BOUblog

Archief

Turkije, de NATO, ISIS en de Koerden

27 juli, 2015 |

Bovenstaande landkaart uit 2006 is afkomstig uit een tijdschrift voor de gewapende strijdkrachten van de VS. Op de tekentafel heeft men het Midden Oosten herverdeeld. In 2006 leek dit onzin, maar tegenwoordig hebben we ISIS en de oude grenzen vervagen. Zoals blijkt uit de kaart, zou het NATO-land Turkije een flink stuk territorium moeten inleveren, terwijl de door Turkije zo gehate Koerden een eigen “onafhankelijke” staat krijgen. De strategie van de VS wordt dan duidelijk: verdeel en heers!

Een belangrijke overweging is dat ISIS niet zomaar uit de lucht kwam vallen. Deze “moslim-terroristen” worden gesteund door de VS, het land dat het hardst roept dat ze ISIS bestrijden! Ook Turkije neemt nu eindelijk deel aan de strijd tegen ISIS, terwijl dat land tot voor kort juist een doorvoerland was voor troepen en bevoorrading van ISIS. De enigen die serieus lijken te strijden tegen ISIS zijn de Koerden! Maar terwijl Turkije nu bommen gooit op plaatsen waar ISIS de baas is, bombardeert Turkije ook de versterkingen van de Koerden, de PKK die opereert vanuit Irakees Koerdistan. Krankzinnig? Of maakt dit alles deel uit van een plan waarvan bovenstaande kaart reeds getuigde?

Dat de VS zijn grote vijand Al Qaida ooit zelf in het leven heeft geroepen en financierde, is tegenwoordig wel een feit van algemene bekendheid. ISIS komt echter uit dezelfde koker! En onder het mom van vrijheid en democratie heeft de VS de zogenaamde burgeroorlog in Syrië veroorzaakt. De “gematigde moslimstrijders” die openlijk door de VS worden gesteund met wapens en geld, zijn vaak dik bevriend met ISIS!

Genesis: The real story behind the rise of ISIS

Islamic State was not accident; it was engineered, assisted, trained and deployed under the authority of the United States to invade, occupy and exploit the Middle East, while claiming liberation and democracy-building.

The US Hand in the Syrian Mess

Neocons and the mainstream U.S. media place all the blame for the Syrian civil war on President Bashar al-Assad and Iran, but there is another side of the story in which Syria’s olive branches to the U.S. and Israel were spurned and a reckless drive for “regime change” followed, writes Jonathan Marshall.

By Jonathan Marshall

July 22, 2015 “Information Clearing House” – “Consortium News” – Syria’s current leader, Bashar al-Assad replaced his autocratic father as president and head of the ruling Ba’ath Party in 2000. Only 35 years old and British educated, he aroused widespread hopes at home and abroad of introducing reforms and liberalizing the regime. In his first year he freed hundreds of political prisoners and shut down a notorious prison, though his security forces resumed cracking down on dissenters a year later.

But almost from the start, Assad was marked by the George W. Bush administration for “regime change.” Then, in the early years of Barack Obama’s presidency, there were some attempts at diplomatic engagement, but shortly after a civil conflict broke out in 2011, the legacy of official U.S. hostility toward Syria set in motion Washington’s disastrous confrontation with Assad which continues to this day.

Thus, the history of the Bush administration’s approach toward Syria is important to understand. Shortly after 9/11, former NATO Commander Wesley Clark learned from a Pentagon source that Syria was on the same hit list as Iraq. As Clark recalled, the Bush administration “wanted us to destabilize the Middle East, turn it upside down, make it under our control.”

Sure enough, in a May 2002 speech titled “Beyond the Axis of Evil,” Under Secretary of State John Bolton named Syria as one of a handful of “rogue states” along with Iraq that “can expect to become our targets.” Assad’s conciliatory and cooperative gestures were brushed aside.

In choosing to cite human rights selectively as their rationale for regime change, Western governments — including the Obama administration — followed longstanding double standards. Many of the U.S-backed states involved in the anti-Assad campaign, including Saudi Arabia and Israel, have also committed gross human rights violations and war crimes, whether at home or in neighboring territories and states such as Gaza, Yemen and Lebanon.

In Syria as in Libya and Iraq, human rights became a convenient bludgeon for supporting the longstanding ambition of U.S. neoconservatives to topple critical Arab regimes as part of their grand plan for remaking the map of the Middle East. The worthy cause of saving lives perversely enabled a much greater sacrifice of Syrian lives.

Wie herinnert zich nog de strijd om Kobani? Deze grensstad in Syrisch Koerdistan werd in de herfst van vorig jaar ingenomen door ISIS, terwijl Turkije de grens dicht hield voor Koerden die hun volksgenoten wilden helpen. Ten slotte kregen de Koerden steun van de VS, Kobani werd plat gebombardeerd en de vluchtelingen konden “naar huis terugkeren”, ware het niet dat hun huis niet meer bestond! In hun strijd tegen ISIS krijgen de Koerden sindsdien steun van de VS, maar Turkije is daar niet blij mee! Turkije is echter een NATO-land, dus het moet niet teveel dwarsliggen. De strategie lijkt nu te zijn: je kunt het ene doen en het andere niet laten!

Turkey Launches War On Islamic State’s Worst Enemies – The Kurds

By Moon Of Alabama

July 25, 2015 “Information Clearing House” – Since 2013 a ceasefire between the state of Turkey and Kurdish PKK rebels in south-east Turkey held up well. The government pledged some support for Kurdish cultural autonomy and in return the ruling AK Party gained votes from parts of the Kurdish constituency. The AKP government also has good relations with the Kurds in north Iraq. It buys oil from the Kurdish regional government and supports the kleptocracy of the ruling Barzani clan in that autonomous Iraqi region.

The PKK is a militant Kurdish organization in Turkey. The equivalent in Syria is known as YPG. In Iran the group is called PJAK and in Iraq HPG. The HDP party in Turkey is the political arm of the PKK. The PYD is the political arm of the Syrian YPG. All these are essentially the same egalitarian, secular marxist/anarchist organization striving for Kurdish autonomy or independence.

Turkey has now reopened its war on the PKK Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and in Syria. Turkish police rounded up hundreds of Kurdish activists in Turkey and tonight dozens of Turkish fighter planes attacked PKK positions in Syria and Iraq. This war is likely to escalate and will be long and bloody. It will be mostly fought on Turkish ground. How did it come to this?

Turkey joins US war in Syria
By our Turkish correspondent
25 July 2015

Over the past two days, Turkey’s government has executed a sharp shift in its foreign policy, aligning itself more closely with Washington’s military strategy in the region and effectively becoming an active part of the US-led “coalition” waging war in Iraq and Syria.

For a long time, Ankara had refrained from supporting the US-led war, ostensibly aimed against the Islamic State in Syria (ISIS), insisting on a policy aimed at toppling the government of President Bashar al-Assad and covertly supporting ISIS, both against the Syrian regime and against Kurdish nationalists.

On Wednesday, however, US President Barack Obama and Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan agreed in a phone call to work together to secure the Turkish-Syrian border and fight against ISIS.

Turkey steps up its offensive against ISIL and PKK

Kurdish Forces in Syria Fired Upon by Turkish Tanks
News | 27.07.2015 | 10:48

Turkey tense amid air strikes on ISIL and PKK

Kurdish group says “truce not meaningful” after Turkish air strikes

Daarmee is de strijd van de Turken tegen de Koerden weer opgelaaid. Maar de Turken zitten nu wel in een spagaat! Enerzijds is er de NATO die ISIS bestrijdt, anderzijds zijn er de Koerden die ISIS bestrijden. De eersten doen dat uit geopolitieke overwegingen, de laatsten uit lijfsbehoud! Want ISIS houdt niet van Koerden. Als zij een Koerdische stad of dorp veroveren, dan worden de mannen vermoord en de vrouwen verkocht als slavinnen. De Koerden bestrijden ISIS daarom op leven en dood! Om uit deze spagaat te geraken, willen de Turken nu praten met de NATO: Turkey summons NATO session amid airstrike campaign against ISIS & Kurdish PKK

Op de achtergrond speelt intussen ook de binnenlandse politiek van Turkije, waar onlangs verkiezingen plaats vonden waarbij een pro-Koerdische partij 13% van de stemmen haalde en nu 80 zetels krijgt in het Turkse parlement. Voor de Koerden, die al vele jaren vechten voor het recht op een Koerdische identiteit en een zekere autonomie voor het Koerdische deel van Turkije, brengt een dergelijke uitslag hoop! Maar voor de rechter flank van de Turkse samenleving, zijn de bombardementen op Koerden dan weer een gebruikelijke reactie.

The Kurdish Question and the Economic Outlook

With regard to the Kurdish question, the emergence of the HDP might provide a stimulus for renewed dialogue. In its electoral manifesto, among other measures, the party had pledged to back up self-rule with the introduction of regional assemblies. Since the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres – calling for autonomy for the Kurdish people; a call that remained unheeded –the Kurdish question remains unresolved.

After decades of failed attempts at greater self-government, the official opening of negotiations with regard to Turkey’s accession to the European Union represented a shift in perspective and, with it, the potential for greater recognition of Kurdish cultural identity.

The latest elections might possibly induce greater momentum towards a definitive settlement as this involves the continued pursuit of peace talks with the outlawed armed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Die vredesbesprekingen worden nu met succes gebombardeerd! Het is echter de vraag hoe dat in de toekomst gaat uitpakken… Het is niet onmogelijk dat Turkije in zijn systematische onderdrukking van de Koerden nu eindelijk zijn hand heeft overspeeld!

Has Turkey bitten off more than it can chew? duurt 25 minuten.

Gepubliceerd op 26 jul. 2015

Turkey is now fighting two very different battles at the same time. Turkish fighter jets have been hitting PKK positions in Iraq for days. The Kurdish PKK has been fighting for greater autonomy within Turkey for 30 years, and more than 40,000 Turkish and Kurdish soldiers and civilians have died during the struggle. Between 30 and 40 million Kurds live in adjoining regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Meanwhile, at the same time, Turkey is now also bombing ISIL bases in Syria. The battles become complicated when you take into account the group at the forefront of the international fight against ISIL is another Kurdish group; the YPG.
Presenter: Sami Zeidan.
Guests: In Ankara: Bilal Sambur, a Kurdish Political Analyst and Head of the SESA Institute of Social, Economic, and Political Research in Ankara. In London: Galip Dalay, the Research Director of Al Sharq Forum, a think-tank based in Istanbul. In Washington DC: Richard Weitz,a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who also directs the institute’s Center for Political-Military Analysis.

Share and Enjoy:

Gepost in Aardolie, Irak, Koerdistan, Syrië, Terrorisme

25 Reacties op “Turkije, de NATO, ISIS en de Koerden”

Boudine:

27 juli, 2015 op 15:40

Hoe ernstig de onderdrukking van de Koerden in Turkije is, moge blijken uit het volgende filmpje. Een jonge vrouw zingt Koerdische volksliederen en dat is verboden. De straf: 10 1/2 jaar gevangenis!

Meet The Kurdish Woman Imprisoned For Singing In Turkey

Gepubliceerd op 30 apr. 2015

Nûdem Durak sings and teaches Kurdish folk songs to kids in Turkey. She says her work honors her heritage, but the government recently imprisoned her for promoting Kurdish propaganda. Caught in a decades-long conflict between Turkey and the Kurds, Nûdem’s future is now uncertain.

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

28 juli, 2015 op 05:56

Turkey’s War On Kurds Realigns Syrian Kurds With Their Government

By Moon Of Alabama

July 27, 2015 “Information Clearing House” –

Last weeks suicide attack on a meeting of young, mostly Kurdish socialists attributed to the Islamic State was probably a false flag operation initiated by Erdogan’s secret service. I discussed the possibility of such an attack a month ago: The Turkish Military Rejects Erdogan’s War Plans – “False Flag” Needed?. The attack on the Kurds was then used to justify an operation against the Islamic State. But that operation is only pretended. That Erdogan’s claim of attacking the Islamic State is only theater and that his real aim is a war on the Kurds who fight the Islamic State can be seen best in these tweets:

The Kurds in Syria and their leader Salih Muslim are under attack from the Islamic State and now also from Turkey. They have now offered to reconcile with their only reliable partner, the Syrian government. Salih Muslim said that the Kurds would join the Syrian army if that army would show a “new mentality”. He spoke favorably of the father of Bashar al Assad and his relations with the Kurds and discussed various forms of federalism.

THIS IS HUGE!

Should the Syrian government take up this offer for talks (likely!) and guarantee some kind of Kurdish autonomy within some federal Syrian structure the Syrian army would regain the manpower to again go on the offense. Supported by Iran and Russia and united with the Kurds the Syrian army would again be dominant power in the country and likely be able to retake the insurgency and islamist occupied areas.

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

28 juli, 2015 op 11:03

Syrian Kurds: Turkish Forces Shelling Our Fighters Near Kobani
News | 28.07.2015 | 11:11

antiwar.com – Syrian Kurdish militia faction the YPG is reporting that as Turkey has started launching attacks on ISIS, they have also started attacking Kurdish targets inside Syria, including hitting a number of YPG forces with shelling against villages on the outskirts of Kobani.

The YPG slammed the “Turkish aggression” and demanding they stop attacking Kurdish defensive forces, and instead focus their fire on ISIS forces that are occupying Kurdish territory in the area. They advised Turkey to follow “international guidelines” on this targeting.

Turkish officials insisted they did not attack YPG positions in northern Syria, but later did say they intend to carry out an investigation into the claims. They went on to say that they don’t consider the YPG within the scope of their current wars against ISIS and the Kurdish PKK in Iraq.

Turkey has long treated the YPG’s political wing, the PYD, as the Syrian branch of the PKK, however, and they have been pushing for action against Kurdish forces in northern Syria for weeks now. This makes the denials somewhat harder to believe, as Turkey seems to be attacking anyone and everyone it doesn’t like in the area right now.

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

28 juli, 2015 op 11:05

With US backing, Turkey prepares to seize buffer zones inside Syria
By Peter Schwarz
28 July 2015

After agreeing last week to join the US-led war against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Turkey is preparing to seize buffer zones within Syria, backed by US warplanes and Syrian opposition militias. This escalation follows weeks of talks with a high-ranking US delegation, and a phone call between Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and US President Barack Obama.

“What we are talking about with Turkey is cooperating to support partners on the ground in northern Syria who are countering ISIL,” an unnamed senior US official told the Wall Street Journal, referring to one of the ISIS’s alternate acronyms. “The goal is to establish an ISIL-free zone and ensure greater security and stability along Turkey’s border with Syria.”

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

29 juli, 2015 op 09:09

Het NOS journaal had het gisteren even over Turkije en de Koerden! In het slotcommentaar van de NATO vergadering werden de Koerden zelfs niet genoemd. Toch bombardeert Turkije de Koerden, onder het mom van de strijd tegen ISIS.

In het NOS journaal wordt de zaak echter weer eens omgedraaid. De Turken begonnen met het bombarderen van de PKK, waarna er in Turkije weer aanslagen volgden. Het item duurt ongeveer 9 minuten.

Approving Air Strikes Against the PKK America’s Worst Error in the Middle East Since the Iraq War?

Turkish air attacks on the PKK have provoked bloody Kurdish retaliation. With claims that America approved the strikes that restarted the conflict, Patrick Cockburn argues that the US may have made its worst mistake since invading Iraq

By Patrick Cockburn

July 28, 2015 “Information Clearing House” – “The Independent” – Kurdish guerrillas have killed two Turkish soldiers in an ambush in south-east Turkey as fighting resumes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants, ending a two-year-old ceasefire. The attack came after Turkish aircraft heavily bombed bases of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq.
In a sign that the PKK has resumed military operations against the government, a Turkish army vehicle on a road near Diyarbakir, the largest Kurdish city, was hit by bomb blasts followed by rifle fire, according to the army. A further four soldiers were wounded in the attack.

The attack came in response to a heavy air raid by Turkish aircraft on PKK bases in the Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq on Saturday – ostensibly part of a new Turkish offensive against terrorist groups, said also to be aimed at Isis.

But it came as the US was accused by Kurds of tolerating a renewed Turkish government assault on its Kurdish minority as the price for permission for US aircraft to use Turkey’s Incirlik air base against Isis jihadists for the first time.

The U.S. and Turkey Have A *Something* Plan

By Moon Of Alabama

July 28, 2015 “Information Clearing House” – “Moon Of Alabama” – According to several news reports the U.S. and Turkey have agreed to do something in north Syria. But there seems to be no agreement on anything else. There is disunity about the aim of something as well as on the target of any something operation. The means of achieving something are in dispute. Even the geographic space in which something is supposed to happen is undefined. The only agreed upon issue besides doing something is to throw the Kurds, the most successful force against the Islamic State so far, under the bus.

The Deadly Turkish Deception

Today, all 28 NATO nations agreed to back Turkey in what is claimed to be their war on ISIS, four years late and likely to inflame the long predicted apocalypse. Erdogan, citing terror attacks has entered on a path of terrorism and mayhem now “NATO certified” as a just conflict.

This week, by all accounts, Turkey attacked itself, wiping out 32 Kurds, opponents of Erdogan’s continued dictatorial rule despite his election loss. The bombing in Suruc didn’t announce Erdogan’s personal war on the Kurdish people; that had been going on some time.

Murdering political opponents is nothing new. In 2013, Turkish intelligence (MIT) murdered three Kurdish activists in Paris, all women, an execution according to the French newspaper Le Monde.

Controlling Oil

Both Iraq and Syria, along with Turkey, fear a Kurdish state. 40% of Turkey is Kurdish, a fifth of Syria and a third of Iraq. There may well be as many as 50 million Kurds, sitting on much of the world’s oil reserves, a continuous region from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea to the edge of the Caspian.

Let’s take a look at Iraq’s Kurdistan. Before Saddam’s ethnic cleansing, Kirkuk, along with Basra one of Iraq’s oil capitols, was also a Kurdish city. Pipelines from Kirkuk reach the Mediterranean through Turkey, there joining a network of regional spurs from Baku and elsewhere in the Caucuses.

There can be no Kurdish nation without a pipeline across Syria. This makes the Kurds a threat and has also make them friendless with the exception of the United States. Iraq’s Kurdish capitol, Erbil, is a haven for American business and was so even during the darkest days of the US war.

ISIS is Turkey’s Hammer Against the Kurds

There will be no Turkish war against ISIS and al Nusra. Turkey has been openly backing ISIS and al Nusra for years with no negative consequences, no press coverage to speak of, no domestic political outcry, not a word from the European Union or United States. They have done so while playing host to Saudi, Qatar and Israeli special operations teams, while transiting biological and chemical weapons from the secret labs of Tbilisi, passing along thousands of American TOW and Stinger missiles to terrorists and have done so with very public glee.

Turkey has openly transited over 60,000 jihadists across its carefully guarded borders. Each must have had his or her mandatory health certificates and visas, nothing moves in Turkey without the Army watching.

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

30 juli, 2015 op 13:48

Niet alleen bombardeert Turkije de Koerden in Irak en Syrië, op dit moment woeden er bosbranden rond de stad Lice, die wordt beschouwd als de bakermat van de PKK. (Baybasin is geboren in een dorpje vlak bij Lice, maar Baybasin is géén PKK!)

Wildfires hit forests in southern Turkey

Fires in the Lice and Kulp districts of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır burned forests on July 19 and 20, though officials said they were under control on July 20 morning.

The fires erupted in the Duru area of Lice and near the Barın and Goderne villages of Kulp on July 19.

Ankara’s response to forest fires ignites Kurdish anger

It took three days to put out the Mount Cudi fire. A statement from the governor’s office said teams from the Forestry Department had intervened, but that the cause of the fire remained unknown.

Aydemir, who had been among the first to reach the fire zone, said numerous animals had been killed and thousands of hectares of trees wiped out. Bitter at the lack of official support, he said, “Cudi burned for three days, but there was no state intervention from the air or on the ground. This is what the people here are asking: ‘If this had happened elsewhere in the country, would the government — the state — have just watched?’”

Aydemir believes the Cudi fire had been an arson attack to deny PKK fighters hiding places. Before that fire was extinguished, news came of another forest fire from the nearby town of Beytussebab. In that case, villagers reacted quickly and managed to snuff it out. The Diyarbakir townships of Lice and Kulp were not so fortunate.

In Kulp, 20 hectares of trees were destroyed in a fire that broke out in an area where the PKK operates. Then came news of a series of fires in different parts of Lice.

Metin Bekiroglu, a local journalist, called attention to the possibility of arson, commenting to Al-Monitor that fires breaking out simultaneously in at least 10 locations in two towns could not be coincidental.

The fires are out, but the people continue to wonder if they will ever see a plane or a helicopter based in their area to combat forest fires.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/07/turkey-kurds-pkk-forest-fires-cause-political-mayhem.html#ixzz3hNH4i6n1

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

31 juli, 2015 op 06:01

Te beginnen met een artikel van Donkerdoorn op Zapruder:

Syrië: de ISIS en Turkije Show

Posted on 2015-07-29 by Donkerdoorn

En met een, bijna traditioneel, bijzonder slecht en doorzichtig excuus begint dan de nieuwste fase in het conflict om Syrië. Na jaren van vrij openlijke ondersteuning, en een daarmee langzaam intredene en samenhangende internationale isolering, staat uitgerekend Turkije op tegen het protectoraat-kalifaat Islamic State. Zogenaamd. Want hoe ironisch, of ziek. Na een bloedige aanslag op een socialistische jeugd-bijeenkomst in het Turkse Suruc waar de verzamelde jongeren zich zouden voorbereiden op de wederopbouw van het door de IS vernietigde Syrisch/Koerdische stadje Kobani, maakt de toenemend totalitaire regering van de Turkse president Erdogan een 180-er en begint, met het eeuwige excuus van „recht op zelfverdediging“ een bommen-campagne in Syrië en Irak. Gedekt worden de volslagen illegale acties van het Turkse leger door de Verenigde Staten, de EU en natuurlijk de NATO. Alles in orde, alles zelfverdediging. In Turkije zelf heerst na de aanslag scepsis, door het gehele land breken heftige protesten tegen de regering Erdogan en de steun van Turkije aan de islamisten in Syrië uit. Het antwoord van de Turkse staat is een ongekende arrestatie-golf van vooral Koerden, linkse activisten en een paar verloren (excuus) IS-aanhangers.

En dan een lang, maar zeer gedegen artikel van Mike Whitney:

The Politics of Betrayal: Obama Backstabs Kurds to Appease Turkey

By Mike Whitney

July 30, 2015 “Information Clearing House” – “Counterpunch” –

The Kurdish militias (YPG, PKK) have been Washington’s most effective weapon in the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. But the Obama administration has sold out the Kurds in order to strengthen ties with Turkey and gain access to Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base. The agreement to switch sides was made in phone call between President Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan less than 48 hours after a terrorist incident in the Turkish town of Suruc killed 32 people and wounded more than 100 others.

The bombing provided Obama with the cover he needed to throw the Kurds under the bus, cave in to Turkey’s demands, and look the other way while Turkish bombers and tanks pounded Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq. The media has characterized this shocking reversal of US policy as a “game-changer” that will improve US prospects for victory over ISIS. But what the about-face really shows is Washington’s inability to conduct a principled foreign policy as well as Obama’s eagerness to betray a trusted friend and ally if he sees some advantage in doing so.

Turkish President Erdogan has launched a war against the Kurds; that is what’s really happening in Syria at present. The media’s view of events–that Turkey has joined the fight against ISIS–is mostly spin and propaganda. The fact that the Kurds had been gaining ground against ISIS in areas along the Turkish border, worried political leaders in Ankara that an independent Kurdish state could be emerging. Determined to stop that possibility, they decided to use the bombing in Suruc as an excuse to round up more than 1,000 of Erdogans political enemies (only a small percentage of who are connected to ISIS) while bombing the holy hell out of Kurdish positions in Syria and Iraq. All the while, the media has been portraying this ruthless assault on a de facto US ally, as a war on ISIS. It is not a war on ISIS. It is the manipulation of a terrorist attack to advance the belligerent geopolitical agenda of Turkish and US elites. Just take a look at these two tweets from CNN Turkey on Saturday and you’ll see what’s going on under the radar:

Washington Turns Its Back on Kurds Fighting ISIS

By Lee Fang

July 30, 2015 “Information Clearing House” – “The Intercept” –

Some of the most successful fighters against the Islamic State are being isolated and attacked by America’s new favorite ally in the region.

Kurdish militias are achieving the stated goals of the Obama administration — to “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIS — as well or better than any other fighting force. From Kobane to the recent liberation of Tel Abyad, Kurdish militias have won hard-fought victories against ISIS fighters in Syria, while preventing the advance of ISIS into northern Iraq.

What’s more, the Kurds in northern Syria have established a political order like few others in this region of the world. Known as Rojava, the Kurdish-controlled areas of Syria are governed through participatory decision-making forums that include councils made up of women, Christians, Yazidis and Muslims. David Graeber, a leading figure in the Occupy Wall Street movement, calls Rojava a “remarkable democratic experiment.”

But those gains are now in danger as Turkey, which has a long history of enmity towards ethnic Kurds and fears the potential for a Kurdish state to its immediate south, in northern Syria or Iraq, flexes its political muscle in Washington and applies its military might in the Middle East.

President Erdogan has been clear about the threat posed by Kurdish militias. “I say to the international community that whatever price must be paid, we will never allow the establishment of a new state on our southern frontier in the north of Syria,” Erdogan said last month.

Zie voor Rojava het volgende artikel op BOUblog. Erdogan strijdt niet tegen ISIS, maar tegen Rojava!

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

31 juli, 2015 op 11:28

Over de afloop ben ik somber en ik ben niet de enige!

NATO Member Busted Massively Supporting ISIS … Now Declares War Against ISIS, But Instead Goes After Its Political Rival (Which Is the Most Effective Force FIGHTING ISIS)

The Potential For A Libya 2.0?

For starters, Turkey has actively been aiding ISIS. In November 2014, Newsweek ran an interview with a former ISIS member in which he stated that he “travelled in a convoy of trucks as part of an ISIS unit from their stronghold in Raqqa, across Turkish border, through Turkey and then back across the border to attack Syrian Kurds in the city of Serekaniye in northern Syria in February” and that commanders told him and other fighters that they nothing to fear “because there was full cooperation with the Turks.”

The second problem is the hope that “relatively moderate Syrian insurgents” will take over the area. This assumes that there are moderates, which doesn’t seem to be true, given the fact that the US essentially gave up on the Free Syrian Army when it decided to create an entirely new force of fighters. Before then, the US had been touting the FSA as moderates. (This, of course, doesn’t get into the fact that, for example, an FSA brigade commander admitted to working with Al Nusra and ISI or that a major beneficiary of this war on ISIS is AL Qaeda.)

A third problem is that while Turkey has essentially declared war on ISIS, they are bombing Kurdish positions as well, due to the fear that they have always had of Kurdish independence.

A “No-Fly Zone” by Any Other Name – The “ISIL-Free Zone” in Syria

Turkey – America’s New Sweetheart

Turkey’s special status in American foreign policy was underlined by the visit of Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, General John Allen to Ankara in early July. John Allen has not simply negotiated the use of the Incirlik Air Base for American military operations in the region, he has also talked Turkish generals into taking part in them. This time it’s the Kurds who must take the beating, despite the fact that Washington has repeatedly used them for its own purposes only to turn its back on them later on, but Turks are willing to allow their territory to be used against Iran, Russia and China as well.

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

1 augustus, 2015 op 11:45

Nog een gedegen artikel van Mike Whitney:

Power-Mad Erdogan Launches War in Attempt to Become Turkey’s Supreme Leader

By Mike Whitney

July 31, 2015 “Information Clearing House” – “Counterpunch” – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lost his bid to become Turkey’s supreme leader in last month’s elections. So he’s taken the country to war to increase his popularity and improve his chances of victory in snap elections in November.

Turkish bombers continued to pound Kurdish positions in Northern Iraq early Thursday after killing an estimated 100 Kurds a day earlier. Erdogan broke off peace talks with the Kurdish militias and launched this latest assault after failing to win enough seats in Parliament to change the constitution. The ambitious Erdogan needed 330 deputies to make sweeping changes to the constitution that would give the president unlimited executive power making Erdogan de facto emperor of Turkey. His plan was frustrated by the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) that won an unprecedented 13 percent of the vote. The HDP is determined to prevent Erdogan from realizing his dream of becoming Turkey’s imperial sultan . The current war against the Kurds in Syria and Iraq is designed to whip up nationalist sentiment in order to put Erdogan “over the top” in elections that could come as early as this Fall.

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

2 augustus, 2015 op 10:10

Obama’s “Safe Zone” in Syria will Inflame the War Zone

By Shamus Cooke

The road to war is paved with a thousand lies. A fresh fib was tossed on the lie-cluttered warpath to Syria, when it was announced that the U.S. and Turkey would create a “safe zone” inside of Syria — supposedly to be aimed against ISIS.

This “safe zone” is a major escalation of war, but it was described in soft tones by the media, sounding almost cuddly. In reality, however, a “safe zone” is a “no-fly zone,” meaning that a nation is planning to implement military air superiority inside the boundaries of another nation. It’s long recognized by the international community and U.S. military personnel as a major act of war. In a war zone an area is made “safe” by destroying anything in it or around that appears threatening.

Turkey has been demanding this no-fly zone from Obama since the Syrian war started. It’s been discussed throughout the conflict and even in recent months, though the intended goal was always the Syrian government.

And suddenly the no-fly zone is happening — right where Turkey always wanted it — but it’s being labeled an “anti-ISIS” safe zone, instead of its proper name: “Anti Kurdish and anti-Syrian government” safe zone.

The U.S. media swallowed the name change without blinking, but many international media outlets knew better.

Erodoğan and Netanyahu Declare War

By James Petras

August 01, 2015 “Information Clearing House” – The rulers of the two most powerful authoritarian regimes in the Middle East are launching major wars to reconfigure the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has declared war by proxy on Iran, announcing full-scale military mobilization within Israel (July 27 -29) and organizing the biggest political campaign of ultra Zionist Jews in Washington. The purpose of this two-pronged propaganda blitz is to defeat the recently signed US-Iranian agreement and start another major Middle East war. Ultimately, Netanyahu intends to take care of his ‘Palestinian Problem’ for good: complete the conquest and occupation of Palestine and expelling the Palestinian people from their homeland – the single most important foreign policy and domestic goal of the Jewish state. In order to do this, Israeli leaders have had to systematically campaign for the destruction of the Palestinians regional supporters and sympathizers – Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon and Iran.

Erodoğan’ s Multiple Wars

At the same time, Turkish President Erodoğan has launched a major war against the Kurdish people and their aspirations for a Kurdish state. This has followed closely on several recent incidents beginning with the bombing (with cooperation from Turkish intelligence ) of a Kurdish youth camp, killing and wounding scores of young secular activists. Within days of the massacre of Turkish-Kurdish youth, Erodoğan ordered his air force to bomb and strafe Kurdish bases within the sovereign territories of Iraq and Syria and Turkish security police have assaulted and arrested thousands of Kurdish nationalists and Turkish leftist sympathizers throughout the country. This has all occurred with the support of the US and NATO…

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

2 augustus, 2015 op 11:34

En dit heeft natuurlijk NIETS te maken met de deal tussen Erdogan en Obama om een “Free zone” te maken op Koerdisch gebied in Syrië:

Turkish Stream Talks Reportedly Suspended, Delays Possible

Reportedly Turkey is tying the signing of the agreement on a further gas price discount – Russia disagrees

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

2 augustus, 2015 op 11:35

Iraqi Kurds Calls for Kurdistan Workers Party to Leave Its Territory
News | 02.08.2015 | 11:25

Sputnik – The Kurdish regional government in Iraq urges Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) to leave its territory to prevent casualties among civilians, Turkish Anadolu Agency reported.

Earlier on Saturday, Turkey conducted a series of airstrikes against the camps of PKK in northern Iraq. During these bombings nine civilians were killed and 15 were wounded.

“The PKK should withdraw from the region so that civilians in the Kurdish region will not be the victims of the clashes… The PKK should keep the battlefield out of the region. Continuation of the battle mostly harms civilians,” the statement of the Kurdish regional government in Iraq said on Saturday, as quoted by the Anadolu news agency.

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

3 augustus, 2015 op 20:47

Duitsland pruttelt nu tegen:

German-US tensions intensify following Turkish attack on Kurdish minority
By Stefan Steinberg
3 August 2015

The military offensive launched a week ago by Turkey against the Kurdish PKK in northern Iraq and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (PYD/YPG) in Syria has led to increasing tension between Germany and the US. While the US administration and the NATO general secretary have declared their support for the Turkish aggression against the Kurdish organizations, German politicians and sections of the media are highly alarmed about the latest somersault in American foreign policy.

The deterioration in US-German relations flows directly from the cynical deal struck between Washington and Turkey. In exchange for the use of air bases inside Turkey for US air raids inside Syria, and Turkish participation in these raids, Turkey has been given a free hand to attack positions controlled by the PKK and the PYD inside Iraq and Syria.

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

4 augustus, 2015 op 08:12

Een artikel met heel veel links naar andere artikelen:

USA, Turkey and Israel Act As Air Force for ISIS
Posted on August 3, 2015 by WashingtonsBlog

NATO member Turkey was busted buying huge quantities of oil from ISIS (its main source of funding), and bombing ISIS’ main on-the-ground enemy – Kurdish soldiers – using its air force. Many also say that Turkey has long been directly supporting ISIS.

The Israeli air force has bombed near the Syrian capital of Damascus, and attacked agricultural facilities and warehouses (the Syrian government is the other main opponent of ISIS in Syria besides the Kurds). The Israeli military recently admitted supporting Syrian jihadis. And see this.

Mainstream U.S. writers such as Thomas Friedman have called for America to support ISIS.

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

4 augustus, 2015 op 08:48

Op bovenstaande kaart, die ook wel de Ralph Peters kaart wordt genoemd, is Saoedi Arabië een flink stuk kleiner geworden. Het volgende artikel gaat over de huidige situatie van Saoedi Arabië.

Saudi Arabia: When the Rubicon is Crossed

According to the map, the vast territory of Saudi Arabia would be split into several new states. For example, in accordance with Washington plans, an “Islamic Holy State,” which would include the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, is to be formed on the coast of the Red Sea. Actually, the political landscape envisioned by Mr. Peters is not something completely new because for several centuries this area had housed Hijaz, whose rulers were considered the Sharifs of Mecca. Before hundreds of thousands and now tens of millions of pilgrims come to the holy cities, boosting enormous profits of those at the helm of power. In early days, it was the Hashemite clan, later—representatives of the Saudi dynasty, in the future, it could happen that a representative of the House of Hashemite would make its return to reign in the Islamic Holy State.

According to the plans of strategists from Washington, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—the largest and wealthiest state on the Arabian Peninsula—is to turn into a set of “Inner independent territories of Saudi” with significantly reduced areas. Only a narrow corridor would lead to the Red Sea coast since the major part would be occupied by the expanded territory of Jordan, the Islamic Holy State and Yemen, whose territory would include a part of the then former Saudi Arabia. The coast of the Persian Gulf abundant in “black gold” would be annexed to the “Arab Shiite state.” The other part of the coastal line of the Arabian Peninsula would be occupied by Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Bahrain and Sultanate Oman, which would, according to the plans, retain their current boundaries and the system of governance with a king, emir, sheikh or sultan heading the state.

Een ander artikel over het zelfde land:

United States is Destroying Saudi Arabia

Saudi political elites are particularly unhappy with the fact that Washington bears no responsibility for its actions, while manipulating Saudi Arabia in a position of weakness. It all began with Afghanistan, where the United States created Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden on the money they borrowed from the KSA. But then when bin Laden was not a valuable asset anymore they just pushed blame on Saudi Arabia and the world was compelled to believe that Saudis are the true sponsors of international terrorism.

Riyadh perceives Obama’s policy of normalizing relations with Tehran as the beginning of a new stage of transformation of the geopolitical structure of the Middle East. Saudi monarchy can hardly be satisfied with the fact that in the foreseeable future Iran could militarily and economically reach the position of a regional superpower, the one which the House of Saud will not be able to ignore. Therefore, in response for the ongoing settlement of the Iran nuclear program crisis, Saudi Arabia resorted to a blackmail by threatening other states that it may get nuclear weapons from Pakistan. Just like Israeli politicians, Saudis fear that once everything is set and down with Tehran, the US will leave the region for the taking, and Iran would need little time to exploit this fact.

According to unofficial reports, in connection with this situation, Saudi diplomats have already been instructed to limit their contacts with their American counterparts to the necessary minimum. In addition, the Kingdom has already begun to look for new partners, that can be a valuable asset for their oil industry and the main supplier of weapons for its armed forces. A special emphasis is being put on Russia and China.

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

5 augustus, 2015 op 08:49

British SAS Special Forces “Dressed Up as ISIS Rebels” Fighting Assad in Syria

By Stephen Lendman

August 05, 2015 “Information Clearing House” –

On August 2, Britain’s Sunday Express newspaper headlined “SAS dress as ISIS fighters in undercover war on jihadis,” saying:

“More than 120 members belonging to the elite regiment are currently in the war-torn country” covertly “dressed in black and flying ISIS flags,” engaged in what’s called Operation Shader – attacking Syrian targets on the pretext of combatting ISIS.

Maybe covert US special forces and CIA elements are involved the same way. During Obama’s war on Libya, Britain deployed hundreds of Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) paratroopers – drawn from SAS (Special Air Service) and SBS (Special Boat Service) personnel.

Around 800 Royal Marines and 4,000 US counterparts were on standby to intervene on short notice if ordered.

How US Allies Aid Al Qaeda in Syria

The dirty secret about the Obama administration’s “regime change” strategy in Syria is that it amounts to a de facto alliance with Al Qaeda’s Nusra Front which is driving toward a possible victory with direct and indirect aid from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel, as Daniel Lazare explains.

By Daniel Lazare

When the U.S. and Turkey announced on July 23 that they were joining forces to establish a “safe zone” in northern Syria, no one could quite figure out what they meant. With the White House denying that the deal required it to send in troops to seal the zone off or warplanes to patrol the skies, Bloomberg’s Josh Rogin wrote that the whole thing was misnomer: “In fact, there is really no ‘zone,’ and there is no plan to keep the area ‘safe.’”

Indeed, Rogin said, three “senior administration officials” had put together a conference call in order to assure reporters that there were no plans “for a safe zone, a no-fly zone, an air-exclusionary zone, a humanitarian buffer zone, or any other protected zone of any kind.” So if that wasn’t the plan, what on earth was it?

Now we know. The purpose of the non-zone zone that Turkey and the U.S. may or may not wish to establish is to give the former a free hand to bomb the Kurds and the latter an opportunity to engage in joint operations with Al Qaeda.

Syria: Negotiating Ethnic Cleansing And A Temporary Partition

By Moon Of Alabama

August 05, 2015 “Information Clearing House” – “Moon Of Alabama” –

The U.S. has no interest to defeat the Islamic State or to end the conflict in Syria and Iraq. Instead it is following a policy, successfully so far, which is designed to split Syria as well as Iraq into autonomous statelets which later may or may not realign into loose confederacies. There are now attempts to somewhat formalize that situation.

Many of the recently inserted 60 Pentagon trained mercenaries are by now captured, wounded or dead. Last night Jabhat al-Nusra captured another five of them. Mary Wheeler thinks that the whole theater around these few idiots was possibly just a fake to find a reason for the declaration of a U.S. imposed no-fly zone over north Syria. An illegal invasion of Syria to justify an even more illegal U.S. annexation of Syrian land and air space.

Media accounts describe the 60 fighters as the “first U.S. trained rebels”. The 10,000 Syrian and foreign mercenaries the CIA trained and equipped since at least 2012 at a cost of $1 billion per year are conveniently put down the memory hole. The many more jihadis financed, trained and equipped by Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar who went to join the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra are also missing from such accounts. The media insist that the whore’s just born seventh child originates from an immaculate conception.

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

5 augustus, 2015 op 09:15

De immer zo vriendelijke en geduldige Poetin wordt nu eindelijk boos!

Russian president to Turkish ambassador: “tell your dictator President he can go to hell along with his ISIS terrorists, I will make Syria a ‘Big Stalingrad’ for him!”

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

5 augustus, 2015 op 09:40

Obama will not let Putin defeat ISIS

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

6 augustus, 2015 op 10:15

Corbett Report: British Special Forces “Dressing Up” As ISIS…What Could Go Wrong? duurt 7 minuten.

Shownotes: https://www.corbettreport.com/british-special-forces-dressing-up-as-isis-what-could-go-wrong/

Beantwoorden
Boudine:

11 augustus, 2015 op 10:06

Een lang en volgens mij gedegen artikel op Stop de Bankiers:

Turkijes regionale en internationale kopzorgen

Vanaf de val van het Ottomaanse Rijk heeft Turkije zich ontwikkeld tot een baken van seculiere moderniteit in een traditionele islamitische omgeving. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk deed in de jaren 1920 beroep op het westen om het land te moderniseren. De resterende tachtig jaar van de 20ste eeuw is Turkije de belangrijkste bondgenoot van de Verenigde Staten in de regio geweest. Na de Tweede Wereldoorlog ontving het via het Marshallplan hulp van de VS; in 1952 werd het land lid van de NAVO en sinds 2005 probeert het ook lid te worden van de EU. Voorlopig evenwel zonder succes. “De toetredingsonderhandelingen worden geblokkeerd ten gevolge van volledig politieke en willekeurige redenen”, haalde president Erdogan daarover nog recent uit. (1)’

De concurrenten

De meeste aandacht van Ankara gaat echter uit naar de crisis die zich afspeelt aan zijn zuidergrens. Het crisisgebied strekt zich uit van Syrië tot Irak. De twee landen zijn een oorlogsgebied geworden waar IS en allerlei andere soennitische, sjiitische en Koerdische belangengroepen, de overhand willen krijgen. Iran, Saoedi-Arabië, Israël en Turkije proberen in de algemene chaos die er heerst hun pionnen uit te spelen.

IS en de Koerden

Turkije is een groot tegenstander van het al-Assad regime in Syrië en IS was dus logischerwijze een bondgenoot omdat dat ook tegen al-Assad is. Er deden trouwens sterke geruchten de ronde dat Turkije IS genegen was en hielp. De Turken weten echter dat de jihadisten, welk op het ogenblik ook hun relatie met hen is, kunnen evolueren en dat het van een Arabisch platform snel in een anti-Turks platform kan veranderen.

Beantwoorden

BOUblog

Turkije, de NATO, ISIS en de Koerden

25 Reacties op “Turkije, de NATO, ISIS en de Koerden”

Laat een reactie achter