So true Individual, and it has always been that which has called back
Europeans to sort out the troubles, and to protect the Christians from
being massacred.
Time to say enough is enough.
I doubt if the situation can improve until they give up the custom of cousin marriage.

Belly, the colonialists who first and foremost were the source of the problem
were the Turks when they drove the Greeks out of Anatolia and occupied
the area now known as Turkey. Not sure when that was.
It is the key to the problem so must look it up.

I am aware individual there are more Conservative here than true Liberals
Certainly more that true Labor supporters
Is my view of less value because of that
It remains my view both you and Bazz are more right than wrong in both last two posts
Wish we never got involved.
Simple truth, BUT the implications
Can you assure me Trump is not pushing for an isolationist America
What would be the implications of that
Can we solve the world trouble by handing them over to Russia?
Who will defend us against a rising China

Well Belly it is complicated but this is the basic timing of the Turks.
Later than I thought as this from Wikipedia.

The date of the initial expansion remains unknown. After many battles,
they established their own state and later created the Ottoman Empire.
The main migration occurred in medieval times, when they spread across
most of Asia and into Europe and the Middle East.[34]
They also participated in the Crusades.

So the Greeks appear to have been succeeded by the Turks.
So the major immigration was from the east not the west.

Bazz,

The 1920s. Until then, all those cities along the Aegean coast of what is now Turkey were Greek. For three thousand years.

So if they can do it to the Greeks, your new bestie can do it to the Kurds. The Kurds defeating ISIS ? Feh ! Bugger them ! An unimportant minority in a faraway land with which we have little association. Stuff them.

Joe

So we aren't able to blame western colonial divisions for unrest in the region? Pluck some Wikipedia quotes instead? Fine. Well let's look at some of the history of Yemen for instance;

"After the death of Ma'adikarib Ya'fur around 521 CE, a Himyarite Jewish warlord named Yousef Asar Yathar rose to power with the honorary title of Yathar (meaning, "to avenge"). Yemenite Christians, aided by Aksum and Byzantium, systematically persecuted Jews and burned down several synagogues across the land. Yousef avenged his people with great cruelty. He marched toward the port city of Mocha, killing 14,000 and capturing 11,000. Then he settled a camp in Bab-el-Mandeb to prevent aid flowing from Aksum. At the same time, Yousef sent an army under the command of another Jewish warlord, Sharahil Yaqbul, to Najran. Sharahil had reinforcements from the Bedouins of the Kindah and Madh'hij tribes, eventually wiping out the Christian community in Najran."
Wikipedia

So do we blame for the current Yemen crisis? The Jews or the Christians?

Get real fellas, blaming things like cousin marriages (which are perfectly legal in about half the US states by the way) is just making things up. Time to give it a rest.