Posted on 01/14/2016 8:52:25 AM PST by Trumpinator
Russian Intervention Emboldens Syrian Kurds
Moscow’s operations allows fighters to ignore U.S. concerns and gain ground against other rebel groups
y Yaroslav Trofimov Jan. 14, 2016 7:04 a.m. ET 7 COMMENTS
ISTANBUL—Russia’s entry into the Syrian war and its subsequent conflict with Turkey have been a boon for one other belligerent in addition to the Assad regime: the Syrian Kurds.
That is the same Syrian Kurdish forces that—after Washington’s failure to bolster “moderate†Arab rebels—have also become America’s indispensable local partner in the campaign against Islamic State.
That partnership with the U.S. remains vital for Syrian Kurdish forces. Yet, recent Russian operations have given them leeway to disregard American objections and gain new ground in controversial areas, including against other rebel groups.
“America and Russia both support the Kurds. In a way, the Kurds may be the only power in Syria on which both superpowers agree,†said Mutlu Civiroglu, a Kurdish political analyst who focuses on Syria.
The question now is to what extent the Syrian Kurds can pursue their rekindled romance with Moscow without endangering Washington’s backing—and without triggering a military intervention by their longtime nemesis, Turkey.
Known as YPG, the main Syrian Kurdish force is an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a group that after the July collapse of its cease-fire with the Turkish government has pursued an armed struggle for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey. YPG units in Syria are full of PKK cadres and supporters originally from Turkey.
While Washington is careful to maintain a distinction between the YPG (which it backs) and the PKK (which it considers a terrorist organization), Ankara doesn’t differentiate between the two groups. In Turkey’s view, both are equally dangerous—and possibly even more dangerous—than Islamic State.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Meanwhile, Russia’s deployment of the S-400 antiaircraft system in Syria after the downing of its jet has kept Turkish planes out of Syrian airspace. This, in turn, has allowed YPG to ignore another Turkish “red lineâ€â€”Ankara’s warning against the Kurds seizing territory from Islamic State on the western bank of the Euphrates.
In recent weeks, YPG units and their Arab allies crossed the river at the Tishrin dam and established a foothold in an area that is outside the range of Turkish border artillery—and that, thanks to the Russians, is no longer vulnerable to the Turkish air force.
This.........
Screw the Turks.
Tuck the Furks.
Kurds have multiple objectives.
They are taking back their ancient turf.
They are eliminating terrorist threats present and future.
They want to be left alone.
Kurdistan Worker’s Party, sounds kind of Stalinish or Hitlerish.
Kurdistan Worker’s Party, sounds kind of Stalinish or Hitlerish.
They are flat out Stalinists or Maoists. Almost all Kurdish rebel groups in Iraq and Syria are have their origins as leftist guerrilla groups which is why they are relatively secular and let women fight.
Meanwhile, Kurds and Christians in Syria have fought each other: http://hotair.com/archives/2016/01/13/kurds-attack-assyrian-christian-village-in-northern-syria/
Kurdistan Workers’ Party is no more “Stalinist” than, say, the Labour Party of Great Britain, or the Democrat Party in the territory once known as “the United States of America”.
Of course, both of those enterprises are pretty close to tyrannical. But this is Kurds dealing with the rest of the world that are NOT Kurds, so they tend to be a little bristly and stand-offish. So Kurds need, they even welcome, this internal discipline, AND the right to bear and use arms.
And if their presence gives the Turks a nervous tic, and maybe a few digestive tract upsets, so be it. The Turks should know better by now than to try to impose their dominance of the Kurds.
The aina.org website Assyrian International News Agency also writes in their history that the Kurds actually helped the Turks in their genocide against Armenians, Assyrians and others, (Greeks too?).
http://www.aina.org/articles/agpcgoe.pdf
And that’s 100 years ago.
Let the Kurds have their way
The PKK carries the hammer and sickle as a symbol. Wrongly, imo, they have been designated a terrorist group by the US and other Western nations. OTOH, the Kurdish government in Iraq told them to get out of their own territory.
he aina.org website Assyrian International News Agency also writes in their history that the Kurds actually helped the Turks in their genocide against Armenians, Assyrians and others, (Greeks too?).
That is true.
Kurdistan Workers’ Party is no more “Stalinist†than, say, the Labour Party of Great Britain,
Yea, but, you know, with it’s own armed militia and stuff.
They are Marxists.
Well not as bad as the Worker's Party of Kurdistan, now those are the real hardliners.
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