MESOPOTAMIA NEWS BACKGROUNDER : ERDOGANS FURTHER PROGRESS AND T HE US REACTION – US tried to deceive Turkey in Syria, says Erdoğan
THE DEFENSE ONE BRIEF 20 March 2018
| Turkey is on a rampage, as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed Monday to send his invasion forces on from formerly Kurdish-held Afrin, Syria, toward the city of Manbij, where American troops are deployed in support of Kurdish fighters. Recall that Erdogan’s goal is to end the Kurdish presence wherever it can be found, in this case near its border with Syria, as the Kurdish YPG militia have been waging an insurgency in Turkey for years.
Of the ongoing incursion into NW Syria, Erdogan said, “We will continue this process until we entirely eliminate this corridor, including in Manbij, Ayn al-Arab, Tal Abyad, Ras al-Ayn and Qamishli.” The U.S. military’s reax was tepid and cautious. “We are very concerned about the effect that fighting there [in Afrin] has had” on the war against ISIS in Syria, Pentagon spokesman U.S. Army Col. Rob Manning told reporters Monday. But Erdogan wasn’t done talking — nor was he finished taking swings at the U.S. “You [that is, the U.S.] have tried to deceive us,” Erdogan told parliament this morning, according to Kurdish Rudaw news. “If we are strategic partners, you will have to respect us and move along with us. You [U.S.] tried to deceive us. You sent 5,000 trucks of weapons there. You sent more than 2,000 trucks of ammunition there. We wanted weapons from you to buy with our money, but you did not give any to us. What kind of a strategic partnership or solidarity is this?” he asked for the cameras. More from Turkey’s Hürriyet Daily News, here. |
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/us-attempted-to-deceive-turkey-erdogan-says-129020