Tag: Erdogan

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BREAKING NEWS: Twin Blasts Rock Istanbul, Killing at Least 15

Istanbul was rocked Saturday night by twin explosions after a soccer match.  The Explosions killed at least 15 and wounded many others.

Video below shows the moment of the exlosions.

“It was like hell. The flames went all the way up to the sky. I was drinking tea at the cafe next to the mosque,” Omer Yilmiz, who was working at the Dolmabahce mosque near the stadium, told Reuters. “People ducked under the tables, women began crying. Soccer fans drinking tea at the cafe sought shelter, it was horrible.” 

Although it is too early to say who the terrorists are, Erdogan will use the attack to claim more centralized power while blaming shadowy Kurdish groups.  In this case the PKK could be behind it as the blasts seemed to intentionally target security forces after fans had left the soccer stadium two hours earlier.

As Erdogan goes after more and more power, Kurdish groups are under pressure to counteract as he has made clear his intention to clamp down on Turkey’s 10 million strong Kurdish populace. Erdogan is paranoid that the Kurds who are a majority in certain areas of Turkey have historical rights to much of today’s south-eastern areas of the country.

With the KRG (Kurdish Regional Government) in northern Iraq gaining state like qualities, Erdogan is hard pressed to stay strong against Kurdish groups in Turkey.

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Erdogan Wants Jerusalem…and Syria Too

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, president of Turkey has decided he wants Jerusalem and while he’s at it Syria belongs to him also.  Erdogan seemed to throw rapprochement with Israel out the window today when he stated “it is the common duty of all Muslims to embrace the Palestinian cause and protect Jerusalem.” He made the comments at the first Inter-Parliamentary Jerusalem Platform Symposium in Istanbul.

In the same speech Erdogan spoke about Syria:

“In my estimation, nearly 1 million people have died in Syria. These deaths are still continuing without exception for children, women and men. Where is the United Nations? What is it doing? Is it in Iraq? No. We preached patience but could not endure in the end and had to enter Syria together with the Free Syrian Army [FSA].”

“Why did we enter? We do not have an eye on Syrian soil. The issue is to provide lands to their real owners. That is to say we are there for the establishment of justice. We entered there to end the rule of the tyrant al-Assad who terrorizes with state terror. [We didn’t enter] for any other reason,” Erdogan said.

Erdogan like any other supporter of radical Islam believes in divine mandate on each muslim to conquer lands previously held by the caliphate.  For Erdogan it isn’t the caliphate, but rather the sultanate that has the divine power to institute rulership.

What is Erdogan Doing?

Erdogan is laying the groundwork for the passage of a constitutional amendment that gives him power until 2029. In order to pass the amendment  he needs the street behind him.  By showing off his radical Islamic bonafides he makes sure the street stays with him.  Furthermore he is giving context to his brutal attacks on the Kurds, both in Syria and Iraq.

For Erdogan, his broad use of terrorism is often times used to attack Kurds. For example, RT reports: “in October Turkey’s air forces killed between 160 and 200 fighters of the Kurdish YPG militia group in 26 airstrikes conducted in just one night.”

Essentially, the chaos in Syria has come to help Turkey regain a regional role in the Middle East in a way that is far more direct than it used to have. It has gained leverage against the EU and earned the respect of major powers like China.

In just a few months after Russia had Erdogan cornered and a failed coup attempt, Turkey is stronger than every and aiming to control both Northern Iraq and the Levant.

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Can Anyone Stop Erdogan From Becoming Turkey’s Sultan?

Well we all knew it had to get to this point.  Turkey’s wanna be sultan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has put forth a wide ranging bill backed by conservatives in Turkey’s parliament that would centralize power behind the office of president even more.  If the measure passes in the coming months it will head to a national referendum in order to amend the constitution. In the proposed amendment, Erdogan will be able to stay in power until 2029 making him a defacto dictator or in his parlance sultan.

ISIS is Not Going Anywhere

Erdogan has been identified as one of the main backers of ISIS.  He supplied them multiple avenues to smuggle weapons and fighters in Iraq and Syria and he and his family bought oil directly from ISIS.  All of this was a strategy that created chaos with the direct purpose of giving Turkey a reason to expand its holding in these areas.  Only Turkey has the resources and is in proximity to be able to stabilize the area. This is why Turkey is in northern Syria and Mosul.

Tensions with Israel Will Continue to be Strained

While its true Erdogan signed off on the rapprochement deal with Israel, an emboldened Erdogan will see things very differently. Expect the relationship to contnue to be rocky between Israel and Turkey as long as Erdogan is at the helm.  Of course the military and business sector may step in and force Erdogan to play nice with Israel’s government, but there is no guarantee they will have the leverage they need.

The Kurdish Uprising is Guaranteed

If the constitution is amended the 10 million Kurds inside Turkey will have no other recourse than to rebel.  After all it is the Turks that arrived late on the scene from the east, occupying what has been Kurdish land for thousands of years.  With Russian backing below the radar, the Kurds are set to make the new sultan’s life a living hell.

With all of the above on the line, it is no surprise why Erdogan demands changes to the UN.

“There are so many countries. There are five permanent members of the Security Council and one of those five permanent members can make a decision that binds the rest of the world. That is not fair, that is not just,” Erdogan said. “To achieve international peace and security, it’s going to be very difficult, and perhaps fail if the United Nations is not restructured”

Perhaps that is the only thing Israel and Turkey see eye to eye on.

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Turkish Tanks Roll into Al-Rai Expanding Operation Euphrates Shield

On Saturday more Turkish tanks crossed the Syrian border into the Syrian rebel-controlled town of al-Rai in order to support the new operation Euphrates Shield

Al-Rai is about 55 kilometers west of Jarablus, and part of a 90-kilometer strip near the Turkish border that Erdogan’s government says it is clearing of jihadis while making sure the YPG or Syrian Kurdish Army keeps away.

The Turkish backed rebels buoyed by the Turkish tanks spread out and then seized villages to the east and the south of al-Rai.

“They took several villages, about eight villages. At first they took two and withdrew from them, but then reinforcements came and there was an advance,” Zakaria Malahifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim group said.

While Ankara claims the The Turkish-backed operation’s goal is to put pressure on ISIS, most observers believe that Turkey’s real goal is to block the YPG from expanding and forming a formidable Kurdish state.

While Turkey views the Kurdish Army as a terrorist organization, NATO as a whole sees the group as the vanguard of their anti-ISIS strategy.  This conflict of interest has caused stress between NATO and Turkey.

At the G20 summit Erdogan  spelled out his view of the YPG to China’s CCTV:

“There is no good terrorist. All terrorists are bad. All organizations involved in terrorism are cursed. This is how we see things and how we put up our struggle.”

For Erdogan, the label of terrorist is a ruse to allow for a non-measured response to his Kurdish foes. Loosely applied, the Turkish military can be unleashed to finish them off.

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BREAKING NEWS: Turkey Driving Hard Against Kurds West of the Euphrates

If it is possible to believe Erdogan, his foray into Syria was for the purpose of driving ISIS from Jarablus, the only piece of land the Syrian Kurds did not control. Erdogan’s forces were of such mass that Turkey was accused of invading Syria.  ISIS quickly melted away and the Turkish military set its sights on the true “nemesis” to the Turkish homeland YPG or the Kurdish army in Syria.  

One thing has become clear.  Erdogan’s actions have put NATO in a very uncomfortable spot.  On one hand they have backed the Syrian Kurds as their vanguard attack force against ISIS and on the other they have the second largest NATO force in Turkey openly trying to wipe them out through a fake anti-ISIS operation.

Turkey has long maintained that a contiguous Kurdish state along its border running from the Mediterranean to Iran was an existential threat.  In pushing the Kurds back over the Euphrates they are risking the NATO coalition’s strategy against ISIS.  The Euphrates must be Washington’s red line.  If Turkey is allowed to press on, the Kurds will be forced to pivot elsewhere and not only NATO will lose a valuable indigenous ally, Israel will have squandered years of covert training and arms deals.