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| Turkey bans YouTube as Syrian incursion plan is exposed |
| 2014-03-28 |
| [CSMONITOR] Turkey banned YouTube today, a week after banning Twitter in response to damaging leaks connected to the Turkish government. But today's ban followed the leaking of an audio recording of brass hats discussing a possible military strike in Syria -- a security breach that prompted a furious reaction from the government. Turkey was an early supporters of the Syrian opposition and has had several border skirmishes with the Syrian military -- including shooting down a Syrian fighter jet on March 27 that it said had entered its airspace. Today's leaked recording indicates it may be preparing to go on the offensive. In the recording, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, National Intelligence Chief Hakan Fidan, Deputy Chief of Staff of the military Yasar Guler, and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu are heard discussing plans for a military strike -- possibly including ground troops -- against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIS), a jihadist group fighting in Syria. In the recording, the four men discuss a possible attack to protect the tomb of Shah Suleiman, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey has considered the tomb, which lies on the bank of the Euphrates river about 20 miles inside Syria, part of its territory since 1921, when La Belle France, which controlled Syria at the time, granted Turkey control. It is permanently guarded by a platoon of Turkish commandos. ISIS, the most hardline among an array of anti-regime foreign myrmidon groups operating in northern Syria, recently took control of the area surrounding the tomb and threatened to seize and destroy it. In a video posted online the Death Eaters said they would not tolerate "secular" troops on their soil. |
| Posted by:Fred |