There is little, if any, possibility that those who are denouncing this troop withdrawal and demanding that U.S. forces protect Syria’s borders (not America’s) indefinitely will listen to reason, but here is some anyway.
“Erdogan’s Jihad Offensive Began Many Months Ago,” by Clare M. Lopez, Center for Security Policy, October 15, 2019:
…Events in the Middle East have unfolded rapidly since Trump’s decision to pull U.S. troops out of areas in northeastern Syria ahead of the coming Turkish invasion that began 9 October with a combined force of armored, mechanized and commando brigades, assorted special forces teams and over 6,000 Syrian National Army (SNA) fighters from various Turkish-backed Syrian rebel groups. Close to a week later, hundreds of Kurdish civilians are dead, thousands more are uprooted and fleeing, and Turkey’s forces continue advancing ever deeper into Kurdish areas, even as Syrian troops head north to confront them. Turkish forces have even launched multiple artillery rounds in the direction of a U.S. Special Operations post near the embattled town of Kobane. In short, utter chaos has ensued.
The Center for Security Policy (CSP) published “Ally No More: Erdogan’s New Turkish Caliphate and the Rising Jihadist Threat to the West” in 2018 to sound a warning about where Turkey was headed under Erdogan and AKP leadership. Unfortunately, the Turkish regime’s charm offensive apparently carried more weight with the Trump administration. Despite Erdogan’s claimed intention merely to establish safe zones where thousands of Syrian refugees currently supported inside Turkey would be resettled, in fact his real intent was always a population transfer of those pro-Muslim Brotherhood Sunnis into border areas ethnically cleansed of Kurds. Turkey’s broader ambitions in the region also have long been clear: he and senior Turkish officials have been talking about jihad against the Kurds, Cyprus, Greece, the Balkans and more for at least the last couple of years now. Erdogan’s speeches are replete with references to re-establishment of the Ottoman Empire. In early January 2018, Ismail Kahraman, the Speaker of Turkey’s National Assembly, declared that “without jihad, there can be no progress…” In February 2018, Erdogan spoke openly about his jihadist intent to reclaim lands Turkey once dominated in the days of the Ottoman Empire:
We say at every opportunity we have that Syria, Iraq and other places in the geography in our hearts are no different from our own homeland. We are struggling so that a foreign flag will not be waved anywhere where adhan is recited.
Then, speaking in early September 2019, Erdogan went an ominous step further, declaring that it was “unacceptable” that Turkey can’t have nuclear weapons—and hinted that Turkey may already be working on obtaining a nuclear capability….
mortimer says
Erdogan has expressed racist hatred of the Kurds. There is no ‘Turkish ethnicity’, because the country is one of the heterogeneous of populations … descended from the millions of foreign slaves brought into the Ottoman Empire during its existence.
Infidel says
Mortimer, while that may be the demographic composition of Turkey, Erdogan is trying to position Turkey as a Turkic Islamic country. He founded an international organization called the Turkic council, which has as its members Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan (so far, Turkmenistan has declined to join). He’s celebrated the 16 great Turkic empires, and that enables him to extend his appeal to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Essentially, there are 3 countries vying for the leadership of Islam: Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey. Iran’s appeal is actually limited to Shi’ites: while they do support groups like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, those groups are not gratefully tolerant of Shi’ites, and would rather owe allegiance to a Sunnite power. The Saudis have distanced themselves from them, but not Qatar and Turkey.
Which is why the sooner all Western (and preferably Russian as well) troops leave the region, the better: let these countries start battling one another. While I’m sympathetic to the Kurds, I don’t have any time for the likes of the Marco Rubios or the
Mitt RomneysPierre Dilectos, who didn’t push for an independent Kurdistan during the US occupation of Iraq or the invasion of East Syria, but now want the US to stay forever to protect the Kurds. Sorry, but we can only have formal treaties w/ sovereign countriesmortimer says
correction: one of the MOST heterogeneous of populations
Tuvia Fogel says
“In September 2019, Erdogan declared that it was “unacceptable” that Turkey can’t have nuclear weapons”.
Actually, he said it was unacceptable that HE can’t have nuclear weapons. Check it out.
seabird says
Shortly after the attempted “coup”,(7/29/2016), a Turkish mob of thousands gathered at the Incirlic US/NATO base and threatened to over run it.
There are at least 50 nukes stored there.
Are the US/NATO troops guarding those weapons willing to open fire on a mob or destroy those weapons (and probably themselves) protecting them?
That would be the easiest way for Erdogan to get his nukes.
Infidel says
However, who has controls of those nukes? The US president? The NATO Secretary General?
If you recall, in 1992, after the Soviet Union came apart, Ukraine was very enthusiastic about getting nukes out of their territory. Reason? Kyiv didn’t have the launch codes, Moscow did, and President Kravchuk didn’t want any nukes to be launched from Ukrainian territory by Russia.
The US does need to withdraw those nukes from Incirlik: maybe move them to Israel. Essentially, signal Russia that they’re not our #1 adversary anymore, unflattering as that may sound to Putin
seabird says
The nukes at Incirlic are supposedly of the B-61 gravity type designed to be dropped by aircraft.
The weapons are stored in a special vault under constant US/NATO guard.
In a recent article (I’m sorry I can’t reference), it stated that there are actually 90 of these weapons there varying in kilotonage from low to intermediate yield.
It claimed 50 are for US/NATO usage and 40 are for the Turks (upon NATO approval).
Across the Turkish border about 60km inside Armenia is a Russian airbase believed to have about 50 tactical nukes, some mounted on cruise missles some are for use with artillery.
It’s been like that for years and is probably the only thing preventing the Turks from invading Armenia.
Infidel says
seabird, in that case, yes – it’s high time NATO pulls all those nukes out of Turkey and puts them in Greece. Maybe Crete or somewhere
Angemon says
Erdogan? Lying? I’m shocked, SHOCKED!!!!!
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
“Russian Forces Flood Kurdish Cities in Syria”
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/10/24/russian-forces-flood-kurdish-cities-syria/
From the article:
‘“Myself, I prefer a deal with [the United States] more than Russia,” one Kobani resident told the Kurdish news service Rudaw. “I do not know why I am not comfortable with Russia. I do not know what will happen.”’
Infidel says
Yeah, good luck, Russia! Once their troops get caught in fighting b/w the Arabs, Turks and Kurds, it’ll be fun to see how they react. Particularly since both Damascus is already their stooge, and Ankara is playing them well.
I also wonder whether President Putin even notices that the stans are now becoming more Turk-centric, the latest being Uzbekistan. He wouldn’t be much of a KGB veteran if he doesn’t
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
“Report: Persecution in Iraq Down After Loss of over 90% of Nation’s Christians”
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/10/24/report-persecution-in-iraq-down-after-loss-of-over-90-of-nations-christians/
gravenimage says
Iraq is running out of Christians…
Infidel says
Preferably, Christians are running, or better yet, have run, out of Iraq
gravenimage says
Many *have* left–but many have also been murdered.
gravenimage says
Erdogan’s jihad offensive didn’t begin with Trump’s withdrawal; it began many months ago
………….
This does not surprise.
P. Douglas says
Q. Is it true ? That even his own people call him: “Old RAT Face”???
He sure looks like a rodent in this photo!
Terry says
Trump has kept his promise to get us out of this endless war in the Mid East. His action was absolutely necessary. To understand why, one needs to go back to the end of WWI when new countries were created and borders redrawn in the Mid East. It is believed the constant guerilla wars that have ensued for nearly a century are what we stumbled into. One such war is being waged by the Kurds who are fighting for a homeland that should have been addressed 100 years ago but has left them in this tragic homeless state instead.
By going back to the Treaty of Versailles that split up the former Ottoman Empire, one begins to understand the devastating results with which we are living today.