The Turks, the Kurds, and Everyone Else

Knowing  One's Limitations

It is pretty clear that Donald Trump does not like going to war.  He wants to bring US soldiers and their support personnel and equipment.  But he has been criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike for US withdrawals from Iraq and and Syria, whilst refusing to get involved in defending the Kurds against the war-mongering President of Turkey.  

But the simplistic, black and white approach to world affairs apparently championed by the Democrats and the Republicans in House and Senate cannot withstand scrutiny.  Trump is right not to commit US "treasure" to defending the Kurds against Turkish aggression.  Why?  It's complex, man!

John Hayward explains why a simplistic, black and white approach, which the US military would always represent, would be destined to fail.

Turkey’s invasion of northeastern Syria to drive the Kurds away from the Turkish border is bringing more Western attention to the Kurds than they received during the long and bloody Syrian civil war, where they played a key role in defeating the Islamic State.

Here are some important things to know about the Kurds.

Petering Out

Winston Peters' Career-defining Mess in Turkey

Mike Hosking
NZ Herald

Fantastic with the compassion, not so good with the politics. How big of a gaffe, how big a mistake has this Government made with Turkey?

In the midst of last week Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan injected himself into Christchurch in an egregious way. Across the Tasman, Aussie PM Scott Morrison was ropeable and hauled the ambassador in and, when given an explanation, like it was for domestic consumption, he didn't believe and said so.

We, on the other hand, seemed to avail ourselves of a nicely placed op-ed piece in the Washington Post written by Erdogan's henchman designed to appease the gullible. We were one of the gullible. Meantime he carried on at his rallies stirring the pot by playing excerpts from the mosque gunman's livestream.

Our Prime Minister, immersed in Christchurch and its grief, dismissed the outrage by suggesting Winston Peters was on his way to Turkey via Indonesia, and he would deal with it. It was suggested Peters may not even get to see Erdogan, but nevertheless the message would be delivered and matters would be sorted out.

The good news was Peters did get to the see the President - but then astonishingly did not raise the matter with him. He said he didn't need to because the whole thing was sorted and Erdogan wasn't "doing that anymore". And yet half an hour later that's exactly what he did. We had more footage, and more vitriol.  Peters, even more astonishingly, denied Ardern had ever said what Ardern had said. How do we explain this? An abject failing of a diplomatic mission and complete denial of reality?

Tested and Refined by His Heavenly Father

Freed Pastor Describes His Captivity in Turkey

 'I declared every day God loves me'

Megan Keller
The Hill

Andrew Brunson, the American pastor freed last week after nearly two years of captivity in Turkey, described during an interview Wednesday how his faith helped him get through the experience.

"One of the most important things that someone told me was, just breathe. You don't have expectations that, 'I have to preach to everyone.' Just hang on to God," Brunson said during an appearance on "Fox & Friends."

"It's one of the things I did consistently. I kept talking to God, talking to God, whether he talked to me or not."  Brunson said that habit helped him through the first year in particular when he "was really broken down."

He also spoke about the role his wife, Norine, played in keeping his spirits up. She would visit her husband once a week for up to an hour while he was in prison in Turkey.  "It was my wife who really got me through that time," Brunson said. "God did, but she's the one who brought truth into me in our meetings and would just focus, hang on."

Brunson, who was being held under charges of terrorism, also said he wrote a song in the second year of his captivity.  "One of the lines was, 'Jesus, the faithful one who loves me, always good and true.' Because these are things I doubted," Brunson explained. "But I declared every day: 'God loves me. He's true. He's faithful. He has not abandoned me.'"

Brunson arrived back in the U.S. last Saturday, following his release last Friday.

Turkey The Coming Flash Point For Militant Islam

Failed Coup Signals the End Turkish of Democracy

Paul Buchanan & Kate Nicholls
NZ Herald

As students of comparative civil-military relations, we were surprised to read the Herald's editorial, "Coup's failure hopeful sign for democracy." We see no positives resulting from the aborted coup. Instead we foresee the death throes of a painstakingly crafted secular, albeit imperfect, democracy, that has been under siege since the election of Recep Erdogan as Prime Minister in 2003 and President in 2014.

The cornerstones of Turkish democracy were an apolitical professional military, an independent secular judiciary, and a multiparty electoral system characterised by a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances between the executive and legislative branches.

Granted, Kemal Ataturk's nationalism, which bound the country together in the wake of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, often worked to stifle free speech and repress ethnic minorities, notably the Kurds. Turkish democracy has also always been "guarded", meaning that the military has on occasion acted as unelected veto-player. Yet since the rise of Erdogan to power 16 years ago, things have gotten incrementally but steadily worse.

Christianity No Longer a Religion, But Merely a Culture

The Ottomans Return

Christians Harried Out of the Land; On the Brink of Extinction In Turkey

Mary Chastain
BreitbartNews

The Christian population of Turkey is evaporating rapidly. The nation, a NATO member since 1952, has experienced a reduction in its Christian population from 20% 100 years ago to only 0.2% today. The latest blow in the community occurred at the Hagia Sophia during Easter holy week.

“The historic Istanbul cathedral and museum, Hagia Sophia, witnessed its first Quran recitation under its roof after 85 years Saturday,” reported the Anatolian News Agency of Turkey. “The Religious Affairs Directorate launched the exhibition ‘Love of Prophet,’ as part of commemorations of the birth of Islamic Prophet Muhammad.”

Istanbul was once known as Constantinople, founded by Roman Emperor Constantine in 324. He made it the capital of Rome before it fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. They made it their capital until the empire collapsed after World War I. Modern day Turkey officially renamed it Istanbul in 1923.