Turkey's buffer bluster
Erdogan threatens Syrians for NATO points, and other news
Turkey has the second-largest army in NATO (that’s right—larger than Britain, France, or Germany) and its economy is the fastest-growing among G20 countries. Yet this week President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatens to go to war against a stateless minority group—the Kurds—occupying an area inside Syria’s northeast pocket.
Already the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that control the region have faced onslaughts from Turkey, as well as the Islamic State and al-Qaeda-linked terror groups. Yet with U.S. backing, they successfully fought to free the region from terrorist control, culminating in the final battle to defeat ISIS in 2019. Erdogan claims the area harbors terrorists and is again threatening—as he did in 2019—a wholesale invasion.
Welcome to Globe Trot this June 10. Here bad news doesn’t triumph. Threats of harm are temporary setbacks. In the words of N.T. Wright, the gospel “means instantly that all people everywhere are gladly invited to come in, to join the party, to discover forgiveness for the past, an astonishing destiny in God’s future, and a vocation in the present.”
Turkey’s renewed push to cement a buffer zone inside Syria is a blatant move to hamstring NATO, which needs Erdogan’s support in order to admit Finland and Sweden and expand the alliance in the face of Russian threats.
Erdogan in April assured Finnish President Sauli Niinistö of his support but reneged a month later, saying, "The Nordic countries are like guest houses for terrorist organizations.”
Brokering for influence, now Erdogan is effectively threatening to block Finland and Sweden accession to NATO unless the alliance goes along with his crackdown on Kurds. Recall that the Kurds help to lead in Syria’s northeast a semi-autonomous zone with a diverse democratic government—a region that’s not only Kurdish but has historic Christian and Arab populations, too. My recent article helps illustrate how ongoing tension cooked up by Turkey has kept those populations from returning to their homes.
An uptick this week in Turkish drone attacks and shelling prompted a warning from State Department spokesman Ned Price:
"I’ve previously made the point that we expect Turkey to live up to the commitments that it made in October of 2019, including the commitment to halt offensive operations in northeast Syria … Any new escalation beyond those existing ceasefire lines could prove to be especially costly setbacks—costly setbacks to our collective efforts to counter Daesh [ISIS], the efforts of the counter-ISIS coalition, but also to our efforts to promote political stability within Syria."
Iraq: On Wednesday evening an armed drone attack in the northern Kurdistan capital Erbil injured three civilians and damaged several civilian vehicles. The attack took place near the United Arab Emirates (UAE) consulate.
Ukraine: Russia’s campaign in the Donbas region is reaching a bloody stalemate, reports the Atlantic Council, but transfers of U.S. and British rocket systems will have “a minor impact in the fighting” given the number of launchers provided. The race to resupply troops at the frontlines remains key to success on both sides, and this report is a good deep dive to understand the tactical aspects.
“The first thing you see when you get into the village is a destroyed church. The second thing that draws your attention is how many kids are here and how little they smile,” writes Maia Mikhaluk as a team with International Partnerships delivered supplies this week to Chernihiv, an area north of Kyiv devastated by Russian attacks.
Those (and there are many) trying to concede the war on Ukraine’s behalf ought to just stop.
Nigeria: Officials blame the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) for Sunday’s deadly bomb and gun assault in Owo town, Ondo state, which killed at least 40 churchgoers attending a Pentecost service at St. Francis Catholic Church. But the group has yet to claim responsibility for the attack, a brazen rampage that left dozens wounded.
“War-like attacks on Catholics and other Christians are spreading in a system of impunity," said Hudson Institute’s Nina Shea. "The Buhari government has allowed this to continue unabated and fails to protect Nigeria's churches. This governmental passivity is being seen as a green light for extremists to target Christians."
The deadly attack in the south, outside the domain of northern Islamic militants, represents an escalation the Biden administration ignores. Last year it removed without explanation Nigeria from a list of Countries of Particular Concern for religious violence, a move that “amounted to a license for ongoing violence,” writes Lela Gilbert.
Americas: A joint declaration from the U.S. and Latin American countries is expected today, addressing surging migration rates affecting the region and the southern U.S. border. In the heartland, agriculture and industrial leaders are doing the math:
"The contemporary math of immigration is that we have jobs, and refugees and asylum seekers want to fill them. Our labor crisis can be solved by helping those caught up in political and environmental crises around the world.”
At the border, faith-based shelters sponsored by 84 churches continue to support migrants in need.
I’d almost move to Missoula to eat at this refugee-run kitchen.
Senegal: The new hospital ship Global Mercy has docked in Dakar, dwarfing its sister Africa Mercy, the flagship vessel since 2007 for medical mission organization Mercy Ships International. With capacity for 200 patients and 950 people as a working hospital, its design and construction took 4 years.
Next week: Globe Trot will be edited by my friend and former colleague Angela Lu Fulton, who is based in Taiwan and brings a wealth of experience covering Asia.
I’m preparing for a season of travel that includes attending the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington this month and the International Ministerial Conference in London next month. If you’ll be at these events, I’d love to hear from you.
Safe travels, Mindy!
As always, your insight is essential in putting the global affairs in perspective in time and eternity. Disturbing to see this pushback against Norway and Finland, not to mention attack on Erbil. I was recently in Erbil with amazing and beautiful young women, eager to grow in Grace!