Is Vladimir Putin right to label Turkey ‘accomplices of terrorists’?

[newthinking]

[font size=3]Is Vladimir Putin right to label Turkey ‘accomplices of terrorists’? [/font]
The Guardian
Martin Chulov

The relationship hinted at by Russian leader after warplane was shot down is a complex one, and includes links between senior Isis figures and Turkish officials

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Turkey’s international airports have also been busy. Many, if not most, of the estimated 15,000-20,000 foreign fighters to have joined Islamic State (Isis) have first flown into Istanbul or Adana, or arrived by ferry along its Mediterranean coast.

The influx has offered fertile ground to allies of Assad who, well before a Turkish jet shot down a Russian fighter on Tuesday, had enabled, or even supported Isis. Vladimir Putin’s reference to Turkey as “accomplices of terrorists” is likely to resonate even among some of Ankara’s backers.

From midway through 2012, when jihadis started to travel to Syria, their presence was apparent at all points of the journey to the border: at Istanbul airport, in the southern cities of Hatay and Gaziantep – both of which were staging points – and in the border villages. Foreigners on their way to fight remained fixtures on these routes until late in 2014 when, after continued pressure from the EU states and the US, coordinated efforts were made to turn them back.

By then, Isis had become a dominant presence in parts of north and east Syria. It had splintered non-ideological factions of the Syrian opposition as well as Islamist groups, both of which had been backed by Turkey, and ensured that whatever form of governance that emerged from Syria’s ruins would have little to do with the revolution’s original goals.

The steady stream of foreigners who passed through Hatay and Gaziantep made little effort to remain discreet, gathering regularly in local hotels, coffee shops and bus stations. European diplomats alarmed by the gathering threat concluded that the Turkish leadership was sympathetic to conservative Islamists travelling to fight Assad, who had, until his brutal response to pro-democracy demonstrations in 2011, been a friend of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. “After that he became an enemy,” said one western official. “Erdoğan had tried to mentor Assad. But after the crackdown [on demonstrations] he felt insulted by him. And we are where we are today.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/vladimir-putin-turkey-isis-terrorists-warplane-analysis

[jberryhill]

1. No

Stay out of their airspace and there will be no problem.

Everyone agrees it was an overreaction, and everyone agrees the planes entered their airspace.

Also, don't touch hot stoves, and look both ways before you cross the street. Simple safety rules, and easy to understand.

[newthinking]

2. Did you read the article though?

I agree they need to stay out of Turkey's airspace. But there is more to this than what is covered in the mainstream story. Apparently the reason they are conducting such exercises near the border is because that is a major traffic route for arms and men to ISIS and Turkey has been (at best) closing their eyes to it. This all is terribly messy.

[jberryhill]

3. Yes

Virtually none of which has Jack to do with what happened today.

Turkey needs to ease off the hair trigger, and Russia needs to either ask permission or stay out.

[MADem]

4. No. nt

[Chan790]

5. Perhaps, but that's a sword with two edges.

Turkey is most likely if not actively an accomplice, being negligently passive about tamping down on what is happening in its own territory in terms of facilitating terrorism.

Russia has very little room to speak as it is propping up the regime of one of the globally-foremost state-sponsors of terrorism in Assad; a man known to have ties to and have worked as an intermediary for Iran and Hezbollah to engage in terrorism in and against both Lebanon and Israel as well as Turkey and the US.

There is no upstanding party in that conflict between Turkey and Russia. They're both doing awful things and then crying foul when caught.