Proving that Turkey is no real NATO ally or friend of the U.S., 63-year-old Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continued to bomb Kurdish forces along the border with Syria. Killing 36-pro-regime fighters linked to the U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG militia, Turkey also showed it’s no ally of the Kremlin, whose military has backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since Sept. 30, 2015, beating back a determined Saudi-U.S.-Turkey proxy war. While Syrian troops besiege Eastern Ghouta, where the last pockets of anti-Assad forces reside, Turkey has been more aggressive attacking pro-al-Assad forces. Turkey claims it’s going after the Kurd’s YPG militia, too close to the Turkish border for comfort. Yet, when you look at the fact that the YPG forces back al-Assad’s Damascus regime, it’s clear that Erdogan’s real objective is toppling the Shiite Alawite regime of al-Assad.
It’s no secret that Erdogan backed the Saudi-U.S.-proxy war against al-Assad for the last seven years. Under 71-year-old President Donald Trump, the U.S. no longer backs the Saudi-funded proxy war against Damascus, instead focusing U.S. military assets on ridding the region of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS]. Trump’s given Putin assurances that whatever U.S. forces remain in Syria, they’re focused on keeping ISIS from regrouping. Erdogan, on the other hand, makes similar promises but does the opposite, bombing pro-regime rebels seeking to keep al-Assad in power. Turkey’s seven-year-old commitment to the Saudi proxy war in Syria hasn’t changed, despite giving Putin assurances. Whether admitted to or not, the European Union has also backed anti-al-Assad forces, backing regime change in Damascus, departing only recently under Trump with past Obama policy.
Obama spent at least six years of his presidency backing anti-al-Assad forces, even after Putin joined the fight to save al-Assad. Trump’s pivot away from the Obama policy and Saudi proxy war represents the biggest change to date of U.S. foreign policy. While Trump’s critics see the move as proof of Russian collusion, it totally makes sense to leave al-Assad in power. Putin said emphatically at the U.N. Sept. 28, 2015 that Saudi-backed forces aligned against al-Assad in Syria would lead to more violence, anarchy and destruction if they change regimes in Damascus. Obama ignored Putin’s warnings, continuing to back the Saudi proxy war that drove over 12 million Syrians to neighboring countries and Europe. Called the worst humanitarian crisis since WW II, the Syrian War was Saudi Arabia’s attempt to replace al-Assad’s Alawite Shiite with a Sunni Wahhabi government.
As Erdogan pursues his relentless battle against the Kurds in Turkey and Syria, it’s worth noting that Turkey gave preferential treatment to ISIS when they occupied some 30% of Iraq and Syria. Erogdan’s son, Bilal, profited handsomely from buying stolen Iraqi oil from ISIS for at least two years, proving Turkey’s no real NATO ally. Attacking Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Erdogan knows that Kurdish Protection Units [YPG] function as the U.S. boots-on-the-ground battling ISIS in Syria. Attacking the YPG is proof that Ankara seeks nothing less that reinstating ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Erdogan claims that YPG fighters seek to overthrow Ankara, something so preposterous it gives insights into Erdogan’s thinking. Erdogan blames 76-year-old exiled Turkish Salafist cleric Fethullah Guldn, living in exile in Pennsylvania’s Pocono mountains, for the July 14-16, 2016 failed Istanbul coup.
Kurdish Protection Units [YPG] are a U.S.-backed militia seeking independence for Syria’s Kurdish population. Left stateless after WW I, when the League of Nations divided up the Ottoman Empire with the Treaty of Versailles January 10, 1920, the Kurds have lived autonomously in the hinterlands of Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey. While it’s true that the Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK] has battled Turkey for independence for years, it not true that the YPG militia has done the same. Turkey plays all sides against each other, especially the U.S. and Russia in Syria. U.S. and Russian officials have done everything possible for the last three years to prevent a military mishap. When Turkey shot down a Russian SU-25 fighter jet Nov. 24, 2015, NATO refused to step into its beef with the Russian Federation. Bombing pro-al-Assad -regime forces today, Turkey’s on the wrong side of the conflict.
Russia’s given Turkey too much latitude going after the U.S.-backed Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF]. No longer opposed to al-Assad’s rule, the SDF sides with the U.S. and Russia, focusing military activities on clearing out ISIS holdovers hoping to join Saudi-backed Wahhabi forces to topple al-Assad. State Department Special Envoy Brett McGurk walks a fine line trying to placate Ankara, while, at the same time, backing the Kurdish YPG militia. McGurk backs Kurdish autonomy, despite reservations about Massoud’s Barzani’s Sept. 26, 2017 failed attempt at Kurdish independence in Iraq. Attacking pro-regime forces March 3 in Syria, Erdogan shows that
he’s against U.S. and Russian interests in Syria, fighting his own battle against Kurdish independence. Erdogan’s turned into loose cannon in Syria, requiring the U.S. and Russia to drive him out.
