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Sunday, October 28, 2018

Payoff?

Well That Sounds Ominous:

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday issued what he said was a "final warning" to those who would endanger Turkey's borders, saying Ankara was determined to focus its attention on Syrian Kurdish fighters east of the Euphrates.

Does Erdogan consider the Khashoggi Affair essentially a "get out of jail free card" to play so he can do whatever he wants to Syrian Kurds?

Or did Erdogan cut a deal with Saudi Arabia to quietly back a Turkish campaign in exchange for shutting down the Khashoggi probe?

UPDATE: Remember that Turkey is a historic enemy of Iran and so doesn't want to cripple Saudi Arabia--just leverage the crisis to Turkey's advantage. Nor does Turkey have an interest in advancing Russian power because of the history of wars with Russia.

UPDATE: Hmm:

Turkey's military on Sunday fired artillery shells at a Kurdish militia in Syria that is backed by the United States but deemed a terrorist group by Ankara, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The shelling targeted YPG positions on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in northern Syria, Anadolu said.

I wonder what Saudi Arabia's current position on this issue is?