Avi J. Roth
U.S. to deploy Predator drones in Turkey.
The U.S. is probably going to install Predator drones (made by General Atomics) on Turkish soil, Tayyip Erdogan the Turkish prime minister said on Friday. Turkey has been insistent on mounting drones in an escalating war against Kurdish rebels. United States shares drone surveillance data from northern Iraq with Ankara to aid its fight against Kurdish rebels who have bases in Iraq. The two nations have been discussing the possible deployment of Predator drones after the U.S. forces leave Iraq.
Erdogan said the two allies have arranged “in principle” the deployment of the drones in Turkey, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. Turkey has offered to buy or lease the drones from the United States, Erdogan said. “Our negotiations will continue,” Anatolia quoted Erdogan as saying.
“The developments are moving toward an agreement.” Turkey is currently using Israeli manufactured Heron drones against the Kurdish rebels who have been fighting for autonomy in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast area since 1984. They have stepped up attacks on security forces in recent months. The Turkish government has hit back with airstrikes on suspected rebel bases in northern Iraq.
Turkish paramilitary police on Friday defused a powerful bomb thought to be planted by Kurdish rebels on a bridge in the countries southeast, and police also averted a likely attack in western resort town popular with foreign tourists. The attempted attacks came a day after police detained a suspected Kurdish rebel bomber. Kurdish rebels have stepped up attacks in Turkey intensely. Friday’s thwarted attack stoked more fears a day after a Kurdish militant group, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, took responsibility for a car bomb attack nearby a school in the Turkish capital of Ankara that killed three people and wounded 34 on Tuesday. The Turkish paramilitary police, acting on a tip, discovered 125 kilograms (275 pounds) of booby-trapped explosives planted on a highway bridge between the cities of Bingol and Elazig in the country’s southeast. The explosives, containing ammonium nitrate and C-4 plastic explosives, were stashed in four large gas canisters as well as a pressure cooker, the governor’s office in Bingol said.
The thwarted attack came a day after anti-terror squads apprehended a suspected bomber in a raid in the western holiday town of Bodrum, seizing 2.1 kilograms (4.6 pounds) of plastic explosives, unnamed police sources say. The suspect was is the prime suspect in a small bomb attack in the Mediterranean resort town of Kemer that wounded 10 people, including four Swedes on Aug. 28. Police refused to comment on the alleged arrest.
The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, which also claimed the bombing in Kemer, had promised more attacks in retaliation for what it called the Turkish government’s “war” against the Kurdish people, according to pro-Kurdish sources.
“Our cross-border operations will continue in the same way as long as there is terrorism,” Erdogan stated. Erdogan also implied making arrangements to further create a strategic relations with neighbouring Iran to fight against the Kurdish rebels. A cell of the Kurdish rebel group is also fighting against Tehran from their main base on Qandil Mountain, which sits on the Iranian-Iraqi border. “There are steps that we can jointly take together with Iran,” Erdogan said. “We already have intelligence sharing.” Erdogan said Turkey would only halt its military drive if the rebels “lay down their arms.”
The prime minister last week confirmed reports that government officials met with agents of Kurdish rebels in Europe. The secret talks, which apparently failed to produce any real results, came to light after websites this week posted an audio recording from an alleged 2010 meeting.
The rebels intensified their attacks on Turkish targets in mid-July, accusing the government of not giving in to their demands, including appeal for autonomy, and education in Kurdish language — which Turkish Government fears could divide the country along ethnic lines. In a nationwide crackdown on alleged Kurdish rebel sympathizers, police on Friday detained the mayors of the towns of Sirnak, Idil and Silopi in the Kurdish-dominated southeast, bringing the number of Kurdish suspects arrested so far in this week to more than 80, sources say.
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I was recently invited to the Australian fashion week. And I thought, “Hmm… Might be a good place to meet some hot supermodels… and sleep with some of them.” I psyched myself up before I went and I promised myself that I would approach as many hot girls as possible to fill the quota. But what could have been a great trip turned into a too gay to believe fight to the death with a male model and an unbelievably good sex session (not with the same person!).
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