They say they won’t help because the Islamic State is holding Turkish hostages — which shows yet again why jihadis take hostages: because in doing so they get what they want. It is possible, however, that the Turks are using these hostages as an excuse when actually they don’t want to put themselves into the position of fighting a self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate, even one that has threatened a jihad attack against Istanbul and presents a rival to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s own caliphate dreams.
In any case, their refusal here shows again how outdated NATO is, and urgently the U.S. needs to reconfigure its alliances in light of the jihad threat. But we are nearing the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 jihad attacks, and that reconfiguring is not remotely on the horizon.
“Turkey dismisses support for US airstrike on IS, cites hostage crisis,” Today’s Zaman, August 10, 2014 (thanks to Joshua):
Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz has ruled out any support from Turkey for the US military airstrike that began on Friday targeting artillery belonging to the al-Qaeda splinter group, the terrorist “Islamic State” (IS), near Arbil, in Iraq.
Speaking to journalists on Saturday in the province of Sivas, Yılmaz said: “We are not providing any kind of support [to the US military strikes on the IS in Iraq]. The US, using its own means, with its military aircraft launched from warships [in the Gulf area], is bombing IS positions that the US sees as a threat.”
Turkey is sensitive about becoming involved in the US military hitting IS targets in Iraq due to a hostage crisis.
The IS kidnapped 49 people from the Turkish consulate general in Mosul on June 11, including Consul-General Öztürk Yılmaz, diplomatic staff, special forces members and children. There is still no word on the release of the hostages two months later. The government has imposed a gag order on reporting about the hostage issue, claiming that news stories may provoke the IS militants and put the hostages’ lives in danger.
“Our consulate general staff, 49 of them, is still in the hands of the IS. Therefore, what we can do is limited due to our obligations to the well-being of these people,” said Yılmaz. He added: “We are hopeful now. There are no problems. We hope they [Turkish hostages] will return to Turkey in good health.”
US military aircraft hit artillery belonging to the IS on Friday, one day after US President Barack Obama announced that he had authorized limited airstrikes against the IS to avert the seizure of Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG).
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby also said on Friday that two F/A-18 fighters flying from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf fired two laser-guided 500-pound missiles on an IS artillery piece and the truck towing it. The militants were using the artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending Arbil, the Pentagon said.
“I don’t think we’re going to solve this problem in weeks,” Obama told New York Times in an interview published on Saturday. “This is going to be a long-term project,” he added.
Turkish military sources speaking to Today’s Zaman on Friday said that no military aircraft, either Turkish or American, had launched attacks against Iraq from inside Turkey. He confirmed that the US airstrikes had not been conducted via Turkey’s İncirlik Air Base. Yılmaz also said that the US airstrike could continue until the IS is no longer a threat to American interests in the region.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu complained on Saturday about the opposition in Turkey, accusing the opposition parties of raising the tension on the hostage issue and risking the lives of the hostages.
“If we rescue the hostages, they will say: ‘Oh, this is the government showing off,’ and, God forbid, if something bad happens to the hostages, then the opposition will question the government once again,” said Davutoğlu, speaking to a group of journalists.
The deputy chairman of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), Mehmet Ali Şahin, speaking to journalists on Saturday said that “the health and fate of the hostages are far more important than anything else” for Turkey and expressed hope that the US airstrikes would not cause any harm to the hostages.
Criticizing the US for invading Iraq during the regime of former President Saddam Hussein and causing problems in the region, Şahin said: “If the US thinks that they can fix things by bombing the area now, it is impossible. They have the majority of the responsibility for all the problems we are experiencing there. We have 49 people in the hands of the IS.”
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has remained largely silent on the US attacks. Immediately after the Turks in Mosul were taken hostage by the IS militants, the prime minister had a phone call with the US Vice President Joe Biden, and asked the US not to carry out a military operation against the IS in Mosul, the daily Sabah reported on June 14. “Neither the US nor the Iraqi government should conduct an operation that would put the lives of our citizens taken hostage in danger,” Erdoğan reportedly told Biden.
According to the daily, Biden has called Erdoğan twice recently to get information about what Turkey plans to do to secure the release of Turkish hostages. Reportedly, Biden asked Erdoğan whether Turkey was planning to launch a military operation to free the hostages. Erdoğan then told Biden that Turkey was getting information about the situation from various sources in the region and that Turkey would not take any action that would risk Turkish citizens’ lives. According to the report, Erdoğan emphasized that any act that would put Turkish citizens’ lives in danger was a line that Turkey would not cross, and he asked that the US act in coordination with Turkey on any move it may make against the IS in the Mosul area.
IS threatens to attack İstanbul
In the meantime, in a recently released video, an IS militant has threatened to attack İstanbul if the government refuses to increase the water flow from the Euphrates River.
“I pray to God that the apostate [Turkish] government reconsiders its decisions. Because if they do not reconsider it now, we will reconsider it for them by liberating İstanbul,” a militant says in the video, the second part of a five-episode documentary on the IS by Vice News, from the IS stronghold of Raqqa, Syria.
“God willing, if they don’t open it [the dam], we will open it from İstanbul,” says the militant, identified as Abu Mosa, the IS press officer. When asked if this is a threat, he says, “Yes, it is a clear threat.”
The IS claims that Turkey has closed the dam on the Euphrates river, a move that significantly reduced the water supplies for both Syria and Iraq. The Turkish government has been criticized for contributing to the IS expansion in the region by turning a blind eye to militants traveling to Syria via Turkish territory to join the group against opponents of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
Turkish daily Cumhuriyet reported on Sunday that Turkish hostages are not with the IS militants anymore but under the control of a local Sunni-Arab tribe in Iraq. According to sources only identified as “officials” in the story, the hostages are in Mosul and they are in good health. Cumhuriyet claimed that Turkish government has tried to convince this tribe to release the hostages but the tribe has refused this request, due to their fear of the IS militants.
Jay Boo says
Turkey has an excuse to not help the Kurdish people and as a bonus they can give money to the Islamic State to fund its coffers while claiming it is merely a ransom payment done for humanitarian reasons.
CogitoErgoSum says
Maybe Turkey should change its name to Chicken? No, it should be Anatolia.
BlueRaven says
Originally we had Talibrans (Islamic norm); then we had Al-quada (presenting Religion of ‘peace’); Now there is ISIS (representing pinnacle of Islam).
This is not the final show down. There is a lot more to come, I really mean it can only end in the final blow up. I like to see the US keeping out and the Arabs/Iranians/P-Bakistabies dealing with their own scheiss. This problem has ISLAM written all over it. ISIS is Islam in its purest form.
I think Turkey is not just an innocent by-stander, they have supplied lots of weapons, and they are still at it. Obama is not serving our interests by sparing with the devil. He is showing weakness and they are going to hit us back and hard.
Thank you Obama and Co bring a great nation down to the gutter level in less than eight years. You were not worth a single American vote – you have duped us into a falsehood.
Anushirvan says
“I think Turkey is not just an innocent by-stander, they have supplied lots of weapons, and they are still at it. Obama is not serving our interests by sparing with the devil. He is showing weakness and they are going to hit us back and hard.”
There may be some trouble ahead for the Turks. It may still blow up in their face. They supported the enemy of their enemies (Syrian and Iraqi Shiites), but there’s no guarantee that this won’t backfire in the long run.
Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear (29 October 1878 – 24 January 1915), was an English civil servant and explorer who mapped uncharted areas of Northern Arabia and made the first official British contact with Ibn Sa’ud, future king of Saudi Arabia. He was the military adviser to Ibn Saud from 1910 to 1915.
In 1910 Ibn Saud told Shakespear of his desire to form an alliance with the British against the Ottomans. Ibn Saud stated to William Shakespear (British political agent in Arabia at the time) that:
“We Wahhabis hate the Turks only less than we hate the Persians for the infidel practices which they have imported into the true and pure faith revealed to us in the Koran” (*)
Among Salafis, there is this explicit tendency to emphasize moral supremacy by linking pure Islam with ethnic Arab Muslim supremacy over all non-Arabs. The mere fact that the Turks were able to overrun Arab armies for centuries and keep Arab territory occupied for so long has formed a deep-seated hatred in the Arab Muslim mind. Erdogan and his acolytes probably felt like they could reconstitute a neo-Ottoman Empire of sorts by aiding Salafists in Syria, but this may just turn against them.
Keeping Turkish hostages may be symptomatic of this hatred.
* God’s Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult And the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad by Charles Allen, p.245)
Brian Hoff says
In 2003 Turkey refuse to allow US force to attack Iraq from the north through turkish bases. The refuse to sent muslim force to occuprate Iraq along with Gulf States and India which have all muslim military units. Also it one of the few thing that the AK party and Turkey military see eye to eye and agree upton.
bicky says
Mr. Brian Hoff,
Dont be delusional
India certainly does not have any ” muslim military unit ” and it looks very unlikely that we will ever have one, Indian leaders are not yet so stupid.
Your “buddies ” Pakistan is full of “devout and pious” soldiers
Jerry says
[OT] Strangely enough, Israel has some, predominantly Beduin Muslim units.
Brian Hoff says
India does have all muslim division size unit to use in case of some hindic state rebellian against the center government where hind unit might not fight against they brother and sister the muslim unit would fight against the hind.
CogitoErgoSum says
Can anyone explain to me how Turkey became a member of NATO? Turkey is over 99% Muslim. It has tried to conquer Europe on at least two occassions, 1529 and 1683 … so as to convert the continent to Islam. The beliefs and goals of Islam have not changed since 1683. In fact, it is a point of pride among Muslims that the Quran is the same now as it was in the days of Muhammad. In addition, Muhammad told the Muslims that they would first take Constantinople and then Rome … so Muslims feel they are obliged to make Muhammad’s words come true by taking Rome. Therefore, Turkey would love to conquer Europe. If Erdogan could claim Rome for Islam he would do so in a heartbeat as it would make him one of the greatest Muslims ever … in line behind Muhammad, Saladin and Sulemian. In addition, Muslims are urged by the Quran not to take infidels as allies, friends or protectors … so, naturally, if NATO comes into conflict with a Muslim nation, Turkey (as a Muslim nation) will not side with the infidels against fellow Muslims. So how can such a country as Turkey be counted upon by the rest of NATO? How and why was Turkey made a member of NATO? It makes no sense to me.
Know Thy Enemy says
“….. so, naturally, if NATO comes into conflict with a Muslim nation, Turkey (as a Muslim nation) will not side with the infidels against fellow Muslims.”
I recall one example that supports this belief regarding Muslims. In the 1965 war between India-Pak, an entire Indian Army battalion, whose soldiers were almost all Muslim, surrendered to the Pak Army. It was found to be suspect, and the battalion was disbanded. Ever since, India has never had a Muslim battalion. The Muzzies now only make ~2 percent of India’s Army.
Brian Hoff says
To protect NATO sourth flank from the Soviet Union than non-believe nation in Turkey eye. They got the second larger military in NATO after america. They end the Greek take over of Cyprus by landing air born troop with air support from fighter and bomber and then troop from ships. Three day later the illegal government government of the 4 concle was ended when they where arrested by the local police.
Brian Hoff says
The Ottoman Empire where allie against Imperial Russia. In the Russo-Japonese war of 1904 the Ottoman Empire support Japon by being neurtal which allow then to deny the Russian fleet acces to the strait, which where line with big gun turkey have ready to fire on the russian fleet. The Black Sea fleet was to join the Baltic Sea fleet to travel to Asia to fight the japonese fleet. Than Turkey merchant ship report Russian fleet movernment by radio to Jaon Navy which lead to the battle of Tsushima where the Russian fleet was destory.
Mazo says
The Ottoman Empire also allied with the Germans, while the Arab Muslims in East Africa under Abushiri ibn Salim al-Harthi were fighting against the German invasion of their land from 1888-1889
The Ottomans betrayed the Arab Muslims resisting German colonialism. The Abushiri was hung and the revolt was crushed.
And then pro-Ottomans like you whine about how Arabs “betrayed” the Turks in the later Arab Revolt during WW1, and say nothing about their own slimy backstabbing in East Africa.
Angemon says
Sure. Why risk 49 lives to attack an organization that has stated it will come after Turkey? Why nip the problem in the bud when they can just wait until it becomes way too serious to ignore?