Turkey Has Proof of US/ISIS Cooperation

[BjornP]

Turkey be mad about them Kurds.

http://www.cbs8.com/story/34169250/the- ... rian-kurds

12:50 p.m.

Turkey's prime minister has slammed the Obama administration for backing Syrian Kurdish forces which Turkey considers to be terrorists, and urged President-elect Donald Trump to put an end to "this shame."

Binali Yildirim said that Turkey's military had killed more than 1,200 Islamic State militants since the start of its military incursion into northern Syria in August, insisting that Turkey was the country leading the most effective fight against the extremist group.

Yildirim was addressing members of the ruling party in parliament a day after IS claimed responsibility for the Istanbul nightclub attack, which killed 39 New Year's revelers.

Yildirim said: "They are pretending to fight Daesh. Turkey is the only country that is leading a fight. The United States isn't doing anything."

So, apparantly the Syrian Kurds haven't been fighting ISIS at all, and the US hasn't dropped any bombs in Syria and Iraq these last few years... In fact, it's been Turkey heroically leading the fight against them all this time.

[kybkh]

I still struggle with understanding the Kurds and Turks.

To the best of my understanding Erdogan disfavors the Kurds primarily because the are a minority who vote as a block and threatens his hold on power.

Kurdish HDP passes electoral threshold for first time as AK party loses majority after years of single-party governance...The result from Sunday's election meant the HDP pass the electoral threshold the first time, raising hopes in the country that it will be able to advance a peace process between the Turkish state and Kurdish armed group PKK, which has been battling the country's armed forces for decades.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/k ... 25760.html

[BjornP]

Has nothing to do with Erdogan as a person, really. The Turkish Kurds are the largest national minority in Turkey. National minority, not ethnic, meaning they're not a group of immigrants to Turkey, but a people which have always resided in the region that now constitute eastern Turkey. Discrimination against Kurds, for example laws against speaking Kurdish, in Turkey goes way back to Ataturk's national movement and have only recently been dismantled. Turkish Kurdistan is the largest part of the Kurdistan region. Due to pressure from other NATO countries and EU most of the anti-Kurdish legislation has been cancelled in the last decade or so. Erdogan is therefore not more anti-Kurdish than previous Turkish leaders, and he did attempt peace talks with the PKK in 2012/13.

Alot of Turkish Kurds want either greater Kurdish autonomy (anecdotally, I think they're the majority), home rule (think what Scotland is to Great Britain) or outright independence (that's what PKK has traditionally fought for).

http://www.yalibnan.com/wp-content/uplo ... -Kurds.gif

Don't think you'll find many Turkish politicians willing to be the guy who lost the eastern part of his country to seperatist Kurds.

[Speaker to Animals]

Kurds want statehood. Turkey and Iran currently divide their homeland in half (with the Iraqi portion retaining some autonomy). Erdogan opposes them for the same reason France and Spain oppose the Basque separatist movement.

[kybkh]

I appreciate the Kurds aren't immigrants and a portion of the population desire statehood.

The more realistic threat to Erdogan and the AK is the size of their voting bloc. If the "AK leaders" can associate a political rival with terrorist there is certainly an incentive to do so.

[BjornP]

I appreciate the Kurds aren't immigrants and a portion of the population desire statehood.

The more realistic threat to Erdogan and the AK is the size of their voting bloc. If the "AK leaders" can associate a political rival with terrorist there is certainly an incentive to do so.

???

Why and how would Erdogan associate the Kemalists and that party with a Kurdish majority, with terrorism? Even the most nationalist of Turks are aware of the difference between an average Kurd and PKK'er, so that tactic would hardly work. The PKK are hardcore leftist radical seperatists. Kurds may like a country of their own, but in terms of values and ideology... the PKK don't really represent Kurds.

Erdogan may continue to take charge of the press, and for all we know he may charge average Kurds or even the Kemalists for all being terrorists... but as with the old Soviet Union... just because the state attempts to blow smoke up your ass, doesn't guarentee that you're buying it.

[kybkh]

We seem to agree. The Kurd's will be thrown under the bus by AK for political purposes.

[kybkh]

Um, maybe Turkey really is going Red.

Turkey: U.S. Access To Incirlik Air Base May Be Shut Off


https://www.stratfor.com/situation-repo ... gn=article