El 20 de enero, Turquía inició una campaña de bombardeos aéreos e intenso fuego de artillería sobre el norte de Siria, con el objetivo declarado de neutralizar una amenaza a su seguridad en la frontera sur de Turquía. El área atacada (y Afrin, ciudad desde la que combato) están bajo control de las Unidades de Protección del Pueblo Kurdo (YPG).
Como comandante de las Fuerzas Democráticas Sirias (FDS), que incluyen las YPG, lo diré claramente: las acusaciones turcas de que estamos llevando la guerra al otro lado de la frontera son totalmente falsas. En realidad, es todo lo contrario; con la operación “Rama de Olivo”, Turquía nos está atacando a nosotros.… Seguir leyendo »
How bizarre that the biggest obstacle to finishing the war against the Islamic State and beginning the stabilization of Syria is America’s supposed friend and NATO ally Turkey.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made the latest attempt to mollify an angry Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a three-hour meeting in Ankara Thursday. But this may be mission impossible: Granting Turkey’s demands would make Syria more unstable and prolong the threat of radical Islamist terrorism there.
The U.S. goal is “getting to yes” with Erdogan, says a senior administration official. To that end, the United States has crafted a tentative package meant to appease the Turks by offering them a buffer zone in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, joint Turkish-American patrols of the Manbij region where Erdogan has threatened an “Ottoman slap” if U.S.… Seguir leyendo »
L’opinion publique occidentale semble l’ignorer mais l’invasion turque du canton kurde syrien d’Afrin est qualifiée de «jihad» ou guerre sainte par la Diyanet, la plus haute autorité religieuse du pays, à la demande sans doute du président turc lui-même.
La fatwa est serinée dans les 90 000 mosquées sunnites du pays où imams et prédicateurs, tous salariés d’un Etat supposé laïc, sont tenus de prier matin et soir avec leurs ouailles pour la victoire de l’armée de conquête turque et de leurs supplétifs syriens jihadistes.
Mimant le cérémonial guerrier des sultans, Recep Tayyip Erdogan a fait accompagner son corps expéditionnaire des tambours de la fanfare militaire ottomane Mehter revêtue des costumes d’époque.… Seguir leyendo »
Mientras Turquía intensifica su campaña militar contra los combatientes kurdos sirios, es tentador echarle la culpa de la violencia al patrioterismo y a la xenofobia estridentes del presidente Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Después de todo, Erdoğan viene advirtiendo desde hace mucho tiempo que Turquía nunca toleraría una presencia militar kurda en la frontera sur del país; la reciente ofensiva parecería sugerir que sus palabras se están traduciendo en acciones.
Y, sin embargo, si bien Erdoğan puede haber ordenado la "Operación Rama de Olivo", el verdadero culpable es el foco miope de Estados Unidos en querer derrotar al yihadismo regional. Sin una política coherente para Siria, las sucesivas administraciones estadounidenses se han obsesionado con apuntar al Estado Islámico (EI) sin considerar las ramificaciones totales de sus acciones.… Seguir leyendo »
The conflict between Turkey and the Kurds has escalated since Turkey started a military offensive against the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin on Jan. 20. The Kurdish militia, the People’s Protection Units, which is the United States-led coalition’s top partner in the fight against the Islamic State, controls Afrin. And Turkey is a critical NATO ally.
The Trump administration is floundering. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has ignored President Trump’s appeal to avoid actions that might risk conflict between Turkish and American forces and torpedo the campaign against the Islamic State. Mr. Erdogan has vowed to carry the battle further east to militia-controlled territory stretching all the way to the Iraqi border, where an estimated 2,000 American Special Operations Forces are deployed.… Seguir leyendo »
For more than a week, my home in northwestern Syria has been under a full-scale assault by the Turkish Army and thousands of Turkish-aligned Islamist jihadists.
Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been threatening this invasion for a very long time. The Turkish Army has been targeting our villages with mortars and artillery for many months now.
I and my fellow members of the Kurdish Women’s and People’s Protection Units, often known as the Y.P.J. and Y.P.G., have fought hard for years to keep the Islamic State out of this autonomous region of Syria known as Rojava. We endured Turkey’s barrages and avoided returning fire, even after civilian casualties, so as not to provide a pretext for this invasión.… Seguir leyendo »
Des milliers de Kurdes sont morts pour débarrasser la Syrie et le monde du fléau de l’organisation Etat islamique. Ces femmes et ces hommes courageux, soutenus par la coalition internationale, ont brisé le mythe d’invincibilité de Daech (acronyme arabe de l’organisation EI), l’ont chassé village après village, ville après ville de tous les territoires où il sévissait y compris de Rakka, capitale de son soi-disant califat.
Parallèlement aux combats, les Kurdes ont mis en place des institutions, des conseils élus représentatifs des populations locales pour gérer ces territoires. Ils y ont accueilli, avec très peu d’aide internationale, plus d’un demi-million de réfugiés et de déplacés en grande partie arabes fuyant la barbarie de Daech ou celle du régime syrien.… Seguir leyendo »
A Turkish attack on the Kurdish “People’s Protection Units” (YPG), the Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), was long expected. For most observers, the question was not if, but when, where, and under what circumstances.
Now we have the answers: seizing on an inflammatory (and subsequently amended) U.S. statement concerning Washington’s cooperation with the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Turkey has launched an aerial and ground offensive against the YPG-held enclave of Afrin in north-west Syria.
The battle is likely to prove indecisive and costly for both sides. It is already a tremendous headache for Washington, their mutual ally, and putting huge strain on North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)-member Turkey’s relations with the U.S.… Seguir leyendo »
«Ah ! Dieu que la guerre est jolie !» s’écriait Apollinaire en portant un bandeau noir autour de la tête pour mieux souligner sa blessure. Le poète de la Chanson du mal-aimé écrivait aussi : «Que c’est beau ces fusées qui illuminent la nuit» en ignorant que l’obus suivait en vérité sa courbe jusqu’aux êtres humains pour les déchiqueter. Quand l’armée turque a débarqué à Chypre en 1974, les dirigeants avaient qualifié l’intervention militaire d’«opération de paix». Aujourd’hui, dans un tout autre contexte, ils appellent la guerre qu’ils viennent de déclarer aux forces kurdes de Syrie «le rameau d’olivier». Comme s’il était possible de tendre à l’adversaire le symbole de la paix en lui envoyant des fusées.… Seguir leyendo »
«Ah ! Dieu que la guerre est jolie !» s’écriait Guillaume Apollinaire en portant un bandeau noir autour de la tête pour mieux souligner sa blessure. Le poète de la Chanson du mal aimé écrivait aussi : «Que c’est beau ces fusées qui illuminent la nuit» en ignorant que l’obus suivait en vérité sa courbe jusqu’aux êtres humains pour les déchiqueter. Quand l’armée turque a débarqué à Chypre en 1974, les dirigeants avaient qualifié l’intervention militaire d’«Opération de paix». Aujourd’hui, dans un tout autre contexte, ils appellent la guerre qu’ils viennent de déclarer aux forces kurdes de Syrie «Le rameau d’olivier».… Seguir leyendo »
Three months ago, I was sitting here in my office with my colleagues, celebrating the liberation of Raqqa from the Islamic State. The Islamic State’s fighters were vanquished by our own Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), with the help of our American allies. We had great hopes that day: Eliminating the security threat meant that we could finally begin investing in education and social services. As a woman, I was especially keen to empower others of my gender, which I saw as a crucial part of our plans to transform our society into a true democracy after our lives under the totalitarian state of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.… Seguir leyendo »
On 20 July 2015, an Islamic State (ISIS) suicide bomb attack killed 33 and injured more than 100 mostly pro-Kurdish young activists in the majority Kurdish town of Suruç in south-eastern Turkey. That same day in nearby Adıyaman province, an alleged attack by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) killed a Turkish corporal. This marked the breakdown of a two-and-a-half-year ceasefire between the PKK – listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU – and the Turkish state. It was also the start of a violent cycle that has taken at least 2,981 lives, about three times more than during the July 2011-December 2012 escalation, when Crisis Group confirmed almost 1,000 deaths.… Seguir leyendo »
With its 9 May announcement that it has decided to directly arm the Kurdish-dominated People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, Washington has inserted itself even further into one of the region’s oldest and bloodiest conflicts: the 33-year-long fight between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is the mother organisation of the YPG and a group deemed a terrorist group by not only Turkey but by the US itself.
In fighting the Islamic State (IS), Washington has been supporting the YPG indirectly for several years and meeting with its commanders. But the decision to provide arms directly further elevates the PKK’s Syrian branch’s status.… Seguir leyendo »
The death toll in Turkey’s PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) conflict rose nearly 10 per cent over the past three months as domestic political and regional dynamics propel the 32-year-old conflict deeper into a more violent trend.
August-October fighting killed 444 people, compared to 402 in the preceding three months. The total death toll since July 2015 has now reached at least 2,301, according to Crisis Group’s open-source casualty tally. This is a rate double that of the last major bout of violence, from July 2011-December 2012, when less than 1,000 people were killed.
The harsh winter months in Turkey’s eastern mountains along the border with Iraq, where most of the recent fighting has taken place, will likely lead to the usual seasonal reduction in clashes.… Seguir leyendo »
When a two-and-a-half year ceasefire collapsed in July 2015, the Turkish state and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – listed internationally as a terrorist organization – entered into a dark, dangerous tunnel from which it will take a great effort for both sides to find a peaceful exit.
The problem is not just that the fighting – the worst since the grim 1990s – had within six months killed around 700 people, including at least 220 civilians, according to the open-source tally of the International Crisis Group (ICG). It is that the achievements of a decade of peace efforts have been lost, causing massive new polarization within Turkey that will be harder than ever to repair.… Seguir leyendo »
Murderous suicide bombings. A deadly upsurge of ethno-sectarian violence spilling over from Syria. A country whose friendship with the US and EU is increasingly fragile, and is now at daggers drawn with a historic enemy, Russia.
With another 28 people killed in the 17 February attack on Turkish soldiers in Ankara, there seems no end to Turkey’s misfortunes. Even scarier scenarios doing the rounds in the Turkish capital include talk of a 14th Russo-Turkish war, unprecedented polarisation of Turkish society and a continuation of the wave of Syrian refugees.
Turkey has been a full member of Nato since 1952, even if Ankara and its allies have not always seen eye to eye.… Seguir leyendo »
On Feb. 17, a bus filled with Turkish soldiers stopped alongside a car at a red light in Ankara. Moments later, a dark column of smoke rose over what had been considered the most secure district of the Turkish capital. A suicide car bomb had ripped through the military bus, killing 28 and injuring more than 60.
The next day, Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, announced that the suicide bomber had links to the Kurdish militia known as the Y.P.G., or People’s Protection Units. It is strange that after little more than 12 hours of investigation, the Turkish government felt confident in accusing the American-backed group.… Seguir leyendo »
The modus operandi of Wednesday's deadly bomb attack in Ankara, which targeted off-duty military officers, is reminiscent of similar past attacks carried out by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Turkey has blamed the PKK's Syrian affiliate Party for Democratic Unity (PYD) and the PYD's military wing, People's Protection Forces (YPG), for the attack. The PYD has denied responsibility for itself or for the YPG.
The PKK on the other hand, hinted at at responsibility for the attack. PKK leader Cemil Bayik told Firat News Agency "the attack in Ankara could be seen as ... our retaliation."
If the PYD is indeed behind this attack, this could signal the beginning of a deeply troubling era of Kurdish politics for Turkey.… Seguir leyendo »
When Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Turkey Saturday, he strongly condemned a group that Turkey considers to be its most clear and present terror threat: the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
While Turkey, the United States and the European Union consider the armed Kurds of the PKK terrorists, the armed Kurds in Syria are something else.
The Syrian Kurds, also known as the YPG or People’s Protection Units, are now operating as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The umbrella group also includes some Arab, Turkmen and Armenian militias, as well as Free Syrian Army (FSA) units that fought in Kobani. Kobani is a Kurdish Syrian town on Turkey’s border that was nearly overrun by Islamic State more than a year ago.… Seguir leyendo »
Many commentators have interpreted the decision of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to restart the war against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., as designed to undo the results of the June 7 general election. The ruling Justice and Development Party, also known as the A.K.P., was deprived of its majority in Parliament when the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, or H.D.P., surged at the polls.
On July 28, Mr. Erdogan broke off negotiations with Kurdish leaders. “It is not possible for us to continue the peace process,” he declared on national television. Not only were talks between the government and the militants over, he said, but Turkey was now engaged in a long war against the Kurdish separatist movement.… Seguir leyendo »
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