News:

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed US "rudeness" over the Syrian conflict, exposing the extent of strains between Washington and Ankara just days after the Turkish president met with US Vice President Joe Biden.

Ties have soured in recent months over the reluctance of Turkish leaders to intervene militarily in the US-led campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters, who have taken control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Erdogan accused the US of being "rude" for pressuring it to help save the ISIL-besieged Syrian town of Kobane, which is within sight of the Turkish border.

"Why is somebody coming to this region from 12,000km away?" Erdogan said during an address to a group of businessmen in Ankara, in a clear reference to the US.

"I want you to know that we are against impertinence, recklessness and endless demands," he said.

Biden offended Erdogan last month by suggesting his policies in Syria had helped encourage the rise of the ISIL, a slight that prompted the Turkish president to warn his relationship with the US vice president could be "history".

Washington is pressing Ankara for the use of the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey so US fighter jets can launch assaults on ISIL.

But Turkey has refused to bow to the pressure, setting several conditions for playing a greater role in the coalition.

"They looked on as the tyrant [President Bashar] al-Assad massacred 300,000 people. They remained silent in the face of Assad's barbarism and now they are now staging a 'conscience show' through Kobane," Erdogan said.

"We will resolve our problems not with the help of a 'superior mind' but with the help of our people."

Biden wrapped up a three-day visit to Turkey on Sunday without a breakthrough on military co-operation over the Syrian crisis...

Earlier this week, Erdogan accused the West of coming to the region for "oil".

"I'm always meeting with them but it does not go any further than what I say. They don't have any sensitivities. They have only one sensitivity: oil, oil, oil...," he said on Monday... (Source: AlJazeera, 26 Nov 2014)

Comment:

Here Erdogan has mentioned some truths, though only partially. Why indeed, has the United States and the West remained largely indifferent to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Muslims under Bashar but are now keen to act (albeit at a sedate pace) against Da'ish? Why are they blind and silent to massacre of the people of Syria? Is there a difference in the barbarity of that tyrant to that of Da'ish?

If Erdogan claims that the US has ‘no sensitivities' and they only want ‘oil oil oil' why did he expect the US to suddenly behave differently and rid the world of her own puppet? Is it reasonable to expect a jackal to change it's nature?

The more correct question is why hasn't Erdogan, possessing as he does, the mighty Turkish army, the largest in NATO, gone to the aid of the Muslims of Syria? Surely, the Islamic Ummah has a greater right to expect Erdogan and not Obama to act and wipeout Bashar and his bloody regime.

How far removed is Erdogan from the noble Khalifah al-Mu'tasim Bi'lllah who responded to the plea of a single Muslim woman. Not only did he send his army to liberate the Muslims, he personally led the army that sacked Amuriah (Amorium) one of the largest Byzantine cities at the time.

How stark the difference between an impotent leader of a ‘mighty modern and democratic country' that prostrates to taghut and a sincere leader who is a Mu'min of Islam. How tragically shameful the former and noble the latter.

The true and determined sons of Islam of the Turkish army would purify Syria from the filth of Bashar and all its bloodthirsty thugs within months if not weeks. Then we will see the difference between the true Khilafah "Caliphate" that implements Islam and one that merely purports to be.

Allah (swt) commands in Surah An Nisa, verse 75:

((فَلْيُقَاتِلْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ الَّذِينَ يَشْرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا بِالآخِرَةِ وَمَن يُقَاتِلْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ فَيُقْتَلْ أَو يَغْلِبْ فَسَوْفَ نُؤْتِيهِ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا))

"And what is [the matter] with you that you fight not in the cause of Allah and [for] the oppressed among men, women, and children who say, "Our Lord, take us out of this city of oppressive people and appoint for us from Yourself a protector and appoint for us from Yourself a helper?" [TMQ 4: 75]

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Muhammad Hamzah