Erdogan threatens to send in the migrants
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to overrun Europe with “millions” of illegal immigrants if the EU dared to criticize his invasion of Kurdish-held northern Syria. “Hey EU, wake up. I say it again: if you try to frame our operation there as an invasion, our task is simple: we will open the doors and send 3.6 million migrants to you,” Erdogan threatened Thursday.
He’s got Europe’s number, hasn’t he? Here’s what passes for tough talk from the EU’s outgoing president Donald Tusk:
“Turkey must understand that our main concern is that their actions may lead to another humanitarian catastrophe,” Tusk said at a press conference in Nicosia and on Twitter.
“And we will never accept that refugees are weaponized and used to blackmail us,” he added, referring to an EU agreement with Ankara on refugees, struck in March 2016 as a result of a wave of migration to the bloc.
“President Erdogan’s threats of yesterday are totally out of place,” he added.
“Totally out of place”? I bet that makes Erdogan tremble. As well as “we will never accept,” particularly when coupled with “our main concern is that their actions may lead to another humanitarian catastrophe.” If that’s the EU’s “main concern,” Erdogan seems well aware of it, and that’s what motivates his threat.
I don’t want to sound like one of those incel losers but one of the things going on seems to be a feminized Western culture struggling with a resurgence of machismo. We have forgotten that the concept of “the gentleman” included the idea that he could beat some ass if necessary.
Mike
Time for Turkexit?
Turkish stories tolerably Europeanized:
Mozart slow [4:06], Mozart fast [2:06]
Beethoven x 8, [stick around (or just jump ahead) for the deranged version at 2:26]
Brubeck [6:46]
Then too, there’s The Four Lads, Ella & Bing, They Might Be Giants
or better, Raymond Scott and His Quintet.
Erdogan has long had the Euro’s measure: pure bluster. Germany imported Turks for mostly grunt work as their American-funded “economic miracle” began around 1950. These Turks, now in their 3rd generation, remain loyal to their homeland. Plus the millions of Syrian and Turkish “refugees” (all male, all clean and well-dressed in all the photos I’ve seen) more recently admitted, except to such “regressive” countries like Hungary and Poland.
The cradle of Western civilization is committing suicide instead of standing up to the Turks.
Erdogan’s threats are not hollow. The Ottoman Empire is being resurrected.
Lots of bluster going around.
Turkey may have its own demographic worries, as (poor) Kurdish birth rates are twice as high as (richer) Turkish birth rates:
https://www.ibtimes.com/kurdish-majority-turkey-within-one-generation-705466
Tho current trends in many countries might well NOT be good predictors of the future, we don’t have better ones.
via Power Line blog:
https://www.heritage.org/middle-east/commentary/trump-serious-about-syria-heres-what-you-must-always-remember
Also worth reading (both by J. E. Dyer):
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/10/09/turkey-syria-and-the-kurds-a-nine-point-survey/
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/10/07/quicklook-trumps-statement-on-turkey-and-the-kurdish-safe-zone-in-syria/
Cicero,
It’s not completely true that 2rd generation Turks in Germany remain loyal to Turkey. I know some second generation assimilated Turks who don’t like what Erdogan is doing to the country. A year or two ago, there were reports that Turks were forming their own senior facilities here because the realized that the Turkey they left years ago is different from the homeland of their memories and that they were more at home here.
I’ve also read that Erdogan is getting pushback in Turkey because people don’t like the economic situation. Germany has for years resisted Turkey’s desire to join the EU, probably because of the free travel that would mean. And they remember now that a year or two after his election, Erdogan visited German mosques and told people not to assimilate. There is probably a big difference between Turks who live in smaller cities and those who live in enclaves in Berlin, Cologne, and Dortmund.