17:51 16.02.2016(updated
18:39 16.02.2016) Get short URL
Following a recent
increase in attacks, the UN Security Council is set to discuss Turkey's
shelling of Kurdish targets in Syria. Ankara's repeated targeting of the Kurds,
allied with both Russia and the US, has exposed the vast differences in the
western anti-Daesh coalition.
The discussion
on Turkey's shelling of Kurdish groups in northern Syria follows concerns raised by Moscow and Damascus, amid an
increasingly strong offensive from Kurdish ground forces, who have worked
in tandem with both Russia and the US.
While Moscow and
Washington differ on many issues related to the Syrian conflict, they
are united in their support for Kurdish forces, who have proved
to be an extremely effectively ground military force while working
in coordination with American and Russian airstrikes.
Turkey Turning
Attention Towards Kurds
However Turkey doesn't
share this support for the Kurdish YPG military forces, arguing that the
YPG a terrorist organization, and saying that the recent shelling
of Kurdish targets in Syria was merely taken out of retaliation from earlier
attacks.
© AFP 2016/ ILYAS AKENGIN
A photo taken on
February 3, 2016 shows smokes rising over the district of Sur in Diyarbakir
after clashes between Kurdish rebels and Turkish forces.
"We will retaliate
against every step [by the YPG]," Turkish prime minister Ahmet
Davutoglu said on Monday.
"The YPG will
immediately withdraw from Azaz and the surrounding area and will not go
close to it again," he added, in reference to the latest
Kurdish advance near the town of Azaz, a border town that plays an
important role in the transport of people and supplies
between Turkey and Syria.
The issue of Kurdish
nationalism has for a long time been problematic for Turkey,
with the country's security forces locked in a 40-year conflict
with Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants — a battle which has
intensified once again in the past eight months.
There are fears
in Ankara that the Kurds' military success close to Turkey's southern
border could embolden Kurdish nationalism in Turkey amid a push for more
autonomy.
This fear has resulted
in Kurdish forces becoming the prime target for Turkish attacks
in recent months, easing the pressure on Daesh and other radical
Islamist groups engaged in the conflict.
Tied Up
in Knots
While Turkey has
criticized Russian and US military support for the Kurds, Ankara has been
equally lambasted for its heavy-handed approach to the YPG, creating divisions in the US-led
international coalition against Daesh.
Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan last week scalded the US over its cooperation
with Kurdish forces, saying that Washington's support for Syrian
Kurds was causing a "sea of blood" in the country.
"I told you
many times: Are you with us or with this terrorist
organization?" Erdogan told Turkish state media in a message
to the US.
The fiery backlash came
after US State Department spokesperson John Kirby said the US did not "recognize the PYD as a
terrorist organization," and as such wouldn't halt its support
for Kurdish forces, in a blatant rejection of Turkey's position.
"We recognize
that the Turks do (label the PYD as terrorists), and I understand that.
Even the best of friends aren't going to agree
on everything," Kirby said.
"Kurdish fighters
have been some of the most successful in going after Daesh
inside Syria. We have provided a measure of support, mostly
through the air, and that support will continue."
While the US and Russian
forces continue to separately support Kurdish forces as part
of their efforts to defeat Daesh and other terrorist groups
in Syria, Turkey's opposed stance is continuing to create
difficulties in the US-led campaign, with hopes for a permanent
ceasefire in the four-year long conflict still some way off.
© AP PHOTO/ HALIT ONUR SANDAL
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