Posted on 10/06/2012 11:12:49 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Turkey’s parliament has authorised military operations inside Syria following Wednesday’s deadly shelling of a Turkish town. But Turks have voiced their opposition to a war, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to have heard them.
The roar of war was getting louder over the past few weeks in Akcakale, a tiny Turkish town right on the Syrian border, with mortars crashing into buildings and the rumble of distant tank fire accompanying announcements from the local mosque warning residents to stay home.
That’s exactly what Zeliha Timucin was doing on Wednesday evening when her family was huddled in their modest Akcakale home. But the shelling got her – and her three daughters, as well as her sister – anyway.
In a matter of hours, Akcakale turned from nondescript border town to the focus of international attention.
As Turkish troops took up positions across the area, international news teams descended on area to cover the funerals of the first Turkish civilians to be killed by Syrian fire since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.
Turkey’s patience wearing thin
Suddenly, the drums of war turned deafening. Hours after the Syrian shelling, Turkey fired at positions inside Syrian territory in a clearly directed message to Syria and the international community: Turkey’s patience was running thin.
“The bombardment continued this morning,” said Jasper Mortimer, reporting from the Turkish capital of Ankara early Thursday. “Turkey is signalling that last night’s retaliation was not simply a knee-jerk reaction. Turkey is very angry with Syria over its repeated violations of its borders.”
By noon, Turkey’s parliament had approved a bill extending authorisation for cross-border military operations. Originally intended for Turkish raids on Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq, the new bill included text that described Syrian military action in Turkey as a "serious
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
Could an Iranian car bomb attack in a sensitive location inside Turkey be far behind?
Wouldn’t surprise me if the Sunni rebels were shelling Syrian positions from civilian areas in Turkey, whereupon the Syrians fired back. It’s the kind of thing Sunni guerrillas do. Hamas and the PLO are notorious for this kind of thing vis-a-vis Israel.create.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Assad was shelling the Sunni Turks since the Turks support the Sunni Syrian rebels.
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