Turkey Threatens to Strike US Forces Partnered With Kurds

Washington Times ^ | Wednesday, May 3, 2017 | By Carlo Muñoz -

[drewh]

The war of words between Washington and Ankara over the U.S. military’s partnership with Kurdish paramilitaries in Syria escalated Wednesday, when a senior aide to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested American troops could be targeted alongside their Kurdish allies in the country’s ongoing air war against the militias.

Senior presidential aide Ilnur Cevik said U.S. forces who are teamed up with members of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, were in danger of being hit by Turkish fighters patrolling the volatile border region with Syria.

If YPG units and their American military advisers “go too far, our forces would not care if American armor is there, whether armored carriers are there,” Mr. Cevik said during an interview on Turkish radio station CRI TURK Wednesday. “All of a sudden, by accident, a few rockets can hit them,” he added, referring to partnered U.S. forces.

When asked to clarify that U.S. advisers or artillery positions would be in danger from Turkish warplanes, if they continued to support YPG operations in northern Syria, Mr. Cevik replied bluntly that they would.

His comments come days after U.S. forces moved into the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Rojava, in a dramatic show of solidarity amid Turkish airstrikes targeting those U.S.-backed forces there. The strikes were part of an ongoing counterterrorism operation targeting members of the YPG, which Turkey has condemned as a terrorist organization.

Syrian Kurds, some of which are members of or allied with the YPG, make up half of the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF — the 50,000-man strong constellation of Arab and Kurdish militias backed by the U.S., who are preparing for the final, large-scale assault on Raqqa, the self-styled capital of the Islamic State terror group also known as ISIS or ISIL.

[jhastey]

Sounds like it’s time to remind Turkey who has nuclear weapons and has actually used them in the past. Honestly I have yet to figure out why we keep putting up with their crap - especially since Erdogan came to power and took Turkey from being a secular Middle Eastern power to an Islamic-theocracy in the making. Honestly, they are now where Iran was in 1977 or 1978 - just one step away. The USA should have restricted or cut all weapons sales (and associated spare parts) to Turkey once Erdogan took office.

[GreyHoundSailor]

Agreed - and I’d go further. Stop sending them the material to manufacture F-16’s and cancel the roughly $5 billion in existing FMS (foreign military sales) contracts.