MESOPOTAMIA : WITH MERKEL’S WEAPONS ERDOGAN BOMBS KURDS IN SYRIA / FULL REPORT

Turkey Strikes U.S.-Backed Kurds After Erdogan’s ‘Final Warning’ -By Onur Ant and Constantine Courcoulas  – 28. Oktober 2018, 15:56 MEZ – Bloomberg

  • Turkish army shells YPG/PKK positions east of Euphrates river
  • Erdogan presses Washington to push Kurds away from border zone

Turkey fired on U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militants in northern Syria on Sunday, moving ahead with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s vow to rout them from his country’s southern border.

Turkish howitzers targeted positions held by the YPG fighters on the eastern flank of the Euphrates River that splits northern Syria roughly into eastern and western halves, state-run Anadolu news agency said. Turkey had earlier pushed out the American allies from most of the border areas to the west of the river, seeing them as an extension of PKK separatists it’s battled for decades at home.

Sunday’s shelling, albeit limited in scope, threatens to increase tensions between Ankara and Washington, which backed the Kurdish fighters because it saw them as best equipped to drive Islamic State fighters from Syria. The attack on YPG came just two days after Erdogan accused the U.S. of stalling on a June agreement to push the group away from the town of Manbij on the western flank of the Euphrates, and said he was warning Kurdish fighters for the last time to retreat.

Read more on Turkey’s most recent call on Syrian Kurds: Erdogan Issues ‘Final Warning’ to Kurds on Eve of Syria Summit

Erdogan issued that warning a day before hosting German, French and Russian leaders in Istanbul in the search for a negotiated end to Syria’s seven-year civil war. A communique released at the end of the meeting called for a continuation of international efforts to fight terrorist organizations in Syria, without including the Kurds in that grouping as Ankara does.

The quartet did, however, reject separatist agendas aimed at undermining Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, which Turkey has accused YPG of doing in pursuit of an independent state.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron joined the latest effort to break the deadlock in Syria, meeting in a new format to shore up a truce preventing further violence in the country’s last rebel-held region. France was reluctant to commit to a meeting while Russia refused to consider a transition away from Assad’s rule, instead stressing the need for Europe to help pay for reconstruction once the war ends in Syria.

Shaky Truce

Russia and Turkey last month struck a truce to hold off an offensive by Assad’s forces on Idlib by setting up a demilitarized zone between rebels and pro-government forces. An assault threatened to trigger a fresh wave of refugees across Syria’s border, directly affecting Turkey and Europe.

Putin said Russia reserves the right to help Syria mount an operation in Idlib in case of “armed provocations” by militants in the area.

Asked if Assad’s future in Syria came up during the talks, Putin said “no personalities were discussed” since that would be counterproductive for the peace process.

The U.S. was notably absent from the summit. Russia has urged Germany and France to break ranks with Washington and help rebuild Syria so that refugees can go home.

Erdogan is a fierce opponent of Assad, a position that aligned him with the U.S. earlier in Syria’s war. But Erdogan’s position began to change after Russia’s intervention in 2015 turned the tide in Assad’s favor and as the U.S. started backing Syrian Kurdish forces, which Turkey considers an extension of separatists it’s battled at home for decades. In the past year he’s worked closely with Putin and Iran on plans to end the war, yet still opposes Assad’s rule.

“The agreement to set up the constitutional committee by year-end is a small but concrete step forward,” Elena Suponina, a Middle East scholar in Moscow, said by phone. “Nobody expected a major breakthrough, but the new format of talks is already a breakthrough in itself.”

— With assistance by Rudy Ruitenberg, and Constantine Courcoulas