Get us away from Turkish-Syrian border, Dutch soldiers say

This 15 June 2013 video is called Turkey: Police target every protest refuge, even Hilton Hotel.

Another video from Turkey used to say about itself:

1 Sep 2013

Turkish police blocked access to the Gezi park, in Istanbul, to prevent a demonstration in favor of world peace and against war in Syria.

“America, murderers, out of Syria,” chanted the protesters, contrary to the U.S. plan to conduct a military intervention against the Syrian regime, accused of having used chemical weapons against his own people. The Turkish government supports armed intervention in Syria.

Units of riot police blocked the passage of about a thousand protesters, who retreated in Istiklal Avenue, near the park, to form a human chain, according to an AFP photographer.

Other human chains were formed in other districts of the city, in a call to the people of Istanbul to “join hands for a free and peaceful world.”

Gezi Park was the epicenter of a broader protest movement against the Turkish government last June.

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Resistance against prolonging Patriot mission

Thursday 31 Oct 2013, 13:57 (Update: 31-10-13, 14:00)

ACOM military trade union

ACOM is a Christian soldiers’ trade union; part of the CNV trade union federation.

opposes an extension of the Patriot mission. According to chairman Jan Kleian such an extension is against the agreements on working conditions for soldiers.

Since January, some 250 Dutch soldiers are in the Turkish city of Adana, where they protect the country against possible missile attacks from Syria.

A “protection” which not only Dutch soldiers, but also local people in Turkey don’t like.

The mission is until the end of this year.

Committee

The government has not yet decided on extension, but would like to keep the military in Turkey longer. Drafts were presented last week to a committee, which also includes Kleian.

According to Kleian, the proposals make clear that the defense department can not guarantee application of the safety rules for the soldiers. These rules mean that soldiers are sent for three months, then they stay home for six months.

Soldiers sent too soon

The proposal of the defense

euphemism for “war”, like in other countries

department means that ninety soldiers would be sent again too quickly, says the union. By training soldiers faster, the government claims that it will have reduced that number to twenty by the end of next year.

That is unacceptable for Kleian. “Austerity causes problems now,” he says. “The missile systems, you can leave that in Turkey endlessly, but they don’t have enough people to man them. These must now be trained, and that takes time.” In his opinion, until then the current agreements should remain in force.

By Mike Head:

Australian government considers blocking return of Syrian fighters

5 November 2013

In an unprecedented development, the Abbott government last week suggested preventing Australian citizens who fight in Syria from returning home, despite any such move being illegal, and most likely unconstitutional.

This proposal, first raised by the opposition Labor Party, demonstrates the political establishment’s readiness to override even the most basic democratic right—citizenship. If citizens could be barred from the country on this basis, it would set a precedent that could be used to block the return of citizens on other political pretexts.

At the same time, the suggestion underscores the increasingly glaring contradictions produced by the reliance of the US and its allies, including Australia, on Islamic extremists in their drive to oust the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Strange silence on success in removing Syria’s chemical weapons: here.

Related articles

• Newspaper: Turkish Air Force bombs Syrian border territories (en.trend.az)
• Al-Qaeda recruits entering Syria from Turkey safehouses (telegraph.co.uk)
• Turkey’s Whistleblower (99getsmart.com)
• Turkish president: Syria may become ‘Afghanistan on the Mediterranean’ (timesofisrael.com)
• Al Qaeda’s ally on NATO’s border (edition.cnn.com)