Month: October 2022

Turkey’s Caucasian diaspora to help kinsmen fleeing Russian draft

The Caucasian community in Turkey is treading carefully in an initiative to help kinsmen fleeing Moscow’s military call-up, wary of coming off as encouraging draft evasion and angering Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s appeal to Russia’s ethnic peoples to resist the Kremlin’s military call-up has reverberated beyond Russia’s borders, including in Turkey where a vibrant Caucasian diaspora has joined forces to help those fleeing conscription for the war in Ukraine.

Iraq situation ‘highly volatile,’ envoy warns Security Council

The UN’s envoy to Iraq delivered a scathing indictment of the country’s political class during today’s Security Council briefing, decrying its exposure of the population to severe risks.

Amid attempts to quell violence in cities across Iraq, a UN official stressed Tuesday that “the smallest spark can suffice to trigger a major disaster.”

Syrian government gears up for major military operation against IS in the desert

Syrian government forces are deployed in the Syrian desert in preparation for a large campaign against the Islamic State.

Media sources from Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria told Al-Monitor that government forces instructed members in Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa to mobilize ahead of a major military operation in the Badia region of the Syrian desert. The operation will comb the Deir ez-Zor-Homs-Raqqa-Hama countryside at the behest of Russia, according to the sources.

Tunisia’s Islamists under siege as Saied rolls back democracy

Islamists are bearing the brunt of President Kais Saied’s “counter revolution” with their leaders facing possible jail time and little public sympathy, as many view them as the principal architects of the economic woes and political gridlock that has long gripped the country.

Turkey-Libya energy deal clouds waters in East Mediterranean

An energy deal signed between Turkey and the Libyan administration of  Abdul Hamid Dbeibah on Monday has brought a reaction from Greece, EU and Libya’s eastern-based parliament.

Turkey reacted angrily Tuesday to criticisms over the hydrocarbons accord it signed with Libya’s Tripoli-based government, which allows Turkish and Libyan companies to carry out joint explorations in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey’s Erdogan to meet Armenian PM at Europe conference

Armenia’s Nikol Pashinyan announced plans for the meeting, which may be a step towards peace with Azerbaijan.

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told the Armenian parliament today that he would be meeting Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a European conference tomorrow in Prague.