Turkey Hesitant to Ally With U.S. in Syria Mission

[Purveyor]

SURUC, Turkey — No American ally is closer to the threat of the Islamic State than Turkey, and no country could play a more important role in a coalition that President Obama is assembling to combat the extremist Sunni militants. Yet Turkey has been reluctant to enlist, in part because of the desperate conflict playing out on its border with Syria.

On Saturday, outgunned Kurdish fighters, just a few hundred yards inside Syria and clearly visible from hilltop olive groves in this frontier village, battled Islamic State militants advancing from a village less than a mile away. They fought with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns within sight of Kobani, the central town in a besieged Kurdish area of Syria that has been falling village by village to a weeklong onslaught by the Islamic State.

Turkish soldiers in armored vehicles stood by at the border fence, taking no action except to block Turkish and Syrian Kurds from crossing into Syria to defend Kobani, where Kurds fear a massacre. That has fed the fury of Kurds on both sides of the border, who accuse Turkey, with its long history of conflict with Kurdish separatists, of tacitly supporting the Islamic State against them.

It is a violent, murky situation. The chaos on the border, and Turkey’s ambivalent reaction, — it has accepted nearly 150,000 refugees, mostly Kurdish, from Kobani in the last week — is a reflection of Turkey’s complex interests in the Syrian civil war raging to its south.

Turkey is caught between conflicting interests: Defeating Islamic militants across its border while not enhancing the power of Kurdish separatists inside Turkey. Mr. Obama wants Turkey to stop the flow of foreign fighters traveling through the country to join the Islamic State. As a NATO ally, Turkey could also take part in military operations and provide bases from which to carry out airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/world/europe/turkey-hesitant-to-ally-with-us-in-syria-mission.html?_r=0

[SickOfTheOnePct]

1. I think Turkey is making a bad decision

Any temporary comfort they take in keeping the Kurds down by not letting them fight ISIS will be lost when ISIS turns on them and the U.S. replies with "What have you done for me lately?"

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Here's some of Erdogan's statements at a press conference.

Under the 4 paragraph rule here, I just selected the last 4 statements. The others, all important, at the link.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-to-do-whatever-needed-in-anti-isil-coalition-erdogan-says.aspx?pageID=238&nID=72238&NewsCatID=510

- (On how to conduct a ground operation) The related countries and units are already studying this topic: the distribution of roles, etc. are being negotiated. After the Jeddah meetings, now the U.S. and some Arab countries are conducting joint air strikes. These strikes have made things easier for the Free Syrian Army [FSA]. The ground operation is currently being conducted by the FSA, but the next phase will be different.

- (Who will enforce and control the safe zone?) The coalition. The coordination to do it, etc. are all in the workings now. In the U.N. Security Council, we of course discussed the ISIL. Russia and China agreed with us. None of them said no.

- You can’t destroy a terrorist organization with air strikes. The integral force is the ground force. […] Of course, I’m not a soldier, but the air is just logistics. When there are no ground troops, nothing can be permanent.

- (As the ISIL released 49 personnel from Turkey’s Mosul Consulate after holding them as hostage for 101 days) The current conditions are not the conditions of 102 days ago. Hence, we should re-evaluate the situation. […] The ongoing talks are between the related countries and Turkey. Turkey will do what is necessary in the duty that falls to its share. To say that Turkey will never take a military position is wrong. Will other countries protect our borders? No, we will protect our borders ourselves.

[Comrade Grumpy]

3. Turkey has helped create the present situation.

It tried to overthrow the government of its neighbor, Syria, and contributed mightily to the ongoing destruction.

It allowed thousands of foreign jihadis free access to its territory to go to Syria.

It provides safe havens for jihadis inside Turkey.

Turkey deserves any blowback it gets.

[Historic NY]

4. Turkey sits and watches eager to pickup the crumbs...

they were getting the oil.