The Madness of Sultan Tayyip

1 - He has gutted much of the educated middle class of Turkey in his frantic persecution of all those he thinks might not be loyal to him.

2 - He has sent the Turkish Army into Syria in what was first described as border defense against IS (a group he has long supported) and is now revealed (by him) to be an effort to reach central Syria and depose Bashar Assad.  It appears that Russia (and perhaps the US as well) have made it clear to him that this will not be permitted.

3. Through his relentless leadership purges he has so weakened the Turkish armed forces that the country is no longer a credible military partner in the NATO alliance.

4.  He has so provoked the EU that its weakling leaders have suspended negotiations for Turkish membership.  They did this after first having given Sultan Tayyip a 6.6 billion Euro bribe to stop sending refugees into the EU. 

5.  As a response to suspension of the process of Turkish accession to EU membership, Sultan Tayyip has now threatened to re-open the faucet of volkervanderung into the EU. 

6. He has positioned Turkish forces in the Mosul area in such a way as to be seen by the Iraqi government as having irredentist claims in northern Iraq.

Anything else?  pl

Comments

[Lemur]

The error in that analysis is reducing Trump's motivations to his ego. It's reminiscent of the trendy journalist narrative during the campaign 'he's only in it for the attention, tehehehe'. Most Great Men think pretty highly of themselves, and hence have firm belief their political endeavours will succeed where others won't. That may be precisely the attitude we need in the whitehouse.

[kooshy]

is this the same Israel of 2006 war with Hezbollah

[ISL]

That is really sad, though it was more of a pond, a roadside lake maybe 1/2 mile across. Probably had a dam though it was getting dark and I dont recall. There was such warm hospitality in the family.

[mike allen]

Babak Makkinejad -

Ah! Diyarbakr, the city of death and missing, as RT describes it.

https://www.rt.com/news/335337-diyarbakir-turkish-military-crackdown/

Even Germany, Turkey's oldest friend in Europe, is slamming Erdogan's crackdown on Kurdish civilians and politicians. Belgium is slapping Erdogan in the face with a recent court ruling stating that activities of the PKK organization cannot be classed as terrorism but fall under the definition of an “armed campaign”.

There are claims that Iran is encouraging and funding the PKK. I do not know whether those claims are true or false. I expect much of the funding comes more from the Kurdish diaspora. What are your thoughts on that?

I have also seen recent reports that an Iraqi Shia PMU is supporting PKK elements inside Iraq.

And what outside agency would be supporting PDKI and PAK guerillas in Iran?

The problem with the Kurds is that they have believed the empty promises of the Turks, Iranians, Arabs, Russians, British, and Americans. All have (or will) desert them in the end. Trump claims he likes the Kurdish fighters. But his pick for National Security Advisor appears to be an Erdogan man. Will Trump stick by the PYG in Syria and the Peshmerga in Iraq? What about future administrations?

[Tyler]

IZ,

According to my sources from the future, April 9th, 2020.

http://m.imgur.com/vg4kKi9

[mike allen]

"Anything else"

Turning Turkish prisons into Abu Ghraib on a mass scale.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38123926?ocid=socialflow_twitter

[Balint Somkuti, PhD]

Whatever symbolic status Istanbul may have, its almost homogenous population makes every attempt at changing its status futile. Militarily the Straits can be controlled without occupying the city.

[Balint Somkuti, PhD]

While the Ottoman Empire's religious tolerance and its multiethnic society is worth mentioning it must not be forgotten that these were the results of the serious military setbacks suffered in the 17th century.

Since the above were thoroughly destroyed by either turkish nationalism and/or Erdogan's iron hand, or even other (outside) factors, recreating that very Empire is an impossible task.

On the other hand you cannot downplay demography. Those countries/cultures where there are not enough children born are doomed to disappear. As simple as that. And this factor is obviously on Erdogan's side.

[b]

Two (former) CIA big wigs and a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey were the sponsor of his residency permit which the State Department and FBI originally rejected.

I don't think they did this out of private love for the dude ...

[LeaNder]

those 6 billion were not for Syrian refugees but to make it political possible to say no (in stead of wait) to Turkeys EU membership.

That's nonsense, sorry. It's pretty obvious that the pressure on the states around Syria to take in refugees is high. How many do you think fled to Jordan, Lebanon and yes Turkey over the years?

One sure can discuss, if the deal made sense at all. But the EU agreed to take in a limited number of Syrians while Turkey would take the refugees stranded in Greece back in. Meaning: one hoped to deal with human trafficking too. The ones admitted can then simply board an airplane.

There has always been a strong resistance against Turkish membership The present context hasn't exactly made things easier.

[LeaNder]

I remind the pilgrims that this SOB was the darling of the Borg, and other assorted useful cretins, a decade or so ago.

Well, I must have been a victim of propaganda too over the years. In any case I found Tayyip at the 2009 Davos annual meeting refreshing. Forgive, if I return to this incident over and over again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR4zRbPy2kY

For all I know he is still a Borg operative fighting for his life.

that has been more hesitatingly one of my hypotheses. Strong connections between the US, Israel and Turkey over the years, continuity based on NATO membership versus the state's struggle in a deeper fog of war and politics.

There seemed to have been some kind of détente between Syria and Turkey before current events unfolded, and Turkey's parliament resisted to join Bush43's coalition of the willing before that.

[turcopolier]

b
In re Gulen. You don't understand that "former" is really "former" when you leave something like CIA. The "new guys" don't want you around. You cramp their style because they and you always remember them sucking up to you. These two men (Henze and Fuller) had served in Turkey. It would have been part of their work there to stay in touch with a wide spectrum of people especially people like Gulen who would have been in a position because of his network to inform of what was going on beneath the surface of society in Turkey. IMO if you want to understand why these men sought residency and sanctuary for Gulen you should look to whatever it is that he did for them personally. pl

[Eric Newhill]

IZ,
Actually, my grandfathers. One grandfather was executed in Oorfa for smuggling rifles from Iran (rifles for self defense against the Kurds, who the Turks had unleashed on the Armenians as murderous hired hands). My paternal grandfather, from the Diyarbekir region, survived and came to America. He lived under the same roof I did from the time I was 8 or 9 up until the time I was in high school.

I gave serious consideration to going to fight in Nagorno Karabakh. However, I was informed that it would be considered some kind of act of terrorism by the State Dept.

Anyhow, I agree that now may the once every hundred years opportunity.

[turcopolier]

Lemur

The media and his political foes are talking out of both sides of their heads on Trump's transition. They accuse him of not "draining the swamp" of the revolving door K Street lobbyist aristocracy but when he hires people like Mnuchin, Wilbur Ross and others from out of town then he is said to be opting for the status quo. Who should he appoint Treasury Secretary? Should it be a shoe salesman picked by lottery? pl

[yoyo]

EU did not give turkey 6 billion they signed the contract but they keep delaying the payment appereantly they will never pay so read some news before writing anything

[Babak Makkinejad]

As I said, in case of Kurds in Turkey, one has to acknowledge the destructive role that PKK has played in that part of the world.

I do not care about the politics of the classification of PKK or PYG or any other such groups. Young Kurdish men and women have no future outside of the states they reside; Iran, Turkey, Iraq, and Syria.

They can blame their ancestors for never having attempted to establish and maintain a Kurdish Kingdom - unlike Armenians - but such blame games will not help them to engage with the world as it is and not as a fantasy - when every hamlet, led by a chief, has become independent.

Go look at Erbil as see for yourself.

[turcopolier]

richardstevenhack

"the US plan" You ARE joking aren't you? There is no plan just a lot of goody goody Borgist group think. pl

[Laura]

Lemur, you might want to look up NPD or narcissistic personality disorder. I think we are all dealing with
something a little more problematic than Great Men thinking highly of themselves. I would like to be wrong...but it is worth bearing in mind.

[Generalfeldmarschall von Hindenburg]

I like your read. Definitely a lot of miscalculations going on lately in high places. It's a wonderful thing when the careful elite planning all goes up in smoke, confounded by circumstance and their own blinkered thinking.

[Generalfeldmarschall von Hindenburg]

Luckily, this sort of posturing doesn't carry any weight at the executive level. I have a lot of bad things to say about Obama, but the guy seems to have a realistic notion of what might happen if the US decides on its own or with some combination of client states like the UK or France to declare a no fly zone in Syria.

[Generalfeldmarschall von Hindenburg]

The Borg has a bad track record when it comes to discarding despots they no longer think useful. I remember Qaddafi's temporary rehabilitation. And how about Manuel Noriega or Baby Doc Duvalier or Saddam Hussein? Any local strongman who thinks they're buying some kind of immunity from drone strikes or assassination by taking CIA money or 'reforming' their economy for the benefit of Wall Street is a victim of the worst kind of self deception.

[Generalfeldmarschall von Hindenburg]

Maybe the idea was that it was "THEE CITY" - the capitol of the known world. (It used to be a big deal!)

[mike allen]

Babak Makkinejad -

Tribalism implies strong cultural and ethnic ties. Something that is common to those of Arab, Turkish and Persian blood also. Unfortunately for the Turkish Kurds and Alevis and many others they are being forced into assimilation - else emigration, prison, death or fighting back. Iranian Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs and even some Azeri are also being forced into homogenization by the current regime in Tehran as well as in the past by the Pahlavis.

[Imagine]

What else:
1) Family brokered sale of ISIS oil to Israel, supporting both ISIS and Israel.
2) Shooting down a Russian jet.

[Babak Makkinejad]

I think you are completely misinformed about Iran. Persian tribalism? Hardly, name one Persian tribe extant, please.

What keeps all those various people together is the Shia Religion. That is the bond forged over centuries of intermittent warfare between the Shia political power based in Qazvin, Isphahan, Mashahd, or later Tehran and the Sunni political powers surrounding her.

The fight in Iran is not between Persians and others, if you like to look for one. It is between Azeris and Kurds - take your side.

You have a beef with the current Iranian dispensation; but you guys were in Iran for 25 years, why did you not put anything better in place?

You have been in Afghanistan for 15 years, and even Najib's government was better than what is in place there now; in my opinion.