Turkey’s Erdogan threatens operation against Syrian Kurds ‘very soon’
ISTANBUL,— Turkey and the US were on a collision course Tuesday as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to “eliminate” a Kurdish militia in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) in northern Syria — a move deemed “unacceptable” by the Pentagon.
Erdogan has repeatedly warned that it is preparing an offensive into Syria against the Kurdish YPG militia, which the US has supported as the main fighting force against the Islamic State group.
“Turkey has the right to eliminate all threats against its national security,” he said in a televised speech in Ankara.
“God willing, we will carry the process started with (previous offensives into Syria) to the next stage very soon.”
US defence officials have been locked in talks with their counterparts in the Turkish capital since early Monday, trying to hash out a buffer zone deal that would persuade Turkey to hold off on a military attack.
“Clearly we believe any unilateral action by them would be unacceptable,” US Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters in Tokyo on a trip through Asia.
“And so what we are trying to do now is work out with them an arrangement to address their concerns and I am hopeful we will get there… what we are trying to do is prevent unilateral incursions,” he said.
But so far, Turkey has been unimpressed with US “safe zone” proposals which it says do not keep the YPG far enough away from the Turkish border.
It sees the YPG as an offshoot of the Kurdish PKK, which has fought a bloody separatist insurgency inside Turkey for the past 35 years.
“Turkey expects steps from the US befitting of a NATO ally and strategic partner,” Erdogan said.
“Drying up the terrorist swamp in northern Syria is our top priority.”
‘Erdogan is serious’
Turkish media outlets have often shown images in recent weeks of military convoys heading for the border area, carrying equipment and fighting units.
Turkey has launched two previous offenses into Syria against the Kurdish YPG, in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
In 2016, the Turkish troops entered northern Syria in an area some 100 km east of Afrin to stop the Kurdish YPG forces from extending areas under their control and connecting Syrian Kurdistan’s Kobani and Hasaka in the east with Afrin canton in the west.
In January 2018, Turkish military forces backed pro-Ankara Syrian mercenary fighters to clear the YPG from its northwestern enclave of Afrin. In March 2018, the operation was completed with the capture of the Kurdish city of Afrin.
The flags of Turkey and Syrian rebel groups were raised in the Kurdish Afrin city and a statue of Kurdish hero Kawa, a symbol of resistance against oppressors, was torn down.
Residents of the Kurdish city and Human right groups accuse Turkey and pro-Ankara fighters of kidnappings for ransom, armed robberies and torture.
Aldar Khalil, a top Kurdish political official in Syrian Kurdistan, told AFP on Monday that “Erdogan is serious and will embark on an attack at the first opportunity”.
“If Turkey is not deterred and a consensus is not reached for an international decision to prevent it, it will definitely be on the offensive.”
Khalil said the Kurds were “flexible” on the peace talks, and had offered a five-kilometre (three-mile) buffer zone, but that this had been rejected by Turkey, which wants to push the YPG much further back from the border.
Washington could stop any “attack with a single word… but it seems they don’t want to pressure Turkey more than needed,” he said.
In 2013, the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party PYD — the political branch of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) — has established three autonomous Cantons of Jazeera, Kobani and Afrin and a Kurdish government across Syrian Kurdistan in 2013. On March 17, 2016, Kurdish authorities announced the creation of a “federal region” made up of those semi-autonomous regions in Syrian Kurdistan.
Washington has for years supported the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria, as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). But U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly announced the pullout from Syria.
The Kurdish PYD and its powerful military wing YPG/YPJ, considered the most effective fighting force against IS in Syria and U.S. has provided them with arms. The YPG, which is the backbone of the SDF forces, has seized swathes of Syria from Islamic State.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces expelled the Islamic State group from its last patch of territory in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz in March 2019.
Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, Ekurd.net | AFP
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