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Israel "troubled" by Turkish-Syrian military drill
Reuters ^ | April 27, 2009

Posted on 04/27/2009 2:38:05 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe

JERUSALEM, April 27 (Reuters) - Israel is troubled by an unprecedented military exercise between its ally, Turkey, and its arch-foe Syria, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Monday.

Ankara announced on Sunday it would hold its first drill with Syria this week, using ground forces in a border area that has been the focus of a 25-year conflict between Turkey and separatist Kurdish rebels.

Israel has extensive defence ties to Turkey, a NATO member and among the few Muslim nations to have built an alliance with the Jewish state. The Israeli and Turkish air forces and navies have held joint exercises.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Israel
KEYWORDS: israel; kurdistan; kurds; syria; turkey
The Turkish-Syrian drill represents a paradigm shift in relations between Ankara and Damascus. In 1998, Turkey massed troops on its border with Syria and threatened to invade unless Syria ejected PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and closed down PKK training camps within Syria.

Facing the might of the Turkish military, Syria backed down and threw out Ocalan. Inbar said Ocalan's capture by Turkish forces in 1999 was "apparently aided by Israeli intelligence."

Relations between Ankara and Damascus were further strained by what Syria views as Turkey's occupation of the Alexandretta province, known to Turks as Hatay.

"We can tell the Syrians: Turkey is occupying a whole section of Syria, and yet Syria is willing to hold joint military drills with Turkey. So there's no reason why Syria can't cooperate with us while we're sitting on the Golan Heights," said Dr. Mordechai Kedar, an expert on Arab political discourse at BESA.

"This exercise is not necessarily to our detriment. We certainly have a case to put to the Syrians as a result of it," he said. - April 27, 2009

1 posted on 04/27/2009 2:38:06 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
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To: Tailgunner Joe; 444Flyer; Esther Ruth; Cindy; TaraP; Diana in Wisconsin; XeniaSt; G8 Diplomat; ...

Turkey: Gomer / The House of Togarmah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gBtV2ydX3I


2 posted on 04/27/2009 3:03:23 PM PDT by F15Eagle (1 John 5:4-5, 4:15, John 11:25, 14:6, 1 Tim 2:5, John 3:17-18, John 20:31, 1 John 5:13, John 6:69)
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To: F15Eagle

Time to learn Turkish.

Ataturk’s secularism is dead. Turkey is becoming an Islamist state, and they’re stirring up *more* trouble in the ME.


3 posted on 04/27/2009 3:07:29 PM PDT by G8 Diplomat (I'm learning Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Pashtu, and Russian so someday you won't have to)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

http://www.joelstrumpet.com/


4 posted on 04/27/2009 3:10:38 PM PDT by fishtank (The denial of original sin is the root of liberalism.)
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To: G8 Diplomat

Was it the EU that refused Turkey membership?

If so, what you just stated is no doubt the reason why; even giving the dumbness of Europe to be invaded.


5 posted on 04/27/2009 3:14:09 PM PDT by F15Eagle (1 John 5:4-5, 4:15, John 11:25, 14:6, 1 Tim 2:5, John 3:17-18, John 20:31, 1 John 5:13, John 6:69)
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To: F15Eagle

France and Germany are opposed to Turkey’s EU membership because they both (especially Germany) have huge Turkish immigrant populations. They fear that with a Muslim state in the EU, their Turkish minorities will take advantage of that and side with Turkey against either France or Germany on certain issues, perhaps riot in the streets to protest their governments and make a more pressing case for shari’ah, and create even more unrest.


6 posted on 04/27/2009 3:22:30 PM PDT by G8 Diplomat (I'm learning Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Pashtu, and Russian so someday you won't have to)
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To: F15Eagle
I was just thinking about that today while perusing the news. It's all there in front of us Eagle. It is written.
7 posted on 04/27/2009 6:01:24 PM PDT by 444Flyer (Lies, lies ,lies, lies yeah...there gonna get youO.)
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To: F15Eagle

WOW..Prophetic in nature that is for sure...

Things are definetly coming to a head!

I think May is going to bring more of this to light...


8 posted on 04/27/2009 6:04:55 PM PDT by TaraP (The RAPTURE: Separation of Church and State)
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To: Tailgunner Joe; AdmSmith; Berosus; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Fred Nerks; ...
Speaking of Kurdish independence:
Ankara announced on Sunday it would hold its first drill with Syria this week, using ground forces in a border area that has been the focus of a 25-year conflict between Turkey and separatist Kurdish rebels.
If Turkey were serious about maintaining its historical close ties with Israel, it wouldn't be doing this. Israel recently went out of its way to *not* acknowledge the Armenian, uh, issue, in order not to nettle the Turks. Thanks Tailgunner Joe.
9 posted on 04/27/2009 7:18:43 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/____________________ Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

A forum of idiots. Hey, look at what your excellent command of foreign policy and your superb strategic planning has done to Georgia. Look, you can’t even fix your problems with a tiny little nation like Cuba. And we Turks are supposed to be led by a confused dazed mess like your middle eastern policy? All you morons talk about is whether Israel will bomb Iran. And if anyone doesn’t follow your headless hydra of a foreign policy they are automatically labeled islamist. LOL! What a ship of fools! Get your act together you whiny little girls! You fail to live up to the standards of your founding fathers.


10 posted on 04/28/2009 5:27:38 AM PDT by a_Turk (Temperance, Fortitude, Prudence, Justice)
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; Lent; GregB; ..
Middle East and terrorism, occasional political and Jewish issues Ping List. High Volume

If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.

..................

11 posted on 04/28/2009 5:46:46 AM PDT by SJackson (Barack Obama went to Harvard and became an educated fool. Rep. Bobby Rush)
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To: F15Eagle
The plot thickens:

Turkey hopes to buy S-400 air defense systems from Russia

12 posted on 04/28/2009 4:45:54 PM PDT by M. Espinola (Freedom is not 'free'.)
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To: M. Espinola

Yep, that fits quite well. Thanks for the heads-up.


13 posted on 04/28/2009 4:56:19 PM PDT by F15Eagle (1 John 5:4-5, 4:15, John 11:25, 14:6, 1 Tim 2:5, John 3:17-18, John 20:31, 1 John 5:13, John 6:69)
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To: F15Eagle
Turkey: Gomer / The House of Togarmah

My thoughts exactly.

The worm has turned.

14 posted on 04/28/2009 5:56:56 PM PDT by happygrl (Hope and Change or Rope and Chains?)
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To: SunkenCiv
If Turkey were serious about maintaining its historical close ties with Israel, it wouldn't be doing this.

Sort of like saying if the US was interested in peace in the Middle East, it would have attacked Al-Qaeda.

The Kurd's continue to launch terrorist attackes against Turkey.

15 posted on 04/28/2009 6:08:06 PM PDT by Doe Eyes
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To: G8 Diplomat

Turkey has a choice. The military can do what it has always done - control the Islamists. Or Turkey can do what Pakistan just did, be democratic, and let the crazies take over.


16 posted on 04/29/2009 6:07:26 AM PDT by dervish (I'm the President see me bow (at 0:50) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S60U-hl35Gw)
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To: Doe Eyes
If Turkey were serious about maintaining its historical close ties with Israel, it wouldn't be doing this.

Sort of like saying if the US was interested in peace in the Middle East, it would have attacked Al-Qaeda.
should that be "wouldn't have attacked"? :')

The Turkish gov't is now run by Islamicists, the Turkish prez condemned Israel's OCL in Gaza, and these joint maneuvers -- with an ally of Iran -- are part of Turkey's having turned on its longterm regional ally, Israel. Turkey turned on the US as well, regarding the liberation of Iraq. Turkey remains in NATO, but the only reason to maintain that relationship is to prevent closer ties with Russia. Those are coming, at which time, Turkey should be shown the door.
The Kurd's continue to launch terrorist attackes against Turkey.
The Kurds (unlike the "Palestinians" or al-Qaeda / Taliban) are an actual ethnic group, and irrespective of the various political stripes of the Kurdish terrorist groups, are fighting for their independence. And they are entitled to independence, but their population is spread across three or four countries.
17 posted on 04/29/2009 8:30:32 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/____________________ Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: dervish

Yeah.

Balik baçdan kokar; “The fish stinks from the head,” the Turks used to say. A metaphor meaning the state falls because of the government. They used it to describe the fall of the Ottoman empire, ultimately blaming the sultans for their lack of ability to lead. Now it may apply to the current government—if the Islamists’ power grows, there goes Turkey. (Not unlike what happened to us...0bama took the reigns, there went America)


18 posted on 04/29/2009 8:33:46 AM PDT by G8 Diplomat (I'm learning Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Pashtu, and Russian so someday you won't have to)
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