After the recent downing of the Russian SU-24 bomber by Turkish F-16 fighter jets, Turkey’s Islamist Government attempted to invoke solidarity from NATO members. When Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, turned the table on Turkey’s government by openly stating what had previously been an open secret, that members of Turkey’s government have been supporting Daesh(ISIS) by selling their black market oil for them, things started to unravel for President Erdogan. Instead of scuttling a loose Russian/French/American cooperation in fighting Daesh in Syria, Erdogan is now facing a situation where the Obama Administration is joining Russia in calling him out.
War with Isis: Obama demands Turkey close stretch of border with Syria
Ankara is accused of tolerance of – if not complicity with – the terrorists, who use border as a crossing point for Isis recruits and oil sales
The US is demanding that Turkey close a 60-mile stretch of its border with Syria which is the sole remaining crossing point for Isis militants, including some of those involved in the massacre in Paris and other terrorist plots.
The complete closure of the 550-mile-long border would be a serious blow to Isis, which has brought tens of thousands of Islamist volunteers across the frontier over the past three years.
In the wake of the Isis attacks in Paris, Washington is making clear to Ankara that it will no longer accept Turkish claims that it is unable to cordon off the remaining short section of the border still used by Isis. “The game has changed. Enough is enough. The border needs to be sealed,” a senior official in President Barack Obama’s administration told The Wall Street Journal, describing the tough message that Washington has sent to the Turkish government. “This is an international threat, and it’s coming out of Syria and it’s coming through Turkish territory.”
www.independent.co.uk/…
While the Obama Administration is using more diplomatic language than President Putin, the basic thrust of the message is the same:
Turkey’s Islamist AKP Government is complicit in Daesh terrorism, at worst, or negligent in its duty to combat Daesh, at best.
When one considers that Turkey is a member of NATO and an “ally”, this is strikingly harsh language and a very clear response to Turkey’s government recently threatening both Russia and the U.S. not to support the de facto sealing of the Turkish-Syrian border via an advance westwards from Kobane, against Daesh, by Syria’s Kurdish YPG forces and their Arab allies. It looks like President Obama finally is putting his foot down and refusing to continue coddling Erdogan in the seemingly futile hope that Turkey will combat Daesh, Al Qaeda, and other extremist Islamist groups instead of supporting them.
The ball is now in Erdogan’s court. If he still refuses to play ball, we are likely to see the Syrian Kurdish YPG launch an offensive along the stretch of the Turkish border still controlled by Daesh, with the U.S. Air Force or possibly even the Russian Air Force flying support and cover for them.