Turkish police get their own attack helicopters
thedrive.com
thedrive.com
Unrelated: Years after that event I met the news photographer who had strapped his camera to a microwave truck's telescoping antenna to get a shot in the air.
Alternatively, the Turkish government could start allowing all of its citizens to grow, or even supporting them in their growth. Even if they speak Kurdish, are lesbian, or -god forbid- non-religious.
It's a bit weird that it's not the military itself doing this kind of fighting, but I expect that since it's at least partially within national borders, some crossover is inevitable.
Of course the drone swarm fear only exists because it isn't real yet. It will disappear as soon as drone swarms become real because then everyone will realize that the police aren't out there to shoot you up, unless they do and then they will just use regular pistols or helicopters.
The US seems to have lost its way in this regard, doing so in a half-hearted manner. When indeed it should be the opposite : civilian policing is a community function while military action is if anything a specifically “anti-community” function.
The US military actually understand this distinction; since WWII they trained and operated their military police forces differently from standard combat forces. While the civil authorities have since the 70s at least been going the other way.
The article mentions that they are going to use the helicopters on the eastern side of the Turkey where Kurdish terrorist forces are active. Since the Kurdish attacks began, the military use in Turkish soil has garnered arguments. That's why police is also really active in the fight against terrorism.
Moreover, lately the political climate in Turkey has turned against the Kurdish political movement and every time this happens, the Kurdish terrorist arm gets active. I believe this is part of the preparations against possible terrorist activity. I believe there will be an insurgence of terrorist activity because every time the country is in chaos, Erdogan's grip of power strengthens and Erdogan needs to reinforce his rule.
In the last local elections ruling AKP party lost the municipalities of the big cities, and especially losing Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality hit AKP really hard. Erdogan was the mayor of the city before founding AKP, and has been using the city to fund some of AKP's operations.
The polls show that the mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, and the mayor of Ankara Mansur Yavas, both from the opposing party CHP, are seen as direct competition to Erdogan and in most of the polls both exceed Erdogan. In Turkey, they say, whomever gets Istanbul gets the country, and Imamoglu has been a great leader for the city.
Also, Erdogan has to have an early election to be able to be a candidate, or change the constitution before the elections. He doesn't have a candidate that can replace him in the party, and under current conditions — a disastrous pandemic, crumbling economy, skyrocketing unemployment — he couldn't win an early election.
Therefore, I expect Erdogan to strangle the politic arm of the Kurdish movement and make the military arm react with bombings and terrorist activity in the near future. It is Erdogan's hope to be on top of it, and win another election as the savior of Turkey.