Turkey's Jets Fire on US-Allied Kurds in Syria: Turkish PM
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Turkey has acknowledged attacking a Kurdish militia group that has been a US ally in the fight against ISIL, saying fighters had crossed into an off-limits area in Syria.
The attacks underscore the complications the US and its allies face when forming a strategy against the ISIL terrorist group in an area where regional and sectarian conflicts continue to play out.
Discussing Turkey's role in the region and its two strikes on the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD, in Syria, Turkey's prime minister said, "Turkey has not laid all of its cards on the table yet. The picture will be different when it does so. Everyone should watch its steps."
The comments by Ahmet Davutoglu were the first time that Turkey has confirmed the use of force against ethnic Kurdish militias in neighboring Syria, NPR reported.
The Turkish government — which is facing a Kurdish insurgency of its own at home — fears that these militias could carve out a breakaway Kurdish enclave along the Turkey-Syria border amid Syria’s chaotic civil war.
"Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told Turkish television that Ankara had warned the Syrian Kurds known as the PYD that they should not cross west of the Euphrates River — and after the group did so, Turkish jets struck twice at PYD targets. US officials have supported the Kurdish efforts to battle ISIL in northern Syria .Turkey is worried that Syrian Kurds will expand and consolidate their area of control near Turkey's border while fighting ISIL," the report said.
The incident underscored the potential for friction between the United States and its NATO ally Turkey over the Pentagon’s new strategy of providing greater assistance to the Syrian Kurds.
Syria’s main Kurdish militia — known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG — said that Turkish forces fired on its positions in the northern Syrian town of Tal Abyad on Sunday but that no one was injured and that Kurdish fighters did not return fire.
In recent days, Turkish police and military forces have purportedly engaged in a shootout with suspected ISIL militants and carried out raids against ISIL cells in at least two cities. Turkey has just recently claimed it has detained 30 suspected ISIL militants.
Turkey, a NATO ally and candidate for EU membership, risks sliding into the sort of ethnic and sectarian strife that has torn Iraq and Syria to its south. In the view of some alarmed analysts, Turkey is starting to resemble its neighbors.