Turkey rules out returning Afrin to Assad (Syria)

Ahval (events) ^ | May 17 2018 | none stated

[Texas Fossil]

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdağ has ruled out returning the Syrian district of Afrin, captured by Turkish troops and their allies from Syrian Kurdish forces in March, to the Syrian government, Turkish pro-government newspaper Daily Sabah said.

"A free and democratic Syria can only be built without (Syrian President Bashar) Assad. He has killed many of his fellow citizens and brought much suffering to his country," the newspaper quoted Akdağ as saying.

He said that Turkey did not wish to remain in the area for the long term and wanted to return it soon to the Syrian people.

"We want to give Afrin back to the local population, who should be there to decide for themselves,” Akdağ said.

“A local Afrin council has been set up, which is a decision-making body with local representatives.”

No one linked to the Kurdish-majority People’s Protection Units (YPG), which had previously controlled the area, would be allowed to participate in its government, he said.

Turkey says it killed more than 4,000 YPG and Islamic State fighters during its two-month military operation to gain control of Afrin that began in January.

[Texas Fossil]

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise.

There should be no surprise, he said from the start he would not turn it back to Assad.

But now it is out in the open.

[Texas Fossil]

Syria Ping

[caww]

Oh so he wants Regime change! LOLOL That’s rich!

[Rurudyne]

Sounds like Turkey just wanted to get rid of Kurds ... as usual.

[BenLurkin]

Let me guess. The U N will let Erdogan get away with it.

[mrsmith]

[Texas Fossil]

Yep

[Texas Fossil]

Correct. He destroys all opposition. It has been like that since the beginning of the Ottoman Empire.

[Texas Fossil]

UN will not have anything to do with Erdogan’s demise.

He has made a lot of enemies.

[mrsmith]

A two-fer: run off the Kurds and also get the land.
Plus he “won” a battle to show for the upcoming elections...
Double-plus: he has the two adjacent Sytian provinces full of the terrorists he supported against Assad.

Well, loss of territory is a frequent outcome of civil wars.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Compared to Erdogan, Assad is a saint.
 

[Jeff Chandler]

[Paladin2]

I’ve found that stuff to be nasty, but effective, for occassional use.

[HiTech RedNeck]

So use Neo-Synephrine until you get it back, Assad.

[rfp1234]

For Assad’s nose, you’ll need one 10x bigger than that.

[Adder]

All this over a stuffy nose....Oh the humanity.

[P8riot]

[monkeyshine]

“We want the people who live there to decide! Except them Kurds, of course. Or these here Syrians. But everyone else can vote!”

[MrBambaLaMamba]

Return Constantinople to the West.

[Pollster1]

"A free and democratic Syria can only be built without (Syrian President Bashar) Assad."

A free and democratic Syria can not be built within the next several generations. The best we can hope for is the least malignant government possible (in terms of the threat they pose to outsiders), and that is most likely Assad.