Turkey could cut off Islamic State’s supply lines. So why doesn’t it?

[Deleted]

From a religious point of view, the Kurds seem a lot more open and diverse than...every other country in the Mideast. That seems unusual to me.
And if Turkey doesn't want the Kurds to have their own country carved from their own, then perhaps they should assist them in carving it out from Iraq.
But they don't seem at interested in that. Why? There has to be a better reason than unreasonable hatred.

Turkey knows that a kurdish state at their border would be their hard geopolitical rival they can't have that this too would heighten ethnical tensions inside of turkey herself.

[Kuntantee]

From a religious point of view, the Kurds seem a lot more open and diverse than...every other country in the Mideast. That seems unusual to me.
And if Turkey doesn't want the Kurds to have their own country carved from their own, then perhaps they should assist them in carving it out from Iraq.
But they don't seem at interested in that. Why? There has to be a better reason than unreasonable hatred.

United Kurdistan is composed of regions within four country. There isn't a Kurdistan just in Syria, just in Iran. Iraqi Kurds may be an exception to this because they do not seem to share a unified Kurdistan dream with PKK and PYG. I don't know other countries but more than half of Kurds in Turkey are highly religious, more so than some other parts of Turkey.

The Kurds 'advertised' in Western media (PKK, YPG) functions with a Marxist-Leninist ideology and naturally they are not religious. You, in West, haven't seen the full picture of Kurdish diversity. I can state with confidence that most of westerners are clueless when it comes to ME. Helping to the creation of any Kurdish state is one more step closer to unified Kurdistan. A Kurdistan in Syria, a Kurdistan in Iran and maybe a Kurdistan in Iraq will always have a unification dream. In essence, it's a bad move and it does not serve the long-term interests of Turkey.

Turkish government should follow an anti-Kurdistan policy because there is a potential of (civil) war. The more YPG and PKK gain advantage, the more probable a (civil) war is in future. It's in the best interest of everyone in the region.

[Deleted]

Saying "Turks are Arab brothers" is like saying "Portuguese are Russian". For Turks, ethnic identity and race is something they are VERY proud of and comes way before Islam.

Well I have heard say that portuguese sounds like a drunk Russian trying to speak Spanish, so ...

Puting aside all other things (real or imagined) that have been said on this thread, to me the only reason thing I believe the Turkish goverment is doing wrong is to allow religion into the state, something their modern "Spiritual Father" was against. To me this criticism is to all countries that allow religion into the state, be it islam, christianity, hinduism or the church of the flying spagethi monster.

[Deleted]

Turkey knows that a kurdish state at their border would be their hard geopolitical rival they can't have that this too would heighten ethnical tensions inside of turkey herself.

So they chose an ISIS neighbour that beheads people and carries out terrorist attacks in Europe...Hard to see the "good" side out of the situation, as an european non-muslim.

[Deleted]

So they chose an ISIS neighbour that beheads people and carries out terrorist attacks in Europe...

Yes they do and we get allot of oil from an absolute monarchy that executes cheating wifes and bans bibles under threat of capital punishment.

[Deleted]

Because they are all muslims. That's why they are cozy with ISIS. It's like your wierd crazy uncle, you accept him because he's still family!

Pretty much this. Muslims über alles, no matter what kind of psychopaths they are.

[Deleted]

Because of two reasons or maybe three:
1. They make a lot of money by it.
2. ISIS fights the kurds.
3. Erdogan is the turkish Hitler, just look at it, it's the same thing in it's early stage.

[Deleted]

It's a bad move for Turkey. For the west, a united Kurdistan would most likely be pretty damn awesome.

And it's the only answer to Syria/ISIS tbh. Who are you going to let rule there when ISIS is done and the syrian are all refugees in other countries? The kurds.

[Deleted]

And it's the only answer to Syria/ISIS tbh. Who are you going to let rule there when ISIS is done and the syrian are all refugees in other countries? The kurds.

Install puppets.

[Deleted]

Which will fall in a couple of years or devolve into dictatorships. And we no longer have a strong CIA or really any strong centralized Intelligence agency pulling the strings a single way to keep such dictatorships in control.

Allied secular dictators seems to be the best choice for the time being -,-

Maybe the Iran can bring change and a bit of stabillity good too is that russia is fed up with the crap and europe drags the US towards a solution. Situation looks pretty damn brigther than in a long time.

[Kuntantee]

It's a bad move for Turkey. For the west, a united Kurdistan would most likely be pretty damn awesome.

Can you elaborate why it would be pretty damn awesome?

[Deleted]

Can you elaborate why it would be pretty damn awesome?

Because kurds are pretty nice and pro western.

[Kuntantee]

Because Western leaders would prefer to negotiate with a non-muslim state who is dependent on them than with a muslim state that has the second largest army in the NATO?

That's a fundamentally flawed argument. Kurds in ME are overwhelmingly Muslim. A unified Kurdistan will either be like Soviet Russia and oppress the fuck out of religious citizens or it's going to be similar to other Muslim countries in the region. Now the former is more probable and it will end very badly. Soviet Russia did tried to end religion in the country, they have failed. In the end, a unified Kurdistan is going to be a "PKKistan" and very oppressive. If you doubt that, go read more about PKK and their Syrian off-shoot YPG and their ideology. Do not believe everything you read in Western media.

[Deleted]

Or they would be a democracy with freedom of religion to keep european and US support.

[Kuntantee]

It's kind of hard to believe anything from the Turkish media related to Kurds though . . .

Do not read Turkish media, read scholarly works. Kurdistan is going to a be a Maoist state, it's not going to be a democracy.

[Deleted]

Do not read Turkish media, read scholarly works. Kurdistan is going to a be a Maoist state, it's not going to be a democracy.

How can kurdistan be anything if Turkey will never allow it?

[Kuntantee]

How can kurdistan be anything if Turkey will never allow it?

Hypothetically...

[Lothaeryn]

Turkey is trying to sit back as much as possible, because they're worried that the endgame of the ISIS related conflict is a Kuridsh state that takes away from Turkish territory.

WE have a winner! One of the major factors for Turkey's geopolitics is the fear that western backing of Kurdish forces against ISIS is a plot to arm Kurds to attack the Turkish Border regions once ISIS has been dismantled, leading to a weaker Turkish state primed for invasion.

Turks don't trust Kurds for this very reason, arming groups like the PKK is only going to bite them in the ass after all is said and done.