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Tuesday, April 26

Emboldened by Merkel's capitulation Erdogan sends large armed convoy to Syrian border

April 24, Euro News:

The Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu took German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU Council president Donald Tusk on a tour of a refugee camp on Saturday.

Nizip camp in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, close to the border with Syria, is home to some 5,000 Syrian refugees.

The visit came as both sides seek to bolster the EU-Turkey deal on migrants.

Germany is now backing Turkey’s idea of ‘safe zones’ for refugees in Syria along the Turkish border.

At a press conference, Merkel told reporters: “Such areas can easily be identified near the Turkish-Syrian border and we have advocated that a lot of effort be invested in this. The safer people feel, the less they need to leave their homeland. That’s why we believe this to be very important.”

The UN and aid agencies have previously warned against the so-called’ safe zones’ saying the safety of refugees could not be guaranteed.

Davutoglu also took the opportunity to remind the EU that visa liberalisation for Turkish citizens was a vital part of the migrant deal.

[END REPORT]

April 25, 8:40 PM -  AMN
https://twitter.com/TheArabSource/status/724805209805856768



A large convoy of Turkish Army reinforcements arrived to the border-city of Kilis on Monday morning after the recent increase in violence split over from the Syrian province of Aleppo. 

This increase in fighting between the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) has prompted the Turkish Army to expand their presence along the Syrian-Turkish border to ensure the safety of civilians living in Kilis and its surrounding area. 

However, many observers in northern Aleppo believe that the Turkish Army is actually waiting for the predominately Kurdish “People’s Protection Units” (YPG) to attack the Syrian border-city of Jarabulus.

If the YPG and their allies from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) make a push to Jarabulus; this will without a doubt result in an attack by the Turkish Army, despite the fact the Kurdish forces are fighting Islamic State of terrorists.

[END REPORT; two additional  photos of convoy in the report]

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