Is Turkey ready to boil?

[Vikrant]

It seems like ISIS is heading to Turkey.

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Blasts kill scores at peace rally in Turkey in sign of worsening instability

BEIRUT — Two bomb blasts ripped through crowds at a rally of peace activists in the Turkish capital Saturday, killing scores, in a reminder of the growing conflicts Turkey faces both at home and across the border in war-torn Syria.

The explosions in Ankara, which occurred just minutes and yards apart, killed 97 people and injured 246 more as they gathered to call for an end to the violence that has flared between Turkish security forces and Kurdish separatists in recent months.

Turkey, a NATO member and key U.S. ally, shares borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran — all of which are embroiled in the conflict with the Islamic State. Turkish officials have confronted Russia over the latter’s violation of Turkey’s airspace in recent days, as Russian warplanes launch strikes against Syrian rebels, heightening tensions.

The renewal of Turkey’s decades-old struggle with the Kurds could destabilize the region further. Ethnic Kurds have also accused Turkish authorities of failing to protect them from what they say is violent spillover from Syria’s civil war.

In July, a suicide bombing targeting another rally of Kurdish peace activists, in the town of Suruc, killed 33 people and was blamed on the Islamic State. Turkey then joined the U.S.-led coalition carrying out strikes on the jihadists inside Syria and was braced for potential blowback from the extremists. Turkey hosts more than 2 million refugees from Syria, which the government says is a major source of political instability.

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Blasts kill scores at peace rally in Turkey in sign of worsening instability

 

[Vikrant]

US starts to pull Patriot missiles from Turkey at critical time

The U.S. has started to pull its Patriot missiles stationed in Turkey, despite a recent appeal from Ankara to its NATO allies to keep the air and missile defense units at a delicate time on the border with Syria.

Patriot missiles were initially deployed at the Gaziantep 5th Armored Brigade Command in southeastern Turkey after the country appealed to its NATO allies to guard against rockets from Syria.

On Aug. 15, German Federal Ministry of Defense announced that it would end its contribution to the anti-missile mission in Turkey.

The announcement was followed by a statement from the U.S. on Aug. 16 saying it had informed the Turkish government that the mission, due to end in October, would not be renewed.

The U.S.’s withdrawal of the anti-missile systems started as the Patriots were brought to the Port of İskenderun awaiting ships that would return them to U.S. soil.

The pull out was initiated despite a recent appeal by Turkey to its NATO allies on Oct. 8, days after Russian jets violated Turkey’s airspace near Syria.

The move raised questions about NATO’s strategy in Turkey, as it contradicted with the statements of NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that the alliance was prepared to send ground forces to defend its member state.

INTERNATIONAL - US starts to pull Patriot missiles from Turkey at critical time

 

[JakeStarkey]

Turkey refused to allow the US 4th Mech to transit Turkey's soil to the northern border of Iraq. The US offered Turkey $25 billion for the right, and the Turks held out for 50 billion, and the US said 'nope', and sent the division around the world to get it on Iraq's southern borders.

I am not too concerned for a weak man like Turkey.

 

[Vikrant]

Turkey refused to allow the US 4th Mech to transit Turkey's soil to the northern border of Iraq. The US offered Turkey $25 billion for the right, and the Turks held out for 50 billion, and the US said 'nope', and sent the division around the world to get it on Iraq's southern borders.

I am not too concerned for a weak man like Turkey.

I remember that. They were supposed to be an ally of the U.S.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Turkey want to be the strong player in the region.

It has to stand up to do so, and so far has not show much sand at all.

 

[Vikrant]

Next, Saudis need to prove their worth. It has been interesting to watch them in Yemen.

 

[Vikrant]

US defense equipment transfer to Turkey still on hold amid discord on regional issues

Transfer of four separate defense system equipment Turkey demands from the United States is still pending, amid different approaches between the two NATO allies towards regional issues, particularly Syria.

Ankara has thus far not been able to get permission for the transfer of four defense system equipment it has long demanded from the U.S. and which it sees as critical for Turkey’s national security. The U.S. and Turkey’s different perspectives on issues in the Middle East are to blame, particularly Syria.

The key defense system equipment Turkey demanded from the U.S. is called “smart ammunition” –also known as PGM and used to prevent civilian losses– as Turkey is carrying out intense counterterrorism operations due to an upsurge in violent attacks by outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants.

Smart ammunition has been in Turkey’s inventory since 2010, but is about to run out. Turkey needs to get a new permission to buy more, which Turkey has been waiting for about a year.

Security sources said if the U.S. does not issue permits for smart ammunition sales to Turkey, Turkey would run out of the military equipment critical in military operations against the PKK.

Among the defense system equipment Ankara demanded from Washington are unmanned combat aerial vehicles, military helicopters, smart military supplies, frigates and military trailers.

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INTERNATIONAL - US defense equipment transfer to Turkey still on hold amid discord on regional issues

 

[Vikrant]

Russia doesn’t want to fight a war with Turkey, so Russian generals devised a simple, but effective plan to discourage Turkey from taking any action that could lead to a clash between the two nations.

Last week, Russian warplanes intruded into Turkish airspace twice. Both incidents caused consternation in Ankara and send Turkish leaders into a furor. On both occasions, officials in Moscow politely apologized for the incursions claiming they were unintentional (“navigational errors”) and that they would try to avoid similar intrusions in the future.

Then there was a third incident, a more serious incident, that was not a mistake. It was clearly intended to send a message to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Here’s a short summary of what happened from an article at the World Socialist Web Site:

“Turkish officials claimed a third incident on Monday, when an unidentified MiG-29 fighter jet locked its radar for four and a half minutes on eight Turkish F-16 jets that were on patrol on their side of the border, in apparent preparation to open fire.” (“US, NATO step up threats to Russia over Syria“, World Socialist Web Site)

This was no mistake. The only time a fighter pilot adopts these protocols is when he plans to take down an enemy plane. This was a message, and while it might have been over-the-heads of the politicians and the media but, I assure you, every general in the Turkish High-Command knows what’s it means. This is a wake-up call. Moscow is indicating that there’s a new sheriff in town and that Turkey had better behave itself or there’s going to be trouble. There’s not going to be any US-Turkey no-fly zone over North Syria, there’s not going to be any aerial attacks on Syrian sites from the Turkish side of the border, and there certainly is not going to be any ground invasion of Turkish troops into Syria. The Russian Aerospace Defence Forces now control the skies over Syria and they are determined to defend Syria’s sovereign borders. That’s the message. Period.

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Putin's "Endgame" in Syria

 

[Vikrant]

ANKARA (Turkey): Turkey's military says a high-level Russian air force delegation has arrived in Ankara to discuss Russian jets' violation of Turkey's airspace.

A military statement said the delegation, led by Russia's deputy air force commander, "shared information" on Thursday on the reasons for the two intrusions that happened earlier this month, as well as measures that Russia was taking to avoid further incidents.

The violations drew strong reaction from Turkey and its Nato allies.

Turkey has also strongly criticized Russia for targeting moderate rebels during the military campaign in Syria and warned Moscow risked harming trade ties with Ankara.

Turkish, Russian military in talks over airspace violation - The Times of India

 

[Vikrant]

This one is a very interesting article.

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Is Turkey the new Pakistan? Even a year ago it would have seemed unreasonable to compare our Nato ally on the fringe of Europe, an active candidate to join the EU, with poor, politically unstable, terrorist-plagued Pakistan.

Since 2000, Turkey had become the poster-child for those who hope a predominantly Muslim society could combine democracy with economic success. While Pakistan had remained in the shadow of Afghanistan’s perpetual crisis since 1979, under the leadership of Recep Tayip Erdogan Turkey had steamed ahead since 2002.

But over the last few years a slow-motion train wreck in Turkey has become increasingly apparent. Saturday’s suicide bombing in Ankara was just the latest in Turkey’s renewed terrorist crisis.

Turkey admitted the prime suspect is Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant over the border in Syria. It then launched air strikes against the dissident Kurds fighting Isil along the same frontier. That is how murky Erdogan’s security policy has become.

One of the big gains of his rule had been a ceasefire with the militant Kurdish PKK in south-east Turkey. Erdogan actually returned to the Turkish Parliament after being banned from a Kurdish region in 2002 for his Islamic activities. It seemed his mix of religion and politics meant a Muslim leader could reach out to fellow Muslim Kurds as well as ethnic Turks.

But as elections in June showed, the bulk of Turkey’s Kurds now support opponents of Erdogan’s AK Party. This is largely the result of his backing anti-Assad forces in Syria who are not only Sunni but hostile to Syria’s Kurds.

Like his allies in Nato, Erdogan had expected the Assad regime to implode as quickly as other Arab dictatorships in 2011. But unlike the rest of the West, Erdogan took sides in the sectarian politics of Syria. Turkey’s sympathy for jihadists there and its blind-eye to weapons supplies to Isil have bitterly divided the Turkish public.

Is Erdogan turning Turkey into the new Pakistan?

 

[montelatici]

The rise of the religious "country Turks" and their voting for Erdogan's religious party is destroying the Turkey that the great man Ataturk founded. The unfortunate thing is that a large minority of Turks, the city Turks, maybe 40% of the population are no different than Europeans. The city Turk women don't wear veils, the city Turks drink wine at meals (there are Turkish wineries that make pretty good wine) , the city Turks are secular.

The backward, uneducated country Turks supported by the Islamists that are educated, are the problem.

In the past, when the country Turks began causing problems, the Army would step in and reset the situation and re-implement the Ataturk regime. Erdogan gelded the military unfortunately.