PrairiePundit

 Axios: Qatar, Egypt and Turkey are urging Hamas to give a positive response to President Trump's proposal for ending the war in Gaza, according to two sources with knowledge of the talks. Why it matters: The three countries are the mediators with the closest ties to Hamas and primary responsibility for passing messages between the group and Israel and the U.S. Top officials of those countries have met Hamas leaders twice in the last 24 hours. ... If Hamas fails to take up this offer, it will likely be destroyed by Israeli forces.  Hamas has engaged in the mass murder of Israeli civilians, and that is the reason Israel is attacking it. See also: Hamas documents reportedly show deep ties, coordination between Qatar, terror group Papers apparently seized in Gaza show Hamas political chief told Doha its funds were the group’s ‘main artery’ and Sinwar wanted more supportive Qatar to take leading role in mediation

 Politico: How Turkey became Putin’s ‘pit stop’ for selling camouflaged fuel to the EU Moscow bagged €3 billion through a sanctions loophole that allows Turkey to relabel Russian oil and ship it to the EU. Turkey has become a lousy NATO all of late.  It seems to be more an ally of Russia.

 Insider: Stretching 280 feet below the Earth's surface in Cappadocia, Turkey, is a web of tunnels and cave-like dwellings that once housed 20,000 people. The ancient city, Derinkuyu, lay abandoned for decades until, in the 1960s, a local man noticed his chickens were disappearing through a gap in his basement that had opened up during renovations, the BBC reported . After knocking down a wall , he found a tunnel — and accidentally rediscovered the sprawling, subterranean city. Now part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, Derinkuyu is open to visitors, although they can only explore eight of its 18 levels. Here's a closer look at the remarkable city and its history. Derinkuyu is an 18-level underground city in the Cappadocia region of Turkey. At its deepest point, it reaches 280 feet below the Earth's surface. Cappadocia is particularly suited to underground dwellings — its landscape is made of a volcanic-ash rock called tuff, which is pliable and dry, making it easy to carv...

 Bloomberg: Ukraine Latest: Turkey Blocks Sanctioned Goods on Way to Russia Turkey abruptly stopped the transit of sanctioned goods to Russia this month as the European Union and the US pressure allies to support measures imposed over Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. ... The Turkish government ordered a halt to the transit of sanctioned goods via Turkey from March 1 in compliance with sanctions, according to a senior official speaking on condition of anonymity. The country has emerged as one of the havens for Russian wealth and a center for sourcing goods over the past year. Turkey’s exports to Russia rose to $9.3 billion in 2022 from $5.8 billion a year earlier. ... I think Turkey needs western support to recover from a devastating earthquake. 

 Business Insider: Turkey's powerhouse drone industry is on the verge of another milestone: a stealthy unmanned fighter jet for its new aircraft carrier In less than a decade, Turkey has become a drone powerhouse. Unmanned aerial vehicles were its defense industry's single largest export last year, totaling $871.5 million — an 80% increase over 2021. Much of that market is served by the firm Baykar, which produces the TB2 model widely known for its use in recent conflicts, including in Ukraine . Baykar has built more than 400 TB2s for 24 countries. But the TB2 is just one of Baykar's models. On January 23, the company announced that the Kızılelma, its newest and potentially most promising product, had successfully conducted its second flight test. The test is another step forward for what may become the company's crown jewel and the high point of Turkey's burgeoning drone industry. A jet-powered unmanned combat aerial vehicle, the Kızılelma — "Red Apple...

 NY Times: Shattered Homes and Lurking Disease: Quake Hardships Pile Up in Turkey Hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering in tents, breathing air thick with pollutants unleashed from tombs of rubble. One of the worst death quakes in modern times has no quick fixes for victims. 

 NBC News: Death and destruction surround Erzin. But this tiny city in Turkey’s southern Hatay province is an oasis of safety and normality while life throughout the region has been overturned by last week’s earthquake . Residents and officials say Erzin suffered no deaths and saw no buildings collapse in the powerful temblor, and they credit a long-standing determination not to allow construction that violated the country’s codes . Beyaz Yalcin was one of the lucky ones. She was in Erzin with her four young children when the quake struck, rather than at home in nearby Gaziantep. Yalcin, 33, has not returned home. She doesn’t know if her house is still standing or if, like so many in Gaziantep and throughout the region, it has been reduced to rubble. “I am in shock. I don’t want to face the same situation again,” she said. Yalcin is not the only one staying in this town out of fear. Emre Tibikoglu, 39, who has been working for the municipality for six years, said he believed 20,...

 NY Times: Anger Over Quake Response Challenges Erdogan Ahead of Election Resentment is building among survivors in Turkey over the response of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government. “I will never forgive them,” one said. Volunteers have pieced together a makeshift medical system in Turkey’s earthquake zone. It could take at least a decade to rebuild cities in Turkey and Syria. There is little Erdogan could have done to prevent the quake and his government seems overwhelmed by the results of the quake and the thousands of deaths and destruction of buildings.  The survivors of the quake are apparently ready for new leadership.  Syria has had a basket-case government for decades. See, also: In earthquake-battered Syria, a desperate wait for help that never came On a rare visit to this forgotten pocket of rebel-held northwestern Syria, The Washington Post found communities gripped by shock and bewilderment, and very much alone.

 ABC7News: Earthquake Syria, Turkey: Hope fading as quake deaths pass 15K Experts say the survival window for those trapped under the rubble is closing rapidly. They will likely be pulling bodies out of the rubble for days.  

 NY Times: Erdogan Visits Quake Area as Death Toll Passes 11,000 in Turkey and Syria Shortages of trucks and fuel were slowing some rescue efforts. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey visited the area near the epicenter. Crews have rescued more than 8,000 people in Turkey alone. But the chances of finding people still alive are dropping quickly. As they continue to find bodies the people of this region also have to consider how they will deal with wrecked buildings and what kind of structure they will try to replace them with.  It should be an engineering challenge for both objectives. 

 Washington Post: Quake’s toll passes 5,000 in Turkey, Syria Crews scour rubble amid rising fears of a new humanitarian crisis   Turkey’s Erdogan declares 3-month state of emergency in hard-hit regions The death toll and the damage to structures are almost incalculable at this time.  It will probably take crews months to dig through the rubble for bodies. See, also: Why was the Turkey-Syria earthquake so bad?  The magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Monday is likely to be one of the deadliest this decade, seismologists said, with a more than 100 km (62 miles) rupture between the Anatolian and Arabian plates. ... Only three earthquakes have registered above 6.0 on the Richter Scale since 1970 in the area, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. But in 1822, a 7.0 quake hit the region, killing an estimated 20,000 people. On average, there are fewer than 20 quakes over 7.0 magnitude in any year, making Monday's event severe. Compared with the 6.2 e...

 National Review: A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck near the Turkish-Syrian border early Monday morning followed by another magnitude 7.5 tremor hours later, claiming the lives of at least 1,600 people. ... “We do not know where the number of dead and injured can go,” Erdoğan told the press on Monday. More than 3,000 Turkish buildings were destroyed, he added. ... See, also:  7.8-magnitude quake kills more than 1,300, knocks down buildings in southeast Turkey and Syria  Powerful earthquake felt as far away as Cairo; many casualties feared ... Rescue workers and residents in multiple cities searched for survivors, working through tangles of metal and giant piles of concrete. A hospital in Turkey collapsed and patients, including newborns, were evacuated from a handful of facilities in Syria. In the Turkish city of Adana, one resident said three buildings near his home collapsed. “I don’t have the strength anymore,” one survivor could be heard calling out from beneath the ...

The Spectator: Turkey’s heavy price for pressuring the Russians   Is Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership really worth appeasing Erdogan? Erdogan is unhappy with the Swedes' freedom to criticize Islam. He seems to have forgotten that what is now Turkey was once a Christian nation before the Muslims conquered it.

  Epoch Times: Turkish National With Terror Ties Deported After Crossing US Border Illegally Unless Turkey jails him, he is likely to come back and try a different area to cross Biden's open border. 

  Breitbart: Turkey Using Ukraine War as Excuse to Claim Greek Islands Peace continues to unravel as Turkey imitates Chicoms and their claim to Taiwan by making claims to Greek islands. 

  Breitbart: Turkey Sees ‘Threat’ in Putin’s Ukraine War, Bans Warships from Accessing Black Sea This would make it difficult for Russia to bring its blue water fleet to bear against Ukraine. 

 Fox News: Border crisis: Number of Turkish migrants at southern border already outpaces FY 2021   There have been 1,523 encounters of Turkish nationals so far in FY 2022 This is not that surprising.  Turkey is a poorly run country under Erdogan who is more radical than previous Turk leaders.  

 Institute for the Study of War: Turkey may be preparing to deploy Syrian proxies to Afghanistan in September 2021.  Local Syrian sources report that Turkey is recruiting Syrian mercenaries to deploy to protect the Kabul airport, government institutions, and international forces for a relatively large monthly salary of 3,000 USD.[1]  Turkish intelligence officials reportedly asked at least five Turkish-backed Syrian National Army factions to prepare an initial batch of 2,000 troops by September during an alleged meeting in northern Syria in late June. [2]  Turkish private military company SADAT will likely lead the recruitment and transfer of Syrian mercenaries to Afghanistan in line with its past responsibilities in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh.[3]  SADAT is a Turkish private security company founded by close Erdogan ally and retired Brigadier General Adnan Tanriverdi. SADAT has drawn domestic and international criticism for its reported role ...

 PJ Media: Last summer, Turkish authorities transformed Hagia Sophia (“Holy Wisdom”) — which was originally built, and for a millennium functioned, as one of Christendom’s greatest cathedrals — into a mosque (again).  On that Friday, July 24, 2020 (which for millions of Eastern Christians is now deemed a “ day of mourning “), Muslims met inside the desecrated church, where they were led in prayer by a sword-waving imam, to spasmodic cries of “Allahu akbar.” The Turks, beginning with their president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have been presenting this bit of cultural appropriation as their “right.”  Imam Ali Erbas, Turkey’s president of religious affairs, has gone one farther, recently  claiming  that “the goal is for all our mosques and especially Hagia Sophia to become centers of knowledge about Islam.” So be it.  As the anniversary of the Turkish conquest of Constantinople and its Hagia Sophia recently passed (May 29, 1453), let us revisit what...

 Tom Rogan: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey spent Friday reminding the world why he is Vladimir Putin's  preferred useful idiot . Continuing in that vein on Saturday, Erdogan tripled down on his imperial fanaticism. Speaking at a party rally, Erdogan offered three repudiations of the democratic international order. First, he attacked France over its commitment to defend its democratic values and way of life. Second, Erdogan pledged to keep fueling the bloody war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Third, he promised new assaults on Greek sovereignty. On the first count, Erdogan offered vicious insults to a nation in mourning. France is grappling with the brutal assassination of a teacher by a jihadist for showing his class  Charlie Hebdo's  Prophet Muhammad cartoon. Defending the Fifth Republic's secular constitutional foundation, President Emmanuel Macron has introduced reforms to obstruct Islamic extremists from enforcing intellectual and sexual segregation. R...