By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – BBC Arabic reports that Turkey has launched a land invasion of the Kurdish-majority Afrin canton in northern Syria, home to some 500,000 Kurds. Turkey has also flooded Arab fundamentalist fighters into the region, calling them “Free Syrian Army.” The move comes after some 72 Turkish F-16s […]
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Turkey
Syria: Turkey Begins Military Operation against US-Allied Kurds in Afrin
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Reuters reports that on Friday, Turkey began cross-border shelling of the Kurdish-majority Afrin canton in northern Syria. There are also reports of busloads of Sunni Arab guerrillas of the rebel Free Syrian Army, who had been sheltered in Turkey, being sent into Afrin. The region is […]
Russia accuses US of destabilizing Syria with Kurdish-Turkish Clash
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s angry threat to invade a Syrian Kurdish canton in response to the US announcement that it would train and arm a 30,000-man Syrian Kurdish border force produced anxiety in Moscow. Russia has made a big bet, worth billions of rubles and involving […]
Turkey to deploy 60,000 soldiers in bases abroad, including in Qatar
Middle East Monitor |- – 60,000 armed Turkish soldiers will be deployed across four military bases abroad in accordance with a new 2022 plan, The New Khalij reported today. The Turkish National Security Council finalised the plan yesterday, in order to meet Turkey’s military and commercial interests to support its allies. Turkey already has 3,000 […]
As US throws Kurds under the Bus, Is Turkey preparing to invade Syria?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The BBC reports that Turkish armed forces are massed on the border with Syria in preparation for a possible move into the Kurdish-held areas of Afrin and Manbij. The Kurdish militia, the YPG, took Manbij away from ISIL with US support. Afrin, home to some 500,000 […]
Turkey threatens war against US/Kurdish Force in Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US announcement that it would form a 30,000 strong policing force in northeast Syria from the YPG leftist Kurdish militia has provoked unprecedently strong words from Turkey, and signs of an unusual convergence of Syrian and Turkish foreign policy objectives. In the cross-hairs are 2,000 […]
Can Turkish-Israeli Relations survive Trump’s Jerusalem Decision?
By Korshaid Dali | (Middle East Monitor) | – – People stage a protest against US President Donald Trump’s announcement to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and plans to relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, on December 8, 2017 in Istanbul, Turkey The media and political clash between Turkey and […]
2017: How Erdoğan pushed Turkey toward Authoritarianism
By Mustafa Coban | (The Conversation) | – – After winning an April referendum to greatly enhance the powers of his office, Turkey’s president, Recip Tayyip Erdoğan, spent 2017 pursuing his ultimate priority: to formally cement and extend his one-man rule, which he can next do at the 2019 elections. This he has done with […]
The Difference between Israeli Policy and Turkish: Calling Each other Terrorist State
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – First, Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan gave a speech in the Central Anatolian province of Sivas on Dec. 10, in which he said, “Israel is a state of occupation and a terror state . . . [Turkey] will not leave Jerusalem to the consciousness of a child-killer […]