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A comment on RIP Turkey, 1921 – 2017. Parent comment

Re:RIP Turkey, 1921 – 2017 by lightedman on Monday April 17, 2017 @12:37PM (#14132269)
The US wants Erdogan in power. It gives us another convenient target later on whereas before we had no major reason to bother with Turkey. Turkey is rife with resources, from oil to gems. I say this as I look at a slab of agate cut from a $6K chunk of Turkish tube agate - http://i.imgur.com/dYyaTkL.jpg
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Re:RIP Turkey, 1921 – 2017 by woodandsteel on Monday April 17, 2017 @09:41PM (#14135893)
If the US took over Turkey, its natural resources would be worth maybe 1% of the US GDP, and it would fact an unending insurgency that would require several million US troups to keep under control, and lead to thousands of US soldiers being killed every year. Nobody in the US is stupid enough to want that.
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Re:RIP Turkey, 1921 – 2017 by MagnumOpus on Monday April 17, 2017 @04:12PM (#14133998)
Turkey, just like Iran, will never be a convenient target. It has a population way bigger than Iraq and Afghanistan combined, it has a massive, modern, western-equipped military [1] and a huge amount of geopolitical leverage due to its control of the Dardanelles as well as European-Africa-Asia migration routes.

No sane US military leader would attack even if they created a new Sultanate and aligned with Russia or Iran.

[1] http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-det...

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Re:RIP Turkey, 1921 – 2017 by dreamcompiler on Tuesday April 18, 2017 @01:17AM (#14136654)
The US wants a friendly government in Turkey because its location is very desirable for the US's ability to stage and project military power in the Middle East.
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