Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/09/turkey-attacks-syria-un-secur.html
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I hate everything about this
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And here is the entirely expected and forewarned genocide of the Kurds that was the result of Trump’s incompetent actions. This is taking his habit of burning our allies to new heights.
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I assume the UNSC will meet on rather than in Syria!
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Kick Turkey out of NATO.
It’s intolerable that Europe and the US are bound to defend them with nuclear weapons, while they are slipping towards dictatorship and invading a neighboring country in an attempt to rebuild the Ottoman empire.
And if they’re not stopped, we risk repeating 1916 with the Kurdish civilian as victim.
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How is it possible to live without a spine?
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“Fun” fact, the word genocide was coined to describe what is now known (to some) as the Armenian Genocide.
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The mthr-fkr OWNS this shit. Blood is on his hands because of some damned phone call.
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Here’s a more detailed history of Tяump bending over for Erdogan.
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an attempt to rebuild the Ottoman empire
Don’t think this is the goal at all. The Ottoman legacy and Attaturkism loom large in Turkish politics, which seems to be primarily concerned with being neither a Western scion nor a regressive Islamic theocracy but instead “leading” a form of conservative secularism as a counterweight to Iran and KSA. This does not excuse present actions, it just bears re-framing because otherwise we wind up with crappy conclusions.
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Honestly, this seems less satirical every day:
Of course. He did it, got push-back and realized it was a bad idea, promised he would stop bad things from happening, bad things immediately happened… all he can do is pretend it’s not his fault and has nothing to do with him.
This is what happens when the president has a small child’s (total lack of) understanding of the issues, and just does whatever the autocrat he spoke to most recently told him to do.
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That would have been true of the Turkey of 25 years ago.
Back then, the political culture was Secular, Attaturkist, and the country aimed to be the bridge between east and west. But Erdogan’s political project has explicitly turned away from that, to become more conservative, happy to infect politics with religion, and looking away from Europe to focus on building influence on its southern and eastern flanks.
And I’m not the only one recognising the distinctly imperial turn of Turkish policy under the current regime:
https://intpolicydigest.org/2019/06/13/recep-tayyip-erdogan-s-relationship-with-the-ottoman-empire/
Ans no matter what the motivations- its actions during the Syrian crisis are simply inexcusable- It has acted as a conduit for arms, money and foreign fighters to bolster the ranks of ISIS and the Jihadist rebels, it has used the conflict to attack the Kurds while they were fighting ISIS, and let’s not forget- has actually invaded Syria. That’s an act of aggressive war in anyone’s book.
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Strange. You haven’t caught on to any of Erdoğan’s politics at all?
Ataturkism, democratic secularism, was a good thing while it lasted.
What you call “conservative secularism” is an expanding fascist dictatorship.
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And yet, strangely, a NATO member.
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Presuming you’re an American, would you feel it was accurate to say that ALL of American politics were Trumpist and that that agenda is going to prevail? Do you believe that America will be quickly and irrevocably remade in that image? So too is Turkey more than Erdogan. If you talk to people who live there, you’ll find that they view Erdogan and his politics as temporary. There is a lot more going on there than just the AKP and Erdogan’s wishes.
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Nowhere did I excuse its actions in Syria.
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You’re right about the anti-Attaturkism, but I can’t see the imperialism forever prevailing, just as Erdogan’s hold on power is temporary. AKP has fault lines with growing tension and the cities aren’t down with imperialism.
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I once wanted to be but I’m not American.
I regularly talk with Turks, even some who are in Turkey.
