Tag North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Angelina Jolie hinted on Friday she could one day enter politics, as she urged global leaders to do more to help refugees and women in conflict.

Asked whether she was moving toward a political career, the Hollywood star, an envoy for the UN refugee agency who has also campaigned on sexual violence against women, said she would “go where I’m needed”.

“If you asked me 20 years ago, I would’ve laughed,” she said in an interview with British broadcaster the BBC. “I don’t know if I’m fit for politics, but then I’ve also joked that I don’t know if I have a skeleton left in my closet.”

Jolie said her work with the United Nations and other organizations enabled her to “get a lot done without a title”, but did not rule out a future switch.

“I honestly will do whatever I think can really make change and right now, I am able to work with a UN agency … to do a lot of work directly with the people in need,” she said.

“I’m also able to work with governments and I’m also able to work with militaries. And so I sit in a very interesting place of being able to get a lot done without a title and without it being about myself or my policies. So for now I’ll sit quiet.”

The Oscar-winning actor has in recent years visited refugee camps to highlight the plight of those uprooted by war, and broadened her international efforts to protect women, working with NATO and governments to help stop the use of rape as a weapon of war.

With 68.5 million people uprooted globally, she said more needed to be done to support refugees and host communities in developing countries.

“The focus should be what is happening to these people? Why is this happening? How do we have this many people uprooted and what are the causes?” Jolie said.

UN members earlier this month adopted a deal aimed at improving the way world copes with rising migration.

The non-binding pact, meant to foster cooperation on migration, was agreed in July by all 193 UN members except the United States, but only 164 formally signed it at the meeting.

“This should not be seen as a headache for people. This is how we need our leaders to be thinking about balancing our world,” she added.
Voice for women

Jolie, a mother of six who last year released her film “First They Killed My Father” about Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime, launched the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative in 2012 with Britain’s former foreign minister William Hague.

NATO agreed in January to help report on sexual violence in war to help bring perpetrators to justice and challenge the idea that rape is an unavoidable aspect of conflict.

But there have been questions over the effectiveness of the initiative, especially in light of the mass rape of Rohingya women in Myanmar during a crackdown that forced 720,000 refugees to flee to Bangladesh.

Interviewed on BBC Radio’s Today program, which she guest edited, Jolie said the campaign had made a difference.

“I have met victims who finally got reparations when they didn’t have them before,” she said. “When there are prosecutions and when there is accountability, we will see a real change.”

“Pakistan has helped in the dialogue between Taliban and the US in Abu Dhabi. Let us pray that this leads to peace and ends almost three decades of suffering of the brave Afghan people,” the premier tweeted.

He assured, “Pakistan will be doing everything within its power to further the peace process.”

Officials of the United States and the Afghan Taliban convened on Monday, with the assistance of Pakistan, in a renewed bid to conclude the 17-year-long war in Afghanistan.

Participants in the December 17 meeting, sources said, have jointly agreed to continue the talks. They also comprised officials from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the primary agenda being the gradual withdrawal of the forces of the US and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The sources also mentioned that the Taliban would revert back after discussing the matter with their shura (council) and then meet for a second time with Zalmay Khalilzad, the Secretary Pompeo-appointed US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation.

Participants of Pak-initiated US-Taliban peace talks agree to continue discussion

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, also confirmed on Twitter that the representatives from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the UAE were taking part in the meeting, which follows at least two prior ones between the Taliban and Khalilzad in Qatar.

The Taliban, for some time, have refused engaging in talks with representatives of the Afghan government. However, while the US has confirmed that it held meetings in Abu Dhabi on the issue of Afghan reconciliation, it has refused to confirm the participation of Khalilzad or any other US official in reconciliatory talks with the Taliban.

Last week, on Saturday, Washington had said it welcomed Islamabad’s actions to promote a negotiated solution to the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

“The United States welcomes any actions by the Pakistani government to promote greater cooperation, including fostering negotiations between the Taliban, the Afghan government, and other Afghans,” a US embassy spokesperson in Kabul told Voice of America.

The acknowledgement had come a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that the country had arranged another round of US peace talks with the Afghan Taliban.

Afghan Taliban meet US officials in UAE

The meetings come as diplomatic efforts to resolve the Afghan conflict have intensified, although the Taliban have so far refused to deal directly with the Western-backed government in Kabul, which it considers illegitimate.

The Taliban say the presence of international forces in Afghanistan is the main obstacle to peace but have said that issues including mutual recognition with the Kabul government, constitutional changes, and women’s rights can be negotiated.

KABUL: At least 10 people were killed after a massive blast outside a British security company´s compound in Kabul late Wednesday, officials said, with the attack claimed by the Taliban in the latest violence to target the Afghan capital.

The interior ministry and police both said the blast had been a car bomb targeting a compound which houses G4S, a private British security company, in east Kabul.

“We can confirm that there has been an incident at one of our locations in Kabul. The situation is ongoing and we are coordinating with the Afghan authorities to bring it to a conclusion,” a G4S spokesman told AFP in London.

Afghan authorities also said they were conducting a clearing operation at the site.

“10 dead, 19 wounded have been evacuated from site,” health ministry spokesman Wahid Majroh told AFP, without giving the victims´ nationalities.

Interior Ministry deputy spokesman Nasrat Rahimi confirmed the toll but warned it could yet change.

Earlier, sources had said the blast was followed by gunfire. Rahimi said no gunfire had been heard for some time, however.

According to its website, G4S provides security for the UK Foreign Office in Kabul.

The attack was claimed by the Taliban in a tweet.

It came just hours after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced the formation of a team for prospective peace talks with the militant group, as the United Nations renewed calls for direct negotiations between Kabul and the insurgents.

The Afghan government, Western diplomats and UN officials have in recent weeks raised hopes of finally reaching a deal to end the 17-year war.

At an international conference on Afghanistan in Geneva, Ghani said the 12-person negotiating team includes both men and women and will be led by his chief of staff Abdul Salam Rahimi.

Rahimi, a former humanitarian worker and ex-deputy Afghan finance minister, is considered one of Ghani´s closest aides.
Wave of violence

Wednesday´s assault on G4S is the second high-profile attack claimed by the Taliban on foreigners in as many days.

On Tuesday, three US soldiers were killed in a blast near Ghazni city in central Afghanistan that was also claimed by the militant group.

The attacks follow a wave of bloody violence across the war-torn country in recent weeks that has killed hundreds of people as militants step up their attacks.

Earlier Wednesday, NATO said it was investigating an airstrike in southeastern Afghanistan that might have killed civilians, with unverified reports of women and children among the dead.

On November 20, at least 55 people were killed when a bomber blew himself up in the middle of a banquet hall in one of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan this year.

The violence comes as the Taliban intensify pressure on Afghan security forces, even as the international community ramps up efforts towards talks.

US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has expressed hopes that a peace deal to end the war could be struck before the Afghan presidential election, scheduled for April.

His comments underscore an apparent increasing sense of urgency in the White House and among American diplomats for a peace deal to be done quickly.

KIEV: Russia has seized three Ukrainian naval ships in a strait near Moscow-annexed Crimea, raising fears of military escalation and prompting an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday.

In the unprecedented incident, Russia said it used weapons “in order to stop the Ukrainian military,” which it claims illegally entered its waters, confirming “three Ukrainian navy ships were boarded and searched.”

Ukraine´s navy said the incident took place on Sunday as two small warships and a tugboat were heading through the Kerch Strait, a narrow waterway that gives access to the Sea of Azov that is used by Ukraine and Russia.

It said a Russian border guard vessel rammed the tugboat in “openly aggressive actions” and then fired on the ships, immobilising all three.

The confrontation at sea is a dangerous development in the long-running conflict pitting Ukraine against Russia and Russian-backed rebels in the east of the country.

The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss the escalation, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said. The meeting was requested by both Russia and Ukraine, diplomatic sources told AFP.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has asked parliament to vote Monday on whether to impose martial law on the country for 60 days, after his Military Cabinet recommended the move in a late-night meeting.

Throwing his weight behind the measure, which is far from guaranteed to pass, he said it “in no way means that Ukraine will carry out any offensive actions”.

“I want to emphasise separately that we have all irrefutable evidence that this aggression, this attack on the Ukrainian Navy´s warships was not a mistake, not an accident, but a deliberate action,” he said in a statement.

Ukraine said six of its soldiers were injured, two seriously, but Russia´s FSB security service reported only three had suffered non-life threatening injuries and were given medical treatment.
West urges restraint

The development has sparked alarm among Kiev´s Western allies.

“We expect Russia to restore freedom of passage at the Kerch strait and urge all to act with utmost restraint to de-escalate the situation immediately,” the European Union said in a statement.

NATO also urged “restraint and de-escalation”, and called on Russia “to ensure unhindered access to Ukrainian ports in the Azov Sea, in accordance with international law”.

Ukraine´s foreign ministry said it considered “these aggressive actions” a violation of international law that would be met with “an international and diplomatic legal response”.
Ukraine

Russia, which claims the waters off Crimea after annexing the peninsula in 2014, accused Kiev of illegally entering its waters.

“Having breached this morning the Russian border, the three Ukrainian ships — the Berdyansk, the Nikopol and the Yani Kapu — tried again on November 25 at 19:00 (Moscow time) to conduct illegal actions in Russian territorial waters,” the FSB said.

The FSB, which oversees the border guard service, also said the Ukrainian ships had failed to respond to the “legal demands” of the Russian authorities.

Russian politicians accused Ukraine of acting at the behest of its Western allies and deliberately attempting to escalate the conflict.

Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov wrote on Facebook that he “was sure the Western masters of the Kiev regime are behind this act of provocation”.

Pyotr Tolstoy, deputy speaker of the Russian parliament, warned on Facebook that “the Ukrainian puppet authorities… are risking unleashing a large military conflict”.

“One thing is clear: Russia won´t allow military provocations in its territorial waters,” he said.
Increased Russian controls

Ukraine said it gave Russia advance warning of its ships´ route, which its vessels are obliged to take to reach the Sea of Azov.

It said the Kerch Strait was blocked by a tanker, and that Russian military aircraft were flying over the area.

The latest incident comes after the Ukrainian navy in September complained about “acts of provocation” by Russian border guards against its ships taking the same route.

Ukraine has increased the number of its navy ships and border guard patrols in the Sea of Azov after Russia deployed five more warships there.

Kiev says its naval buildup is due to Russia stepping up controls in the area this year and carrying out lengthy checks on commercial shipping that were very costly for freight and port companies.

Kiev and the West have accused Moscow of deliberately blocking ships from accessing Mariupol, which has vital access to heavy industry in the region.

Mariupol is close to the region of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists in a conflict that has caused at least 10,000 deaths since 2014.

The United States, a key ally of Ukraine, is opposed to Russia´s takeover of Crimea and is looking to reduce Ukraine´s dependency on Russian gas pipelines.

Georgians on Sunday started voting to elect a figurehead president in a poll seen as a crucial test for the increasingly unpopular ruling party.

The hotly contested race has pitted ex-French ambassador and Georgia´s former foreign minister Salome Zurabishvili, supported by the ruling Georgian Dream party, against opposition leader Grigol Vashadze, also a former foreign minister.

The two have an almost equal chance of being elected, according to opinion polls conducted in the run-up to the vote.

Vashadze — backed by exiled ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili´s United National Movement and 10 other opposition groups — has been boosted by growing popular discontent over the government´s failure to tackle poverty.

He has promised to mount a campaign demanding snap parliamentary polls, if elected.

Both candidates have campaigned on similar promises to bring Georgia closer to full membership of the European Union and NATO.

The vote is Georgia´s last direct leadership poll as the Black Sea nation transitions to a parliamentary form of governance following a controversial constitutional reform.

The inauguration of a new president will pave the way for the new constitution to enter into force, making the head of state a largely ceremonial figure.

Georgia´s next president will be elected in 2024 by a 300-member electoral college.

The constitutional change was adopted in September 2017, a move protested by all opposition parties, which denounced it as favouring the ruling party.

Georgia´s outgoing President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, refused to run for a second term, saying he is not interested in assuming the reduced role.

Over 3.5 million people are eligible to vote in the election, which will be monitored by international observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Polls opened at 0400 GMT and will close at 1600 GMT, with results expected to start coming in overnight.

OSLO:(Net news/ media 92 news) NATO began its biggest military exercises since the end of the Cold War in Norway on Thursday, proof of the US´ “rock-solid” commitment to the alliance´s collective defence, US Navy Admiral James Foggo said, as Moscow denounced the manoeuvres as “anti-Russian”.

Around 50,000 soldiers, 10,000 vehicles, 65 ships and 250 aircraft from 31 countries were taking part in Trident Juncture 18, which is aimed at training the Atlantic Alliance to defend a member state after an aggression.

The show of force comes amid recent concerns over US President Donald Trump´s commitment to NATO, in particular the “Article 5” mutual defence clause which requires all member states to come to the aid of another member state.

“On Article 5 and the United States´ commitment, it is rock-solid,” Foggo, who is also the head of NATO´s Allied Joint Force Command, told reporters in Oslo.

“That commitment is evident in our acts and our deeds.”

The United States is contributing the biggest contingent to Trident Juncture, including more than 9,000 Marines and an aircraft carrier deployed in Norwegian waters for the first time since 1987.

The exercises are also taking place against the backdrop of rising tensions between the West and Russia, which has annexed Crimea and is accused of destabilising eastern Ukraine, which it denies.

Moscow has also beefed up its military capabilities in the Arctic, and conducted its own biggest ever exercises in the Far East in September.

“In recent years, Europe´s security environment has significantly deteriorated,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

“Trident Juncture sends a clear message to our nations and to any potential adversary. NATO does not seek confrontation but we stand ready to defend all allies against any threat,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

The exercises will take place at a respectful distance from Norway´s 198-kilometre (123-mile) border with Russia in the Far North, but Moscow nonetheless denounced Trident Juncture as an “anti-Russian” exercise.

“Such activity… comes across as provocative, even if you try to justify it as being of a purely defensive nature,” the Russian embassy in Oslo said.

´Unfounded fears´
Foggo sought to tone down the concerns.

“Any fears on the part of the Russian Federation are unfounded,” he said.

“We defend, we deter, we don´t take somebody else´s territory. That´s not our intent and they are not the focal point of this exercise.”

Map of Europe showing the areas in Norway where NATO will conduct the “Trident Juncture” military manoeuvres which started on Thursday.
Two Russian and two Belarus military observers have been invited to watch the manoeuvres, which run through November 7.

For months, Moscow has been annoyed by the growing Western military presence in the region. The United States and Britain have been increasing their deployments in Norway to accustom their troops to cold weather combat.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, speaking in early October, condemned what she termed as NATO´s “sabre-rattling”, and vowed Moscow would take “retaliatory measures”.

“The main NATO countries are increasing their military presence in the region, near Russia´s borders,” she said.

“Such irresponsible actions are bound to lead to a destabilisation of the political situation in the North, to heighten tensions,” she said.

Tensions already flared on Saturday after US President Donald Trump announced he was abandoning a Cold War-era nuclear treaty, a move which Russia warned could cripple global security.

Accusing Russia of developing a new missile system, Trump threatened to increase the US nuclear weapons arsenal.

In addition to NATO´s 29 member countries, Norway´s neighbours Sweden and Finland will join the exercises.

“We do not see any military threat against Northern Europe today but we live in uncertain and unpredictable times,” wrote five Nordic defence or foreign ministers in a joint column published in several newspapers Thursday.

“A more confident Russia has demonstrated both its willingness and ability to use military might to achieve its own strategic goals,” they wrote, praising the importance of security cooperation among their countries.

Campaigning for Afghanistan’s long-delayed parliamentary elections kicks off Friday, as a crescendo of deadly violence and claims of widespread fraud fuel debate over whether the vote will go ahead.

More than 2,500 candidates will contest the October 20 poll, which is seen as a test run for next year’s presidential vote and a key milestone ahead of a UN meeting in Geneva where Afghanistan is under pressure to show progress on “democratic processes”.

But preparations for the ballot, which is more than three years late, have been in turmoil for months, despite UN-led efforts to keep Afghan organisers on track.

Bureaucratic inefficiency, allegations of industrial-scale fraud and now an eleventh-hour pledge for biometric verification of voters threaten to derail the election and any hope of a credible result.

It will be “highly flawed”, a Western diplomat admitted to AFP this week, reflecting falling expectations across Kabul’s international community, which is providing most of the funding for the elections.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has insisted voting will go ahead, with or without the biometric machines that have been demanded by opposition groups to prevent people from voting more than once.

Only 4,400 out of the 22,000 German-made machines ordered have been delivered to Afghanistan, officials said.

“They have promised (biometric verification) and they may do it, but will it be successful in dispelling the concerns? I’m doubtful,” Afghanistan Analysts Network researcher Ali Yawar Adili told AFP.

“It may create a bigger mess.”

Young hopefuls
The list of candidates, which has been trimmed to 2,565 after 35 were expelled, are competing for 249 seats in the lower house, whose members are widely derided as corrupt and ineffective.

Most MPs are seeking re-election. But hundreds of political first-timers — including the offspring of former warlords, entrepreneurs and journalists — are also contesting the vote.

“Parliament is supposed to be the house of the people. Instead it has become a place for mafia networks, corruption, and those who work for their own interests,” said former TV journalist Maryam Sama, 26, who is running in Kabul province.

“If anyone can bring real change, it is the young people.”

Afghanistan’s demographics should, in theory, favour younger candidates — the country is ranked as one of the youngest and fastest growing in the world.

But they face a formidable challenge from the old guard, who have long dominated the political landscape through tribal and ethnic connections and deep pockets.

Traditional attitudes are also stacked against the younger hopefuls in a country where elders are respected and listened to.

“Old politicians, ethnic and religious power brokers regard themselves as the rightful and exclusive owners of politics and have the power and resources,” said Naeem Ayubzada, director of Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan.

Bloody rehearsal
The international community is pushing hard for the vote to happen before November’s ministerial meeting in Geneva, which the United Nations says is a “crucial moment” for the Afghan government and its foreign partners to demonstrate progress.

But a wave of deadly violence across the country in recent months has raised concerns that parliamentary elections could end up being a bloody rehearsal for the presidential vote scheduled for April.

Some 54,000 members of Afghanistan’s beleaguered security forces will be responsible for protecting more than 5,000 polling centres on election day.

More than 2,000 polling centres that were supposed to open will be closed for security reasons.

It is a daunting task as the Taliban and the Islamic State group, which have vowed to disrupt the ballot, ramp up attacks across the country.

“Elections are not about NATO but about Afghan people,” Cornelius Zimmermann, NATO’s senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, told a recent meeting of Afghan security officials.

Allegations of massive fraud in the voter registration process that saw nearly nine million people sign up are also disrupting the process.

District council elections, which also were scheduled to be held on October 20, have been postponed and a parliamentary vote in Ghazni province, whose capital the Taliban recently raided, has been cancelled.

Delaying voting in the rest of the country until after the presidential poll “would be best”, a Western official monitoring election preparations told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

“If the process is not accepted, how can you accept the outcome?” the official asked.

On 30 September Macedonians will head to the polls to vote on whether to add “North” to their country´s official name.

Why?

The name-change is an effort to overcome a 27-year-old argument with neighbouring Greece, which has refused to recognise Macedonia´s name since the Balkan country declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

Athens argues that the name belongs solely to its northern province called Macedonia, accusing Skopje of harbouring territorial ambitions.

In protest, Greece has blocked Macedonia from NATO and the EU.

Athens has also forced the country to use the clunky name FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) in the UN.

The animosity deepened when Macedonia´s former premier Nikola Gruevski went on a construction spree in the capital Skopje, erecting massive statues of Alexander the Great — a hero both countries claim as their own — and plastering government buildings in hellenic-inspired facades.

Athens, fiercely proud of its ancient history, blasted the moves as cultural appropriation.

But Gruevski´s downfall and the arrival last spring of a new government led by Macedonia´s Social Democrats, allowed for an opening.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras met several times and inked an agreement in June that voters are now being called upon to approve.

What is in the deal?

It is not just about the country´s official name.

The deal also delves into history, language and identity.

The key clause is Article 7, which says the terms “Macedonia” and “Macedonian” refer to “a different historical context and cultural heritage” for each country.

For Skopje, a core victory was maintaining that their language can be called Macedonian, plus guarantees that Athens would stop blocking the path to NATO and the EU.

But Macedonians will no longer be able to claim ties to the “ancient Hellenic civilization, history, culture and heritage” of Greece´s Macedonia province, according to the deal.

In recent years, Macedonian textbooks were rewritten to draw a link between present day Macedonians, who are ethnic Slavs, and the ancient Kingdom of Macedon which was led by Alexander the Great.

Macedonian officials say history books will likely have to be revised and that explanatory plaques will be laid before statues of Alexander the Great and other contested monuments.

Passports and car plates will also have to change.

Does a ´yes´ vote solve the issue?

No. The referendum is only “consultative,” according to Prime Minister Zaev.

The next hurdle will be getting two-thirds of parliament to ratify the agreement and make necessary changes to the constitution.

Currently, the right-wing opposition VMRO-DPMNE party is standing in the way.

The nationalist party has criticised the deal, though they have stopped short of publicly calling for a boycott.

They have instead come out to announce their positions individually, with President Gjorge Ivanov, from VMRO-DPMNE, saying this weekend that he personally will not vote.

Zaev is hoping a strong approval from the public will make it difficult for the party to ignore the people´s will.

Surveys suggest the referendum has a strong chance of passing, despite a lack of enthusiasm about the new name.

For many Macedonians, the key driver to the polls is their desire to start EU accession talks in hopes of injecting life into a flat economy.

Is Russia meddling?

The US has accused Russia — which is openly opposed to NATO´s enlargement — of running a disinformation campaign pushing for the referendum to fail.

“No doubt that they have transferred money and that they are also conducting a broader influence campaign,” US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said last week on a visit to Skopje.

Premier Zaev played down the allegations, saying, “we don´t have proof about Russian influence”.

Historically, Moscow has less clout in Macedonia than in other Balkan neighbours such as Serbia and Montenegro.

But Russians have been accused of fomenting protests against the deal in neighbouring Greece, forcing Athens to expel two diplomats over the allegation in July.

Where is the ´no´ campaign?

For now, mostly on social media, trailed by the hashtag #Bojkotiram”, which means “boycott” in Macedonian.

Thousands of fake accounts on Facebook and Twitter are helping amplify its affect, according to Macedonia´s Investigative Reporting Lab, an NGO.

Macedonia was notorious as a hub for fake news producers who tried to influence the 2016 US election.

Now some sites are using their skills to sow confusion at home.

In August a story went viral alleging NATO would use depleted uranium at a Macedonian army base. The Defence Minister later denied the report, calling it “fake news”.

What happens if the vote fails?

In an interview this month with AFP, Zaev warned that a failure to pass the referendum would isolate the country and could open a new “chapter of insecurity and instability in the whole region”.

The fragile Balkans are home to a host of complex disputes, some of which date back to the brutal 1990s wars that undid Yugoslavia and left 130,000 dead.

Zaev is hoping that a successful vote could make the deal a role model for other regional disputes.

“It would just be a real setback, on all sorts of levels, if this didn´t go through,” said James Ker-Lindsay, a Balkans expert at the London School of Economics.

“We know that there won´t be any going back to the table,” he added.

WASHINGTON: The crisis in US-Turkish relations, which already has put Turkey´s economy under massive strain, also risks souring military ties between the two NATO allies, unleashing unknown geopolitical consequences.

US President Donald Trump last week announced new tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminium, causing the country´s currency to plummet, over his frustration with Ankara´s continued detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson.

Then on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote in The New York Times that unless Washington can “reverse this trend of unilateralism and disrespect,” Turkey will “start looking for new friends and allies.”

The warning came after Erdogan held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss economic and trade issues, as well as the Syria crisis.

Military ties between Turkey and the US are already fraught over Washington´s support to Syrian Kurdish fighters known as the YPG, which Ankara sees as little more than an offshoot of the “terrorist” Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

And tensions were heightened further after Turkey, despite being a NATO ally, entered into an understanding to buy Russia´s advanced S-400 air defence system.

Such a move would defy US sanctions on Moscow, and Turkey´s increasingly cosy relationship with Putin has alarmed both the US and the European Union.

Trump on Monday signed a defence authorisation act that notably prohibits the delivery of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft to Turkey if it goes ahead with the S-400 purchase.

Retired Admiral James Stavridis, an ex-NATO supreme allied commander, urged Washington and Ankara to do all they can to improve relations.

“To lose Turkey would be a geopolitical mistake of epic proportions,” he told MSNBC on Monday.

“Hopefully we can pull them back, but Turkey has to make the first step at this point.”

Trump´s national security advisor John Bolton met with Ambassador Serdar Kilic of Turkey on Monday to discuss “Turkey´s continued detention of Pastor Andrew Brunson and the state of the US-Turkey relationship,” the White House said.

Turkey´s dialogue with Russia has led some to question its reliability as a NATO partner, and even whether it should remain in the alliance.

But Joshua Landis, director of Center for Middle East Studies, told AFP that Turkey´s ejection from NATO would be disastrous.

“There´s no upside to kicking Turkey out, it´ll just force Turkey into Russia´s hands,” he said.

Key air base
Experts are looking to Incirlik, a Turkish air base in southern Turkey, just 70 miles (110 kilometers) from the border with war-torn Syria. The base has been a frequent pawn during decades of ups and downs in US-Turkey relations.

Incirlik´s location relative to the Middle East makes it a key strategic asset for the US military and for NATO, and the United States until recently flew bombing runs from there as it fought the Daesh group in Iraq and Syria.

Separately, the facility is thought to hold a stockpile of about 50 American nuclear bombs.

The arrangement works for Turkey too, as the US military provides Turks with intelligence and drone surveillance over the border region, and helps Ankara monitor the outlawed PKK.

Last year, Muharrem Ince, the main opposition candidate in Turkey´s presidential election, threatened to shut Incirlik unless the US extradited Fethullah Gulen, the exiled Muslim preacher Ankara blames for an attempted coup in 2016.

Ince went on to lose the election to Erdogan by a large margin, but Incirlik remains a key issue.

Following the coup attempt, the Turkish base commander at Incirlik was arrested on suspicion of complicity in the plot.

And according to Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet, pro-Erdogan lawyers have filed a lawsuit calling for the arrest of US troops at Incirlik on similar suspicions.

Both sides stand to lose if US-Turkey military relations go south, but experts say it would hurt Turkey more.

For instance, the diplomatic crisis with Turkey could jeopardise a $1.5 billion deal that Ankara has made with Pakistan to sell 30 Turkish-made helicopter gunships.

Because the choppers use US parts that require an export license, the sale could ultimately be at risk.

“Turkey is going to be hurt the most because it´s weaker and America is just a big elephant,” Landis said.

In situations like this, it “ultimately hurts the smaller countries a lot more.”

Erdogan warned Washington not to risk relations with Ankara, saying otherwise his country would look for “new friends and allies”. Photo: AFP
ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey’s partnership with the United States may be in jeopardy as ties strain, warning Ankara could start looking for new allies, in an op-ed published in the New York Times on Saturday.

Relations between the two NATO allies have sunk to their lowest point in decades over a number of issues including the detention of US pastor Andrew Brunson on terror-related charges, prompting the Turkish lira to hit record lows against the dollar.

The embattled lira tumbled 16 per cent against the dollar on Friday, with US President Donald Trump saying he had doubled steel and aluminium tariffs on Turkey in comments that contributed to the currency´s further slide.

In the New York Times, Erdogan warned Washington not to risk relations with Ankara, saying otherwise his country would look for “new friends and allies”.

“Unless the United States starts respecting Turkey’s sovereignty and proves that it understands the dangers that our nation faces, our partnership could be in jeopardy,” he wrote.

“Before it is too late, Washington must give up the misguided notion that our relationship can be asymmetrical and come to terms with the fact that Turkey has alternatives,” he said.

“Failure to reverse this trend of unilateralism and disrespect will require us to start looking for new friends and allies.”

In a tweet, Trump announced the doubling of the tariffs — in new punitive actions against Turkey, saying: “Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!”

The White House said the new sanctions would take effect from August 13.

Erdogan downplayed the currency crisis in a speech on Friday, advising Turks not to be worried over exchange rate fluctuations.

He also said Turkey had alternatives “from Iran, to Russia, to China and some European countries”.

Iran slams US ‘bullying’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif waded into the mounting row between Turkey and the United States, accusing Washington of an “addiction to sanctions and bullying”.

Trump’s “jubilation in inflicting economic hardship on its NATO ally Turkey is shameful,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.

“The US has to rehabilitate its addiction to sanctions (and) bullying or entire world will unite — beyond verbal condemnations — to force it to. We´ve stood with neighbors before, and will again now,” he warned.

Iran has also suffered from a major tumbling of its currency this year partly over reimposition of US sanctions after Trump abandoned a 2015 nuclear deal.

Erdogan Friday held telephone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, discussing economic and trade issues as well as the Syria crisis.

The Turkish foreign ministry hit back at Trump’s comments, saying that the “only result will be harming our relationship” and vowing unspecified retaliation.

Turkish media covered the latest tensions between Ankara and Washington, with pro-government daily Sabah saying on its front page: “the currency attack” was no different from the attempted July 2016 coup.

The arrest of US pastor Brunson since October 2016 has soured already deeply delicate relations with Washington.

In the New York Times article, Erdogan said: “Attempting to force my government to intervene in the judicial process is not in line with our Constitution or our shared democratic values.”

Trump has described Brunson’s detention as a “total disgrace” and urged Erdogan to free him “immediately”.