FASCIST ERDOGAN'S WAR ON THE KURDS
Updated Fri, October 6, 2023
Smoke rises from Qamishli
By Daren Butler, Tuvan Gumrukcu and kilo
ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkish security forces attacked Kurdish militants in northern Syria and eastern Turkey, and Ankara said it will continue to destroy their capabilities across the region as conflict escalated on Friday nearly a week after a bomb attack in Ankara.
After U.S. forces shot down a Turkish drone in northern Syria on Thursday, Turkey confirmed the incident but assigned no blame, indicating it may want to contain any tensions with its NATO ally.
The military "neutralised" 26 Kurdish militants in northern Syria overnight in retaliation for a rocket attack on a Turkish base, the defence ministry said. Turkey typically uses the term "neutralise" to mean kill.
The rocket attack on the base, by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, killed one Turkish police officer and wounded seven officers and soldiers in northwest Syria's Dabiq area on Thursday evening, Ankara said.
Turkey also conducted air strikes and destroyed 30 militant targets elsewhere in northern Syria on Thursday night, including an oil well, a storage facility and shelters, the defence ministry said.
On Friday, the ministry said Turkey's military had conducted another round of air strikes in northern Syria and destroyed 15 other militant targets where it said militants were believed to be. It did not say where in northern Syria the strikes, carried out at 1900 GMT, had hit.
"As has been done in Iraq, all the capabilities and revenue sources developed by the terrorist organisation in Syria will continue to be destroyed in a systematic way," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
In Turkey, two Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants were "neutralised" in eastern Agri province in a clash with commandos during an operation with combat drone and attack helicopter support, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement.
He said counter-terror police detained 75 people suspected of links to the PKK in an operation across 11 provinces.
The PKK previously claimed responsibility for Sunday's bombing in Ankara that left the two attackers dead and wounded two police officers. Turkey said the attackers came from Syria but the Syrian SDF forces denied this.
TURKISH-U.S. TENSIONS
Turkey lists the YPG as a terrorist organisation and says it is indistinguishable from the PKK, which has fought an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.
The United States and European Union deem the PKK as terrorists, but not the YPG.
The YPG is also at the heart of the SDF forces in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State militants. U.S. support for them has long caused tension with Turkey.
The SDF said Turkish attacks had killed eight people since the Ankara bombing.
Underscoring the tension, the Pentagon said the United States had on Thursday shot down an armed Turkish drone that was operating near its troops in Syria, the first time Washington has brought down an aircraft of NATO ally Turkey.
A Pentagon spokesman said Turkish drones were seen carrying out air strikes in Hasakah, northeast Syria, and one drone that came within less than half a kilometre (0.3 miles) from U.S. troops, was deemed a threat and shot down by F-16 aircraft.
The Turkish foreign ministry statement said one of Turkey's drones was lost during operations against Kurdish militants in northeast Syria due to "different technical evaluations" with third parties on the ground.
Without citing a specific country, it said it was working with the relevant parties on the ground to improve the functioning of non-conflict mechanisms on the ground.
Later on Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the downing of the drone, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said.
"During the call, Minister Fidan conveyed to his counterpart Blinken in strong terms that, as an ally, the United States must stop working together with the YPG terrorist organisation in the north of Syria," the source said.
Fidan also told Blinken that Turkey's military operations in Syria would continue, the source said. The two ministers agreed to work on non-conflict mechanisms between the allies in Syria and Iraq in a way "that will not pose an obstacle to our counter-terrorism battle" after the drone was downed, the source added.
A State Department spokesperson said Blinken highlighted the need for Washington and Ankara to "coordinate and deconflict" their activities on the call.
Ankara, which has said all PKK and YPG targets in Syria and Iraq ARE now "legitimate targets" for its forces, said on Thursday a ground operation into Syria was one option it could consider.
Turkey has mounted several previous incursions into northern Syria against the YPG.
(Reporting by Daren Butler, Tuvan Gumrukcu, and Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Nick Macfie, Andrew Heavens and Sandra Maler)
Talks after US fighter jet shoots down armed Turkish drone in Syria
Thomas Mackintosh - BBC News
Fri, October 6, 2023
File photo of a US-made F-16 fighter jet plane
The top US and Turkish diplomats have spoken by phone after US forces in Syria shot down an armed Turkish drone.
Washington said the drone came too close to its ground forces in Syria, but Ankara merely said it was lost during operations.
During the call between the Nato allies, Hakan Fidan told the US Turkey would keep targeting Kurdish groups.
The US works with Kurdish YPG forces in Syria, but Turkey views them as separatists and terrorists.
Mr Fidan told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Turkey's "counter-terrorism operations in Iraq and Syria will continue with determination".
Meanwhile a US State Department spokesperson said Mr Blinken highlighted the need for Washington and Ankara to "coordinate and deconflict" their activities.
On Thursday US military officials said a US F-16 fighter jet shot down the armed Turkish drone which was operating near American troops in Syria after giving several warnings.
Pentagon spokesperson Brig Gen Patrick Ryder told reporters that American forces had observed several drones carrying out airstrikes near Al Hasakah in north-eastern Syria at 07:30 local time (04:30 GMT).
Some of the strikes were approximately 1km away from US troops, prompting them to take shelter in bunkers, Ryder said.
Four hours later, the F-16 downed the drone after commanders assessed there was a potential threat, he said.
"It's regrettable when you have two NATO allies and there's an incident like this," he told reporters.
It marked the first such incident between the two Nato allies.
There are about 900 US troops operating in Syria as a part of the mission against the Islamic State jihadist group (IS).
Turkey has been launching air strikes against Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq after a suicide blast hit its interior ministry in Ankara.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said the interior ministry bombing had been carried out by a group linked to them.
The PKK is considered a terror group in Turkey, the EU, UK and US.
Turkey views the PKK and the YPG as the same group. However the US has been working with the YPG, which is part of the group of US-backed forces known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that has fought against IS in Syria.
Shortly after the phone call between Mr Blinken and Mr Fidan, Turkey said it had launched renewed attacks on Kurdish target in northern Syria.
The Turkish defence ministry said it had hit 15 Kurdish targets "with the maximum amount" of ammunition and they included "headquarters and shelters".
Who are the Kurds?
The PKK launched an armed struggle against the Turkish government in 1984, calling for an independent Kurdish statewithin Turkey.
In the 1990s, the PKK rolled back on its demands for an independent state, calling instead for more autonomy for the Kurds. More than 40,000 people have died in the conflict.
Fighting flared up again after a two-year-old ceasefire ended in July 2015.
Jomana Karadsheh, Hamdi Alkhshali and Gul Tuysuz, CNN
Thu, October 5, 2023
Reuters
Turkish airstrikes killed at least 11 people in multiple Kurdish-controlled locations in northeastern Syria, the Kurdish Internal Security Force said Thursday, the latest response from Ankara’s forces following a bomb attack in Turkey’s capital claimed by Kurdish militants.
In a post on its official website, the Kurdish Internal Security Force, known as Asayish, said the locations targeted by Turkey included the vicinity of a camp for displaced people and several villages.
“Eleven people were martyred, including five civilians and six members of the Internal Security Forces,” Asayish said.
Eight civilians and two members of the Kurdish security forces were wounded, it added.
In a statement Friday, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said it destroyed 30 targets and “neutralized” multiple Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants during the operation in northern Syria, citing its self-defense rights from Article 51 of the United Nations Charter to justify the strikes.
The strikes come after a bombing in Ankara over the weekend claimed by the PKK, which has waged a nearly four-decade long insurgency and is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
At least one civilian was killed in the attack Sunday when militants hijacked a car, and two police officers were injured in the bombing outside Turkey’s Interior Ministry building.
Later Sunday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said its warplanes had destroyed 20 PKK targets in northern Iraq in response to the attack.
According to Ankara, the PKK trains separatist fighters and launches attacks against Turkey from its bases in northern Iraq and Syria, where a PKK-affiliated Kurdish group controls large swaths of territory.
“In the investigation following the latest incident, it was determined by security forces and intelligence that the terrorists came from Syria and were trained there,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a news conference on Wednesday.
Fidan warned that all facilities belonging to the PKK and related People’s Protection Units (YPG) groups in Iraq and Syria would be “legitimate targets” of the Turkish Armed Forces.
“The response of our armed forces to the terror attack will be very clear and they will once again regret having carried out this attack,” Fidan said.
Kurds, who do not have an official homeland or country, are the biggest minority in Turkey, making up between 15% and 20% of the population, according to Minority Rights Group International.
Portions of Kurdistan – a non-governmental region and one of the largest stateless nations in the world – are recognized by Iran, where the province of Kordestan lies; and Iraq, site of the northern autonomous region known as Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) or Iraqi Kurdistan.
In recent years, Turkey has carried out a steady stream of operations against the PKK domestically as well as cross-border operations into Syria.
In November 2022, Ankara blamed the PKK for a bomb attack in Istanbul that killed six and injured dozens.
Terror attacks in Turkey were tragically common in the mid to late 2010s, when the insecurity from war-torn Syria crept north above the two countries’ shared border.
CNN’s Hande Atay Alam contributed reporting.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
IMPERIALIST INVASION OF SOVERIGN SYRIA
Updated Fri, October 6, 2023
Smoke rises from Qamishli
By Daren Butler, Tuvan Gumrukcu and kilo
ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkish security forces attacked Kurdish militants in northern Syria and eastern Turkey, and Ankara said it will continue to destroy their capabilities across the region as conflict escalated on Friday nearly a week after a bomb attack in Ankara.
After U.S. forces shot down a Turkish drone in northern Syria on Thursday, Turkey confirmed the incident but assigned no blame, indicating it may want to contain any tensions with its NATO ally.
The military "neutralised" 26 Kurdish militants in northern Syria overnight in retaliation for a rocket attack on a Turkish base, the defence ministry said. Turkey typically uses the term "neutralise" to mean kill.
The rocket attack on the base, by the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, killed one Turkish police officer and wounded seven officers and soldiers in northwest Syria's Dabiq area on Thursday evening, Ankara said.
Turkey also conducted air strikes and destroyed 30 militant targets elsewhere in northern Syria on Thursday night, including an oil well, a storage facility and shelters, the defence ministry said.
On Friday, the ministry said Turkey's military had conducted another round of air strikes in northern Syria and destroyed 15 other militant targets where it said militants were believed to be. It did not say where in northern Syria the strikes, carried out at 1900 GMT, had hit.
"As has been done in Iraq, all the capabilities and revenue sources developed by the terrorist organisation in Syria will continue to be destroyed in a systematic way," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
In Turkey, two Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants were "neutralised" in eastern Agri province in a clash with commandos during an operation with combat drone and attack helicopter support, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a statement.
He said counter-terror police detained 75 people suspected of links to the PKK in an operation across 11 provinces.
The PKK previously claimed responsibility for Sunday's bombing in Ankara that left the two attackers dead and wounded two police officers. Turkey said the attackers came from Syria but the Syrian SDF forces denied this.
TURKISH-U.S. TENSIONS
Turkey lists the YPG as a terrorist organisation and says it is indistinguishable from the PKK, which has fought an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 in which more than 40,000 people have been killed.
The United States and European Union deem the PKK as terrorists, but not the YPG.
The YPG is also at the heart of the SDF forces in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State militants. U.S. support for them has long caused tension with Turkey.
The SDF said Turkish attacks had killed eight people since the Ankara bombing.
Underscoring the tension, the Pentagon said the United States had on Thursday shot down an armed Turkish drone that was operating near its troops in Syria, the first time Washington has brought down an aircraft of NATO ally Turkey.
A Pentagon spokesman said Turkish drones were seen carrying out air strikes in Hasakah, northeast Syria, and one drone that came within less than half a kilometre (0.3 miles) from U.S. troops, was deemed a threat and shot down by F-16 aircraft.
The Turkish foreign ministry statement said one of Turkey's drones was lost during operations against Kurdish militants in northeast Syria due to "different technical evaluations" with third parties on the ground.
Without citing a specific country, it said it was working with the relevant parties on the ground to improve the functioning of non-conflict mechanisms on the ground.
Later on Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the downing of the drone, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said.
"During the call, Minister Fidan conveyed to his counterpart Blinken in strong terms that, as an ally, the United States must stop working together with the YPG terrorist organisation in the north of Syria," the source said.
Fidan also told Blinken that Turkey's military operations in Syria would continue, the source said. The two ministers agreed to work on non-conflict mechanisms between the allies in Syria and Iraq in a way "that will not pose an obstacle to our counter-terrorism battle" after the drone was downed, the source added.
A State Department spokesperson said Blinken highlighted the need for Washington and Ankara to "coordinate and deconflict" their activities on the call.
Ankara, which has said all PKK and YPG targets in Syria and Iraq ARE now "legitimate targets" for its forces, said on Thursday a ground operation into Syria was one option it could consider.
Turkey has mounted several previous incursions into northern Syria against the YPG.
(Reporting by Daren Butler, Tuvan Gumrukcu, and Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Nick Macfie, Andrew Heavens and Sandra Maler)
Talks after US fighter jet shoots down armed Turkish drone in Syria
Thomas Mackintosh - BBC News
Fri, October 6, 2023
File photo of a US-made F-16 fighter jet plane
The top US and Turkish diplomats have spoken by phone after US forces in Syria shot down an armed Turkish drone.
Washington said the drone came too close to its ground forces in Syria, but Ankara merely said it was lost during operations.
During the call between the Nato allies, Hakan Fidan told the US Turkey would keep targeting Kurdish groups.
The US works with Kurdish YPG forces in Syria, but Turkey views them as separatists and terrorists.
Mr Fidan told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Turkey's "counter-terrorism operations in Iraq and Syria will continue with determination".
Meanwhile a US State Department spokesperson said Mr Blinken highlighted the need for Washington and Ankara to "coordinate and deconflict" their activities.
On Thursday US military officials said a US F-16 fighter jet shot down the armed Turkish drone which was operating near American troops in Syria after giving several warnings.
Pentagon spokesperson Brig Gen Patrick Ryder told reporters that American forces had observed several drones carrying out airstrikes near Al Hasakah in north-eastern Syria at 07:30 local time (04:30 GMT).
Some of the strikes were approximately 1km away from US troops, prompting them to take shelter in bunkers, Ryder said.
Four hours later, the F-16 downed the drone after commanders assessed there was a potential threat, he said.
"It's regrettable when you have two NATO allies and there's an incident like this," he told reporters.
It marked the first such incident between the two Nato allies.
There are about 900 US troops operating in Syria as a part of the mission against the Islamic State jihadist group (IS).
Turkey has been launching air strikes against Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq after a suicide blast hit its interior ministry in Ankara.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) said the interior ministry bombing had been carried out by a group linked to them.
The PKK is considered a terror group in Turkey, the EU, UK and US.
Turkey views the PKK and the YPG as the same group. However the US has been working with the YPG, which is part of the group of US-backed forces known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that has fought against IS in Syria.
Shortly after the phone call between Mr Blinken and Mr Fidan, Turkey said it had launched renewed attacks on Kurdish target in northern Syria.
The Turkish defence ministry said it had hit 15 Kurdish targets "with the maximum amount" of ammunition and they included "headquarters and shelters".
Who are the Kurds?
The PKK launched an armed struggle against the Turkish government in 1984, calling for an independent Kurdish state
In the 1990s, the PKK rolled back on its demands for an independent state, calling instead for more autonomy for the Kurds. More than 40,000 people have died in the conflict.
Fighting flared up again after a two-year-old ceasefire ended in July 2015.
IT WAS A UNILATERAL CEASEFIRE BY THE PKK NOT RENEWED BY ERDOGAN
Turkish airstrikes kill at least 11 in northern Syria, Kurdish security forces say
Turkish airstrikes kill at least 11 in northern Syria, Kurdish security forces say
Jomana Karadsheh, Hamdi Alkhshali and Gul Tuysuz, CNN
Thu, October 5, 2023
Reuters
Turkish airstrikes killed at least 11 people in multiple Kurdish-controlled locations in northeastern Syria, the Kurdish Internal Security Force said Thursday, the latest response from Ankara’s forces following a bomb attack in Turkey’s capital claimed by Kurdish militants.
In a post on its official website, the Kurdish Internal Security Force, known as Asayish, said the locations targeted by Turkey included the vicinity of a camp for displaced people and several villages.
“Eleven people were martyred, including five civilians and six members of the Internal Security Forces,” Asayish said.
Eight civilians and two members of the Kurdish security forces were wounded, it added.
In a statement Friday, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said it destroyed 30 targets and “neutralized” multiple Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants during the operation in northern Syria, citing its self-defense rights from Article 51 of the United Nations Charter to justify the strikes.
The strikes come after a bombing in Ankara over the weekend claimed by the PKK, which has waged a nearly four-decade long insurgency and is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
At least one civilian was killed in the attack Sunday when militants hijacked a car, and two police officers were injured in the bombing outside Turkey’s Interior Ministry building.
Later Sunday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said its warplanes had destroyed 20 PKK targets in northern Iraq in response to the attack.
According to Ankara, the PKK trains separatist fighters and launches attacks against Turkey from its bases in northern Iraq and Syria, where a PKK-affiliated Kurdish group controls large swaths of territory.
“In the investigation following the latest incident, it was determined by security forces and intelligence that the terrorists came from Syria and were trained there,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a news conference on Wednesday.
Fidan warned that all facilities belonging to the PKK and related People’s Protection Units (YPG) groups in Iraq and Syria would be “legitimate targets” of the Turkish Armed Forces.
“The response of our armed forces to the terror attack will be very clear and they will once again regret having carried out this attack,” Fidan said.
Kurds, who do not have an official homeland or country, are the biggest minority in Turkey, making up between 15% and 20% of the population, according to Minority Rights Group International.
Portions of Kurdistan – a non-governmental region and one of the largest stateless nations in the world – are recognized by Iran, where the province of Kordestan lies; and Iraq, site of the northern autonomous region known as Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) or Iraqi Kurdistan.
In recent years, Turkey has carried out a steady stream of operations against the PKK domestically as well as cross-border operations into Syria.
In November 2022, Ankara blamed the PKK for a bomb attack in Istanbul that killed six and injured dozens.
Terror attacks in Turkey were tragically common in the mid to late 2010s, when the insecurity from war-torn Syria crept north above the two countries’ shared border.
CNN’s Hande Atay Alam contributed reporting.
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
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