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[Kastrioti]

HABUR BORDER GATE, Turkey — In normal times, hauling 50,000 pounds of frozen chicken into Iraq is a routine job for Turfan Aydin, a Turkish trucker who has been working the route for years. But the cross-border trade has suddenly all but halted, locked up by the insurgent offensive in Iraq and the kidnapping of 80 Turkish citizens.

Once this border was wide open, as Turkey allowed rebel groups of any stripe easy access to the battlefields in Syria in an effort to topple President Bashar al-Assad. But that created fertile ground in Syria for the development of the Sunni militant group that launched a blitzkrieg in Iraq this month, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

“For three years, we have seen ISIS flags in Syria, and that is because of Turkey,” Mr. Aydin said, eyeing hundreds of Iraq-bound trucks that snaked in a line over the horizon. “Turkey let them in.”

Now, with the rise of ISIS, the Turkish government is paying a steep price for the chaos it helped create.

“The fall of Mosul was the epitome of the failure of Turkish foreign policy over the last four years,” said Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. “I can’t disassociate what happened in Mosul from what happened in Syria, and Turkish foreign policy toward Syria has been unrealistic, hubristic, ideological and stubborn.”

For years, a “zero problems with neighbors” policy helped make Turkey a much-admired example of Islamic democracy and economic growth. It benefited heavily from the opening of Iraq’s market, exporting $12 billion worth of goods last year, second only to Turkey’s exports to Germany. That number could drop by one-quarter, or even more if the fighting spreads, said Atilla Yesilada, a Turkey analyst at GlobalSource Partners.

This month, it classified the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, as a terrorist organization — a year and half after the United States did so. In Ankara on Tuesday, Mr. Erdogan called on European nations to stop jihadis from traveling to Turkey. And Turkish officials have remained quiet about the takeover of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk by the forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government, a show of assertiveness that would have prompted instant condemnation a few years ago.

Much more at the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/25/w...rebels-turkey-is-paying-heavy-price.html?_r=0

 

[Kastrioti]

I don't normally bump threads, but bump for economical purposes (on top of other reasons):

It benefited heavily from the opening of Iraq’s market, exporting $12 billion worth of goods last year, second only to Turkey’s exports to Germany. That number could drop by one-quarter, or even more if the fighting spreads, said Atilla Yesilada, a Turkey analyst at GlobalSource Partners.

Turkey is a powerful economy and if there second biggest export partner is Iraq they've fucked up big time. Erdogan and company started to support Sunnis in Syria not thinking about the blowback that would inevitably happen in Iraq. And now its hitting them where it hurts, there pockets.

 

[DiscoJer]

Does that "zero problems with neighbors" really apply to Turkey? They bomb the Kurds all the time.

Or did. Ironically though, this crisis is leading them to actually make peace with the Kurds, because they fear ISIS more than the Kurds

http://fortune.com/2014/06/20/kurds-edge-towards-statehood-with-turkish-israeli-help/

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Worl...nt-Kurdish-reform-bill-within-days--minister/