Is Erdogan’s War on Syrian Kurds Becoming a War on the United States?

Is Erdogan’s War on Syrian Kurds Becoming a War on the United States? (TheNation).

President Erdogan seems to believe he can bully Trump into abandoning his allies in the fight against ISIS.

The Trump administration was unusually subdued this week after the Turkish air force launched a bombing campaign against facilities of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria.

The State Department said it “asked” Turkey to stop killing US allies in the fight against ISIL (ISIS, or the Islamic State). The Pentagon complained that Turkey not only hit its allies but failed to coordinate with the US Air Force, which is flying in the area. In essence, Turkey acted as a hostile power against the US war effort. In the aftermath, a fierce firefight has broken out at the Syrian-Turkish border between YPG forces and Turkish army units operating in northern Syria.

Washington has been deeply frustrated by Turkey’s unwillingness to devote significant resources to rolling up ISIL. Erdogan’s priority has been attempting to destroy the PKK, and attacking what he sees as its Syrian Kurdish allies. Ankara fears that for the sake of defeating al-Baghdadi in Raqqa, the United States is helping to create an autonomous Syrian Kurdistan, which in turn may act as a model for Turkish Kurds, some 20 percent of the population of Turkey. In fact, separatist sentiments are not very widespread among Turkish Kurds, though economic discontent over government neglect of the hardscrabble southeast is. Erdogan has displaced some 350,000 Kurds with his current campaign, however, and is polarizing his country on several fronts at once.

The United States cannot hope to retain credibility as a battlefield ally of YPG fighters risking all to take on ISIL if it cannot even protect them from a NATO member like Turkey. Erdogan appears to believe that he can bully Trump into abandoning the Syrian Kurds as allies. It remains to be seen if he has calculated correctly. Read the full story here.

'There is no difference between Erdogan and Baghdadi.' PYD Co-chair Saleh Moslem.

'When we look from Rojava, there is no difference between Erdogan and Baghdadi.' PYD Co-chair Saleh Moslem. (ANF).

PYD Co-chair Saleh Moslem spoke during a people’s meeting in London and answered Erdoğan’s “Let YPG save you now” comment on HDP MPs with: “Freedom for Demirtaş and his friends is our duty.”

Democratic Unity Party (PYD) Co-chair Saleh Moslem is in the United Kingdom for a series of meetings and he spoke at the Kurdish Social Center in London.

Moslem assessed the latest developments in Syria and the Middle East. He pointed out that the Turkish state’s attacks in Cizre and Şırnak were no different from the attacks in Kobanê and said: “They couldn’t even tolerate the tents Şırnak residents whose homes were demolished put up on the periphery of the city, and they burned those too. They want to ‘cleanse’ these lands.
The events in Ottoman history are being repeated, in a way.

Where do the Central Anatolian Kurds come from? These are all people forcibly pushed out of Kurdistan. It’s all to assimilate these people. And the proposed camp in Maraş is a part of this plan as well. That is what bringing Sunni Arabs into a residential area that is wholly Alevi means.”

“A TOUGH FIGHT IS TO COME FOR KURDS”

Moslem stated the following in the rest of his speech:

“We are a movement that fights a moral war, that is loyal to humanitarian values, that only wages a fight for freedom and democracy, we have no other goal. On the other corner is a terror such as ISIS and Al Nusra that the whole world fears. This is why all international powers are revising their plans. Kurds are stepping on to the stage of history once more, they are recognized at this level for the first time. For example, if we see such a level of international support on November 1 World Kobanê Day, this is valuable for us.

But this doesn’t mean that the Kurds have made it. There is a tough fight to come for us. I don’t mean this in a military sense, the military struggle continues daily in any case. We are building a system in Rojava now. Of course we want this system for all of the Middle East, not just for Rojava. We have been building our own democratic autonomy since 2012. But there are territories such as Manbij, Girê Spî and others that have joined us recently. Arab population is dense in these new areas. At this point, we must adapt our system. A democratic system in which all peoples can live together. We define this system as federalism for now. A democratic federal system for all of Syria.

But there are those who still don’t want a system where the Kurds have a will. And they have no suggestions of their own. Syria won’t go back to the old Syria, it’s impossible. Everybody must see this.

The villages to the north of Al Bab are very important to us. Of course, Turkey is after implementing the safe zone plan that they have been talking about since the beginning. They want to change the demography. And on the other hand, they don’t want their relationship with ISIS to end. So, they enter those lands with their tanks, artilleries and jet fighters. They haven’t reached Al Bab yet, and I don’t believe they can. Our forces are 7-8 km away from Al Bab from the east. 10 km to the south of Al Bab are the regime forces. At this point, the Free Syrian Army is a lie. They are not an army, they are not free and they are not Syrian. The International Coalition has yet to reach a decision on this matter. The Turkish army wanted to advance, our forces stopped them. Of course the clashes weren’t directly with the Turkish army, it was with forces they call FSA. Al Bab is still controlled by ISIS. And the Turkish state still has a relationship with ISIS. The forces fighting there are not the SDF, they are local forces, like Al Bab Military Council and Jabhat ul Akrad.

ANSWER TO ERDOĞAN

When we look from Rojava, there is no difference between Erdoğan and Baghdadi. Whatever ISIS is doing in Syria, Erdoğan is doing the same in Northern Kurdistan. 

It is our responsibility to be in solidarity with the people of Northern Kurdistan, we must do this. Tayyip Erdoğan said about Demirtaş, ‘Let YPG save you’. I would like to say this here: It is our duty to save them! The Turkish state forces us to say these things. Yes, we will fight until the end and achieve the freedom of Demirtaş and his colleagues.”

“YPG'S RETREAT FROM MANBIJ TURNED INTO A CRISIS”

PYD Co-chair Salih Muslim answered a question on YPG’s retreat from Manbij: “YPG was formed for the interests and security of all the peoples of Kurdistan. When local forces form and reach a point where they can achieve their own security in places like Manbij, there is no more need for YPG to be there.

Of course the matter turned into a crisis between Turkey and the US.

The last ones were a 200 person force that stayed behind for military training, and they completed mission and retreated. So this was a crisis? Alright, we are retreating - and we are marching onwards to Raqqa. Nobody worry about Manbij, it is the land of Abu Leyla, there are heroes who will defend that land.”

Turkey Suspicious About Washington's 'Federalization' Plan in Syria.

Erdoganistan Turkey Suspicious About Washington's 'Federalization' Plan in Syria. (SP).

The US-Turkish alliance is hanging in the balance, Salman Rafi Sheikh, political analyst and expert on Pakistani foreign affairs writes in his article for New Eastern Outlook.

Although Ankara's Euphrates Shield operation was apparently coordinated with Washington, Turkey has repeatedly demonstrated "strategic autonomy" from the US and NATO since stepping in in Syria," the analyst emphasizes.

"While Erdogan's primary concern is Turkey's own security, the definition of security and national interest that he is now following extends beyond the borders and, therefore, requires a re-balancing act between the West and the East. As such, not only is Turkey using the entire scenario to create a strong military wedge against Kurds, but also to redefine its relations with both the US and Russia," Sheikh writes.

In his op-ed for Hurriyet Daily News Turkish journalist Serkan Demirtas expresses concerns regarding the CIA's John Brennan latest remark on Syria's territorial integrity.

"I don't know whether or not Syria and Iraq can be put back together again," Brennan noted, as quoted by the Turkish journalist. "Brennan's words sparked fresh questions about whether Washington was changing its line for redrawing the borders in the Middle East, as many suspect in Ankara, for the creation of a Kurdish autonomous entity in Syria," Demirtas highlights.

"Although US officials have underlined that their policy was to keep both countries united, these statements need to be put into effect through concrete moves in a bid to convince Ankara and other regional capitals," the Turkish journalist stresses, adding that in that context the "Euphrates Shield" operation takes on a new significance after the brokered deal between the US and Russia.

Stanislav Tarasov, Russian expert and head of the Middle East-Caucasus think tank, echoes Demirtas in his interview with Svobodnaya Pressa.

"The situation may… get worse if the US continues to favor Kurds by providing weapons, training and air cover. Were Turkey's 'red-line' be crossed once again, the US-Turkey relations will certainly be at the lowest ebb in recent history, leaving the space wide open for Russia and Iran to step in," Sheikh emphasized. Read the full story here. 

Iraq plans to sell oil through Iran if talks with autonomous Kurdish region fail.

Iraq plans to sell oil through Iran if talks with autonomous Kurdish region fail.  (Taz).

Iraq's government would consider selling crude through Iran should talks with the autonomous Kurdish region on an oil revenue-sharing agreement fail, a senior oil ministry official in Baghdad told Reuters.

Iraq's State Oil Marketing Organisation (SOMO) plans to hold talks with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), possibly next week, about Iraqi oil exported through Turkey, Deputy Oil Minister Fayadh al-Nema said in an interview on Friday evening.

"If the negotiations come to a close" without an agreement "we will start to find a way in order to sell our oil because we need money, either to Iran or other countries", he said by telephone.

Iraq, OPEC's second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia, depends on oil sales for 95 percent of its public income. Its economy is reeling under the double impact of low oil prices and the war against Islamic State militants.

The Kurdistan region produces around 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) on its territory and exports those volumes via Turkey. Baghdad would not be able to reroute those volumes to Iran but could order shipments of some 150,000 bpd via Iran that are being produced in the nearby province of Kirkuk.

An agreement between Iran and Iraq could function in a similar fashion as oil-swap deals Tehran has had with Caspian Sea nations, according to an oil official who asked not to be identified.

Iran would import Iraqi oil to its refineries and export an equivalent amount of its own crude on behalf of Baghdad from Iranian ports on the Gulf. Iraq has ports on the Gulf but they are not linked to the northern Kirkuk fields by pipeline.

Iraq's state-run North Oil Company resumed pumping crude through the Kurdish-controlled pipeline to Turkey last week as "a sign of goodwill to invite them (the Kurds) to start negotiations," Nema said.

He said pumping had resumed on the instruction of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi following "some understanding" between Baghdad and Erbil. Abadi said on Tuesday the decision had been made to avoid damage to reservoirs.

The flow of crude extracted from Kirkuk by North Oil and pumped in the pipeline has been running at about 75,000 bpd since last week, or half the rate before it was halted in March, Nema said.

Should there be an agreement with the Kurds, flow through the pipeline would be increased to more than 100,000 bpd, not to the previous level of 150,000 bpd, he added.


Nema said about 20,000 bpd would be supplied to the refinery of Suleimaniya, in the Kurdish region, and 30,000 bpd would be refined locally in Kirkuk.

A KRG spokesman in June told Reuters the Kurds are ready to strike an agreement with Baghdad if it guarantees them monthly revenue of $1 billion, more than double what they make currently from selling their own oil.

The dispute revolves around Kurdish oil exports that Baghdad wants to bring under its control.

"If Baghdad comes and says 'OK, give me all the oil that you have and I'll give you the 17 percent as per the budget', which equals to 1 billion, I think, logically it should be the thing to accept," KRG spokesman Safeen Dizayee said in June.


"Whether this oil goes to the international market or first to Baghdad and then to the market, it doesn't make any difference," he added. "We are ready to enter dialogue with Baghdad." Read the full story here.

Video - French special forces inside Syria, embedded with YPG/SDF in Manbij offensive vs ISIS

Video - French special forces inside Syria, embedded with YPG/SDF in Manbij offensive vs ISIS.(RT).

France has deployed its special forces on the ground in northern Syria to advise rebels and help them fight Islamic State, a French Defense Ministry official has revealed to AFP.

"The offensive at Manbij is clearly being backed by a certain number of states including France. It's the usual support - it's advisory," the official told the agency.

Until now, France admitted the presence of some 150 special forces in the region, all of them in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Manbij is a key strategic town under Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) control in northern Syria. It’s a waypoint between the Turkish border and the IS-held Raqqa.

The latest comment isn’t the first hint at France’s presence in Syria: last Friday, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the Public Senat TV channel that Paris was “providing support through weapons supplies, air presence and advice."

France isn't the only Western country in Syria: about two weeks ago, footage emerged of US special forces fighting alongside Kurdish militia near the city of Raqqa, a month after Obama said some 250 troops would be deployed in the region.

#UPDATE: France has deployed special forces in northern Syria to advise the Syrian Democratic Forces https://t.co/rhSaWzQtMR

— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 9, 2016

Kurdish Opposition Leader Demirtas: 'Erdogan Wants a Caliphate'.

Kurdish Opposition Leader Demirtas: 'Erdogan Wants a Caliphate'. (Spiegel).

Kurdish opposition leader Selahattin Demirtas, 43, says that his HDP party wants a cease-fire in the ongoing battle between Turkish troops and Kurds in southeastern Turkey. But, he says, Turkish President Erdogan isn't willing to listen.

SPIEGEL: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hoping that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be able to solve Europe's refugee crisis. Is he able to?

Demirtas: I wish he could. But I fear he is creating much larger problems. If the Turkish government continues its war against the Kurds, then millions of Turkish citizens could seek asylum in Europe.

SPIEGEL: Would Angela Merkel have been better off not negotiating with Erdogan?


Demirtas: No, but she has to be careful not to disregard European principles. She can't remain silent when a country seeking to join the EU bombs its own towns and cities.

SPIEGEL: The government says it is exclusively pursuing terrorists.


Demirtas: The war is primarily focused on civilians that Erdogan suspects of supporting the PKK. Almost 400,000 people have had to leave their homes. The southeast of Turkey resembles Syria.

SPIEGEL: Even HDP supporters are critical and say you should have distanced yourselves from PKK violence earlier and more decisively.

Demirtas: I did. Erdogan and his henchmen in the media didn't want to hear anything about it. They are consciously defaming me as a terrorist.

SPIEGEL: Not long ago, Erdogan was working towards a peaceful resolution to the Kurdish conflict. Why do you think he has changed course?

Demirtas: He's striving for absolute power in Turkey. Erdogan wants a caliphate. We Kurds are in his way. Erdogan can't stop us politically, so he is denouncing us as terrorists.

SPIEGEL: What role will the Kurds have in the new reorganization of the Middle East?


Demirtas: The Kurds are stepping onto the stage of world history. In northern Iraq, they are well on their way to an independent state and in Syria they are successfully fighting for federal rights. In Turkey, the Kurds are pushing for democratization. Read the full interview here.

Hmmm..........Turkey is already the center of the 'Caliphate' ....since 2014.

The most prominent spiritual leader for the Muslim Brotherhood is none other than Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi and this Sunday he declared that Turkey is where the Caliphate will be established.

In an interview with TV Turkia Qaradawi declared that:

“We came to Turkey to assess the Fourth Assembly of the Union of Muslim Scholars in Istanbul, capital of the Islamic Caliphate!”

Qaradawi added that:

“Turkey is the Caliphate State, and Istanbul is its capital … Turkey unites religion and the world, Arab (Wahhabist Sunnis) and Persian (Shiites), Asia and Africa, and it (the Caliphate) should be based upon this nation (Turkey)”.

U.S. & West Unwilling to Pressure Turkey into Allowing Kurds in Syria Talks: Vitaly Churkin.

US & West Unwilling to Pressure Turkey into Allowing Kurds inclusion in Syria Talks: Vitaly Churkin. (RT).

Speaking to Izvestiya daily Vitaly Churkin, Russia's Permanent Envoy to UNSC, stressed that Kurd's participation in Geneva talks is necessary for the peace process in Syria. He expressed concern that Western countries are unwilling to pressure Turkey to put aside sabotaging Kurds inclusion in the talks, while Kurds are one of the most important elements of resistance to terrorism in Syria.

"Turkey opposed, absolutely irrationally, the participation of the Syrian Kurds in the talks. This way it is only prompting them towards ‘separatist sentiments.’ And this is what Ankara fears,” Churkin said. 

“Regrettably, developments around our draft statement demonstrate that the United States and other Western members of the United Nations Security Council do not want to influence Ankara’s position. It is regrettable as it is in no way promoting the talks".

Churkin also expressed skepticism about potential unilateral plans some members of the Security Council might decide in combating the rise of lawlessness and the influence of ISIS in Libya, where NATO led intervention helped to oust the country’s long-time leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Calling, the Libyan fiasco a “very painful” experience, Churkin said that while countries are united in their effort to restore Libya’s unity and territorial integrity, “our Western partners seem to be stopping short of telling the whole truth, which gives an impression that they may have a secret agenda in Libya.”

 "There have been media reports that the Americans delivered airstrikes at ISIS targets in Libya. Newspapers say British special forces are present there. We are warning our Western partners that unilateral actions will bring about no good,” the envoy said, adding that solving problems in a failed state requires efforts of the international community coordinated through the UN Security Council

Turkey's promises to disrupt talks if Kurds appear in Geneva are inadmissible — Russian UN envoy.

'Herrenvolk' Turkey's promises to disrupt talks if Kurds appear in Geneva are inadmissible — envoy. (Tass).

Turkish representatives' promises to disrupt the Syria peace talks if a Kurdish delegation appears in the Swiss capital is inadmissible, Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Office and other International Organization in Geneva Alexey Borodavkin told TASS on Saturday.

"We demand the Kurds be represented at the talks," Borodavkin said. "We go on saying to both UN officials and U.S. colleagues that Turkey is blackmailing when puts forward the conditions that if Syrian Kurds appear at the talks, the Turkish representatives will disrupt them. It is totally unacceptable and absolutely inadmissible."

"According to our observations, the understanding that Syrian Kurds should be present at the talks and take part in the political process is an absolutely essential point," Borodavkin said. Read the full story here.

Erdogan regime Seeks to Lift Kurdish Opposition MP’s Immunity.

Erdogan regime Seeks to Lift Kurdish Opposition MP’s Immunity. (Alwaght).

Turkish government has called on the country's parliament to lift the legislative immunity of leaders of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) so they can face charges of "openly instigating people to hatred and hostility" and "being a member of an armed terrorist organization".

State-run Anadolu Agency cited Parliamentary sources as saying that the Prime Ministry Office submitted a motion to lift the parliamentary immunity of HDP Co-Chairs Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag and of party deputies Selma Irmak, Sirri Sureyya Onder, and Ertugrul Kurkcu.

The Ministry of Justice sent a related summary of proceedings on Friday, the Turkish agency reported, adding the office of the parliament speaker then forwarded the motion to the joint parliamentary commission on constitution and justice, which will decide whether the general assembly should vote on lifting the immunity.

Turkish government accuse five HDP deputes of declaring autonomy during a December meeting of a group affiliated with the party in southeastern Turkey.

"Last December, in a meeting in Diyarbakır, Demirtaş said his party would support calls for the formation of democratic autonomous regions in Turkey's southeast," Anadolu Agency claimed

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had previously broached the idea of lifting the immunity of HDP parliamentarians due to the party's alleged support for terrorism.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has on various occasions claimed that HDP is an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which Turkey deems as a terrorist group.

Referring to the HDP’s last year election success Demirtas told reporters earlier in the week that, "Erdogan is personally angry with us, especially me and a few other friends. He is...driven by feelings of revenge". Hmmm........Erdogan has reached the point that  'A dead or imprisoned Kurd is a good Kurd'

Some 'Kurdish' MPs from Turkish opposition may be deprived of immunity.

Killed PKK members dragged to monument that says : 'Happy is he who can say i am a Turk'

Some 'Kurdish' MPs from Turkish opposition may be deprived of immunity. (TAZ).

Five MPs from the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey may be deprived of immunity, the Turkish TV channel TRT Haber reported March 9.

The MPs, whose names were undisclosed, may be deprived of immunity for having ties with the terrorist organization ‘Kurdistan Workers’ Party’ (PKK), according to the TV channel.

In December 2015, Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu criticized the policy of the Peoples’ Democratic Party and accused its members of having ties with the PKK.

PKK’s attacks on military units and police stations in the south-eastern Turkey have become more frequent in recent months. During 2015, more than 200 soldiers were killed in Turkey in the clashes with the PKK.


The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for over 25 years and claimed more than 40,000 lives. PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the UN and the European Union.

'Islamic State terrorists in Turkey are planning to attack Kurdish settlement in Syria' Russian Def Min.

'Islamic State terrorists in Turkey are planning to attack Kurdish settlement in Syria' Russian Def Min. (Tass).

Several armed groups of Islamic State militants have been concentrated in Turkey. The militants are planning to attack a Syrian settlement populated by Kurds, chief of Russia’s Center for Ceasefire in Syria, Lieutenant-General Sergei Kuralenko said on Sunday.

"Several Islamic State armed groups have reportedly been concentrated near the settlement of Nusaybin in Turkey. According to our data, the terrorists are planning to attack the settlement of al-Qamishli in Syria populated by Syrian Kurds," he said.

According to the Russian center for the reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria, terrorists continue attempts to frustrate the peace process in Syria by means of opening provocative fire at Turkey to make it deploy its troops in Syria.

"On March 6, 2016, Jabhat al-Nusra militants several times opened mortar fire at the Turkish territory near the settlement of Metishli. The militants’ actions were aimed to provoke retaliation fire for the Turkish military and their deployment in Syria, which will inevitably frustrate the peace process," Kuralenko said.

He also noted that militants of the Jund al-Malihash group blocked traffic between the settlements of Nahteh and al-Hirak in the Syrian province of Daraa. "They stop cars with civilians and threaten them with violence over their refusal to take part in combat operations," he said. Read the full story here.

Turkish trans-border strikes on Syria, They (Turkey) should be fully aware of their responsibility — Ryabkov.

Turkish trans-border strikes on Syria, They (Turkey) should be fully aware of their responsibility — Ryabkov. (Tass).

Turkey’s activity on the border with Syria can be a delayed-action mine under the ceasefire agreements, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Monday.

"The Turkish colleagues have not abandoned the idea of trans-border strikes, an idea to form certain zones on the Syrian territory along the Turkish border," he said, noting that it is "a very dangerous situation from the point of view of how Ankara can behave".

According to Ryabkov, the use of force in Syria by outside players, particularly Turkey, could undermine the political settlement in this country.

"We cannot but be concerned about military preparations, intensifying activity along the perimeter of the Syrian border. If the governments of the countries that are engaged in these activities, have plans to use force to achieve some goals, this would be a fatal blow to everything that has been achieved to date," he said.

"These governments, including Turkey, should be fully aware of their responsibility," Ryabkov said. Hmmm......As long as Erdogan and his minions are running Turkey there will be no peace in the Middle East.

Russian Center for reconciling turns to US for explanations over Turkey’s shelling of Syrian territory.

Russian Center for reconciling turns to US for explanations over Turkey’s shelling of Syrian territory. (Tass).

The Russian Center for Truce in Syria has turned to the US Reconciliation Center for explanations over the shelling of the Syrian territory by Turkey, which is a member of the US-led anti-terror coalition, Russian Center Head Lieutenant-General Sergei Kuralenko said on Sunday.

"Overnight to February 28, the Russian Center for reconciling the warring sides in Syria received information on an attack from the Turkish territory on the Syrian town of Et Tell el-Abyad by armed units with the support of large-caliber artillery. This information was subsequently verified and confirmed through several channels, including representatives of the Syrian Democratic Forces," the Russian general said.

"The Russian Center has turned to the US Reconciliation Center in Amman for explanations over the shelling of the Syrian territory by Turkey, which is a member of the US-led anti-IS [Islamic State] coalition," he said. Hmmm......As long as Erdogan and his minions are running Turkey there will be no peace in the Middle East. Read the full story here.

PKK Leader Cemil Bayik: 'Turkish state aims to destroy all Kurds, Kurds are not property of the Turkish state'.

PKK Leader Cemil Bayik: 'Turkish state aims to destroy all Kurds, Kurds are not property of the Turkish state'. (ANF).

KCK Executive Council Co-President Cemil Bayık described the Turkish state’s attacks as illegitimate and inhumane, and noted that Kurdish people would not acknowledge the government and the state as long as the state does not acknowledge Kurdish people’s self-administration and Turkey does not democratize.

In his article published in Yeni Özgür Politika and Azadiya Welat newspapers, which has been translated from Kurdish by ANF English service, Cemil Bayık wrote the following:

Whatever AKP officials and suck-ups may say, the AKP government is hostile towards Kurdish people. The AKP government expressed it hostility when Erdoğan said “Kobanê is about to fall” and this hostility is at its peak in the form of enmity towards the PYD. The state shows its hostility through its destruction of civilian areas in North Kurdistan, massacres, and attacks on the HDP.

We can say that no political power has been as anti-Kurdish as the AKP government. Such enmity has not existed in Iraq, Iran or Syria. The attacks of the AKP are beyond human comprehension.

For the AKP, Kurds have no value. Speaking of the Kurds is an objection to the strategy of the Turkish state that aims to destroy all Kurds. For these policy makers, Kurds should either suck up to the state or face brutality and torture. If a Kurd defends her identity and wants a free and democratic life, she will receive the worst insults and treatment for her act.

The Turkish state views Kurds as its property, a cadaver that can be treated in any way. This is why Kurds may be treated brutally. This mentality and policy is at the root of the Kurdish issue.

This approach will not change as long as Kurds’ free and democratic life is not accepted. Of course, Kurds do not accept the Turkish state’s insult. The western world speaks of democracy and the values of humanity, but does not object to the Turkish state’s policies towards Kurds. Turkey, an ally of the west, is normalizing the policies of insulting and brutalizing Kurds!

Turkey now directs its policy of insulting and crushing Kurdish people to the parliamentarians of the party that these people voted for. Turkey thinks that these parliamentarians are not people’s representatives but paid civil servants of the state! Turkish politicians and AKP officials say that ‘these parliamentarians are paid by the state, so they should implement the state’s policies and accept whatever the state dictates.’ 

Turkey should know that HDP parliamentarians are not paid civil servants; they are the representatives of Kurdish people. The salaries they mention come from the taxes that Kurdish people are forced to pay. If they say that HDP parliamentarians should betray Kurdish people because of their salaries, why should Kurdish people pay taxes? Why should the people acknowledge the courts, when the courts are institutions of brutality? Why should the people acknowledge governors, when governors give massacre orders targeting the people? Why should the people acknowledge the state, when the state arrests the mayors elected by the people? Nothing can be as legitimate as the Kurdish people’s decision to declare self-administration in the face of state policies.

The Turkish state’s attacks are illegitimate and inhumane. Kurdish people will not acknowledge the government and the state as long as the state does not acknowledge Kurdish people’s self-administration and Turkey does not democratize. This is the right of Kurdish people and nobody can question why the Kurds do not acknowledge the state. Nobody can legitimize the policies, discourse and applications of the Turkish state.

The Turkish state now disrespects the pain and attacks the condolence tents of Kurdish mothers and fathers. All political actors including the President and the Prime Minister go to the funerals of soldiers and police officers that massacre hundreds of Kurdish people, but other people are not supposed to go to the condolence tent of the young person who carried out the event in Ankara. If people can go to the funeral of soldiers and police officers that destroy Kurdish towns and kill civilians including babies and old people, everyone can go to the funeral of a Kurdish youth. Whether it is a soldier-police officer or a Kurdish youth that dies, even if one does not like their ideologies, one cannot attack a funeral. Parents mourn the death of their children, but the state prohibits Kurdish mothers and fathers from mourning. They even arrest Kurdish parents for mourning. Their goal is to make parents curse their deceased child, just like the state does.

The AKP government has gone mad, it does not have any humane, moral or conscientious values. AKP does not respect the traditions and values of Kurdish people. The most basic cultural values of parents who mourn the death of their children are ignored. Is it up to the state to decide which families can mourn the death of its children? This is the tyrant state that Kurds resist. This is a state that does not tolerate the will and culture of a society. This is the mentality at the root of the Kurdish issue.

It is not surprising for those that rip apart and desecrate dead bodies for revenge to attack parents that are mourning the death of their children. It is a duty of neighbors to visit the funeral of a neighbor, and it is shameful if neighbors fail to fulfill this duty. Someone from HDP can visit the family of a person that voted for the HDP, and nobody can prevent this visit. It is not up to the state to decide who can go to a funeral and who can mourn for their deceased relatives.


In fact, the pressures on HDP parliamentarian Tuğba Hezer have nothing to do with her visit to a funeral. The AKP state wants to silence everyone on the dirty war it is waging against Kurdish people. The pressures on the HDP aim to silence the only opposition in the country.

Hmmm......The Same AKP government that considers the terrorist group HAMAS as 'freedom fighters' names Kurdish fighters 'Terrorists' .....

Mogherini: European Union Against Formation of Kurdish State in Middle East.

Mogherini: European Union Against Formation of Kurdish State in Middle East. (Fars).

EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini said the bloc opposes the formation of a separate Kurdish state in the Middle East.

"The European Union does not support any separatist agenda for the Kurds - being it in Turkey, being it in Iraq, being it in Syria," Mogherini said at the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday, Sabah Daily reported.

Mogherini reiterated the EU's condemnation of violence by the PKK following an attack in Ankara that killed 29 people last week.

"The European Union condemns in any possible way any terrorist act and considers the PKK as a terrorist organization," Mogherini said.

"We also believe, as united as we are in condemning terrorist acts, that the way to solve the Kurdish issue inside Turkey is through a peace process that the same Turkish government started a few years ago before dropping it," she said.

What is commonly known in Turkey as the "reconciliation process" aimed to end the 30-year conflict between Turkey and the PKK, considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the EU and the US. It began in 2013 but stalled after renewed violence broke out last year.

"We continue to think this is the way and we say this to the Turkish authorities and to the Kurds equally," Mogherini said.

Mogherini said the crisis will not be solved unless the rights of Kurds are respected.

"We need to make sure that rights are respected by the Kurds and to the Kurds. Most of all, it cannot be possible to make as if this was not an issue in the region - it is," she said.  Hmmm.....The fear of Erdogan opening the gates for the refugee flood to Europe renders EU politicians in to puppets of Erdogan.

#Turkey's president @RT_Erdogan repeated today publicly his previous threat of flooding Europe with refugees

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) February 11, 2016

#Turkey's @RT_Erdogan says he's proud of what he said in leaked documents that showed refugee bargaining with @JunckerEU & @eucopresident

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) February 11, 2016

President @RT_Erdogan tells @UN that #Turkey is not 'fool', may use buses & planes to ship refugees to other countries

— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) February 11, 2016

PYD Co-leader Salim Muslim: Syrian Kurds not Seeking Independence from Syria, “Turkey has Kurdish phobia”.

PYD Co-leader Salim Muslim: Syrian Kurds not Seeking Independence from Syria, “Turkey has Kurdish phobia”. (Basnews).

ROJAVA — The Co-leader of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Saleh Muslim, has once again stated that they do not seek independence from Syria.

Saleh Muslim told a German news agency that they have no intention to control A'azaz area which has deeply concerned Turkey.

"Turkey has Kurdish Phobia and deems any rights for Kurds as a threat to Turkey" Muslim said.

PYD co-leader, who is ruling the three cantons in Syrian Kurdistan, asserted that they do not intend to declare independence from Syria, except seeking their constitutional rights within Syria.

He insists that the armed 'terrorist' groups that came recently to Aleppo from Turkey are believed to have joined the Islamic State (IS) and al-Nusra Front in Syria.

Syrian democratic forces, created and backed by the US to liberate Al-Raqqa, the defacto capital of the Islamic State (IS), are in control of a proportion of 20% of the Syrian territory.

UNSC president Ramirez: " the Kurdish people have to be included in the Syrian peace process discussion."

UNSC president: " the Kurdish people have to be included in the Syrian peace process discussion." (RT).

The UN Security Council has urged Ankara to comply with international law in Syria, following a briefing requested by Russia. The closed-door meeting was called to discuss recent Turkish shelling of Kurdish YPG militia targets in Syria's north.

“UN Security Council members are concerned with the Turkish attacks on a number of Syrian regions,” Venezuelan Ambassador Rafael Ramirez, who now chairs the UNSC, said after the meeting, as cited by TASS.

The UN Security Council received a letter from the Syrian government in which Damascus condemned Turkey’s attacks in the north of Syria, Ramirez explained, noting that the entire council expressed “concern” about these violations.

"All members of the Security Council ... agreed to ask for Turkey to comply with international law," he added.

The UNSC also reiterated its commitment to the Munich agreement, expecting that all parties involved in the discussions will work toward a ceasefire to “allow humanitarian access for every place in the Syrian territory.”   

The UNSC president highlighted the need to have Kurds represented in the Syrian peace process, and for Ankara not to escalate the situation even further.

“One of the issues expressed by some countries, including Venezuela, is that the Kurdish people have to be included in the discussion. Now that is the principle concern of Turkey,” Ramirez said during the briefing.

“Something that is important – the Kurds are fighting against the terrorist groups on the ground and this is an important factor for everybody,” Ramirez emphasized. Read the full story here.

Update: 

Turkey's Erdogan: no intent to stop retaliatory shelling of Syrian Kurdish YPG. https://t.co/9O8fxV7uba pic.twitter.com/RyV58RVmJG

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) February 17, 2016

As yet #Turkey hasn't provided proof of incoming fire from #YPG. Turkish official told us "not necessary to provide" https://t.co/cv5nMx7wJX

— Mark Lowen (@marklowen) February 17, 2016

ISIS leaders remain in close contact with Ankara – Lavrov.

ISIS leaders remain in close contact with Ankara – Lavrov. (RT).

The leaders of Islamic State maintain a constant liaison with the Turkish government, working out a new approach to the war in Syria as the Russian Air Force cuts off traditional smuggling routes, says Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Moscow has intelligence that Islamic State’s (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) command continues to hold backdoor negotiations with the Turkish leadership, Lavrov told Russian newspaper MK in a vast interview in honor of Diplomats’ Day.

The airstrikes of the Russian Air Force in Syria have severely disrupted “traditional smuggling routes,” so the Turks are discussing in all seriousness creation of “IS-free zones” in Syria.
“Of course [such zones] would be a violation of all principles of the international law and also escalate tensions, substantially and fundamentally,” Lavrov said, adding the Turks are constructing tent camps and some kind of “engineering structures” on the Syrian side of the border, some 200 meters inside the country’s territory.

At the same time the Russian FM does not believe that a full-scale Turkish invasion into Syria is possible; Ankara is expected to limit its actions to “small provocations.”
“I do not believe that the US-led [anti-IS] coalition, which includes Turkey, would allow such desperate schemes to take shape,” Lavrov said.

“The Turks say openly that we have blown their plans [for Syria] wide open and now are trying to nail the Americans to the barn door, too,” the Russian FM commented on Ankara’s recent demarche towards Washington, which was thrown into a dilemma to “choose between Turks and Kurds,  Lavrov said,

“Honestly speaking, I do not consider the situation as irretrievable one,”Lavrov said, adding that at present close cooperation between Washington and Moscow in Syria is not possible due to a “restrain factor” of the US relations with allies in the Middle East region perceiving Russia as being a threat to their plans for Syria. Read the full story here.

"Se­nior US officials now call Turkey one of big­gest impediments to Syria resolution, effective ISIS campaign"

"Se­nior US officials now call Turkey one of biggest impediments to Syria resolution, effective ISIS campaign" (WSJ).

According to The Wall Street Journal’s Sunday report, Turkey has become one of the greatest impediments in trying to reach a political solution to the Syrian conflict, as well as in trying to tackle Daesh in the most effective way possible.

Turkey’s growing hostility to one of America’s most effective allies in the fight against Islamic State—Syrian Kurdish fighters—is undermining efforts to step up the campaign against the extremist group, U.S. officials say.

The tensions, and the strains they have put on U.S.-Turkish relations, bubbled to the surface when U.S. Vice President Joe Biden flew to Istanbul late last month to talk with Turkish leaders about the campaign.

According to U.S. and Turkish officials involved in the talks, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his top advisers showed a specially prepared map of the Turkey-Syria border that identified several places where they said Syrian Kurdish militants had smuggled weapons meant to battle Islamic State into Turkey.

Over and over again, Turkish officials told their American counterparts, security forces had seized arms and ammunition being secretly diverted by U.S. allies in Syria to members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, better known as the PKK—the militant force both countries classify as a terrorist group.

U.S. officials said they have checked out the complaints and found no evidence that any firepower provided directly by the American military to Kurdish fighters in Syria has turned up in Turkey.

Any other smuggling of weapons into Turkey is likely to be small, they added, given that the Syrian Kurds are focused on their fierce fight with Islamic State.

In the meetings with Mr. Biden, though, Turkish leaders made it clear that they found any arms smuggling unacceptable. After the meetings, Turkish officials told The Wall Street Journal that they were prepared to bomb America’s allies in Syria if the flow continues.

Several senior U.S. officials now say Turkey has become one of the biggest impediments to securing a political resolution to the five-year-old conflict in Syria—and to mounting the most effective military campaign against Islamic State.

The deepening feud comes as the U.S., Turkey, Russia and other world powers prepare to meet on Thursday in Munich to try to salvage stalled United Nations-backed Syrian peace talks. Read the full story here.

Russian military personnel started training Assyrian YPG Fighters.

Russian military personnel started training Assyrian YPG Fighters. (Aina).

Kurdish forces belonging to the People's Protection Units (YPG) have setup training camps in three Assyrian villages on the Khabur river, in the Hasaka province in northeast Syria.

The largest camp is in the village of Tel Nasri, with more than 200 YPG fighters now living in the village. Two smaller camps have been setup in two other Assyrian villages.

The YPG fighters are being trained by Russian military personnel. The camps were setup beginning on January 26.

The YPG is the armed wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).

Narsai Oshana, an Assyrian from Tel Nasri who now lives in Chicago, has spoken to Assyrians from Tel Nasri and Tel Tamar. Mr. Oshana says the YPG have stated they will only stay in the villages for the duration of the training, which is expected to last about two months. "I don't expect them to leave," said Mr. Oshana, "and neither do the Assyrians in Syria."

Mr. Oshana reports that on January 31 the Asayish, the intelligence arm of the YPG, opened an office in Tel Tamar.

Tel Nasri is about 900 meters from Tel Tamar and both are on the north bank of the river.

Before the Syrian civil war began Tel Nasri had 180 Assyrian households, with a population of 950. Today there are only 4 or 5 households in Tel Nasri, with about 25 Assyrians. About 60 households from Tel Nasri have fled to Beirut, 20 to Tel Tamar, and the rest to America, Australia, Canada and Europe.

el Nasri and Tel Tamar are two of 35 Assyrian villages on the Khabur river which were attacked by ISIS on February 23, 2015, causing nearly 3000 Assyrian to flee their homes. Most have not returned. ISIS captured 253 Assyrians in that initial attack and has been releasing them for ransom in batches; there are now 73 Assyrians from Khabur still being held by ISIS.

HT And Source:

Reports #Russia-n advisors began jan 26 training of #YPG #Assyrian fighters in 3 camps in #Hasakah #Syria#ISIShttps://t.co/NZQRUNtysl

— маяковский (@moscow_ghost) February 5, 2016