You seem to be living in denial about Erdogans delusions of grandeur. Even Al Jazeera has commentated on this and upon its harmful effects:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/op...-neo-ottoman-travesty-201451974314589207.html
1.) That is an opinion piece on Al Jazeera. There is another Al Jazeera documentary about whether there is an international conspiracy against Turkey (and they seem to say yes):
2.) You still have not proven Erdogan's Ottoman vision for Turkish expansion. Just because the West and secular Muslims hate that Turkey is becoming more religious/less secular does not mean allegations can be thrown around without proving them.
The rebuttal by quora included a lot of evidence that you seem to have ignored - for example interviews with people Amnesty cited as victims that were clear members of ISIS or Turkman organisations antagonistic to the Kurds.
Yeah. S/he made that up. I watched the entire video and no one said they were a part of ISIS nor was there a Turkmen organization mentioned that was antagonistic to the Kurds. There were people who said they'd rather live under ISIS than the Kurds who took over because ISIS was more disciplined, religious, and didn't displace them from their homes whereas the Kurds made them leave from Arab towns. Yeah, they were strict says one woman and made women cover their faces, but they never forced them out of their homes.
The Turkmen, the president of town council, explained that before ISIS and the Kurds took over their town, everyone got along regardless of ethnicity or religion (and the fact that he is a Turkmen and was the president of the council seems to bolster this claim). They were all brothers; the Kurds were given 40% of the aid by this council. He says that when ISIS came and displaced the Kurds, the Kurds equated all Arabs with ISIS. Then the PKK came and displaced the Arabs - now the Arabs will resent the Kurds even though not most of the Kurds in the town had nothing to do with the PKK. Antagonistic towards Kurds? Please.
Regarding the one village where the majority of houses were razed to the ground leaving only 14 standing the Amnesty report made no mention of Syrian air strikes or combat between opposing armies which would have produced the same effect.
Well, maybe it could have something to do with the fact that the eyewitnesses/victims of these war crimes stated it was the YPG that razed their villages. Here is an excerpt from
the full report by Amnesty:
Amnesty International visited the village of Husseiniya in the Tel Hamees countryside in early August and saw that all but one of the village’s approximately 90 homes had been demolished. One former resident told Amnesty International that she was in her home when the YPG demolished it with a bulldozer. While she was allowed to flee, she was not allowed to take out her belongings. Other displaced residents told Amnesty International that they returned to Husseiniya after the YPG took control of the village to find their homes razed to the ground. They all told Amnesty International that the Administration did not provide them compensation or alternative housing, and that they were not allowed to rebuild their homes.
Local activists told Amnesty International that other villages under the control of the Administration were similarly razed, including villages south of Suluk such as Asaylem and Mushayrfa. One activist said that homes in Akrasha and Safana, in the Tel Hamees countryside, were similarly burnt down in July 2015. A resident from Asaylem village, 35 kilometres south of Suluk, told Amnesty International that he saw YPG forces demolish 100 of 103 homes after taking control of the village in June 2015. He explained that without prior notice YPG forces asked residents to leave their homes for their own security, saying that people would be allowed to return in three days. Instead of allowing returns, the YPG demolished their homes. Villagers were not provided any compensation or alternative housing, and have not been allowed to rebuild their homes.
But I guess since the perpetrators are not religious Sunni Muslims (it's okay if they're secularists who still call themselves Sunni Muslims), they get a pass to do all these things and they must still be supported.
Noone died in these incidents and they are not remotely comparable to the mass executions of ISIS which are clearly documented. Indeed as ISIS is steadily being defeated and their territory is receding we can now uncover such mass graves.
1.) I didn't say anyone died in these incidents. Me bringing up these events is to show there is more evidence of the PKK vision for Kurdish expansion than Erdogan's "Ottoman vision for Turkish expansion" as well as in reply to your statement that, "The Kurds have helped Christians providing safe haven for Iraqi Christians - another example of their maturity as a people and their readiness for nationhood."
2.) Mass executions by Assad's regime/allies are clearly documented but you insist on defending Assad and saying he should be supported over others who are no were near as bad as him.
Take for example this mass grave in which the bodies of beheaded men and women have been discovered. It amazes me that any Muslim let alone sane person could support these people when the evidence against them demonstrates that they are murderers and massacre the innocent with the guilty.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-found-after-isis-driven-out-of-a6964856.html
And take for example this article from the same outlet that details the mass extermination of the civilian population that Assad's regime is committing. It amazes me that any Christian, let alone sane person, could support these people when the evidence against them demonstrates that they are murderers and massacre the innocent with the guilty:
Syria: Assad regime kills so many detainees it amounts to 'extermination' of civilian population, UN says
Evidence for that seems rather scant and seems to defy the
basic discussion within Hezbollah itself as to whether they should be involved in this fight. Any way I am not endorsing Hezbollah so it is a rather mute point.
1.) You are endorsing the regime. Hezbollah is helping the regime stay in power. Hezbollah, in fact, makes fun of the SAA for not being able to fight against the rebels and needing outside help like theirs.
2.) I don't think you read the wikipedia article very clearly as there is no basic discussion within Hezbollah mentioned in it. Instead, there are condemnations from other political leaders within and outside of Lebanon.
3.) I did not just limit it to Hezbollah. There is also the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. There are the Shi'a militias from Iraq (where they are also committing these sorts of disgusting crimes). There are other Shi'a militias from around the world that were sent by Iran to Syria.
4.) Evidence is not scant. Syrians recently fleeing Syria were interviewed:
Her husband, Yasser, a merchant who owned two stores in the city, disagrees with this analysis—he thinks Shiite militias supported by Iran are an even greater danger than Putin’s air force. “We ran away from the city because we know that after the Russians will finish it, the Iranians will come in. The Iranians are sending people to kill us for Assad.”
These militias, which are entering Syria from neighboring Iraq, have quite a reputation when it comes to killing. “They are just like ISIS, only difference is they are Shi’a and they talk Farsi,” says Yasser. “Tell me—why isn’t anyone bombing them? Why is the entire world only talking about ISIS? The Iranians in Syria burn people alive, burn children and women. Where is the world?”
Is the U.S. Supporting Mass Extermination In Syria?
I went through the document to find evidence of a genocide in Syria. Regarding the city mentioned under footnote 12 (Sadad),
HRW says,
"Residents of Sadad said that over the week that opposition fighters were in the village, fighters mostly did not target or abuse residents, but that in some instances, they endangered and killed civilians and people in their custody and intentionally damaged and looted civilian sites, including churches."
There were an estimated 2,000 fighters and 44-45 civilians died during the battle between the rebels and regime forces. Residents themselves say that the fighters were, for the most part, not targeting or abusing the residents. Again, this is not a genocide.
As for the other "evidence", it is the words of a Patriarch and an Archbishop, both of whom are pro-Assad/regime and anti-rebels since the beginning. It is known among the Syrian community (and among Syrian Christians themselves) that many of their leaders are sold out to Assad's regime.
But let's assume that their words are accurate. It is against ISIS and not the rebels. Once more I will reiterate that it is the rebels who had the most continued success against ISIS without much outside help even though they are being targeted on many fronts (Assad, Hezbollah, IRG, Shi'a militias, Kurds, coalition at times, and ISIS itself). Assad has mainly left ISIS alone and his attacks against the rebels at times seemed coordinated with ISIS. Assad is the biggest customer of ISIS oil.
Assad has also committed atrocities. But he is the incumbent authority and there is little evidence to suggest that had ISIS the resources he has to bring to play that they would not have killed even more. This is a revolution. People on the revolutionary side are always more likely to die
He is the dictator who is only in power because his father staged a coup and he is suppressing the majority of the people of the country today. As for the little evidence bit, that is speculation whereas what Assad has done is reality. He/allies have killed ~200k civilians.
Secondly, no one is advocating ISIS come into power. I don't know why you and others keep trying to present it as Assad vs. ISIS when after all these years, it's mainly Assad vs. rebels and ISIS vs. rebels.
He is not going to stay in power for long. God-willing his soul will be taken to meet his Lord Who commanded not to intentionally target non-combatants.
Noone died - this is not genocide or even ethnic cleansing and also the report has many flaws as quora demonstrated and you ignored.
Hopefully you will admit that the quora user lied and you believed it without fact-checking the video s/he himself posted. I think they were banking on no one actually taking the time to watch the video.
Secondly, how was that a reasonable response to: "And how does committing ethnic cleansing against the Arab inhabitants (and even Kurdish ones, including those who disagree with their terrorism) help them in their war for existence? How does their "war for existence" justify their ethnic cleansing?"
Thirdly, for some reason you lumped Assad's genocide and atrocities with theirs and claimed there was no genocide. I'm hoping that was a mistake.
There is so much evidence for this I am surprised you can even ask the question with a straight face
http://www.christiantoday.com/artic...sing.to.fast.during.ramadan.sorcery/57807.htm
I'm afraid that's not evidence of what I asked for which was: 1.) Which non-combatant Shias and Yazidis are they killing in Syria?
Just in case it escaped your notice, I was asking about the revolutionaries (i.e. rebels). Not ISIS. But that link didn't even provide that evidence for ISIS not that I'd ever claim that they don't target non-combatants for just their religion.
So stop fighting against the Syrian government and maybe he will stop killing you
Please tell your Christian brothers and sisters to stop fighting against ISIS and maybe "they will stop killing you"
There is no way to produce such a % when human shielding, civilian clothing for combatants, use of children as suicide bombers and support for the ISIS fighters seems to extend so thoroughly into what you describe as the civilian community. Every death is a tragedy and this is why the fighting must stop. If ISIS win the fighting will engulf the whole world. If Assad wins it will be mainly contained within Syria and dealt with there.
1.) You do realize that's exactly what the regime and its allies do (including using human shileds)? Shabiha are (regime) combatants in civilian clothes and they've been in play since the uprising began. The rebels do not use the civilian population as human shields. If they have, it was a one-off thing.
2.) Clearly there was a way to produce such a percentage and the organization that did
gave its methodology. Just because you, an observer with likely no contacts on the ground in Syria, say that there isn't doesn't mean that the organization that does have numerous contacts on the ground cannot.
3.) And, um, support for ISIS does not extend thoroughly at all into the civilian community (I'd imagine though, that saying support for the regime seems to extend so thoroughly into "what you describe" as the civilian community among Christians would not be looked upon very kindly if I used that as an excuse for Christian deaths).
There is a difference between daesh/ISIS (which does not enjoy popular support among the Syrian population) vs the rebels (who do enjoy popular support as they are defending the majority of the civilian population against the regime and its allies).
You are not comparing like for like. These people are fighting for a false ideology that will leave them worse off than they are currently.
I say the exact same for the regime and its allies.
If you actually talked to people who have escaped IS you would know what I mean!!!
And if you actually talked to the people who have escaped Assad, you would see you're in the wrong. But you probably would dismiss their arguments and blame their suffering on them (just stop fighting him, etc.).