Turkish-US Relations Won't Recover Until US Drops 'Greater Kurdistan Project'

[BHarwana]

Against the background of Turkey's ongoing military operation against Kurdish militias in northern Syria, things on the diplomatic front are heating up as well, with the US State Department accusing Russia of trying to "drive a wedge" between Ankara and Washington. Turkish international relations experts told Sputnik why the US claims were absurd.

State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert has accused Russia of spreading "propaganda" with statements that the Turkish operation in northern Syria is a response to the US provision of arms to Syrian Kurdish militias.

"I think they would like to drive a wedge between two NATO allies, between the United States and Turkey, and I think that is something that's not going to happen," Nauert said at a press briefing in Washington on Tuesday. "They're not going to succeed on that," she added.

Speaking to Sputnik Turkey, political scientists Hasan Unal and Hasan Oktay explained why it was the US's misguided policies, not Russia's efforts, which have driven Turkish-US relations to their present low point.

Unal, the head of the department of international relations at Atilim University in Ankara, began by explaining why Nauert's statements were ridiculous.

"No one apart from the US itself is exacerbating tensions in Turkish-US relations," the academic noted. "Washington simply needs to learn to look itself in the mirror. Relations between Turkey and the US are being spoiled not by Russia, but by America's own absurd policy, and first and foremost, by its project for the creation of a 'Greater Kurdistan'."

According to Unal, so long as that project continues to hold a key place in the US's Middle East strategy, prospects for reestablishing close relations between Turkey and America will remain poor.

"The US has to stop searching for excuses, inventing this nonexistent 'Russian trace', and finally understand that the problem is in themselves. Because the US is persistently trying to create a Kurdish state, violating the territorial integrity of four countries in the region – Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. They thought that they would be able to move forward with the implementation of this plan, while simultaneously maintaining [good] relations with Turkey. But it was always obvious that Turkey would, sooner or later, oppose such a scenario, and resort to force, which is what we are observing today," the political scientist said.




https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201801251061062646-turkish-us-relations-prospects-analysis/

 

[Trango Towers]

America is a bully. Plain and simple.
North Korea has shown that America only picks on countries that can't fight back. When America knew it would get hit there is no more daily ranting of attacking NK. Other nations have taken note of this. Turkey is bold in its goals and sees the PKK YPG etc a threat to ist security. Pakistan has stepped up its rethoric. Russia is becoming more vocal and Iran....well Iran has always given them two fingers publically. So how many fights is America going to pick and fight. As a nation it's tiring of wars But the war mongers want more

 

[!eon]

US would never drop that project !

 

[cloud4000]

According to Unal, so long as that project continues to hold a key place in the US's Middle East strategy, prospects for reestablishing close relations between Turkey and America will remain poor.

Even if you subtract the Kurdish issue, relations between Turkey and US have been poor and will continue to be so.

 

[Blue In Green]

Even if you subtract the Kurdish issue, relations between Turkey and US have been poor and will continue to be so.

The main take away here is that more and more countries are simply just doing what they want and not giving a damn about what the US has to say about it. This runs contrary to the US's stance about being some sort of world Police and moral high ground something or whatever.

It will only get worse if the US still thinks it can get what it wants through bullying and intimidation. Times and have changed and the US has to go back home. We failed the Middle East royally and no amount of apologize can fix that.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

The Source of "Greater Project"

• The greater PKK
• The Greater iSraevil
• The greater Af-gafanifistan

All are similar projects designed to create a zone of tension , with following objectives

a) Prevent a stable regional force / commerce and trade to flourish
b) Develop a threat which results in defence purchases $300-Trillion dollar worth of defence
sales
c) Growth of illigitimate child iSraevil

• Disrupt Trade in Turkey
  
• Disrupt Trade in Iran
  
• Disrupt Trade in Pakistan

Secondary objective being to control Russia/China by illegally placing weapons in some portion of these regions


The 3 Terrorist entities PKK , iSRawevil , aF-GHAFANISTAN is all a imaginary areas created for sake of distrubance and anti social behavior in region


It is our Naive government which has given Authorization to certain nations (USA) to open their 10,000-15,000 room GHQ like enity to open in Islamabad , when USA is not honoring any payments or refund to our loses.

No one is willing to give us a return for 200 Billion lost over 40 years in economic value due to this aF-GHAFANISTAN , and yet we can't stand in UN and boldly claim

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH" WE WON'T ACCEPT this third party nonesense in our back yard


Only a Humanitarian / diplomatic effort of 5 office should be allowed for embassy in Pakistan anything bigger needs to immediately shut down


If IRAN/PAKISTAN/TURKEY don't have weapons in Cuba or Venezuella or Canada , and we keep ourselves out of US area not sure why they have to be messing our economic areas by coming out with their agenda

This economic Terrorism on our region needs to stop the weapon supplies need to stop

 

[TurkeyForever]

The Source of "Greater Project"

• The greater PKK
• The Greater iSraevil
• The greater Af-gafanifistan

All are similar projects designed to create a zone of tension , with following objectives

a) Prevent a stable regional force / commerce and trade to flourish
b) Develop a threat which results in defence purchases $300-Trillion dollar worth of defence
sales
c) Growth of illigitimate child iSraevil

• Disrupt Trade in Turkey
  
• Disrupt Trade in Iran
  
• Disrupt Trade in Pakistan

Secondary objective being to control Russia/China by illegally placing weapons in some portion of these regions


The 3 Terrorist entities PKK , iSRawevil , aF-GHAFANISTAN is all a imaginary areas created for sake of distrubance and anti social behavior in region


It is our Naive government which has given Authorization to certain nations (USA) to open their 10,000-15,000 room GHQ like enity to open in Islamabad , when USA is not honoring any payments or refund to our loses.

No one is willing to give us a return for 200 Billion lost over 40 years in economic value due to this aF-GHAFANISTAN , and yet we can't stand in UN and boldly claim

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH" WE WON'T ACCEPT this third party nonesense in our back yard


Only a Humanitarian / diplomatic effort of 5 office should be allowed for embassy in Pakistan anything bigger needs to immediately shut down


If IRAN/PAKISTAN/TURKEY don't have weapons in Cuba or Venezuella or Canada , and we keep ourselves out of US area not sure why they have to be messing our economic areas by coming out with their agenda

This economic Terrorism on our region needs to stop the weapon supplies need to stop

Join us, do like Turkey send in your armed forces to problematic border areas right now!

Turkey alone is making the US step back and change their tone, they are now saying they want Turkey to make a 30km zone in all syrian border. Because they are cornered without the kurds.

Go on US can't do anything, it's time everyone realize what a paper tiger the US is.

 

[Dalit]

Even if you subtract the Kurdish issue, relations between Turkey and US have been poor and will continue to be so.

LOL don't think that Turkey is an exception. The US has such problems with half the planet.

The main take away here is that more and more countries are simply just doing what they want and not giving a damn about what the US has to say about it. This runs contrary to the US's stance about being some sort of world Police and moral high ground something or whatever.

It will only get worse if the US still thinks it can get what it wants through bullying and intimidation. Times and have changed and the US has to go back home. We failed the Middle East royally and no amount of apologize can fix that.

The stupid rednecks i.e. the white angry men are delusional. The world has changed so dramatically. The Yanks are afraid of a multipolar world. The greedy bastards just want the whole pie for themselves. Too bad they can't have it their way.

Trumpland is mired with conflicts and challenges. Both domestically and internationally. Never has the world seen such a weak and pathetic America where a bloody entertainer is running the show LOL The US has reached such incredible lows that not a day goes by without controversy and some sort of a scandal erupting out of the blue. It is funny how the white angry Americans and their slaves like to convince themselves that everything is fine. It is like closing your eyes and pretend that calamity hasn't struck.

 

[cloud4000]

The main take away here is that more and more countries are simply just doing what they want and not giving a damn about what the US has to say about it. This runs contrary to the US's stance about being some sort of world Police and moral high ground something or whatever.

It will only get worse if the US still thinks it can get what it wants through bullying and intimidation. Times and have changed and the US has to go back home. We failed the Middle East royally and no amount of apologize can fix that.

If other countries can solve their problems – like Syria—without US intervention then so much the better, yet some of the same countries that call US ‘warmonger’ or ‘bully’ or ‘meddler’, also look towards the US for help or assistance when they are in trouble.

Turkey is one of them. For all the complaining, it banks on the US, and NATO, to protect them if things get hot. US deployed Patriot systems in Turkey during the early years of fighting ISIS. Thousands of US military personnel are stationed in Turkey.

It’s kind of hard to beat your chest when the same person you are beating your chest against is also protecting you.

Nevertheless, I agree that US shouldn’t be the world’s policeman. Let others pick-up the burden. China wants to be a superpower, so let it act like one. Fortunately, a multi-polar world is emerging that will reduce reliance on US.

 

[TurkeyForever]

If other countries can solve their problems – like Syria—without US intervention then so much the better, yet some of the same countries that call US ‘warmonger’ or ‘bully’ or ‘meddler’, also look towards the US for help or assistance when they are in trouble.

Turkey is one of them. For all the complaining, it banks on the US, and NATO, to protect them if things get hot. US deployed Patriot systems in Turkey during the early years of fighting ISIS. Thousands of US military personnel are stationed in Turkey.

It’s kind of hard to beat your chest when the same person you are beating your chest against is also protecting you.

Nevertheless, I agree that US shouldn’t be the world’s policeman. Let others pick-up the burden. China wants to be a superpower, so let it act like one. Fortunately, a

multi-polar world is emerging that will reduce reliance on US.

What Turkey is one of them?

The US is bound by the NATO rules to help us if there is a risk of missiles falling on turkish soil.

It's NATO not the US.

When was the last time americans died for us?

Turkish soldiers died for them in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Korea.

Don't come here talking as if Turkey needs the US, we have done more for them than they have for us.

What US and A has done for Turkey is this =
- They are arming a terrorist group on our border that is determined to attack Turkey.
- They attempt a coup in Turkey using the CIA and fetullah gulen, the coup failed but they won't even press charges against this gulen guy, they are protecting him.
- Us has limited a lot of weapons sales to Turkey such as armed drones, because they know we will kill their terrorists with them. So we ended up creating our own armed drones.

A question to Pakistanis, are all Indians like this guy?

They adore the USA?

 

[xenon54 out]

Turkey's offensive in Syria leaves U.S. in a bind

Trump's homeland security advisor Tom Bossert said the U.S. would prefer Turkey exit from Afrin, Syria, where it's been launching an assault on U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. That's a shift from just earlier this week when U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said he hoped Turkey would exercise "restraint" in the offensive.

What's happening: Turkey's entrance for the first time as an overt combatant in the war is dramatically shifting the political calculus of the war, and exposing a new challenge for the Trump administration: delineating the boundaries, physical and otherwise, of U.S. involvement in Syria post-ISIS.

• The big picture is this reveals how little influence in the region the U.S. now holds, former Senior Adviser to the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. State Department, David Phillips, tells Axios.
• This cements, “at least in near term, that Turkey and Russia will work against the U.S. in the region for an outcome that is damaging for U.S. national security,” Jenny Cafarella, the Senior Intelligence Planner at the Institute for the Study of War, tells Axios.
  • Turkey coordinated with Russia to de-conflict the area so that Turkey could launch the assault in the first place, even though Russia and Turkey hold different beliefs about what Syria's future should hold.
• The bottom line, per Cafarella: “If the U.S. is indirectly at war with Turkey the U.S. will have a hard time” pivoting to broad goals, such as getting Assad booted from power.

State of the conflict in Afrin
"The Turkish army is besieging Afrin from three sides," Rezan Hiddo, a Kurdish official in Afrin told the AP.

• The chief of the U.S. Central Command Gen. Joseph Votel and the White House envoy for the war against ISIS Brett McGurk are in Syria this week talking with Kurdish officials, per the AP.
• Turkey’s stated objectives are to seize Afrin and then move the offensive towards Manbij. If that happens, it raises the prospect of direct clashes with U.S. forces.

The U.S. shifts

• U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced last week the U.S. would be bolstering a border force, which alarmed Turkey and provided some rationale for the assault.
• A State Department official then walked Tillerson’s comments back and pointed out that the operation in Syria remains one of support and stability.
• Yes, but: A stabler YPG force is exactly the opposite of what Turkey wants. This pits the U.S. against Turkey so long as the U.S. backs the YPG.
  • It was a question of when this would happen, not if. Turkey has been posturing to counter the YPG for some time now, and the U.S. has long-known Turkey views the YPG as a terrorist organization.
• The White House said Trump discussed concerns with Erdogan that the assault erodes U.S. and Turkish goals in Syria. Turkish officials told the AP Trump did not express concerns over escalating violence.

What now

• Phillips predicts a more hands off approach from the U.S. moving forward: “I’m just waiting for the next foot to fall,” Phillips said. He says he thinks the U.S. will “do the same” thing that it did to the Iraqi Kurds in Kirkuk (allowing rivals in, such as the IRGC in that case, in to reduce the Kurds' gains). He expects it will happen “to the Syrian Kurds as soon as its expedient" for the U.S.
• On whether a political solution is possible now: Right now, not really, per Phillips. It’s “hard to get to that point when there’s active hostility going on. That’s why Turkey’s entry into Syria as an overt combatant is such a problem" for the U.S.

Scheduled diplomatic talks lie ahead, which Cafarella says could help the U.S. “preserve gains that we’ve built and realign with Turkey.”

1. Vienna, Austria, Thursday and Friday this week: The last time this same meeting regarding a political future in Syria (elections and a constitution) convened, talks were unsuccessful. Go deeper on these talks via Reuters.
2. Sochi, Russia next Monday and Tuesday: Kurdish leadership has indicated it won't attend the talks due to Russia's "collusion" in the Afrin assault. Go deeper on these talks via Reuters.

https://www.axios.com/turkey-afrin-kurds-bossert-trump-a0c73c2c-3f4d-41df-9f66-014790772cf2.html

 

[Ceylal]

Greater Kurdistan,or Kurdistan, as a state is a fact. Countries that may loose some territory with Kurdish population has to adjust and live wit that reality.

 

[TurkeyForever]

Greater Kurdistan,or Kurdistan, as a state is a fact. Countries that may loose some territory with Kurdish population has to adjust and live wit that reality.

Yeah sure, keep being a french colony which you are good at.

 

[Taskforce]

If the US steps back in Manbij it will show the world they are weak. It will be interesting how the US is going to chicken out of this. Perhaps they will release some juicy details about Erdoğan to bribe him. That would be bad.

 

[Dalit]

A question to Pakistanis, are all Indians like this guy?

They adore the USA?

They are even worse. They like to crawl into Uncle Sam's rear. Yes.

Greater Kurdistan,or Kurdistan, as a state is a fact. Countries that may loose some territory with Kurdish population has to adjust and live wit that reality.

I think people living in glass houses shouldn't throw with stones. Western Sahara certainly belongs to Morocco, right?