With Turkish-American relations souring, the focus should be on freeing imprisoned American citizens and the Turkish staff of the United States Embassy.

politurco.com | by David L. Phillips * | August 6, 2018

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered reciprocal actions against two US cabinet members, retaliating against a decision by the Trump administration to sanction Turkey’s Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu for the imprisonment of Pastor Andrew Brunson. The Brunson case is just one issue polarizing US-Turkey relations. More than 50,000 people, including Brunson, are jailed for supporting terrorism after the botched coup attempt in July 2016. Three US consular officials are wrongly imprisoned for supporting terrorism. Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 missiles violates NATO’s core principle of inter-operability. In addition, Erdogan helped Iran evade sanctions imposed to curtail its nuclear activities.

Nytimes.com

A prominent Kurdish politician, Selahattin Demirtas, once helped Turkey’s leader come close to ending the decades-old conflict with Kurdish militants that has killed tens of thousands of people.

Cabinet.gov.krd

Pursuant to the Kurdistan Regional Government Council of Ministers resolution No.73 (3 February 2016) establishing an independent review of the oil and gas industry, today new verified data on oil exports, consumption and revenues have been published covering the period from 1 July 2017 to 31 December 2017. This is a continuation from the first public report of the first half of 2017 published in January 2018.

Rudaw.net

Nytimes.com | By Carlotta Gall

EDIRNE, Turkey — A prominent Kurdish politician, Selahattin Demirtas once helped Turkey’s leader come close to ending the decades-old conflict with Kurdish militants that has killed tens of thousands of people.

Rudaw.net

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Public anger over the lack of basic services and high unemployment is growing in Iraq as protests that have raged in the southern province of Basra this week spread northwards on Friday.

AFP

Two more demonstrators were killed in southern Iraq, officials said, as protests against unemployment spread on Saturday from the port city of Basra to other parts of the country including Baghdad, reported AFP.

It is with great sadness that we have learned the death of our friend Ephrem-Isa Yousif on Tuesday, in the morning of July 4th, at the age of 74, at the Bichat Hospital in Paris where he had just undergone a heavy surgery.

Nytimes.com | Thomas Erdbrink

TEHRAN — President Trump says his decision to leave the nuclear agreement is already having a huge impact on Iran. He is right, Iranians say, but for the wrong reasons.