Turkish government gets OK for military operations in Syria, Iraq

www.hurriyetdailynews.com...

A comprehensive motion authorizing the government to deploy the Turkish army into Iraq and Syria and to allow the deployment of foreign troops on Turkish soil was approved Oct. 2 in Parliament, providing the necessary legality for Turkey’s potential contribution to the international coalition’s efforts to destroy jihadists.

The motion, based on Article 92 of the Turkish Constitution, received 298 votes in favor and 98 against....

...The Iraq-Syria motion gives a green light for the use of Turkish troops in Iraq and Syria, as well as for foreign forces to be deployed on Turkish military bases and to transit through Turkish territory in operations against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants. The mandate to begin tomorrow will last for one year. The government merged two existing motions on Syria and Iraq into one, arguing that the threats and risks posed by terrorist organizations are using both countries’ territories.

Much welcomed news. The Arab nations are joining the fight and hopefully ISIL is crushed soon.

With this, I fear ISIL may execute a major terrorist attack somewhere in the west.

a reply to: Swills

Hmm, what about the Kurds? This could be a little too tempting for the Turks to resist. Occupy the Kurdish territory?

This could get out of hand real fast.......

a reply to: nwtrucker

The Kurds are a force to be reckoned with, especially since the US recently armed them, but I seriously doubt Turkey is looking to create an international incident.

They should watch out to not be bombed by the UK or US by "accident"

a reply to: Swills

Historically, the Kurds have been screwed by both Saddam and the Turks, whom I wouldn't trust as far as I could drop-kick them.

The Turks have to go through Kurdish territory no matter what.

No one seems to have asked them how they feel about it. Let's not forget Poland WWII. A nice little split between Hitler and Stalin. I really don't see the Turks as anything but sympathetic to a Caliphate and ISIS in general. As the Kurds fight ISIS, any action by the Kurds or the Turks against each other plays into ISIS hands.

OK, no proof, BUT, not impossible...

We'll see....

a reply to: nwtrucker

How do you know the Kurds didn't give the Turks the green light?

HDP welcomes government’s progress on Kurdish resolution

The government’s move to endorse the ongoing Kurdish resolution process by establishing a new body has been welcomed by Selahattin Demirtaş, the co-leader of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), who held a meeting with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Oct. 1.

“We deem this a positive step. We believe taking practical steps in line with this move will be to the advantage of the resolution process,” Demirtaş told reporters following the meeting. “We, as the HDP, will support the process through moves both inside and outside of Parliament.”

a reply to: Swills

I don't. Having said that, I've always believed that splitting Iraq into the three ethnic regions and giving them autonomy would be-and still is-a long term solution to the Iraqi problem.

I'm no expert, but my understanding is that idea was blocked by Turkey due to a portion of their territory was originally Kurdish and they feared the Kurds would move on them if given the opportunity.

If your a Kurd, do you trust the Turks? I highly doubt it.

I may be wrong-hope I am- but I smell trouble in this.....

a reply to: Swills

Just thought I'd point out that Turkey isn't an Arab nation, but good to see them finally step up to the plate with regards to the problem on their doorstep and with NATO's second largest Army and a sizeable, well equipped Air Force, they really should have been hitting IS months ago.

As for the Kurds, the Turks problem with them in Iraq is if this crisis ends up with a Kurdistani state being born out of the ruins of Iraq, it could trigger a similar response in Turkey from their own Kurds, who've they've only recently got to the peace table after a long, bloody conflict...

originally posted by: Swills
a reply to: nwtrucker

The Kurds are a force to be reckoned with, especially since the US recently armed them, but I seriously doubt Turkey is looking to create an international incident.

Maybe someone else armed them long ago to stoke unrest across a region and promise them a country in return , well that was the rumor long ago and that plan seems to be taking shape ever so slowly

a reply to: stumason
Good points.

The question I ask is why haven't they gotten involved '15 months ago'?

They lost any credibility with their action in Cyprus back in what '67 ?

It will be very interesting to watch how this plays out..

a reply to: douglas5

The Kurds in Iraq are fielding mostly obsolete Soviet hardware - they have yet to receive any substantial shipment of weapons from the Western powers who promised them, aside from machine guns and ammunition. To my knowledge, very little in the way of heavy weapons has been given to them as of yet, aside from some anti-tank weaponry from Germany/France.

The Kurds in Turkey are even less well armed, having mostly fought a guerrilla war with the Turkish Army.

a reply to: douglas5

This goes back to the Brits and the Ottoman empire break-up. (sorry stumason)

a reply to: nwtrucker

Apparently, they have been dragging their feet mainly because IS had 50 odd hostages after seizing a consulate in Mosul. Now they have the hostages back, they feel they can flex a bit more, but in all honesty they should have faced up to threat long ago and are arguable the best nation to do so - powerful and Sunni Muslim, so it would sit well with the locals and not provide IS with the propaganda that "infidels" are crusading against them.

a reply to: nwtrucker

Hehe, no worries... We certainly have a responsibility in the mess that goes on there now, from drawing up borders across tribal lines to ignoring the plight of minorities etc. But its quite a bit more complicated really and in retrospect you can see why things were done the way they were at the time - we have the benefit of hindsight

To me fighting ISIS is not but a euphemism for taking out Assad, as the West, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have been plotting for two years.

originally posted by: Swills
www.hurriyetdailynews.com...

A comprehensive motion authorizing the government to deploy the Turkish army into Iraq and Syria and to allow the deployment of foreign troops on Turkish soil was approved Oct. 2 in Parliament, providing the necessary legality for Turkey’s potential contribution to the international coalition’s efforts to destroy jihadists.

The motion, based on Article 92 of the Turkish Constitution, received 298 votes in favor and 98 against....

...The Iraq-Syria motion gives a green light for the use of Turkish troops in Iraq and Syria, as well as for foreign forces to be deployed on Turkish military bases and to transit through Turkish territory in operations against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants. The mandate to begin tomorrow will last for one year. The government merged two existing motions on Syria and Iraq into one, arguing that the threats and risks posed by terrorist organizations are using both countries’ territories.

Much welcomed news. The Arab nations are joining the fight and hopefully ISIL is crushed soon.

With this, I fear ISIL may execute a major terrorist attack somewhere in the west.

a reply to: stumason

With some fertilizer , diesel .screws.bolts and a 12 volt battery one could make a killing at the market , without the need for much bartering for the pin up boys

The Turks have their own agenda....which I don't think is clear at this time.....
Definitely playing pig in the middle is no fun....
So im thinking the Kurds will be glad of any relieving forces....
On the other hand ISIL is fighting for a town on the Turkish border as we speak....battling the Kurds....
Is Turkey about to engage these forces directly?
If not why not?
Oil traffic maybe?

a reply to: stirling
How about just dreams of returning to the 'glory days' of the 'empire'....

I have little trust or confidence in Turkey who seems to be only interested in their private obsession with overthrowing Assad and the continual oppression of the Kurds in their country.

With that they haven’t remotely seemed to want to exterminate the swine of the ISIS plaque….


Also it’s a little suspicious that ISIS released their hostages. It may be that ISIS played it safe because if Turkey really wanted to crush them they could easily do it. Or this is an indication that Turkey is close to ISIS