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Turkey can totally forget about inclusion in the E.U. if it happens that they cave in to ISIS.
Agreed, there is a number of European nations trying to help stop ISIS yet the Turks who are right there are doing nothing. They, or at least their government, are not reliable when things get tough.
Turkey is happy to see the Kurds getting their arses kicked by ISIS; they have long had a fear of a strong and thriving Kurdish population in northern Iraq which might inspire their own Kurdish population in the east to secede. Turkey pretty much vetoed the potential "3 state solution" (Kurd, Sunni, Shia) for Iraq which, in retrospect, seems like it would have been a better idea than trying to keep it a single country. Without the power of a strongman dictator, there was little to no chance of Iraq succeeding.
Turkey is happy to see the Kurds getting their areses kicked by ISIS; they have long had a fear of a strong Kurdish population in norther Iraq which might inspire their own Kurdish in the east population to secede. Turkey pretty much vetoed the potential "3 state solution" (Kurd, Sunni, Shia) for Iraq which, in retrospect, seems like it would have been a better idea than trying to keep it a single country. Without the power of a strongman dictator, there was little to no chance of Iraq succeeding.
Agreed, I am totally disgusted by Turkey right now. They have an huge army of 300,000 to 400,000 men (depends on the source) and they will not even help their fellow Muslims defend themselves in a city on their doorstep. Totally worthless as allies.
Perhaps the Kurds deserve our full support now.
Not only do they have that large, and well trained Army -- they have a long row of Tanks on the edge of Kobani. They just sit and watch ..... they are not there to help the Kurds and citizens of Kobani, they are there to make SURE that NO Turkish Kurds go into Kobani to help.
Erdogan is an Islamist - he supports Hamas, he supports al-Qaeda, Turkey is the transport link for ISIS and Turkey is both purchaser and broker for the ISIS stolen Oil. Most Turks (and certainly Erdogan's Party) don't like the Ethnic Kurds that are a minority in Turkey, Iraq & Syria. They are more than pleased to see ISIS slaughter them. While Turkey has been supporting ISIS, that is now coming back to bite them ..... ISIS doesn't care about past alliances, they care about capturing Territory and building their Islamic Caliphate. The Capture of Kobani is great propaganda for them .... nothing works better than "we defeated the American War Planes", they can't stop us.
The USA is not going to "support the Kurds" - that's why we make sure they can only have small arms, our "partner" Turkey, and our good friend Maliki wouldn't allow the Kurds to have anything more than as old Russian make rifle. ...... These Kurds are supposed to be our "Boots on the Ground". Unbelievable.
So what you're saying is they were just giving lip service and made **** up.
Yup.
But Bush not only lied about the necessity to invade and occupy a country, he invaded the country, slaughtering over a hundred thousand innocent people in the process in the greatest war crime seen this century, and hopefully one that cannot be replicated anywhere in the world.
I think this is more serious than most people realize. The Kurds are threatening war on Turkey if they don't defend Syrian Kurds in Kobani/ Ayn Al Arab from ISIS attacks, so far Turkey has done nothing. ISIS is so popular among young men in Turkey that they are afraid that there could be attacks inside Turkey.
You could literally see a 3 way Civil War - Turks vs Kurds vs ISIS - unfold in Turkey soon. Turkey is NATO member... so what does the other NATO members do?
ISIS is not popular in Turkey. This recent survey (published Sept. 24, 2014) shows 1.3% are sympathetic toward ISIS, with 2.2% among supporters of the ruling AKP. It does come out to a large number, considering Turkey is a nation of over 70 million.
Thankfully, there aren't many civilians in Kobane as they've almost all taken refuge in Turkey. Turkey has probably taken in over 90 percent of Kobane's civilian population. There's nothing we can do about those who chose to stay, and it isn't Turkey's obligation to save them.
The YPG doesn't want Turkish military intervention. They want weapons and ammunition, and that's not happening since the YPG, being affiliated with the PKK, can't be trusted not to eventually draw its weapons against Turkey. The YPG similarly doesn't want Turkish ground forces in Kobane because Turkey would likely turn its weapons on the YPG.
The Syrian conflict has killed some 200,000 people, forcing roughly 1.6 million refugees to flee into Turkey. There are ethnic groups with ties to Turks (Turkmen) who are getting slaughtered in this same broader conflict, but you don't see Turkey coming in to save them. I don't agree with Turkey's current approach trying to oust Assad, but it makes more sense than only intervening on behalf of Kobane. The Kurdish regions of Syria have long been recruiting grounds for the PKK. Turkey isn't going to endanger the lives of its own soldiers and citizens for Kobane's sake.
Turkey is probably waiting for an unprovoked ISIS attack to invoke Article 5 and lessen the financial burden and life cost for Turkey. The US is the only major NATO member in Kobane. The rest are mostly Arab nations, while France and Britain are only bombing ISIS in Iraq.
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