Thread: Unprecedented case: NATO against NATO?

Turkey to US: Stop YPG support or face 'confrontation'

A Turkish official said anyone supporting the YPG militia will become "a target", a warning likely to rile the United States as its forces work alongside the Kurdish armed group on the ground in northern Syria.

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag's comments on Thursday came after Turkey threatened to attack the town of Manbij as part of its cross-border operation against the Afrin region, controlled by the Kurdish fighters.

The US has about 2,000 soldiers based in Manbij - about 100km east of Afrin - who work with the YPG in fighting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS).

If the US wants to "avoid a confrontation with Turkey - which neither they nor Turkey want - the way to this is clear: they must cut support given to terrorists", Bozdag told Turkish broadcaster A Haber.

"Those who support the terrorist organisation will become a target in this battle. The United States needs to review its soldiers and elements giving support to terrorists on the ground in such a way as to avoid a confrontation with Turkey," he said.

Turkey to US: Stop YPG support or face 'confrontation' | News | Al Jazeera

Originally Posted by Klondyke

terrorists"

#

Always terrorists when they are not your friend.

Remember what happened to the Kurds after the first Gulf war, US encouraged them to fight up north, and then when Saddam counterattacked with gas, the Kurds had no mates.
Same same rinse rinse repeat history.

Half of Turkey was pinched from Greece, Armenia, and the Kurds, and none of this is going away... the legacy of the Turk invasion over a 1,000 years ago on top of existing ancient people of a different ethnic group much much larger than the invading force, like in Hungary and Finland. All this nationalism belies national insecurity about the Turkish made up identity. It's interesting that most Turkish languages are mutually intelligible from Anatolia across Azerbaijan to Turkmen and Uzbek inhabited land.
The Kurdish question seems likely to have implications for the whole Near East, as their lands, like Armenias straddleds regional belligerents like Iran, Turkey, and the messes of Iraq and Syria. Breaking these all up into smaller countries would be a good thing.
Smaller countries are generally governed better, and have less resources and propensity for militarism; more to the point, you could achieve better ethnic homogeneity which could diffuse internecine conflicts.

Originally Posted by wasabi

Remember what happened to the Kurds after the first Gulf war, US encouraged them to fight up north, and then when Saddam counterattacked with gas, the Kurds had no mates.
Same same rinse rinse repeat history.

yep...

What about the Kurds? Well, how do I say that nicely? Let’s just say that what they did was not very smart. That’s putting it very, very mildly. The Russians gave them a golden deal: accept large autonomy in Syria, come to the National Dialog Congress to take place in Sochi, we will make your case before the (always reluctant) Syrians, Iranians and Turks and we will even give you money to help you develop your oil production. But no, the Kurds chose to believe in the hot air coming from Washington and when the Turks attacked that is all the Kurds got from Washington: hot air.

from:
Uncle Sam Dumps the Kurds (Yet Again), by The Saker - The Unz Review

Kurds be like Charlie Brown and the US is Lucy holding the football...

Shoulda tried that with Obambam, won't work with Trump.

Only a pompous twat would call the Middle East the, now obsolete, Near East.

Turkey urges US to withdraw from Syria's Manbij

Turkey has called on the United States to withdraw its military personnel from northern Syria's Manbij region after announcing Ankara's plan to push Syrian Kurdish fighters from the area, according to local media.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey's foreign minister, said on Saturday that it was "necessary for them [US] to immediately withdraw from Manbij" as well as take "more concrete steps rather than words" to end its support for the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) armed group.

"The US must cut ties with the terrorist organisation," he told reporters in Turkey's Mediterranean province, Antalya, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported.

The remarks came a day after, according to the Turkish presidency, US National Security Advisor HR McMaster assured Ankara in a phone call on Friday that Washington would no longer give weapons to YPG, Hurriyet reported.

Turkey considers YPG, the military wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is outlawed in Turkey. Ankara says pushing Syrian Kurdish fighters away from northern Syria is essential for Turkey's national security.

Turkey urges US to withdraw from Syria's Manbij | News | Al Jazeera