especially when it came to
attacking the Kurds in Syria.
The Kurds were the common
enemy for both ISIS and
Turkey.”
President Obama has
complained that Turkey could
do “more” to stop the influx of
“militants” into Syria. Turkey
certainly could! Turkey has a
long border with Syria, but it’s
sealed. I’ve driven alongside it.
In some areas, there are
minefields everywhere.
Turkey has a world-class
army—the second-largest in
NATO—and could obliterate
ISIS from the face of the earth
if it wanted. If the Kurdish
People’s Protection Units can
make headway into ISIS-held
territory with just a ragtag
militia, Turkey could liberate
the Syrian population from
Assad, Hezbollah, and ISIS
simultaneously.
But for years Erdogan has been
reluctant even to shore up that
border.
“You should understand
something,” a Turkish
smuggler said to Jamie
Dettmer of the Daily Beast. “It
isn’t hard to cross into the
caliphate [ISIS-held territory],
but go further west or east into
Kurdish territory, then it gets
much harder t