Friday, September 12, 2014

"As Appropriate"

Ankara is a notable absentee among the nations that signed a joint communiqué at a Thursday meeting in Saudi Arabia, where US Secretary of State John Kerry was drumming up support for the US anti-Islamist effort. Turkey refused to join 10 Arab nations, who vowed to contribute “as appropriate” to the fight against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) militants, who have taken over swathes of Syria and Iraq in a bid to create a fundamentalist Islamist caliphate.

Turkey, a NATO member, borders both Syria and Iraq from the north, but it will not allow the US to use its facilities in operations against the IS, a government official in Ankara told AFP.

“Turkey will not be involved in any armed operation but will entirely concentrate on humanitarian operations,” the official said on condition of anonymity. He added that Ankara would not even supply weapons to whoever would fight against the IS.

  RT


Good for Turkey. I guess that government thinks attacking Iraq is inappropriate. And it is.
The official explained that Turkey’s hands on the matter are tied because the IS militants hold hostage 49 Turkish citizens, including diplomatic staff and their families. The Turks were captured by the extremists in a consulate in Mosul, when the Iraqi city was captured in a lighting offensive in June.
That's a handy excuse (Turkey did not allow US use of its lands to attach Saddam Hussein), but if you were really serious, like we (and Israel) are, that would be more reason to bomb the hell out of the country.

I'm expecting to see nasty remarks about the Turks like the French got in 2003.  What, oh what, are we going to call our Thanksgiving bird now?  A freedom bird?

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