Month: December 2021

Four years after Daesh/ISIS terrorists were completely driven out of northwestern Iraq, Iraqi Turkmen who were forced to flee their villages near the city of Tal Afar are still afraid to return out of fear of persecution by PKK militants.

These Turkmens are afraid of returning to their villages in Tal Afar city surroundings because of the presence of the PKK terror group in Sinjar, a town in northern Iraq’s Nineveh Governorate, said Nurettin Kaplan, a member of the Iraqi Turkmen Front’s (ITC) Executive Board, on Tuesday.

As long as the terrorist organization elements exist on Mount Sinjar, neither the Sinjar district center nor Tal Afar and its villages will be secure, peaceful and stable, Kaplan told Anadolu Agency.

He explained how Turkmens in villages captured by the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group in 2014 were forced to flee their homes, saying that despite the fact that Mosul and its surrounding region had been liberated completely from Daesh/ISIS terrorists four years ago, people could not return to their homes due to the PKK’s presence in Sinjar.

“The total population of these villages was about 30,000,” Kaplan asserted, referring to Turkmen communities who also lived in areas between Tal Afar and Sinjar. People are concerned about the PKK violence, despite the fact that their villages have been free of the Daesh/ISIS terrorist organization.

PKK must leave Sinjar

Kaplan said, “Thousands of Turkmen are struggling for their survival as migrants in various cities of the country. The PKK must leave Sinjar so that people can come home.”

Calling on the Iraqi forces to ensure the region’s security, he stressed that thousands of Turkmen who have been migrated for years want to return home.

The PKK is the region’s biggest source of instability and disorder, according to Kaplan, who also requested that Sinjar be freed from the PKK, as it had previously been secured from Daesh/ISIS.

The PKK terror group managed to establish a foothold in the region in 2014 under the pretext of protecting the local Yazidi community from the Daesh/ISIS terror group.

Yazidis escaped Sinjar after Daesh/ISIS took control of the region.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is its Syrian branch.

How PKK terrorists deploy to Sinjar?

Thousands of people, including women and children, were killed and kidnapped by Daesh/ISIS terrorists who raided the Sinjar district on August 3, 2014, where the majority of Yazidis live.

While it is estimated that approximately 300,000 people lived in Sinjar before Daesh/ISIS terrorists seized the district, it is also reported that Yazidis made up two-thirds of the population, with Sunni Kurds and Arabs making up the rest.

Using the Daesh/ISIS attacks as a justification, the PKK created training camps in numerous areas after 2014, including Mount Sinjar, with militants it transported from Syria and Qandil.

The PKK said in January 2015 that it has declared a so-called “canton” in Sinjar, taking advantage of the authority vacuum in the region.

The terrorist group, which intended to gain control of the local administration by forming a political organization with the so-called public assemblies it set up around the region, also forcibly recruited Yazidi children from the camps.

While the Peshmerga, the Iraqi Armed Forces’ Kurdish branch, retook the Sinjar district center and its surroundings from Daesh/ISIS militants in November 2015, the PKK escalated its activities there after Iraqi central government troops moved to the district in October 2017.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Talks between Iran and world powers in Vienna have entered a new phase, with parties now discussing key demands of Tehran, including the removal of US sanctions.

A news agency affiliated with Iran’s top security body on Tuesday said the verification of the lifting of sanctions as well as guarantees that Washington will not unilaterally abandon the nuclear deal again have been accepted by other parties, including the US, as “two important demands” of Iran in the Vienna talks.

The eighth round of marathon talks between Iran and the P4+1 (Russia, China, France, UK and Germany) resumed in the Austrian capital on Monday after a 10-day break.

The fresh round of talks is centered on Iran’s key demand of lifting the sanctions imposed by the former US administration following its unilateral withdrawal from the landmark 2015 deal in May 2018.

Nour News, in its report, noted that while the demands have been accepted by other parties, the discussion now is about “how to implement them”.

“The point is that everyone (now) agrees that the responsibility for the outcome of the negotiations (in Vienna) lies with the US, and that its stance on sanctions (removal) will determine the outcome,” the report said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Tuesday expressed optimism about the ongoing talks in Vienna, which he said were moving “in good direction”, while adding that a deal was possible if other parties show “goodwill” and “seriousness.”

On Monday, he had stressed that Iran’s demands for guarantees that the US will not unilaterally pull out of the deal again and verification of the “effective” lifting of sanctions would be the focus on Iran’s team in the new round.

The top diplomat said the draft of the previous six rounds was set aside and a new “joint document” was adopted in the eighth round of talks that is likely to continue till Thursday.

Meanwhile, sources told Anadolu Agency that the parties to the deal were engaged in “serious and thorough deliberations” since Tuesday morning to work out mechanisms that would address concerns of both sides, including the lifting of US sanctions and Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.

While the European parties have called for speedy outcomes of the talks, sources said Iran’s team is against setting any “deadlines.”

Iran has significantly ramped up its nuclear activities since May 2019, enriching uranium with advanced centrifuges up to 60 percent purity, sparking international concerns.

However, the chief of Iran’s nuclear agency, Mohammad Eslami, on Monday allayed fears, saying that Tehran will not exceed the current level of enrichment even if the Vienna talks fail.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Somalia’s opposition presidential candidates called on the country’s president Tuesday to leave office “as soon as possible,” while the presidency denounced the move.

“Mohamed Abdullahi (Mohamed) Farmaajo tried to seize civilian constitutional institutions by military force,” the opposition presidential candidates said in a statement.

They called for an “urgent investigation” and demanded a case to be filed against him and those who supported him in the “failed coup.”

The current political unrest in the country emerged after the country’s federal electoral agency, the Federal Electoral Implementation Team (FEIT), ousted its chairman Mohamed Hassan Irro over allegations of incompetence and the violation of neutrality and the president suspended the powers of his prime minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble, over alleged corruption and misuse of public land.

The prime minister, however, defied the order, describing the president’s decision to suspend him as “outrageous.”

It has been 14 months since Somali leaders reached an election agreement, but there are very few tangible achievements to show, and now a new concern of armed conflict has emerged in the country.

Ex-president calls for unity

Somalia’s former president and current chairman of the Council of Presidential Candidates Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in a press conference in the capital Mogadishu called for unity to complete the country’s elections, labeling Monday’s events in the capital “unfortunate.”

“The attempt to oust the prime minister in charge of the election is unfortunate and a tragedy,” he said.

“The current situation is a critical one. All politicians and the international community who supports Somalia need to unite to complete the elections,” he said.

The Somali presidency meanwhile denounced the opposition’s joint statement, denying their accusations.

“The issues of treason, a coup and calls for resignations are sideshows and distractions necessitated to cover up the ongoing case which has also cost the Navy commander brigadier his job. The only coup that H.E. President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo can be accused of is a coup against graft, and that has set him apart from his competitors. It would be misleading to apply diversionary tactics and employ incitement or coercion instead of responding to the issues facing Mr. Mohamed Hussein Roble,” it said in a statement.

“The presidential candidates are in the race themselves and can in no logical reasoning issue ultimatums to a fellow contestant in a level playing field. Their demands are a non-issue,” it added.

“H.E. President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo’s goal is to take our nation through timely, credible and transparent elections. This is why he has also convened a leadership consultative meeting with the Federal Member States and Benadir administration since those who were tasked with the elections resorted to land-grabbing and disrupting the election committees to derail the entire process.”

Source: Anadolu Agency

Mexico deported more than 4,000 irregular migrants this year due to their involvement in criminal activity.

According to local media, authorities took action on irregular migrants found to be involved in various crimes, including theft, drug trafficking, and sexual abuse in different parts of the country through the year.

In a statement, the National Migration Institute (INM) said that some 252,000 migrants were detained in 2021, of which 4,468 were deported after being confirmed as perpetrators of federal crimes such as murder, money laundering, and drug trafficking.

Also, 320 people were extradited at the request of their own country, the INM added.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recent guidelines to cut the isolation and quarantine period in half have raised questions among experts and caused concern among the general public in the US.

As omicron, the variant notorious for its rapid contagiousness, pervades and triggers new spikes in the number of cases worldwide, the CDC guidelines have been met with strong criticism and disagreement for recommending shorter isolation and allowing it to end without the requirement of a negative PCR test.

The unexpected changes in isolation and quarantine periods, amid recent spikes in cases due to the omicron variant, raised doubts about whether the CDC was caving in to the pressures of major sectors and profit-driven laypeople affected by the pandemic’s negative impact on the workforce.

Concerns have also been raised about the health care sector, as health professionals may be required to return to work before fully recovering from COVID-19, leading to the spread of the virus and, as a result, a reduction in the number of health care workers available in hospitals.

Meanwhile, experts point out that there is not enough research involving the omicron form to back up CDC2’s decision.

The CDC reduced the recommended COVID-19 isolation period from 10 days to five days on Monday, followed by another five days of wearing a mask around others for asymptomatic patients.

If the patient is asymptomatic, they may be released from isolation on the condition that they wear a mask around others for another five days to minimize the risk of infecting others, according to the CDC.

The CDC attributed the change in guidelines to the fact that the virus is transmitted in the early stages of the illness, usually within the first two days of infection.

The center also altered its quarantine recommendations for people who have been exposed to the coronavirus, depending on whether or not they have been vaccinated.

People who have not been vaccinated or have not had their last mRNA dose in more than six months should undergo a five-day quarantine followed by strict mask wear for another five days.

If a five-day quarantine is not feasible, the CDC recommends wearing a well-fitting mask at all times while around others for 10 days after exposure.

Individuals who have had their booster shot do not need to be quarantined after being exposed, but they should wear a mask for 10 days afterwards, it added.

Source: Anadolu Agency