WEST KURDISTAN (SYRIA) – MESOPOTAMIA NEWS TODAYS ANALYSIS BY CIPHER LETTER EXPERTS
Turks in Afrin: How Does It End? – By Ambassador James Jeffrey
15 March 2018 – Turkish forces are reportedly poised to enter the embattled city of Afrin in northwest Syria, the culmination of a two-month-old campaign against Syrian Kurdish militia. But it’s not clear what Turkey sees as a victory, according to Amb. James Jeffrey, former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Iraq. He offers a way for the U.S. and Turkey to secure a compromise: • “The Afrin campaign…complicates the extremely dangerous situation in Syria— with multiple conflicts involving the U.S., its allies Turkey and Israel, a loose Russia-Syria-Iran coalition, and local actors such as ISIS and the Syrian Kurdish militia.”
- “Turkey, for understandable reasons, considers the [Syria’s main Kurdish party] PYD – and its YPG militia, aka ‘People’s Protection Units’ – to be an arm of the Turkish Kurdistan Worker’s Party or PKK. The PKK has fought for Kurdish independence inside Turkey since 1984 – and also has had off-and-on close relations with the Assad regime.”
- “Turkey insists Afrin is only the first step to cleansing the entire northern border of PYD/YPG elements, but this is unrealistic. It would mean a huge conflict with millions of Kurds with impact on Turkey’s own Kurds, a possibly violent break with the U.S., and likely opposition from Russia.”
Read Amb. Jeffrey’s column. Read all https://www.thecipherbrief.com/column/expert-view/turks-afrin-end?utm_source=Join+the+Community+Subscribers&utm_campaign=2408004149-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_03_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_02cbee778d-2408004149-122492169&mc_cid=2408004149&mc_eid=7382055310