Arming the Kurds

[erpowers]

Ted Cruz claimed President Obama was refusing to arm the Kurds in Syria. Is that true? I thought President Obama was actually arming the Kurds.

[Dretownblues]

1. Not directly

I'm not sure what they are getting indirectly but shia groups have been getting indirect arms and I think the Kurds have as well. The whole situation is very complicated and its very hard to nail down who exactly is getting weapons.

[HooptieWagon]

2. Not sure at this time.

He probably would like to, as the Kurds are the best fighters and most reliable ally we have in Syria and Iraq. However, Turkey is a valuable NATO ally, and they are very unhappy with armed Kurdish forces. I don't think its possible to broker a peace between the Turks and the Kurds.

[OrwellwasRight]

3. Yes, the Turkish fear is that the Iraqi

Kurds would align with the Turkish Kurds and start an insurrection in Turkey. US not so interested in pissing Turkey off that way is how I understand it.

[HooptieWagon]

4. Yes, that is the situation.

The Kurds want to create their own country, consisting of parts of SE Turkey, northern Syria, and northern Iraq. Naturally Turkey doesn't want to give up land. IMO having a Kurdistan created as a buffer between Turkey and the Muslim fighting would be a positive development. Too bad there's no convincing Turkey of this.

[Cheese Sandwich]

6. Interesting note here, the Kurds in Turkey and Syria are not asking for an independent country

That used to be the demand but their ideas changed. Now they are just asking for local democracy and autonomy.

The PKK's ideology was originally a fusion of revolutionary socialism and Kurdish nationalism, seeking the foundation of an independent, Marxist–Leninist state in the region, which was to be known as Kurdistan.

However, since his capture and imprisonment in 1999, the leader of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, has completely abandoned Marxism–Leninism,[30] leading the party to adopt his new political platform of "Democratic Confederalism" (influenced strongly by the libertarian socialist philosophy of communalism) while ceasing its official calls for the establishment of a fully independent country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan_Workers%27_Party

They want more local control with cultural and political rights.

[HooptieWagon]

8. Well, I'm no expert but that seems more than reasonable.

[Cheese Sandwich]

9. Still impossible for Turkey to swallow apparently though

[Shandris]

5. I was under the impression we'd armed the entire Middle East.

Syria when they were our friend, ISIS when we thought we were 'training warriors' (among other times), Israel 24/7/365, Iran a few months ago, Iraq a few years ago when we left stuff behind and 'trained warriors', and the Al Nusra front (again, 'training warriors'). How could we have missed the Kurds?

That must be an oversight. Isn't it time Smith and Wesson, Browning, and Colt opened new factories on-site to save on them sweet, sweet shipping costs? I mean, there might be someone in the Levant who doesn't have at least 14 firearms.

[Wounded Bear]

7. Really, and if we missed anybody...

we left a shit ton of stuff kinda just laying around after we left Iraq for anybody to pick up.

[flamingdem]

10. He has to do that indirectly because he needs Erdogan to cooperate

But all those relationships seem to change daily.