Turkish incursion into Syria brings danger for residents along border

For The Los Angeles Times AKCAKALE, TURKEY-SYRIA BORDER — Schools in the Turkish city of Akcakale, on the border with Syria, sat empty Thursday because it was too risky for students to gather in one place. Shelling in the area since Turkey’s incursion into Syria a week ago to push back Kurdish forces had disrupted a basic understanding for Akcakale schools: Turkish students attend classes in the morning and Syrian children go in the evening. But now no one was there out of fear. A…Continue Reading “Turkish incursion into Syria brings danger for residents along border” →

Nobody Has a Plan for Thousands of ISIS Fighters Detained by Kurds in Syria

For The Intercept Despite all the disastrous consequences of Donald Trump’s Syria policy, the U.S. president has in fact been right in one respect: The world has done far too little to find a solution for the individuals who once made up the Islamic State. In pulling U.S. troops out of Syria, Trump has said that Turkey is now responsible for the fate of thousands of ISIS fighters in the areas it is seizing, and he has threatened to impose sanctions on Ankara for its…Continue Reading “Nobody Has a Plan for Thousands of ISIS Fighters Detained by Kurds in Syria” →

A race for control of Syria’s Manbij, with the U.S. nowhere in sight

For The Los Angeles Times AKCAKALE, TURKEY — By the time U.S. forces withdrew Tuesday from the northern Syrian city of Manbij, it had become the prize in a race for territory involving a mix of fighting groups with changing alliances. The city, part of the territory controlled by Kurdish fighters backed by the United States until last week, appeared on the verge of being rushed by Turkish troops and Syrian rebel proxies gathered on the city’s outskirts. The Kurds, feeling betrayed by the U.S.,…Continue Reading “A race for control of Syria’s Manbij, with the U.S. nowhere in sight” →

Turkey extends censorship rules to streaming services. Critics say political dissent is the real target

For The Los Angeles Times ISTANBUL — A brief kiss by two female characters in the animated series “Tales of Arcadia,” a moment that did not generate major criticism from viewers worldwide, became a scandal in Turkey. Major news outlets like the pro-government Sabah called the July availability of the program on the Netflix streaming service an attempt by what it called a global LGBTQ lobby to promote homosexuality among Turkish children. And by early August, Turkish authorities had announced that Netflix and other online…Continue Reading “Turkey extends censorship rules to streaming services. Critics say political dissent is the real target” →

Anti-refugee sentiment grows in Turkey as government begins to send Syrians back

For The Los Angeles Times ISTANBUL — When Amjad Tablieh went out to buy some groceries one night this week, he thought it would be a quick trip. But when police stopped him to ask for his identification card, known as a kimlik, all he had in his pocket was about $5 in cash. The 18-year-old student from Damascus is one of a half-million Syrian refugees officially registered to live in Istanbul. But increasingly, he and others are finding that their welcome is fraying, and…Continue Reading “Anti-refugee sentiment grows in Turkey as government begins to send Syrians back” →

Turkey may enlist its No. 1 enemy to broker a peace with Kurdish separatists

For The Los Angeles Times DIYARBAKIR — The Turkish government’s enemy No. 1 has spent the last two decades in physical isolation on a prison island off the coast of Istanbul. But Abdullah Ocalan’s influence extends to Kurds across the Middle East. Statements by the 71-year-old — carried out of Imrali island by sporadic visitors — have been published in best-selling books, and inspired both war and peace. Now, there are signs Ankara may be turning to him to broker a new peace with Kurdish…Continue Reading “Turkey may enlist its No. 1 enemy to broker a peace with Kurdish separatists” →

The Second Drone Age: How Turkey Defied the U.S. and Became a Killer Drone Power

For The Intercept ISTANBUL — Finding oneself in the crosshairs of a military drone is, for most people, not the most comforting situation. Yet at an air show last fall, tens of thousands of people had a different reaction. A military drone took off from a runway, and moments later it began transmitting its view to a giant screen on stage. The video from the drone was clear enough to pick out your own face among the crowd. It was exactly what the drone’s pilot,…Continue Reading “The Second Drone Age: How Turkey Defied the U.S. and Became a Killer Drone Power” →

Uighur dissident in Turkey fights effort to extradite him to China

For The Los Angeles Times ISTANBUL — The Turkish government deems Abdulkadir Yapcan too dangerous to attend his own extradition proceedings here. So instead he appears in court by video link from the detention center where he has been held for three years while he fights efforts to send him to China to face charges that he is a terrorist. During a hearing last month, he watched in silence until a witness referred to Xinjiang, the region in western China where members of the country’s…Continue Reading “Uighur dissident in Turkey fights effort to extradite him to China” →

Turkish human rights lawyer may have been killed by a cop, high-tech independent investigation shows

For The Los Angeles Times DIYARBAKIR — When Turkish human rights lawyer Tahir Elci was gunned down during a news conference in the embattled Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir, at least four cameras were rolling and dozens of witnesses were looking on in horror. But more than three years later, nobody has been arrested. Police officers, chasing two men who had just killed a pair of cops around the corner, were seen firing in Elci’s direction. But authorities have apparently never investigated whether one of them…Continue Reading “Turkish human rights lawyer may have been killed by a cop, high-tech independent investigation shows” →

China Has Detained a Million Muslims in Reeducation Camps

For The Nation ISTANBUL — Last February, after nearly four months of interrogations and being forced to sit through lectures extolling the greatness of the Chinese Communist Party, Khayrat Samarkand tried to kill himself in the cell he shared with a dozen other men. “I threw myself at the wall and hit my head repeatedly on it until the guards came,” he said. Samarkand’s injuries were so severe that after a day of treatment in a hospital, the guards simply let him walk out. He…Continue Reading “China Has Detained a Million Muslims in Reeducation Camps” →