Posted on 06/26/2014 10:12:08 AM PDT by mojito
...Ankara may deny helping ISIS, but the evidence for this is overwhelming. “As we have the longest border with Syria,” writes Orhan Kemal Cengiz, a Turkish newspaper columnist, “Turkey’s support was vital for the jihadists in getting in and out of the country.” Indeed, the ISIS strongholds not coincidentally cluster close to Turkey’s frontiers.
Kurds, academic experts and the Syrian opposition agree that Syrians, Turks (estimated to number 3,000), and foreign fighters (especially Saudis, but also a fair number of Westerners) have crossed the Turkish-Syrian border at will, often to join ISIS. What Turkish journalist Kadri Gursel calls a “two-way jihadist highway,” has no bothersome border checks and sometimes involves the active assistance of Turkish intelligence services. CNN even broadcast a video on “the secret jihadi smuggling route through Turkey.”
Actually, the Turks offered far more than an easy border crossing: They provided the bulk of ISIS‘ funds, logistics, training and arms. Turkish residents near the Syrian border tell of Turkish ambulances going to Kurdish-ISIS battle zones and then evacuating ISIS casualties to Turkish hospitals. Indeed, a sensational photograph has surfaced showing ISIS commander Abu Muhammad in a hospital bed receiving treatment for battle wounds in Hatay State Hospital in April.
One Turkish opposition politician estimates that Turkey has paid $800 million to ISIS for oil shipments. Another politician released information about active-duty Turkish soldiers training ISIS members. Critics note that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has met three times with one Yasin al Qadi, who has close ties to ISIS and has funded it.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Is 0bama directly arming the fanatical Sunni army in Iraq?
If he is, it would explain many, many things.
ISIS has become the face of Sunni Islam, in the Middle East, Europe, America and throughout the world.
Islam is a dagger aimed at the “infidel” world.
The tip of the dagger is now sharper & much more dangerous than before.
So much for our Turkish “allies”. They’re muzzies like all the rest.
("[The Turks] have cooperated with even the most extreme, retrograde and vicious elements, such as ISIS" -- as others have reminded us.. so has Obama.)
This has some interesting information about the current events in Iraq. IMO.
". . . Ankara has entered into energy deals with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), something which has infuriated the central Iraqi government in Baghdad but which has helped the Kurds further build a foundation for their independence [yes true that] Ankara has been so alarmed by the growing Kurdish autonomy [in Syria and tolerated by Syria, I believe] that it reportedly has provided support for [ISIS] in their fight against the Kurdish militia that controls the region [of Syria],which is affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)." [my emphasis]
more..
". . . the takeover by ISIS in recent days of Mosul and other cities . . . Ankara will likely not only have to deepen its relationship with the KRG . . . but also alter its approach to the Kurds in Syria [I ask: but demand that the Kurds in Syria reject the PKK?]"
more..
"Explains Lehigh University professor and Turkey expert Henri Barkey in an analysis piece on Al-Monitor website: The crisis may force the Turks to rethink some of their policies in Syria. To date, Ankara’s friendship with the Kurds stopped in Iraq; Erdogan and his government have taken an uncompromising position against Syrian Kurds led by the Democratic Union Party of Kurdistan (PYD), an offshoot of the Turkish Kurdish insurgent group the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PYD has emerged as the strongest Kurdish group in Syria and has put together an impressive fighting force to defend its territory from both ISIS and the regime. The idea of another autonomous Kurdish region on its borders after the KRG has been anathema to Ankara. Paradoxically, the PYD’s armed elements are some of the only ones that have scored blows against the jihadists. In the face of the ISIS sweep, the PYD and the KRG, which have also had antagonistic relations, appear to be cooperating on defensive measures against ISIS. Turkey may have to reconsider its boycott of the Syrian Kurds to enlarge the anti-ISIS coalition." [my emphasis]
Syria, Southern Iraq (under Maliki), Iran and Lebanon (Hezzbulah)....VS....ISIS, the Al-Obama Brigade (White House), Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrein.
Kurds and Jordan probably trying to stay out of it.
The insane thing is Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrein thinking they can turn this off before it eats them alive.
ISIS and the Al-Obama Brigade around for all out Jihad consuming all. The
Turks for their part are probably arrogant enough to think they will rule this Caliphate if it succeeds as the did the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey is a member of NATO. They would not be doing this with Uncle Scam’s ok - which they have. But the US is doing more than just giving approval. In fact, Turkey is the junior partner in this ISIS project.
How exactly is this different from Obama helping the Syrian rebels....who morph into ISIS when they cross the border?
If the glove fits, you must convict.
Oh, they’re still ISIS when in Syria and they call themselves that - it’s just that our media don’t call them that, because in Syria they are our - or rather Barry’s - allies.
Thanks for that link.
The hidden name is ISIL.shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiach LevantIslamic State in Iraq and the Levant
Levant ===>> Eastern Mediterranean counties
from Turkey to Egypt. This includes IsraelIraq (Babylon) and the Levant.
It is the re-creation of the Ancient Assyrian Empire.The Assyrian Empire is the same as the
Eastern half of the Roman Empire.These were the first terrorists,
three to five millennia ago.The Anti-Christ is "the Assyrian"
( Isaiah, Micah, Ezekiel ) .
bkmk
Syria, Turkey, Oil And Gas: How Turkey Is Drilling For Oil On The Border
http://www.ibtimes.com/syria-turkey-oil-gas-how-turkey-drilling-oil-border-1413336
Britain’s Intertek opens new petroleum testing lab in Turkey
http://fuelsandlubes.com/oiltrends/britains-intertek-opens-new-petroleum-testing-lab-in-turkey/
Britain in Turkey
http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/leighturner/2012/10/04/britain-in-turkey/
Europe’s Fastest-Growing Economy Needs More Oil [oil from Turkey]
http://www.cnbc.com/id/48690395
Turkey Beating Norway as Biggest Regional Oil Driller: Energy
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-10/turkey-beating-norway-as-biggest-regional-oil-driller-energy.html
[Title and link only. No content from Bloomberg allowed to be posted to FR.]
The only thing that's going to stop this cancer is an odd alliance of everyone who stands in ISIS's way.....Jordan, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, Kurds, Iran, Iraq.
Otherwise, I fear global chaos. The tactics of ISIS and their success could easily spread to rebel groups all over the world.
Worldwide: Turkey’s Strategic Importance In World Energy Corridor ( 2 )
http://www.mondaq.com/x/284498/Energy+Law/Turkeys+Strategic+Importance+In+World+Energy+Corridor+2
The Kurds in Iraq used to be at each others throats with competing political parties. Once the Barzani and Talabani factions developed working cooperation, Kurdish strength and prosperity were greatly enhanced in Iraq.
The KRG in Iraq has dramatically improved their relations with Turkey, and the Erdogan regime in particular. Part of their influence is oil and trade money greasing the Turkish elite, and part of their influence with Turkey is their ability to to address the Turk’s longstanding Kurdish security problem. The parties of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), notably the Barzani KDP, is vying with the PKK for influence the Kurdish community in Syria. The PKK’s history of terrorist attacks in Turkey far exceeds the numbers of the IRA in England, or al Queada in the USA, so Turkey can’t accept PKK ruled safe havens on it’s borders.
To the degree that the Iraqi Kurdish parties can not supplant the PKK, they have the ability to co-opt them to their policies and into their Kurdish coalition with economic, security and diplomatic inducements. The Iraqi Kurdish leadership has been outstandingly successful with their approach, and have earned credibility from all Kurds.
Because Turkey and Erdogan are so deep in their support of the Sunni Jihadis, they are now in a serious situation of war (even if limited to surrogates) with Iran, which makes them willing to offer major inducements for Kurdish support or neutrality.
In a few years, the Turks may well turn on the Kurds, as is customary in the region. Now however, is a truly historic opportunity for Kurdish nationhood, with Turkish support. Syrian Kurds need to play their cards well now, or risk being left out for generations to come, and vulnerable to being crushed by a future Turk or Arab regime. The essential price for the PKK is settlement with Turkey and the KRG. The Kurds are overwhelmingly Sunni as a natural alignment, although they typically self-identify as Kurds first.
"Kurds in Iraq used to be at each others throats . . . ."
I'd forgotten that. I think it was open war in 1998 between the two Iraqi Kurdish groups. IIRC. Neither group included the PKK I believe.
"In a few years, the Turks may well turn on the Kurds . . . ." Yes. That's true. And I think Armenia claims the part of Turkey that's home to many Kurds.
These threads so often have FReepers condemning Turkey as though the Ottoman Empire had not been replaced by a secular Republic of Turkey.. though Erdogan and the AK Party may be Islamists. But I think there will be civil war to prevent Islamism.
I have long admired the Turks (I lived in Ankara for several months, before Erdogan.) I am convinced that much of the misconception comes from the old Soviet Union's disinformation about our friend and Cold War ally.
Thanks again.
I thought that Turkey investors were benefiting from agreements with the KRG and their oil resources.
In fact here it says "This is the first attempt to sell a shipload of Kurdish crude, which has been exported to Turkey via the region’s newly built pipeline." Who needs Baghdad?
So if Europe needs more oil.. here it is:
Moroccan Authorities Refuse Kurdish Tanker Hauling Disputed Crude
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