Russia knows the CIA agents that allegedly recommended that Ukrainian saboteurs kill Russian journalists, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.

"We know by name the curators of the Ukrainian Nazis from Western services, primarily the US CIA, who give such advice as the murder of (Russian) journalists," Putin said, speaking at an expanded meeting of the Prosecutor General’s Office Board in Moscow.

He said the West is using its information space monopoly to fight Russia but with little success and so it started resorting to "open terrorism."

"This morning, the (Russian) Federal Security Service suppressed the activities of a terrorist group that planned to kill a famous Russian TV journalist. Of course, now they will disown this, but the facts, the evidence are irrefutable," he claimed.

In recent decades Russia itself has been accused of killing a score of journalists, along with opposition figures and anyone seen to threaten Putin's rule.

Putin then expressed surprise over a statement by European diplomats calling on Ukraine to win the war with Russia on the battlefield.

"To our surprise, high-ranking diplomatic workers in Europe and the United States are calling on their Ukrainian satellites to use all their capabilities to win on the battlefield. What a strange diplomacy of our partners in the US and in Europe,” he said.

"But as they realize that this is impossible, another task comes to the fore – to split Russian society, to destroy Russia from the inside. But even here there is a hitch – it won’t work.”

Threats said to come from abroad

Putin instructed the Prosecutor General’s Office to fight against “extremism,” "decisively stop any actions aimed at interfering in Russia's internal affairs from outside,” directed at such goals as the destabilization of society, incitement of xenophobia, or militant nationalism.

Putin also called for an immediate response to the spread of “radical ideology” on the Internet, fakes, and provocations of public order and the preparation of illegal actions, which according to him are "often organized from abroad, either the information comes from there, or the money."

"The blatant provocations against our armed forces, including using the resources of foreign media and social networks, also require a thorough investigation," he urged.

With Russia itself facing many accusations of war crimes in Ukraine, Putin also ordered a probe of "mass facts of gross violations of the norms of international law by neo-Nazi formations of Ukraine (and) foreign mercenaries."

"We’re talking about the killing of civilians, the use of people, including children as human shields, and other crimes," he explained.

At least 2,435 civilians have been killed and 2,946 injured in Ukraine since the war began Feb. 24, according to UN estimates, with the true figure believed to be much higher.

More than 5.1 million Ukrainians have fled to other countries, with over 7.7 million more internally displaced, said the UN refugee agency./aa

World’s “oldest” person living in Japan died on Monday at the age of 119.

Kane Tanaka died in Fukuoka, in southwestern Japan, where she lived, Kyodo News reported.

Born on Jan. 2, 1903, Tanaka turned 119 early this year.

She was born a year before when the Russo-Japanese War broke.

Late Tanaka witnessed at least five imperial eras of post-1867 modern Japanese history including Meiji, Taisho, Showa, Heisei and the ongoing Reiwa.

Guinness World Records recognized her as the world's oldest person in March 2019 when she was 116.

According to Japanese records, she turned the oldest person in the country after turning 117 years, 261 days old in September 2020.

While living at a care facility in Fukuoka, Tanaka communicated with staff through her facial expressions and enjoys solving number puzzles, eating chocolate, and drinking soda.

She was the seventh of nine siblings and married at the age of 19. Later, she sent her husband and son to the front in the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.

Before Tanaka, the world's oldest person was Chiyo Miyako, another Japanese woman who died in July 2018 at the age of 117.

According to the Guinness World Records, the all-time record for longest life is held by French woman Jeanne Louise Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122./aa

The PKK terrorist group continues to threaten the security of civilians and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) security forces in northern Iraq since taking root in the region in 1983.

The terrorists' actions have led to the evacuation of hundreds of villages in Irbil, Duhok and Sulaymaniyah, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

Activities like agriculture and farming have become impossible in areas where the terrorists are located as local government services, including road and infrastructure construction, water and electricity are unavailable.

Those hoping to return to their villages face obstacles due to the terrorists. Peshmerga KRG soldiers also sometimes clash with the terrorists, disrupting security and threatening residents as fighting takes place.

Mines laid by the PKK have also caused the deaths of many Peshmerga forces over the years.

The PKK has always caused trouble for the regional government and people in Iraq, where it has been present for nearly 40 years.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) fought together against the PKK in 1993.

In separate instances, the PKK clashed with the KDP in 1996 and the PUK in 2000, with the terror group suffering heavy losses in both confrontations.

While the PKK was headquartered in the cities in the 1990s, after these clashes it retreated to the countryside from where it launched terrorist acts and blocked roads.

According to official data from the KRG government, the PKK had occupied 515 villages on the border of Irbil, Duhok, and Sulaymaniyah in 2015. Of these, 304 were in the Duhok province, while 177 were in Irbil and 34 were in Sulaymaniyah.

After Turkey's successful cross-border operations in recent years, the PKK retreated from the Turkish border into Iraq. It occupied 285 more villages in the last seven years.

In a statement on Feb. 27, 2021, KRG Prime Minister Masoud Barzani stated that the PKK was preventing authorities from rebuilding 800 villages while emphasizing that the terror group's presence will not not be tolerated in the region.

Due to the KRG government's close political, economic and cultural ties with Turkey, the PKK has not hesitated from harming the economic resources of the regional administration, which it accuses of "collaboration."

The terrorist organization has repeatedly attacked the region's oil pipeline to Turkey, the main source of income for the Irbil administration, causing it to explode. The PKK claimed sabotage attacks on the pipeline on July 29, 2015, Oct. 28, 2020, and Jan. 18, 2022.

According to a report by the KRG parliamentary financial committee, the daily costs to the regional government due to the explosion of the pipeline amount to $10 million.

The PKK has also been threatening to wage war against the Peshmerga forces at every opportunity. It ambushed Peshmerga troops in the Amedi district of Duhok on June 5, 2021, killing five soldiers and injuring seven.

Duran Kalkan, one of the terrorist group's so-called senior figures, spoke to media outlets affiliated with the PKK after Turkey launched Operation Claw-Lock, threatening the KDP.

The Turkish Defense Ministry announced it launched Operation Claw-Lock on Monday after reports that the PKK terrorist group was planning to launch a large-scale attack, adding that the preemptive operation is in line with the United Nations Charter's principle of self-defense.

In 2020, Turkey launched operations Claw-Tiger and Claw-Eagle in the border regions of northern Iraq to ensure the safety of the Turkish people and frontiers.

With most of the PKK terrorist group's presence eliminated in Turkish territories, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have stepped up their counterterrorism efforts, launching the latest military campaign in northern Iraq titled "Operation Claw-Lock" to bring an end to a longstanding issue.

Senior Turkish authorities have repeatedly underlined that the operation – like previous military operations in northern Syria and Iraq where the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the YPG, are present – is founded on a legal basis arising from international law, as Article 51 of the U.N. Charter gives the inherent right to use self-defense should they face armed attacks.

While Article 51 itself paves the way for a military campaign targeting threats in northern Iraq, the bilateral agreements between Ankara and Baghdad also permit the former to take action as the latter had earlier agreed that the PKK brought along critical problems and threats to the security of Turkey.

Turkey has no designs on another country's land, but instead only wants to ensure the security of its borders and the stability of its neighbors, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday.

Erdoğan said that the new counterterrorism operation across the border into northern Iraq, Operation Claw-Lock, aims to "rid Iraqi lands of terrorists and guarantee the security of our borders."

"The Turkish Armed Forces launched this operation to clear the areas occupied in northern Iraq from terrorists," said Erdoğan, adding that the area has been used by PKK terrorists to prepare and organize terror attacks on Turkish soil.

"We are making every effort to contribute to the strengthening of their territorial integrity and political unity so that our neighbors can live in security and peace," said Erdoğan.

The latest operation was launched after Turkish intelligence obtained information suggesting that the PKK, which has sustained heavy blows in the past few years, was preparing retaliatory attacks against Turkey.

Operation Claw-Lock focuses on northern Iraqi regions, particularly the areas of Metina, Zap and Avashin-Basyan. The commando and special force units are supported by the UAVs, attack helicopters and artillery elements.

Northern Iraq is known as the location of many PKK terrorist hideouts and bases from where they carry out attacks in Turkey. The Turkish military regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq. Turkey has long been stressing that it will not tolerate terrorist threats posed against its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously noted that if the expected steps were not taken, it would not shy away from targeting terrorist threats.

Since its foundation in 1984, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people in Turkey, including women, children and infants./aa

Is the growing enmity toward Islam and its followers in Europe just a discourse or is it an act against European values and common human rights?

Islamophobia is a bias, hostility or hatred directed toward Muslims. It encompasses any distinction, exclusion, restriction, discrimination or preference directed toward Muslims with the intent or effect of nullifying the recognition, human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal footing in the political, economic, social, cultural or other spheres of public life. It presents itself throughout Europe through individual attitudes and behaviors, as well as organizational and institutional policies and practices. It involves physical or verbal attacks on property, places of worship and people, particularly those who exhibit a visible representation of their religious identities, such as women wearing the hijab or niqab, as well as verbal or online threats of violence, vilification and abuse.

Across Europe, Islamophobia is manifested through policies or legislation that indirectly target or disproportionately affect Muslims and unduly restrict their freedom of religion, such as prohibitions on the wearing of visible religious and cultural symbols, laws prohibiting facial concealment and prohibitions on the construction of mosques with minarets. It is also evident in ethnic and religious profiling and police abuse, including some provisions of counterterrorism law. The enmity toward Islam has been fostered in recent years by public worry over immigration and the integration of Muslim minorities into Europe's majority cultures. These tensions have been heightened in the aftermath of the 2007 financial crisis and the rise of populist nationalist politicians.

In an era of increasing diversity in Europe, Muslim minorities have been characterized as disaffected and desiring to live apart from the rest of society. Government policies have failed to provide equal rights for all, leaving major segments of Muslim minorities jobless, impoverished and with little civic and political involvement, all of which exacerbate discrimination.

Minorities are frequently used as scapegoats during economic and political crises. Islam and the roughly 20 million Muslims living in the European Union are portrayed by some as intrinsic threats to the European way of life, even in nations where they have resided for generations. The notion of a continuing "Islamization" or "invasion of Europe" has been fueled by the growth of xenophobic, populist parties across Europe. Indeed, Europeans exaggerate the proportion of Muslims in their populations.

Examples to count

France has assumed the rotating EU presidency for the next six months, which French President Emmanuel Macron will undoubtedly exploit to move Europe toward his objective of greater "strategic autonomy" in the globe. Some in Brussels fear that closely contested presidential elections in April may jeopardize France's EU leadership before the conclusion of a critical meeting on the future of Europe. Muslims in France are concerned that Islam has turned into a significant battleground in the country's presidential election campaign, amid outbursts of anti-Muslim sentiment. Significantly, many European Muslims are anxious about France's EU presidency for the fear that France's divisive anti-Muslim political discourse may dangerously infiltrate EU policymaking. There is concern that France may use its EU presidency to advocate for even harder anti-Muslim legislation across Europe.

Belgium banned the slaughter of animals to halal standards. Muslims in Belgium brought an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against the country's prohibition of halal animal slaughter. According to a survey conducted by the Norwegian Center for Holocaust and Minority Studies, up to a third of Norwegians, or more precisely 31%, agree with the statement "Muslims want to take over Europe." The significant majority agreed that Islamic values were incompatible with those of Norwegian society, either entirely or in part. Also, nearly a third expressed a desire to socially distance themselves from Muslims.

Previously, Inger Stjberg, Denmark's former immigration minister, sparked controversy by saying that Danish Muslims should be prohibited from working during Ramadan due to the dangers associated with daytime fasting. Stjberg has since been impeached, and while she may be a political outlier, it is difficult not to see Denmark's hard-line approach to "integration" and refugees, which includes a law authorizing the country to transfer asylum seekers outside the EU while their cases are being processed, as motivated in part by fear of Muslims.

Similarly, with anti-Islam sentiment reaching dangerously high levels in Europe, another incident occurred at the start of 2022, with vandals damaging approximately 30 gravestones in a Muslim cemetery in Germany. This attack is the latest sign of Europe's growing anti-Islam sentiment. According to a report published titled "European Islamophobia Report 2020," the Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany registered 901 Islamophobic crimes in 2020. In the same year, Germany saw 18 anti-Islam demonstrations and 16 organized by Germany's anti-Muslim and xenophobic Pegida movement.

Furthermore, a group of Greek extremists attacked a mosque in Greece. The country's hostile attitude toward its Muslim population is not new. Until recently, Athens was known as the only European capital without a mosque, although the greater Athens area is home to an estimated 300,000 Muslims. In November 2020, Athens witnessed the inauguration of an official mosque for the first time, as years of effort by the Muslim community finally paid off.

Islamophobia, according to former Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg, is a symptom of the disintegration of human values. These values are supposed to be inherent in European societies; indeed, they are the foundations of the EU and the Council of Europe.

Notably, due to a lack of relevant data, the extent and nature of discrimination and Islamophobic incidents against European Muslims remain undocumented and underreported. Similarly, numerous institutions, including the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as the Belgian Collective Against Islamophobia, have acknowledged the rise of this concerning phenomenon and the increasingly aggravated nature of the incidents.

For example, the 2017 EU Minorities and Discrimination Survey discovered that on average, one in every three Muslim respondents faced discrimination and prejudice in the preceding 12 months, and 27% were victims of racist crime. Additionally, research indicates that Islamophobia can have a disproportionate impact on women, for example, on the job market, as highlighted in recent research by the European Network Against Racism.

Muslims in Europe desire to interact with other Europeans and participate in society on an equal footing but are frequently subjected to various forms of prejudice, discrimination and violence, which exacerbate their social exclusion. European governments should refrain from discriminating against Muslims through legislation or policy and instead make religion or belief a prohibited ground of discrimination in all spheres. It is time for Muslims to be recognized as equal and dignified members of European societies./DS

An investigation into a network of suspects, from a prosecutor to businesspeople, accused of helping Iranian intelligence in Turkey concluded with an indictment. The indictment asks for prison terms for 16 suspects who allegedly helped smuggle Iranian dissidents to Iran as they fled.

The suspects were detained in February after the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) discovered the inner workings of the network. Among them were I.S., a businessperson owning a defense company bearing his name, and D.Y., a prosecutor who was suspended from his job.

The Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul has accused the suspects on a series of charges, from running and being members of a criminal organization to obtaining confidential information for the purpose of political or military espionage and limiting the freedom of an individual by force, threat and deception (a charge associated with abductions).

Prosecutors are asking for prison terms up to 42 years for D.Y. and prison terms up to 52 years and six months for I.S., with lesser prison terms sought for the others. A high criminal court accepted the indictment, while a hearing date is not scheduled yet.

The indictment names former Col. Mashali Firouze, smuggled by the Iranian operatives to Iran as one of the victims of the network, while his wife Arezou Saeidvand and son Arian Aminmavaneh are plaintiffs. Other people targeted by the network are former naval officer Mohammed Rezaei and economist Shahnam Golshani. The suspects’ attempt to help Iranian operatives smuggle Rezaei and Golshani had failed. Syed Mahdi Hosseini, Ali Ghahramanihajiabad and Shahab Hosseini are named in the indictment as suspects with outstanding arrest warrants for their involvement in abduction attempts as top names of Iranian intelligence. They are accused of assigning the job to an operative identified as Morteza Soltan Sanjari.

Prosecutors say Sanjari was tasked with finding “local partners” and “criminal groups” that might help them in smuggling dissidents out of Turkey. In his search, he met I.S. I.S. introduced himself both as a businessperson and diplomat and was code-named “Mikail-Angel.” He is accused of running a criminal gang, which included his girlfriend, his brothers and cousins.

D.Y., a prosecutor based in Istanbul, is accused of cooperating with I.S. and Iranian intelligence operatives between 2019 and 2022. He helped them to overcome “legal and bureaucratic obstacles,” prosecutors say. In one case, he allegedly gave his own car bearing the logo of the Justice Ministry to help them smuggle the dissidents.

The former prosecutor, whose name has come up in another investigation involving the shooting of a lawyer in Istanbul in January, is also accused of providing further assistance for reconnaissance of dissidents’ location and potential abduction with the aid of two former police officers who he was acquainted with.

In addition, he illegally supplied personal information about Iranian dissidents who are in temporary protection status as refugees to Iranian operatives, using his exclusive access to a judiciary database, prosecutors say. In return, he was paid $50,000, according to evidence in the indictment, which also says the prosecutor hosted Syed Mahdi Hosseini in his office once.

According to the indictment, Iranian operatives succeeded in abducting Mashali Firouze and his family from the western Turkish province of Denizli in February 2019. The next kidnapping targeted Mohammed Rezaei, who lived in the province of Yalova, but this attempt in September 2019 failed. Iranian operatives also paid an additional $100,000 to the prosecutor and I.S. for assistance in the abduction of Shahnam Golshani, but this attempt also failed, according to prosecutors who say the car used in abduction attempt belonged to D.Y.

Iranian intelligence already faces a string of accusations by Turkish authorities over several plots to abduct dissidents who took shelter in Turkey, as well as plans to kill an Israeli-Turkish businessperson.

The Turkish diplomats killed in attacks by Armenian terrorists during the 1970s and 1980s were commemorated in Austria's capital Vienna.

The Martyred Diplomats Exhibition, devoted to the memory of the Turkish diplomats, is organized in Vienna by Turkey's Directorate of Communications.

A terror campaign against Turkish diplomats is the continuation of the massacres initiated by the Armenian Dashnak gangs against the Ottoman Empire's Muslim population in the early 20th century, Turkey's Communication Director Fahrettin Altun said in a video message.

Turkey has adopted a holistic approach to the 1915 events, instead of relying on assumptions and distorting the facts, he added.

Altun stressed that the country is keen to build a common future with its Armenian citizens despite certain circles' efforts to undermine it.

"We will continue to see the history as a source of richness in order to establish common relations, and to resist forces that would exploit and use it as a tool for hate speech," he added.

Armenian wave of terror against Turkish diplomats

According to data compiled by Anadolu Agency (AA), a total of 77 people – 58 of them Turkish citizens, including 31 diplomats and members of their families – were killed in attacks from 1973 to 1986 carried out by ASALA and ARA terrorist groups.

The deadly campaign began in 1973 with the assassination of Turkey's Consul General in Los Angeles Mehmet Baydar and diplomat Bahadir Demir by a terrorist named Gourgen Yanikian.

ASALA was the first Armenian terrorist group to wage war against Turkey. It not only targeted Turkey, but also other countries, and it became notorious for a 1975 bomb attack on the World Council of Churches' Beirut office.

The JCAG initially gained notoriety after claiming responsibility, with ASALA, for the Oct. 22, 1975 assassination of Danis Tunaligil, Turkey's ambassador in Vienna.

The ARA is believed to be a continuation of the JCAG under a different name.

1915 events

The exhibition also focuses on Turkey's efforts to reveal the truth and facts about the 1915 events.

Turkey's position on the 1915 events remains that the death of Armenians in eastern Anatolia took place when some sided with invading Russians and revolted against Ottoman forces.

Turkey objects to presenting the 1915 events as "genocide," describing them as a tragedy in which both Turks and Armenians suffered casualties.

Ankara has repeatedly proposed the creation of a joint commission of historians from Turkey and Armenia under the supervision of international experts to examine the issue./aa

Global military expenditure reached an all-time high of over $2 trillion in 2021, according to an international survey released Monday.

Total military spending rose 0.7% from the previous year and reached $2.113 trillion, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.

It said the global military burden, or world military expenditure as a share of world gross domestic product (GDP), fell by 0.1 percentage point from 2.3% in 2020 to 2.2% in 2021.

The five largest spenders in 2021 were the US, China, India, the UK and Russia, together accounting for 62% of expenditure, according to SIPRI.

Alexandra Marksteiner, a researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program, pointed out that the US is focusing more on next-generation technologies,

"The US government has repeatedly stressed the need to preserve the US military’s technological edge over strategic competitors," she noted.

Russia meanwhile increased its military expenditure by 2.9% in 2021 to $65.9 billion, at a time when it was building up its forces along the Ukrainian border, it said, adding this was the third consecutive year of growth and Russia’s military spending reached 4.1% of GDP in 2021.

"Russian military expenditure had been in decline between 2016 and 2019 as a result of low energy prices combined with sanctions in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014,” said Lucie Beraud-Sudreau, director of SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program.

Ukraine’s military spending has also risen by 72% since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, as the country has strengthened its defenses against Russia./aa

The PKK terrorist organization destroys the homes of the poor, collects taxes and engages in extortion in the region, a top official from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said Sunday.

The PKK has created problems with Iraq in Makhmour, Sinjar, the vicinity of Kirkuk and in the Khanaqin region, Safeen Dizayee, the head of the KRG Department of Foreign Relations, told the Erbil-based Kurdistan TV channel.

The KRG is an elected government and is responsible for these regions, Dizayee said, adding the PKK considers itself “an alternative.”

He said the PKK changes the names of some regions such as Qandil and criticized how the terrorist group claims the right to impose its will and collect taxes from the people.

"Who gave the right to change the names of these regions, to impose their own power, and to collect taxes and tributes from the people?" he added.

In a statement on Feb. 27, 2021, KRG Prime Minister Masoud Barzani emphasized that the authorities could not rebuild 800 villages because of the PKK, adding they would not tolerate the terror group's presence in the region.

PKK terrorists often hide out in northern Iraq across Turkiye's southern border to plan terrorist attacks in Turkiye.

Turkiye's National Defense Ministry said it launched Operation Claw-Lock earlier this month after reports that the terrorist PKK was planning to launch a large-scale attack, adding the pre-emptive operation is in line with the UN Charter's principle of self-defense.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US and the European Union -- has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants./aa