Tag: border

The mainstream American press has trumpeted for days the claim that Turkey is “retaliating” for artillery fire coming from Syrian government forces on the Syrian-Turkish border near the town of Akçakale. Because Turkey is a member of Nato (for 50 years), a declaration of war by Turkey could well drag Nato into a conflict. The Turkish people don’t like the turn of events … thousands of Turks took to the the streets in Ankara and Istanbul after Turkey’s parliament approved military operations against targets in Syria following the mortar attacks. The New York Times concedes: It was unknown whether the mortar shells were fired by Syrian government forces or rebels fighting to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The Turkish response seemed to assume that the Syrian government was responsible. Many alternative news sources claim that this was a “false flag” attack to justify a Turkish attack on Syria. Indeed, before the mortar attacks, Russia warned of such a possibility: Russia expresses its concerns about the tense situation on the Syria-Turkey border and warns both to avoid tension.