Erdogan Threatens the US and Russia because of the Syrian Kurds

• 10.26.2015, 14:54
•  Near East,  World

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan along with war against Kurds in his own country opposes to the strengthening of the Kurdish forces in Syria. The announcement of a new Kurdish administration in the Syrian city of Tal Abyad near the Turkish border became a reason for a heated response from Erdogan.

Particularly, Turkey’s National Security Council criticized the declaration of a Kurdish enclave in Syria, calling the international community to announce the Kurdish forces fighting in Syria as a terrorist organization, Kurdistan.ru Website reports.  

Turkish Security Council’s meeting was held by the presidency of Erdogan. The Prime-Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and other high ranking officials also attended the meeting. The Turkish authorities want the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) to be declared as a terrorist organization. They say PYD is the Syrian wing of the Kurdistan Working Party (PKK), which is considered to be a terrorist organization in the US and EU.

In reality the Turkish leadership is talking about the fact that Syria's Kurds have expanded their semi-autonomous region in northern Syria, announcing a new administration in the town they seized from the Islamic State group this summer. The announcement falls short of declaring Tal Abyad a separate region, but prepares it for such a step if the current experiment is successful, Kurdish official Omar Alloush told AFP.

It should be noted that Syria's Kurds declared a semi-autonomous administration in 2013 made up of three largely Kurdish regions, or cantons, in Afrin, Jazeera and Kobani. They refer to their overall autonomous region as Rojava. Tal Abyad does not yet qualify as a separate fourth region because it lacks the resources and an independent police force.

On this background Turkish President criticized both Russia and the United States over their respective policies in Syria, Hurriyet reports. It is not a secret that Erdogan has demanded the ouster of the Syrian President since the conflict began. Thus, it was not a surprise when Turkey critisized Assad’s visit to Moscow.

But it is the first time Turkey criticizes the US policy. Ankara is against the supporting of the Syrian Kurds by the US.  "I was so clear on this: I said "the PYD is a terrorist organization." But they say, "No, this is a political organization." Quite the contrary, they are the associates of the PKK in northern Syria. There are 1,400 PKK members within the PYD," Erdogan said.

The Turkish President warned that he is not going to allow these countries to change the situation in northern Syria, as this would pose a threat to Turkey. "It’s impossible for us to say ‘yes’ to this threat. We will either take concrete actions or this problem will turn into the problem of the world and of Europe."