Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said earlier that a “secure zone” would pave the way for the return of 1.7 million Syria refugees now sheltering in Turkey after fleeing their country’s four-year civil war.
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As of police estimates released when the raids began on Monday, however, only 15 of those arrested are confirmed to have been detained for having ties to the Islamic State terrorist group. “The main objective is to prevent the formation of a Kurdish entity in northern Syria“.
The left-wing HDP gained traction after Demirtas campaigned on a progressive platform that took the party beyond its origins in Kurdish nationalism, appealing to a broader range of minorities and opponents of the Islamist-rooted AKP.
A government spokeswoman said that there is “known instability” and the risk of possible escalation in Turkey.
The pro-Kurdish HDP won 13 percent of the votes in Turkish elections on June 7. 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. “HDP passing the threshold and the AK Party losing itsparliamentary majority are being used as a pretext for war”.
Erdogan’s suspicion of Kurds is deeply ingrained in his nationalist agenda. Despite the pressure and strong criticism, this was not a pressing matter for President Erdgoan, especially if ISIS could reduce or eliminate Kurdish forces in Syria.
Similarly, the airstrikes conducted by Turkish force in Iraq seem to be nearly exclusively targeting Kurdish strongholds, not ISIS strategic targets. Around half of Syria’s 900 km border with Turkey is now controlled by Kurds.
“Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar should not count on being allied with ISIL; the terrorist group would only be calmed down by getting all Islamic countries into its own hands; Turkey should be aware of the evil presence of the ISIL and the historical animosity of the Zionist regime and the US as its supporters”, recommended Firouzabadi.
This puts Turkey in the curious position of fighting with the US and its worldwide allies against Daesh, but also fighting the PKK, which is recognised by the global forces as an important ally in the fight against Daesh and one of the few forces that has beaten Daesh on the ground in northern Syria.
“This is a network structure that can easily do without profoundly controlled territories”.
“What you don’t want to do is call something a safe zone, people flee to it, but it hasn’t got sufficient protection”, O’Brien told reporters after briefing the United Nations Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria.
They say the strikes against PKK camps in northern Iraq, meanwhile, are a response to increased militant violence in recent weeks, including a series of targeted killings of police officers and soldiers blamed on the Kurdish militant group. At least nine members of the security forces have been killed over the past week by suspected Kurdish militants.
However, the fear among other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member states is that Turkey is intent on using this deal not to fight against ISIS, but to suppress Kurdish nationalism. The ceasefire, though fragile, had been holding since March 2013.
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Obama administration officials said Turkey has the right to defend itself against the recent terrorist attacks by the PKK, which has waged a long insurgency in Turkey. But on Tuesday, he said it was impossible to continue peace efforts with the Kurds. “Concerning Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers Party, we do not represent Turkey’s politics and we are not responsible for the PKK’s politics”.
