Turkish officials were unusually quiet yesterday, when the United States announced its plans to significantly increase their direct armament of the Kurdish YPG, but made up for it today with a series of furious condemnations spanning virtually every top official in the Erdogan government.
President Erdogan was quick to lash the US for its plan, complaining that as a NATO member, the US should be supporting them, and not the “terrorist organization,” which they consider the YPG and indeed virtually every Kurdish organization around.
Prime Minister Binali Yildirim warned that the US would face negative consequences for arming the Kurds, and other officils accused the US of being too willing to work with terrorists. Defense Secretary James Mattis downplayed this, saying the US would quickly resolve Turkish concerns.
That’s hugely unlikely, given Turkey’s long-standing hostility to Kurds in general, and Kurdish factions with an eye on autonomy in particular. This is likely to be the major topic of discussion during President Erdogan’s visit to the US later this month.
It’s not clear what, if anything, Turkey can do about such moves, though officials have in the past suggested expelling the US from Turkish airbases used in the war against ISIS to punish them for moves they consider as running contrary to Turkish interests.
I would love to see Turkey block access to Incirlik airbase again only with Trump as president. Its about time someone put a muzzle on this rabid ErDOGan
What about muzzling the US empire?
It doesn’t matter whether you think the current leadership in Turkey is good or bad. Kurdish military power represents a threat to the integrity of the Turkish state and would be resisted no matter who is in power.
The Turkish state is a genocidal terror factory. I say anything that represents a threat to their “integrity” is a good thing. The same goes for Saudi Arabia and Israel. All states should be smashed but lets start with the really sh*tty ones. Hell, lets start right here with this feral empire. Lets create a thousand little Rojavas. Burn this mother down!
Excellent post.
Thanks Dale Ooops! I mean Rusty.
Well the Turks helped Al Nusra (Al Qaida) and bought IS oil…..payback is sweet. I was in Aintab 3 years ago, Al Quida was there at that time. Saw them with my own eyes.
So the YPG gets more guns, US troops get tossed out of Turkey and Trump is too focused on a petty pissing match with Erdogan to sabotage Putin’s safe zones. Sounds good to me. I’d prefer the US just stayed the f**k out of this sh*t but this kind of self-sabotage beats the hell out of what Hillary had planned. All Assad has to do is grant the Kurds the same kind of autonomous status that Russia gives to the far less reliable Chechnyans and this thing is as good as done. The American Empire has clearly lost their edge and quite possibly their goddamn minds.
There are US nuclear weapons in Turkey. If this escalates, then it could be extremely volatile at best.