UK Ships Units in Africa and then Turkey

I was on skype with a friend of mine that now lives in UK and he will be sent in Africa.I guess you all already have heard about the "330 UK military personnel" sent.Thing is,he's not one of them.According to what he says they plan to send more units around July,but not to be placed there,they will just pass through Africa moving east.At first I thought he meant Korea side,but no,they'll move towards Turkey.I live in Greece,and i'm in the military forces here,computer expert.We always had problems,but lately we have lots of incidents with ships and/or jets from Turkey,being around "our" east part of the Aegean,some of these remain secret to not cause panic.Turkey is becoming mor and more agresssive..
I'd like to read your opinion on that.Are we heading to WW3 with UK firing first on Turkey?If an attack like that happens,how is it gonna affect the rest of the world?Will US and Russia do something?If yes,against who?



PS-I'll keep updating this post everytime i have more info

Why would the UK fire on Turkey? Who is Turkey going to attack?

Originally posted by DaRAGE
Why would the UK fire on Turkey? Who is Turkey going to attack?

Turkey was one of our few true allies who genuinely supported us during the Falklands war. The only other one was Norway.

Originally posted by Niaga
Turkey was one of our few true allies who genuinely supported us during the Falklands war. The only other one was Norway.

So Turkey was an Allie to the UK during the Falklands war? Why would the UK attack Turkey then?

What is Turkey doing that is so bad that would warrant an attack, or what might they do in the future to warrant an attack by someone who was/is an allie?

reply to post by Niaga


Not to mention they are a NATO country - technically attacking them would bring the rest of NATO down upon us.

As for the OP, well, the UK deploys troops to Africa ALL THE TIME. We have operations in Kenya, South Africa and other former colonies, plus peacekeeping/training missions elsewhere.

We also deploy troops to the Med Sea all the time as well, seeing as we have two Sovereign bases in Cyprus with almost 4,000 troops there at any one time..

War with Turkey? Not a chance.

If you're looking for an angle, it is probably as a contingency for Syria...

That is a far more likely scenario than War with Turkey...

Originally posted by DaRAGE

Originally posted by Niaga
Turkey was one of our few true allies who genuinely supported us during the Falklands war. The only other one was Norway.

So Turkey was an Allie to the UK during the Falklands war? Why would the UK attack Turkey then?

What is Turkey doing that is so bad that would warrant an attack, or what might they do in the future to warrant an attack by someone who was/is an allie?

edit on 2-4-2013 by DaRAGE because: ?

The last time we tried to attack Turkey, we got Galipolli. I don't think we have any intention of attacking them.

reply to post by stumason


I agree, Great Britain and Turkey have always been allied, whether in the same military organizations or throughout history. Unless to defend their bases.

reply to post by Niaga


Technically that was the Anzacs - very few British troops were involved and it was the Ottoman Empire, not Turkey...

But, you're on the right track - War between Turkey and the UK would be a messy, bloody affair and, if I am honest, there is no guarantee we'd even win. Turkey has the largest Army, one of the largest Navies and Air forces in NATO.

So, as stated before, I think the OP is on the wrong track for his friends deployment - it is much more likely to be a benign rotation but if you want an angle, I'd put a small wager on Syria... Russia has also started an unexpected "exercise" with it's Black Sea Fleet and associated Marines.

reply to post by stumason

Hey Stumason.South Africa? I was'nt aware of that,or do you mean SouthERN Africa? Interesting,do you know what they would be doing in South Africa,just in general?

reply to post by ImpactoR


Indeed - aside from them backing the wrong Horse in WW1, we've historically been rather good allies, all the way back to the Crimea and beyond.

reply to post by Raxoxane


Training

We do it all the time, all over the world, from Norway, to Canada, to Kenya to the Far East - your guys come here too.

EDIT: I used to live in a place called Arborfield in England, which until 2015 is the central training place for REME. I have seen soldiers from all over the Commonwealth there. The best are the Aussies with their funny hats

Originally posted by stumason

Technically that was the Anzacs - very few British troops were involved and it was the Ottoman Empire, not Turkey...

Not true at all.

Casualties:

UK = 32,000 Dead
AU = 8,709 Dead
NZ = 2,721 Dead

It is a huge misconception, fuelled by innacurate movies, that Gallipoli was an exclusively ANZAC affair. More British troops died there than Australians or New Zealanders put together.

reply to post by Niaga


I stand corrected!!

Tbh, it was never a battle of even a war I was interested in, so naturally assumed the bits about the Aussies being the dominant force were true. Thanks for the correction I'll go and do some more reading now...

(Just read a little reading - the French were there too! I did not know that!)

I don't suppose the OP can elaborate as to what ships/units are being sent "wherever". That might give a clue as to what their mission is.

Originally posted by stumason
reply to post by Niaga

 

I stand corrected!!

Tbh, it was never a battle of even a war I was interested in, so naturally assumed the bits about the Aussies being the dominant force were true. Thanks for the correction

I'll go and do some more reading now...

(Just read a little reading - the French were there too! I did not know that!)

The most infuriating thing is, that prick Gibson had the nerve to come out with "The British are drinking tea on the beach whilst we die for them" in his film Galipolli. I have never and will never respect an Australian ever again.

Slightly a bit off topic but a bit of History none the less. The great famine in Ireland cost millions of lives and displacement in the mid to late 1840s. The blight on potatoes, one of the main crops grown in the country was devastaing. England being the colonial power that it is virtually owned ireladn through a system of landed gentry and landlords put their by the powers that be. Ireland ironically at the time was the most agriculturally productive country per capita in Europe, so you might ask yourself how did all those people starve? Well a decision was made in the house of lords in westminster that Ireland was overpopulated and they people were getting in the way of food growing in mainland Britain. The decision was made too let the people starve to thin the herd so to speak. An atrocity. The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire at teh time got wind of the suffering of the Irish people and decided to send 10,000 pounds to ease the pain(the equivelent of around 80,000,000 pounds today apparnetly(the figure i was told). Britain said to the Sultan(ruler of what is now modern day Turkey), that if he did this and sent this aid, the British empire with consider this an act of war!!!!! He reigned in his horses and discreetly sent 10 sips laden with food to the shores of ireland. The British sank all but two.

Anyway, here is a little gem of historical relations between turkey(ottoman empire) and Britain from time past. As an Irish man, the turkish people are alright by me.

Over and Out,

CB

Originally posted by Niaga
The most infuriating thing is, that prick Gibson had the nerve to come out with "The British are drinking tea on the beach whilst we die for them" in his film Galipolli. I have never and will never respect an Australian ever again.

.

Oi! I'm Australian! Don't judge us all because of Mel Gibson. By the way he was born in American and moved to Australia with his parents at the age of 12!

Mel Gibson Wikipedia

We'll call him an American because we can call Obama a Kenyan. HAha

Originally posted by stumason
reply to post by Niaga

 

Technically that was the Anzacs - very few British troops were involved and it was the Ottoman Empire, not Turkey...

But, you're on the right track - War between Turkey and the UK would be a messy, bloody affair and, if I am honest, there is no guarantee we'd even win. Turkey has the largest Army, one of the largest Navies and Air forces in NATO.

So, as stated before, I think the OP is on the wrong track for his friends deployment - it is much more likely to be a benign rotation but if you want an angle, I'd put a small wager on Syria... Russia has also started an unexpected "exercise" with it's Black Sea Fleet and associated Marines.

I have to admit that if there was an angle I would say Syria would be a safe bet... but I am also sure if Syria does go pop and the main powers are distracted we might see a rise in opportunistic neighbour bashing, settling old grudges, and maybe the odd bit of traditional land grabbing.. So perhaps the angle is a build up numbers elsewhere in the region to deter those things from happening. Just a thought.

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