Why is AKP - led Turkish government punishing Kurds and leftists for ISIL suicide crimes?

Why is AKP - led Turkish government punishing Kurds and leftists for ISIL suicide crimes?

    Wednesday, October 14, 2015   No comments

by Ahmed E. Souaiaia*

When ISIL suicide bombers killed more than 32 people at a cultural center in Suruç, near Kobani, the AKP led government unleashed waves of airstrikes against PKK fighters in southern Turkey and northern Iraq, instead of launching punishing trikes against ISIL. When two suicide bombers targeted a peace coalition activists, mostly Kurds and leftists, killing more than 96 people, Prime Minister Davutoglu, blamed “the Islamic State, Kurdish militant factions, or far-leftist radicals.” 

Just one day after the attack, Turkish warplanes struck PKK targets in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey, killing “some 30-35 PKK guerrillas on Sunday alone.” No reported strikes against ISIL. Which brings us to the obvious question: Why is the AKP government punishing Kurds for crimes committed by ISIL?

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ought to be tried for crimes against humanity

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ought to be tried for crimes against humanity

    Sunday, October 12, 2014   No comments

by Ahmed E. Souaiaia*

 

ISIL attacks Kobane

Earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden angered some Middle Eastern leaders by making a true statement. Speaking at Harvard, Biden said that the U.S. allies were determined to overthrow Bashar al-Assad from power so they “poured hundreds of millions dollars, and tens thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against al-Assad, accepted the people who would be in supply for al-Nusra and al-Qaeda and extremist elements of jihadists coming from other parts of the world.” Known for his blunt statements, Biden flatly admitted that U.S. “biggest problem is our allies. Our allies in the region were our largest problem in Syria. The Turks… the Saudis, the Emiratis, etc...”

Syria's Kurds, hopes and fears: The civil war in Syria has put great strains on the country's Kurdish population. The Syrian Kurds' most powerful politician, Saleh Muslim Mohammad, talks to Vicken Cheterian about their position and future

Syria's Kurds, hopes and fears: The civil war in Syria has put great strains on the country's Kurdish population. The Syrian Kurds' most powerful politician, Saleh Muslim Mohammad, talks to Vicken Cheterian about their position and future

    Tuesday, October 01, 2013   No comments

by Vicken Cheterian*

Saleh Muslim Mohammad is the head of the Partiya Yekitiya Demokrat (Democratic Union Party / PYD) and the most powerful politician among the Syrian Kurds. The party - founded in 2003, and closely linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a longstanding armed campaign in the Kurdish-majority regions of eastern Turkey - itself has a well-disciplined fighting force of several thousands among the Kurds of northern Syria. During a recent visit to Geneva to meet international organisations, I ask him for his assessment of the Kurds' situation in light of Syria's evolving war.

Mass slaughter of civilian Kurds in Syria ignites heavy clashes and mass exodus

Mass slaughter of civilian Kurds in Syria ignites heavy clashes and mass exodus

    Wednesday, August 28, 2013   No comments

by Rozh Ahmad*

 

Kurdish civilians escaping for their lives in Syria

The al-Qaeda linked “Jabhat al-Nusra” (al-Nusra Front) in Syria, has been held responsible for having instigated a sectarian racist war against civilian Kurds in Syria’s northern Kurdish region, the outcomes of which recently led to the massacre of hundreds of Kurdish women and children, “some of whom were raped and beheaded by jihadists”, says Syrian opposition officials, witnesses and victims.

Human rights activists in Syria’s Kurdish region have confirmed that 450 Kurdish civilians, “mostly women and children, were slaughtered indiscriminately inside their homes at the hands of jihadists of the al-Nusra Front in Tal Abyad, Tal Hassil and Tal A’ran areas of Syrian Kurdistan from July 28 – August 2, 2013.”

Between the Kurdistan and Syria crises lies Turkey’s moral and legal dilemma

Between the Kurdistan and Syria crises lies Turkey’s moral and legal dilemma

    Thursday, February 21, 2013   No comments

by Ahmed E. Souaiaia*

Casualties of Syria's war

Turkey’s zero-problem with its neighbors foreign policy doctrine did not survive the Arab Spring test. At first, Turkey’s Justice and Development Party leaders took a cautious position regarding the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings. Their confliction was especially on display during the Libyan armed rebellion when Turkey, a member of NATO, refused to take part in the military action led by that organization. But all that caution disappeared when the Syrian uprising began in March 2011. The Turkish regime, represented by its foreign minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, effectively gave Assad, a leader of a sovereign nation, a fifteen-day grace period before Turkey went all out offering refuge, training, and support to Assad’s opponents. Perhaps they calculated that, given the success of the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, Assad, too, will quickly fall and this time Turkey should not be on the wrong side of history.

News: Attacks on Kurdish neighborhood in Ras al-Ain, Syria

News: Attacks on Kurdish neighborhood in Ras al-Ain, Syria

    Sunday, January 20, 2013   No comments

According to activists affiliated with the Syrian Monitor of Human Rights and the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change in Syria, a number of armed groups crossed over from Turkey to attack Kurdish neighborhood in Ras al-Ain/Sere Kaniye in north Syria. The attackers were identified as the brigades of Ahrar al-Umma, Ahrar Gowayran, Mishaal Tamo, Ghoraba’ al-Sham, Ahfad al-Rasul, Abna Saad Ibn Abi Waqqas and other groups linked to the military council of the Free Syrian Army. More than 33 people had died in the past 48 hours.

The statement claimed that the armed groups also attacked and looted public buildings “which do not now represent the regime and which are the property of the people.” They forced most of the families in the city to flee, leaving their homes and properties which were looted by the above-mentioned brigades. The People’s Protection Units (YPG) are now arming themselves and digging tranches around the towns. According to other reports, more Islamist fighters crossed from Turkey with three operational tanks. They used the tanks to fire on civilians in the Kurdish areas.

In other news, a Syrian activist, Haythem Abdullah, who is affiliated with the Damascus Military Council claimed that a pilot refused to carry orders to bomb civilians, and instead, bombed positions of the regime's troops. This claim was not independently confirmed. 

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