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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| US does not support linking Kurdish cantons in Syria |
| 2016-12-24 |
| [RUDAW.NET] The United States does not support the Kurdish groups in northern Syria linking together the three cantons of Afrin, Kobane and Cizre along the Syrian-Turkish border, the US ambassador to Ankara said in an interview broadcast on Friday. John Bass said that his country has two goals in its support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The first goal is to ensure the defeat of ISIS in Syria, especially along the Syrian-Turkish border, therefore eliminating the threat of the bully boy group to ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... . Secondly, this outcome should not come at the expense of creating other problems for Turkey, a NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... ally. "[T]he other goal we have had is to approach this problem set in Syria and to ensure we conduct military operations in ways that do not create a long-term strategic problem for Turkey, our NATO ally," Bass told Turkish NTV. "That is an important reason why we do not support, have never supported, connection of the so-called Kurdish cantons in Syria." Kurds have three self-administered cantons located along Syria’s northwestern border with Turkey, collectively known as Rojava. Afrin canton in the west is separated from the eastern cantons of Kobane and Cizre by a 100 kilometre-long stretch that is now under control of Turkey and its allied militias. The lands between Afrin and Kobane cantons are demographically mixed. Turkey opposes the Syrian Kurds advancing westward from Kobane to link up with Afrin. Ankara does not want to see the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) ‐ the foremost gang in the SDF ‐ dominate the border region as Turkey considers the YPG to be an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). "We do not support anyone on the ground changing demography or changing political governance structures unilaterally based solely on their military success against ISIS," Bass said, using another name for ISIS. Fawzi Sleman, spokesperson for the defence committee of Afrin canton, told Rudaw in late June that uniting the three Rojava cantons is decisive for the Kurdish administration. |
| Posted by:Fred |