The other Iranian stooge in the Middle East went whining to Putin to complain about Turkey. According to Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, Turkey's actions are arrogant and the international community must stop Turkey. Maliki told Putin that there was no case for Nato involvement and Turkey was not under threat. He claimed that bringing Nato into Syria could spread the war to the entire region. He said he hoped that there wouldn't be a repetition of the Libya affair.
http://haber.stargazete.com/dunya/maliki-rusyada-konustu-turkiye-durdurulmali/haber-696127
Tensions between Turkey and Iraq are rising. Turkey refused to hand back Iraq's former deputy president Tariq al-Hashimi after he was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court. He is a Sunni. Turkey is also supplying the Kurdish region in northern Iraq with refined oil products and raiding PKK targets in Iraq despite Baghdad's protests. Iraqi authorities said they had plans to procure arms to prevent Turkish air raids. Turkey's foreign minister made a visit to Mosul without telling Baghdad which lodged a protest. Turkey replied with a note of protest of its own. The foreign minister pointed out that if Iranian diplomats were free to travel in Iraq without seeking official permission, Turkish diplomats should be, too.
http://haber.stargazete.com/dunya/maliki-rusyada-konustu-turkiye-durdurulmali/haber-696127
Tensions between Turkey and Iraq are rising. Turkey refused to hand back Iraq's former deputy president Tariq al-Hashimi after he was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court. He is a Sunni. Turkey is also supplying the Kurdish region in northern Iraq with refined oil products and raiding PKK targets in Iraq despite Baghdad's protests. Iraqi authorities said they had plans to procure arms to prevent Turkish air raids. Turkey's foreign minister made a visit to Mosul without telling Baghdad which lodged a protest. Turkey replied with a note of protest of its own. The foreign minister pointed out that if Iranian diplomats were free to travel in Iraq without seeking official permission, Turkish diplomats should be, too.
How could Syria turn into a Vietnam for Turkey? The US was fighting overseas in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. These wars were expensive to pay for because the supply lines were stretched. Syria is on Turkey's doorstep. America has no historic links to any of the countries where it was bogged down. Syria, by contrast, is historically Turkey. Even in late 1918, at the time of the ceasefire, the Turkish army still held Aleppo. It was surprising to learn that Turkey was expected to hand over even Aleppo.
Another key difference is that the Syrians themselves have been asking Turkey to send the troops in since last year. Turkey's reluctance to take action is a huge disappointmnt for them. In this, the Syrian affair has more to do with Cyprus where the Turkish Cypriots were begging for Turkey to intervene, than America's war in Vietnam.
Even if there is an Alawite insurgency in Syria after Assad is overthrown, Turkey has an army that has been fighting insurrection for thirty years. It will not be anything beyond this army's capabilities.
The reward for victory, which is certain, would be huge. Iran would be sent packing back home. The coast woud be clear for Turkey's ambition to set up a commonwealth of Ottoman nations in the region. Syria would certainly have a very pro-Turkey government. Who knows, Syria might even vote for reunification. Nobody stopped the German reunification, eh?
The objections to war make no sense. Some of Turkey's Alawite are more loyal to Assad's sectarian regime than their own country. But Assad will fall with or without Turkish intervention. The only difference is the amount of suffering until his end. Besides why should Turkey help Iran set up a Shia zone extending from the Tigris to the Mediterranean? Another group that is clamouring against war is the Kurdish contingent. They want an autonomous region in northern Syria to link up with the Kurdish administered northern Iraq. They would like northern Iraq to pump oil through a pipeline through Syria to a port in the Mediterranean. Turkey's communists also like Assad because baath is socialist and Assad is at war with Islam. The peaceniks cannot give their real reasons, so they are making up clumsy excuses.
There is no sincerity in any of these views. One day they complain about Turkish youth dying in Syria, the next day they complain because Turkey has intercepted a plane carrying military equipment to Syria. One day they ask why the government is so harsh on Israel and so lenient on Assad. The next day they ask the government to let go of Assad and make Israel issue an apology about the ferry attack (which it should). One day they claim that Turkey cannot solve the Kurdish question with a military campaign, the next day they ask the government to leave Syria alone and launch an attack against the Kurdish insurgents instead. If the Turkish government were to act on their whim and launch a massive attack on the Kurds, they would ask the government to let go of the kurds and rescue innocent Syrians crushed under Assad's thumb. There is no pleasing them because their agenda isn't what they claim.
That goes for many of our allies, too. Those who are making concerned noises about Syria turning into Turkey's Vietnam probably know that it is nonsense. Obama hates commitments in the Middle East, particularly at election time. The others probably fear growing Turkish influence, maybe at their expense. Others must have their own reasons for wanting Assad's regime to survive or for denying Turkey the leadership it doubtlessly deserves. But it would be a tremendous mistake not to send the troops to Damascus. Turkey would have marched into northern Iraq under president Ozal back in 1990. Turkey's chief of staff resigned in protest and the order was countermanded. Then, in 2001, the US asked Turkey to authorise US troops to attack Iraq from Turkish soil. The US request was denied by a wafer thin margin in a parliamentary vote. We all know what happened to northern Iraq afterwards. Turkey has already suffered enormously for its previous mistakes. There is no margin for making the same mistake a third time. Is there?
Turkey-Syria: Us analyst warns,it could be Erdogan's Vietnam
Ankara moves troops, ships and warplanes at the border
09 October, 19:17
(ANSAmed) - ANKARA, OCTOBER 9 - A week after stray mortar fire from the Syrian civil war killed five Turkish civilians in the border town of Akcakale, tensions remain high on the 900-kilometer Turkish-Syrian border, with Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan sabre-rattling while his military high command moves troops, ships and warplanes into the area.
According to Turkish analysts, popular opposition to a war with Syria remains high even as Erdogan warns that an all-out conflict with its neighbor, though unwanted, ''is not far off,'' and that embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ''stands on crutches.'' The Turkish government envisages five levels of military response to escalating tensions with Syria, Milliyet daily wrote on Tuesday. These are: artillery response to stray mortar fire from Syria; beefing up military presence along the border; air force raids against Syrian positions, and, as a last resort, sending ground forces into Syria.
Turkey has already sent troops and tanks to the border, transferred 25 F16 warplanes to its Diyarbakir Air Force base, and sent warships from the Sea of Marmara to the south-eastern Mediterranean. A fifth measure would entail creating a buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border, should the current flow of war refugees, which now number 100,000, increase to 200,000. Turkey can host up to 120,000 refugees in acceptable conditions, the newspaper quoted authorities as saying. However, Erdogan, engaged in a bloody internal conflict with Kurdish separatists in the north, can ill afford to enter into an armed intervention his NATO allies have already given notice they will not participate in, Turkish analysts said. Erdogan is ''trapped between national honor and national interest,'' as Prof. Joshua Landis, who directs the University of Oklahoma's Center for Middle East Studies, put it. ''National honor demanded a strong, determined response to last week's civilian deaths. But it is in the national interest to stay out of Syria, which could potentially turn into Erdogan's Vietnam.
He could get bogged down, and it would exact a very high price.''
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/analysis/2012/10/09/Turkey-Syria-Us-analyst-warns-could-Erdogan-Vietnam_7604328.html
Another key difference is that the Syrians themselves have been asking Turkey to send the troops in since last year. Turkey's reluctance to take action is a huge disappointmnt for them. In this, the Syrian affair has more to do with Cyprus where the Turkish Cypriots were begging for Turkey to intervene, than America's war in Vietnam.
Even if there is an Alawite insurgency in Syria after Assad is overthrown, Turkey has an army that has been fighting insurrection for thirty years. It will not be anything beyond this army's capabilities.
The reward for victory, which is certain, would be huge. Iran would be sent packing back home. The coast woud be clear for Turkey's ambition to set up a commonwealth of Ottoman nations in the region. Syria would certainly have a very pro-Turkey government. Who knows, Syria might even vote for reunification. Nobody stopped the German reunification, eh?
The objections to war make no sense. Some of Turkey's Alawite are more loyal to Assad's sectarian regime than their own country. But Assad will fall with or without Turkish intervention. The only difference is the amount of suffering until his end. Besides why should Turkey help Iran set up a Shia zone extending from the Tigris to the Mediterranean? Another group that is clamouring against war is the Kurdish contingent. They want an autonomous region in northern Syria to link up with the Kurdish administered northern Iraq. They would like northern Iraq to pump oil through a pipeline through Syria to a port in the Mediterranean. Turkey's communists also like Assad because baath is socialist and Assad is at war with Islam. The peaceniks cannot give their real reasons, so they are making up clumsy excuses.
There is no sincerity in any of these views. One day they complain about Turkish youth dying in Syria, the next day they complain because Turkey has intercepted a plane carrying military equipment to Syria. One day they ask why the government is so harsh on Israel and so lenient on Assad. The next day they ask the government to let go of Assad and make Israel issue an apology about the ferry attack (which it should). One day they claim that Turkey cannot solve the Kurdish question with a military campaign, the next day they ask the government to leave Syria alone and launch an attack against the Kurdish insurgents instead. If the Turkish government were to act on their whim and launch a massive attack on the Kurds, they would ask the government to let go of the kurds and rescue innocent Syrians crushed under Assad's thumb. There is no pleasing them because their agenda isn't what they claim.
That goes for many of our allies, too. Those who are making concerned noises about Syria turning into Turkey's Vietnam probably know that it is nonsense. Obama hates commitments in the Middle East, particularly at election time. The others probably fear growing Turkish influence, maybe at their expense. Others must have their own reasons for wanting Assad's regime to survive or for denying Turkey the leadership it doubtlessly deserves. But it would be a tremendous mistake not to send the troops to Damascus. Turkey would have marched into northern Iraq under president Ozal back in 1990. Turkey's chief of staff resigned in protest and the order was countermanded. Then, in 2001, the US asked Turkey to authorise US troops to attack Iraq from Turkish soil. The US request was denied by a wafer thin margin in a parliamentary vote. We all know what happened to northern Iraq afterwards. Turkey has already suffered enormously for its previous mistakes. There is no margin for making the same mistake a third time. Is there?
Turkey-Syria: Us analyst warns,it could be Erdogan's Vietnam
Ankara moves troops, ships and warplanes at the border
09 October, 19:17
(ANSAmed) - ANKARA, OCTOBER 9 - A week after stray mortar fire from the Syrian civil war killed five Turkish civilians in the border town of Akcakale, tensions remain high on the 900-kilometer Turkish-Syrian border, with Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan sabre-rattling while his military high command moves troops, ships and warplanes into the area.
According to Turkish analysts, popular opposition to a war with Syria remains high even as Erdogan warns that an all-out conflict with its neighbor, though unwanted, ''is not far off,'' and that embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ''stands on crutches.'' The Turkish government envisages five levels of military response to escalating tensions with Syria, Milliyet daily wrote on Tuesday. These are: artillery response to stray mortar fire from Syria; beefing up military presence along the border; air force raids against Syrian positions, and, as a last resort, sending ground forces into Syria.
Turkey has already sent troops and tanks to the border, transferred 25 F16 warplanes to its Diyarbakir Air Force base, and sent warships from the Sea of Marmara to the south-eastern Mediterranean. A fifth measure would entail creating a buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border, should the current flow of war refugees, which now number 100,000, increase to 200,000. Turkey can host up to 120,000 refugees in acceptable conditions, the newspaper quoted authorities as saying. However, Erdogan, engaged in a bloody internal conflict with Kurdish separatists in the north, can ill afford to enter into an armed intervention his NATO allies have already given notice they will not participate in, Turkish analysts said. Erdogan is ''trapped between national honor and national interest,'' as Prof. Joshua Landis, who directs the University of Oklahoma's Center for Middle East Studies, put it. ''National honor demanded a strong, determined response to last week's civilian deaths. But it is in the national interest to stay out of Syria, which could potentially turn into Erdogan's Vietnam.
He could get bogged down, and it would exact a very high price.''
http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/analysis/2012/10/09/Turkey-Syria-Us-analyst-warns-could-Erdogan-Vietnam_7604328.html
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