Posted on 10/28/2016 7:49:31 AM PDT by Lorianne
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday Ankara could launch a ground operation in Iraq to remove any threats to Turkey that may arise.
"If there is a threat posed to Turkey, we are ready to use all our resources including a ground operation... to eliminate that threat," Cavusoglu said in an interview with Kanal 24 broadcaster.
"It is our most natural right," he added.
Cavusoglu referred to Turkey's ambitious offensive in Syria as an example of how Turkey took the threat to its security seriously.
Since August 24, Ankara has supported opposition rebels to clear the Islamic State group (IS) from its border and halt the westward advance of the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG.
Turkey views the YPG (People's Protection Units) as a terror group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is waging an insurgency in Turkey's southeast.
The PKK is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union but Washington believes the YPG is the most effective force against IS in Syria.
The PKK has bases in the Qandil mountains in northern Iraq which the Turkish military regularly hits with its warplanes.
Cavusoglu said any threat against Turkey in neighbouring regions of Iraq -- including the northern district of Sinjar -- could draw a response.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Erdogen is now Obama’s BFF and it looks like we’re throwing the Kurds under the bus. What a mess....
The “threats to Turkey” are pretty much the Kurdish minority that is scattered across the international borders of Turkey, Iraq and Syria. The Turks could care less about ISIS, as they sort of support the kernel of reconstituting the Ottoman Empire, and for the present, the Turks under Recep Tayyip Erdogan and ISIS are de facto allies.
The US always throws the Kurds under the bus. We are obsessed with Turkey.
What do we get out of an established Kurdistan? Acceptance of Christians? People who will fight for themselves? The 4th country is Iran. Carve it out of all 4 countries. Then what would we have?
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