Leopards cannot change their spots. Neither can Erdogan and neither can the ISIS guys who are now rebranded as Hayat Tahrir Shams or HTS aka Erdogan's proxy. News is beginning to come out that the HTS fellows are killing Christians and Shia Alawites in Syria. Yesterday I received a video showing a bunch of about 15 Arab beardos shooting dead another Arab beardo by the roadside. I believe the video is from Syria. It looks like the old ISIS habits are back.
Also yesterday Recip Erdogan the chief turkey of Turkey issued a threat to the Kurdish forces inside Syria to lay down their weapons and surrender to Turkey. The reason for this is because Erdogan and his HTS proxy only control a portion of Syria - the Idlib to Damascus strip. A huge part of eastern Syria is quite firmly under the control of the Kurdish forces (the YPG or Peoples' Defense Unit, the PKK or Kurdistan Workers Party) who are backed up on the ground by 1,000 US troops. That is where the oilfields are located. They also have the strong backing of Israel.
Obviously the Kurds are not recognising the new spotted leopard in Damascus. It must be noted that the Kurdish people played an outsized role in defeating the ISIS both in Syria and in Iraq - without much help from outside. Now they have 1,000 US troops on the ground with them. To tell them now to lay down their weapons and roll over is a bit naive of Erdogan. The Duze people in southern Syria also do not recognise the HTS.
Damascus 'fell' on 7th - 8th December 2024. Exactly 83 years after Pearl Harbour. Just 21 days later it looks like Syria is going sideways.
The biggest mistake Erdogan can make now is to send Turkish troops deeper into Syria. Erdogan's supporters in Turkey are now chanting 'We have taken back the Hagia Sophia, we have taken back the Ummayad Mosque in Damascus, lets take back the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem'. They are referring to the Turkish Ottoman Caliphate which controlled Damascus and Jerusalem. Sultan Erdogan is not against such 'Ottoman' ideas. By the way the Ottoman Caliphate was officially abolished by the Turkish National Assembly in 1924 - one hundred years ago. There were some very clever people in Turkey in 1924.
I think 2025 is going to be yet another troublesome year for Erdogan and Turkey. And Syria. Someone must tell Erdogan about a country called Vietnam. And Afghanistan.
