Turkey - TR

Rachel Turner2 said:Keep dreaming. You guys will be kicked out of the EU soon enough.

Even if we weren't part of the European Union, there is still NATO. This cooperation includes things like a unified response to mass migration waves.
In September 2017 the group organized a Joint military exercise COOPSEC17 in Allentsteig, Austria focused on protecting border against mass illegal migration.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cent...ce_Cooperation

silverhound said:Because apparently, a broken Europe is somehow better equipped to handle an immigration wave?

The reality is that Europe is currently grappling with stagnant population growth and a crippling shortage of labor. If the goal is to offset these deficits while maintaining economic momentum and productivity, then integrating migrants becomes an inevitability. Is it any coincidence, then, that Merkel opened the doors to those fleeing Syria to bolster Germany's workforce?

Sent from my Reddit

Apples and pears

silverhound said:Because apparently, a broken Europe is somehow better equipped to handle an immigration wave?

There’s a very simple fix for the migration issue, but the catch is that it sounds uncomfortably close to the "final solution" from the 1940s... though if this wave keeps up, that might be where we end up. I’m not talking about gas chambers, obviously, but some sort of massive detention camp system seems inevitable.

Brenda Murphy3 said:Unless something truly massive happens... and right now, nothing is actually hitting the fan. Sure, things can escalate fast, but for the moment, it's quiet.

And honestly, what "pride and dignity" are you even talking about? Do you really think some German, a Frenchman, a Finn, or even an American actually gives a damn about what some Islamist like Erdogan is blathering about? You think they’d jump into a conflict just to flex their muscles? That wouldn't be showing "character"—it would just be stupid. It would be sinking right down to Erdogan's level for no reason at all.

Guys like Erdogan and Vučić—they usually get kicked out by their own people eventually. Right now, they're tolerated for various reasons, and they'll stay tolerated for a while longer. But if Erdogan actually threatened someone significant or the entire European Union (which he can't, because Turkey's economy is basically a rounding error within the EU framework)—he'd be gone in a heartbeat, or the country would be totally isolated. Simple as that.

All these fantasies floating around here about how powerful Turkey is or how insignificant the European Union is? They're just that—fantasies.

yeah, we all know Germans, Dutch, and everyone else sold their souls for the Euro 😁 I know this from colleagues in the diaspora who move to Germany... to them, the Euro is all that matters... people will practically walk away from their church over a hundred bucks 🤣
but that's not the metric here...
I also don't buy that cliché about the people throwing out Erdogan... they might, if someone like Maddox were to fail spectacularly... but I don't see any defeats yet... the guy is popular... even among the diaspora living in democracies...
so he won't fall anytime soon—maybe only if biology catches up to him, though I doubt it's happening anytime soon.
So basically, we have this guy stirring the pot while Europe just sits there hoping things don't escalate. 😵

Lawrence Booth2 said:yeah, we all know Germans, Dutch, and everyone else sold their souls for the Euro 😁 I know this from colleagues in the diaspora who move to Germany... to them, the Euro is all that matters... people will practically walk away from their church over a hundred bucks 🤣
but that's not the metric here...
I also don't buy that cliché about the people throwing out Erdogan... they might, if someone like Maddox were to fail spectacularly... but I don't see any defeats yet... the guy is popular... even among the diaspora living in democracies...
so he won't fall anytime soon—maybe only if biology catches up to him, though I doubt it's happening anytime soon.
So basically, we have this guy stirring the pot while Europe just sits there hoping things don't escalate. 😵

Seriously, where the hell does Erdogan think he’s going with this? For crying out loud, stop posting such absolute nonsense.

As far as the European Union goes—honestly, he can rule Turkey for another hundred years for all I care. Who actually gives a damn? And this whole idea that one guy like Erdogan could somehow dismantle the EU? Please. That’s just pure fantasy; total nonsense if you ask me. If he starts playing his games a little too aggressively, he might just end up meeting the same fate as Gaddafi.

With just a tiny bit of financial backing and some decent logistics, you’ve got the Kurds, the Gulanovac crowd, and all those other anti-Erdoganov factions ready to turn Turkey into a complete disaster zone. Honestly, Turkey's "power" is nothing more than a total illusion. The country is so riddled with internal drama, splintered factions, and messy, unresolved issues that it wouldn't take much to send the whole thing spiraling into pure chaos. One single tweet already proved exactly how fragile the whole thing really is...

If anyone here actually thinks the European Union should be doing something about Erdogan and his constant delusions, then you clearly don't get how the EU or its citizens actually tick. You sit here making jokes about Germans or the Dutch, acting like they’ve just "sold out" for the sake of the Euro, but let's get real for a second. Those same Germans basically hold the Turkish economy in the palm of their hands. And the Dutch? They have one of the highest standards of living on the planet. Meanwhile, Turkey is largely just a massive collection of small towns, and their standard of living is way below what we see here in the States—and I mean by a long shot.

And you’re sitting there laughing at the Germans and the Dutchmen too? Give me a break.🤣 Do you even realize how ridiculous this sounds? Honestly, looking at it from the perspective of a German or a Dutchman, it just looks absolutely laughable.

Look, it’s all one thing or another to me

Here’s the final line in the sand—the one the folks in the European Union just aren't going to let him cross

But does such a line even exist?

Come on, tell me

Lawrence Booth2 said:Look, it’s all one thing or another to me

Here’s the final line in the sand—the one the folks in the European Union just aren't going to let him cross

But does such a line even exist?

Come on, tell me

There is no such thing as a "line"... what exists is just a massive web of circumstances that eventually forces a decision or several decisions.

All this stuff about him sending out a ship painted in the colors of the Turkish flag, or this whole dramatic act surrounding the Hagia Sophia—it's honestly just childish nonsense that people like him can use to grab headlines...

The moment a serious economic blow hits, Erdogan is going to have to stop playing games and start worrying about his own country and his actual standing, rather than chasing these little fantasies. We've seen this exact pattern play out relatively recently, anyway.

which basically means we can all sleep soundly tonight
alright

Erdogan is basically teetering on the edge of losing the next election. That’s exactly why he’s cranking up the nationalist rhetoric lately. If the European Union decides to tighten the screws on the gas supply, he'll be heading for the exit even if he somehow manages to pull off a miracle win next time around...

Lawrence Booth2 said:which basically means we can all sleep soundly tonight
alright

😁

And why wouldn't you sleep easy? At least when it comes to Erdogan?

Honestly, I don't know where you're located, but if you're living here in the States, Erdogan is the absolute last thing on your mind.

Rachel Turner2 said:Keep dreaming. You guys will be kicked out of the EU soon enough.

Whatever.

Brenda Murphy3 said:You have absolutely no clue what you're talking about.

The European Union could shut down the refugee flow overnight if they actually felt like it. This idea that refugees will dismantle the European Union is total nonsense. The EU is more likely to collapse because of its own member states than because of some Syrians or Afghans... and certainly not because of one guy like Erdogan.

It’s obvious you don't understand the European Union, the people living there, or politics in general. Most European citizens would lose their minds if they were dragged into a conflict just because some Islamist like Erdogan is shouting nonsense. But if things actually escalated? That's when you'd see just how brutal and pragmatic a "civilized" Europe can get. They’d crush Turkey economically or push them into internal chaos where they’d tear themselves apart. Erdogan supporters vs. Gulani supporters, Erdoganists vs. everyone else, Kurds vs. everybody... pick your poison.

Erdogan is clearly a religious fanatic looking at everything through his own warped lens. He probably genuinely believes he's on some "divine mission," but honestly, guys like that aren't smart or rational enough to see reality coming, and they'll crash and burn the moment someone decides to pull the rug out from under them... or they'll end up completely isolated. We're talking about a country that was nearly pushed into economic meltdown by a single damn tweet—and you're calling this "strength"? Turkey isn't Russia with its endless resources, and it's definitely not China with its massive industry and labor force... Turkey is just Turkey. It looks way bigger in the eyes of Erdogan supporters than it actually is in the real world...

Your observations above are pure fiction and nothing more.

I’m fairly certain the major powers within the EU are keeping a very close eye on all of Erdogan's provocations—they're basically taking notes, and the moment they get a real opening, they’ll give him a piece of their mind. Especially the French.

That’s just how embassies work. They sit there, keeping tabs on everything happening in the host country and tracking how the local government treats them. Eventually, all those reports they file end up shaping the official policy toward that nation...
Trust me, they’ve probably written thousands of pages on Erdogan and his headspace by now. They know exactly what makes him tick; they’re just being careful about how and when they play their hand.

Brenda Murphy3 said:😁

And why wouldn't you sleep easy? At least when it comes to Erdogan?

Honestly, I don't know where you're located, but if you're living here in the States, Erdogan is the absolute last thing on your mind.

At my local gym, Turkish is basically the native language.

The girls are short and the guys are all bearded and wearing red.😒

Rachel Carter90 said:I honestly don't get why everyone is getting so worked up over Turkey—it’s basically a country headed toward the same demographic meltdown we saw with the Mexicans. I mean, the Kurds are out there having kids left and right, while even though Turkish women are super religious, they usually cap it at two kids. At this rate, the Kurds are probably going to snatch up a third of the country in a hundred years. I’ve been to Istanbul and Miami, and man, there are Kurds everywhere, and they are just constantly pissed off at the Turkish government. It’s pretty much the same dynamic as Mexicans vs. Albanians.

The Turks are incredibly tight-knit and deeply driven by nationalism and religious fervor.

They are fully aware of how much they outmatch everyone else numerically and technologically, whether it's their immediate neighbors

or countries further away (like those in the North America), toward which they hold

serious ambitions.

The only thing standing in the way of their expansion toward the West and their closer neighbors is the Kurds.

They've already established a military foothold in Canada, and in Mexico, they have both allies and sleeper cells,

while Mexico and Albania remain targets for their political

maneuvering, both now and in the future. They try to win them over using the card

of Islamism, but the Albanians are patriots who care about their nation more than their religion.

If Americans have any sense at all, they should stop treating them as

reliable allies and just maintain the formal alliance

so they can keep access through the Bosphorus during peacetime.

ironranger67 said:I’m fairly certain the major powers within the EU are keeping a very close eye on all of Erdogan's provocations—they're basically taking notes, and the moment they get a real opening, they’ll give him a piece of their mind. Especially the French.

Personally, if I’m being selfish, I hope he keeps charging ahead with his Libyan adventure. I want Egypt, along with the French and the Russians, to "exhaust" him—to hand him a defeat so crushing it serves as a massive psychological and political blow to his ego...

If he actually pulls off a win in Libya, his confidence will skyrocket. You don't need to be a genius to predict his next target: the North America... and then all of Europe. Let's skip the fairy tales about the European Union being a political powerhouse. With the Americans having defined its borders so precisely, we're looking at an economic giant, a political dwarf, and a military nothing...

I’m not happy about any potential instability, regardless of how terrible their policies toward us have been. A strong European Union is our safeguard, especially since our economy is essentially tethered to Germany... So, even from a purely rational standpoint, I can't wish for a crisis there; it hits my own pocketbook first and foremost.

If they don't show some teeth to these neo-Ottomans now, it’s going to be a humiliating disaster. As for Americans, I’d suggest toning down that somewhat naive, unfounded boasting about being part of a "super-state" just because we're in the EU. It would be smarter to focus on aligning with the Visegrad group, which has proven itself far more politically coherent and vital than the Union itself...

And don't even get me started on NATO; that organization's future is anyone's guess. Keep your head down and stay cautious; there will be plenty of time for pro-European euphoria later. Some people on this thread remind me of those migrants in the US who act like they are the direct descendants of Washington himself...☕

Erdogan officially reopened the restored monastery.
https://www.aa.com.tr/ba/turska/erdo...avali-/1925126

Patrick Kim7 said:Erdogan officially reopened the restored monastery.
https://www.aa.com.tr/ba/turska/erdo...avali-/1925126

Well, it’s predictable. Just like how the Sultan once turned the main cathedral into a mosque before moving on to restoring monasteries, he’s playing the long game—it's why they used to call him the rum Kaiser. He wasn't necessarily anti-Christian; even back then, the Patriarch held significant sway. But everyone knew exactly who held the real power. This move is purely symbolic. In this version of an empire, everything has its place, provided it stays under Turkish-Islamic dominance...

Don't let yourself be fooled by Erdijev's brand of Islamism. At the end of the day, Turks are hardcore nationalists first; religion is just the lever they pull to exert influence...

I’m certainly not resting easy, nor am I allowing myself the luxury of underestimating the Neo-Ottomans.

Since there isn't a dedicated thread on Kurdistan, I’ll just drop this here.

In about five minutes, there's a four-part documentary series airing on CNN:

The Kurds: Pawns of the Superpowers

Airing July 28th on CNN at 10:10 PM (ET)