Playing with Fire Turkey Edges toward War with Syria

[Draggingtree]

Der Spiegel:

Playing with Fire Turkey Edges toward War with Syria

 

 

 

 

 

DPA

War with Syria? Most Turks say no. But the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is aggressively responding to a deadly cross-border attack, having been granted broad military powers by parliament. His hope: After Assad falls, Turkey will gain even more influence in the Middle East. By Jürgen Gottschlich in Istanbul

[Draggingtree]

Turkish artillery opens fire on Syria in escalation of border tensions

 

 

By Roy Gutman | McClatchy Newspapers

 

 

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkey announced Wednesday that it had fired artillery at Syrian military positions in retaliation for mortar rounds from inside Syria that killed five civilians in a house just inside the Turkish border.

 

It was the first known exchange of fire between Turkey and Syria since a Turkish-backed uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began nearly 20 months ago. It was the most serious incident between the two countries since June, when Syria shot down a Turkish reconnaissance aircraft that had violated Syrian airspace.

 

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Syrian mortar fire landed in Akcakale, a checkpoint in southeastern Turkey that straddles the border with Syria, at 4:30 p.m. local time. Turkish artillery immediately responded, Erdogan said, under standing orders that were rewritten after the

 

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/10/03/170498/turkish-artillery-opens-fire-on.html

[Draggingtree]

World View: Turkey Expands Rules of Engagement Against Syria

by John J. Xenakis4 Oct 2012

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com:

• Turkey continues shelling Syrian military positions
  
• Turkey's Erdogan delivers harsh speech and expands rules of engagement
  
• UN Security Council issues a watered-down statement on Syria
  
• Turkey may have captured the killers of U.S. envoy Chris Stevens
  
• Aron Nimzovich: 'Why must I lose to this IDIOT?'
  
• Spain's Rajoy continues to play games with bailout
  

Turkey continues shelling Syrian military positions

 

In a sharp escalation of tensions between Turkey and Syria, the Turkish military shelling into Syria that began on Wednesday continued into Thursday, as retaliatory strikes for the killing of a mother and her three daughters and another woman by Syrian mortars that landed in Turkey. Turkey's targets were Syrian military positions in Syria, resulting in the deaths of an unknown number of Syrian soldiers. Turkey has stopped shelling, but is continuing to deploy tanks and anti aircraft missiles in Akcakale, the town where the five Turkish citizens were killed on Wednesday. Zaman (Istanbul)

Turkey's Erdogan delivers harsh speech and expands rules of engagement

 

Turkey's Parliament on Thursday gave authority to the government to deploy troops in Syria or other countries if an when it finds such an act necessary for national security. Once again,

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2012/10/04/5-Oct-12-World-View-Turkey-Syria-relations-continue-sharp-escalation

[Draggingtree]

10/05/2012 05.10.2012

 

Fears of Mideast Wildfire

 

 

Syrian War Threatens to Spread to Neighbors

 

 

AFP

 

With deaths in Turkey, shelling in Lebanon and skirmishes on the border with Jordan, it is clear the war in Syria has begun to spill over to into neighboring states. The longer the crisis lasts, the greater the danger becomes of a major regional escalation.

 

Events in recent days have illustrated just how quickly the violence in Syria could spiral into a regional war. After Syrian mortar bombs once again fell on Turkish soil, this time killing five civilians, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan felt compelled to act. The Turkish military's retaliation on Wednesday and Thursday startled the international community.

 

With its actions, Turkey obviously proceeded with caution: It answered the repeated attacks from Syria with a few artillery shots -- not missiles. And the permission for further military action granted to Erdogan by his parliament is intended primarily as an intimidation measure. There is no apparent intent to declare all-out war -- at least for the time being. The United Nations Security Council, meanwhile, has strongly condemned the Syrian attack on Turkish soil and called on both sides to show restraint.

 

The fact of the matter is that the longer Syrian civil war continues, the more often incidents like that seen earlier this week will occur -- particularly in Turkey and Lebanon. A large part of the border region around Syria

has

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/fighting-along-syrian-borders-raises-risk-of-regional-war-a-859691.html

[Draggingtree]

Posted on Friday, October 5, 2012

Turkey prime minister warns war is near as his forces pound Syria for third day

 

By Roy Gutman | McClatchy Newspapers

/AP

Turkish military take up positions on the Turkish side of the border near Syrian rebel-controlled town of Tel Abyad, in Akcakale, Turkey

 

By Roy Gutman McClatchy Newspapers

ISTANBUL — One day after winning blanket authority to send forces into Syria, Turkey’s prime minister warned Friday that his country is “not far from war” and said that it would be a “deadly mistake” for the Syrian government to test Turkey’s will.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the comments as the Turkish military fired shells into Syria for the third straight day – retaliation for a mortar shell that landed just inside Turkish territory in Hatay province, according to the provincial governor.

Until Wednesday, when a Syrian shell killed five civilians in the border town of Akcakale, several hundred miles to the east, Turkey had avoided responding to what have appeared to be errant shells fired into Turkish territory by Syrian troops battling rebel forces for control of crossing points.

But after the five deaths Wednesday, Turkey appears to be retaliating for any Syrian shell that lands inside Turkey. On Thursday, a Syrian shell landed near the border in the town of Altinozou, causing no injuries but sparking a Turkish response. There were also no reports of Turkish injuries in the Friday shelling.

Turkish media reported, however, that at least seven Syrian soldiers were

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchy...l#storylink=cpy

[Valin]

@Draggingtree

 

Turkey has been set on ousting Assad for about a year now

 

 

Actually what is going on with this is Turkey is looking to restore its preeminent position in the middle east...ie the Ottoman empire. And push back Iran.

[Draggingtree]

@Draggingtree

 

Turkey has been set on ousting Assad for about a year now

 

 

Actually what is going on with this is Turkey is looking to restore its preeminent position in the middle east...ie the Ottoman empire. And push back Iran.

Well am I wrong Turkeys military force is one in that region not to be reckon with ?

[Valin]

@Draggingtree

 

Turkey has been set on ousting Assad for about a year now

 

 

Actually what is going on with this is Turkey is looking to restore its preeminent position in the middle east...ie the Ottoman empire. And push back Iran.

Well am I wrong Turkeys military force is one in that region not to be reckon with ?

 

That's their reputation. My point is this is not about Syria, but about Iran...and the Shia....and a message being sent to Iraq. This also could be nothing both saber rattling for domestic consummation, and to give the Army something to do while the civilian government tightens its control over the army. When looking at this part of the world 100 years is yesterday, and the Turks still remember they controlled Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Egypt.

 

What is interesting is this part of the world we see religion, history, politics all combining in an area that doesn't have a lot of natural borders.

[Draggingtree]

Turkey retaliates after second Syrian shell hits village

 

Turkey's military reportedly fired an artillery round into Syria on Sunday in immediate retaliation after a shell fired from Syria landed in the Turkish border town of Akcakale, the second such incident in five days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smoke rises after a shell fired by the Syrian army lands in the Turkish border town of Akcakale, Sanliurfa Photo: EPA/VELI GURGAH

 

 

 

 

 

 

3:55PM BST 07 Oct 2012

 

 

 

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan warned Syria on Friday that Turkey would not shy away from war if provoked, but a series of mortar bombs fired from Syria have hit Turkey since then.

 

There were no casualties when the latest Syrian shell hit land near a plant belonging to the Turkish Grain Board (TMO), several hundred metres from the centre of Akcakale, where five civilians were killed on Wednesday in previous Syrian shelling

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9592461/Turkey-retaliates-after-second-Syrian-shell-hits-village.html