While the US State Department denied reports that they had reached a deal with Turkey on jointly expelling the Kurdish YPG from the Syrian city of Manbij, they did appear to confirm that such talks are still ongoing, and heading in that direction.
Turkey has long demanded that the Kurds be expelled from Manbij, and since the US agreed to talks on Manbij has suggested that’s what would ultimately happen. The State Department confirmed talks ith Turkish officials last week on the idea.
Kurdish officials have yet to respond to the report, but Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu suggested that if the deal works, they and the US could expand the scheme to all of northern Syria, which is to say all of the Kurdish territory.
The US has long aligned itself with the Kurdish YPG in Syria, angering Turkey. While the US has long tried to keep both sides placated, it would be a dramatic shift to suddenly turn on the Kurds and expelling them.
Local officials in Manbij aren’t worried though, saying they believe talks of suddenly being replaced by a US-Turkish joint military rule are “premature.” No US or Turkish officials have offered details on how the city would be managed, though in the past Turkey has just given occupied Kurdish lands to Arab rebel factions.
US-Turkish joint military rule= US-ISIS joint military rule.
Oh Donny! Hillary would be so proud!
Most media are willfully blind on Kurdish issues. There are no areas that Turkey expelled Kurds from, or replaced them by another population. Afrin is occupjed by Turkey — but not ethnically altered. When Turkey secured Jarabulus-Al- Bab corridor, Kurds did raise a lots of noise, but it was politics. With US help, Kutds planned to take it, even though less then 3% of population there. They wanted to spread along Turkish border, mirror PKK on the Turkish side of border, connect to Afrin, and by controlling Al-Bab they would have secured shortest route to SDF-American occupjed territory. But Turkey and Russia prevented that. It is Kurds that attempfed ethnic cleansing along the entire Turkish border, with US closing eyes. ISIS was merely Kurdish place holder. Manbij was a classic example of ethnic cleansing. Non-Kurdish polulation was first decimated by ISIS, and then Kurds — after ISIS was allowed to leave to Raqqa. Raqqa was bombed or many weeks following ISIS withdrawal — their elite forces and equipment. Why? To inflict maximum damage to the city, and maximum refugees. City is still not demined, and lacks water, spotty electricity and major sewer problem. Compare Raqqa to Aleppo, where over 300,000 people returned, and demining took only four weeks. Territory US ontrols in the name of SDF, that is Kurds — has only 1-5% Kurd population outside Kobane. They are trying to lord over hundreds of thousands Arabs and Turkmen. It is not working — as Turkey will ensure Kurds do not get areas that are not theirs, and set up any form of autonomy. US is really occupying this part of Syria, not mythical SDF. And US cannot get Arabs to go along with anything, for as long as US keeps the mythical SDF in charge. Arabs want to be ruled by Damascus.