Turkey

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused Germany of "fascist actions" reminiscent of "Nazi practices" in a growing diplomatic rift over the cancellation of political rallies aimed at propping support for him among the 1.5 million Turks living in Germany. Erdogan's latest outburst on Sunday took place days after German authorities withdrew permission for two rallies by Turkish citizens in German cities, at which Turkish ministers were to urge a "Yes" vote in a referendum next month on granting Erdogan sweeping new presidential, almost dictatorial according to some, powers.

A Syrian Mig-21 fighter jet has reportedly crashed in Turkey's southern Hatay province after being shot down by the Turkey-backed Syrian rebel group Ahrar al-Sham, which is part of the Euphrates Shield operation, according to reports by Turkey's Anadolu news agency and Daily Sabah.

#Flash: Ahrar al-Sham claims it downed a Syrian MIG/fighter jet by the Turkish border. #Unconfirmed reports, pictures emerged pic.twitter.com/fOD6kvqYIA

— Washington Hatt? (@WasHatti) March 4, 2017

Six Russian diplomats have died in the last 60 days. As Axios notes, all but one died on foreign soil. Some were shot, while other causes of death are unknown. Note that a few deaths have been labeled "heart attacks" or "brief illnesses."

1. You probably remember Russia's Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov — he was assassinated by a police officer at a photo exhibit in Ankara on December 19.

 

The mayor of Ankara warned on Tuesday that hostile outside forces were planning to orchestrate a manmade earthquake in Turkey, capable of wreaking huge damage across the country.  Melih Gokcek, who has been mayor since 1994, made the claims via Twitter on Tuesday, hinting that sophisticated weather warfare technology would be used to trigger a manmade earthquake which would damage Turkey’s economy.

Submitted by Judith Bergmann via The Gatestone Institute,