Alwaght- The unpleasant developments and occurrences have made up the main features of the 2015, though, besides, favorable events have rarely taken place in the same year. Iran’s nuclear deal, resumption of the US-Cuba diplomatic ties, Palestine’s third Intifada, ISIS crisis, Syria crisis, Paris terror attacks, Saudi-led military assault of Yemen, Europe’s refugee crisis, Hajj’s Mina disaster, tensions between Russia and Turkey, downing of Russian passenger jet over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, etc., make up the array of most significant events of 2015 across the globe, which would be given an overview successively.
Syrian crisis
Starting from January 16, 2011, the Syrian crisis has so far seen a lot of ups and downs. Taking its cue from the Arab Wes Asia's developments and spark of a series of domino uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen, the Syrian conflict has rolled on to emerge gradually as one of the most complicated West Asia region’s crises. The Syrian crisis and war have left over 250,000 people dead and about 11,000,000 people displaced, as they destroyed the Syrian social and economic infrastructures.
ISIS problem
It has been over three years that ISIS terror group has launched its criminal activities in Syria and it has expanded them to include Iraq. In 2015 the terror group’s members have outstretched their attacks to Europe, North African and even the US. All in all, concerning the terrorist group ISIS' activities, the following events in 2015 could be pointed to: Hacking the US Central Command’s Twitter account, heinously executing the Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh who was burned alive, Boko Haram's swearing allegiance to ISIS, ISIS appearing in Afghanistan, capturing Iraq’s Ramadi, attacking the foreign tourists in Tunisia, ISIS' retreat from some parts of Syria’s Raqqa, Iraq’s Tikrit and Mosul. ISIS is currently having in its hold about 78,000 square kilometers of both the Iraqi and Syrian territories.
Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack
This Paris terror attack happened just a week after the beginning of 2015, on January 7. The attack was carried out by two men in black who identified themselves as belonging to the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. They attacked the offices of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris, killing 12 people, including the weekly’s editor-in-chief. ISIS terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Military invasion of Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition
On March 26, 2015, Saudi Arabia carried out its airstrikes against Yemen’s Ansarullah movement and pro-Ali Abdullah Saleh fighters, claiming that the attacks aimed at supporting Yemen’s President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi. In this military campaign which in the first month was dubbed "Operation Decisive Storm" and later on "Operation Renewal of Hope", Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE and Bahrain have taken part as Saudi allies, and countries like Sudan, Morocco, Egypt and Jordan have contributed to Riyadh in delivery of the arms.
Europe Refugee Crisis
The phrase "refugee crisis" has become common in April 2015 after five boats sailing to Europe with 2,000 refugees on board sunk in the Mediterranean Sea, leaving 1,200 people dead. The refugee crisis appeared after there was a dramatic rise in the number of the refugees and economic immigrants, who came to the Europe Union (EU) through the Mediterranean Sea and the south-eastern Europe countries and sought asylum, from regions like the Middle East [Syria, Iraq and Palestine], Africa [Eritrea, Mali, Gambia, and Somalia], Balkans [Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia] and West Asia [Afghanistan, Pakistan a Bangladesh]. According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), up to the end of August 2015, the refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Eretria have accounted for %70 of the total number of refugees. The EU is difficultly dealing with the issue.
Cuba and the US diplomatic rapprochement
Resumption of the diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba has been seen as one of the important political events of the 2015. Cuba and the United States have resumed diplomatic ties after a 54-year break, re-opening their embassies in each others capitals. Cuba diplomatic headquarter in Washington and the US interests section in Havana have officially commenced their activity on July 1, 2015, as the two countries’ embassies, and therefore the two enemies of the Cold War era have opened a new chapter of bilateral relations.
Iran nuclear deal with P5+1
The Vienna comprehensive and final agreement which is formally known as Join Comprehensive Plan of Action (JOCPA) came after a comprehensive deal was reached over Iran’s nuclear program and following the Lausanne nuclear agreement. It was signed on Tuesday, July 14, 2015 in Austria between Iran and the EU and P5+1 which consisted of the US, France Britain, Russia, China and Germany. According to the JOCPA, Iran would limit its nuclear activities in exchange for lifting all of the sanctions. Iran’s nuclear deal with P5+1 which was obtained after a long time of massive negotiations was the most important event of 2015, as it is seen as a huge and remarkable achievement.
Mina disaster
The disaster took place on September 24, 2015, during the Eid al-Adha’s ritual Rami aj-Jamarat in Street 204 which is intersected by Street 223 in Mecca’s Mina region. The incident was the deadliest one in the history of Hajj pilgrimage. Two days after the event, the Saudi Officials have announced that 769 people had died during the incident but the Iranian Hajj officials put the number of fatalities at 4700. The number of the Iranian victims of the disaster was announced to be 465 pilgrims. Following the incident Iran declared three-day national mourning. The sudden passage of large convoy of Mohammad bin Salman, the Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince, from one of the ways in which the pilgrims were moving in Mina region, which caused stampede, was said to be the main reason for the Mina disaster.
Russia military deployment to Syria
The Russian Federation Council, as the country’s top parliament, on September 30, 2015, in a 15-miniute session has unanimously approved the government’s request to use the country’s armed forces for cross-border military operation. Just hours following the Russian Federation Council’s consent, the Russian fighter jets have started bombing the anti-Assad forces’ positions in the Syrian provinces of Hama, Homs and Aleppo. The process of deployment of the Russian forces and equipment had started before the consent’s date, from beginning of September, and even before the official launching of the Russian military operation there were extensive news circulating about build-up of the Russian forces in Syria and the presence of Russian military experts beside the Syrian commanders in the battlefields.
Palestine’s third Intifada
The occupied Palestinian territories have seen a new wave of the Palestinians’ protests since the start of October 2015. The fresh protests, known as third Intifada, are coming against the Israeli regime’s aggressive policies in al-Quds and against the plot for the spatio-temporal division of al-Aqsa Mosque. Almost 100 days has passed from the start of Palestinians’ third Intifada and up to now about 138 Palestinians have been killed. From the Israeli side also over 25 people were killed. The major outcome of the third Intifada was appearance of a balance of terror between the two sides. As the Palestinians were living the persistent intimidation from unexpected reaction by the Israeli military or specifically settlers, during the intifada months the Israeli settlers of the occupied Palestine have been in a real panic of the Palestinians’ suicidal attacks.
Downing of the Russian passenger jet over Egypt’s Sinai desert
A Russian Airbus passenger jet crashed in Egypt’s Sinai desert on October 31, 2015. Having 217 passengers on board, including 17 children and 7 flight crew members, the Metrojet flight 9268 from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg has disappeared from radar only 23 minutes after taking off. All of the 224 crew members and passengers were killed in the crash. The Russian officials in November 2015 have called the crash as a terrorist act, adding that a bomb explosion had caused the jet’s downing. Wilayat Sinai group, Egyptian branch of terror group ISIS, has claimed responsibility for downing the Russian passenger jet, but Egypt’s fact-finding committee has said that it had found no sign as an evidence of terror act in the Russian plane crash.
Turkey’s Justice and Development Party wins parliamentary elections
The early parliamentary elections were held in Turkey on November 1, 2015 with a direct order from the country’s president. The justice and Development Party, as during the past 12 years, has managed to win the majority of the parliament’s seats. The election results were a huge, and to an extent, surprise success for the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party who in the earlier election had obtained only %40 of the votes. This dramatic shift in the vote winning has pushed many analysts on the social networks to assess Erdogan’s move to prevent formation of a coalition government and holding the snap elections as astute acts.
Paris terror attacks
On November 13, 2015, a series of concerted terrorist attacks, which included mass shootings and suicide bombings at the first, tenth and eleventh districts of Paris, have left 130 people killed and 368 others injured. The attacks took place near Stade de France stadium in Paris’ Saint-Denis suburb. During the incident, at least three separate blasts and six shootings were reported to have happened across Paris. A hostage-taking also took place in Bataclan theatre and between 60 and 100 people were taken hostages. The attacks totally claimed 130 lives, 87 of them from the Bataclan theatre viewers. Over 368 people have become wounded as a result of the attacks, 99 of them were reported to be in critical conditions. In a TV statement, the French President François Hollande has declared a state of emergency in the country, as he announced that all of France’s borders would be temporarily closed. On November 14, the terror group ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Turkey downs Russian warplane, tensions ensue
On November 24, two Turkish F-16s have detected and shot down a Russian SU-24 bomber over the Syrian air space. Earlier, the Russian defense minister has suggested that the jet could have been targeted from the ground. From the two pilots, one was killed and the other one survived. Ankara has claimed that the bomber had violated the Turkish air space, so it did not apologize to Moscow. Denying the Turkish claims, the Russian president said that his warplane was one kilometers away from Turkish border when it was downed, and that it crashed four kilometers deep into the Syrian territories. Turkey’s downing of jet was “a stab in the back”, Putin said, reacting to shooting down of Russia’s SU-24.
Massacring the Nigerian Shiite Muslims
Nigeria’s army forces attacked, on December 13, the house of Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaki, the head of Nigeria’s Islamic Movement in Zaria city, detaining him and his wife. The army has massacred hundreds of the Muslims who intended to protect sheikh Zakzaki. Also, the attack led to destruction of Nigeria’s Hussainia Baghiatallah. “The killing of hundreds of Shiite Muslim members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), by Nigerian army soldiers from December 12 to 14, 2015, appears to have been wholly unjustified”, maintained the Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report.
Syrian crisis
Starting from January 16, 2011, the Syrian crisis has so far seen a lot of ups and downs. Taking its cue from the Arab Wes Asia's developments and spark of a series of domino uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and Yemen, the Syrian conflict has rolled on to emerge gradually as one of the most complicated West Asia region’s crises. The Syrian crisis and war have left over 250,000 people dead and about 11,000,000 people displaced, as they destroyed the Syrian social and economic infrastructures.
ISIS problem
It has been over three years that ISIS terror group has launched its criminal activities in Syria and it has expanded them to include Iraq. In 2015 the terror group’s members have outstretched their attacks to Europe, North African and even the US. All in all, concerning the terrorist group ISIS' activities, the following events in 2015 could be pointed to: Hacking the US Central Command’s Twitter account, heinously executing the Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh who was burned alive, Boko Haram's swearing allegiance to ISIS, ISIS appearing in Afghanistan, capturing Iraq’s Ramadi, attacking the foreign tourists in Tunisia, ISIS' retreat from some parts of Syria’s Raqqa, Iraq’s Tikrit and Mosul. ISIS is currently having in its hold about 78,000 square kilometers of both the Iraqi and Syrian territories.
Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack
This Paris terror attack happened just a week after the beginning of 2015, on January 7. The attack was carried out by two men in black who identified themselves as belonging to the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. They attacked the offices of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris, killing 12 people, including the weekly’s editor-in-chief. ISIS terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Military invasion of Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition
On March 26, 2015, Saudi Arabia carried out its airstrikes against Yemen’s Ansarullah movement and pro-Ali Abdullah Saleh fighters, claiming that the attacks aimed at supporting Yemen’s President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi. In this military campaign which in the first month was dubbed "Operation Decisive Storm" and later on "Operation Renewal of Hope", Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE and Bahrain have taken part as Saudi allies, and countries like Sudan, Morocco, Egypt and Jordan have contributed to Riyadh in delivery of the arms.
Europe Refugee Crisis
The phrase "refugee crisis" has become common in April 2015 after five boats sailing to Europe with 2,000 refugees on board sunk in the Mediterranean Sea, leaving 1,200 people dead. The refugee crisis appeared after there was a dramatic rise in the number of the refugees and economic immigrants, who came to the Europe Union (EU) through the Mediterranean Sea and the south-eastern Europe countries and sought asylum, from regions like the Middle East [Syria, Iraq and Palestine], Africa [Eritrea, Mali, Gambia, and Somalia], Balkans [Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia] and West Asia [Afghanistan, Pakistan a Bangladesh]. According to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), up to the end of August 2015, the refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Eretria have accounted for %70 of the total number of refugees. The EU is difficultly dealing with the issue.
Cuba and the US diplomatic rapprochement
Resumption of the diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba has been seen as one of the important political events of the 2015. Cuba and the United States have resumed diplomatic ties after a 54-year break, re-opening their embassies in each others capitals. Cuba diplomatic headquarter in Washington and the US interests section in Havana have officially commenced their activity on July 1, 2015, as the two countries’ embassies, and therefore the two enemies of the Cold War era have opened a new chapter of bilateral relations.
Iran nuclear deal with P5+1
The Vienna comprehensive and final agreement which is formally known as Join Comprehensive Plan of Action (JOCPA) came after a comprehensive deal was reached over Iran’s nuclear program and following the Lausanne nuclear agreement. It was signed on Tuesday, July 14, 2015 in Austria between Iran and the EU and P5+1 which consisted of the US, France Britain, Russia, China and Germany. According to the JOCPA, Iran would limit its nuclear activities in exchange for lifting all of the sanctions. Iran’s nuclear deal with P5+1 which was obtained after a long time of massive negotiations was the most important event of 2015, as it is seen as a huge and remarkable achievement.
Mina disaster
The disaster took place on September 24, 2015, during the Eid al-Adha’s ritual Rami aj-Jamarat in Street 204 which is intersected by Street 223 in Mecca’s Mina region. The incident was the deadliest one in the history of Hajj pilgrimage. Two days after the event, the Saudi Officials have announced that 769 people had died during the incident but the Iranian Hajj officials put the number of fatalities at 4700. The number of the Iranian victims of the disaster was announced to be 465 pilgrims. Following the incident Iran declared three-day national mourning. The sudden passage of large convoy of Mohammad bin Salman, the Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince, from one of the ways in which the pilgrims were moving in Mina region, which caused stampede, was said to be the main reason for the Mina disaster.
Russia military deployment to Syria
The Russian Federation Council, as the country’s top parliament, on September 30, 2015, in a 15-miniute session has unanimously approved the government’s request to use the country’s armed forces for cross-border military operation. Just hours following the Russian Federation Council’s consent, the Russian fighter jets have started bombing the anti-Assad forces’ positions in the Syrian provinces of Hama, Homs and Aleppo. The process of deployment of the Russian forces and equipment had started before the consent’s date, from beginning of September, and even before the official launching of the Russian military operation there were extensive news circulating about build-up of the Russian forces in Syria and the presence of Russian military experts beside the Syrian commanders in the battlefields.
Palestine’s third Intifada
The occupied Palestinian territories have seen a new wave of the Palestinians’ protests since the start of October 2015. The fresh protests, known as third Intifada, are coming against the Israeli regime’s aggressive policies in al-Quds and against the plot for the spatio-temporal division of al-Aqsa Mosque. Almost 100 days has passed from the start of Palestinians’ third Intifada and up to now about 138 Palestinians have been killed. From the Israeli side also over 25 people were killed. The major outcome of the third Intifada was appearance of a balance of terror between the two sides. As the Palestinians were living the persistent intimidation from unexpected reaction by the Israeli military or specifically settlers, during the intifada months the Israeli settlers of the occupied Palestine have been in a real panic of the Palestinians’ suicidal attacks.
Downing of the Russian passenger jet over Egypt’s Sinai desert
A Russian Airbus passenger jet crashed in Egypt’s Sinai desert on October 31, 2015. Having 217 passengers on board, including 17 children and 7 flight crew members, the Metrojet flight 9268 from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg has disappeared from radar only 23 minutes after taking off. All of the 224 crew members and passengers were killed in the crash. The Russian officials in November 2015 have called the crash as a terrorist act, adding that a bomb explosion had caused the jet’s downing. Wilayat Sinai group, Egyptian branch of terror group ISIS, has claimed responsibility for downing the Russian passenger jet, but Egypt’s fact-finding committee has said that it had found no sign as an evidence of terror act in the Russian plane crash.
Turkey’s Justice and Development Party wins parliamentary elections
The early parliamentary elections were held in Turkey on November 1, 2015 with a direct order from the country’s president. The justice and Development Party, as during the past 12 years, has managed to win the majority of the parliament’s seats. The election results were a huge, and to an extent, surprise success for the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party who in the earlier election had obtained only %40 of the votes. This dramatic shift in the vote winning has pushed many analysts on the social networks to assess Erdogan’s move to prevent formation of a coalition government and holding the snap elections as astute acts.
Paris terror attacks
On November 13, 2015, a series of concerted terrorist attacks, which included mass shootings and suicide bombings at the first, tenth and eleventh districts of Paris, have left 130 people killed and 368 others injured. The attacks took place near Stade de France stadium in Paris’ Saint-Denis suburb. During the incident, at least three separate blasts and six shootings were reported to have happened across Paris. A hostage-taking also took place in Bataclan theatre and between 60 and 100 people were taken hostages. The attacks totally claimed 130 lives, 87 of them from the Bataclan theatre viewers. Over 368 people have become wounded as a result of the attacks, 99 of them were reported to be in critical conditions. In a TV statement, the French President François Hollande has declared a state of emergency in the country, as he announced that all of France’s borders would be temporarily closed. On November 14, the terror group ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Turkey downs Russian warplane, tensions ensue
On November 24, two Turkish F-16s have detected and shot down a Russian SU-24 bomber over the Syrian air space. Earlier, the Russian defense minister has suggested that the jet could have been targeted from the ground. From the two pilots, one was killed and the other one survived. Ankara has claimed that the bomber had violated the Turkish air space, so it did not apologize to Moscow. Denying the Turkish claims, the Russian president said that his warplane was one kilometers away from Turkish border when it was downed, and that it crashed four kilometers deep into the Syrian territories. Turkey’s downing of jet was “a stab in the back”, Putin said, reacting to shooting down of Russia’s SU-24.
Massacring the Nigerian Shiite Muslims
Nigeria’s army forces attacked, on December 13, the house of Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaki, the head of Nigeria’s Islamic Movement in Zaria city, detaining him and his wife. The army has massacred hundreds of the Muslims who intended to protect sheikh Zakzaki. Also, the attack led to destruction of Nigeria’s Hussainia Baghiatallah. “The killing of hundreds of Shiite Muslim members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), by Nigerian army soldiers from December 12 to 14, 2015, appears to have been wholly unjustified”, maintained the Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report.
