Turkey strikes Kurdish rebels

Turkish officials have said the aim in Syria is to push Islamic State away from the border and their operations will not target Syrian Kurdish groups.

Ankara is uncomfortable with the steady advance of Syrian Kurdish PYD forces, helped by US air strikes, against Islamic State.

They will, in addition, create a safe haven for so-called “moderate” anti-Assad forces armed and financed by the US and its allies, to prepare a drive to overthrow the regime in Damascus, which is allied with Russian Federation and Iran. Ankara is opposed to a Kurdish autonomous region in Syria, fearing that it could spread to include southeastern Turkey. His Justice and Development party (AKP) and its Islamist agenda won a fourth straight general election but just failed to get a majority in parliament, which stopped Erdogan having a chance at rewriting the constitution to give himself the executive presidency that he craves.

Erdoğan initiated negotiations in 2012 to try to end a PKK insurgency, largely fought in the predominantly-Kurdish southeast, that has killed 40,000 people since 1984. Another 4 million people have fled the country, which O’Brien said was the largest refugee population from a single conflict in more than 25 years.

For a while, it seemed that Erdogan was willing to support the line of Kurdish territory on its border as a welcome buffer against the violence of the Syrian civil war and the Islamists in particular.

The timing of Turkey’s attacks on Kurdish militants – immediately after opening its air bases to the U.S. – has fueled suspicions of a deal with Washington, but the White House has denied any role.

Separatist fighters with the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) then claimed responsibility for killing two Turkish police officers in retaliation.

On a violent day, Turkish fighter jets pounded rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, after soldiers were fired on with heavy weaponry in Sirnak province, according to a military statement. Legislators, however, rejected an opposition motion for a legislative inquiry into the attacks.

In apparent response, there has been a new wave of attacks on security forces in southeastern Turkey blamed on the PKK with at least 11 police and army members killed since last week.

It came as parliament held an emergency session to discuss the controversial operation that is inflaming tensions in Turkey.

But Turkey isn’t drawing any such distinction. “You can’t say that PKK is better because it is fighting Daesh”.

“Was it the United States that supported Turkey or was it Turkey that supported the efforts of the United States in the struggle against the Islamic state?”

This is despite stated misgivings from Germany, home to almost four million Turks, including around one million Kurds.

Likewise, senior US officials said Turkey agreed two weeks ago to let the US launch air strikes from İncirlik and elsewhere in Turkey.

This is political cynicism of the highest order, given that Ankara is already waging war against the Kurds. Germany is also training Peshmerga fighters.

Turkey carried out a series of strikes against Islamic State forces in Syria last week. More recently, and under pressure from the US following the emergence of ISIS as a threat to US interests in Iraq, it moved reluctantly to a low-profile, anti-ISIS approach.

“The state of affairs at Turkish resorts is quiet, but Turkey has found itself in vulnerable position, because its neutrality is over with, and ISIS militants are very concerned about Turkey’s decision to cooperate with the US”.