Erdogan and Islamic State

[Colwyn]

Is Erdogan supporting Islamic State {formerly known as ISIS}? There are strong claims that Erdogan, and his son Bilal, have been involved in raising money and shipping arms to the terrorists and providing hospital treatment for IS "soldiers". Even that Erdogan was instumental in setting up ISIS in the first place in order to overthrow President Assad of Syria. A NATO member arming the most extreme and violent of terrorist organizations intent on genocide in the Middle East? How long can this go on? How long before IS turns on the hand that feeds it and begins occupation of S.E.Turkey? Does Erdogan, quite literally, think he can become a new Caliph? Or is all this just wild speculation and fantasy?


http://www.cnbc.com/id/101916826

[peter16]

Good article Colwyn, I do not normally agree with American "news views" or commentary but sometimes they do ask the right questions etc.

[Eric]

Does this mean sanctions against Turkey?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28816970

[usedbustickets]

I'm prepared to believe, even with the slimmest of evidence shown here, that Reg has had more than a dirty hand in supporting the IS group (and others) in both Syria and Iraq.  However, he is but a local stooge as far as the real support for this bunch of mad men is concerned.  The real terrorist puppet masters with the cash and supplies are found in Saudi and Qatar.  How much longer are we going to tolerate what the Saudis and Qataris are up to?  If this had been Russia, or even Israel, there would have been calls for sanctions, but apparently not for these two oil rich states, who are supposed to be friends of the West.  Laughable analysis really.  Friends of the West when it suits them, like when they are under threat from Saddam when he was throwing his weight about by invading that other well known friend of the West (and democracy!!) Kuwait.  Otherwise they have been and continue to be the biggest Godfathers of Terrorism across the globe, even putting Iran in the shade.

Which leads onto another point, with the big US of A self-sufficient again in energy - largely through fracking and shale gas - it was said that they would take a more critical stance against the Saudis.  So why haven't they.  Might it be something to do with the fact that the oil companies who benefit most from Saudi/Qatari oil are American, and surely it cannot also be related to the arms they buy from the giant American arms manufacturers.  The latter point of course explains why the British government stays silent too.

[Hamlet]

Cynic! 

[Colwyn]

It is the cruelest coincidence of our time that the most Medieval of Islamic sects, the Wahhabis, happen to be sitting on top of the world's largest and most lucrative sea of oil. Their religion leads them not only to condemn non-Muslims but also all the Muslims who do not follow the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, whether Shia or Sunni, and to encourage the "punishment" of these unbelievers - punishment that includes torture and death. Their dominance in the oil rich countries of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and other countries of the Arabian Peninsula, allows them access to vast wealth that enables them to fund terrorism in the name of Islam in the Middle East and around the world.

What aren't coincidences are the close relations between the US Bush dynasty and the Bin Laden family; and the strong links between US governments {especially the State Department} and US oil and arms companies that are deeply entwined with the Wahhabi states of the Arabian Peninsula.

[KKOB]

I wonder what RTE thinks about the "West's" plan to arm the Kurds given all the trouble that Turkey has had with the PKK in the past ?

[usedbustickets]

I wonder what RTE thinks about the "West's" plan to arm the Kurds given all the trouble that Turkey has had with the PKK in the past ?

One thing about Reg is that he is not so hung up, indeed even relaxed about, the Kurdish issue, unlike his opposition in the Turkish nationalists and some Kemalust ranks.  He has been prepared to agree to many of the Kurds justified demands, such as the right to speak their own language.  In fact many Kurd leaders see that with these changes, and a peace process with the PKK informally under way, they are less strident in their demands for an independent Kurdistan, stating - perhaps for the medium term - that they can achieve more for the Kurdish people within Turkey in the short term and beyond. Which is one of the key reasons that many Kurds living in areas outside of the Kurdish 'homelands in Turkey' are happy to vote for Reg and the AKP, particularly in the big cities amongst the more recent Kurdish arrivals there.

But you might be right, arming the Kurds, with threat that those arms were to bleed across the Turkish border may not be acceptable to Reg for internal Turkish politics, or forfend that they are used against Reg's clandestine mates in the IS, which would be unacceptable to his god bothering self. One things for sure he will blame the West whichever the outcome.  However, this could be one of the tripwire issues, along with the IS capture and imprisonment of Turkish embassy staff, corruption and the Turkish economy that may well make Reg and the AKP vulnerable as they press for the changes over the next year or so, as they set out to win the next general election, and perhaps more importantly attempt to change the political constitution from a parliamentary democracy to one of an autocratic President with his hands on ALL the levers if power.