Cyprus-Forum.com

[Demonax]

Lots of recent articles on ISIS recruitment in Turkey:

When you fight over there, its like being in a trance,” said Can, who asked to be referred to only by his middle name for fear of reprisal. “Everyone shouts ‘God is the greatest,’ which gives you divine strength to kill the enemy without being fazed by blood or splattered guts,” he said.

Hundreds of foreign fighters have joined the ranks of ISIS in its self-proclaimed caliphate that sweeps over vast territories of Iraq and Syria, including some from Europe and the United States. But one of the biggest source of recruits is neighboring Turkey, a NATO member with an undercurrent of Islamist discontent.

As many as 1,000 Turks have joined ISIS, according to Turkish news media reports and government officials here. Recruits cite the group’s ideological appeal to disaffected youths as well as the money it pays fighters from its flush coffers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/16/world ... ruits.html

Two more articles on how ISIS recruits in Turkey:

http://mashable.com/2014/08/12/teenage- ... -recruits/

http://www.newsweek.com/2014/09/19/excl ... 69247.html

This one in Turkish: http://haber.sol.org.tr/devlet-ve-siyas ... beri-95976

[Oceanside50]

It shows where parts of turkey's society are moving towards

[repulsewarrior]

...i ask, where is Pakistan in all of this (i ask as well, where is India)?

[Tim Drayton]

In my opinion, the emergence of the entity calling itself Islamic State and the creation of a broad alliance to combat and destroy it represents a major turning point in history and, given Cyprus' close proximity to the region, these events will have consequences for the island.

As such, it would be good to have a thread where people can discuss the latest developments and try to make sense of what is happening in a spirit of open, mutually respectful discussion. Perhaps those looking for a slanging match could go elsewhere.

Ok, but to participate in your civilized discussion would one need (as a prerequisite) to buy your naïve story that a “Islamic State”…

1. Spawned out of nothing and in the middle of nowhere.

2. Proceeded to manufacture and arm itself with the latest American weapons.

3. Acquired access to military GPS so as to safely traverse corridors in a rather busy and very dangerous war region.

4. Setup an intelligent global recruiting network.

5. Acquired access to seemingly unlimited funds for its operations.

...and a host of other impressive capabilities not mentioned above, all on their own in roughly the space of a year?

Where did I express the above opinions?

[Tim Drayton]

One commentator I heard on a BBC world service discussion programme last night said that this problem will not be finally resolved until Iran and the Gulf States sit down and make up their differences. If you ignore the fact that the US and other countries moving on its coat tails are also vying for control of the region, the root of the Sunni-Shiite conflict in Iraq and the Levant stems from a battle between Iran and the Gulf States for control over this strategically important and resource rich region , so this comment makes a great deal of sense to me.
This same commentator also regretted, to the general agreement of the other participants, the way that Iran was sidelined at yesterday's Paris conference. His opinion was that Iran would not be greatly interested in participating in a US-led military operation, but that its diplomatic clout in the region will be indispensable when it comes to brokering a lasting solution.

[Tim Drayton]

There is now talk that the Muslim Brotherhood people who had escaped from Egypt and found shelter in Qatar, but have now been asked to leave Qatar because their presence there is becoming too embarrassing, are going to go to Turkey!

[Sotos]

Having said that, he ignores the Qatar factor. Qatar apparently still supports the Muslim Brotherhood and I suspect there is a Turkey-Qatar axis in place.

I think you should include US-UK in that axis. It is not the first time that the Anglo-Americans back fundamentalists. They did a similar thing with Afghanistan when they armed Bin Laden to fight the Soviets. In Syria they backed these terrorists to fight Assad just because they wanted to remove Russian influence and bases from Syria. Here is what I wrote more than 2 years ago...

When you say Syria, you mean Assad, I presume, or whatever dictator is running the country.

There will always be one dictator or another running that kind of countries. Look at what happened to Egypt! What will be next for them? sharia law maybe? I would understand if the people wanted real democracy ... but they don't! I say let them alone to sort their own business in their own country. Don't give them weapons, don't give them money! Foreign involvement is rarely a good thing.

cyprus37211-10.html#p710529

[Tim Drayton]

Having said that, he ignores the Qatar factor. Qatar apparently still supports the Muslim Brotherhood and I suspect there is a Turkey-Qatar axis in place.

I think you should include US-UK in that axis. It is not the first time that the Anglo-Americans back fundamentalists. They did a similar thing with Afghanistan when they armed Bin Laden to fight the Soviets. In Syria they backed these terrorists to fight Assad just because they wanted to remove Russian influence and bases from Syria. Here is what I wrote more than 2 years ago...

When you say Syria, you mean Assad, I presume, or whatever dictator is running the country.

There will always be one dictator or another running that kind of countries. Look at what happened to Egypt! What will be next for them? sharia law maybe? I would understand if the people wanted real democracy ... but they don't! I say let them alone to sort their own business in their own country. Don't give them weapons, don't give them money! Foreign involvement is rarely a good thing.

cyprus37211-10.html#p710529

Absolutely, just because there may exist a Qatar-Turkey axis, this does not exclude the possibility of other factors or alliances existing. My point actually relates to the argument in the article I referred to.

[Demonax]

Article on the close links between Turkey, Erdogan and ISIL:

ISIL, Turkey: The Dream of Restoring the Glories of Sublime Ottoman State

Recep Tayyeb Erdogan stood on July/2012 before his Party’s audience to justify the intervention of his government in the crisis in Syria, saying: It is that we are the descendants of the Seljuks, and the remnants of the Sublime Ottoman State... “The Justice and Development Party (AKP) is a party in which the spirit of the Seljuks* and the Ottomans is deeply rooted”. Putting emphasis on his position, he repeated it while addressing another speech on September in the same year, saying: “We are walking in our conqueror ancestors’ footsteps starting from Sultan Alp Arslan* reaching to Fatih Sultan Mehmet “the Conquer”*. Having assumed power in 1046 AD, Alp Arslan, the second ruler of the Seljuk state, has been able to expand the boundaries of his state inciting sectarianism in his wars against the Fatimids, particularly. During his reign, Nezamiyeh schools, which were toughening up a certain doctrine and which considered other Islamic doctrines as infidels, have been established. He also lavished funds on advocates being brought by him to Baghdad to accuse the Fatimids as infidels and to call for fighting them. Perhaps Alp Arslan’s inheritance, which Erdogan is glorifying, help us understand Turkey’s policy not only in terms of its interference in the Syrian crisis, but even regarding its support for the Takfiri organizations, the foremost the ISIL.

http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adeta ... 6p.twitter

[Tim Drayton]

Article on the close links between Turkey, Erdogan and ISIL:

ISIL, Turkey: The Dream of Restoring the Glories of Sublime Ottoman State

Recep Tayyeb Erdogan stood on July/2012 before his Party’s audience to justify the intervention of his government in the crisis in Syria, saying: It is that we are the descendants of the Seljuks, and the remnants of the Sublime Ottoman State... “The Justice and Development Party (AKP) is a party in which the spirit of the Seljuks* and the Ottomans is deeply rooted”. Putting emphasis on his position, he repeated it while addressing another speech on September in the same year, saying: “We are walking in our conqueror ancestors’ footsteps starting from Sultan Alp Arslan* reaching to Fatih Sultan Mehmet “the Conquer”*. Having assumed power in 1046 AD, Alp Arslan, the second ruler of the Seljuk state, has been able to expand the boundaries of his state inciting sectarianism in his wars against the Fatimids, particularly. During his reign, Nezamiyeh schools, which were toughening up a certain doctrine and which considered other Islamic doctrines as infidels, have been established. He also lavished funds on advocates being brought by him to Baghdad to accuse the Fatimids as infidels and to call for fighting them. Perhaps Alp Arslan’s inheritance, which Erdogan is glorifying, help us understand Turkey’s policy not only in terms of its interference in the Syrian crisis, but even regarding its support for the Takfiri organizations, the foremost the ISIL.

http://www.almanar.com.lb/english/adeta ... 6p.twitter

That appears to be a well researched article. I have seen articles in secular Arab publications in which it is alleged that Erdoğan is not just a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, but is actually a member, a claim that Assad has also made.