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| 2-year jail sentence in Turkey |
Turkey has also stepped up its efforts to deny the Armenian Genocide that happened during final days of the Ottoman Empire nearly 100 years ago. Keeping with the trend of violent repression and denial, we can look at the current Turkish effort to "pacify" its southeastern Kurdish regions, which looks almost no different from the efforts of Bashar al-Assad's violent campaign against his own people. Turkey has been a major player in calling for the removal of Assad, but in the process has allowed ISIS to expand upon its borders, escalate tensions with Russia, and attacks US-aligned Kurdish fighters. Turkey also has an Ultra-Nationalist party, the MHP (which thinks Erdogan is actually too soft), that is connected to the Grey Wolves terrorist organization which commits atrocities against Kurds, liberal Turks, Chinese people, and even Thai civilians.
America might want to reanalyze its partnership with Turkey in the future, as it is an important strategic ally in the region and is a large growing economy. However it is behaving badly and just maybe we need to put its NATO membership on probation. Turkey isn't quite the lost cause that Saudi Arabia is and Turkey's leadership has shown to be competent at times, yet it may be time for some serious pressuring to put Turkey back on track to being a regional power for stability and democracy instead of a nationalist authoritarian state that's picking fights with its neighbors and its own citizens.
"You're causing more problems for me, and your protection." - US SS agent to Turkish Presidential Bodyguard
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