both seeking a long term political solution under the aegis of the united nations let's go to andrew symonds now who is live for us in ankara i guess the interesting thing about these two leaders meeting two countries with key interests in syria two of the main players and of course a since the shooting of a russian plane over syria a while ago two countries that ever had a very tense relationship. most certainly barbara notes that the president made reference at least wants to the close relationship he has with vladimir putin it's taken a long while to get that sorted out since november twenty fifth teen when. the turkish did actually down a russian warplane which was they claimed are in their territory now what we heard from president one wasn't really anything new he referred to. continued. cooperation on economic matters on energy on the oil pipeline project with russia for oil and gas also a building program for nuclear power stations of the russians are engaged in no reference to the s three s four hundred should i say missile purchase which is upset nato to a great degree because that

andrew symonds al-jazeera. there's been a suicide attack on a foreign military convoy in afghanistan's capital kabul security sources told i was there or that three people have been killed the interior ministry says the attacker was targeting danish troops the taliban has claimed responsibility. syria's foreign minister says that his government is close to a military victory after more than six years of war. made the remarks during a speech at the un general assembly in new york multiple investigations have found that syrian government forces have targeted civilians and used banned chemical weapons during the conflict denied the allegations and criticized the u.s. led coalition. and. the so-called international coalition led by the u.s. which was created three years ago to allegedly fight terrorist groups such as eisel has killed many more innocent syrians mostly women and children the terrorists and has destroyed vital infrastructure that syrians have worked for years to build it has also used phosphorous bomb

step towards independence let's hear live now from two of our other correspondents in the region andrew symonds is in hubble and turkey on the border with iraq but first let's speak to charles stratford's who's at the the baghdad displacement camp in northern iraq even there then charles where people displaced from from their actual homes they're voting in this referendum. that's right yes this is one of three camps in this particular area which is in an area which is called disputed it's particularly controversial because there is no agreement about really who controls this area certainly in the future this is an area where we saw i saw come in were pushed back by peshmerga forces by the coalition and now in this area it is the peshmerga that are in control here and we understand according to the election commission that there are around two million people in these disputed. areas that are going to be potentially voting in this referendum now can say one of three camps in this area around three thousand people here who are going to be voting we've been speaking to some of them and it's what's

andrew symonds al jazeera the other key. france says it's willing to work with other nations on ways to stop iran's missile launches which it's calling destabilizing it comes up to iranian state media released footage of what they say was the successful test of a new ballistic missile just hours after it was unveiled at a military parade in tehran the device has a range of two thousand kilometers and can carry multiple warheads it follows threats from donald trump that washington may withdraw from the two thousand and fifteen nuclear deal. or u.s. backed forces of seize syria's largest natural gas field from i still in their eyes or province the conoco gas field is the first energy facility of its kind to be taken by the syrian democratic forces which is a rebel coalition of arab and kurdish fighters i still is now battling to separate offensives from s.d.s. fighters on the one hand syrian government forces as well in other developments syria's foreign minister walid moallem told the un general assembly he hopes the deescala

andrew symonds for the moment in ankara andrew thank you. cross live now to charles stratford who is in the kurdish regional capital area be manned we're crossing live to you charles because of course the president directed by paradine also mentioned that referendum that was held just just on that monday where ninety two percent of the people they voted to see from iraq what did the president say about. i'm very sorry but i didn't actually hear that press conference with respect to what mr no one was saying but we do know how turkey stands with respect to this crisis cities very angered by this referendum. it sees it as being a fundamentally potentially an existential threat we know that the turks are very concerned about this referendum sort of inspiring what's the turkish government sees as being separatist movements kurdish separatist movements in turkey mr erdogan has threatened to turn off the oil taps. oil a very vital for the k r g exporting around six hundred thousand barrels a day on pipelines across mr erdogan has threatened to tur

purchase a russian made missile defense system let's take you to encourage speech of course on there andrew symonds andrew relations between russia and turkey have been in the doldrums for some time things have certainly changed now why. well regime. will certainly was very distant from president putin for a while since that downing of the russian warplane back in november twenty fifth things going from bad to worse with relations but now it's more than a reproach more going on there are common interests between the two powers perhaps more in favor of russia than turkey may be but the bottom line is that the syrian conflict has offers turkey some opportunities to do deals with russia there's also there's already involvement in the start of peace process which includes the the main sponsors russia turkey and iran that is going forward in a big way but there is a move away from europe a move away from the united states extra tension going on between turkey and nato the s four hundred missile system you mentioned there a deal done on that with russia in the past month that actually is not compatible w

we have two live reports in the aftermath of that referendum andrew symonds is in a board turkey on the iraqi border we began though with hoda abdel-hamid in her appeal the capital of iraq's kurdish region so what now it seems as if this played out basically the way most people thought there would be the vote that it would likely pass and that it would likely be rejected so what now. let me give immediate future we're going to hear statements coming out from baghdad and from the regional government red. box and i think also there's a certain reality that sets and other positions specially of real and baghdad a very clear president most with. the kurds being part of iraq a failed partnership saying that this is the time is over for that prime minister. saying that he will not allow the disintegration of iraq. now but there is a reality and that reality is that there are nearly two million displaced iraqis who are into kurdish region. in the coming days you will see more people coming. on the war on is the prime concern of washington and the international community and they are going to m

talking about the iraqi kurdish regions line the border with turkey takes on a greater importance andrew symonds reports with international flights now banned from the regional aspace this is the only way in to kurdish iraq how poor border gates there's a very very long queue of trucks here and we have passenger cars on the other side and there were seventy flights a week going into kurdish iraq from turkey none of them now taking off from the six airports involved here in turkey this route is the old silk road it's probably important for turkish trade not only that it's a lifeline for the kurds food resources all sorts of building materials going in to kurdistan from here it's very important indeed cut off it will have a massive effect on the iraqi kurds and also damage the turkish economy it would seem this would probably be the last card to be played in this crisis if turkey really goes through with it and certainly considering it along with possibly cutting off the oil supply out of kurdistan which comes through turkey so still the waiting game goes on what sort of tactics will be used the w

twenty four hours ok andrew symonds live for us and turkey and just to remind our viewers we're actually standing by waiting to hear from barzani as she referenced the kurdistan regional president must be giving a press conference very shortly can say the room is pretty much ready and once he comes out and starts speaking we will take you there live calls to end violence against me and lars for henge a minority are intensifying around the world more than four hundred twenty thousand people left fled to boarding bangladesh and less than a month but a scot hyla reports to me and gone there is little sign of solidarity with the right hand and myanmar. this is a rally sunday afternoon here in yangon hundreds of people coming out to show their support for the government to show their support for on song suchi you know this is something we have seen in myanmar over the last several weeks a slide towards nationalism there's so much more many more rallies like this i mean how the cross the country many more here in yangon now it's interesting this is just under a week after on song suchi deliver

andrew symonds the. head of the un's refugee agency has been meeting ranger refugees in bangladesh camps ground he says he's shocked by what he calls the terrible violence inflicted on the minority group from me in march over the past month more than four hundred twenty thousand have escaped violence and more by fleeing to bangladesh meanwhile human rights watch says it has evidence manned mars army has been laying landmines in its border with bangladesh to try to prevent refugees from returning. this is really heartless beyond words or seeing landmine being played by the berm you know the cherry in the pack fleeing refugees not only at the border but also in areas around villages where. the cleansing being done and people are fleeing the villages then they're encountering landmines on roads they try to get out of that area so it's doubly cool these are weapons which are indiscriminate they're illegal and the influx of ranger into bangladesh is hurting local businesses in the border districts of cox's ba

long term political solution under the aegis of the united nations was up with al-jazeera as andrew symonds has more now from ankara it wasn't a long briefing but judging from what the two presidents had to say there were no major fallouts but no major breakthroughs either they discussed syria they discussed earlier start a process for deescalation zones primarily because this involves turkey more than any other country to try to get access to the opposition groups and corporation there will be military observers put on the ground there but no real date was given of any progress on this lot of mir putin said what a difficult situation it was but he believed in the deescalation and said that it was the political process that was essential now under the auspices of the united nations but no indication of progress but as far as the syria peace process no breakthrough no major disagreement it would seem. during the joint news conference turkey's president again condemned the referendum in the kurdish region of northern iraq which has voted to separate you from. the region is becoming more and m

installed new missile systems in its border with kurdish areas but turkey is threatening sanctions andrew symonds reports on how brewer on the turkey iraq border. to flacks now turkey and iraq on a battlefield that sends out a daily message it's addressed to iraqi kurds as they celebrated the referendum on the other side of this border these iraqi government troops were flown in to join the exercise. this exercise conveniently perhaps situated right beside the main border crossing road between turkey and iraq really hasn't got a great deal of military significance it carries yet another political message to the iraqi kurds. the reason is that alongside the tank charges the political attacks coming from turkey are in line with the iraqi government's sentiment the kurdish leadership is being accused of treason by turkish president. can alter their colors yes they'll be left in the lurch when we start imposing our sanctions will be over when we close the oil taps all the revenues will vanish and they will not be able to find food and clothes will our truck stop going into northern iraq these are the

andrew symonds al jazeera the other key. us by forces of seas syria's largest natural gas field from i still in province a gas field is the first energy facility of its kind to be taken by the syrian democratic forces which is a rebel coalition of arab and kodesh fighters battling to separate offensives from s.t.'s fighters and syrian government soldiers to drive them out of there is all. much more to come for you on the program still including. quite a long sound in mexico city is a powerful aftershock shakes buildings days off for a devastating earthquake germany's main candidates wrap up their election campaigns ahead of. hello and welcome back across europe we have a low pressure center across the central areas with them some quite nasty storms associated with a high pressure area which is trying to push back into awards the west and certainly hold out some of these fronts out towards the northwest look at the forecast this frontal system pushing towards western parts the u.k. much of dr fine london there are twenty one

kurdish leader massoud barzani val's the referendum will go ahead let's go to our correspondent andrew symonds now he's joining us live from the turkish city of the out of pocket what are we expecting to come from the parliamentary session. what we're expecting to happen is that there will be an extension of a mandate for turkish forces to enter iraq and take place in military action there also an extension to the one year mandate to intervene in syria as well now this is much more charged obviously because of this situation with the independence referendum we've been hearing from been ali your the room just before the session started he briefed the media saying that what was being considered were a number of actions by both iran iraq and the turkish government all against the kurds if they go ahead and these would be diplomatic actions economic sanctions possibly and also security moves now those security moves could well include the military the turkish military that's built up an operation just on the border with iraq in northern iraq and that is an exercise as it's described but there's no

plans for the creation of deescalation zones let's take you to anchor and speak to al-jazeera as andrew symonds said previously relations between russia and turkey they were pretty dire why have things changed now. well there's been more than a reproach more really the reason is mainly you just pointed out that the both turkey and russia were backing opposing sides in the syrian conflict but has come together with russia and iran for the a start up peace process and turkey is using its influence to move towards peace with its relationship with opposition groups and russia turkey and iran will be moving into it live with military observers is a lot to be worked out there that will be discussed no doubt about it whatsoever and there's also a number of other issues no doubt about it whatsoever and there's also a number of other issues including the s four hundred missile system it's a russian system and it's been sold to turkey which is a member of nato and that presents a problem not only with with nato not having the compatibility but also in terms of relations with the west they seem to be movi

andrew symonds al jazeera the advocate. syria's foreign minister claims that his government is close to a military victory after more than six years of war walid muallem made the remarks in his united nations address in new york multiple investigations and concluded that syrian government forces have targeted civilians and used banned chemical weapons during the conflict but while i'm denied the claims and criticized the u.s. led coalition. there from protests in mexico after reports that partly collapsed buildings were bodies could still be buried will be demolished five days after a huge earthquake hit village of support demonstrating calling for rescue efforts to continue the number of confirmed dead is now close to three hundred following a seven point one magnitude quake. u.s. federal aid has now begun to arrive in puerto rico as emergency services continue to grapple with the devastation left by hurricane maria eleven ships have entered the main port bringing in cots food and over six million liters of drinking water

bill let's hear now from al-jazeera is andrew symonds who's across the border in turkey he has more on turkey's reaction to the vote. straight after iraqi kurds started voting the turkish foreign ministry issued a statement saying that all measures under international law would be followed if the result generates threats to national security now that result will be regarded as null and void the statement said the question is what is the trigger point for any action being taken which could be military could be economic diplomatic certainly and also political and there was a separate issue from the foreign ministry and that was travel by turkish citizens asking all turkish citizens to leave the iraqi kurd region and they're saying that anybody who's obliged to stay must do so but the advice is to leave certainly there is coordination between turkey iraq and iran over what action might be taken the turkish president has been in touch with the iranian president by phone there's been a lot of discussions and we will see possibly within the coming hours what form of action these neighbors in

ahead but as just for today they want to enjoy the vote all right many thanks dave let's bring in andrew symonds then who's in have on the iraq border as we said. very opposed to this referendum its foreign ministry has issued a statement that said. that's right that statement issued as iraqi kurds were voting but it says once again that any result here is likely to be yes of course will be null and void as far as turkey is concerned and did deed all of its neighbors and some of the international community says that all measures under international law will be taken if this vote threatens national security the question is what is the trigger point the vote itself or possible ramifications possible actions after that vote result is announced so not clarity yet about any action is taken but certainly a lot of measures are already settled already worked out one behind me which would be military intervention is certainly being looked at a lot of homework being done on international law agreements that go right back to nine hundred twenty six and nine hundred forty six with iraq on cross border opera

sides in syria the two leaders have now agreed to push for deescalation zones in syria's province andrew symonds has more now on that meeting from unca. it wasn't a long briefing but judging from what the two presidents had to say there were no major fallouts but no major breakthroughs either they discussed syria they discussed the a start a process for deescalation zones primarily because this involves turkey more than any other country to try to get access to the opposition groups and corp there will be military observers put on the ground there but no real detail was given of any progress on this lot of mir putin said what a difficult situation it was but he believed in the deescalation zones and said that that was the political process that was essential now under the auspices of the united nations but no indication of progress on the iraqi kurdistan situation the referendum putin didn't refer to that but president did he said that both countries both russia and turkey viewed the territorial integrity was essential in both syria and iraq so he also went on to say that the k r g the kurdistan

is in the kurdish regional capital erbil we'll be speaking to her in just a moment but first andrew symonds wraps up developments from the turkey iraq border . more threats more military maneuvers and probably the most outspoken verbal attack yet from egypt type erd one the turkish president here accuse the kurdish leadership in iraq of treachery and he said that all of their supply lines could be cut effectively seventy percent of imports are estimated to come from turkey into the region and he once again threatened to cut the oil pipeline that amounts to something like half a million to six hundred thousand barrels of oil per day this is what he had to say shouldn't it is. as we begin to impose sanctions iraq's kurds will be left behind when we close the oil tap they'll be done with they will lose all their revenues when we stop cross border traffic into northern iraq they won't have food or clothes this will be a bad situation they'll ask why are we doing this we are obliged to these are sanctions now these military exercises here on the border are now in a third phase involving the iraq

ok made by for us in erbil thank you went out to andrew symonds who is on the turkey iraq border and her turkey has consistently been a boat vocal rather against this referendum now that it's actually happening. any reaction seem eminent from the turkish government. it would seem that the answer is we guarded on that because there's certainly been no sudden and now on the part of the turkish government now at the moment we have the president making a number of remarks live on television but he's only just started a speech in a ball but prior to that we heard from ben ali the room the prime minister and he was making it quite clear that despite all the build up of military here on the border there would be no question at all about a war going on here he said i was sure the turkish people that the military was here for possible cross border operations for location focused operation of the future only if the safety and security of turkey or turkish citizens was at stake now he did say that they were the turkish government was now liaising with the iraqi government rather than the kurdis

shooting of a russian plane over syria let's take you live to and current speak to al-jazeera andrew symonds the relations between russia and turkey well they were pretty dire for some time exactly what has changed. well it's been a gradual process felicity but the biggest factor really is the syrian war both sides back different sides both russia russia and turkey turkey backing backing very much the opposition wanting the downfall of assad but now more realistic about the situation and seeing opportunities with russia to get some positive aspects. followed particularly the presence of kurds on the border they don't want to see that happening the syrian with a y p g and we've seen really a move slightly away from the united states the european union and even the most recent a month ago a deal involving russia for ass four hundred missile system which is upset many nato chiefs because it's incompatible with a lot of military hardware from nato this is what one member of an international think tank had to say that putin is in turkey to draw to wage between turkey and the west. that he has dra

andrew symonds al jazeera the other key. head of the un's refugee agency has met range of refugees in bangladeshi camps for people gandhi says he's been shocked by what he calls the terrible violence inflicted on the minority group from me and he says their suffering will last a lot longer than that the time it takes to satisfy the basic human needs over the past month more than four hundred twenty thousand i was scape violence and mean mob i flee to bangladesh meanwhile human rights watch says it has evidence memos army as being laying landmines on its border with bangladesh to try to prevent right into refugees from returning this is really heartless beyond words or sea land mine being played by the burma military in the past refugees not only at the border but also in areas around villages where then ethnic cleansing being done and people are fleeing the villages then they're encountering landmines on roads they try to get out of that area so it's doubly cool these are weapons which are indiscriminate they're illegal with

andrew symonds al jazeera. the spanish government has placed cattle on police under its come on in another bid to try to block next weekend's independence referendum leaders have opposed the move calling it an unacceptable interference by madrid john hendren has more from barcelona. a standoff in catalonia just got more tense and potentially far more volatile the interior minister of spain's catalan province says local police will not take orders from spain and once again we denounce the government's intention to take control of the catalan police the catalan government does not accept the intervention of the state he says that was the message he and catalans police chief delivered to the spanish interior minister in a meeting on saturday what we see here is not a technical. see is a political maneuver the spanish government is trying to take control of because of the police because the spanish government has vowed its voters that the referendum the fund referendum will not take place catalonia leaders insist t

turkey's president is threatening sanctions but that's causing concern among some businessmen andrew symonds reports from her book on the tacky iran or dead. two flags now turkey and iraq on a battlefield that sends out a daily message it's addressed to iraqi kurds as they celebrated the referendum on the other side of the border these iraqi government troops were flown in to join the exercise. this exercise conveniently perhaps situated right beside the main border crossing road between turkey and iraq really hasn't got a great deal of military significance it carries yet another political message to the iraqi kurds. the reason is that alongside the tank charges the political attacks coming from turkey are in line with the iraqi government's sentiment. the kurdish leadership is being accused of treason by turkish president. can alter their colors yes they will be left in the lurch when we start imposing our sanctions will be over when we close the oil taps or the revenues will vanish and they will not be able to find food and clothes when our truck stop going into northern iraq these are th

andrew symonds al-jazeera the article. u.s. backed forces of c. syria's largest natural gas field from iceland there as all province the conoco gas field is the first energy facility of its kind to be taken by the syrian democratic forces which is a rebel coalition of arab in kurdish fighters i still is battling to separate offensives from s.t.'s fighters and syrian government soldiers also trying to drive them out of there as or. france says it's willing to work with other nations on ways to stop iran's missile launches which it's calling destabilizing comes off the iranian state media released footage of what it what they say is the successful test of a new ballistic missile just hours after it was unveiled at a military parade in teheran the device has a range of two thousand kilometers and can carry multiple warheads it follows threats by u.s. president donald trump that washington might withdraw from the two thousand and fifteen nuclear deal or a. senior lecturer in international relations and middle east politics at the university of bradfor

government at any given stage depending the prime minister says on the situation on the ground there andrew symonds reporting there from the about here. u.s. backed forces of seize syria's largest natural gas field from iceland a province the kona guys feel dizzy first energy facility of its kind to be taken by the syrian democratic forces which is a rebel coalition of arab and kurdish fighters i said is battling to separate offensives from s.t.'s fighters and syrian government soldiers to drive them out of the area. i miss the international says that revenge of villages is still being torched in may in ma contradicting the government statements that military operations have ended the group says new satellite images and video shows smoke rising from range of ages around four hundred thirty thousand refugees have fled since the latest outbreak of violence began less than a month ago doctors without borders told out there that otherwise healthy adults in camps are at risk of death because of dehydration meanwhile human rights watch says it has evidence that man has been laying landmines on its border

they have no right to increase tensions in the region for their personal and regional interests andrew symonds as more from ankara. it wasn't a long briefing but judging from what the two presidents had to say there were no major fallouts but no major breakthroughs either they discussed syria they discussed the a start a process for deescalation zones primarily because this involves turkey more than any other country to try to get access to the opposition groups and corp there will be military observers put on the ground there but no real date was given of any progress on this lot of mir putin said what a difficult situation it was but he believed in the deescalation and said that that was the political process that was essential now of the also this is for the united nations but no indication of progress but as far as the syria peace process no breakthrough no major disagreement it would seem the russian opposition leader alexei in a valley says he's been detained in moscow irani is one of the most prominent critics of russian president vladimir putin he's organized mass demonstrations agains

government so very tense here on the eve of this vote exactly what i was going to use tensors and andrew symonds thank you so much for that report. now with the gulf diplomatic crisis still hanging over the country cut his immediate effect i mean been hamilton he has returned home from his travels in europe and in new york at the u.n. general assembly now this would usually be just another international trip for the me a bit the crowds actually just gone into that building now it would have really gathered to welcome him dignitaries allowed on the tarmac at the airport. but there is going to be a huge parade down doha's waterfront shortly as well now we may have some of the early pictures here we go of him stepping off his plane and you'll see in a moment as the camera pulls out these enormous number of people there to greet him it does take him quite a while to get through that crowd as i said usually this would just be any other return from a trip but with cut his situation being under blockade in the salsa seems to be an attempt to refute the rumors from other gulf media outlets that countrie

that erbil international airport thank you will cross the border now over to turkey andrew symonds. just tell us first of all where you are and what's been happening under. well kemal out this is how poor border gate it's a really important one it's the only way to iraqi kurdistan so now as of now this is the only means by which turks can get across the border into couldst kurdistan iraq indeed iraqis as well because this is really the whole story of this this border is a long war it's the silk road that i'm walking along right now this side the passenger traffic turks and kurds their families happy to go in even though they've got advice from the turkish foreign ministry that they shouldn't travel there was seventy flights a week coming from turkey into kurdistan that has now as you know completely holt's it furthermore there are a series of important cargo flights they are also suspended mainly to particular flights going into kurdistan a week and that is all now at a standstill the question now is will this the only landru to into kurdistan from turkey be closed president one is