Islamic State Networks in Turkey

The year 2016 was catastrophic for Turkey. At least 30 terror attacks across the country took more than 300 lives.[1] Ankara survived a bloody military coup attempt in July, which claimed the lives of an additional 290. In a massive purge that ensued, more than 100,000 civil servants, academics and journalists across the political spectrum were either sacked or detained.[2] The economy was downgraded by nearly all of the major credit-rating agencies.[3] The military formally joined the Syrian civil war, primarily to carve out a long-desired “safe zone” across the border. And, in a historic moment in December, a Turkish police officer assassinated the Russian ambassador to Ankara. Turkish citizens spent half of the year under a state of emergency, which is still in effect...

And a portion of page 26:

Recommendations
The Turkish government has not prioritized its fight
against the Islamic State. Ankara’s failure to effectively
fight IS at home and abroad has not only increased
Turkey’s vulnerability to terror attacks, but also
strained its relationship with the United States. The
following eight recommendations are steps the U.S.
government can take to help Ankara curtail the jihadist
threat to Turkey’s security and stability, and strengthen
cooperation between the two NATO allies against the
Islamic State.
• Given that the Turkish-PKK conflict remains the
top obstacle for Turkey’s full cooperation in the
fight against IS, the United States should leverage its
relationship with Kurdish groups to urge a ceasefire
between the PKK and Turkey and an eventual
relaunch of the peace process. The de-escalation of
the Kurdish conflict could allow Ankara to return to
its pragmatic approach to the PYD, and help Turkey
focus its counterterrorism efforts on the fight against
the Islamic State.
• In the immediate term, the U.S. should provide
support to Turkey in its fight against IS in Syria, but
only so long as that mission is confined to fighting
IS. Similarly, Washington should provide assistance
to its Syrian partners fighting IS so long as that
assistance is not used to target Turkey.
• To support Turkey’s anti-IS operations at home,
which have improved in the last year, the U.S.
should offer Ankara more intelligence on IS suspects,
recruiters, financiers, and support networks inside
Turkey. Washington should complement this
with aggressive diplomacy to ensure Ankara’s
commitment to disrupting all of the Islamist
networks that advocate on behalf of IS in Turkey.
U.S. diplomats should remind Ankara of the fact
that this is in Turkey’s best interest.
• Washington should issue targeted sanctions against
all actors in Turkey already identified (including
those in this report) as IS operatives, recruiters,
financers, advocates, or facilitators, and urge Turkish
officials to identify additional financial targets. This
is Turkey’s responsibility as a NATO ally and partner
in the fight against IS.
• Given the rising level of IS activity in Turkey
and Ankara’s lackluster approach to the threat,
Washington should consider increasing funding for
programs focused on combatting jihadist ideology
and de-radicalization in Turkey.
• The United States should similarly expand its
efforts to counter IS’s messaging on social media
in Turkish. U.S. efforts are primarily focused now
on English and Arabic languages. The goal must be
to prevent radicalization and recruitment among
Turkish speakers.
• To prevent the flow of jihadists and Kurdish
militants between Turkey and Syria, the U.S. should
offer Turkey technical and material assistance to
help improve security along the Syrian border.
This assistance could be similar to border security
packages provided to Jordan in recent years.
• If Turkey continues to pursue its policies that
empower jihadists, Washington must convey that
it is prepared to downgrade its relationship with
Ankara, including intelligence, military, and perhaps
even economic ties. U.S. diplomats should make
it clear to their Turkish counterparts that Ankara’s
current policies are unsustainable. They endanger
first and foremost Turkey itself, as well as broader
U.S. interests in Turkey and beyond.

I do not know the details of these terrorist acts. It appears that ISIS accounts for about 1/2 of them.

I do not know anything about the source, but remember, anything published as news in Turkey is now propaganda. No journalists are left in Turkey. The “Journalists” are either in Jail or have moved abroad.

And the article says nothing about the destruction that the Turkish military has brought on entire cities of civilians and that act is terrorism. Indescriminant shelling of civilian communities is not a police action.

And this is a 30 year war between PKK (and later TAK) and Turkey. Both parties have done terrorist acts.

It is time for both to back away from the abyss. Of course Turkey under Erdogan the Islamist will not. If left to his own desires, Erdogan will commit genocide against the Kurds. The vast majority of the Kurds have done none of this.

Only the Turkish military shells Kurdish villages just because they are Kurds.

Only the Turkish military routinely make air strikes against “cemeteries” of Kurds and Yazidi’s.

Only the Turkish Military bulldozes thousand of Fruit trees because it hurts Kurds.

I don’t support terrorism from any side. But the article does not reflect the reality of the Turk/Kurd divide.

The display by the Turkish security detail in Washington, DC, after the recent Erdogan/Trump meeting is an example of how Turks deal with any who criticize Erdogan the Islamist.

Note:

Organizers of the Washington attack

https://anfenglish.com/kurdistan/organizers-of-the-washington-attack-20071 PROVOCATION BY ERDOGAN’S NEPHEW

Erdogan gives order for the attack on protestors in Washington

https://anfenglish.com/features/erdogan-gives-order-for-the-attack-on-protestors-in-washington-20075

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