Photo: Umit Bektas/Reuters
Originally appeared at MoonOfAlabama
The Russians just gave (again) a public lecture of how to handle the wannabe-Sultan Erdogan.
Turkey entered Syria to end al-Assad’s rule: President Erdoğan – November 29
The Turkish military launched its operations in Syria to end the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Nov. 29.“In my estimation, nearly 1 million people have died in Syria. These deaths are still continuing without exception for children, women and men. Where is the United Nations? What is it doing? Is it in Iraq? No. We preached patience but could not endure in the end and had to enter Syria together with the Free Syrian Army [FSA],” Erdoğan said at the first Inter-Parliamentary Jerusalem Platform Symposium in Istanbul.
“Why did we enter? We do not have an eye on Syrian soil. The issue is to provide lands to their real owners. That is to say we are there for the establishment of justice. We entered there to end the rule of the tyrant al-Assad who terrorizes with state terror. [We didn’t enter] for any other reason,” the president said.
If Turkish troops were in Syria to remove its President, instead with the flimsy excuse of fighting ISIS under a badly fitting UN mandate, they would be a hostile invasion force and a legitimate target for Syria and its allies. The remark was thus stupid. It weakened the Turkish position.
Erdogan was immediately told so:
Kremlin asks Erdogan to clarify ‘anti-Assad’ goals in Syria – November 30
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statement that his goal in Syria was to end the rule of Bashar Assad has caused consternation in the Kremlin, with officials saying it contradicted previous assurances and was out of sync with Moscow’s take on the situation.”The statement was indeed news, this is a very serious statement. [It] is in discord with the previous [statements] in general and with our understanding of the situation,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.
“We hope that in the near future there will be explanations on this from our Turkish partners,” he said, adding that Russia is the only country whose armed forces are in Syria on a legitimate basis – at the direct request of the Syrian authorities.
The emphasized part is a hardly hidden direct threat. Erdogan put his forces in Syria into immediate jeopardy.
Erdogan tried to save the situation, promising a retreat from his statement for at least some gain for the Jihadis he supports.
Erdogan and Putin discuss #Aleppo for the third time this week: Disagreement over ceasefire? – November 30
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discussed the grave situation in the Syrian city of Aleppo with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by phone on Nov. 30 for the third time in a week, with the two “agreeing on the need for a ceasefire,” presidential sources said.The sources said the two leaders agreed to step up efforts to stop clashes in Aleppo and deliver humanitarian aid to civilians in the besieged city.
That was the Turkish version of the call. The Russian statement on that call was sparse and did not mention any ceasefire.
Thus this translation from Diplomatese:
“I will take that statement back if you give me a ceasefire deal in Aleppo,” Erdogan told President Putin.
“Screw you,” was the response.
Turkey, Russia see need for Aleppo truce but divisions remain – December 1
Lavrov said the bloodshed must stop in Syria and the region, that Moscow was ready to talk to all parties in the war, and that it would continue cooperating with Turkey. But he also vowed Russia would continue its operations in eastern Aleppo and would rescue the city from what he described as terrorists.
Erdogan’s statement, aimed at his supporters in Turkey and elsewhere, created a legal mess for his troops. The attempt to sell a retreat from it for some gain was harshly rejected by Russia. Now all Erdogan could do was to take his statement back with no gain at all. This was quite a loss of face for him – a well deserved one.
Operation in Syria only targets terror, Erdoğan clarifies – December 1
Turkey’s military operation in Syria is not against any country or person but terror groups in general, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, in contrast to earlier remarks that Turkey’s objective was to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad following.“The aim of the Euphrates Shield Operation is no country or person but only terror organizations. No one should doubt this issue that we have uttered over and over, and no one should comment on it in another fashion or try to [misrepresent its meaning],” Erdoğan said at a 30th gathering with village chiefs at the Presidential Palace in Ankara on Dec. 1.
Hahaha – see how that dog pulls its tail between its legs – whining in retreat?
The game Erdogan tried would probably have worked with Merkel, or some other EU politician. Russia will have none of it. No means no. When Russia says stay out of Al-Bab it means stay out of Al-Bab. With regard to Syria Erdogan now has to do what he is told to do. He was just publicly lectured about that again. Still, I doubt that he really learned the lesson.
That man (Erdogan) is a complete loose canon and a megalomaniac, and his erratic foreign policy puts the entire Middle East in jeopardy of spiraling out of control. The man is an opportunist and I’m afraid this was not his last escapade into the uncharted territory of the geopolitics in the ME. I believe that sooner or later he will have to learn the hard way, to stay out of Syria and Iraq.
According to a greek website,Kurds in north Syria killed 17 Turkish soldiers and destroyed 30 tanks!!! The Turkish operation in that region is a disaster for gay Erdogan.lol.
http://www.pronews.gr/portal/20161202/defencenet/diethnis-asfaleia/66/pnigetai-sto-aima-i-epiheirisi-ton-toyrkon-aspida-toy
maybe that’s exactly whom sunni turks need to get a notch down. they have a nasty propensity of thinking their poo poo dont stink and being arrogant ultranationalists. and Erdogan has already shown himself to be quite capable of fucking up the turkish state and army. once that’s done, turkey is easy picking. as things are now, free kurdistan sure inches closer….
You are 100% right. The Turkish democracy keepers (the military) tried to overthrow their dictator. It was Putin who rescued the Dictator. The made Putin look really bad in the eyes of millions of Libertarians. Everyone knows Putin did the wrong this by saving NATO’s dictator.
Turks offically declared yesterday that 18 Greek islands belong to them. It is estimated that soon we will be in a war with them. I don’t expect any help from the west as most western countries support Turkey in many matters. They outnumber us,but we will do what have been doing for thousands of years. Fighting against all odds. Our culture taught us that dying for Greece,is like a blessing. So let them come!
I would hope it will not come to war for Greece , but rather be prepared to reclaim Cyprus and other Greek territory , because Turkey has overstepped a few red lines . The Greek government is not very good at negotiating , that money going to Turkey for refugee “containment” should be going to Greece . The Greeks need to withdraw from the EU , to begin with , then they might be treated with some respect .
Greeks are Christians of the Orthodox branch. The UK and France (the founders of the EU and NATO) are Atheist. I have never understood how Greeks joined with them. Greeks should sign alliances right now with Serbia, Russia, Ireland, Iran, Iraq, Austria, Italy and Armenia. http://ihr.org/
We faulsy believed that the EU could guarantee our borders from any Turkish invasion. Which was a big mistake. Plus they are asking us to apply new austerity measures every year. This resulted to a breakdown of the economy. >30% unemployment,12 thousand suicides and so on. So you are right. We should form an alliance with the countries you mentioned. I don’t know about Russia though. They seem to be doing ok with Turkey despite the fact that Erdogan shot down a Russian jet fighter.
Erdogan said it were gulenists that made coup against him actually responsible for downing our figher, and considering that russian intelligence warned him first about the coup… Yeah, Turkey has all the reasons to play along. But don’t feel down because of that, we will find a way to live peacefully all together. It’s just… Russia needs time to compose itself without Turkey setting Caucasus and Crimea on fire, for what they always had plenty of tools. I believe Turkey should become pretty tame after getting taste of first cheap nuclear energy from russian reactors. And after they are hooked? It suddenly becomes much more problematic to antagonize the supplier of fuel for powerplants that make their industry run oh-so-smoothly.
NATO requires NATO countries to assist other NATO countries that are attacked. So there would be a lot of help. Even Turkey would be forced to assist you against Turkey.
Turkey has been violating our airspace for years. We complained many times to NATO about this,but they don’t care. They don’t event tell Turkey off for openely threating us.
Greek is an ethnicity. Once Greeks have allowed themselves to be colonized and racially replaced, Greeks lost all internal strength and intelligence. Greeks will be extinct within 20 years unless ethnic-Greeks on their home front begin the process of tribal liberation. One this is done, then the Greek DNA will be strong enough to push the invading Turks out of indigenous tribal Greek territory. http://www.dailystormer.com/
How many times greeks have been ethnically replaced already? I doubt even they would care as long as their language and culture persists. After all, “There is neither Jew nor Greek” in the only sense that matters.
it will be interesting to see how Nato will interpret article five in that case, if they intervene good if not, Greece should immediately exit nato and ask Russia for military help, like Syria did.
Did anyone else catch this part of the article (Erdoğan said at the first Inter-Parliamentary Jerusalem Platform Symposium in Istanbul) “Inter-Parliamentary Jerusalem Platform” Does anyone else see that the Jews are behind all of this? Erdogan is Jewish, and he serves his Jewish cousins interest in Tel Aviv. Russia is going to suffer till the day they all wake up and say with one loud clear voice “Jews created the Holodomor to rid all ethnic-Russians off of the face of the earth, and they remain harming us till this very day.” https://holodomorinfo.com/