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Syria - What should we do if anything?

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Eh... Excuse me, but... Assad pays for oil from his own fields captured by ISIS and gives ISIS money so they would capture more Assad's territory?

But is Assad really fighting IS ?

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But is Assad really fighting IS ?

At least he tries to do this. But it's not an easy task when many 'free world' countries arm and sponsor rebels in your country.

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At least he tries to do this. But it's not an easy task when many 'free world' countries arm and sponsor rebels in your country.

My point of view is that IS is a great relief to him : Western states don't try to get rid of him anymore, and hardly support the opposition anymore (apart some Arab countries which are playing a very complex game), and IS is mainly targeting Islamic rebels which haven't sworn allegiance to it.

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My point of view is that IS is a great relief to him : Western states don't try to get rid of him anymore, and hardly support the opposition anymore (apart some Arab countries which are playing a very complex game), and IS is mainly targeting Islamic rebels which haven't sworn allegiance to it.

Relief? I shouldn't say so. They try to gain the control even more effectively than previous rebel groups. Moreover western states still support various anti-regime groups.

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The big picture isis is a little group, that control a few roads in a dirt hole. the media try to scare people that they are a big deal, for now they are working well on destroy any stability, in that part of the world.

when the time come the western power could shut them down in a heart beat, air strike, carpet bombing daisy chain bombing, bio warfare, there so many nasty thing that could be use to clear every rat hole they are in. have them wishing they ran home.

The last people that used people as bomb was japan, US close that war down fast. it just take right timing.

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Turkey’s Troubling War on Syria

In Syria, the war to overthrow the secular government in Damascus has attracted Islamic militants from around the world, but they have relied on funding and support from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and – perhaps most importantly – Turkey, where an election reflected growing popular resistance to this war policy

Closely allied with Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey has been the primary path for weapons and foreign fighters in Syria. ISIS has depended on export of oil and import of weapons and fighters through Turkey.

The following examples show the extent of Turkish involvement in the war on Syria:

  • Turkey hosts the Political and Military Headquarters of the armed opposition. Most of the political leaders are former Syrians who have not lived there for decades.




  • Turkey provides home base for armed opposition leaders. As quoted in the Vice News video “Syria: Wolves of the Valleyâ€: “Most of the commanders actually live in Turkey and commute in to the fighting when necessary.â€




  • Turkey’s intelligence agency MIT has provided its own trucks for shipping huge quantities of weapons and ammunition to Syrian armed opposition groups. According to court testimony, they made at least 2000 trips to Syria.



  • In May 2013, Nusra fighters were arrested in possession of sarin but quickly and quietly released by Turkish authorities.



  • Turkey’s foreign minister, top spy chief and senior military official were secretly recorded plotting an incident to justify Turkish military strikes against Syria. A sensational recording of the meeting was publicized, exposing the plot in advance and likely preventing it from proceeding.






  • Turkey has recently increased its coordination with Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This has led to the recent assaults by thousands of foreign fighters on Idlib and Jisr al Shugour in northern Syria. Armed with advanced weaponry including TOW missiles, and using suicide bomb vehicles, the armed groups overran Syrian armed forces defending both cities. The assaults were facilitated by Turkey jamming and disrupting Syrian radio communications.






  • Turkey itself has provided steady supply of recruits to the Islamic State. Like other countries which have had citizens indoctrinated with Wahhabi fanaticism, they have done little or nothing to limit the indoctrination or restrict emigration for ‘jihad’.steady supply of recruits to the Islamic State. Like other countries which have had citizens indoctrinated with Wahhabi fanaticism, they have done little or nothing to limit the indoctrination or restrict emigration for ‘jihad’.




  • Finally, Turkey has permitted the supply of huge quantities of car bomb ingredients (ammonium nitrate fertilizer) to the Islamic State. On May 4, the New York Times reported these shipments at the Turkish border. Sixteen days later ISIS overran Ramadi in an assault that began with 30 car bombs with ten reportedly the size of the Oklahoma City bombing.

source

Edited by oxmox

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Interesting source, Consortium News. The author of the article, Rick Sterling, doesn't seem to offer much proof.

Worth having in mind that he's co-founder of Syria Solidarity Movement (linked with the International Socialist).

Easy to check the red links to the news reports...otherwise I would not have posted these points

Many of the posted infos were reported in the media anyway, its just a summary...

Edited by oxmox

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Easy to check the red links to the news reports...otherwise I would not have posted these points.

I know. I just commented that was worth noting who wrote it :)

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I know. I just commented that was worth noting who wrote it :)

Important is if it is confirmed by other (main media) sources and not who writes what...:), I understand of course the purpose of your comment.

Turkey’s Troubling War on Syria

In Syria, the war to overthrow the secular government in Damascus has attracted Islamic militants from around the world, but they have relied on funding and support from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and – perhaps most importantly – Turkey, where an election reflected growing popular resistance to this war policy

Closely allied with Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey has been the primary path for weapons and foreign fighters in Syria. ISIS has depended on export of oil and import of weapons and fighters through Turkey.

The following examples show the extent of Turkish involvement in the war on Syria:

  • Turkey hosts the Political and Military Headquarters of the armed opposition. Most of the political leaders are former Syrians who have not lived there for decades.




  • Turkey provides home base for armed opposition leaders. As quoted in the Vice News video “Syria: Wolves of the Valleyâ€: “Most of the commanders actually live in Turkey and commute in to the fighting when necessary.â€




  • Turkey’s intelligence agency MIT has provided its own trucks for shipping huge quantities of weapons and ammunition to Syrian armed opposition groups. According to court testimony, they made at least 2000 trips to Syria.



  • In May 2013, Nusra fighters were arrested in possession of sarin but quickly and quietly released by Turkish authorities.



  • Turkey’s foreign minister, top spy chief and senior military official were secretly recorded plotting an incident to justify Turkish military strikes against Syria. A sensational recording of the meeting was publicized, exposing the plot in advance and likely preventing it from proceeding.






  • Turkey has recently increased its coordination with Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This has led to the recent assaults by thousands of foreign fighters on Idlib and Jisr al Shugour in northern Syria. Armed with advanced weaponry including TOW missiles, and using suicide bomb vehicles, the armed groups overran Syrian armed forces defending both cities. The assaults were facilitated by Turkey jamming and disrupting Syrian radio communications.






  • Turkey itself has provided steady supply of recruits to the Islamic State. Like other countries which have had citizens indoctrinated with Wahhabi fanaticism, they have done little or nothing to limit the indoctrination or restrict emigration for ‘jihad’.steady supply of recruits to the Islamic State. Like other countries which have had citizens indoctrinated with Wahhabi fanaticism, they have done little or nothing to limit the indoctrination or restrict emigration for ‘jihad’.




  • Finally, Turkey has permitted the supply of huge quantities of car bomb ingredients (ammonium nitrate fertilizer) to the Islamic State. On May 4, the New York Times reported these shipments at the Turkish border. Sixteen days later ISIS overran Ramadi in an assault that began with 30 car bombs with ten reportedly the size of the Oklahoma City bombing.

source

Interesting that there is not much outcry by our nations, Turkey - which is a NATO member - plays also its role in Libya posted in the Libya thread.

Edited by oxmox

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Turkey will 'never allow' Kurdish state in Syria warns Erdogan (yahoo/AFP June 27th)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey will never allow

the establishment of a Kurdish state in Syria after major gains by Kurdish fighters.

In a strong-worded warning late on Friday, Erdogan accused the Kurds of ethnically cleaning other communities from land they have taken after pushing back Islamic State forces from the Turkish border.

"I say to the international community that whatever price must be paid, we will never allow the establishment of a new state on our southern frontier in the north of Syria," Erdogan was quoted by Turkish media as telling guests at a dinner to break the Ramadan fast.

He accused Kurdish forces of "changing the demographic structure" of several areas close to the Turkish border, which also have Arab and Turkmen populations.

Erdogan's comments came a day after IS militants mounted a bloody surprise attack on the Kurdish-held border town of Kobane, killing at least 164.

Erdogan again denied persistent claims of Turkish collusion with the jihadists, saying, "It is a big lie to accuse Turkey of having link with a terrorist organisation."

Despite ongoing peace talks with the PKK, the creation of any Kurdish zone in the north of Syria deeply worries Turkey, particularly as it borders the already autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq.

But in an interview with the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, Saleh Muslim, the head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) -- the political wing of the YPG militia -- denied they were trying to create an independent state. "We do not have such a project," he said.

However, Turkish media speculated Saturday that Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had asked its military to intervene in Syria earlier in the week.

The press claimed that the military high command demanded a written order from the government, with a new one yet to formed after the Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its overall majority for the first time in 13 years in a parliamentary election on June 7.

Hurriyet also claimed that at least 12,000 Turkish troops were ready to enter Syria to create a "security zone" to protect the border from the threat posed by IS.

http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-never-allow-kurdish-state-syria-warns-erdogan-133603673.html

Edited by oxmox

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Erdogan blew the one chance he had to link the Turkish and Kurdish people together and form a partnership after so much years of opression, fighting and violence. He doesn´t want a Kurdish state.

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Erdogan blew the one chance he had to link the Turkish and Kurdish people together and form a partnership after so much years of opression, fighting and violence. He doesn´t want a Kurdish state.

really sad that Turkey military has failed to protect the Secularized Turkey (failed coup some year ago) now it's really uncertain what will happen

the whole game with IS turned into "let's use them against Kurds, Christians and Syria regime as Casus belli to allow expand Turkey"

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Well it´s really sad because not only Erdogan blew a historic chance to form a bond with the Kurdish people, they now distrust Turks more than ever.

It actually wouldn´t surprise me if Turkey is giving weapons to the IS. Erdogan is of such a mindset that he´d rather have the IS ruling in Syria than a Kurdish state including the Kurdish regions in Turkey.

It really is a shame that the military coup failed.

For those uninformed, in Turkey, since the days of Atatürk the military is not only responsible for the defense of the country agains foreign agressors, but also to ensure that the government always stays secular. Basically that coup was their duty but they failed and got replaced by more obedient people.

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Turkey 'planning to invade Syria' (The Telegraph, June 29th)

Turkey’s security cabinet was on Monday considering plans to send troops into Syria

for the first time, turning the civil war into an international conflict on Europe’s borders.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has authorised a change in the rules of engagement previously agreed by the Turkish parliament to allow the army to strike at Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, as well as the Assad regime.

But he has suggested the main target of the intervention, if it goes ahead, will be to prevent the emergence of a new Kurdish state on Turkey’s doorstep. The local Syrian Kurdish militia, the YPG, has established dominance in a border strip across the north of the country in recent month, fighting off Isil.

Following Mr Erdogan’s speech, Turkish media were briefed on new orders being given to the military to prepare to send a force 18,000-strong across the border, with some reports saying the move could take place as early as Friday.

The troops would seize a stretch of territory 60 miles long by 20 deep into Syria, including the border crossings of Jarablus, currently in Isil hands, and Aazaz, currently controlled by the Free Syrian Army but under attack from Isil.

The buffer zone would kill several birds with one stone. As well has allowing Turkey to establish refugee camps not on its soil but under its protection, it would prevent the two current zones of Kurdish control - from Kobane to the Iraq border in the east, and Afrin in the west - from joining up.

It would also allow Turkey to control the flow of weapons and fighters into Syria - something that critics say it has not done well enough, thus encouraging the rise of Isil.

Changing the rules of engagement would give Turkey a pretext for intervention. The Assad regime has been driven back from the frontier and has been careful to present no threat to Turkey that would justify an attack, but Isil are attacking FSA forces supported by Turkey on the border itself.

“It may be the government wants to do this but there are numerous institutional reservations,†said Sinan Ulgen, head of the Edam think-tank in Istanbul.

In particular, there is a question-mark over whether the intervention would be legal under Turkish law without a vote in parliament, or in international law without a United Nations security council resolution.

It is strongly opposed by the main opposition party, the CHP, which blames Mr Erdogan for making the Syrian war worse by supporting Islamist rebel groups rather than using his influence to negotiate a peace settlement.

“There is not sufficient reason to send Turkish troops to Syria,†said Faruk Logoglu, who until the election was head of the CHP’s foreign affairs committee. “Once you do that there is no way out.â€

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/11706383/Turkey-planning-to-invade-Syria.html

Turkey Plans to Invade Syria, But to Stop the Kurds, Not ISIS

The Turkish military is not enthusiastic and Washington may have its doubts, but President Erdogan

appears determined to set up a buffer zone.

There has been speculation about a Turkish military intervention ever since the Syrian conflict began in 2011. Ankara has asked the United Nations and its Western allies to give the green light to create a buffer zone and a no-fly area inside Syria in order to prevent chaos along the Turkish border and to help refugees on Syrian soil before they cross over into Turkey. But the Turkish request has fallen on deaf ears.

Ankara is concerned that the Kurds will now turn their attention to the area west of Kobani and towards Mare to link up with the Kurdish area of Afrin, thereby connecting all Kurdish areas in Syria along the border with Turkey. Erdogan expects that the Syrian Kurds, whose advance against ISIS has been helped by airstrikes from the U.S.-led coalition, will go on to form their own state as Syria disintegrates after more than four years of war.

Turkey’s NATO partners, some of whom have deployed troops operating Patriot missile defense units near the Syrian border to shield member country Turkey against possible attacks from Syria, are unlikely to be happy with a Turkish intervention.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/28/turkey-plans-to-send-troops-into-syria-widening-the-war.html?via=mobile&source=twitter

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There is no way Turkey will be able to justify this when confronted by their western partners.

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Turkey could invade Syria for cleaning ISIS but not whole Syria just to protect borders because Kobani town or was attacked few times and a lot of people are died and injured

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Turkey could invade Syria for cleaning ISIS but not whole Syria just to protect borders because Kobani town or was attacked few times and a lot of people are died and injured

I have the feeling you didn´t read my post.....

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There is no way Turkey will be able to justify this when confronted by their western partners.

Well, they will be probably sceptical about it and reject it but maybe it fits theoretical also in their "concept"....

If Russia (and China ?) would have not played a role in international politics here, we would have highly likely an intervention,another Libya, by US or NATO forces.

Edited by oxmox

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(exchanged a post)

In almost the same time when news did report about a possible intervention into Syria by Turkey, mainly to prevent Kurds from "changing demographic structures" and with a message that Turkey will "never allow" a possible Kurdish state in Syria, other news report that Kurdish forces advance close to the Islamic State capital Raqqa.

Is ISIS's capital city under threat? (VOX, June 29th)

ISIS is in trouble: Kurdish forces have advanced to within

35 miles of the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State's capital.

"The Islamic State is facing perhaps its most serious symbolic and meaningful threat since it declared itself a caliphate almost one year ago," the Soufan Group, a private intelligence firm focusing on terrorism, writes in a recent briefing.

Will ISIS lose Raqqa? What will happen if it does?

How the Kurds advanced so dramatically against ISIS

ydbo4i2i.jpg

The push to Raqqa began on June 15. The People's Protection Units, a Syrian Kurdish militia better known as the YPG, pushed ISIS out of Tal Abyad — a strategically important Syrian town on the border with Turkey.

With Raqqa cut off from this critical supply line, YPG forces kept marching, aided by air support from the United States. By Wednesday, they had taken a town called Ain Isa, roughly 34 miles from Raqqa. ISIS, according to CNN, has begun digging in around Raqqa in anticipation of an attack.

"What makes the threat to Raqqa so serious is that the YPG is not an ad hoc group of rebel fighters looking to make an easy score and then rest," the Soufan Group's briefing group points out. "The Kurdish group is backed by coalition airstrikes and material support, and is methodically moving against the Islamic State."

ISIS, for all its victories in Syria and Iraq, is something of a paper tiger. The group's entire strategy demands that it keep expanding on all fronts, yet it lacks the material support to fend off all of its enemies. That has left it vulnerable — not at any risk of collapsing tomorrow, but weaker than it may look.

ISIS "is barely surviving in Syria," says Yasir Abbas, an associate at the private research and consulting firm Caerus Associates who closely tracks developments on the ground in Syria. "It is struggling to halt YPG advances and is out of low-hanging fruits to cultivate to feed its expanding narrative."

  • ISIS simply does not have the forces necessary to hold all of that land. The CIA estimates that ISIS has between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters; some private sector sources suggest that figure may be closer to 100,000.

  • ISIS's enemies, meanwhile, number far greater. There are about 48,000 official Iraqi government soldiers, but they're joined by 75,000 to 120,000 Shia militiamen fighting on the government's side. The BBC reports that there are 190,000 Kurdish peshmerga in Iraq's north. And that's just Iraq.

It's not clear if the US would, or even should, give the YPG the amount of support necessary for such an undertaking: There are reports of YPG fighters ethnically cleansing Arabs from the territory they take.

"Raqqa is not likely to fall," the Soufan report concludes. "It will likely become a city under siege, however, and be more or less surrounded. That alone would be a big blow to the group; the capital of what it sees as an ever-expanding caliphate so obviously contained."

This would hardly be the end of ISIS. But it would be a major victory in a theater that, for a long time, seemed utterly devoid of hope.

more:

http://www.vox.com/2015/6/29/8852217/isis-tal-abyad-raqqa

@ProfTournesol, yeah its interesting. But what I dont get is the fact that ISIS did advance really massive if you look at maps from now and some months ago. They are almost everywhere in Syria and at the doors of Damascus !! The definition of "Paper Tiger" sounds like they are beatable, but they advance all the time...and who should beat them.

Another bunch of allegedly "moderate" fighters where doubts arise if there have been ever moderate ones around ?

Edited by oxmox

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Around a week ago the following was reported by the turkish AA Press Agency:

US airstrikes help Kurds connect ‘cantons’ in Syria (AA - turkish Press Agency, June 24th)

Pentagon data shows vast majority of coalition air support given to Kurdish rebels,

very little to Syrian opposition groups

Pentagon data on U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Syria shows that of nearly 1,800 strikes, at least 1,200 have supported Kurdish rebels connect the self-declared “cantons†in northern Syria.

According to data from the U.S. Central Command in the last 10 months, the alliance has conducted a total of 4,624 airstrikes against Daesh targets – 2,850 inside Iraq while 1,774 in Syria. The U.S. has conducted 3,596 of the strikes with 1,930 in Iraq and 1,666 in Syria.

The remaining 1,028 airstrikes have been conducted by coalition partners Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, Netherlands, UK, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

The U.S., which supports PYD under the pretext of fighting Daesh, has avoided helping other Syrian opposition forces, the statement noted.

Of the 1,774 airstrikes in Syria, the coalition has conducted 1,187 in the areas where the Kurdish YPG group has been fighting.

aa_picture_20150624_5701533_high-jpg20150624130814.jpg

Coalition forces have coordinated airstrikes inside Iraq with the Iraqi government, but in Syria there is no single force contributing to intelligence sharing for Daesh targets which raises the question about how the coalition is conducting airstrikes inside the country.

The debate about airstrikes in Syria has heated up as the Kurdish Democratic Union Party PYD's military wing – People Protection Units, known as YPG – recently captured the northern Syrian city of Tell Abyad and allegedly forced local Arabs and Turkmens from their lands while uprooting Daesh from the last piece of Syrian land bordering Turkey.

PYD is considered by Turkey as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) that has fought against Turkey for decades.

Last year, Kurdish rebels declared three areas in northern Syria as Kurdish "cantons".

They call the area around al-Afrin city in the northwest corner “Afrin Cantonâ€; the area around the city of Ayn al-Arab, a few hundred miles east of al-Afrin as “Kobani Canton†and the area covering the cities of Tal Hamees, al-Hasakeh, al-Qamisli and Ra'sal Ayn as “Jazirah Cantonâ€.

It’s no secret that the success of YPG in connecting the forces in these two areas is due in part to the intense coalition airstrikes. But Syrian opposition groups that are also fighting Daesh and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, claim that Kurdish rebel groups have exploited the airstrikes for political motivations in northern Syria.

More than a dozen Syrian opposition groups released a statement last week accusing the PYD of ethnically cleansing Turkmens and Sunni Arabs.

http://www.aa.com.tr/en/news/543177--analysis-us-airstrikes-help-kurds-connect-cantons-in-syria

Turkey Uneasy as U.S. Support of Syrian Kurds Grows (NYT, June 29th)

The United States has stepped up its military support for Syrian Kurdish militias fighting the Islamic State, efforts that have angered Turkey, a longtime ally and NATO member, which is now weighing new measures to contain the ambitions of the Kurds, including a buffer zone within Syria.

The United States now maintains extensive surveillance over northern Syria with drones and aircraft to help the Kurdish militias, and American Special Forces officers have set up communication links to feed the Kurds intelligence and help them call in airstrikes by the United States-led coalition.

As one of the few fighting groups that can reliably be counted on to fight ISIS rather than the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian Kurds have become an ally of growing importance to the United States.

Turkey, which has long supported groups seeking the ouster of Mr. Assad, has been accused by the United States and other Western allies of enabling the Islamic State through lax border policies that allow the free flow of foreign fighters and supplies.

Turkey has denied this, but officials and the pro-government news media that support them have suggested they see Kurdish autonomy in Syria as a greater threat to Turkey than ISIS.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/30/world/middleeast/turkey-uneasy-as-us-support-of-syrian-kurds-grows.html?_r=1

Edited by oxmox

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What the Turkish Gov. fears is a Kurdish state in the area supported by the U.S. As it would kill a big part of their Empire.

The Kurdish people in Iraq are already practically independent, with their own armed forces and a sea of IS that separates them from the Iraq Gov. The Iraqi Peshmerga have already extended their territory to the Syrian border were it connects with the Syrian Kurdish fighters.

Have in mind that Kurdish people constitute the 20% of Turkey's population, have been for ages fighting the Turkish occupation of their territories and their area is really important geo-strategically.

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What the Turkish Gov. fears is a Kurdish state in the area supported by the U.S. As it would kill a big part of their Empire.

The Kurdish people in Iraq are already practically independent, with their own armed forces and a sea of IS that separates them from the Iraq Gov. The Iraqi Peshmerga have already extended their territory to the Syrian border were it connects with the Syrian Kurdish fighters.

Have in mind that Kurdish people constitute the 20% of Turkey's population, have been for ages fighting the Turkish occupation of their territories and their area is really important geo-strategically.

Well i don't think that is some kind of occupation Kurdistan but true they don't have independence but they have army education system and some economy also i don't think Turkey is fear about Kurdistan Turkey is second largest army in NATO and for sure USA will not risk to lose Turkey and support independence of Kurdistan

However Turkey and US are on some cold relations right now the criticism of the actual Erdogan's government from US and comparing them to Ottomans are not welcomed in Turkey

Edited by SRBKnight

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