Turkey's Move into Syria
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- Published on Monday, 29 August 2016 21:30
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1297 .... August 30, 2016
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Turkey's Move into Syria:
Challenging the Kurds, Overthrowing Rojava
Phil Hearse
Turkey's incursion into northern Syria on 24 August was flagged up as a move to drive the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) out of the border town of Jarabulus. But that is just a cover: Turkey's not very secret major objective is to crush the 50,000-strong Kurdish YPG (people's Protection Unit) militia, and overrun the three autonomous Kurdish dominated areas, collectively called "Rojava" by the Kurds.
Two days into the Turkish invasion, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim stated bluntly that this operation would not be ended until Islamic State "and other militants" had been crushed. Already there are reports of fighting between Turkish-led forces and the YPG south of Jarabulus and thousands of Turkish troops... massing on the border.
Turkey struck first toward Jarabulus because the government of Islamist president Recep Erdoğan was concerned that the town should not follow the example of Manbic (Manbij), where ISIS was driven out by the Syrian Democratic Forces alliance, which has the Kurdish YPG (Peoples Protection Units) at its core. This was a stunning military and political coup for the YPG.