Turkish lawmakers OK military action against ISIS

cnn.com ^ | 10/2/14 | Laura Smith-Spark, Chelsea J. Carter and Gul Tuysuz,

[ColdOne]

Gaziantep, Turkey (CNN) -- [Breaking news update, published at 1:14 p.m. ET]

The Turkish parliament on Thursday voted 298-98 to authorize military force against ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq.

[Original story, published at 9:50 a.m. ET]

Could an ancient tomb's future decide whether Turkey will fight ISIS?

(CNN) -- Is a possible threat to an ancient tomb at the heart of Turkey's debate on whether to step up its role in the fight against ISIS?

The Turkish Parliament is debating and will vote later Thursday on whether to authorize the use of military force against ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq.

Up until now, Turkey, a NATO member, has declined to join a U.S.-led coalition, offering only tacit support to some 40 nations that make up the group going after ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

[C19fan]

If the Turks are serious ISIS could be in for a thumping. The Turks are tough SOBs.

[Viennacon]

Not likely. Erdoghan has been helping these guys for a while. Any strikes will be for show, just like Obolas

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I disagree. I myself believe the Turks >>ARE<< ISIS, or primary sponsors of same. I think the Turks now understand that the US efforts to fight ISIS; based upon their superficial, kabuki nature.....are meaningless and are now acting as if they support those efforts.

[Uncle Miltie]

Where do you think ISIS got all those shiny Tundras? Where do their fighters go when they need medical? What country just opened a consulate for ISIS? Which country is the free ingress / egress point for ISIS fighters from other countries? Which neighboring country had not yet committed to the fight against ISIS? Which country has been buying black market oil from ISIS?

You only get one guess.

[gr8eman]

I agree...maybe Turkey is in a similar boat we are in, whereas the majority of their population are against ISIS, but their president wants to use them for political means.

[BeauBo]

Why would the Turks enter Syria? The article suggests that maybe now that they see Obama’s coalition is just for show, and will do no real damage, so they are mugging along to mislead the gullible.

Maybe ISIS was having a hard time taking these Kurdish areas, because the Kurds were shooting back. By having the Turks move in and control the area, ISIS is freed up to fight elsewhere, while still maintaining their secure rear area and supply lines.

The Turks may want to extend their borders a bit, or control a potential safe haven for their Kurdish opponents (PKK).

Or maybe the Turks are entering under this pretense, to more fully join the battle against Assad, and/or the wider jihad with large numbers of Turks and Turkish heavy ordnance.

Or maybe they plan to position themselves to consolidate their control over the new caliphate with their own guy, after the eventual unexpected martyrdom of Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

Bottom Line: Don’t trust Erdogan’s intentions as far as you can throw them.

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Could well be.

I think there is essentially no upper limit on our flat out ignorance about that part of the world. I *do* honestly think that Turkey is a big fan of ISIS.

But-—we have zero idea what the people’s sentiment of a given population of a random Arab country is. None, zero. We have no idea of much of anything quite frankly, with the media we have now. Even stuff going on in the US!!

We are told, for example, that the Iranian people very much like the US. That is just great, gives me a nice warm feeling. It’s not the Iranian people who are going to launch terror attacks against Israel or US soldiers or arm Hamas or Hezbolleh or any of ten other groups over there. All that nice warm drippy feeling the general populace has towards the US doesn’t mean squat.