Jail.

 

Erdogan and his cronies were caught engaged in the following on publicly released audiotapes:

 

These criminal acts are well known in Turkey. Should any government other than one controlled by Erdogan come to power, then Erdogan, his family members, and his cronies will go to trial and likely be sentenced to serious jail time.

 

Barack Obama.

 

You might ask why I didn't say Vladimir Putin. That's simple. Putin is indeed Erdogan's enemy, one he should greatly fear. However, Erdogan doesn't work for Putin, he works for Obama. Putin can make life very difficult for Erdogan, but only Obama can fire him. Turkey is part of NATO, which is up to its neck in supporting Islamic extremists fighting to topple the government of Syria. More specifically, Erdogan has been a willing servant of the White House through Turkey's key role in training, supplying, and transferring foreign fighters into Syria and supporting homegrown rebels.

 

Erdogan's wholehearted support of the Syrian rebels didn't happen as a result of any long-held Shia-Sunni antipathy or due to his steadfast opposition to Bashar Al-Assad, Syria's elected president. As late as 2010, Erdogan was engaged in personal diplomacy with Al-Assad for closer trade and security relations. But when then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said 'Assad must go,' Erdogan fell in line immediately. This path was sweetened by inducements by Saudi Arabia but there was no question that the maestro was (and is): President Barack Obama.

 

Over recent weeks, as it became obvious that the U.S. 'Assad must go' policy was a failure, it was time for ErdoÄŸan to back down and follow the leader. This was necessary for two compelling reasons. First, Erdogan isn't the leader. Obama is. Turkey is not the world's dominant superpower. The United States is.

The second reason to follow Obama's lead is subtler.

 

Everything Turkey has done to stoke the flames of Islamist extremism, including support for the rise of ISIS, was done with the full knowledge and, in many cases, involvement of the White House and its subordinates in London, Paris, and Berlin. Turkey was the frontline state. But Obama and his supporting cast of NATO leaders were providing instructions and pitching in.

 

If Turkey cooperates and allows what will happen inevitably to happen quietly, i.e. peace in Syria with a government chosen by Syrians, then the White House and company can take a victory lap with the knowledge than no one will be forced to take a serious look at what they all did to destroy a society.

 

By failing to cooperate and making a spectacle of defying Obama, Turkey raises the risk of a more detailed examination of this entire sordid affair -- the real cause of the loss of 250,000 lives in Syria; the real cause of the refugee crisis (there was none prior to the attack on Syria); the strong support, direct or indirect, by all parties of jihadist extremists who gloried in the killing of Christians, Druze, and other minorities in Syria.

 

Erdogan's defiance is not just blatantly insubordinate and disrespectful; it poses a clear risk of exposing the truth about the destruction of a people and a nation on the basis of a whim -- 'Assad must go.'

 

Given all of that, it's time to say adios to Erdogan. His days as President of Turkey will soon be over.