In the midst of very harsh conditions, Turkey has to stay standing as the strongest and most stable country in the region while also preserving its position. The horrendous attack in Ankara on Feb. 17 was an attempt to sabotage Turkey's presence as a strong and stable country in the region just like the attack in Suruç in July 2015, the attack on Ankara in October 2015 and the Sultanahmet bombing in Istanbul in January this year. It is obvious that the series of attacks are directly related to the war in Syria. As a matter of fact, the war is one of the main reasons for such attacks.
Presidential spokesman İbrahim Kalın wrote in his latest column for Daily Sabah that the footage recorded by the Peoples' Protection Units (YPG) in Amude on Feb. 10 is crucial to shedding light on the latest attack in Ankara and the YPG's strategy. In the video, people say: "As the people of Amude, from now on, we will defend the rights of our people, using every means available as the Asayish, the YPG, the YPJ [Women's Protection Units] and the HPJ [Women's Defense Forces]. Our people are the same; we don't recognize any borders or boundaries. Amude is Nusaybin, Cizre and Diyarbakır. We will abolish the rotten borders. We will defend the rights of our people in the north [in southeastern Turkey]. With our people in Western and Northern Kurdistan, we will make [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan drown in his own blood." This dreadful video not only demonstrates the YPG's obvious connection to the car bombing in Ankara, but also proves that the PKK and YPG attacks are interwoven in southeastern Turkey. This is an unquestionable video.
In the light of that, the U.S. and EU have to change discourse regarding the outlawed PKK's Syrian affiliate Democratic Union Party (PYD), the political wing of the YPG, or at least impose serious pressure on the PYD with regard to controlling the YPG. Under the guise of fighting DAESH, the PYD takes advantage of the civil war in Syria and plans to bring Turkey in to the chaos, which would lead to riots that would eventually separate Kurds from Turkey. How can reconciliation be expected between Turkey and the political representative of the threat that is easily articulated and included on the agenda of a terrorist organization?
On Thursday, a detailed analysis of the course of the war in Syria was published in The New York Times. Various fronts are listed in the analysis. One of the graphics reads: "Erdoğan versus the Kurds." This is a completely incorrect classification. Neither Erdoğan nor the government of the Republic of Turkey has taken a position that is categorically opposed to the Kurds from the very beginning of the war. If that were the case, then would PYD Co-Chair Salih Muslim and Ankara be in contact? Would Turkey provide a corridor for Northern Iraq's Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani's forces to prevent Kobani's fall? When the PKK restarted its terrorist attacks in the country despite the ongoing reconciliation process it was revealed that they were supported by the PYD and YPG in Syria. Turkey took up a position against the YPG and PYD as self-protection. This must be clearly explained to the world in order to avoid writing history inaccurately. The video I mentioned above essentially sums up everything to be explained on the subject.
So, can one argue that Ankara's position will be unchangeable from now on? If the U.S. and EU make the PYD exert influence on the YPG, persuade Russia and guarantee that the game they attempt to play with Turkey will be debarred from military and financial support, or the sources of the PKK are completely eradicated, then everything can be renegotiated at any time.
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