Turkey tracking for the month of April

Protest held in Turkey against advert implying coup
Protesters gather outside office of major Turkish food company in Istanbul after advertisement allegedly refers to coup
Protesters gathered outside a major Turkish food manufacturer's office in Istanbul early Saturday to protest against an advertisement that allegedly contained pro-coup themes.

The group organized the protest via social media, terming their gathering as part of the "democracy watch" movement that began in Turkey following the July 16, 2016, defeated coup.

The controversial advertisement was released online on March 31, 2017....

21 FETÖ media network suspects held in new probe
Suspects had been ordered released under probe into Fetullah Terrorist Organization, blamed for last July's coup bid...

Turkey: 99 PKK terrorists killed in past week
During the operations, one soldier was martyred and nine others wounded, according to General Staff
Nearly 1,800 opposition fighters and civilians have been sent to Syria's northwestern Idlib city from the Al-Waer district of the western Homs province amid repeated cease-fire violations by the Assad regime and its allies.

The fresh group of evacuees included 358 women and 434 children, according to an Anadolu Agency reporter in the area....

Turkish FM: 50,000 return to areas Ankara controls in Syria
Tens of thousands of displaced Syrians and refugees have returned to an area controlled by Turkey and Turkish-backed opposition fighters in northern Syria, Turkey’s foreign minister said Saturday, and US-backed Kurdish-led fighters pressed their offensive in the north near a town held by the Daesh group.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s comments came three days after Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield that began in August had ended after its troops and allied rebels secured territory along the border between Turkey and Syria.
Cavusoglu said some 50,000 people have returned from Turkey to areas that have been captured by Turkish troops and Turkey-backed opposition fighters, adding that security in these areas should eventually be handed to local forces.....

Erdogan Declares Victory In Turkey's Constitutional Referendum
With over 97% of ballots counted, Turkey's president Erdogan and soon, quasi dictator, declared victory in the Turkish referendum and called the leaders of three political parties supporting changes to the constitution to congratulate them on the victory, Anadolu news agency reported, and added rather comically that "many world leaders send congratulatory messages to President Erdogan." One wonders who exactly...

Trump Congratulates Erdogan on Turkey Vote Cementing His Rule
President Trump called President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey on Monday to congratulate him on winning a much-disputed referendum that will cement his autocratic rule over the country and, in the view of many experts, erode Turkey’s democratic institutions.
Those concerns were not mentioned in a brief readout of the phone call that the White House released Monday night. After noting Mr. Trump’s congratulations, the one-paragraph statement pivoted to a recent American missile strike on a Syrian airfield, which it said he and Mr. Erdogan had also discussed....

Turkey's premier warns opposition against street protests
Turkey's opposition parties have the right to file objections to the outcome of a recent referendum on expanding presidential powers, the prime minister said Wednesday, but he warned that calling for street protests was unacceptable.
Binali Yildirim said the electoral board would rule on the main opposition Republican People's Party's request for the referendum's annulment. Opposition parties have complained of a series of irregularities, particularly an electoral board decision to accept ballots without official stamps, as required by Turkish law.....

Four Turkish soldiers wounded in landmine blast
Explosion in Hakkari province prompts airlift operation
Four soldiers were injured in a landmine blast in southeastern Turkey on Friday, a security source has said.
The four were slightly wounded when a landmine planted by terrorists in the Semdinli district of Hakkari province went off.....

Turkey targets Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria
At least 70 killed in Iraq and Syria, Turkish officials say, in blow against Kurdish forces battling ISIL in the region.
Turkish military jets have carried out air strikes against Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters in northern Iraq and northeast Syria, killing at least 70 people, according to a Turkish military statement.
A statement released by Turkey's air force said that it carried out the air strikes against PKK targets located in the Sinjar Mountains region in northern Iraq and in Karachok Mountains in northeastern Syria on Tuesday.
The targets were hit to prevent the PKK from sending "terrorists, arms, ammunition and explosives to Turkey," the statement said, adding that the operation was conducted "within the scope of the international law"....

Turkish security forces neutralize 11 terrorists near SE border
An army post on Turkey's southeastern border province of Sanliurfa was attacked by mortar fire from the nearby PKK/PYD region, the Turkish Armed Forces said on Friday.
No soldiers were killed or wounded in the mortar attack.
The statement said Turkey responded with a heavy artillery bombardment that killed a three-man PKK/PYD mortar team as well as eight terrorists manning a vehicle-fixed heavy machine gun......

Austria calls for new EU relationship with Turkey
Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern says Turkey should not be allowed to join the European Union, with membership talks between the EU and Ankara at a standstill.
Kern told reporters in Brussels Saturday that "we have to bring our relations to Turkey into new order."
He said the EU should "create a new relation to Turkey" encompassing economic, security and migration interests..........

Wikipedia blocked in Turkey
The Turkey Blocks monitoring network has verified restrictions affecting the Wikipedia online encyclopaedia in Turkey. A block affecting all language editions of the website detected at 8:00AM local time Saturday 29 April. The loss of availability is consistent with internet filters used to censor content in the country.

Certain subdomains remained partially available on ISP TTNet at the time of writing, while the restriction appears to by fully implemented on Uydunet, Turkcell and other fixed line and mobile service providers.......

Turkey threatens more strikes on U.S.-allied Syrian Kurds
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday his country may take further action against Kurdish militants in Iraq and Syria and insisted U.S. support for such groups "must come to an end."
The U.S. moved troops and armoured vehicles through several Syrian cities and towns on Friday and Saturday in a show of force apparently intended to dissuade Turkey and Syrian Kurdish forces from attacking each other.
Kurdish officials described the U.S. troop movement as a "buffer" between them and Turkey.........

Erdogan Blocks Wikipedia, Bans TV Dating Shows, Purges Another 4,000 Public Officials
Two weeks after winning the Turkish constitutional referendum by a modest but decisive margin, president - or perhaps it is now despot - Erdogan decided to take his newly decreed powers for a spin and overnight in rapid succession surprised foreign observers when Turkey decreed that it would ban TV dating shows, fire an additional 4,000 public officials and also ban Wikipedia.