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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syrian Kurds’ Suffering At The Hands Of Turkey Continues |
| 2023-01-24 |
Since the start of the Syrian war in 2011, Syrians chasing ‘the dream’ have flooded Europe, escaping an ever-deteriorating economy and growing insecurity. Today, Syria’s future remains as uncertain as ever. The main problem is Syria’s northern neighbor – Turkey. Turkey’s foreign policy in northern Syria has been to threaten and attack the region under the pretext of fighting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The threat of war has pushed Syrian Kurds to take on the arduous journey to Europe. “SAFE ZONE – DANGER ZONE” Turkey is pursuing a two-pronged strategy: to expel Syrian Kurds from the border region and to resettle the area – which Ankara calls a ‘safe zone’ – with Syrian Arabs currently residing in Turkey. As it attempts to implement this grand plan, the Turkish government has made use of irredentist claims over Syrian territory that arch back to the post-World War I period and the founding of the Turkish Republic. Dutch journalist Frederike Geerdink, an expert on Kurds and Turkey, told North Press, “Turkey’s alleged ‘safe zone’ will be a ‘danger zone’. The international community is not convinced by Turkey’s rhetoric, but Europe is scared by the Syrian refugees. Europe has never cared or opposed anything Turkey is doing in Syria. Europe has never spoken up about even the big human rights violations, the war crimes, and the crimes against humanity.” According to Geerdink, Europe is far from being convinced by Turkey’s claims of facing a security issue on its southern border, “but Europeans are not serious in addressing the issue”. Yet Ankara’s antics are detrimental to the West’s plans not just in Syria, but on its own turf, too. Last summer, Finland and Sweden initiated NATO accession procedures in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. All member states have approved the Nordic bids, save for Hungary (which is set to do so in February) and Turkey. Instead, Turkey outlined a set of conditions. It asked Sweden to hand over 33 (then 45, then 73, and finally 130) prominent figures in opposition to its government. Ankara claims a majority are PKK members. In a bid to comply with Turkish demands, reports suggest Sweden extradited a handful of wanted persons. More are set to follow, a Turkish official claimed. The PKK has been outlawed in Sweden since 1986, though Turkey argues the Swedish government has only enforced the law sporadically. Sweden also had a generally favorable position towards the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). That irritates Turkey. Erdogan has been playing his cards against European countries ever since. “NOT ALL GOVERNMENTS CONSIDER THE PKK TERRORISTS” Lindsey Snell, an American journalist covering north Syria, told North Press, “I don’t think governments [outside of Turkey] consider the PKK a terror organization in the real sense. Listing the PKK as a terror organization was a capitulation to Turkey in the first place.” “It doesn’t make sense for the PKK to be listed internationally, as they solely target the Turkish state. And plenty of European parliamentarians have cited this when they’ve attempted to have it delisted over the years,” Lindsey argues. Yet the legality of the PKK in foreign countries has had a real impact on the war in Syria. Under the guise of fighting terrorism (both by the PKK and ISIS), Turkish armed forces and affiliated Syrian opposition factions have mounted three major invasions of north Syria. Hundreds of thousands of residents, particularly in Kurdish-majority areas, were displaced by the Turkish attacks. Ankara replaced native Kurds with Arabs from other parts of Syria in what human rights groups have called ‘demographic engineering’. In northeast Syria, the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS has partnered with Kurdish forces (People’s Protection Units-YPG) since the battle of Kobani in 2014. Crucially, the US has been unable to protect its main partner in Syria – the SDF, of which the YPG forms part – from attacks by Turkey, even as Turkey, Russia, and Iran have ensured the security of their regional clients. While the Kurds have made up a significant chunk of the anti-ISIS forces, they have had their homelands attacked and occupied by the US’ main NATO ally in the region, Turkey. In late November 2022, as Turkey engaged in a day-long aerial and artillery bombardment of the Kurdish-majority areas in Syria, threatening to invade more cities, the US released a meek statement calling on Turkey to “re-assess” its operation. “TURKEY MAKES NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PKK AND SDF” Oxymoronically, the US officials have, time and again, voiced understating for Turkey’s ‘security concerns’ in northern Syria. It was NATO antagonist Russia, rather than the US, that prevented a full-scale Turkish invasion last year. “Multiple US officials said that Turkey had ‘legitimate security/terror concerns’ on its border with Syria. In one breath, the US is claiming to support its longtime partners in the SDF, and in the next, it legitimizes Turkey’s absurd claims of needing to ‘clear the terrorists’ from the border […] claims Turkey didn’t make when ISIS occupied these areas,” says Snell. Wladimir Van Wilgenburg, a journalist with Kurdistan 24, says the international community opposes Turkey’s ground invasions in Rojava (the Kurdish name for Kurdish-majority northeast Syria), but does not see the anti-PKK operations in the KRI in the same vein. “There were several statements by the Pentagon and the US State Department opposing a new Turkish military operation [in Syria]. So they make a difference between Kurdish-led forces in northeast Syria and the PKK in the mountainous areas of Iraqi Kurdistan. But Turkey sees no difference and continues to threaten to launch a new operation,” Wladimir told North Press. |
| Posted by:badanov |