Turkey condemns US for supporting PYD

[Jefferson23]

Turkey's complaints about cooperation between Washington, Syrian Kurdish militia reached new level when the Foreign Minister urged US to choose its partner in fighting terror


Editor / Internet
16:25 February 09, 2016 Yeni Şafak

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu slammed the US administration for its support to Syria's Kurdistan Union Party (PYD) which Ankara says is directly linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

“The US must choose where it wants to stand. It must decide who will be its partner in fighting against Daesh, whether it is Turkey or terrorist organizations,” he told reporters in Budapest. “We already have to submit certain documents proving how PKK and PYD are linked to eacher,” he said. “We have provided to Biden a list of names and photos to show how PYD acts in the PKK's organization and which posts its officials hold in the terror network.”

Çavuşoğlu was speaking at a joint news conference on Tuesday with his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijarto, on Tuesday. His remarks were apparently a response to Kirby's statement which has sent shock waves to the Turkish capital, Ankara. His statement is not first of its kind. In October 2014, the US Department of State deputy spokesperson announced that PYD is not a terrorist group under US law.

In a snub to Turkey, the State Department spokesman John Kirby reiterated that the Obama administration does not recognize the Kurdish Democration Union Party (PYD), the PKK's affiliate in Syria as a terrorist organization. "We do not recognize the PYD as a terrorist organization. We recognize that Turks do," Kirby told a daily press briefing this week. His remarks have sparked outrage and fury in Ankara.

http://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/turkey-condemns-us-for-supporting-pyd-2407142

[DetlefK]

1. Hey, Turkey! Have you finally stopped ISIS from smuggling oil into Turkey?

Yes?

Well, who did you arrest? And who were those lackeys working for? Who were the turkish businessmen who received the oil?

How was it possible for truck after truck after truck after truck to enter Turkey without anybody noticing?

And what about the ISIS-recruiters who have been operating in Turkey for years, smuggling european recruits into Syria? How many of them did you arrest? When did they become a target of turkish law-enforcement?

[Jefferson23]

2. Self imposed bubble, they don't think anyone knows, I guess. n/t

[Eugene]

3. Turkey Summons US Ambassador Over Syrian Kurdish Forces Spat

Source: Associated Press

Turkey Summons US Ambassador Over Syrian Kurdish Forces Spat

By SUZAN FRASER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANKARA, Turkey — Feb 9, 2016, 1:34 PM ET

Turkey has summoned the U.S. ambassador to "convey unease" a day after the U.S. State Department spokesman said that, unlike Turkey, Washington doesn't recognize Syrian Kurdish forces as "terrorists."

The issue has strained ties between the two allies and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even called on Washington to choose between Turkey and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, as its partner.

A Foreign Ministry official said Ambassador John Bass was called to the ministry on Tuesday where a senior Turkish official expressed Ankara's concerns. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she wasn't authorized to make public statements.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/turkey-summons-us-ambassador-syrian-kurdish-forces-spat-36813315

[Jefferson23]

4. +1.

[bemildred]

5. Erdogan is Gollum

Kurds are getting tougher and tougher. this is what nationalism can do gents, that(and of course a substantial amount of USAF) could get you back from brink of genocide(kobane, yo) to one of the most powerful groups of the war.

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[–]falaqa [score hidden] 4 hours ago

i think "nationalism" may not be the proper term, but otherwise, i get you!

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[–]wessagoTurkey [score hidden] 4 hours ago

I mean think about it, if ISIS didnt target kobane and draw young-old, women-men thousands of kurds to come support kobane , as of now we wouldnt be talking about ypg's might. it was like an epic tale of gondor vs mordor. peshmerga being rohan, eagles being fricking USAF. salih muslim as gandalf.

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[–]pinh33d [score hidden] 3 hours ago

Erdogan is Gollum.

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[–]silence_hr [score hidden] 3 hours ago

Have you seen his kitchy new palace? I would go with Saruman. Failed completely in his goals.

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https://www.reddit.com/r/syriancivilwar/comments/44x3af/efr%C3%AEn_more_than_1000_kurdish_fighters_from_across/

[Jefferson23]

6. WHOA

Interesting link! Thanks.

[bemildred]

7. You can find useful maps there, to understand what is going on.

Tends to be a little low level for me, but I keep an eye on it.

[Jefferson23]

9. Commentary anywhere you find in a forum requires scrutiny but it does offer

thoughts..some not so off the mark.

[bemildred]

10. Yah.

Ideas are where you find them.

[bemildred]

8. Prospects for a Turkish Incursion into Syria

Recent gains by the Assad regime in its ongoing northern offensive — in particular, the recapture of the Shiite towns of Nubl and Zahra — pose a significant geostrategic threat to Turkey and the opposition groups based in and around Azaz. The regime and its allies are now in a favorable position to cut the lines of communication between the Turkish border areas and the rebel-held city of Aleppo. Such an outcome now seems inevitable given major Russian and Iranian support for regime forces. As a matter of fact, the regime, backed by the Russian air-ground campaign, has been successfully advancing towards the Turkish frontier areas at the time of writing. In this regard, it should be noted that the Russian air force detachment in Syria enjoys high sortie rates as a result of Hmeymim Airbase’s proximity and an effective sortie-to-strike ratio stemming from good intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB). An expansion of Russian military advisors on the ground has enabled efficient coordination between close air support platforms and advancing Syrian Arab Army units, while the elite Iranian Quds Forces and Lebanese Hezbollah drive forward fueled by sectarianism and experience in hybrid conflicts.

More alarmingly, Ankara may soon face a menacing combination of hostile forces along its southern borders: Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)-affiliated YPG forces, the self-proclaimed Islamic State, and the Syrian Arab Army. The only Ankara-friendly groups near the Turkish border would be the rebel fighters in Idlib province, who would be surrounded by Latakia in the south and Aleppo in the northeast.

Under these tense circumstances, Russia accused Turkey of preparing for a military incursion into Syria. In response — having already drawn attention to Russian “crimes” in Syria — Ankara firmly stated that it had the right to take necessary measures for its national security. This rhetorical exchange raised eyebrows about prospects of a possible Turkish incursion into Syria. Yet while a limited Turkish intervention in Syria might seem likely, Russian presence in Syria remains a highly complicating and dissuasive factor.

http://warontherocks.com/2016/02/prospects-for-a-turkish-incursion-into-syria/

[bemildred]

11. Erdoğan’s PYD move and ‘Syria Thursday’

Distress in Ankara is growing as more support is declared by Turkey’s major ally, the United States, for the Syrian Kurdish group the Democratic Union Party (PYD). The Turkish government considers the PYD to be an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is officially designated a terrorist group by both the U.S. and the EU.

When asked about a call by Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan over the weekend for U.S. President Barack Obama to decide between Turkey and “the terrorists” (implying the PYD) as partners in Syria, State Department spokesman John Kirby said on Feb. 8 that Washington does not consider the PYD to be a terrorist organization. Erdoğan also criticized the recent meeting between Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), and uniformed PYD members in Kobane, a Syrian town under PYD control, saying the PYD member who McGurk met is a PKK militant for whom Turkey has an arrest warrant. In response, Kirby simply said the PYD is a “point of disagreement” between the U.S. and its “ally and friend Turkey.”

In fact, it is not only the U.S.; Russia is also giving credit to the PYD in the Syria theater. PYD head Salih Muslim was recently welcomed for a warm reception by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

But was it necessary for Erdoğan to compare Turkey to what he deems a terrorist group? Doesn’t asking the U.S. to choose between Turkey and the PYD weaken Turkey’s political credibility in the entire Syria crisis, when that crisis is about to enter a new diplomatic phase? Or was Erdoğan’s ultimatum a move to emphasize that the PYD, (which for Ankara means the PKK, which is fighting to carve Kurdish autonomy or independence out of Turkey’s southeast), must not be an official part of the talks for the future of Syria?

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/erdogans-pyd-move-and-syria-thursday.aspx?pageID=449&nID=94977&NewsCatID=409

[bemildred]

12. US position on Syria tilts in favour of Russian intervention

The major developments on the Syrian battlefield in recent months have brought a corresponding shift in the Obama administration's Syrian policy.

Since the Russian military intervention in Syria upended the military balance created by the victories of the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front and its allies last year, the Obama administration has quietly retreated from its former position that "Assad must go".

These political and military changes have obvious implications for the UN-sponsored Geneva peace negotiations. The Assad regime and its supporters are now well positioned to exploit the talks politically, while the armed opposition is likely to boycott them for the foreseeable future.

Supporters of the armed opposition are already expressing anger over what they regard as an Obama administration "betrayal" of the fight against Assad. But the Obama policy shift on Syria must be understood, like most of the administration’s Middle East policy decisions, as a response to external events that is mediated by domestic political considerations.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/us-position-syria-tilts-favour-russian-intervention-1555341698

[Jefferson23]

13. I wonder if Erdogan drinks scotch or the equivalent...my guess is he might need it about now.

Yep:

But given the new military balance, the Obama administration now recognises that its former strategy is now irrelevant. It has been supplanted with a new strategy that is equally opportunistic. The idea now is to take advantage of shared US-Russian strategic interests regarding ISIS – and downgrade the objective of forcing a change in the Syrian regime.

A signal fact of the war against ISIS in Syria that has been ignored in big media coverage is that the United States and Russia have been supporting the same military forces in Syria against ISIS. The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) the leading party in Syrian Kurdistan, controls a large swath of land across northern Syria bordering Turkey. Its military force, the Peoples Defence Units (YPG), has been the most significant ground force fighting against ISIS.