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Post by pieter on Oct 13, 2019 18:33:44 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 13, 2019 18:42:51 GMT -7
Funeral held for Kurdish politician purportedly killed by Turkey-backed fighters in Syria
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Post by pieter on Oct 13, 2019 18:55:50 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 13, 2019 19:00:08 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 13, 2019 19:05:29 GMT -7
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Post by Jaga on Oct 13, 2019 20:35:38 GMT -7
Pieter, American news also focused on Turkey attacks in Syria yesterday. They showed explosions and civilian casualties of the war. It is a quite tragic situation, although I am not sure whether keeping the US forces would help in the long perspective.
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Post by pieter on Oct 14, 2019 10:55:39 GMT -7
Jaga,
There are many ways you can look at this situation in that part of the world that is far away from North-America, Western-Europe and Poland. You can look at the tactical, strategic, military, geopolitical, diplomatic, political, human rights, financial and economical point of view of the situation in Northern Syria. In the geopolitical sense the retreat of the Americans from Northern Syria wasn't a smart move, because the Americans lost influence in that region, lost the trust of their Kurd allies, and gave power and influence to the Turks, Russians, Iranians and Syrian regime in that area which is in the three country triangle territory of Turkey, Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan (Southern-Kurdistan) in Iraq.
The Americans are divided amongst themselves about the retreat. Politicians, American military professionals and military analysts say it was a unsmart move. The Americans showed their most weak and isolationalist side. Future military allies will ask themselves, can we trust the Americans. When we are in an alliance with them and have the upperhand and controle the situation won't they retreat and abandon us? When I read that in the same time the Americans sent troops to Saoudi Arabia, I can't understand the logic of the American presidency or military analysts.
Saoudi Arabia got billions of American military supplies and will be able to defend itself. The Kurds need support in Northern Syria to keep the stability there. Leaving to early the Americans have left a void, a vacuum, an anarchy. If the Americans would have trained the Syrian Kurds and supplied them with sufficient army structures, tanks, artillery, ammunition, and large amounts of anti-tank weapons like anti-tank missiles (ATM), anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) or anti-tank guided weapons (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapons, guided missiles primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armoured military vehicles in combination with American supervisors and trainers from Special forces the situation would have been ok. The fact that that didn't happened proves the political, diplomatic, intelligence and military power of Turkey which of course behind the curtain will have put heavy pressure on the Trump administration. Turkey will never accept a well equipped, trained and professional Syrian Kurd Defense forces, will not accept a professional Syrian Kurd army with American tanks, with anti-tank missiles (ATM), anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) or anti-tank guided weapons (ATGW) and possible Boeing AH-64 Apache twin-turboshaft attack helicopters and F16's for a Kurd Air Force. The lack of strategic weapons, heavy weapons makes the Kurds of the YPG and SDF forces weak and defenceless against the Turks. The only 2 options open for the Syrian Kurds today is to flee to Iraqi Kurdistan where they will be foreigners from West-Kurdistan in Iraqi Kurd South-Kurdistan, where they speak a different Kurd dialect or regional language, and where they have an Iraqi heritage. They will be Syrians in Iraq. The other option is to find support from their former oppressor and persecutor the Syrian regime, and they did. Many Syrian Kurds will combat the Turks as hard and fanatic like they combatted the Islamic State (Daesh) before. They are very trained and battle hardened. The Turks and the Free Syrian Army will have a hard time with the experienced and well trained YPG and SDF forces. Especially now the Kurds get support from the Syrian army which moved to the North with their tanks. The Turks want to get rid of their 3.5 million Syrian refugees amongst whom are many Syrian Kurds. But sending these 3.5 million Syrian refugees to Northern Syria will cause a humanitarian disaster, because most Syrians will not be Turkish or Turkmen like many locals there but Sunni Muslim Syrian Arabs. These Arabs will clash with the Turks. Amongst these Arabs there will be Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS (Daesh) and Al Qaida and Al Nusra Front (Jabhat Fatah al-Sham) supporters. And when these Syrian Arabs will be in North Syria, the Islamist Salafist Jihadist militia will return. And they will clash again with the YPG (People Protection Units) and the SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces).
Americans could have influenced or put pressure on the Kurds not to be involved in anti-Turkish activity to receive support. The Americans could have put more pressure on their Turkish NATO allies not to attack the Kurds, because they are American allies. Today the Greeks and Greek Cypriotes might ask themselves; "Will the USA back us if the Turks attack us in the Mediterranean"? You see that the Greeks and Greek Cypriots are in a military alliance with Israel today. That could or might have to do with the unclear position of the Americans. European (read countries with a Christian heritage) are increasingly sceptic about Turkey. Turkey's entry to Europe is blocked by many European nations who question the "Free" and "Democratic" nature of Turkey. Turkey like Russia is an Eurasian country, and often the Europeans have the impression Turkey is more Asian or Middle eastern than it is European. Also the Great Ottoman aspirations of Turkey raises some eyebrows in Europe and Moscow as well.
Turkey tries to expands it's influence in and cooperation and alliance with the Turkic states Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tatarstan (in the Russian Federation), Kyrgyzstan, Bashkortostan (inside the Russian Federation), Crimea (in Russia/Ukraine), Chuvashia (inside the Russian Federation), Karakalpakstan (inside Uzbekistan), Yakutia (inside the Russian federation), Dagestan (inside the Russian Federation. The Kumyks of Dagestan are Turkic people), Karachay-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria (inside the Russian Federation. The Karachays and Balkars are Turkic peoples), Tuva (inside the Russian Federation. The Tuvans or Tuvinians (Tuvan: Тывалар, Tıvalar; Mongolian: Тува, Tuva) are a Turkic ethnic group native to Tuva.), Gagauzia (inside Moldova. The Gagauzes are a Turkic people who are Eastern Orthodox Christians), and the Turkic Karaites and Krymchaks in Ukraine. The idea pf the unity of all Turkic peoples (as in pan-Turkism) is very alive in Turkey today and goes together with Turkish nationalism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_nationalism ) and Great Ottomanism. I saw Turks in the Netherlands who investigated Turkish peoples with a Christian and Jewish faith in the sense of finding a common ethnic ground of Muslim, Christian and Jewish Turkish peoples. They are interested in the history of the (Jewish) Turkic Karaites as Sunni Muslim Turks. They have some strange kind of idea that all Ashkenazi jews are Turkic peoples and hope to find a link to prove that. Turkey today is very active in diplomatic, financial, economical, trade and energy (oil and gas) ties with the Turkic countries of the Caucasus (Azerbaijan) and the former Turkic Sovjet Republics of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan).
In Syria you see that the Turks support the Turkmen minority in Northern Syria and in the same time fellow Sunni Muslim Syrian Arabs. With the same old Ottoman empire mentality like in the past (of course Syria was part of the Ottoman Empire in the past) they try to put a Turkish system in Northern Syria. The Turkish style Free Police, the Turkish trained and equipped Syrian National Army (Free Syrian Army) and the Turkey backed Turkmen militia in Northern Syria.
Cheers,
Pieter
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Post by pieter on Oct 14, 2019 11:58:39 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 14, 2019 12:02:56 GMT -7
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Post by pieter on Oct 14, 2019 12:08:01 GMT -7
(8 Feb 2018) Visiting a Syrian Democratic Forces military outpost in northern Syria, senior US commanders have pledged that their troops would remain in the northern Syrian town of Manbij despite Turkey's demands for a US pullout.
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Post by pieter on Oct 14, 2019 12:11:35 GMT -7
 A Syrian army soldier in the town of Tel Tamer in northeast Syria. The Syrian army is now an allie of the Kurds of the YPG and SDF,[Reuters via SANA] A Turkish tank is driven to its new position on a road towards the border with Syria [Emrah Gurel/AP] Iranian President Rouhani said Tehran did 'not accept' Turkey's operation [File: Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters] [Reuters]Source images Al Jazeera English |
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Post by pieter on Oct 14, 2019 12:23:17 GMT -7
These Turkmen today are fighting together with the Turks and Syrian Arabs against the Syrian Kurds
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