Turkish jets bomb Kurdish targets in Northern Iraq, in order to help the ISIS

[bryant.coleman]

http://news.yahoo.com/turkish-jets-bomb-pkk-kurdish-rebels-iraq-spokesman-215208343.html

Turkish Air Force jets crossed the border with Iraq yesterday, and bombed the Kurdish targets in the Dohuk Province of Iraqi Kurdistan, in order to help the Islamic State, which is engaged in a fierce battle with the Kurds. The F-16 Fighting Falcon jets (provided by the United States) were used to attack the Kurdish targets. The Kurds have been gaining upper hand against the ISIS for the last several months in Northern Syria and Northern Iraq, and this seems to have prompted the Turks to act against them.

[1715014885]

1715014885

[1715014885]

1715014885

[1715014885]

1715014885

[1715014885]

1715014885

[1715014885]

1715014885

[1715014885]

1715014885

[Okurkabinladin]

Situation on the ground is rather confusing, now. It is public secret, that Republic of Turkey supports ISIS, yet there was a firefight between the two, post suicide bombing in turkish border town.

Would love to be fruit fly sitting on the wall of Erdogans office, just listening in...

[g1974ak]

Maybe it is a mistake. Turks don't like ISIS. They have problems with Kurdish too because of the story of the state of Kurd with the Turkish lands but I don't think that they go until those things. Then Ocalan has declared the collaboration of Kurds with the Turkish government. So must not be problems anymore. Must be "friendly fire".

[bryant.coleman]

Situation on the ground is rather confusing, now. It is public secret, that Republic of Turkey supports ISIS, yet there was a firefight between the two, post suicide bombing in turkish border town.

Erdogan needed some diversion, and that is why he made those token strikes on the "ISIS" targets. As far as I know, these strikes didn't caused a great deal of damage to the ISIS.

At the same time, the Turkish Kurds are very agitated right now (they are 20% of the population). It has been established that some of the Turkish government agents actually helped the Islamic State suicide bomber to carry out the attack on Suruç, in which some 32 ethnic Kurds were killed. Erdogan made the token strikes against the ISIS, after this news started circulating among the Kurds.

[Daniel91]

The Turks very long avoided openly engaging in this conflict, probably hoping to be able to maintain the status quo.
Now they probably realize that conflict is inevitable and decided to deal with ISIS and defeat them.
I think that Isis made a big strategic mistake here because they created a new great and dangerous enemy.
This is great news for all others, Kurds, Iraq, Syria etc.

[bitcreditscc]

They are simply playing the two at the middle. They like neither , they also can't let one overpower the other. It's exactly the same balancing act the U.S is doing.

[Okurkabinladin]

They are simply playing the two at the middle. They like neither , they also can't let one overpower the other. It's exactly the same balancing act the U.S is doing.

And ultimately self-defeating, in the same way Israel effectively created Hizballah, which in turn eventually overran all of Lebanon. You cant play two parties against each other forever. Eventually one faction gains upper hand (I am betting on Kurds here) fully aware, that you were just using them as tool.

[saddampbuh]

turks are subhuman monsters. irredeemable.

[smith coins]

Turkey has been a strong country these years, and what i like mostly it's their beach and phenomenal hotels

[bryant.coleman]

The Turks very long avoided openly engaging in this conflict, probably hoping to be able to maintain the status quo.
Now they probably realize that conflict is inevitable and decided to deal with ISIS and defeat them.

Correction: Now they have realized that the defeat of the Islamic State is near, and therefore they have decided to deal with the Kurdish Peshmerga directly and defeat them.

I think that Isis made a big strategic mistake here because they created a new great and dangerous enemy.

Turkey has been a great friend of the Islamic State, and it will remain that way till the very end. Earlier, the Turks were just providing weapons and funds to the ISIS barbarians, and allowing the recruits to cross over to the ISIS territory through Turkey. Now they have began targeting the enemies of ISIS in air raids.

This is great news for all others, Kurds, Iraq, Syria etc.

This is a great news for the Islamic State and bad news for normal humans.

[Sithara007]

This is not going to work in the long term. The Turks will have to stop suppressing the Kurdish culture and language. The pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) won more than 13% of the votes during the last election, and it's popularity is increasing. The more the Turks discriminate against the Kurds, the more it will strengthen the Kurdish unity.