Dispute Over Kurds Threatens U.S.-Turkey Alliance

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Escalating tensions between Turkey and the United States, which now jeopardize their alliance in the Syria conflict, can be traced to the Kurds, a Middle East people who do not have a state of their own. Here are five questions about the Kurds and their role in the rapidly evolving events in Syria and Turkey:

Q. Who are the Kurds, where do they live and what do they want?

A. The Kurds are an indigenous ethnic group with a population of 25 million to 35 million. They are basically spread through four countries — Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, with lesser numbers in Armenia and Azerbaijan. They primarily follow the Sunni branch of Islam, share cultural identities and speak variants of the Kurdish language. Historically they resided in the Zagros Mountains, a range that straddles parts of these countries, commonly known as Kurdistan or land of the Kurds. But they are divided politically, reflecting a long history of uprisings for autonomy that have repeatedly been crushed.

Q. Why have the Kurds become such a priority for Turkey?

A. Turkey has historically worried about aspirations of Kurdish autonomy because it has more Kurds — at least 15 million — than any other country. They reside mostly in the southeast, which shares borders with Syria, Iraq and Iran. The Turks have been suppressing a violent Kurdish insurgency since the late 1970s led by the Kurdish Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., a militant group regarded by both Turkey and the United States as a terrorist organization. A short-lived peace process collapsed last year.

Now the Turks say the P.K.K. is collaborating with Kurdish militants in northern Syria, known as the People’s Protection Units, or the Y.P.G., to establish an autonomous region spanning both countries.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/19/world/middleeast/dispute-over-kurds-threatens-us-turkey-alliance.html

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1. Turkey and the gates of chaos

Friday was supposed to be the start of a ceasefire agreed a week ago by the participants in the international conference on Syria. Instead of the guns going silent, though, hostilities are raging on many fronts. The most serious development is the speed with which Turkey is sliding into the chaos of war, both within and outside its borders.

Turkey is perhaps the most crucial player in the region. It could play the most positive role, to the benefit of stability, but also, with its mistakes, could threaten further catastrophe and a continued flow of refugees. In its single-minded effort to prevent the establishment of an autonomous Kurdish region on its border, Turkey is taking decisions that cancel each other out and cause grave danger.

The bomb attack against military buses in the heart of the Turkish capital on Wednesday night underlines the complexity of the problems that Ankara faces. The government immediately cast blame on Syria’s Kurds, naming the alleged bomber (said to be a refugee from Syria) and describing the operation and those involved. On the other hand, the investigations into the attacks by so-called Islamic State (ISIS) operatives against demonstrators in Ankara and other cities in past months, with scores of dead, are not moving ahead, according to activists and victims’ lawyers. Ankara’s priority is to persuade the international community that the Syrian Kurds’ military organization (YPG) is a terrorist group. However, the United States and Russia disagree – because in the Syrian cyclone, the Americans are working with the Kurds against ISIS while the Russians are allied with them against other forces opposed to the Syrian regime.

http://neoskosmos.com/news/en/Turkeygreece-refugees-nato-aegean-turmoil

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2. Why Russia and the West can't win in Syria

Ever since the Soviet Union fell, Russia and the US have had an asymmetric relationship. In all its moods - the pendulum has swung from craven pro-Westernism to hostile nationalism - the Russian foreign policy elite has never stopped giving finger-wagging lectures to Western audiences. Russia’s sense of betrayal runs deep because being considered European is an identity issue for them.

The asymmetry of this discourse is clear: The West has walked out of the lecture theatre. Successive US presidents have mouthed formulas (that they do not believe) saying that Russia is a great power. But they have no hesitation in tearing up treaties with it. Washington treated Ukraine as a European issue, but the US is far more concerned about Beijing’s power projection in the South China Sea.

An inattentive partner is often more hurtful than hostile. A leader like Vladimir Putin, who taps the well of lumpen Russian nationalism (the sort expressed by the FC Lokomotiv player at a Europa league match in Turkey), needs other strategies to get himself noticed on the international stage. Like the missiles the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un fires into the air, they remind the neighbours that you are there.

Putin has achieved this effect in Syria. In a few short months, Russian air strikes have tipped the balance of power between government and rebel militias, assassinated rebel leaders, and attempted to dictate who is a legitimate Syrian rebel and who is not. Russia has forced its way into the international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) group and reinforced its seat at every international forum on Syria.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/why-russia-and-west-cant-win-syria-924355885

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3. UN “to deliver aid to all of Syria's 18 besieged areas”

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United Nations should be able to deliver aid to all of Syria's 18 besieged areas within a week, a senior UN official said Thursday, February 18, after life-saving supplies reached five locations, AFP reports.

Jan Egeland, who is the special advisor to the UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, made the comments after a meeting of representatives from the 17-nation International Syria Support Group (ISSG).

"We discussed the next phase which is to reach all of the remaining besieged areas of Syria. And we should be able to do (so) before the next meeting which will be in a week," Egeland said.

Egeland said that there was plan to deliver aid to the eastern city Deir ez-Zor, the majority of which is controlled by the Islamic State group (IS) and where an estimated 200,000 people still live.

http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/206408/

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4. [David Ignatius] A pivotal moment in a tangled war

Blaming President Obama for his past mistakes in Syria may be satisfying, and is largely deserved, but it’s not a policy. This is the most complicated battlefield the world has seen in decades, and the next moves by the U.S. and its allies have to be deliberate, and carefully considered.

The U.S. should move forward with the cease-fire process begun by Secretary of State John Kerry a week ago in Munich. Yes, it’s a long shot, and woefully dependent on Russian “goodwill.” But it offers a chance to reduce the suffering of the Syrian people and save lives, and it should be pursued a while longer. If diplomacy fails, what comes next will be much worse for everyone.

“It’s the only game in town,” says Yousef Al Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates’ ambassador to Washington, of Kerry’s diplomatic effort. “I don’t see any other strategy for now.”

If Russia is sabotaging cease-fire hopes by continuing to bomb Syrian civilians, then the U.S. and its allies should focus international indignation on Moscow. Yes, Kerry may have been overly optimistic in making the Munich deal, but the Russians signed it -- and they should be held accountable if it fails.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20160219000856

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5. In Jordan district packed with Syrians, anger festers

Hmm, let's see, who else can we destabilize?

MAFRAQ, Jordan (AP) -- In a Jordanian border district packed with Syrian war refugees, anger is festering: many complain the mass influx has pushed down wages and driven up food and housing prices.

The resentment is still tempered by empathy for the Syrians, who share religious and cultural beliefs with Jordanians, and there have been few signs of open hostility.

Dunya Shawaqfeh, a 59-year-old Mafraq resident, said she believes the refugees "stole the rights of our children" - even though she works at a local women's charity that helps both needy Jordanians and Syrian refugees.

Jordan's leaders increasingly point to volatile public opinion in justifying tougher refugee policies, such as barring entry to most Syrians now seeking asylum and keeping them in makeshift camps in remote desert areas on the border.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_JORDAN_RESENTING_REFUGEES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-19-04-15-27

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6. Russia says international meeting for Syria cease-fire cancelled

BEIRUT — A meeting of the international coordinating group charged with implementing a cease-fire in Syria was cancelled Friday, Russia's foreign ministry said, delaying any reduction of hostilities and raising further questions about the workability of the truce.

The coordinating group was due to convene in Geneva Friday but called off the meeting, the office of Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. She was not immediately available to comment on why the meeting had been cancelled.

The cancellation signals another setback for international efforts to broker an end to a civil war that has killed 250,000 people, displaced millions and turned into a dangerous proxy conflict for world powers. The United States and Russia, which back opposing sides in the conflict, backed a tentative agreement in Munich last week to reach a cease-fire and deliver humanitarian aid to besieged Syrians.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/russia-says-international-meeting-for-syria-cease-fire-cancelled/2016/02/19/47179aac-d692-11e5-a65b-587e721fb231_story.html

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7. Report: Turkey presses ahead with cross-border shelling

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkey's state-run news agency says the Turkish military is pushing ahead with its cross-border artillery shelling campaign against U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia positions in Syria.

Anadolu Agency reported late on Thursday that artillery shells had "intermittently" targeted militia positions near the town of Azaz.

The report came as Turkey blamed the Syrian militia group as well as Turkey's own Kurdish rebels for Wednesday's bomb attack in Ankara that killed 28 people. It also called on its allies to cut off support to the militia group.

The Kurdish militia, however, has been most effective in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_TURKEY_SYRIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-19-04-20-51

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8. Turkey may close Incirlik Air Base for US – president’s adviser

If the US does not recognize the Kurdish Workers’ Party’s (PKK) Syrian wing – Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as the terrorist organization, Turkey may close its Incirlik Air Base for the US Armed Forces, Seref Malkoch, Turkish president’s adviser said, Turkish Bugun newspaper reported Feb. 19.

Without recognizing PYD as a terrorist organization the US indirectly shows that the country agrees with PYD’s activities, he noted.

“If the US is a Turkey’s friend and partner in reality, it has to recognize PYD as a terrorist organization,” said Malkoch.

A terror attack was carried out in Ankara Feb. 17 near the buildings of the Turkish parliament, the general staff and a military dorm in the city.

http://en.trend.az/world/turkey/2496665.html

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9. Syria Cease-Fire on Agenda at Russia-U.S. Talks

Moscow hopes the details of a Syria cease-fire can be agreed Friday when Russian and U.S. military officials are due to meet, but the U.N. has warned it would be "extremely difficult" to monitor any deal.

International powers pledged seven days ago to try to bring about a "cessation of hostilities" in Syria's five-year civil war this week, but aside from an increase in aid convoys there has been little sign of progress on the ground.

It was hoped that a temporary truce would begin by Friday, allowing the resumption of diplomatic talks in Geneva by Feb. 25, but U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura told a Swedish newspaper Thursday that the date for talks was unrealistic.

One major practical complication is that the cease-fire would not apply to U.N.-designated terror groups including ISIS or the al-Nusra Front. The U.S. and Russia are among the countries conducting air campaigns against ISIS in Syria.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/syria-cease-fire-agenda-russia-u-s-talks-n521466

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10. Kremlin says Russia's Putin, Saudi King Salman expressed interest on resolving Syria crisis

Feb 19 Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia's King Salman expressed an interest in resolving the Syrian crisis, the Kremlin said in a statement following phone talks between the two on Friday.

Putin confirmed an invitation to the King to visit Russia, the statement said. (Reporting by Katya Golubkova, editing by Jason Bush)

http://www.reuters.com/article/mideast-crisis-russia-saudi-arabia-idUSR4N15V01F?rpc=401

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11. . nt