![\"An](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/834\/cpsprodpb\/1C55\/production\/_98535270_ea264cf2-55f0-4178-b96a-c47594d2b736.jpg\")
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I\u2019m still not understanding what the angst is between the Turks and the Kurds, who are successfully doing their job in northeastern Syria, with backing from the U.S. government. Since both Turkey and the USA are allies in NATO, this issue needs to be resolved, and soon, too, since the Taliban have returned like a stomach ache.<\/p>\n
Part I:<\/p>\n
Turkey<\/strong>\u2019s Erdogan threatens new push against US-backed Syrian Kurds<\/strong><\/p>\n By:\u00a0Suzan Fraser, The Associated Press 31 OCT 22018<\/p>\n ANKARA<\/strong>, Turkey<\/strong> \u2014 Turkey\u2019s president said Tuesday his country has finalized plans for a \u201ccomprehensive and effective\u201d operation that would target a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in Syria east of the Euphrates River, a move that could further increase tension in the area where U.S.-led coalition forces are based.<\/p>\n Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s remarks came days after\u00a0the Turkish military shelled Syrian Kurdish People\u2019s Protection Units<\/a>, or YPG, militia positions and following repeated warnings to expand Ankara\u2019s operations to northeastern Syria.<\/p>\n Turkish forces have already forced\u00a0the Syrian Kurdish forces<\/a>\u00a0from west of the Euphrates in two cross-border operations, in 2016 and 2018. Ankara considers the militia a terror threat and an extension of Kurdish rebels waging an insurgency within Turkey.<\/p>\n “Soon, we will descend on them with more comprehensive and effective” force, said Erdogan, who has long vowed to clear all of northern Syria of the militia. He spoke to ruling party legislators.<\/p>\n Full story is here: https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/flashpoints\/2018\/10\/31\/turkeys-erdogan-threatens-new-push-against-us-backed-syrian-kurds\/<\/a><\/p>\n Part II:<\/p>\n US, Turkey begin joint patrols around northern Syrian town of Manbij<\/strong><\/p>\n By:\u00a0Suzan Fraser, AP and\u00a0Bassem Mroue, AP\u00a0 1 NOV 2018<\/p>\n ANKARA, Turkey \u2014 Turkish and U.S. troops on Thursday began jointly patrolling areas<\/a>\u00a0around the northern Syrian town of Manbij, part of\u00a0a roadmap<\/a>\u00a0for easing tensions between the two NATO allies, Turkey\u2019s defense minister announced.<\/p>\n Responding to questions by legislators in Parliament, Hulusi Akar said the patrols began at 3:53 p.m. (1253 GMT) but did not provide further details.<\/p>\n Sharfan Darwish, spokesman of the Manbij Military Council, told The Associated Press earlier that the patrols have started and are taking place on the front lines between his group and those of Turkey-backed rebels in the operation called Euphrates Shield.<\/p>\n Ankara and Washington\u00a0agreed on a roadmap<\/a>\u00a0in June amid Turkish demands for the withdrawal of the U.S.-backed Kurdish militia that freed Manbij from the Islamic State group in 2016.<\/p>\n The U.S. and the Turks have been conducting independent patrols along the front line and joint patrols are considered a way to tamp down potential violence between the various groups in the region. The sides have conducted 68 independent patrols before the combined patrols started.<\/p>\n The Manbij Military Council that administers the town says the Kurdish militia, the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, which Turkey views as a terrorist group, left Manbij in July.<\/p>\n Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist group because of its links to the Kurdish insurgency in southeastern Turkey. It had threatened to storm Manbij to oust the group from the region. (Okay, I get that part, but the Kurds have been there for some time, since before Saddam Hussein was born, and it is nothing new.)<\/p>\n The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, also said the patrols would follow days of\u00a0Turkish shelling of positions<\/a>\u00a0of the main Kurdish militia.<\/p>\n The Observatory and Kurdish spokesman Mustafa Bali said Turkish troops opened fire on the border village of Tal Fandar killing an 11-year-old girl.<\/p>\n So, are the Kurds the terrorists that Erdogan thinks they are?<\/p>\n Originally, back in The Long Ago, they were nomads in that area, just as the Mongols were and still are in Mongolia. They make up the 4th<\/sup> largest indigenous ethnic group in the Middle East, but never obtained a status as a permanent state. At the end of World War I, with the demise of the Ottoman Empire, the 1920 Treaty of S\u00e8vres provided status for a Kurdish sovereign state. However, when the boundaries of modern-day Turkey were set by the Treaty of Lausanne, no such provision was included for the creation of an independent and autonomous Kurdish state. This BBC article provides near-complete information about this history. https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-29702440<\/a><\/p>\n Perhaps it\u2019s time, or even past time, to address this issue head-on, and end the conflict between Erdogan and the Kurds. They have been, after all, successful at chasing out ISISers in Iraq when the Peshmerga had to withdraw, and Turkey refused to attack ISIS positions, resulting in the deaths of many, many Yazidis.<\/p>\n I think the real problem is \u201cturf\u201d. It\u2019s an amorphous thing, but Erdogan sees all of the Lausanne-based boundaries of modern Turkey, including the parts occupied by Kurds, as his \u201cturf\u201d and he\u2019s unwilling to bend even an inch on that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"