Turkey urges U.N. inspectors to investigate Syria gas attack report

ISTANBUL |(Reuters) - Turkey called on U.N. inspectors to look into Syrian rebel reports that almost 500 people were killed on Wednesday in a gas attack and shelling by President Bashar al-Assad's forces, and said it was monitoring the situation "with great concern".

Thousands of smugglers swamp Turkish border, soldiers injured

ANKARA

(Reuters) - Eighteen Turkish soldiers were injured on Tuesday when a group of several thousand alleged smugglers clashed with the army as they tried to cross into Turkey from Syria, the military said.
The group of 2,500-3,000 people threw stones at military patrol vehicles on the border at the town of Ogulpinar in Hatay province and refused to disperse after warnings were issued in Turkish and Arabic, the statement said.
Turkish troops shot into the air and fired teargas to disperse the crowd as another group of smugglers on the Turkish side of the border also threw stones at the soldiers.
An additional force of 300 soldiers was deployed in Kusakli village on the Turkish side of the border, after the villagers threw Molotov cocktails at the soldiers and fired with pump rifles, which caused light injuries to 18 soldiers.
The incident on Turkey's long Syria frontier, where the tensions have been on the rise over the past couple of months, followed a similar confrontation between Turkish troops and hundreds of people described by the military as smugglers only a week ago.
Smuggling of fuel and other goods into Turkey from neighbouring countries has continued for years, but confrontations between the Turkish troops and the crowds that the army describes as smugglers have increased in recent months, officials have said.
Turkey has emerged as one of the strongest backers of the Syrian rebels, sheltering around 500,000 Syrian refugees as well as rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but it denies arming them.
With its hilly terrain and thick vegetation, Hatay, a panhandle province that juts down into Syria, makes a relatively easy crossing point for smugglers, as well as Syrian rebel fighters and refugees fleeing the fighting.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Turkish man killed by stray bullet fired from Syria

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey | Sat Aug 3, 2013 5:55am EDT

(Reuters) - A Turkish man was killed on Saturday by a stray bullet fired across the border from Syria into the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar, security sources said.
Ramazan Zeybel, 45, died in hospital. He was the fourth Turkish citizen to be killed by stray shells and bullets fired during clashes in the neighboring Syrian town of Ras al-Ain.
With an ethnic mix of Arabs, Kurds and others, Ras al-Ain has been a focus of clashes for months, with Kurdish militias fighting for control against Arab rebel fighters from the al Qaeda-linked hardline Sunni Islamist al-Nusra Front.
Kurdish militias have sought to consolidate their grip in northern Syria, exploiting the chaos of the civil war over the past year by seizing control of districts as President Bashar al-Assad's forces focused elsewhere.
Two weeks ago, fighters allied to the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the strongest local Kurdish group with well-armed militias, captured Ras al-Ain from Nusra fighters.
Nusra fighters have regrouped in Tel Halaf, 4 km (2.5 miles) to the west, from where they have been shelling and firing in an attempt to recoup their losses. The Kurds appear to be holding their ground.
The Turkish military, which has been returning fire into Syria when stray bullets or mortars land inside Turkey, said it had fired several shots across the frontier at Ceylanpinar on Thursday night after a bullet from Syria hit the town.
(Reporting by Seyhmus Cakan; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Turkish troops use teargas to stop smugglers entering from Syria

By Humeyra Pamuk

ANKARA | Tue Jul 30, 2013 1:25pm EDT

(Reuters) - Turkish soldiers shot into the air and fired teargas this week to prevent hundreds of people described by the military as smugglers from trying to cross into Turkey from Syria.
In two separate incidents on Monday and Tuesday, groups of up to 2,000 people have approached the border with the "attempt to engage in smuggling", the army said in a statement.
In both incidents, the groups threw stones at the Turkish military patrol which used their vehicles to block the border at the town of Ogulpinar, in Hatay province, which is home to several Syrian refugee camps housing thousands of immigrants escaping Syria's bloody civil war.
Officials had said armed smugglers often tend to hide themselves among refugee groups.
Another group on the Turkish side of the border also threw stones at the Turkish troops and refused to disperse despite warnings in Arabic and Turkish, the statement said, after which the soldiers fired tear gas and shot into the air.
Smuggling of fuel and other goods into Turkey from neighboring countries has continued for years, but confrontations between the Turkish troops and the crowds that the army describes as smugglers have increased in recent months, officials have said.
Turkey has emerged as one of the strongest backers of the Syrian rebels, sheltering around 500,000 Syrian refugees as well as rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but it denies arming them.
The anti-Assad revolt has evolved from its origins as a peaceful protest movement in March 2011 into a civil war that has killed over 100,000 people and turned markedly sectarian.
With its hilly terrain and thick vegetation, Hatay, a panhandle province that juts down into Syria, makes a relatively easy crossing point for smugglers, as well as Syrian rebel fighters and refugees fleeing the fighting.
The army said it found some 6,000 liters of diesel "in the area of the incident when the group was dispersed" on Monday. In its weekly report of seized goods, the army said it confiscated more than 200,000 liters of fuel since end-June.
In a separate confrontation in the same region, Turkish soldiers fired warning shots at a group of 300-350 people on horseback who were also trying to cross the border on Tuesday and had "attempted to engage in smuggling," the statement said.
It did not elaborate on their activities.
Turkish troops have been wounded and have returned fire in a spate of border incidents over the past month. A Turkish border patrol last week killed a civilian trying to cross illegally into Syria after the group of men he was with opened fire.
In the most serious spillover of violence in weeks, two Turkish teenagers were killed last week by stray bullets fired during clashes between Islamist militants and Kurdish fighters in a Syrian border town several hundred kilometers east of Hatay.
(Editing by Jon Boyle and Sonya Hepinstall)

Turkish Protests, Syria Crisis Will Boost Turkey-PKK Peace Process

The Gezi Park protests in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, which shook Turkey at the end of May, represent a turning point in Turkey’s contemporary political history. Although their main target was Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his style of government, the protests, in combination with developments in Syria’s civil war, will have significant consequences for the ongoing peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). At the same time, the need to effectively address the Kurdish issue could accelerate recent shifts in Turkey’s stance on the Syrian crisis.

Though the Turkish-PKK peace process currently appears deadlocked due to natural mistrust between the two sides, Erdogan’s political weakness as a result of the protests will make him more likely to continue pursuing the negotiations, even as Turkey’s new domestic political situation may improve the chances of reaching a deal with the Kurds. As for Turkish engagement in Syria, the direct impact of the Gezi protests per se is limited, as Ankara had already started to revise its Syria policy before the protests started. But the complex regional dynamics of Kurdish nationalism are likely to drive further shifts in Ankara’s approach to the crisis, which will in turn have important implications for the Turkey-PKK peace process. ...(WPR)
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/13122/turkish-protests-syria-crisis-will-boost-turkey-pkk-peace-process

Turkey warns Syrian Kurds against 'dangerous' moves

 

By Humeyra Pamuk and Gulsen Solaker

ANKARA | Fri Jul 26, 2013 3:07pm EDT

(Reuters) - Turkey urged Syrian Kurds on Friday not to establish a break-away entity in northern Syria by force, with Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warning against any "wrong and dangerous" moves that could hurt Turkish security.
The warning was issued at a meeting in Istanbul between Turkish intelligence officials and Saleh Muslim, head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), whose militias have been fighting for greater autonomy for Kurdish parts of northern Syria.
Muslim said last week that Kurdish groups aimed to set up an independent council to run Kurdish regions in Syria until the civil war ended. That would alarm Ankara, which is wary of deepening sectarian violence on its border.
Turkey is trying to hold together a delicate peace process with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants on its own soil and is worried that moves towards Kurdish autonomy in Syria could embolden them and jeopardize that process.
"Necessary warnings will be made to them that these steps they're taking are wrong and dangerous," Erdogan told reporters, as members of his National Intelligence Agency met Muslim.
Separately, a Turkish farmer was killed and his two sons were wounded on Friday when a mortar shell from fighting between Kurds and Islamist rebels in Syria hit their field near the border, officials at the local state hospital told Reuters.
The incident in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar underscores fears that Syria's civil war, now in its third year, is dragging in neighboring states.
Last week Turkish troops returned fire and shot at PYD fighters after stray bullets from Syria killed a man and a 15-year-old boy in Ceylanpinar.
SEEKING ASSURANCES
Turkey wants to extract assurances from the PYD that it will not threaten Turkey's security or seek an autonomous region in Syria through violence, and that it will maintain a stance of firm opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"We have three main expectations from Kurds in Syria. Firstly not to cooperate with the regime. When that happens, tensions between the Kurds and Arabs rise," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told the Radikal newspaper.
"Two is not to establish a de-facto entity ... based on ethnic and sectarian lines without consulting with other groups," he was quoted as saying. "If such an entity is established, then all the groups would attempt to do the same thing and a war would be unavoidable."
His third expectation was that Kurds did not engage in activities that would "endanger Turkey's border security".
Muslim's meeting with the Turkish intelligence agency comes after a surge in violence on the Syrian side of the border.
The PYD captured the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain last week after days of clashes with Islamist rebel fighters from the al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front.
ROAD MAP
Erdogan, who called a meeting of his military and intelligence chiefs as well as senior cabinet ministers on Wednesday to discuss the unrest, said they would come up with a plan soon to contain the violence.
"Our chief of staff, national intelligence agency and foreign ministry are working on this ... We will get together again and by discussing the developments over (the border) we will identify our steps and prepare a road map," he said.
Clashes between the PYD and rebels fighting Assad have flared since Kurds began asserting control over parts of northeast Syria from late last year. Turkish foreign ministry officials have met with the PYD twice over the past two months and have held "positive" discussions, a government source said.
The anti-Assad revolt has evolved from its origins as a peaceful protest movement in March 2011 into a civil war that has killed over 100,000 people and turned markedly sectarian.
Turkey has emerged as one of the strongest backers of the Syrian rebels, giving them shelter on its soil, but denies arming them. Along with its allies, Ankara has, however, tried to distance itself from hardline Islamist groups like Nusra.
"I view (their) behavior as a betrayal to the Syrian revolution," Davutoglu said, citing footage of killings and kidnappings carried out by radical groups.
"But we have always supported the legitimate Syrian opposition and we continue this support."
Syria's ethnic Kurdish minority has been alternately battling Assad's forces and the Islamist-dominated rebels. Kurds argue they support the revolt but rebels accuse them of making deals with the government in order to ensure their security and autonomy during the conflict.
Turkey meanwhile has been making gradual but fragile progress in its efforts to end a three-decade insurgency by the PKK in its southeast, a conflict which has killed some 40,000 people.
The PKK called a ceasefire this year but there has been a recent increase in militant activity and Kurdish politicians have voiced concern that the government has not been enacting promised reforms quickly enough.
(Additional reporting by Seyhmus Cakan and Ayla Jean Yackley; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Mike Collett-White)

Head of Syrian Kurdish group in Turkey for talks: sources

By Humeyra Pamuk and Gulsen Solaker

ANKARA | Fri Jul 26, 2013 5:48am EDT

(Reuters) - The head of a Syrian Kurdish group with links to militants in Turkey was in Istanbul on Friday for talks with government officials after an upsurge in fighting near the border, Kurdish political sources said.
Saleh Muslim, head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), whose militias have seized control of districts in northern Syria over the past year, arrived in Turkey late on Thursday, the sources told Reuters.
Turkey is keen to extract assurances from the PYD that it will not seek to carry out actions on Turkish soil, will not try to carve out an autonomous region on the border, and that it will maintain a stance of firm opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Turkish government officials said there were no plans for any high-level meetings. Some local newspaper reports said Muslim would meet intelligence chief Hakan Fidan and Foreign Ministry officials.
Muslim said last week that the PYD aimed to set up what he said would be an independent council to run Kurdish regions in Syria until the civil war ended, a move likely to alarm Ankara, wary of an autonomous Kurdish region emerging on its border.
Turkey is trying to hold together a delicate peace process with Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants on its own soil and is worried that the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria could further embolden them and jeopardize that process.
The PKK called a ceasefire this year as part of the efforts to end a three-decade conflict that has claimed 40,000 lives. But a recent increase in violence in the southeast has highlighted the fragility of the process. Kurdish politicians have voiced concern that the government has not been enacting promised reforms quickly enough.
CLASHES
The PYD captured the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain last week after days of clashes with Islamist rebel fighters from the al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front.
Turkish troops shot at PYD fighters in Syria last week after two rocket-propelled grenades from Syria struck a border post on the Turkish side.
Two Turkish teenagers died when stray bullets from Syria hit the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar, adjacent to Ras al-Ain.
Clashes between PYD and rebels fighting Assad have erupted since Kurds began asserting control over parts of the northeast from late last year.
The anti-Assad revolt has evolved from its origins as a peaceful protest movement in March 2011 into a civil war that has killed over 100,000 people and turned markedly sectarian.
Turkey has emerged as one of the strongest backers of the Syrian rebels, giving them shelter on its soil, but denies arming them. Along with its allies, Ankara has, however, tried to distance itself from hardline Islamist groups like Nusra.
Syria's ethnic Kurdish minority has been alternately battling Assad's forces and the Islamist-dominated rebels. Kurds argue they support the revolt but rebels accuse them of making deals with the government in order to ensure their security and autonomy during the conflict.
(Editing by Nick Tattersall and Robin Pomeroy)

Turkish troops kill civilian trying to cross into Syria

 
(Reuters) - A Turkish border patrol killed one of eight civilians trying to cross illegally from Turkey into Syria on the tense frontier, the Turkish military said on Tuesday.
The shooting was the latest in a string of fatal incidents along the 900 km (560 mile) border and underscores a growing concern that Syria's more than two-year-old civil war is fuelling lawlessness and dragging in neighboring states.
The military, which did not give the nationality of the eight civilians or say whether they were armed smugglers, said the group had been trying to cross from Turkey's Hatay province into northwestern Syria on Monday and had fired on the Turkish patrol after the troops had whistled a warning.
The Turkish troops fired back in line with their rules of engagement, killing one of the civilians, it said.
The military has issued frequent statements on border incidents, in which some Turkish troops have been wounded, in the past few weeks, but Monday's clash appeared to be the first time the army had shot at civilians trying to cross into Syria, and not into Turkey, as is more common.
With its hilly terrain and thick vegetation, Hatay, a panhandle province that juts down into Syria, makes a relatively easy crossing point for smugglers and rebel Syrian fighters, as well as refugees fleeing the fighting in Syria.
Turkey shelters around 500,000 Syrian refugees as well as rebels fighting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but while backing the Syrian insurgents, it denies arming them.
In the most serious spillover of violence in weeks, a Turkish man was killed and a boy was critically wounded last week by stray bullets fired during clashes between Islamist militants and Kurdish fighters in a Syrian border town several hundred kilometers east of Hatay.
The Turkish military returned fire in that incident as well as after other similar ones along the border since then.
Ankara has become increasingly concerned with the growing violence along its border with Syria, particularly the Kurdish region in the southeast, where it is worried the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria could embolden its own home-grown militants fighting for autonomy in Turkey.
Turkey, which has the second largest army in NATO but is reluctant to act unilaterally in Syria, has also hit out at the United Nations Security Council for failing to come to a unified stance over Syria, and has called on it to take action.
(Reporting by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Alistair Lyon)