Comments 6

حلفاء أميركا المنسيين في سوريا

Feb 21, 2018 Mahmoud Berkhdan

عفرين، سوريا – في 20 كانون الثاني / يناير الماضي، شنت القوات التركية ضربات جوية في شمال سوريا في إطار حملة عسكرية، تهدف إلى مواجهة التهديد الأمني على حدودها الجنوبية. وتخضع الأراضي التي تتعرض للهجوم، بما فيها عفرين (المدينة التي أحارب فيها) لسيطرة وحدات حماية الشعب الكردية.

وبصفتي قائدا في القوات الديمقراطية السورية، التي تضم وحدات حماية الشعب، أود أن أكون صريحا: إن ادعاءات تركيا بأننا نشن حربا عبر الحدود ليست صحيحة. في الواقع، العكس صحيح. فقد بدأت تركيا بمهاجمتنا من خلال عمليتها العسكرية التي أطلقت عليها اسم "غصن الزيتون". ومع ذلك، ولأسباب لا أستطيع فهمها، فإنها تقوم بذلك بموافقة ضمنية من المجتمع الدولي.

إن قواتنا لا تشارك في هجمات ضد الدولة التركية. (لا تشن وحدات حماية الشعب ضربات إلا على المواقع التركية التي شنت هجوما ضدنا). إن حربنا الوحيدة هي على الجهاديين من تنظيم الدولة الإسلامية (داعش)، وهي معركة تدعمها الولايات المتحدة. لكن مع انتهاء الحرب ضد تنظيم داعش، أصبح الداعمون الدوليون أكثر هدوءا- مما زاد من حدة هجمات تركيا.

To continue reading, please log in or enter your email address.

To access our archive, please log in or register now and read two articles from our archive every month for free. For unlimited access to our archive, as well as to the unrivaled analysis of PS On Point, subscribe now.

Featured

Our Infant Information Revolution

Jun 15, 2018 Joseph S. Nye
The Anatomy of Global Debt

Jun 15, 2018 Howard Davies
Can the Euro Be Saved?

Jun 13, 2018 Joseph E. Stiglitz
The Divine Right of Donald

Jun 11, 2018 Elizabeth Drew
The Republicans’ Protectionist Pedigree

Jun 13, 2018 Jeffrey Frankel

0 Comments on this paragraph, 4 in all 4 Comments on this article

j. von Hettlingen Feb 24, 2018

Mahmoud Berkhdan - a commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - is accusing Turkey of incursion in northern Syria, making Afrin and its Kurdish enclave "kurdenrein." Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he wanted to clear the area of terrorists and send the over 3.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey back "to their own land as soon as possible." He also insisted Afrin be handed over to “its real owners.” But the Kurds have been in the region for centuries. This move would only turn them into a minority there.
The author says Kurds "are not squatters" in Afrin", and asks where else should they go? He rejects claims from Erdogan that his Kurdish People's Protection Units - the YPG in Syria - have any direct organisational links to the PKK, the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, which has fought for Kurdish autonomy in south-eastern Turkey for decades. The YPG had been vetted by the US, which has provided the militia and allied Arab fighters with weapons and air support to help them fight ISIS.
On January 20, Turkey launched an air and ground assault on Afrin, dubbed "Operation Olive Branch". Syrian rebels have seized on the opportunity to side with Turkey - to first fight the Kurds and later Assad. Due to the lack of military training they suffered major losses to Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies. In order to take the Syrian rebels on board to fight the Kurds, Turkey has offered to train them, and they see this alliance as a lifeline that could allow them to relaunch their waning insurgency and go on to fight Assad again.
In an effort to repel the Turkish offensive, the YPG asked Assad for help, calling on his duty to send troops and defend the border from Turkish incursion. He denounced the Turkish offensive as a "blatant attack" on Syria's sovereignty. Assad's resentments towards Erdogan run deep, since the Turkish president has been supporting the rebels to topple his regime, allowing the porous border to be used as transit zone for arms and fighters into Syria.
Pro-regime troops, that made up mainly of forces linked to the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shia militias backed by Iran, entered the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, provoking an immediate response from the Turkish-led forces, that shelled the area. Turkey had threatened to confront the regime forces if they intervened, raising the prospect of direct conflict between Syria and Turkey. Erdogan called his Russian and Iranian counterparts that support the Assad regime. But a diplomatic solution to the war is unlikely, as there are too many players involved.
Assad had so far avoided conflict with the Kurdish forces since the start of the civil war in 2011. Moreover his regime handed control of some areas to the Syrian Kurds in 2012, so that he could focus on fighting the rebels across the country. The YPG and its allies have established three autonomous cantons in northern Syria that Turkey opposes. Despite occasionally minor clashes, the regime and YPG have had a tacit agreement to leave each other alone.
It remains to be seen whether this would usher in a long-term agreement between the two parties - the Kurds want autonomy and Assad wants full control over the whole country, including oil and water resources now in Kurdish hands. The author says, Erdoğan would like to see the Kurdish enclave to be "a makeover as a Sunni Arab state, where Kurds and other minorities are sidelined."
It is more likely that Assad would rather let the Kurds hold onto the area, instead of the Sunnis, whose majority rule could pose a threat to "Syria’s great diversity." The author says the Kurds do support "Syria’s ethnic and religious mosaic, and envision a future of coexistence among Christians, Circassians, and Yazidis – all groups that Turkey has shunned." He hopes that the international community and the US will not leave the Kurds to their device and that their hope for autonomy would not be dashed by Erdogan's paranoia. But he needs to reassure Erdogan that the Syrian Kurds have no intention to encourage any Kurdish separatist movement in Turkey.
Michael Public Feb 22, 2018

Take out a map. Look where you live. Regrettably, you live on a small piece of land that sits at the intersection of several powerful empires - Russia meets the EU meets the middle east here and these empires are sworn enemies. To make matters worse, the US is trying to 'take control' of this general area (Iraq, Syria) for strategic reasons and you sided with them and then got swatted by bigger players than you. You would think you would have understood your precarious position. If the US wants to side with you then you need a military base like South Korea has, and an alliance. Otherwise you should have politely declined. Now you sit as enemies of Russia on its doorstep and the US dare not protect you too much for fear it will escalate to nuclear war with Russia. Although I hope you find a happy place to exist in the region I fear your haste to team up with the US was ill advised.
Janes Weiß Feb 22, 2018

The goal of US and the coalition is to get Turkey fighting against Syrians, Iranians and Russians. US knew that by enlarging the influence of Kurds in the border areas of Syria they will provoke the Turkish answer. In other words, US, UK or France dont care about the Kurds, they only want another proxy army, Turkish army, to do their bidding in Syria and thus sooner or later provoke a direct conflict with the Russians and Iranians.
ylmaz978 Yılmaz Feb 21, 2018

World knows that you have the backing of U.S. You have received anti-tank weapons, missiles from the U.S. You also parade with armored vehicles that you have taken from America and you put American flag on these vehicles. In Kilis civilians died because of your missiles. You said your guns are not a treat to Turkey. Everbody knows that you have ties with PKK which is an terrorist organisation. In one of the operation Turkish army sized American weapons from the dead terrorists. Every scholar I read from America admit PYG's relationship with PKK. And finally you said you have fight with ISIS. But the world know the truth. BBC has uncovered your lie. Your beloved organisation let ISIS terrorists in Raqqa escape. You still dare to write your lies. Shame on you. I am not continue to read because I don't want waste my time while reading your lies.