Turkey opposes US army outposts on its border with Syrian Kurdistan
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Ankara on Saturday rejected American plans to install military observation posts along its border with Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava), a fledgling US-allied de facto entity whose destruction it has long sought.
“We have stated that the observation points to be established by US troops on the Syrian border will have a very negative impact,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told his country’s state media as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to threaten an invasion of the Kurdish-led region where the US keeps troops and bases.
“In the course of our discussions, we expressed that it could lead to a perception that US soldiers are somehow protecting terrorist YPG members and shield them,” Akar said, using a label Turkey uses for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, a group armed and backed by Washington since the war with the Islamic State (IS) began in 2014.
Akar, also the former Chief of Staff of the Turkish army, said he conveyed Ankara’s “discomfort” to General Joseph Dunford, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, last Sunday on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada.
The plan to build outposts was first announced to the public on Wednesday by the US Defense Secretary James Mattis. It is unknown if the Turks knew of the issue in advance.
“Turkey has legitimate concerns about terrorist threats and from where they’re emanating,” Mattis said. “We don’t dismiss any of their concerns.”
American outposts would allow US forces to “call the Turks and warn them if we see something coming out of an area we’re operating in,” he added.
His remarks appeared to suggest the creation of a line of defense to protect Kurdish partners of the US from the NATO ally. Washington had announced a similar project last year under the name “Border Security Force (BSF),” but it never materialized due to Turkish objections.
During much of the civil war in Syria, Kurdish forces’ focus has been on defending their region from Islamist groups, but the revival of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict north of the border made them a target for Turkey which ties them to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Recent Turkish attacks on towns have killed or wounded dozens of people, including civilians in the districts of Kobani, and Grespi.
The US army has been patrolling in the region since early 2017 after Turkey bombed YPG military headquarters and even threatened to strike American troops.
Erdogan has repeatedly called on his US counterpart Donald Trump to abandon the Kurds, and at other times argued in self-described anti-imperialist tones that Americans had no business in Syria and should leave.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany
