(Giampiero Venturi)
10/16/15

http://www.difesaonline.it/geopolitica/tempi-venturi/la-strana-coppia-obama-erdogan-usa-e-turchia-combattono-lisis

The meeting between President Barack Obama and the turkish Erdogan reiterates common strategy in the Middle East of Washington and Ankara. The joke statements from agencies around the world confirm the will of the US and Turkey to increase the military pressure on the Caliphate and at the same time to arm the '"moderate opposition" to the Assad government.

President Obama would has gone so far to confirm to Erdogan ally support in suppressing the PKK, the Kurdish Communist Party leaders who are in the fight for independence in the territory Turkey.

Obama's words if made under the brands of other administrations would have horrified progressive intellectual circles and chancelleries of the five continents. Nobel President however often enjoy a large credit and he who left, at his time, the Kurdish Ocalan, now pretends not to hear.

On this section we have already analyzed the controversial role played by Turkey in the current scenario of the Middle East (v.articolo).

It is worth to go deeper in to the light of convergence between Erdogan and Obama that confirms what has already been gutted.

Let's see.

Turkey is a NATO member since '52 and the early '70s it shared the southeastern border with Assad: first the father, then the son. As we have already argued (v.articolo) dynasty in Damascus, as hostile to the West and Israel, has been preferred for decades in political vacuum for reasons of regional balance. In particular was open hostility towards the PLO's Arafat, crucial for Israel, to ensure long life to the power of the Alawites in Syria.

In this particular game Turkey, especially as long as he enjoyed good relations with Tel Aviv, had its direct interest: a stable power in Syria that has led to freeze the Kurdish issue, problem shared with Damascus. The YPG, Popular Kurdish Defence Unit ideological relatives of the PKK militias, are the most reliable and motivated to fight the Islamic State.

The impasse of military supplies to the Syrian Kurds with inevitable delays in the outcome of the war in the north eastern sector against ISIS can be explained by the pressures of Turkey. The picture is clear. Much less clear is to understood what pushed Turkey to refrain from putting in security area which for half a century it wanted to keep stable. A weak Syria is the first of the major problems of Ankara, and for the subsequent assumption of political weight of the Kurds (already stimulated by the autonomy in Iraq) and for the inevitable flow of refugees already difficult to manage.

When the United States and Turkey speak of moderate factions fighting the Assad government, referring essentially to Jaish Al Fatah, the Army of Conquest, active on the north (turkish side) and now cartel of convergence of different fronts of Sunni Islamists stamp. Among the major political contacts of Jaish Al Fatah there are the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which cast a disturbing impression on the existence of a Sunni Islamist radical axis of international concern. Beyond ideological differences, Isis is basically exactly the same thing.

What is now clear is that Turkey at a secular containment strategy that has allowed it to consolidate its role as a regional power, prefers today adherence to a Sunni front at all without shadows. Behind Jaish Al Fatah is primarily Saudi Arabia, big brother of the Sunnis, especially the part that refers to the ultra-conservative Wahhabism.

Why Turkish MIT (intelligence) has decided to play with fire is still unknown. The operational contacts between Israel and Russia, however, must also be considered in this regard.

Whatever are the objectives of Ankara, its own advantage in the long run remains to be seen. Of Islamic drift of Turks, on this section we have already spoken (v.articolo).

Difficult to understand the evolution of the scenarios, especially in light of early elections in November, where Erdogan and Turkey will gamble everything.

Instead it is easier to see why the US is in the turkish game or if, however, they feell complicit.
Set aside theories of aliens who manipulate Islamic levers of power in the US (in the financial ones they are ...), we must remember what the US needs Turkey and its allies in the Persian Gulf (Saudi all). To control the price of crude oil production adding up the attempt to make sense of their presence in the region was put into serious trouble by Netanyahu's victory in the elections last March in Israel. Without Ankara (and Sunni cronies Gulf), America in the Middle East would be alone.

The fact that the intrusion of Russian fighters in Turkey has more space of seeking a common strategy against the Caliphate, explains a lot. That includes that the US and Turkey are not fighting the Isis, and, anyhow, they do not do it to win.

(Photo: Türk Ordusu / web)

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