Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Featured
Erdogan Threatened Europe with Refugees, now Demanding US abandon Syrian Kurds

Erdogan Threatened Europe with Refugees, now Demanding US abandon Syrian Kurds

Juan Cole 02/09/2016

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – –

Reuters reports that Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan allegedly bullied European leaders and threatened to drown Europe in refugees if his terms were not met. He wanted 6 Bn Euros to keep the 2.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey happy enough in that country to discourage them from moving to Europe.

In the course of the meeting, Erdogan was alleged to have interrupted the EU’s Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council president Donald Tusk repeatedly.

For all the world like a Donald Trump, Erdogan is said to have rebuked Juncker, who is from Luxembourg, for disrespecting him, belittling him by saying that Luxembourg is just a village in Turkish terms and that Turkey’s population is 80 million [a slight exaggeration].

Erdogan is said to have demanded 6 bn. euros [$6.7 bn] to keep the refugees in Turkey, but in the end settled for 3 bn. euros plus revival of Turkey’s application to join the European Union, plus visa-free travel for Turks to the European Union.

If this report is correct, Erdogan has become slightly unbalanced.

He had a tiff with another of his NATO allies on Monday, complaining bitterly about the visit of American official Brett McGurk to Kobane.

That city in Syria’s northeast was besieged by Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), and would have fallen had it not been for US airstrikes in support of the YPG guerrillas. The latter are considered by Turkey to be a branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and so to be terrorists. The US disagrees, and has found them the most reliable ally against Daesh.

Erdogan said that the US had to choose between him and the terrorist Kurds.

But actually the US doesn’t have to choose, and won’t. The Department of Defense finds the Syrian Kurds irresistible as as partner because they are willing actually to fight Daesh. (Turkey, aside from a few air strikes, hasn’t done much about Daesh).

But Turkey is a NATO member, so the US will find some boilerplate language to make Ankara satisfied.

At a time when his plans for Syria are in deep trouble, Erdogan seems to be alienating the very allies he most needs with his bluster.

—–

Related video:

RT: “‘How can we trust you?’ Erdogan urges US to choose between him or Kurds”

Filed Under: Featured, Syria, Turkey

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Libyan Gov't Decries Fake News about Taking 1 mn. Palestinian Refugees: "Committed to the Palestinian Cause"
  • Gaza, Yemen, Iran: Trump's Opening Gambits in the Middle East (Juan Cole on The Bitchuation Room with Francesca Fiorentini)
  • For all Trump's new Mideast Contracts, Two Big Deals Elude Him
  • Pope Leo XIV’s Link to Haiti is Part of a broader American Story of Race, Citizenship and Migration
  • Gaza: The Horror, The Horror . . .

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved