Questions on ‘Islamic State’ and Mosul captives

Turkey is entering a critical week regarding the direction of its near future.

A week from today, on Aug. 11, it will be clear if Turkey elected its 12th president in the first round on Aug. 10.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seems pretty sure about a victory. His supporters are attacking their opponents on social media and mocking them as “losers.” It is an exemplary contradiction for Erdoğan’s conservative Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) that came into power with the rhetoric of being the voice of “the losers” against “the winners” of the secular establishment.

If elected next week, being a super-charged (with a 50 percent plus vote, more than his own government) as the “president elect,” Erdoğan might take critical steps until he officially takes the chair from incumbent President Abdullah Gül on Aug. 28, as a preparation for the “New Turkey” he desires.

Apart from the cleansing operation against Gülenists in the government and judiciary system, Erdoğan gives utmost importance to restructuring the military according to his needs.

The Supreme Military Board (YAŞ) meetings scheduled to start today, Aug. 4, take place at a critical time in that regard.

There are a series of important topics on the political-military agenda, such as the following:

1- The new threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), or shortly, the Islamic State (IS), is getting bigger with new advances now on the Kurdish frontier. The IS is still holding 49 Turkish captives, including the Turkish Consul General, taken captive June 13. Iraqi Turkmens complain they cannot attract the necessary care from Ankara. Yet, no political...