Free Republic

In remarks Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asserted that he would personally demand President Donald Trump rescind his support for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), as Turkey’s “patience has ended” with the anti-Islamic State collaboration between the two. The Pentagon announced this week it would expand military support for the YPG, considered one of the most successful militias fighting ISIS today. Turkey considers the YPG an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Marxist terrorist group seeking to establish an independent Kurdistan. In a report published Thursday, the Turkish state-run Anadolu News Agency describes the PKK...

Trees destroyed in Turkey's Kurdish province Sirnak, 27 March 2017, (Photo: Evrensel) Thousands of fruit trees have been destroyed for the “security of the villagers” by local village guards allegedly acting with orders from the local Gendarme Commander in Sirnak province, Turkey’s southeastern Kurdish region, reported the daily Evrensel on Monday.The trees were cut within the last month in the Besta region of Uludere district, located near the border with Iraq.The trees are being cut daily in the early hours of the morning by village guards (state paramilitary force) accompanied by soldiers who stand back and do not participate in the...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday said in a speech in which he criticized the Dutch government, that Turkey will still attack the town of Manbij, which was previously liberated from ISIS by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).“We won’t allow a terror state, controlled by the PKK and YPG, to be established in northern Syria,” he said.“After Jarablus, Dabiq and Al-Bab, now it’s Manbij’s turn,” he added.Moreover, the Turkish president said following his meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday, that Turkey wants to work with Russia and the US-led coalition in Manbij, requesting help to...

Pro-government Turkish daily Yenisafak, has claimed that Turkey will use the Incirlik Airbase as a bargaining chip to stop the US from backing the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a prominent force in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leading the Raqqa operation.According to Yenisafak, “Turkey is prepared for possible scenarios with the YPG. Considering the logistical contribution to US air operations, the utilisation permit of Incirlik Airbase is an important leverage to convince the US against working with the YPG.”Incirlik Air base, located in the Incirlik province of the southern city of Adana, has strategic importance to the US. Most of the US’ air operations...

Turkey has warned the United States and Russia it will not tolerate Kurdish territorial gains by Kurdish militia close to its frontiers in north-western Syria, two senior officials said. "This is clear cut for us and there is no joking about it," one official said of the possibility of Syrian Kurdish militia crossing the Euphrates to extend control along Turkish borders from Iraq's Kurdistan region towards the Mediterranean coast. Turkey fears advances by Kurdish YPG militia, backed by its PYD political wing, on the Syrian side of its 900 km (560-mile) border will fuel separatist ambitions among Kurds in its...