Article

2012-04-14 The Grand Turk

Syria's Fate Will Be Determined By Turkey

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by tipper 2012-04-14 08:51|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 The Turks have a reputation for being staunch fighters. Put them up in a defensive position and they will defend it to the last man, as they proved at Gallipoli and during their engagements with Chinese troops during the Korean War. The problem is that they have had serious difficulties with domestic Kurdish guerrillas who number in the thousands. How would they deal with Syrian guerrillas in the tens or hundreds of thousands? The prospects of Turkish body bags numbering in the thousands per year is why the Turks haven't intervened in Syria. Not to mention the prospect of Arab ingratitude after the expenditure of tens of thousands of dead Turks and the destruction of billions of dollars of Turkish military equipment at the hands of Syrian troops and guerrillas.

In addition, millions of Turkish Alawites are irate at Turkish government proclamations of solidarity with Syrian Sunni Arabs. They see the Sunni Arab rebellion in Syria as the beginning of a program of physical annihilation against Alawites. If Erdogan invades Syria, he might have to add an Alawite insurgency in Turkey to the Kurdish insurgency that currently kills hundreds of Turkish soldiers a year. That, on top of the fact that secular elements of the Turkish military might take the opportunity to stage a coup and defenestrate him, should give Erdogan pause about any Turkish intervention.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2012-04-14 17:12|| 2012-04-14 17:12|| Front Page Top

#2 That, on top of the fact that secular elements of the Turkish military might take the opportunity to stage a coup and defenestrate him, should give Erdogan pause about any Turkish intervention.

This. I pray. I hope the have a good camera angle for his descent.

Posted by Secret Asian Man 2012-04-14 17:43|| 2012-04-14 17:43|| Front Page Top

23:42 trailing wife
23:26 JosephMendiola
23:06 JosephMendiola
22:43 Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division
22:39 JosephMendiola
22:10 JosephMendiola
22:10 GORT
22:06 JosephMendiola
21:05 Odysseus
20:33 Redneck Jim
19:34 Frozen Al
19:07 Frozen Al
18:33 gorb
18:29 Kofi Forkbeard7416
18:28 Phort Uleretch7447
18:27 Tarzan Glusoth1985
18:24 Shush and Tenille5578
18:23 Slusonter Threreck2874
17:46 Procopius2k
17:43 Secret Asian Man
17:12 Zhang Fei
17:12 Steve White
16:59 newc
16:46 trailing wife