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Kurds call on US to set up no-fly zone after Turkish attacks
Tensions between Turkey and the United States are poised to escalate after the Turkish air force carried out a series of pre-dawn strikes against Kurdish militants in Iraq’s Sinjar region and northeastern Syria, killing foes and friends alike, with potentially disruptive effects on the war against the Islamic State.
Summary⎙ Print Expect US-Turkey tensions to rise after the Turkish air force attacked Kurdish militants in Iraq’s Sinjar region and northeastern Syria just as the US-led coalition presses its offensive against IS in Raqqa.
Author Amberin Zaman Posted April 25, 2017
Five peshmerga fighters attached to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Turkey’s closest regional ally, perished in the airstrikes on Mount Sinjar. At least 20 fighters from the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the US-led coalition’s top ally in the fight against the jihadis in Syria, were killed when Turkish jets hit their headquarters in Mount Qarachok near the town of al-Malikiyah, known as Derik in Kurdish. A building housing a local radio station was also destroyed in the attack.
The strikes come at an especially critical moment, as the US-led coalition presses its offensive against IS in Raqqa.
Officials from the US-led coalition familiar with the details of the strikes said Turkish officials had informed the United States of its plans before they were executed. The officials told Al-Monitor on strict condition that they not be identified that Turkey had sought to coordinate the strikes with the Qatar-based Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC), which controls and commands the air campaigns in Syria and Iraq, among others, with US allies. According to one of the officials, “CAOC turned them down.” Turkey went ahead with the strikes anyway.
A Central Command spokesman responding to Al-Monitor’s queries via email said, “The Coalition is aware of the Turkish airstrikes in northern Iraq and Syria. As we've said in the past, all of Iraq’s neighbors need to respect Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity. We encourage all forces to remain focused on the greatest threat to regional and worldwide peace and security and concentrate their efforts on [IS] and not toward objectives that may cause the Coalition to divert energy and resources away from the defeat of [IS] in Iraq and Syria.”
A Syrian Kurdish official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity an unspecified number of US special forces had been “uncomfortably close” to Qarachok when the Turkish jets struck.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ori...-strike-kurds-sinjar-syria.html#ixzz4fObhJPnQ
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I'm torn on this. I'm about as non-internationalist as they come, but I am sympathetic to the Kurds, and dislike the Turkish government.
In the world of hard power, we would most likely never provide this no fly zone, as it would likely push Turkey into Russia or China's arms.
From a moral stand point, if their was ever a group that was being oppressed, and is fighting for liberty, it is the Kurds.
What do you guys think, should we provide a no-fly zone to protect Kurdish peoples, likely being attacked with US made weapons?
Tensions between Turkey and the United States are poised to escalate after the Turkish air force carried out a series of pre-dawn strikes against Kurdish militants in Iraq’s Sinjar region and northeastern Syria, killing foes and friends alike, with potentially disruptive effects on the war against the Islamic State.
Summary⎙ Print Expect US-Turkey tensions to rise after the Turkish air force attacked Kurdish militants in Iraq’s Sinjar region and northeastern Syria just as the US-led coalition presses its offensive against IS in Raqqa.
Author Amberin Zaman Posted April 25, 2017
Five peshmerga fighters attached to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Turkey’s closest regional ally, perished in the airstrikes on Mount Sinjar. At least 20 fighters from the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the US-led coalition’s top ally in the fight against the jihadis in Syria, were killed when Turkish jets hit their headquarters in Mount Qarachok near the town of al-Malikiyah, known as Derik in Kurdish. A building housing a local radio station was also destroyed in the attack.
The strikes come at an especially critical moment, as the US-led coalition presses its offensive against IS in Raqqa.
Officials from the US-led coalition familiar with the details of the strikes said Turkish officials had informed the United States of its plans before they were executed. The officials told Al-Monitor on strict condition that they not be identified that Turkey had sought to coordinate the strikes with the Qatar-based Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC), which controls and commands the air campaigns in Syria and Iraq, among others, with US allies. According to one of the officials, “CAOC turned them down.” Turkey went ahead with the strikes anyway.
A Central Command spokesman responding to Al-Monitor’s queries via email said, “The Coalition is aware of the Turkish airstrikes in northern Iraq and Syria. As we've said in the past, all of Iraq’s neighbors need to respect Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity. We encourage all forces to remain focused on the greatest threat to regional and worldwide peace and security and concentrate their efforts on [IS] and not toward objectives that may cause the Coalition to divert energy and resources away from the defeat of [IS] in Iraq and Syria.”
A Syrian Kurdish official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity an unspecified number of US special forces had been “uncomfortably close” to Qarachok when the Turkish jets struck.
Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/ori...-strike-kurds-sinjar-syria.html#ixzz4fObhJPnQ
______________________________________________________________________________________
I'm torn on this. I'm about as non-internationalist as they come, but I am sympathetic to the Kurds, and dislike the Turkish government.
In the world of hard power, we would most likely never provide this no fly zone, as it would likely push Turkey into Russia or China's arms.
From a moral stand point, if their was ever a group that was being oppressed, and is fighting for liberty, it is the Kurds.
What do you guys think, should we provide a no-fly zone to protect Kurdish peoples, likely being attacked with US made weapons?
