Stray bullets from Syria kill two Turkish citizens

[happyslug]

10. The Turks have always had the second largest Army, Germany was and is #3,

Last edited Thu Jul 18, 2013, 05:48 PM - Edit history (2)

France is #4 (through #3, in the days BEFORE West Germany had an army, i.e. pre 1954 and a close #4 till German Unification).

As to the Kurds having thier own nation, lets look at the Kurdish speaking area of the Middle East:







You also have to understand Kurdish is an Iranian language group, like Fashi (The main langage of Iran) and Pashtho (the main language of Afghanistan). Thus they haye have more in common with Iran then Turkey and Iraq. Furthermore most people in Iraq like along the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, which except for their headwaters is NOT in Kurdistan.




Thus an argument can be made for Kurdish independence, or at least affiliation with Iran, based on Language (Through most Kurds are Sunni not the Shitte Moslem that dominate Iran).

Thus a good argument can be made for an independent Kurdish state. As far as Iran and Iraq are concerned, that would be a problem, but a minor problem they could live with. Iraq does not care about anything other then around the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, and most Kurds only live on the headwaters of those rivers. Iran views the Kurds as a division of Iranians but being on the border something that can be part of Iran or not part of Iran,

The big problem is Turkey. Most Kurds live under Turkish rule. Prior to WWI, the Kurds was ruled by the Turks but their interaction was more with the Armenians then the Turks (Both being under Ottoman Rule at that time). When the Turks drove out the Armenians and the Greeks the Kurds interacted with (who tended to live along the Black Sea Coasts), it broke up trade patterns that had developed over centuries. Kurds tended to live in areas with less water then the Armenians and Pontus Greeks, thus used less farming and more pasture living. Since the Turks always saw themselves as herders due to the fact the Turks of the Middle ages had been herders, and that is how the first Turks entered Asia Minor in the middle ages, they saw the Kurds as fellow "Turks" for the Kurds did not like the then Shiite dominated Government of Iran (Shiites have dominated Iran since at the 1500s).

Since the 1500s the Kurds have shifted from rule by Iran or Turkey, with occasion Independence (See 1835 Map).


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kurdish_states_1835.png

As you can see Kurdistan has been an area fought over between Turkey and Iran for the last 500 years (and before that date, both the Mongol Empire;s and then Timerlane's Conquest of Persia made Iran part of those empires).

The big area for the Turks is the lost of a Strategic back area in regards to any fight with the Greeks AND the lost of territory to Iran. In many ways Turkey's big fear is a joint Greek and Iranian a Thus the ttack on Turkey. Having Kurdistan gives Turkey some strategic death to maintain options, without Kurdistan Turkey could fall very quickly to just a joint attack.

Thus the issue is NOT if an independent Kurdistan be good for th e Kurds, but will it be acceptable to the Turks? I have my doubts to the Turks ever permitting the Kurds to leave.