For the fourth straight day, Turkish forces continued to shell targets across northern Syria. Some of the targets have belonged to the Syrian military, but by and large the focus has been on the Kurdish YPG, which Turkey insists is a “terrorist” organization.
Turkey has been railing about YPG gains across northern Syria for months now, but it is only just now beginning to intervene against those gains, as the YPG begins an offensive against ISIS. Turkish officials have accused Russia of plotting to support the Kurds against ISIS, and threatened to invade to stop the Kurds from gaining that territory.
Russia is helping the YPG to an extent, but the group is more heavily backed by the US, and Turkey has repeatedly demanded the US “choose” between them and the Kurds. Though that’s limited the US in backing the Kurds against ISIS territory in Aleppo, it’s not leading to a complete split.
Which means that in continuing their offensive, Turkey is picking a fight both with Russia, something they seem to want, and the US, something they probably don’t want. Russia is threatening to bring them before the UN Security Council, and while Turkey is scoffing at the notion, they might not have a veto in their pocket.
A NATO member nation could usually count on one of the 3 permanent UN Security Council members in NATO vetoing a Russia-proposed resolution against them, but both the US and France have been very public in opposing Turkish attacks on the Kurds, and Britain doesn’t seem to be rushing to support them either.
While the Erdogan government has long based its Syria strategy on what would be worst for the Syrian Kurds, this has ultimately led them to a point where they’re defending ISIS from Kurdish offensives, and picking fights with several major powers in the process.
The Kurds aren’t perfect either. The Kurdish YPG commits ethnic cleansing against Sunni Arabs. The YPG displaced Sunni Arabs and burned down entire villages. The YPG has threatened to order coalition airstrikes against Arab houses if the Arabs don’t leave. Over 10,000 Arabs have fled their homes in response of YPG advances.
http://news.antiwar.com/2015/06/01/reports-kurdish-troops-burn-arab-villages-in-northern-syria/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Protection_Units#War_crimes_allegat
So yes the YPG is displacing Arabs and is creating refugees.
Turkey has promised to the EU to take in more refugees and block more refugees from entering Europe. However, recently Turkey stated that they cannot afford to take in more refugees due to shortage of housing and has recently started to keep refugees in the Syrian border from entering Turkey.
Here’s a quote:
The Kurds commit ethnic cleansing, displaces Sunni Arabs and creates Arab refugees. Turkey promised to the EU to not let more refugees into Europe, and keep the refugees in Turkey despite its claim that Turkey does not have enough room for more refugees. The YPG’s forced displacement of Arabs might increase unnecessarily refugees.
The U.S. should stop funding, arming and training the Kurds. Erdogan was right in saying that the U.S. should not fund and arm the Kurds. If the U.S. keeps supporting the Kurds then Kurdistan will become an apartheid state like Israel. Israel commits discrimination against Arabs; Kurdistan too may commit discrimination against Arabs.
Russia should not defend the Kurds. Russia should adopt a noninterventionist foreign policy when it comes to this Turkey-Kurdishtan conflict. Any intervention will risk WW3. (An indespensible complementary step is for the U.S. to stop funding, arming and training the Kurds.)
Also let the Islamic State collapse by itself. All Russia/Syria/America is doing is destroying entire cities making them uninhabitable, along with causing mass civilian casualties and creating refugees. Turkish officials have warned that they couldn’t take in any more refugees.
Let the Islamic State collapse by itself. The Islamic State is not like Nazi Germany. Many of the allegations of genocide against Christians, Shiites and Yazidis are untrue or exaggerated. There is no clear evidence that there was a “Sinjar massacre” by the Islamic State.
The Iraqi government is corrupt and brutal. ISIS is a resistance group against the Iraqi government and Iran-backed Shiite militias. The Iraqi government shoots peaceful protesters, shells and bombs residential areas. The Iraqi government detains Sunni Arabs. Its prisons have 30,000 to 50,000 detainees and 20% of those are killed by torture. The Iraqi government has lost its legitimacy to hundreds of thousands of Sunni Arabs; hundreds of thousands had protested against the Iraqi government each week.
A lot of Sunni Arabs tolerate the Islamic State more than the Iraqi government in Baghdad. They are willing to passively accept the Islamic State and even ally with them to fight the Iraqi government. The Iraqi government is so brutal that the secular former Ba’ath party militias and Sunni Arab tribesman would ally with the Islamic State rather than the Iraqi government.
The solution is to stop funding the official Iraqi government. In this way it could compromise and grant more rights to Sunni Arabs. Sunni Arabs in Iraq have already cautioned that there will inevitably be resistance groups (like ISIS) unless the official Iraqi government is fixed. (An essential complimentary step is to stop funding and arming the Syrian rebels.)
Don’t get faked again. The PKK does not attack ISIS. There is no ISIS near Azad. The PYD changed side and is supporting the Assad regime gang in fighting against the Syrian opposition. aj