Has US Swallowed Turkish Suprise?

IOL ^ | 3-22-2003 | Orhan Coskun

[Pukka Puck]

""Turkey simply wants to have some control over events on its borders. Wouldn't any country want that in circumstances like this?" a Turkish official said."

People in hell want ice water Want has nothing to do with it.

You had your chance to have some control over events, but you blew it when you refused us the right to use your bases to invade Iraq.

Turkish tanks would be inviting targets for Special Forces equipted with laser designators.

[Rudder]

Recall the cartoon Tasmanian Devil...Didn't he eat a "Turkey Surprise" (to him: food...reality: a self-inflating lifeboat) and explode?

[Pukka Puck]

"The Turks may not be the finest folks in the world, but they have every reason to be actively looking out for their interests."

They stabbed us in the back, so the hell with them.

[Gumption]

"me hate when that happen"

[clockwork]

The Turks may not be the finest folks in the world, but they have every reason to be actively looking out for their interests

The Turks are Muslims, therefore they have no right to look out for their interests. In fact, we should keep on marching north and destroy Turkey and give them a dose of nation building.

[PhilDragoo]

They stabbed us in the back, so the hell with them.

The rationale du jour is "self-interest"; it has ever been thus:

Treaty of Friendship Between Germany and Turkey
June 18, 1941

The German Government and the Turkish Republic, inspired by a desire to place relations between the two countries on a basis of mutual confidence and sincere friendship, agreed without prejudice to present obligations of both countries to conclude a treaty.

For this purpose the German Reich Chancellor appointed Ambassador Franz von Papen and the President of the Turkish Republic appointed Foreign Minister Shukru Saracoglu as plenipotentiaries, who, on the basis of full powers accorded them, have agreed on the following declaration:

Article I

Germany and Turkey bind themselves mutually to respect the integrity and inviolability of their territories and will take no measure that is aimed directly or indirectly against the other contracting party.

Article II

Germany and Turkey bind themselves in the future to communicate with each other in friendly manner on all questions affecting their common interests in order to bring about understanding on the treatment of such questions.

Article III

The foregoing treaty will be ratified by articles of ratification, which shall be exchanged forthwith in Berlin. The treaty enters into force on the day of signature and is effective from then onward for a period of ten years.

The parties concluding the treaty will agree at the proper time regarding the question of extending the treaty.

Drawn up in duplicate in the original, in the German and Turkish languages, in Ankara on June 18, 1941.

[PhilDragoo]

26

[Jhoffa_]

"We have special forces units connected to Kurdish forces in the north... "

Controlling their border is one thing, armed incursions which may bring conflicts with American Troops are going to cause problems.

Turkey would do well to just watch this unfold from their side of the border.

[Consort]

No Turkish Suprise. We knew what they wanted all along. Our attempt to use Turkish bases was aimed at containing the Turks more than to use against Iraq.

[Consort]

...and this is a very serious situation that could blow up at any moment. The Turkish military is not the Iraqi military in any sense. The Kurds or the Iranis or the Iraqia or the Turks can ignite it at any time.

[Stavka2]

Tell that to the Kurds and the Assyrian Christians who will be getting genocided.

[Rome2000]

In the face of our amazing but not unpredictable success in the war on despots with bad facial hair who kneel on small rugs before heretic moon gods, the Turks are now looking to be our defacto muslim "partners" in the region and are asserting themselves as such at this very moment.

They will either prove themselves worthy allies in the next week or not.

Killing innocents will not be tolerated by the USA, and if Turkey overplays their hand they will be dealt with.

[virgil]

You had your chance to have some control over events, but you blew it when you refused us the right to use your bases to invade Iraq.

This makes me think this is an act of oportunism by the Turks. Their refusal was with this intent in mind. Maybe they don't know what 200,000 troops in fighting mode looks like.

[Cleburne]

I am afraid the lot of Assyrian Chrstians will be much the same whether under Kurdish or Turkish dominance. However the cards fall, the Christians remain a minority, and being a Christian minority in a society dominated by Muslims these days is rarely a good thing. The Kurds and Turks both have been involved in persecution- the Assyrian Massacres were Kurdish you should recall.

Perhaps the attrocities of the past- and I mean not only the past of WWI and the interwar period but also of more recent years- will be adverted this time. Perhaps. I pray and hope that they will.

Holy God, holy Mighty, holy Immortal, have mercy upon us.

[Rudder]

Yesss!

Thanks.