Turkey considers invading Syria to fight the Kurds

[jimmy olsen]

The stupidity is astounding

http://www.ibtimes.com/turkey-considering-sending-troops-syria-fight-syrian-kurds-isis-report-1987157

Turkey will send troops to Syria to protect its border where Syrian Kurds have made significant gains in the past month, several Turkish media outlets reported Sunday. The Turkish government gave its military the directive to increase support to Syrian rebels on the border, something the army has agreed to do on the condition that diplomatic issues with allies were ironed out.

Turkish news outlet Cumhuriyet Daily reported on Sunday that the military had not been deployed but that it was already in planning stages. The deployment of Turkish troops into Syria is likely to be a major game-changer in Syria. Turkey has the second biggest army in NATO and its proximity to Syria has made the country a key player in the American-led coalition to fight the Islamic State group.

Syrian Kurds have been fighting the group also known as ISIS on the Turkish border for the past year, and their recent advances have worried Turkey, which is opposed vehemently to a Kurdish state on its border.


"I am saying this to the whole world: We will never allow the establishment of a state on our southern border in the north of Syria," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a speech last Friday. "We will continue our fight in that respect whatever the cost may be."

The Turkish government has not confirmed or denied the reports, but said the announcement would be made on Tuesday.

"We have a MGK [National Security Council] meeting tomorrow; we will make the necessary announcements afterwards," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said, according to the state-run news outlet Anadolu Agency.


Turkey has a tumultuous relationship with its own Kurdish population and worried the recent gains would allow their Syrian counterparts to consolidate territory from Kobani to the Kurdish canton of Afrin. Kurdish leaders have denied they have plans to do so.

Turkey's alleged "active support" for Syrian moderate rebels with the Free Syrian Army would involve roughly 18,000 ground forces, air support and artillery on a stretch of land spanning from Kobani to Mare, an FSA-controlled town in northwestern Syria, the Daily Beast reported, citing local media reports.

Syrian rebels have, in some cases, participated in Kurdish offensives to push back ISIS militants in the border area with Turkey. Turkey said will support the rebels in pushing back both ISIS and Kurdish forces from the border.


Earlier this year, Syrian Kurds were largely fighting in the border town of Kobani where ISIS was pushed out in January. Early last week, Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units seized Tel Abyad, cutting off a key supply route from Turkey to the ISIS de-facto headquarters in Raqqa. By the end of last week ISIS launched a major assault to retake Kobani, killing at least 200 people.

[Grinning_Colossus]

their recent advances have worried Turkey, which is opposed vehemently to a Kurdish state on its border

These Kurds are anarchists, so maybe they can get off on a technicality?

[Razgovory]

Turkey will send troops to Syria to protect its border where Syrian Kurds have made significant gains in the past month, several Turkish media outlets reported Sunday. The Turkish government gave its military the directive to increase support to Syrian rebels on the border, something the army has agreed to do on the condition that diplomatic issues with allies were ironed out.

Now, see I'm going to stop you right there.  I see a problem here.

[Tonitrus]

And a murderous, psychopathic Islamic Caliphate on their border is not enough to intervene in Syria?

Just more crap on the pile that is Erdogan-tard.

[Syt]

And a murderous, psychopathic Islamic Caliphate on their border is not enough to intervene in Syria?

Just more crap on the pile that is Erdogan-tard.

For Erdogan, Assad is the bigger evil. Me, I think it will be funny to watch once IS spills into Turkey.

[Tonitrus]

I never fully got the Turkey/Syria hate.  Best as I can figure, it's just an extension of the massive Sunni/Shia divide that, while always existing of course, didn't seem to be all that big a deal until after we blew into Iraq.

It's like the Thirty Years' War going on all in there.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

I never fully got the Turkey/Syria hate.  Best as I can figure, it's just an extension of the massive Sunni/Shia divide that, while always existing of course, didn't seem to be all that big a deal until after we blew into Iraq.

It's like the Thirty Years' War going on all in there.

the divide's been there for about als long as the 'religion' existed. And they've been fighting ever since.

[Syt]

I never fully got the Turkey/Syria hate.  Best as I can figure, it's just an extension of the massive Sunni/Shia divide that, while always existing of course, didn't seem to be all that big a deal until after we blew into Iraq.

It's like the Thirty Years' War going on all in there.

It's also a bit about who's the big man on campus. Especially with someone like Erdogan at the helm.

[Tonitrus]

I never fully got the Turkey/Syria hate.  Best as I can figure, it's just an extension of the massive Sunni/Shia divide that, while always existing of course, didn't seem to be all that big a deal until after we blew into Iraq.

It's like the Thirty Years' War going on all in there.

the divide's been there for about als long as the 'religion' existed. And they've been fighting ever since.

Meh, I'd argue that during much of the "golden" age of Baathist dictators, they managed to keep the domestic violence between the two to a very low level (Iran-Iraq war being a possible exception).  Certainly calmer than it is these days.

[Martinus]

In other news, the Turkish police has just brutally dispersed the Istambul gay pride yesterday, using water cannons and rubber bullets. What a shitty country that is.

[The Brain]

In other news, the Turkish police has just brutally dispersed the Istambul gay pride yesterday, using water cannons and rubber bullets.

[jimmy olsen]

Turkish tanks massing at the border

http://www.zie.nl/video/overige/Turkey-Turkish-tanks-roll-out-to-create-military-buffer-zone-on-Syrian-border/1lkzs4uf8rd4

[KRonn]

Strange development. The Turks are more worried about the Kurds than ISIS, and the Kurds are actually fighting against ISIS. Yeah, they don't want a Kurdish state in northern Syria but it's pretty much a fait accompli in northern Iraq where the Kurds are pretty much an independent state anyways. That  independence would likely get stronger as Iraq and Iran fight ISIS but Iraqi Sunnis and Shias may become more divided even if they both unite against ISIS, or at least some Sunnis do.

I also don't get the Turk hate for Assad and wanting him out, but figure the original reasoning was wanting a better more democratic government there. But especially now given past experience elsewhere such as Libya, it should be obvious that if Assad falls then radicals take over which are much worse for Turkey and everyone else, especially given the border with Turkey.

[Valmy]

It is hard to have much sympathy for the governments in the area for these horrors when their responses are so bizarre. ISIS seems to be just politics as usual to them and not something worth considerable hand wringing. It makes you wonder why we fret so much.

[Norgy]

Turkey is our NATO ally.