Erdogan, ISIS, and the Kurds: Turkey is a powerful state, but so was Saddam Hussein’s government. So was Bashar al-Assad’s before the rebellion broke out a few years ago.
Erdogan, ISIS, and the Kurds: Turkey is a powerful state, but so was Saddam Hussein’s government. So was Bashar al-Assad’s before the rebellion broke out a few years ago.
As I say, we should support an independent Kurdistan. That will piss off Turkey, Iran, Iraq ans Syria.
I’m not too fond of him, but whatever Erdogan might be, he’s no Saddam Hussein or Assad. And Turkey isn’t Iraq or Syria.
Just because the Kurds are good for US national interests doesn’t make them good for Turkey. Far from it: the Kurds have represented an existential threat to Turkish sovereignty since Ataturk founded the republic. So, hardly a surprise then that the Turks are so preoccupied with them. In terms of satisfying everybody’s interests, good luck trying to square that circle.
Another thing: we get pretty sensitive about our own territorial integrity whenever Québec separatism rears its ugly head – why so flippant about another country’s territorial integrity?
It would not be a good thing if Turkey broke up, trust me.
Im not sensitive about Quebec leaving. But i am sensitive about those who beleaved they realy were serious.
“Another thing: we get pretty sensitive about our own territorial integrity whenever Québec separatism rears its ugly head – why so flippant about another country’s territorial integrity?”
The only people who want Quebec to separate are all of the Canadians outside of Quebec. I believe you’re arguing against your point…
Bottom line, Kurds love Allah.
Yeah cuz tht is what we need, more middle east conflict.
Toten>”When Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the modern republic in the ashes of World War I, Turkish nationalists attempted to unite everybody under a single identity for the sake of national unity and to prevent any more territorial loss”
With the notable exception of the Armenians who were killed in large numbers.
Toten>”ISIS is more likely to kill Americans at home and abroad, but Iran is the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism.”
The U.S. government is more likely to kill Americans at home and abroad and it’s a tossup now if the U.S. is the world’s biggest sponsor of terrorism(Iran nuclear deal, weapon supplier to al Qaeda and ISIS) or Russia(supplier of nuclear power plants/technology to Iran, sponsor of Iran/Syria).
Toten>”Just a few days later, a suicide bomber killed 28 people at a meeting of pro-Kurdish groups in the Turkish city of Suruc,[…] No one claimed responsibility, but it was almost certainly ISIS. Who else would want to strike Turkey and the Kurds simultaneously?”
Um, Syria, using Hizb’allah agents. Turkey and Syria have a serious longstanding hatred of each other.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-26706417
Then again, Russia has been bombing American proxy forces in the region lately and even “straying” into Turkish airspace. Russia has a long history of training terrorists.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/611157/Russia-Turkey-jet-plane-shot-down-airspace-Syria-ISIS-Islamic-State
Toten.”The good news for Turkey—if the Turks ever wise up enough to figure this out—is that the Kurds are the easiest people in the entire Middle East to make friends with. Americans have managed to do so almost effortlessly. So have the Israelis. That’s saying something in that part of the world. The PKK may be intransigent, but if reasonable Kurdish grievances were addressed—including Turkey’s hostility toward besieged Kurds in Syria—then support for the PKK in Turkey would likely evaporate.”
I gree with Toten here. Also, it’s taking the U.S. government a long time to wise up to giving their Kurdish “friends” any real support.
not only are you insensitive, you can’t spell
It appears you forget to use proper capitalization.
Dunno, ya think Greece would help the transition go a little smoother> Sorry had to ask.
I wonder will putin be able to get the Syrians to speak Russian.
As with anywhere in the ME, the situation in Turkey is complex. In a complex world, the Kurds deserve some support. But at the same time the PKK are communist at heart and with that comes yet another brand of totalitarianism.
My wife and I toured a good deal of Turkey a year ago and our guide was a young, cosmopolitan and educated Turk whose wife was a professor at a university in Istanbul. Both of them despised Erdogan because they believe he will drag Turkey backwards with a dream of a new and more powerful Ottoman empire.
As we toured he would point out town squares with statues of Attaturk, saying that in 5 years his statues and memorials would be gone – like ISIS, Erdogan would attempt to wipe out any memories of the near 100 years of secular governance.
We saw many women wearing niqabs and burkas, not only in the countryside but in the big cities – something he said he never, ever saw growing up. In some of the more ‘religiously conservative’ cities we were warned that taking photographs could be considered provocative as locals believe man made images are contrary to the will of Allah.
I would be unsurprised if the recent bombings were eventually found to be the work of Erdogan’s henchmen and designed to implement martial law. An editor of a major daily newspaper has been arrested for “insulting the president”, a clear sign of gov’t repression.
Glad we went when we did, because it may well be a place I would not want to return to in the not so distant future.
“Both of them despised Erdogan because they believe he will drag Turkey backwards with a dream of a new and more powerful Ottoman empire.”
Say, given the rise of Islamic jihadism in the Middle East, perhaps an Ottoman Empire might not be a bad thing.
The ol’ Sultan in Constantinople – as caliph – was generally pretty ruthless about dealing with Islamist fanatics.