Turkey News Roundup - November 26, 2019

[TomSea]

Quite a few stories actually, time for a news roundup.

Turkey's ruling party loses tens of thousands of members in two months | Ahval
Nov 26 2019 07:24 Gmt+3 Last Updated On: Nov 26 2019 07:27 Gmt+3

The number of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)'s members has dropped by some 60,000 following the fracturing within the party in the aftermath of the Istanbul elections, Artı Gerçek reported on Tuesday.

According to official figures, the number of AKP members has decreased from 9.7 million to 9.1 million between September to October, Artı Gerçek said, adding that over 900,000 memberships have been cancelled since August 2018.

Read more at: https://ahvalnews.com/justice-and-development-party/turkeys-ruling-party-loses-tens-thousands-members-two-months

[TomSea]

Exclusive: Turkey holds up NATO military plans over Syria dispute - sources
Robin Emmott

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Turkey is refusing to back a NATO defense plan for the Baltics and Poland until the alliance offers Ankara more political support for its fight against Kurdish YPG militia in northern Syria, four senior alliance sources said.

Ankara has told its NATO envoy not to sign off on the plan and is taking a tough line in meetings and in private conversations, demanding the alliance recognize the YPG as terrorists in the formal wording, the sources said.

Turkey’s NATO delegation was not immediately available for comment. Turkey’s defense and foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment.

Read more at: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nato-summit-turkey-exclusive-idUSKBN1Y01W0

Mnuchin met with ErdoÄŸan, top Turkish officials amid Halkbank probe
By  TM -  November 26, 2019

US Treasury officials have confirmed that Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin recently attended a White House lunch with Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, the Courthouse News Service reported.

The revelation came a month into US Senator Ron Wyden’s investigation of Halkbank, the Turkish state-run bank accused of the biggest money-laundering scheme ever charged in US history.

The Treasury Department replied to Wyden’s investigation on Nov. 20 with a four-page letter from Deputy Assistant Secretary Frederick Vaughan.

More at: https://www.turkishminute.com/2019/11/26/mnuchin-met-with-erdogan-top-turkish-officials-amid-halkbank-probe/

Car bomb blast kills 17 near Turkish-held Syrian town: report
By TM - November 26, 2019

A car bomb killed 17 people near a Syrian border town seized by Turkish-backed forces last month, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday, in an attack it blamed on Syrian Kurdish fighters, Reuters reported.

The bomb struck Tel Halef village, west of the town of Ras al Ain, which saw some of the heaviest fighting when Ankara launched a military offensive in the area against the People’s Protection Units (YPG) last month. Ankara views the YPG as a terrorist group.

Turkey on Oct. 9 launched a military offensive into northeastern Syria to clear the region of YGP militia.

Read more at: https://www.turkishminute.com/2019/11/26/car-bomb-blast-kills-17-near-turkish-held-syrian-town-report/

I heard a commentator say these could be "false flag" operations and not the YPG.  I have no idea, the man saying this was not Kurd from what I could tell. Pretty bad bombing.

[TomSea]

Turkey needs to ‘get rid of’ Russian S-400s to resolve problems with US
By  TM -  November 22, 2019

Turkey needs to “get rid of” the Russian S-400 missile defense system it purchased, a senior State Department official said on Thursday, to overcome a standoff with Washington, which says the procurement poses a threat to NATO defense capabilities, Reuters reported.

Ankara and Washington have been at loggerheads over Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 system, which Washington says is not compatible with NATO defenses and poses a threat to its F-35 stealth fighter jets.

US President Donald Trump hosted his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, at the White House last week for a meeting, which Trump described as “wonderful.” However, it was not clear if the two NATO allies made any breakthrough on the S-400 impasse.

Read more at: https://www.turkishminute.com/2019/11/22/turkey-needs-to-get-rid-of-russian-s-400s-to-solve-problems-with-us/

This seems to be a big deal too.