A Russian destroyer had to open warning fire as a Turkish fishing vessel sailed on a collision course towards them and didn’t respond to calls from the warship, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.
The incident happened in the northern part of the Aegean Sea some 12 nautical miles from the Greek island of Lemnos, the ministry said.
[GIVEN THE ONGOING CONFLICT BETWEEN GREECE AND TURKEY, ERDOGAN WAS PUSHING 2 BUTTONS AT THE SAME TIME, RUSSIA'S AND GREECE'S. THE CONFLICT BETWEEN GREECE AND TURKEY, AFTER ALL, IS ANCIENT AND ONGOING. FOR BREVITY ON THIS CONFLICT SEE <THIS> ]
The incident is likely to heighten tensions between the two nations who are seriously at odds over Syria and the Turkish shooting down of a Russian military jet last month.
Russia on Sunday warned Turkey to stop staging what it called provocations against its forces in or near Syria after one of its warships fired warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the Aegean to avoid a collision.
The Russian Defense Ministry said one of its warships, the destroyer Smetlivy, had been forced to fire the warning shots on Sunday morning and that it had summoned the Turkish military attache over the incident.
"The Turkish military diplomat was given a tough explanation about the potentially disastrous consequences from Ankara's reckless actions towards Russia's military contingent fighting against international terrorism in Syria," the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
"In particular, our deep concerns about more Turkish provocations towards the Russian destroyer Smetlivy were conveyed."
Earlier on Sunday, the ministry said that the Turkish fishing vessel failed to respond to Smetlivy's warnings and changed course sharply only after shots were fired before passing within just over 500 meters of the warship.
"Only by luck was tragedy avoided," the ministry said.
BACK ON DECEMBER 8,
After five Turkish vessels were held at the port of Novorossiysk for “inspections,” Turkey retaliated on Friday by holding four Russian ships at the Black Sea port of Samsun.
The Russian vessels’ alleged infractions which apparently include fire safety violations, pollution prevention violations, and problems with “life saving appliances.”
TURKEY'S VILLAGE IDIOT, ERDOGAN, JUST SEEMS FURTHER OUT IN SPACE THAN EVEN NORTH KOREA'S LOONY LEADER.
HE SEEMS TO BE DOING EVERYTHING HE CAN TO FORCE RUSSIA TO TURN HIS COUNTRY INTO RADIOACTIVE GLASS.
ON 7 DECEMBER 2015
IRAQ GAVE TURKEY 48 HOURS TO GET OUT OF MOSUL OR SAID IT WOULD PUSH TURKISH FORCES BACK TO TURKEY.
48 HOURS PASSED, TURKEY DID NOT PULL OUT.
The Iraqi government says it never invited such a force, and will take its case to the United Nations if Turkey does not get out of Iraq.
OBAMA WON'T INTERVENE
Washington, which is leading an international coalition against Islamic State that includes Turkey, Arab states and European powers like Britain and France, has told Ankara and Baghdad to resolve the standoff, and says it does not support deployments in Iraq without Baghdad's consent.
The Turkish troops' presence is an embarrassment for Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Abadi, under strong pressure from powerful Iran-backed Shi'ite political groups to kick them out.
Shi'ite parties linked to militia groups armed and funded by Iran have also complained about U.S. plans to station special forces in Iraq to conduct raids and guide bombs against Islamic State. Political pressure on Abadi could make those plans more difficult to carry out.
Political analysts saw last week's deployment in northern Iraq by Turkey, which has the second biggest army in NATO, as a bid to assert its influence in the face of increased Russian and Iranian involvement in Syria and Iraq.
"Turkey seems to be angling to prove to the Russians and Iranians that they will not be allowed to have either the Syrian or Iraqi war theaters only to themselves," said Aydin Selcen, former consul general of Turkey in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.
HOW ABOUT THAT CHEAP ISIS OIL TURKEY HAS BEEN CAUGHT BUYING, EH?
IF CHEAP OIL IS MORE IMPORTANT TO ERDOGAN, TURKEY'S KING OF FOOLS, THAN HIS NATION'S SAFETY, PERHAPS THE PEOPLE OF TURKEY EITHER NEED TO PREPARE FOR RETALIATION BY RUSSIA (HOW DEEPLY SHOULD THEY DIG IN?) OR OUST THAT BUFFOON BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE?
OR IS IT THE AGE OLD SHIA versus SUNNI TRIPE?
The camp occupied by the Turkish troops is being used by a force called Hashid Watani, or national mobilization, made up of mainly Sunni Arab former Iraqi police and volunteers from Mosul.
It is seen as a counterweight to Shi'ite militias that have grown in clout elsewhere in Iraq with Iranian backing, and was formed by former Nineveh governor Atheel al-Nujaifi, who has close relations with Turkey.
MANY SEEM TO BE OF THE OPINION THAT, IF WE ONLY BACK OFF AND LEAVE THE MIDDLE EAST TO SORT ITSELF OUT, THAT THE SHIITES WILL KILL THE SUNNIS, THE SUNNIS WILL KILL SHIITES AND ISIS WILL KILL EVERYTHING THAT MOVES.
IN 100 YEARS OR SO, THE MIDDLE EAST WILL BE DEVOID OF HUMAN LIFE, GIVEN THE DEDICATION OF EACH SECT TO ANNIHILATE THE OTHER.
MAYBE THAT'S TRUE?
BUT SUNNIS OUTNUMBER SHIA MUSLIMS, BEING ABOUT 85% OF MUSLIMS WORLDWIDE.
BAD ODDS.
WHAT MOST ARE UNAWARE OF IS THAT ERDOGAN IS SEEN AS A DICTATOR BY MANY TURKS.
HIS PARANOIA HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF ARTICLES HERE IN THE U.S.
IS THIS REALLY THE MAN TO BE DEALING WITH RUSSIA, A MAN WHO MAY PROVOKE THE "RUSSIAN BEAR" TO RETALIATE TO HIS LUNATIC DECISIONS?
From CNN:
The man who boasts economic and political accomplishments during 10 years in office is fending off complaints from large crowds of protesters that he's turning into a "dictator."
"The only thing that we want," said one of the thousands packed into anti-government demonstrations in Istanbul, "... we want him to resign."
The editorial board of The Washington Post said Erdogan "is offering unfortunate proof that it is possible to be both elected and authoritarian."
But along the way, critics say, he has steadily accumulated more and more power and shown growing intolerance of dissent.
With his term set to end next year, Erdogan has repeatedly announced plans to transform the country's political system from a prime ministerial form of government to a more powerful presidential system, with himself as head of state.
Many journalists say press freedoms in Turkey have declined under his rule. Reporters Without Borders says Turkey "is currently the world's biggest prison for journalists, especially those who express views critical of the authorities on the Kurdish issue."
A LOOK AT ERDOGAN BY THE HUFFINGTON POST
The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has a problem.
Through his battles at home in recent years to ward off criminal investigations of his administration, his insistence on dismissing wiretaps that show he and his aides involved in backroom threats against opponents, his decision to fire or imprison police and judicial officials whom he thinks are influenced by an overseas foe, his willingness to crush demonstrators who oppose his willful rehabbing of downtown Istanbul and his crackdown on journalists, he is getting a reputation as a mistrusting, authoritarian and sometimes paranoid leader -- despite his recent election to the top office in his country.
His appearance today before the august Council on Foreign Relations in New York City did nothing to allay those concerns.
In a speech that was supposedly aimed at promoting Turkey's interests, Erdogan came off as a defensive and suspicious man, who sees conspiracies everywhere and feels misunderstood by everybody and thinks he is threatened from all sides.
Here is a list of the central points he made in his address at the afternoon session at the Council:
A - He says he is cognizant of the true needs of the lands around him, especially in the Middle East, because Turkey was once a part of the Ottoman Empire, but none of his NATO allies have paid any attention to his views on Libya, Egypt, Gaza and Syria.
B - He tried to warn the US administration that the Prime Minister of Iraq Maliki was destroying any chances for unity within that nation but President Obama wouldn't listen -- until it was too late.
C - Critics have accused him of being anti-Semitic because he broke relations with Israel over its policies toward the Palestinians, but they misconstrue his views -- he likes the Israeli people, just not its government.
D - Turkey does not get credit for the 1.5 million refugees that it is currently caring for from Syria, Iraq and other war-torn countries. Why does not the West open its doors to these people fleeing violence, he asks?
E - Some people are saying that Turkey is buying oil secretly from the barbaric terrorists called ISIS and even have toted a picture of Erdogan leaving a Mosque claiming it was an ISIS haven, but all of this is slander.
F - Other individuals have tried to discredit our statistics on Turkish growth, but we stand by the figures that show our enormous economic expansion.
G - Erdogan's biggest foe, Muhammed Fethullah Gulan, the religious leader in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania and a one-time backer of Erdogan, is trying to undermine the Turkish government and the president insists that Obama must deport this man to Turkey for trial.
H - Lastly Turkey has tried to stop the flow of terrorists from its territory into Syria and into the ISIS ranks but he asserts he cannot act without obtaining the names of individuals in order to stop them.
Erdogan came to this event attempting to present a picture of a man trying to do his best for the world but claims he has been getting no compliments for his achievements or thanks for his wisdom.
Whatever he intended, he left his audience with a portrait of a man who does not trust anybody and believes that every move he has made on the world scene has been unfairly trashed or demeaned -- perhaps not the most auspicious step forward for a leader just before he is about to speak to the UN's annual fall meeting this week.
A LOOK AT ERDOGAN BY THE HUFFINGTON POST
The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has a problem.
Through his battles at home in recent years to ward off criminal investigations of his administration, his insistence on dismissing wiretaps that show he and his aides involved in backroom threats against opponents, his decision to fire or imprison police and judicial officials whom he thinks are influenced by an overseas foe, his willingness to crush demonstrators who oppose his willful rehabbing of downtown Istanbul and his crackdown on journalists, he is getting a reputation as a mistrusting, authoritarian and sometimes paranoid leader -- despite his recent election to the top office in his country.
His appearance today before the august Council on Foreign Relations in New York City did nothing to allay those concerns.
In a speech that was supposedly aimed at promoting Turkey's interests, Erdogan came off as a defensive and suspicious man, who sees conspiracies everywhere and feels misunderstood by everybody and thinks he is threatened from all sides.
Here is a list of the central points he made in his address at the afternoon session at the Council:
A - He says he is cognizant of the true needs of the lands around him, especially in the Middle East, because Turkey was once a part of the Ottoman Empire, but none of his NATO allies have paid any attention to his views on Libya, Egypt, Gaza and Syria.
B - He tried to warn the US administration that the Prime Minister of Iraq Maliki was destroying any chances for unity within that nation but President Obama wouldn't listen -- until it was too late.
C - Critics have accused him of being anti-Semitic because he broke relations with Israel over its policies toward the Palestinians, but they misconstrue his views -- he likes the Israeli people, just not its government.
D - Turkey does not get credit for the 1.5 million refugees that it is currently caring for from Syria, Iraq and other war-torn countries. Why does not the West open its doors to these people fleeing violence, he asks?
E - Some people are saying that Turkey is buying oil secretly from the barbaric terrorists called ISIS and even have toted a picture of Erdogan leaving a Mosque claiming it was an ISIS haven, but all of this is slander.
F - Other individuals have tried to discredit our statistics on Turkish growth, but we stand by the figures that show our enormous economic expansion.
G - Erdogan's biggest foe, Muhammed Fethullah Gulan, the religious leader in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania and a one-time backer of Erdogan, is trying to undermine the Turkish government and the president insists that Obama must deport this man to Turkey for trial.
H - Lastly Turkey has tried to stop the flow of terrorists from its territory into Syria and into the ISIS ranks but he asserts he cannot act without obtaining the names of individuals in order to stop them.
Erdogan came to this event attempting to present a picture of a man trying to do his best for the world but claims he has been getting no compliments for his achievements or thanks for his wisdom.
Whatever he intended, he left his audience with a portrait of a man who does not trust anybody and believes that every move he has made on the world scene has been unfairly trashed or demeaned -- perhaps not the most auspicious step forward for a leader just before he is about to speak to the UN's annual fall meeting this week.
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