http://www.allenbwest.com/2015/12/dead-i...-evidence/

Quote:On Monday the Armenian news site Asbarez reported:

A commander of the Iraqi volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) revealed that a mobile phone found with one of the killed ISIL ringleaders proved the Turkish spy agency’s support for the terrorist group.

Possibly, but you gotta believe that Turkey will do what it can to hurt Syria and Iraq in order to improve their influence in their part of the region.

Armenians think Turkey is doing something wrong? Say it ain't so!

(12-22-2015 07:10 PM)miko33 Wrote:  Possibly, but you gotta believe that Turkey will do what it can to hurt Syria and Iraq in order to improve their influence in their part of the region.

Not to mention they need to keep the Kurds down as well.

There is a strong case to say that they are.

Turkey allows ISIS oil to flow (Putin alleges that Erdogan's family personally benefits), enabling the it. Likewise, they have allowed the flow of Western fighters into and out of Syria. Turkey is clearly aligned with the Sunni of Syria. Turkey's rulers are Islamists, and kindred spirits to some degree. Turkey continually dragged its feet in the first years of the Syrian revolution when the US pressed it to support moderate rebels in coordination with the US. The Kurds were a primary sticking point. When Turkey has attacked positions in Syria, it has attacked the Kurds, not ISIS.

Turkey has played games with refugees from Syria (basically an extortion effort), contributing to the increase in flow... that does not necessarily benefit ISIS, it's just another issue where they are making things difficult for Europe.

ISIS has launched terror attacks within Turkey, but (at least one of) those can be viewed as attempts to shut down dissenting voices within Turkey as opposed to an attack on Turkey itself.

In the first years of the Obama administration, it was said that Obama spent more time talking to Erdogan than he did the rest of the world's leaders combined. The results have been pathetic, as they have continually disregarded US requests and have actively worked against western interests in other cases.

Yes, Turkey is an ISIS ally and they need to be taken out.

Our current relationship with Turkey is one of those unintended consequences. In 1952 having a relationship with them was prudent because of their strategic location as the gateway from the Black Sea to the Med and being so close to the Soviet Union and Bulgaria.

Now? Not so much.

Turkey/the Ottoman Empire has been a bane on the world since the 1300's.

Turkey is majority Sunni, so I would say that the lines between ISIS and Turkey could be blurred very easily.

(12-23-2015 04:08 PM)GrayBeard Wrote:  Turkey is majority Sunni, so I would say that the lines between ISIS and Turkey could be blurred very easily.

Yes, but the huge Sunni majority is in the west and there are a large number, if not a majority, of Shias in eastern Turkey, which is part of the so-called "Shia crescent" stretching from the Gulf through Iran and Mesopotamia north and then west through eastern Turkey and south along the Mediterranean shore through Syria and Lebanon.

(12-23-2015 04:51 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-23-2015 04:08 PM)GrayBeard Wrote:  Turkey is majority Sunni, so I would say that the lines between ISIS and Turkey could be blurred very easily.

Yes, but the huge Sunni majority is in the west and there are a large number, if not a majority, of Shias in eastern Turkey, which is part of the so-called "Shia crescent" stretching from the Gulf through Iran and Mesopotamia north and then west through eastern Turkey and south along the Mediterranean shore through Syria and Lebanon.

I thought most of Eastern Turkey were Kurds (Nominal Sunni, but I've heard them described as the least religious group in the Middle East). The CIA Factbook has Turkey at 99.8% Sunni ... I thought Christians and even atheists would be at least in the high single digits. Wikipedia has Shia, Alawite, and Twelvers collectively number about 28% of the population, which is higher than I'd have guessed, but not surprising considering the neighborhood.

The World Factbook

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications...os/tu.html Wrote:Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews)

(12-23-2015 11:50 PM)I45owl Wrote:  

(12-23-2015 04:51 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-23-2015 04:08 PM)GrayBeard Wrote:  Turkey is majority Sunni, so I would say that the lines between ISIS and Turkey could be blurred very easily.

Yes, but the huge Sunni majority is in the west and there are a large number, if not a majority, of Shias in eastern Turkey, which is part of the so-called "Shia crescent" stretching from the Gulf through Iran and Mesopotamia north and then west through eastern Turkey and south along the Mediterranean shore through Syria and Lebanon.

I thought most of Eastern Turkey were Kurds (Nominal Sunni, but I've heard them described as the least religious group in the Middle East). The CIA Factbook has Turkey at 99.8% Sunni ... I thought Christians and even atheists would be at least in the high single digits. Wikipedia has Shia, Alawite, and Twelvers collectively number about 28% of the population, which is higher than I'd have guessed, but not surprising considering the neighborhood.
The World Factbook

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications...os/tu.html Wrote:Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews)

The numbers I've seen are about 70% of the Muslims are Sunni and 30% Shia/Alawite, which is in the same neighborhood as your stats. The Shia/Alawites are almost exclusively east of Ankara, and that is generally the more sparsely populated part of the country, so 30% or thereabouts overall could easily constitute a majority or nearly so in that area.

Yes. They are all in the same team.