Clash of Turkish and American Interests in Syria

• 01.17.2018, 14:48
•  America,  Region,  Near East,  World

palinfo.com

The armed forces of Turkey have bombarded the positions of the self-defense forces of the Syrian Kurds (YPG) in the Afrin region (north-west Syria), inflicting at least 40 blows on them, RIA.ru reports. Artillery fire was carried out after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week that the Turkish army could launch an operation in the regions of Manbij and Afrin controlled by the YPG. According to Erdogan, the United States have already sent to Syria 4.9 thousand trucks and about 2 thousand aircraft with weapons for YPG. Earlier Ankara had repeatedly condemned Washington for military support of YPG, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization associated with the Kurdistan Workers Party banned in the country.

In addition, the official Ankara condemned the US plans to establish a "Border security forces" in Syria. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that continuing the cooperation of the United States with YPG put their national security and territorial integrity of Syria at risk, and this is unacceptable.

According to some experts, the US is not going to leave Syria, finding a lot of reasons for this. In their opinion, the creation of "Border security forces" is just a reason to stay in Syria, but in fact all these actions have a purpose to split the country. 

In fact, Turkey is most concerned about the possibility of unity of the Syrian, Iraqian and Turkish Kurds, and the overall strengthening of the Kurds. For them, the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad faded into the background as compared with the Kurdish problem. For them, the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad has become a secondary issue as compared with the Kurdish problem. They are worried that the Syrian Kurds have become situational allies of the United States.

The US, in turn, claims that an international coalition led by the United States creates in Syria a "Border security force" to protect the zone under its control. The goal is to prepare about 30 thousand people, while 15 thousand will be from the "Syrian Democratic Forces" ("Syrian Democratic Forces" mainly consists of Syrian Kurds, as well as some Arab tribes. They were formed with the active support of the United States in 2015, as stated, to fight the "Islamic state")

The "Border Security Force" is deployed along the Euphrates River valley - on the western outskirts of Syrian territory, as well as along the Iraqi and Turkish borders. Their task is "to prevent the free movement of "Islamic state" and the transportation of illegal materials."

The Syrian Foreign Ministry called the US actions an open aggression. Damascus equates the presence of the US and Turkish military in the republic to armed invasion. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Washington's plans indicate that it is not interested in the integrity of Syria.

Whatever it is, Turkey will categorically object to the stabilization of the situation on the border by Kurdish forces. And this can lead to serious clash of Turkish and American interests.