A self-professed Islamic Fundamentalist regime secures the release of 49 of its citizens from captivity by an Islamic Fundamentalist terrorist organization - what could possibly be fishy about that?:
Turkish authorities say they have freed 49 hostages from one of the world's most ruthless militant groups without firing a shot, paying a ransom or offering a quid pro quo.
But as the well-dressed men and women captured by the Islamic State group more than three months ago clasped their families Saturday on the tarmac of the Turkish capital's airport, experts had serious doubts about the government's story.
The official explanation "sounds a bit too good to be true," said Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat who chairs the Istanbul-based Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies. "There are some very legitimate and unanswered questions about how this happened."
Indeed. Let's consider a few of them.
The Turkish hostages in question were captured at their country's Mosul consulate when ISIS took the city back on June 11th. They've ostensibly been collective leverage against the Turks providing bases from which U.S. aircraft can bomb Islamic State positions in Syria and/or Iraq, or, if it was conceivable (which it isn't) bases from which the U.S. could re-invade Iraq or invade Syria. Now, 102 days later, ISIS releases all 49 of their Turkish hostages, leading to the straightforward, logical question: Why did they do so?
Perhaps the Turkish government paid the Islamic State a substantial ransom. Problem is, the Turks vehemently deny doing so. So what persuaded ISIS to let them go? The Turkish government also says that the hostage release was secured through the efforts of its intelligence agency, not any direct special forces action or diplomatic negotiation. What were the details of that? The Turks aren't saying, other than that they were "intense efforts". So, again, if they were liberated by force, what persuaded ISIS to turn the Turkish hostages loose?
Was it threats? Hard to believe there's any threat that could intimidate a jihadist band that embraces death as a sacred honor and duty. So if it wasn't threats and it wasn't coercion and it wasn't force and it wasn't a payoff, what's left? Well, the Latin term for it would be quid pro quo. The Turks must have offered ISIS something they wanted in exchange for the hostages. Was it a promise to not oppose ISIS or aid in attacks against them in exchange for Turkish territory being left alone - in essence, a non-aggression pact similar to the one ISIS inked this week with the so-called "Free Syrian Army"? Now we're probably getting warm.
But let's take it one step further still. Harken back to the lede above: Turkey is run by a self-proclaimed Islamist regime. Ahmet Davutoglu, sworn in as Prime Minister just three weeks ago, was Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Foreign Minister, and succeeded him in the premiership only because Erdoğan elevated himself to the Turkish presidency. Consequently Davutoglu is most likely a figurehead and Erdoğan's lapdog. This hostage release puts a big feather in his hat at the same time. Meanwhile Erdoğan, who harbors dreams of reviving the old Ottoman Empire....
....and is hostile to the West, has no reason to cooperate with the Obama Regime's faux efforts to "curb" ISIS and every reason to make clandestine common cause with the group. Perhaps Erdoğan made a deal with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi that they will jointly run the Global Caliphate from Ankara. That would be a helluva better deal than he could ever get from Turkey's years-long, frustrated, and ultimately unrequited efforts to join the European Union, a jilting that alienated the Turks and pushed them in the direction of electing an Islamist like Erdoğan in the first place.
Yes, it's all speculation at this point, but as with all such stories these days, the logic and dynamics of the situation lead to very few plausible - or favorable - conclusions. In this case, the most likely conclusion is that Turkey has all but declared itself an ally of the Islamic State and an enemy of the West in general and the U.S. in particular. Only remaining variable is how long it will be until they publicly acknowledge it.
Looks like President Broad Coalition needs to go to Ankara and burble out another "historic" speech ASAP.
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