[The US, and its Western allies in particular, on one hand, and Turkey, on the other, are obviously not on the same page here. (The analytical piece, at sl. no. III, below provides a synoptic view of the current tensions between the two NATO allies.)
Kurds are there in Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran. And in all the four states they've long histories of determined fights for independence/autonomy. And all these states employed extremely harsh measures to suppress them - all the various Kurdish factions. Saddam, for example, as is rather well known, had allegedly used chemical weapons and committed genocide against them, in the late eighties. That history is apparently playing its part right now.] I/III. http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/syria-town-of-kobani-on-turkish-border-will-fall-to-isis-turkish-leader-says-1.2789820 Syria town of Kobani on Turkish border will fall to ISIS, Turkish leader says Aerial bombardments alone by U.S. and allies may not be enough to stop ISIS, Erdogan says The Associated Press Posted: Oct 07, 2014 5:50 AM ET Last Updated: Oct 07, 2014 8:17 AM ET An ISIS fighter heads toward a black flag belonging to the militant group near the Syrian town of Kobani, pictured from across the Turkish-Syrian border, on Monday. ISIS militants raised their flag on a building on the eastern outskirts of the dusty border town which has become a key battleground between ISIS militants and Western-backed Kurdish fighters. (Umit Bektas/Reuters) 1 of 7 Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the Syrian border town of Kobani, under siege by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria fighters, is about to fall to militants. Erdogan made the comments Tuesday during an address to Syrian refugees at a camp in Gaziantep province, near the border with Syria. Erdogan said aerial bombardments alone may not be enough to stop ISIS and called for support of opposition forces. Syria-Turkey border town under seige by ISIS fighters How ISIS and Syria drove a stake through Arab Spring Coalition airstrike casualties weigh on Canada's decision "There has to be co-operation with those who are fighting on the ground." Just days ago, Turkey said it wouldn't let Kobani fall. ISIS fighters entered the town late Monday and took control of three districts after street-to-street fighting with Syrian Kurdish forces. Warplanes believed to have been sent by the U.S.-led coalition on Tuesday struck positions held by Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants near a Syrian border town that beleaguered Kurdish forces have been struggling to defend. The airstrikes began late Monday and came as Kurdish forces pushed ISIS militants out of the eastern part of Kobani, where the jihadists had raised their black flag over buildings hours earlier, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. On Tuesday morning journalists on the Turkish side of the border heard the sound of warplanes before two large plumes of smoke billowed just west of Kobani. 160,000 Syrians flee The U.S.-led coalition has launched several airstrikes over the past two weeks near Kobani in a bid to help Kurdish forces defend the town, but the sorties appear to have done little to slow ISIS, which captured several nearby villages in a rapid advance that began in mid-September. The assault has forced some 160,000 Syrians to flee and put a strain on Kurdish forces, who have struggled to hold off the extremists. Hundreds more civilians fled Kobani on Monday as the jihadists advanced, according to the Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria. On Tuesday morning, occasional gunfire could be heard in Kobani, also known by the Arabic name Ayn Arab. A flag of the Kurdish force known as the People's Protection Units, or YPG, was seen flying over a hill in central Kobani. On Monday, jihadi fighters raised two of their black flags on the outskirts of Kobani and punctured the Kurdish front lines, advancing into the town itself. But the Observatory said the Kurds forced the jihadists to withdraw from the eastern part of the town in heavy clashes after midnight. It said five loud explosions were heard in the town as warplanes soared overhead. More airstrikes The Observatory said the jihadists were meanwhile able to capture several buildings on the southern edge of Kobani as well as a hospital under construction on the western side. The Observatory and the Local Co-ordination Committees, another activist group, also reported coalition airstrikes on the eastern province of Deir el-Zour. The United States and five Arab allies launched an aerial campaign against ISIS in Syria on Sept. 23 with the aim of rolling back and ultimately crushing the extremist group. The U.S. has been bombing Islamic State targets in neighbouring Iraq since August. ISIS has conquered vast swaths of Syria and Iraq, declaring a self-styled caliphate governed by a harsh version of Shariah law. The militants have massacred captured Syrian and Iraqi troops, terrorized minorities in both countries and beheaded two American journalists and two British aid workers. With files from Reuters II/III. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29517493 7 October 2014 Last updated at 12:11 Kobane: Islamic State fighters 'widen Kurdish town attack' Paul Adams said Kobane seemed quieter on Tuesday morning Fighting between Islamic State (IS) militants and Syrian Kurds is reported to have spread to a southern district of the town of Kobane on the Turkish border, as US-led air strikes continue. But fighting in the town was less intense than on Monday, when IS took control of three districts in the east. Witnesses report several loud explosions and plumes of smoke from coalition air strikes. More than 160,000 Syrians, mainly Kurds, have fled Kobane recently. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the town was on the verge of falling and "co-operation" on a ground offensive was necessary. If IS captures Kobane, its jihadists will control a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border. In the latest clashes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) activist group said IS had crossed into a southern district of Kobane, taking over many buildings. However, the group said heavy fighting had forced IS to pull back in eastern districts. It also suggested many IS fighters had been killed in an ambush by Syrian Kurdish fighters. At least 400 people have been killed in three weeks of fighting for Kobane, according to the SOHR's latest estimate. The town is now besieged on three sides. The view of an IS flag from the Turkish side of the border near Kobane A Kurdish official in Kobane, Idriss Nassan, told AFP news agency there were "lots of clashes" on Monday night and Kurdish fighters had halted the IS advance in the east of the town. He also repeated the Syrian Kurds' appeal for the West to supply weapons, and called for coalition aircraft to "strike more effectively". Mr Nassan said the Kurds had not yet received "any suitable answer". On Monday, IS took control of Mistenur, the strategic hill above Kobane after heavy shelling. There was constant gunfire and a steady stream of Turkish ambulances racing to and from the border, with many wounded people being treated in hospitals close to the frontier. A humanitarian mission to evacuate the few thousand civilians left in Kobane continued on Tuesday. Turkish inaction Questions are being raised about why Turkey - with its sizeable military - has not intervened to defend Kobane. Kurdish protesters broke into the European Parliament Karwan Zebari, a representative of the Kurdish regional government in the US, is among those urging Turkey to take action. "If this continues, if there's no international aid, military aid arriving for the residents of Kobane and these Kurdish fighters that are fighting in Kobane, it could fall into the hands of IS," he told the BBC. In Turkey, Kurds angered at the government's reluctance to intervene clashed with police overnight in several cities, including Istanbul. Turkish Kurds and refugees have been involved in confrontations with Turkish security forces on the border for the past two days. Last week, Turkey pledged to prevent Kobane from falling to the militants and its parliament authorised military operations against militants in Iraq and Syria. line Analysis: Paul Adams, BBC News, near the Syrian border Turkey - a regional superpower with significant troops and armour in the area - seems extremely reluctant to intervene despite a government pledge to do whatever it takes to prevent the Kurdish town of Kobane from falling. It wants the US-led coalition to agree on a number of things first, including setting up a no-fly zone and a buffer zone in northern Syria and, crucially, a renewed focus on getting rid of President Assad - which remains Turkey's principal objective. Add to that the very bad blood that has existed for decades between Turkey and its own Kurdish population. Turkey fought a bloody war against the Turkish guerrilla group, the PKK, that helps to explain why Ankara remains deeply reluctant to get engaged. line KOBANE KEY FACTS: Kobane, known in Arabic as Ayn al-Arab, and the villages surrounding it were home to about 400,000 people, most of them Kurds Kurdish parties have governed the area since the Syrian army withdrew two years ago In the first half of 2014, IS seized control of neighbouring areas, leaving Kobane surrounded on three sides IS launched a major offensive on 16 September, prompting more than 100,000 people to flee to Turkey Syrian Kurds battle to keep hold of strategic Kobane III. http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/10/turkey-united-states-biden-erdogan-middle-east-harvard.html# Biden's apology hides the truth Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received an instant public apology from the White House following US Vice President Joe Biden's remarks Oct. 2 at the Harvard Kennedy School. Biden delivered his personal apology to Erdogan via telephone Oct. 4, and the White House issued a statement saying that Biden did not intend to imply that Turkey "intentionally" facilitated terrorists. While this apology -- after a student questioned whether the United States should have acted earlier in Syria and why this is the right time now -- has not yet appeared on the White House website, its YouTube audio upload of Biden's speech includes one problematic segment (at the 1 hour, 32-minute mark). The question is in fact a perfect reflection of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's approach to the Syrian dilemma. "No one has neither the right nor the license to criticize Turkey," Davutoglu said Oct. 4. "The US administration and Joe Biden know too well that Turkey has been continuing to provide a safe haven to the [Syrian] refugees for four years, and if our warnings had been heeded at the beginning, we would not be living these tragedies today." Biden, however, expressed an unmitigated disagreement with this assumption. The vice president said at the Harvard Kennedy School, "The answer is no for two reasons. One, the idea of identifying a moderate middle has been a chase America has been engaged in for a long time. We Americans think in every country in transition there is a Thomas Jefferson hiding beside some rock or a James Madison beyond one sand dune. The fact of the matter is the ability to identify a moderate middle in Syria -- there was no moderate middle, because the moderate middle are made up of shopkeepers, not soldiers. They are made up of people who in fact have ordinary elements of the middle class in that country. And what happened was and history will record this ... "What my constant cry was is that our biggest problem is our allies. Our allies in the region were our largest problem in Syria. The Turks were great friends. And I have a great relationship with Erdogan [whom] I just spent a lot of time with. The Saudis, the Emiratis, etc. What were they doing? They were so determined to take down [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war. What did they do? "They poured hundreds and millions of dollars and tens and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad. Except that the people who were being supplied were [Jabhat] al-Nusra and al-Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world. Now you think I'm exaggerating. Take a look: Where did all of this go? So now what's happening? All of a sudden, everybody is awakened because ... [IS] which was al-Qaeda in Iraq, which when they were essentially thrown out of Iraq, found open space and territory in ... eastern Syria, worked with al-Nusra who we declared a terrorist group early on and we could not convince our colleagues to stop supplying them. So what happened? Now, all of a sudden, I don't want to be too facetious, but they have seen the Lord! Now ... the president's been able to put together a coalition of our Sunni neighbors, because America can't once again go into a Muslim nation and be the aggressor. It has to be led by Sunnis to go and attack a Sunni organization. So what do we have for the first time?" The White House YouTube audio of this event ends with that question, and does not include Biden's other comments about Erdogan, where Biden, making a reference to militants crossing into Syria from Turkey, said, "President Erdogan told me ... 'You were right, we let too many people through,'" and said Turkey was now trying to seal its border. Erdogan reacted to this on Oct. 4 by saying, "If he did say those words, Biden is then history to me. I never told him such a thing. Second, we have never helped any terror organization in the slightest bit. No one can ever prove that. No foreign fighter has penetrated into Syria through our country. Our sensitivity continues on that issue. We banned the entry of 6,000 people to Turkey and deported 1,000. It is wrong to accuse Turkey of such a thing. I condemn it," adding, "We have never said in our last meeting in the US anything like, 'We made a mistake.' We never had such a position. We did not tell them that they were right on this issue. If Biden said such a thing, he needs to apologize." Biden, besides apologizing to Erdogan, also apologized to the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. On Sept. 26, I wrote for Al-Monitor about criticism from top US officials -- without naming Erdogan and Davutoglu -- about Turkey's ambiguous relationship with terror organizations. The article also pointed to President Barack Obama's rebuke of Erdogan without naming him in the US leader's UN General Assembly speech. Obama laid out how the two presidents have different value systems, yet concluded, "The United States will remain glad to see Turkey on board in any capacity possible in the fight against IS, and all these conflicting interests and contradicting values will be put to sleep -- until the next rift comes around." So the Biden apology was issued to keep Turkey as part of the coalition. Still, it is not yet clear how Turkey will contribute to the US-led coalition against IS. Gen. John Allen, Obama's envoy to coordinate the coalition, will be visiting Turkey this week to try to hammer out the Turkish role in the fight. Erdogan's reaction to Biden made clear that the Turkish government has three conditions for the coalition. "We told them that unless our three requests are not met, we won't take part in this coalition," Erdogan said Oct. 4. "We told them a no-fly zone needs to be put in place -- on this matter, the coalition members, including the United States, responded positively. A safe zone needs to be created and the train-and-arm principle needs to be followed. All this needs to be agreed upon." Haldun Solmazturk, who spent many years serving with NATO, told Al-Monitor that the United States extended its apology to Erdogan not challenging the merits of what was said, but because it needs Turkey in the coalition against IS. "Otherwise, they could have easily shot back, 'Well, we did not say they crossed the border as an armored, reinforced squad marching quickly!'" Solmazturk said. The tricky thing now is that if Erdogan stays true to his word on these three conditions, the potential exists for Turkey to not join the coalition. The Turkish government still affirms that Assad needs to go for Syria to be stabilized; this is in direct contrast with the coalition's mission. It seems that after Libya, there is no appetite for toppling regimes without a recipe for a secure and stable outcome -- just as Biden outlined in his answer that there is no Thomas Jefferson or James Madison waiting in these countries to fix things. In case Turkey does act alone, and its leaders continue to say what they think is right, the United States, Russia, Iran and others -- i.e., the Arab states -- would likely make Turkey pay a price. Hence, the apology remains a technical correction to what has been the US administration's perception of the Turkish position for some time. Tulin Daloglu Columnist Tulin Daloglu is a columnist for Al-Monitor's Turkey Pulse. She has also written extensively for various Turkish and American publications, including The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, The Middle East Times, Foreign Policy, The Daily Star (Lebanon) and the SAIS Turkey Analyst Report. On Twitter: @TurkeyPulse -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
