Arab Analyst: Turkey Unable to Confront US Border Security Force without Iran, Russia

Rasa - Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of Rai al-Youm newspaper, underlined that while Turkey has adopted a strong position against the US plan to form a Border Security Force in Syria, it is not able to confront it without Iran and Russia.

News ID: 435859

Date: 17 January 2018 - 23:30

RNA - "Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cannot confront the US plans about Kurds without the support of Russia, Iran, Syria and Iraq, "Atwan wrote on Wednesday.

He stressed that the main problem is that Erdogan takes measures in different intervals that provokes these possible allies, adding that he ignored the drone attacks from Idlib to the Russian bases of Humeimim and Tartus and he made remarks in Tunisia which strongly criticized Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, accused him of terrorist acts and called for his overthrow from power, while he had for a long time kept mum about the issue. Such remarks also challenged Russia and Iran as two main allies of Assad in Syria and the region.

Erdogan later contacted his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, stressing that a Syrian group which supports the US has launched the attack against the Russian base without his knowledge, Atwan said.

He noted that Washington's partnership in the war against the ISIL and its annihilation in Western Iraq and Eastern Syria was not basically aimed at fighting terrorism but its goal was formation of a Kurdish government at the Turkish, Syrian and Iraqi borders in coordination with the Zionist regime so that it will turn into the US permanent base and replace Incirlik airbase in Turkey.

The US-led coalition announced on Sunday it is helping to create a new Border Security Force to fight terrorists in Syria. The unit, stationed along the Syrian border with Iraq and Turkey, as well as along the Euphrates River Valley, is expected to be comprised of up to 30,000 people. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) veterans will make half of the unit, while the other half are yet to be recruited.

Damascus, Moscow, Tehran and Ankara have strongly blasted the US new decision to form a Border Security Force.

The plans of the US-led coalition to form new "Border Defense Force" have sparked angry reaction from Turkey as Ankara repeatedly accused the US of arming some of Syrian Kurds, which the Turkish side regards as terrorist groups.

Erdogan called US-backed Syrian Border Force using Kurdish fighters a “terrorist army,” vowing to “drown” it before it’s complete.

“Our duty is to drown this terrorist force before it is born,” the Turkish leader said on Monday, adding that the 30,000-srtrong army of “traitors” that Washington seeks to create will point their guns against US troops at the first threat, World News reported.

“This is what we have to say to all our allies: don't get between us and terrorist organizations, or we will not be responsible for the unwanted consequences,” Erdogan said, adding that Turkish forces will battle “until not a single terrorist remains along our borders, let alone 30,000 of them.”

Turkey is ready “at any moment” to start an operation in a besieged border area of Syria, the President stressed.

“The Turkish Armed Forces will resolve the Afrin and Manbij issue as soon as possible. Our preparations are finalized, an operation may start at any moment,” Erdogan told an opening ceremony in the capital, Ankara.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has also criticized the recently announced plan of the US to form a so-called border army led by Kurdish fighters in Syria.

Cavusoglu said "The US must clarify which side it is on, whether it chooses to be with its allies or terror groups?"

The Turkish Foreign Minister warned that "We will take our own measures [against terror groups]. Regardless of who backs them; whether it is the US or other countries, it doesn't matter to us."

The United States' military support for the militia first began under the administration of US President Donald Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, which provided Kurds with weapons and training.

Washington also continues providing Kurdish fighters with more military hardware in Syria despite US President's promise to Erdogan to halt arms shipment to the Kurdish fighters.

Ankara said late November 2017 that Trump told Erdogan that he had issued instructions that weapons should not be provided to Kurdish fighters in Syria.

According to reports, the US plans to keep its troops in Syria long after the defeat of ISIL. Washington has been justifying its deployment of ground troops in Syria, which violates the embattled nation’s sovereignty, by citing the need to fight ISIL.

847/940