Turkey says it won’t bow to trump threast over its Syria plans

[Bill]

Turkey says it won’t bow to US threat over its Syria plans

BEIRUT (AP) — Turkey will not bow to threats over its Syria plans, the Turkish vice president said Tuesday in an apparent response to President Donald Trump’s warning to Ankara the previous day about the scope of its planned military incursion into northeastern Syria.

Trump said earlier this week the United States would step aside for an expected Turkish attack on Syrian Kurdish fighters, who have fought alongside Americans for years, but he then threatened to destroy the Turks’ economy if they went too far.

The U.S. president later cast his decision to abandon the Kurdish fighters in Syria as fulfilling a campaign promise to withdraw from “endless war” in the Middle East, even as Republican critics and others said he was sacrificing a U.S. ally and undermining American credibility.

Trump’s statements have reverberated on all sides of the divide in Syria and the Mideast.

In Ankara, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said Turkey was intent on combatting Syrian Kurdish fighters across its border in Syria and on creating a zone that would allow Turkey to resettle Syrian refugees there.

“Where Turkey’s security is concerned, we determine our own path but we set our own limits,” Oktay said.

Meanwhile, in the Syrian capital of Damascus, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad called on the country’s Kurds to rejoin the government side after apparently being abandoned by their U.S. allies.

Mekdad’s comments were the first Syrian reaction since Trump’s announcement on Sunday and as northeastern Syria braces for an imminent Turkish attack on Syrian Kurdish militias. Trump’s statement has infuriated the Kurds, who stand to lose the autonomy they gained from Damascus during Syria’s civil war, now in its ninth year.

“The homeland welcomes all its sons and Damascus will solve all Syrian problems in a positive way, away from violence,” Mekdad claimed in an interview with the pro-government daily Al-Watan.

President Bashar Assad’s government abandoned the predominantly Kurdish area in northern Syria at the height of Syria’s civil war to focus on more key areas where the military was being challenged by the rebels. The U.S. began working with the Syrian Kurdish fighters after the emergence of the Islamic State group.

The Syrian government “will defend all Syrian territory and will not accept any occupation of any land or iota of the Syrian soil,” Mekdad said about the expected Turkish incursion.

The Syrian Kurdish force has pledged to fight back, raising the potential for an eruption of new warfare in Syria.

“We will not hesitate for a moment in defending our people” against Turkish troops, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement, adding that it has lost 11,000 fighters in the war against the Islamic State group in Syria.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for the U.S.-backed predominantly Kurdish force that fought IS invited Trump to come see the progress the force and the U.S. made in northeastern Syria.

“We have more work to do to keep ISIS from coming back & make our accomplishments permanent. If America leaves, all will be erased,” he tweeted, referring to the Islamic State group by an alternative acronym.

Turkey, which considers Kurdish fighters in Syria terrorists and links them to a decades-old insurgency in Turkey, has already launched two major incursions into northern Syria over the past years. The first was in 2016, when Turkey and Syrian opposition fighters it backs attacked areas held by the Islamic State group west of the Euphrates River. Last year Turkey launched an attack on the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin, leading to the displacement of some 300,000 people.

Also Tuesday, Iran urged Turkey not to go ahead with its planned an attack on Syrian Kurds, the Iranian state TV reported. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, to express Tehran’s opposition to the anticipated Turkish operation.

Zarif urged Turkey to respect Syria’s integrity and sovereignty, the report said.

Iran, Turkey and Russia have been working together as part of the so-called Astana group on the Syrian civil war, talks that have run parallel to U.N. efforts to find a solution to the conflict.

Trump’s announcement threw the military situation in Syria into fresh chaos and injected deeper uncertainty into the region.

U.S. involvement in Syria has been fraught with peril since it started in 2014 with the insertion of small numbers of special operations forces to recruit, train, arm and advise local fighters to combat the Islamic State. Trump entered the White House in 2017 intent on getting out of Syria, and even before the counter-IS military campaign reclaimed the last militant strongholds early this year, he declared victory and said troops would leave.

In recent weeks, the U.S. and Turkey had reached an apparent accommodation of Turkish concerns about the presence of Kurdish fighters, seen in Turkey as a threat. American and Turkish soldiers had been conducting joint patrols in a zone along the border. As part of that work, barriers designed to protect the Syrian Kurds were dismantled amid assurances that Turkey would not invade.

[Getin the ring]

what is that babble ^^^ even suppose to mean.

Trumps not demanding anything of Turkey, he's telling Turkey "It's all yours baby, kill them all if you wish"

[dukkha]

In recent weeks, the U.S. and Turkey had reached an apparent accommodation of Turkish concerns about the presence of Kurdish fighters, seen in Turkey as a threat. American and Turkish soldiers had been conducting joint patrols in a zone along the border. As part of that work, barriers designed to protect the Syrian Kurds were dismantled amid assurances that Turkey would not invade.

no Erdogan has already conducted cross border ops -why in the world would anyone expect him not to do so again?
The barriers were removed in anticipation of "safe zones" ( which is of course unworkable)

[Blackwater Lunchbreak]

if turkey acts, horrifically, that's on turkey.

and yes, it's definitely a betrayal.

the insanity needs to stop somewhere.

the buck stops here and now.

karma is strictly individualistic.

[Getin the ring]

firstly, the US only has 1000 troops in the region

secondly ISIS is as near non-existent as physically possible, eradicating the call for the cause is impossible, literally.

in conclusion I'd say our work is done there, why risk losing another American life.

Turkey knows the danger of allowing the ISIS fighters to be let free. Do we really want to be a party to what they will instead decide to do with them, that's going to be really ugly.

At some point in time, as Trump campaigned on these regions need to take responsibility for their own security. I'm sure Trump thinks the time is now for the border or Turkey and Syria. The generals and military people making noise that it is not wise, let's not forget what they do for a living

[Bill]

Non-existent?? LOL

The Kurds are holding @ least 10,000 fighters which they won't continue w/ if they are betrayed......

[dukkha]

Non-existent?? LOL

The Kurds are holding @ least 10,000 fighters which they won't continue w/ if they are betrayed......

Turkey promises to pick them up as thy come across them in the upcoming offensive.
That was a very big reason why Trump allowed the "withdrawal" I would assume

[countryboy]

Non-existent?? LOL

The Kurds are holding @ least 10,000 fighters which they won't continue w/ if they are betrayed......

We are moving 50 troops away from the border, do you really think that's going to make a difference in holding 10,000 prisoners? Furthermore, we've equipped the Kurds with our own modern weaponry and training. To say we are "abandoning" them is a stretch.

[Bill]

Turkey promises to pick them up as thy come across them in the upcoming offensive.
That was a very big reason why Trump allowed the "withdrawal" I would assume

LOL........... They allowed most of them to enter the fuckin country & join isis & you believe that??

When the smarter ones get away & start murdering again & word gets out how they ended up in Europe, China, India, Afghani-NAM or even the USA???

Sorry, I see this as a huge blunder, this is in no way make America or anywhere great again, cept the tyrant turk........

[Bill]

We are moving 50 troops away from the border, do you really think that's going to make a difference in holding 10,000 prisoners? Furthermore, we've equipped the Kurds with our own modern weaponry and training. To say we are "abandoning" them is a stretch.

50 troops stopped the turks thus far.. You think the turks would have gone in & murdered them along w/ the Kurdish women & children??

Pls describe what comes next........

[dukkha]

50 troops stopped the turks thus far.. You think the turks would have gone in & murdered them along w/ the Kurdish women & children??

Pls describe what comes next........

nope negotiation about "safe zones" held Erdogan up, but it was only a matter of time and circumstance
that he would go in again ( 4 times in the last couple years)

[dukkha]

LOL........... They allowed most of them to enter the fuckin country & join isis & you believe that??

When the smarter ones get away & start murdering again & word gets out how they ended up in Europe, China, India, Afghani-NAM or even the USA???

Sorry, I see this as a huge blunder, this is in no way make America or anywhere great again, cept the tyrant turk........

first off you should be blaming Europe for absolutely refusing to take their nationals back and try and Imprison them... Did you know we had already been taking many of the Kurd's ISIS battle field prisoners?
So the Kurds and the US have done their part.

This was a very big part of the Trump/Erdogan negotiations that woud would get out ( as well as not interfere).
Will Erdogan keep his word? I don't know but
AGAIN HOW LONG DO YOU WANT US TO STAY THERE IF WERE THE SOLE REASON FOR THE STATUS QUO?

Perpetual war my friend..no we are not doing this again as well as getting out of Afghanistan

[Bill]

first off you should be blaming Europe for absolutely refusing to take their nationals back and try and Imprison them... Did you know we had already been taking many of the Kurd's ISIS battle field prisoners?
So the Kurds and the US have done their part.

This was a very big part of the Trump/Erdogan negotiations that woud would get out ( as well as not interfere).
Will Erdogan keep his word? I don't know but
AGAIN HOW LONG DO YOU WANT US TO STAY THERE IF WERE THE SOLE REASON FOR THE STATUS QUO?

Perpetual war my friend..no we are not doing this again as well as getting out of Afghanistan

You keep bringing up perpetual war. I don't agree w/ your premise........ Use it in Yemen first & see how it works out..

I'm not interested in repeating myself, especially since it is to late, the betrayal has begun......

you & trump will reap what you have sewn....... Que sera sera.......

[dukkha]

You keep bringing up perpetual war. I don't agree w/ your premise........ Use it in Yemen first & see how it works out..

I'm not interested in repeating myself, especially since it is to late, the betrayal has begun......

you & trump will reap what you have sewn....... Que sera sera.......

we are not in Yemen, we are not at war. we provide logistics.we can leave anytime we want to.
I don't think we should ( and KSA is a much more strategic partner then the Kurds) but we can.

I call it perpetal war. try this then "perpetual presence"..
Ive asked this time and time again and never get a decent answer.

How long should we stay? what is the criteria to leave? ( peace? reconciliation with Erdogan and the Kurds?).
Give me a solid answer and I'll respond; because all I see otherwise is just another open ended commitment
tieing us down in perpetuity

[Bill]

How long should we stay? what is the criteria to leave? ( peace? reconciliation with Erdogan and the Kurds?).
Give me a solid answer and I'll respond; because all I see otherwise is just another open ended commitment
tieing us down in perpetuity

Our presence isn't really even necessary in this case, certainly not on any scale...

They should be told not to attack the Kurds.. Period, if they do something will bad bad bad is gonna result.

50 troops is plenty, call them advisors if you like- we can put our ppl were we want, not where some fuckin tyrant says we can..

He attacks those Americans he knows what will happen......... he is certainly an asshole but he aint stupid........