “hard
facts,”
Konashenkov added.
The
situation in the region deteriorated after serious clashes
between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Turkish
security forces. In the middle of October, about 100 people
died as result of a bomb attack in Ankara on the
Kurdish peace demonstration.
According
to the newspaper, the local population describes war-like
conditions and significant number of victims. One of the
local residents told the newspaper Today's Zaman that they have no
running water and that electricity transformers have exploded.
“I
have seven children, they can no longer attend school. We have
to drink the water, which we normally use in the toilet,”
the woman said.
Another
local resident said in an interview with Today's Zaman that
his 11-year-old daughter was hit by a bullet when she went
to buy bread. People no longer dare to go to the
streets and that is why her body lied on the ground for about
15 minutes before anyone could go and help her, but it was
too late.
"Now
I have only two children left. We are in a poor situation,"
the man said, adding that he managed to take his family away
from the conflict zone, but lacks money and can’t make
ends meet.
The
operation Ankara is carrying out in southeastern Turkey is war
against its own people, a German journalist wrote earlier in an
article for Neues Deutschland.
The
main goal of the operation, according to Ankara, is
to eliminate Kurds who seized towns, constructed barricades and
dug trenches.
The
so called anti-terrorist operation started last week and has involved
nearly 10,000 military and police forces. As result of the
offensive, over 100 PKK militants have been destroyed.
Turkish
security forces use tear gas, water cannons against protesters in
Diyarbakir
Police
deployed tear gas and water cannon against several thousand
protesters gathered in the streets of the Turkish city of Diyarbakir
to protest against the curfew imposed on the city.
SECRET 2010 STATE DEPT REPORT WARNED OF TURKEY’S NEO-OTTOMAN SHIFT
State
Dept Report from 2010 Predicted Turkey’s Dangerous Neo-Ottoman
Shift
In
recent months, Ankara’s increasingly aggressive foreign policy has
become the center of global attention. Looking back to the origins of
the neo-Ottomanist ideology which drives Turkey’s risky foreign
adventurism today, a classified US State Department cable from 2010
confirms that Washington saw President Erdogan’s dangerous shift in
foreign policy coming, but couldn’t do anything about it – or
worse, chose not to.
From
the provision of support to radical Islamist rebels in Syria, to the
alleged trade in stolen ISIL oil, to the provocative downing of a
Russian military plane, to the army’s incursion into Iraq, Ankara’s
increasingly unhinged foreign policy decisions have become a mainstay
on the front pages of the world’s press.
Who
could have predicted, only a few short years ago, that the ruling
Justice and Development Party would pivot, so quickly and so
drastically, from a foreign policy of ‘Western orientation’ and
‘zero conflicts with neighbors’, to one of confrontation and
‘neo-Ottomanism’? Well… the US State Department did,
apparently.
In
a confidential diplomatic cable written in early 2010 and
since published by
WikiLeaks, Ambassador to Turkey James F. Jeffrey suggested, albeit in
a somewhat muted manner, that Washington’s long-time allies in
Ankara were becoming infatuated with a new, «more Islamic», «more
independently activist» «neo-Ottoman» ideology – one which could
present «major challenges» for US interests.
The
shift, the cable explained, was influenced by a number of political,
economic and geopolitical factors, and was spearheaded by the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP) – the big-tent political
coalition of Islamists, conservatives and nationalists formed in 2001
– which would come to dominate the country’s political system by
the mid-2000s.
According
to the document, Ankara’s new ideology, epitomized by then-Prime
Minister Recep Erdogan and his Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, was
leading to a gradual partial shift away from Turkey’s ‘traditional
Western’ and ‘zero conflicts’ trajectories, and toward
‘neo-Ottomanism’ – the desire to regain Turkey’s place in the
sun as a great imperial power.
In
an apparent attempt to soothe his readers, Jeffrey made sure to
emphasize that the traditional orientation of cooperation and
integration with the West, instilled by Mustafa Kemal Attaturk
following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, still «represents
the core of Turkish foreign policy». Turkey,
Jeffrey stressed, remains a «major
NATO ally» and
the «US
anchor in the Middle East».
A
Harbinger of Terrible Things to Come…
Nonetheless,
a shift was occurring. The cable pointed to then-Foreign Minister
Davutoglu’s «extraordinary
speech in Sarajevo in late 2009», where
Davutoglu effectively declared that the Balkans, Caucasus, and Middle
East were all better off when under Ottoman control or influence,
with peace and progress prevailing in the territories under Turkey’s
shadow. «Now», the
cable summed up, «Turkey
is back, ready to lead – or even unit».
The
cable noted that «while
this speech was given in the Balkans, most of its impact is in the
Middle East».
«Davutoglu’s
theory», the document explained, «is
that most of the regimes there are both undemocratic and
illegitimate. Turkey, building on the alleged admiration among Middle
Eastern populations for its economic success and power, and willing
to stand up for the interests of the people, reaches over the regimes
to the ‘Arab street’».
Ultimately,
the cable’s allusions to Turkey’s disdain for the regimes in the
region goes a long way in explaining Ankara’s highly activist
position during the so-called Arab Spring, which spread like a
wildfire across the region in 2011, toppling the regimes of
pro-Western dictators and anti-American, anti-imperialist holdouts like.
In
a portent of things to come in the aftermath of the Arab
pseudo-revolutions of 2011, and Turkey’s role in them, from the
smoldering Libyan civil war to the ongoing and brutal civil conflict
in Syria, Jeffrey suggested, almost prophetically, that «sooner
or later…Turkey will have to produce results, take risks, commit
real resources, and take hard decisions to augment a policy now
consisting mainly of popular slogans, ceaseless trips, and
innumerable MOUs of little importance».
Fertile
Ground for the Shift to Neo-Ottomanism
The
US Embassy cable lays out the causes for Ankara’s drift toward
neo-Ottomanism in a neat and simple manner, suggesting that growing
Islamization at home (and its limits), combined with the resources
made available by a generally successful economic development
strategy, and disillusionment with the European Union, have all
played their role. The declining political clout of the military
(which, incidentally, would undergo a dramatic purge in 2012
following an alleged coup plot), is another important factor,
according to the cable.
Furthermore,
more abstractly, the document suggests that in the post-Cold War
world, Ankara has seen a decline in and relativization of its
dependence on the ‘Western anchor’, joining other emerging powers
in the developing world which benefit from institutions created by
the West while pursuing their own «Third Worldish policies and
rhetoric».
Opportunism
and the Apparent Limits of US Power
Ultimately,
instead of challenging Turkey’s budding neo-Ottomanism, or
suggesting that Washington should attempt to bring its
not-insignificant influence to bear over Ankara’s new foreign
policy approach, the cable suggested that the US would «have
to live with» this
new, neo-Ottoman Turkey.
Pointing
out that Ankara’s attempts at becoming a regional heavyweight could
have the positive prospect of relieving the US of some of its
imperious ‘responsibilities’, the cable nevertheless laments that
this «comes
with a certain loss of control», with «Turkey’s
new foreign policy [thus serving as] a mixed bag for us».
Still,
perhaps in fear of losing even more influence, should neo-Ottomanism
become anti-American to boot, the cable emphasizes that «on
a whole host of key issues of supreme importance to us –
Afghanistan and Pakistan, cooperation in and on Iraq, NATO efforts …
Turkey is a crucial ally, and our use of Incirlik, Habur gate, and
Turkish airspace for our Iraq and Afghanistan operations is
indispensable».
Ultimately,
Jeffrey suggests that «in
any case, sooner or later we will no longer have to deal with the
current cast of political leaders, with their special yen for
destructive drama and – rhetoric».
However,
in a twist with more than a hint of orientalist bias, the ambassador
also suggests that «we
see no one better on the horizon, and Turkey will remain a
complicated blend of world-class ‘Western’ institutions,
competencies, and orientation, and Middle Eastern culture and
religion».
In
this situation, the cable suggests that for its part, Washington will
have to interact with the new, neo-Ottomanist Ankara in a pragmatic
fashion, on an «issue-by-issue-approach». Almost
six years on, with the situation in Turkey and the Middle East
becoming exponentially more complicated, it’s worth pondering
exactly which issues – from Ankara’s support for jihadist
extremists in Syria, to its shoot down of a Russian plane, to its
purchase of stolen ISIL oil and, most recently, its incursion into
Iraq – were met with understanding and approval from Washington.
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