[LeatherTrumpet]

get him deported asap

[The Slim Reaper]

Originally Posted by MTVN

Tbf though aren't you normally against Middle East interference?

Absolutely, but not quite sure I see where the gotcha is.

[Liam-]

Helping your allies not get slaughtered isn’t really interference is it?

[MTVN]

Originally Posted by The Slim Reaper

Absolutely, but not quite sure I see where the gotcha is.

Because you now seem to be lamenting our lack of involvement in Middle Eastern affairs

How do we provide more active support for the kurds if you don't want a significant presence in the region?

[MTVN]

Originally Posted by Liam-

Helping your allies not get slaughtered isn’t really interference is it?

Help how?

[MTVN]

Historically we have provided a lot of support to the Kurds but I well remember the outcry against us getting involved again in the Middle East when we offered very limited assistance to those fighting Assad many of which were Kurdish forces

[The Slim Reaper]

Originally Posted by MTVN

Because you now seem to be lamenting our lack of involvement in Middle Eastern affairs

How do we provide more active support for the kurds if you don't want a significant presence in the region?

I'm not lamenting our lack of involvement. I'm lamenting leaving an ethnic minority to be ethnically cleansed after they risked their lives to help us, especially in the fight back against Isis.

I can be anti-Israeli apartheid without also wishing our government go and invades to protect the Palestinians.

The UK and US governments working together could absolutely put enough pressure on Erdogan to stop, but we have Trump and Johnson.

[MTVN]

Originally Posted by The Slim Reaper

I'm not lamenting our lack of involvement. I'm lamenting leaving an ethnic minority to be ethnically cleansed after they risked their lives to help us, especially in the fight back against Isis.

I can be anti-Israeli apartheid without also wishing our government go and invades to protect the Palestinians.

The UK and US governments working together could absolutely put enough pressure on Erdogan to stop, but we have Trump and Johnson.

Hmm well I'm not sure they could tbh, not if you're purely talking soft power which we do already exert. Trump already went further than any other Western leader has done in imposing sanctions but the Turks conflict against the Kurds goes back decades and they've a strongman leader who'd just use our pressure to bolster his own standing and create a perception that we were trying to control their affairs

[The Slim Reaper]

Originally Posted by MTVN

Hmm well I'm not sure they could tbh, not if you're purely talking soft power which we do already exert. Trump already went further than any other Western leader has done in imposing sanctions but the Turks conflict against the Kurds goes back decades and they've a strongman leader who'd just use our pressure to bolster his own standing and create a perception that we were trying to control their affairs

That's fair, although Trump made the decision to leave them on their own, and a day or 2 after withdrawing they started the massacres all over again. Sanctions have to go through congress, so it was actually congress acting to remedy Trumps withdrawal.

[Kizzy]

It's not unusual for us to feck over those who help us us it... We've done it for generations and we still are.
Why would the Kurds be any different?

[arista]

[Livia]

It's good he's now in a country where he's allowed to protest.