The US has picked a mighty fine ally: Erdogan provoking civil war in Turkey to win elections

[DetlefK]

Let's recap:

- civil war in Syria; secular rebells vs. Assad

- ISIS joins the fray, seeking to topple Assad as well

- Turkey wants to see Assad toppled; Turkey allows ISIS to funnel recruits through Turkey; ISIS-recruiters operate unlambasted on turkish campuses; students who try to kick out ISIS-recruiters receive death-threats from ISIS

- national elections in Turkey on June 7th 2015
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_general_election,_June_2015
President Erdogan loses his status as undisputed ruler: His AKP drops to 41% of seats in parliament, mainly because many Turks voted for the kurdish HDP because they don't like Erdogan's authoritarian style. Erdogan called this election a "mistake" the very same day.
From the very beginning, Erdogan decided to call for a repeat of the election, planning to keep voting until the result is to his liking.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_general_election,_November_2015#Coalition_negotiations
From the very beginning Erdogan's AKP only had a 3-month coalition-government in mind.

- July 2015
Turkey declares that it joins the fight against ISIS and starts bombing the kurdish PKK instead.
The PKK declares the 2013-ceasefire void and resumes attacks on Turkey.
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/pkk-kuendigt-waffenstillstand-mit-tuerkei-auf-a-1045322.html
(article in german)

- Massacre of Suruc, July 20th
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Suru%C3%A7_bombing
ISIS commits a suicide-bombing in Suruc, Turkey, targeting a gathering of an organization who wants to help rebuild Kobane, Syria. The gathering was endorsed by the kurdish HDP. Right after the blast, which killed 33 people and wounded 104, turkish police and military appeared out of nowhere and prevented the survivors from leaving the site, even shooting tear-gas at the bombing-victims. It was supposedly to prevent a second suicide-bomber from escaping.
Right before the bombing, the governor had claimed that there was no threat from ISIS in this region.

- August 2015
Amid failing coalition-negotiations, Erdogan calls for new national elections on November 1st, just as he had planned all along.

- September 9th 2015
Turkish nationalists torch offices of the kurdish party HDP
http://www.huffingtonpost.de/2015/09/10/erdogan-tuerkei-wahlsieg-_n_8114356.html?utm_hp_ref=germany
(article in german)

- September 2015
Clashes in the turkish city Cizre escalate. Turkish snipers regularly start shooting into crowds.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/08/kurdish-civilians-killed-snipers-turkey-cracks-down-militants
Quote: "Coverage of the conflict is an ever-growing challenge. Many Kurdish news sites and twitter accounts were closed following the breakdown of the ceasefire and several Turkish journalists have been fired by their newspapers for reporting from the south-east."

"Many accuse the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, of wanting to woo nationalist voters by attacking the PKK before elections scheduled for 1 November after his Justice and Development, or AK, party failed to reach win enough seats to form a majority government when the country went to the polls in June."

"“The HDP got almost 85% in Sirnak province,” the lawyer explained. “This is punishment for trying to reclaim our rights through democratic politics, nothing else. But we want peace, we will stick to peace, we will bury their warmongering at the polls.”"

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. He's such a scumbag. Who would've thought that the Wahabi sociopaths

you've been supporting would ever turn on you. Or that toppling middle eastern dictators would have adverse consequences for the entire region. He should ask our intelligence services how smoothly it's all worked out.

[bemildred]

2. Yes, he is, and he is going to regret it too.

And a lor of other people with him.