Turkey deploys reinforcements along Syrian border

Ankara, 20 September 2017 (MIA) - Turkey has deployed fully equipped commando units as part of military reinforcements along its southern border with Syria, the Anadolu Agency cites a military source.
Turkish military vehicles with fully equipped commandos from multiple divisions traveled to the Syrian border on Wednesday, near southern Hatay’s Reyhanli district, said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media.
The source said the new deployment was part of reinforcements for troops already stationed there.
Turkey transferred 30 wagons with military vehicles to its Ahmet Tor Barracks in Hatay on Tuesday, set to be amassed at the Syrian frontier. lk/18:19
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Dutch government seeks to overturn court ruling on Srebrenica
The Hague, 20 September 2017 (MIA) - The Dutch government has asked the country’s supreme court to overturn a ruling that the Netherlands was partly responsible for the death of 300 Muslim men killed in the 1995 Srebrenica massacres.
The victims were killed after being turned away from a Dutch-run United Nations base where thousands had sought refuge from attacking Bosnian Serb forces at the tail-end of the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
Dutch peacekeepers, out-manned and out-gunned by the Bosnian Serbs, did little more than look on as the men were separated from women and deported to killing sites.
Up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys in total were killed at Srebrenica in the first genocide in Europe since World War Two.
“We do not share the judge’s opinion that Dutch UN peacemakers acted unlawfully, and we do not understand how the court reached that verdict,” Klaas Meijer, Defense Ministry spokesman, told Reuters on Wednesday.
He was referring to an appeals court verdict in June confirming a 2014 ruling that said the Dutch peacekeepers should have known that the Muslim men would be murdered if they were forced to leave the UN base.
The supreme court can only overturn an appeal ruling if it finds that the lower court erred in law or procedure.
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has been convicted of genocide and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment.
His chief military commander, General Ratko Mladic, is currently on trial at the UN Yugoslav tribunal in The Hague. A verdict in his case is expected in November. lk/20:25
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Erdogan: Turkey takes steps to purchase missile defence system
New York, 21 September 2017 (MIA) - The Turkish president justified plans to purchase the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system from Russia as his administration's responsibility to protect his country.
"Given that S-400 systems are deployed in neighboring Syria, I should try to get S-400 and even more," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York.
"These are measures we take to protect ourselves. There are steps that we need to take with regard to ballistic missiles, as well."
Erdogan said he would have a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin next Monday and subsequently have dinner with him Thursday in Turkey. "We will talk about what is happening in Syria," he said.
Turkey has already paid a deposit to Moscow to buy Russian S-400 missile systems.