الحياة السعودية : من الممكن تعليق عضوية سوريا في الجامعة العربية باجتماعها غداً
al-Hayat of Saudi Arabia: possible suspension of membership in the League of Arab Syria, its meeting tomorrow
http://www.aksalser.com/index.php?page=view_news&id=953cc9454b1e50da219872842dde77dc&ar=975387091
Saturday - October 15 - 2011 - 10:20:18
The newspaper "al-Hayat" Saudi Arabia opposed to Syria from its sources in the Arab League ministerial meeting of the extraordinary Arab League Council tomorrow may see a new resolution at the meeting tomorrow to suspend the membership of Syria at the university, against the backdrop of lack of commitment by Syria's implementation of the resolutions of the Council of Arab Foreign Ministers issued at their meeting last month, refused to receive the head of the Arab Committee which was formed under the chairmanship of the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Nabil al-Arabi, according to the newspaper.
And it was announced by the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Nabil Arabi League to convene an emergency meeting Sunday afternoon devoted to discuss the situation in Syria, at the request of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
He said that the Arab will take a new attitude about the situation "dire" in Syria, pointing out that the situation will be built on the decisions of the countries participating in the meeting.
The Gulf Cooperation Council called for an immediate meeting of Arab foreign ministers to discuss the continuing situation in Syria.
The council explained in a statement that the ministerial meeting will discuss the situation dire humanitarian situation, especially in Syria and to study ways and measures to inject blood and violence, stop the machine.
The Arab League is an organization of "Arab countries" that are free and independent decision entities and democracy, as the world waits for all the important decisions in a strategic weight in the economic and political changes in the world.
معارض سوري يدعو إلى طرد السفير الأمريكي في دمشق
Syrian opposition calls for expulsion of U.S. ambassador in Damascus (Communist also called on the nationalization of western oil companies. SSNP rejected any role by the Arab League.)
http://www.aksalser.com/index.php?page=view_news&id=587d81a0950444538773f8a0853dc9da&ar=239192409
Saturday - October 15 - 2011 - 13:54:18
عون يؤكد ثقته بخروج سورية من الأزمة منتصرة.. فرنجية: سورية تتعرض لمؤامرة خارجية و محبة الشعب للرئيس الأسد وتلاحم الجيش والمجتمع فوتا الفرصة عليها
Frangieh: People's Love for President Bashar al-Assad and Unity of Army and Society Foiled the Conspiracy
http://www.sana.sy/ara/3/2011/10/15/375657.htm
http://www.sana.sy/eng/22/2011/10/15/375702.htm
Oct 15, 2011
BEIRUT, (SANA) – President of the Marada Movement Suleiman Frangieh affirmed that what Syria experienced recently is caused by a grand conspiracy concocted abroad, stressing that the strength of President Bashar al-Assad and the people's love for him along with the cohesion of the army thwarted Syria's enemies.
AOUN: Syrian Will Emerge Victorious from Crisis
كفروني: الحرب المفتوحة على سورية أسقطت كل الأقنعة
Kafrouni: open war on Syria dropped all the masks
http://thawra.alwehda.gov.sy/_View_news2.asp?FileName=31653898020111015010953
http://backupurl.com/rho3cw
Saturday 10/15/2011
. . . Lebanese writer and researcher, Joseph Kafrouni, he stressed that Syria is exposed to an open war, and that billions of dollars allocated to orders from the U.S. in a war of lies and the media in support of murder and crime gangs and armed.
And Kafrouni, in an article with the title "no choice but national," published by "construction" of Lebanon yesterday, he was recruited hundreds and thousands of journalists and writers and politicians in the fight against Syria's interest Zionist-American project, and still the pace of inciting the U.S. above the continued to no avail. And the author's argument that the open war on Syria dropped all masks, and show friend from foe, P exposed and showed a national traitor.
And Lebanese writer pointed to the importance of national unity in Syria's face schemes abroad, saying that there is no meaning for the national opposition, do not take positions critical of the country's enemies and conspirators by, and do not condemn the killing gangs and crime, and does not condemn formations opposition made a U.S. or by an American agency.
The mysterious disappearance of Hussein Harmoush (interview with the wife of Harmoush in the refugee camp in Turkey)
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/14/world/meast/turkey-harmoush-mystery/index.html?hpt=wo_t2
By Ivan Watson, CNN
October 14, 2011 -- Updated 1851 GMT (0251 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Harmoush was the self-styled leader of a rebellion of mutinous soldiers against the Syrian government
* He was last seen in September on Syrian television
* In that appearance he recanted his support for the opposition
* His wife says she does not know if she is a wife or a widow
Altinozu, Turkey (CNN) -- Gofran Hejazi does not know whether to refer to herself as a wife... or a widow.
She and her four children have been in limbo ever since August 29, the last day she saw her husband in the flesh.
"My eldest son sometimes opens up the computer, puts up his father's photo and starts crying," Hejazi said. "Not a day goes by without my youngest son asking me 'when is daddy coming home?'"
Until he went missing from a refugee camp in Turkey last August, Hejazi's husband, Syrian army Lieutenant Colonel Hussein al Harmoush, was the self-styled leader of a rebellion of mutinous soldiers against the Syrian government known as the "Free Syrian Army."
The sensitivity of Harmoush's case was plainly evident during Hejazi's first interview with a journalist since the disappearance of her husband.
Police at the makeshift camp where her family lives insisted that a plain-clothed Turkish police officer accompany Hejazi during an hour-long interview with CNN. The officer was assigned "for her protection," authorities said. He did not interfere with the interview and remained out of earshot for the duration of the discussion.
Harmoush first attracted international attention last June, when he made an online video calling on other Syrian soldiers to desert and join an anti-government group he labeled the "Free Syrian Army." He was one of the first Syrian military officers to publicly break with the regime.
Judging by the number of similar videos that started cropping up on the internet, it appeared Harmoush's rebellion was growing. Again and again, uniformed soldiers and officers faced the camera, held up their identity cards as proof, and then denounced the Syrian regime's deadly crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators.
Harmoush claimed to lead this movement from exile in neighboring Turkey. Harmoush, his wife and four children lived in a compound of empty warehouses the Turkish government converted into a makeshift refugee camp in the Turkish border town of Altinozu. Harmoush regularly met with opposition activists and journalists there, until August 29.
That morning, Hejazi said her husband walked out of the gates of the camp, which are protected by Turkish police.
Soon after, she said he disappeared and his phone stopped answering calls.
"From that moment, I was certain my husband was handed back to the Syrians," Hejazi recalled.
After going missing for more than two weeks, Harmoush suddenly resurfaced... this time in a "confession" aired on Syria's strictly-controlled state television network.
In the September 15 broadcast, Harmoush recanted his support for the opposition. He denied ever receiving orders from commanding officers to open fire on demonstrators. And he accused the opposition Muslim Brotherhood of smuggling weapons and terrorists to Syria.
Harmoush has not been seen or heard from since. Hejazi believes he is now in Syrian custody.
"I can't live in a fantasy and pretend as if I'm blind or deaf and say it's not true," she said.
It is still a mystery how Harmoush disappeared from the gates of a police-protected Turkish refugee camp and ended up on Syrian state television.
Hejazi and some other opposition activists blame the Turkish government.
"I talked to him [Harmoush] on the morning of August 29th," said exiled Syrian activist Omar al Muqdad, in an interview with CNN on September 16. "He said 'I have a meeting with a Turkish security man. When I finish I will call you.' I waited for three days and didn't hear from him."
Hejazi also said her husband left the camp on August 29 planning on meeting with a mysterious man camp residents believed was a Turkish intelligence officer.
"Maybe he's not an intelligence officer as he claimed, but he's one of the Turks," Hejazi said. "We don't know his rank or who the guy is exactly, but over the phone he introduced himself as Abu Mohammed."
Hejazi accused Turkish authorities of handing the rebel officer over to the Syrians.
"I believe they arrested him as part of an agreement between the two countries," Hejazi said.
The Turkish government has repeatedly denied such accusations.
Turkish officials also denied any knowledge of the alleged intelligence officer refugee camp residents knew as "Abu Mohammed," which is a generic Arabic nick-name that means "father of Mohammed."
Ankara officially states that it welcomes all Syrians on Turkish territory. Turkish officials pointed to the more than 7,500 Syrian refugees that have been fed, clothed and housed for months at a network of government-run camps along the border.
Relations between the two neighbors have grown increasingly frosty. Ankara has hosted several Syrian opposition meetings. Turkish leaders have also threatened to punish the Syrian government's ongoing violence against its citizens with sanctions.
But in Hatay, the Turkish border province where Harmoush disappeared, there is strong local support for Syrian president Bashar al Assad.
The region is home to a large number of ethnic Arabs from the same Allawite sect as Assad, whose family and clan have ruled Syria for more than 40 years. Portraits of the Syrian president sell in Turkish souvenir shops. It is not uncommon to hear locals cursing Syrian anti-government demonstrators.
Hejazi said her husband's revolt against Damascus, was fueled partially by the perception that the army's dominant Allawite officer corps discriminated against Harmoush because he was from Syria's majority Sunni Muslim sect.
"Because he was Sunni, they stopped promoting him. They treated him badly," Hejazi said.
In interviews with CNN, other Sunni officers who joined the "Free Syrian Army" also complained bitterly about discrimination at the hands of senior Allawite commanders in the Syrian military.
Meanwhile, efforts to track down the missing leader of the "Free Syrian Army" have proven fruitless.
When Hejazi asked for the help of a lawyer, she said local Turkish officials demanded she first provide documentary evidence that she was in fact married to Harmoush. Those are documents Hejazi cannot provide.
"We left the country without passports," Hejazi said. "According to Syrian law, officers in the Syrian military cannot provide passports to their wife and family. So we don't have passports."
Visibly distraught, Hejazi now finds herself caught in legal limbo between two countries. She said she felt her children were not safe, living in a camp close to the porous border with Syria.
After an hour-long conversation, it was clear she did not know whether she should begin mourning for her missing husband.
When asked whether she had a message for Harmoush, Hejazi thought for a moment.
"If he is still alive, I urge him to be patient," she finally said, adding: "But I don't think anyone can survive the torture and dungeons of the Syrian secret service. If he's dead, that means he's in paradise."
Assad ‘eyes sectarian, ethnic fight' in Turkey
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=assad-8216eyes-sectarian-ethnic-fight8217-in-turkey-2011-10-14
Friday, October 14, 2011
GÖKSEL BOZKURT / SERKAN DERMİRTAŞ
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Selahattin Demirtaş, BDP co-chair, says he warned President Gül and Foreign Minister Davutoğlu against a spillover from Syria
Syria is looking to stir up ethnic and sectarian unrest in Turkey, Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) co-chair Selahattin Demirtaş has warned, urging Ankara to reconcile with Turkey's Kurdish population or face the risk of plunging deeper into conflict.
"Syria is about to explode. The unrest is continuing. The threats of [President Bashar] al-Assad's regime to Turkey should not be underestimated. He has given a message: ‘We have religious and ethnic differences, so does Turkey. If we have domestic disturbances, then so will Turkey,'" Demirtaş said in an interview with the Hürriyet Daily News on Oct. 13.
To prevent a spill-over effect in Turkey from turmoil in the Middle East, the government and the Kurds must immediately reconcile, said Demirtaş, whose party is mainly focused on the Kurdish issue.
The BDP leader said he had shared his concerns with both President Abdullah Gül and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. "I told them they have no time to lose, but they are making the problem worse with their complacency and lethargy. Ground operations, KCK operations, the isolation of [outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Öcalan at] İmrali is an eclipse of reason. This is the time for dialogue and negotiations. I don't think the upcoming days will be this comfortable."
Police have launched a number of raids to detain people accused of membership in the Kurdistan Communities' Union (KCK), which is accused of being the urban wing of the PKK. The latter is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
"If someone ignites a clash between Arabs and Kurds in Syria, the powers behind it will want to spread the unrest to Turkey. I don't know if it will be an ethnic or sectarian conflict. I cannot say how it will happen, but they will try. We already have wounds, and they will try to rub salt in them," the BDP leader said.
Ratcheting up tensions
Commenting on the recent assassination of Syrian Kurdish leader Meshaal Tamo, Demirtaş said the Kurds had not been involved in domestic insurrection, or revolted against al-Assad, and were balanced in their politics. He added that he was not directly in contact with Syrian Kurds and received information indirectly.
"They might be trying to incite the Kurdish people with such assassinations. This could turn into a Kurdish-Arab, Sunni-Shiite conflict. Maybe that's what they're planning," Demirtaş said. "The whole thing is heading toward a dangerous point."
The Turkish government has overstretched itself to the point of interfering with Syria, said Demirtaş, urging the ruling party to provide an explanation as to what the Turkish and Kurdish people should expect for the future of the region.
"In such a period, the Justice and Development Party [AKP] and the Republican People's Party [CHP] need to think about the next 100 years of the country," Demirtaş said, also noting the threat posed by Iran to Turkey's domestic stability.
New constitution
The BDP places great importance on the new constitution and will actively participate in its preparation, said Demirtaş.
"The constitution cannot be made only by 12 deputies from four parties," said Demirtaş, proposing the establishment of another commission that will bring together representatives of women's, environmental and human rights organizations and minority communities. The new constitution must be approved by the public in a referendum no matter how many deputies approve it in Parliament, he added.
"The constitutional commission must also solve the issue of jailed deputies," the BDP leader said. "They can't say it is not their job. If you're making a new constitution, you also need to clear the path of mines. Eight deputies are behind bars, and Parliament cannot vote on the Constitution without them."
Demirtaş said Ankara was looking to South Africa and the dissolution of the Apartheid regime for inspiration to solve problems, adding that for this to work, the government had to end clashes with the PKK because "the new constitution cannot be prepared without peace. The commission can't work while funerals take place every day."
Both the PKK and the government have the will to restart negotiations, said Demirtaş. For this to happen, Öcalan's "terms must be met. The government must give this man, who has the power to bring the PKK militants down from the mountains, his freedom. Only Öcalan has the power to do this."
Demirtaş also called on the government to reveal the content of the protocols drafted between the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the PKK. "Those protocols contain the PKK's disarmament. From what we understand, it is reasonable. Turkey could get rid of this problem for good. But the government's approach has not been serious."
Senior PKK leader gave orders to avenge attack on stronghold
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-259918-senior-pkk-leader-gave-orders-to-avenge-attack-on-stronghold.html
14 October 2011, Friday / BAYRAM KAYA, ANKARA
A senior member of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Bahoz Erdal of Syria, has ordered the group's militants avenge the destruction of a key PKK camp by Turkish security forces during an operation, according to Turkish intelligence units.
Turkish security forces brought down a PKK camp located in Kavaklı, just 30 kilometers from the provincial center of Turkey's southeastern Hakkari province, on Monday. The camp was a key base for the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the organization controlling the PKK and affiliated groups, both logistically and strategically.
The operation was the result of a joint effort by the special operations units of the General Gendarmerie Command and the National Police Department. Radio communications between terrorists intercepted by Turkish intelligence officers indicate that the terrorist organization is in a panic over the destruction of the Kavaklı stronghold. Erdal was heard ordering his commanders over the radio to do whatever they could to take revenge. Intelligence units have sent alerts to security units warning against possible attacks on police stations and military outposts as well as possible suicide bomber attacks in urban areas.
Earlier this year, Turkey announced changes to its strategy in the war against terrorism. The government shared plans to involve the police department more intensely in combating terrorism. Earlier this week, wide scale ground operations assisted by military helicopters and jets were conducted in the southeastern province of Hakkari, against the Kavaklı camp and other PKK hideouts on Kato Mountain. Caves used by the PKK as camps or bases in Hakkari's Kato, Çeltik, Beytüşşebap, Kavaklı, Yoncalı and Armutlu regions were destroyed during the operation.
Intelligence sources say in the same radio conversation Erdal ordered an escalation of attacks on military and police targets as well as on civilians.
Security was heightened to maximum levels at military outposts in the southeastern and eastern Anatolia regions, particularly at border outposts.
In other developments, sources said the top brass of the Turkish military were unnerved by the active involvement of special operations units from the police department for the first time in an operation conducted in a rural area. Sources inside the military report that the gendarmerie command does not want special operations police to participate in operations in rural areas, preferring to be in control during raids against the PKK. But police officials say that the sharing of assignments is crucial for success in fighting guerilla groups. In the Hakkari operation, the Hakkari Governor's Office assumed responsibility for leading the operation and controlled and coordinated the raid from a single center to avoid conflict between the police and the gendarmerie.
One important measure for the success of operations against the PKK, intelligence sources say, is to ensure the utmost secrecy ahead of any raids and prevent village guards -- locals armed by the state to fight the PKK -- from leaking vital operational information to the terrorist group.
Police officer killed in Hatay attack
Four PKK terrorists attacked a police station in the town of Denizciler in Hatay's İskenderun district on Thursday. One police officer was killed in the ensuing clash and one other officer and two civilians were injured.
According to a statement from the governor's office, the four terrorists arrived in two cars and opened fire with rifles on Şehit Kazım Şengül Police Station at about 5 p.m. One of the attackers was a suicide bomber who was shot and killed by police while trying to enter the building. Police did not touch the body because a bomb was attached to it. The bomb squad later removed the device. The other attackers fled the scene in the cars they arrived in. Gendarmerie and police forces have launched an operation to locate the attackers.
In a separate attack on the same day, terrorists opened fire on a military outpost in Diyarbakır's Çınar district, wounding three soldiers. The injured soldiers were taken to a Diyarbakır military hospital for treatment.
In related developments, two people were arrested on Friday during a police operation in the eastern city of Van on charges of recruiting new members for the PKK. Van police said they had been monitoring the two men for a long time. The initials of the two were disclosed as N.T. and S.E.
Also on Friday, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Gaziantep Deputy Şamil Tayyar, who was an investigative journalist who wrote extensively on the PKK prior to his election to Parliament, in televised remarks urged commentators, journalists and the public in general to be aware of the real purpose of the KCK. He said, "The KCK is not the PKK's urban wing," referring to a definition used for the group by some newspapers. "The KCK is a project to build an alternative state. The only thing it doesn't have is borders. It is an urban structure that is above the PKK," he said.
Speaking during a program on TV8, Tayyar said the KCK had its courts, chief military officers, parliament, judiciary and executive organs and even a constitution. "The prime minister of this alternative state is [PKK military operations leader] Murat Karayılan and its president is [PKK's jailed chief] Abdullah Öcalan. Its chief of general staff is [Syrian senior PKK commander] Fehman Hüseyin," Tayyar said.
Tayyar warned the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) against acting unconstructively in Parliament. "Their style is quite confrontational. You can't solve [the Kurdish question] by clashing with everyone. The language they employ in Parliament is irritating. If they continue like this, I doubt a solution for the Kurdish problem will ever come out of Parliament. … If it goes on like this, they'll end up getting a good beating in Parliament," he said.
Iraqi Vice President Hashemi: Sending troops to Turkish border will not resolve PKK issue
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-259854-hashemi-sending-troops-to-turkish-border-will-not-resolve-pkk-issue.html
14 October 2011, Friday / TODAY'S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi has suggested that sending Iraqi military and peshmerga troops to the border with Turkey will not help resolve the problem of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Hashemi, speaking in an interview with the Anatolia news agency on Friday, began by voicing his sadness over the loss of Turkish soldiers in attacks by the PKK. Turkey and all related parties should find a permanent solution to the issue, he added.
"There is no agreement that clearly outlines what the parties should do to establish permanent peace along the borders of Turkey, Iraq and Iran and to end the violence. The PKK and PJAK [Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan] issue will not be resolved by sending Iraqi military forces and peshmerga to the border region. A military solution is not sufficient on its own. A lot of solutions are needed," Hashemi was quoted as saying by Anatolia.
The PKK uses its bases in northern Iraq to launch attacks on Turkey. PJAK is also involved in clashes with Iranian forces.
Remarks by the Iraqi vice president came in contrast to what Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said recently. Maliki stated on Monday that sending Iraqi troops to the north of Iraq is the best option to push out members of the PKK and its Iranian wing, PJAK.
Maliki's comment was welcomed by Turkish leaders, with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu highlighting that Turkey will not have to carry out cross-border operations into northern Iraq if Iraq protects its own soil.
Hashemi, nevertheless, admitted that Iraq, like all related parties, has a responsibility in resolving the PKK issue. He has not yet elaborated on Iraq's responsibilities.
Turkey has carried out scores of air raids and artillery strikes this year in northern Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region to hit PKK targets. Ankara has warned it may conduct a cross-border ground attack, depending on talks with Iraq.
Recently, Turkey's Parliament passed a bill extending permission, as it has done several times since 2007, for the Turkish military to mount cross-border operations against members of the PKK in northern Iraq during the coming year. Turkish air and artillery operations against suspected PKK members in the Kandil Mountains have intensified since August. The strikes were ordered after a break of more than a year in retaliation for an increase in PKK attacks on security forces inside Turkey.
Speaking at a press conference in Ankara following talks with Davutoğlu on Thursday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari underlined that the presence of the PKK in Iraq is not legitimate according to the Iraqi constitution.
"This is unacceptable, and no Iraqi government will accept it," Zebari said in remarks translated from Arabic to Turkish.
At the same press conference, Davutoğlu reiterated Turkey's determination to fight the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the majority of the international community.
Davutoğlu said one of the main items on the agenda of his meeting with Zebari was the cooperation of the two countries against the PKK. Noting that the terrorist group, which has bases in Iraq, poses a threat to both Turkey and Iraq's territorial integrity, Davutoğlu said Turkey has to solidify its position against this threat. "Turkey is determined to end this terrorist activity," Davutoğlu said.
Davutoğlu also reiterated his appreciation for Maliki's remarks from Monday.
"If Iraq really ensures full military control on its own soil, this is both important for Iraq's capacity to control its own soil and to prevent terrorist activity against Turkey. If this is the case, Turkey will have no need to stage cross-border operations [in northern Iraq against the PKK]," he reiterated.
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