Turkey strikes against Kurds muddle war
Attacks reflect complex alliances in region
Turkey claimed it had “neutralized” 25 Kurdish fighters in airstrikes across the Syrian border Sunday, the latest attack in Turkey’s stepped-up campaign to retake towns from Kurdish rebels.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency, citing the Turkish military, said the attack was carried out against “terrorists groups” that had attacked Turkish troops supporting a Free Syrian Army operation targeting Islamic State militants. Five buildings used by the Kurdish rebels also were destroyed, the military said.
The Turkish military said it took “all necessary measures” to protect the local civilian population. The BBC, however, said the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 35 civilian casualties.
The attacks reflect the increasingly complex, uneasy military alliances in the region. The U.S. considers Turkey a crucial ally in the fight against the Islamic State. Yet the U.S. also backs the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which have waged successful battles against the Islamic State and also seeks to depose Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims the Kurds are scheming to create a Kurdish state along the Turkish-Syrian border. Vice President Biden, in Ankara last week, warned that the U.S. would cut support to its Syrian Kurdish allies if they don’t withdraw from key areas along the Turkish border.
The U.S. has pressed Turkey to show restraint against the Kurds.
Erdogan, in a speech Sunday, said his nation will continue to fight “all terrorists.” He was speaking in Gaziantep — where 54 people at a Kurdish wedding died Aug. 20 in a suicide bombing. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Erdogan has blamed the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS.
The controversial president, who repelled a military-backed coup attempt last month, said Kurds were no different.
“Turkey has not and will not surrender to any terrorist organizations or terror methods,” he said. “We know the same face is behind all of them. ... Our operations against the separatist organization will continue without interruption.”
Sunday’s airstrikes came on the fifth day of Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield, a military effort to improve its border security by crossing into Syria to pound Islamic State and Kurdish militant positions.
The Kurds have a strong presence and culture in northern Syria and southeastern Turkey. Rebels linked to the Kurdish Worker’s Party, PKK, have been fighting for autonomy inside Turkey for decades, and a two-year cease-fire fell apart last year.
The PKK has been blamed for attacks in Turkey, including a blast Friday in southeastern Turkey that killed 11 police officers.
The PKK has been tabbed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union.
Turkey considers Syrian Kurds a branch of the PKK and thus terrorists, but the United States, the EU and others do not, and have provided the Syrian Kurds support in the effort against the Islamic State.
“Turkey has no toleration for any terrorist organization activities within its borders and nearby,” Erdogan said.
“Turkey has not and will not surrender to any terrorist organizations or terror methods. We know the same face is behind all of them.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan