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.