Posted on 03/08/2018 7:34:07 AM PST by Texas Fossil
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the United States of failing to deliver on promises to rein in Kurdish militants in Syria, breaking a brief rhetorical truce that followed a visit by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last month to ease strained ties between the NATO allies.
Erdogan’s anger may have been reignited by reports this week that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) is sending 1,700 fighters to the province of Afrin to fight the Turkish military, which invaded the border region in January to thwart Kurdish territorial gains along its border.
“The terrorist corridor that is being set up all along our border has but one target, and that is Turkey’s territorial integrity,” Erdogan told his party in parliament March 6.
“You were supposed to be our friends. What kind of friendship is this? You were supposed to be our allies, we’re supposed to be together in NATO. They are like ostriches” sticking their heads in the sand, he said, without explicitly naming the United States.
Erdogan and other Turkish officials have lately limited their verbal attacks on the United States; this reached a crescendo in the days before Tillerson’s Feb. 15 visit to Ankara. Erdogan even threatened US troops with an “Ottoman slap” if they got in the way of the Turkish military in northern Syria.
Tempers cooled after Tillerson sat with Erdogan, even agreeing to forgo his own translator, for a three-hour meeting in which they reportedly discussed setting up joint patrols in the Kurdish-controlled town of Manbij, a buffer zone in Afrin and working groups to sort out their disputes. The first meeting between US and Turkish officials is scheduled for March 8 in Washington and will focus on points of contention on Syria and Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at al-monitor.com ...
It is not stated where the author writes from, but it is not inside Turkey.
Turkey's "invasion" of Efrin is not about border security. It is about a deal between Turkey, Iran, Syria (Assad) and Russia. It is about oil assets and access for pipelines to deliver it to Europe.
Far too much blood has been spilled already. It is time to end this.
Turkey is particularly unstable and dangerous under Erdogan the Islamist. But it has always had some of this baggage. Erdogan is not an ally of the US. He was a close friend of Obama and is on the side of ISIS and Al Qaeda. Both of which are in his FSA army.
I suspect the new troops he has deployed to the border are Turks. They have moved large numbers of tanks and Howitzers to the border. For the past week since the UN declared the ceasefire (?), Turkey has greatly increased the air attacks and shelling. Neither of those are targeted attacks, they are aimed at destroying entire villages and civilian assets. This has greatly increased both civilian and combat deaths and injuries. The Turkish claims of Syrian combatant kills is far too high, the Human rights claims of kills is too low. Reason? Turkey Lies. NGO's are cautious to verify each death. SDF is more accurate than the other 2 on their reports. Efrin Syrian combat deaths are high, but Turkish FSA combat deaths are far larger. Turkish combat deaths are larger than Turkey admits.
Can’t involve Russia.
They’re the savior of Christianity.
/s
Russia is fightig in Syria to maintain assad’s power. I am glad that Christians have benefited and they have slaughtered ISIS members.
But TOO MANY here go way overboard in their praise of Putin.
yesterday, the Kurds accused the U.S. of abandoning them.
i wonder which is it ?
Since I spent a little time in Turkey myself, I have never thought of Turkey as our friend and ally.
I think your reaction is typical from those I know that were stationed there.
Thanks.
I tend to trust the Kurds more than the current Turks. Kurdistan is the dream turned into a nightmare for those who want it’s unification.
“yesterday, the Kurds accused the U.S. of abandoning them.
i wonder which is it ?”
Once again, we’re trying to ride two horses at the same time! At this juncture, I don’t see Turkey as an ally, and I’m concerned that they continue to be a member of NATO.
Putin’s Russia is in this for their own agenda. Oil, pipelines, regional influence, and weakening NATO.
It is my view that we have no business doing anything in Syria except working with the sovereign nation to rid itself of sunni isis. We absolutely have no business supporting insurgent attacks on the sovereign country. And we are viloating international law by invading that sovereign country. Let’s actually follow the law or we should say nothing if the red chinese start supplying arms to the california communists.
We did not abandon them. But short of opening a major war, our hands are tied on Efrin.
We do protect the remaining Northern Syria regions that we helped eliminate ISIS from.
There is an active petition at the White House to protect Efrin and SDF from Turkey. Last night it was over 6,000 signatures.
—
Sign Petition>>
Civilian Casualties increasing in Afrin (Northern Syria, Rojava)
“We the undersigned call on the U.S. Congress to adopt this resolution to protect the civilians of Afrin from Turkish attacks”
Created by A.A. on March 06, 2018
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/civilian-casualties-increasing-afrin-northern-syria-rojava
And our agenda is?
Oil, pipelines, regional influence and ... well I wouldnt say “ strengthening” NATO so much as keeping it relevant as a military organization and using it to make it look like we are part of a “ coalition”
I think Syria ( and Afghanistan when it even makes the news) has woke up a lot of people to the scam claim we are “ democracy building”
For good or bad, our agenda is to protect our regional allies.
Egypt, Jordan, Israel, UAE, Saudi Arabia, etc.
The treats against them are Iran and Turkey. Yes, Turkey is on the threat list.
Russia is involved in the threat, due to the oil, pipeline and other regional influence including the Bosporus Strait, controlled by Turkey.
Need to empty and close Incirlik Air Base and move all those resources to the Erbil, in Northern Iraq.
Good Lord yes. And I think Putin has played a neat trick with the Orthodox Church. There is as much chance of Putin being a believer as Bill Clinton, and his forays into a Church every 4 years or so. He’s smart. Having the Church on his side is brilliant. But he is also conning his own people, whom he steals from to enrich himself and the Oligarchs.
It is a good base, hate to see it go, but I see no way to keep it.
“I suspect the new troops he has deployed to the border are Turks. They have moved large numbers of tanks and Howitzers to the border.”
If it is tanks and howitzers, they are Turks. I would guess that this is the reinforcement that we speculated might be committed, when the Turkish Army Chief of Staff visited the battle front near Afrin, a few weeks ago.
It could be a reaction to bad results (the more favorable scenario), or it might have been built into their original plan (a less favorable scenario, where there is little internal pressure to withdraw). I find it hard to believe that they would have planned for the operation to advance this slowly.
The original Turkish campaign plan likely included phases, with additional units designated to enter combat, when certain conditions were met. The obvious phase would be deployment of an urban assault force, once the city of Afrin was encircled. They might have also planned for a reinforcement, in case planned rates of advance were not achieved.
In any case, it does not seem that the level of casualties or equipment losses inflicted on Turkish forces has yet been enough to deter them. Operationally, they could continue to send wave after wave of fresh units, every couple of months in a long grind, as long as they have the political will to do so. Alternatively, they might also commit to attempt a larger (quicker) blitzkrieg - but that is probably what they thought they would have achieved with their original assault.
The Kurdish options are to either inflict enough casualties/losses to deter the Turks politically, or hold back Turkish advances until political conditions turn against Turkey. No easy options.
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