Comments | talk_politics: The Kurdish dilemma

mahnmut in talk_politics

The Kurdish dilemma

Aug 03, 2015 00:13

The Turkish government doesn't discriminate between ISIL and PKK, the banned Kurdish Workers Party. As far as Turkey is concerned, they're both terrorist organizations. So it wasn't a surprise that the Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that they'll strike any terrorist group that threatens the Turkish borders. So Turkey bombed both PKK ( Read more... )

turkey, middle east, terrorism

Comments 115

ddstory August 3 2015, 05:30:49 UTC

Well played, Erdogan. Using the Islamic State as a pretext to crack down on the Kurds.

sandwichwarrior August 3 2015, 06:16:22 UTC

Setting aside my personal/emotional entanglements with the situation...

The ideal scenario from a Turkish nationalist perspective would be for the Kurds Yazidi and ISIL to wipe each other out, leaving a political and population vacuum that the Turks can then occupy.

Likewise, an independent Kurdistan would greatly complicate the US and Europe's attempts to cozy up to Turkey and the rest of the Muslim world, as such throwing the Kurds under the bus is the "smart" diplomatic choice.

In short I'm not seeing much of a "dilemma" here.

mahnmut August 3 2015, 06:43:42 UTC

It looks so easy to line out the "perfect" plan when you're sitting thousands of miles away pressing some keys on a keyboard, doesn't it. And who'll be fighting on your behalf with ISIL?

ddstory August 3 2015, 06:49:27 UTC

It doesn't matter that it's happening thousands of miles away. Modern asymmetric warfare allows for the IS to hit at any point in the world at any given moment, either directly or through proxy (and then take credit for it). Examples abound.

sandwichwarrior August 3 2015, 07:01:23 UTC

This is the world we live in.

Thread 111

tcpip August 3 2015, 11:07:53 UTC

You may not have seen this...

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2015/0802/PKK-suicide-attack-kills-two-Turkish-soldiers-wounds-31-others-officials-say

Torn between multiple countries not of their own, I notice there is a great deal of sympathy for the Kurds. I suspect the recent actions by Turkey has only further encouraged this.

underlankers August 5 2015, 21:32:21 UTC

So if people blow up babies and intend to carve up a state for that silly dying ideology of nationalism, it's OK if they do it and they're Kurds and the babies blown up are Turks? Nice to know that concern for babies being blown up in the name of terrorist causes is only real and relevant when it's a means to score points off of the USA and Israel and not a concern relevant for itself. Also nice to know that nationalism is only a dying ideology worth throwing into the garbage bin of history if the nationalists are the kind of pro-American thugs who are easy to hate. And make no mistakes, the Kurds are the most pro-American Iraqis in Iraq right now, and all their lovely dreams of dismantling the Treaties of Sevres/Lausanne are financed by the United States.

They have as little concern for a unified Iraq or their Arab neighbors as one might expect from hardline nationalists who blow up babies to build a state.

mahnmut August 6 2015, 08:05:13 UTC

What's your proposal, what should the Kurds do at this point? Shut up and suck up? Or maybe ask the Turks very politely to stop treating them as second-hand citizens, if citizens at all?