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Why does Turkey denounce America’s position on the Democratic Union Party?

February 13, 2016 at 12:22 pm

Some may question or wonder about the firm opposition of the Turkish government to the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its contact and cooperation with the US administration. The party is Syrian, not Turkish, and in normal circumstances any objections should come from the Syrian government rather than Turkey’s.

However, Ankara’s position has been made very clear to Washington, as well as to the Iranian, Russian and other governments: Turkey regards the PYD as an extension of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK); the latter is listed as a terrorist organisation in the EU and America as well as Turkey. The PKK’s participation in a peace process with the Turkish government did not work out as it has continued with its terrorist approach, killings and other acts which have violated Turkey’s internal security, especially since 7 June last year. That is when the PKK killed hundreds of Turkish civilians and troops, not in an attempt to meet the demands of the Kurdish people in Turkey, as it claims, but to meet the demands of foreign states seeking to destabilise Turkey. The fact that the PKK leadership, based in the Qandil Mountains, is under the control of and backed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps explains why it backed out of the peace process and returned to terrorist operations, precisely when the political life of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) looked as if it had more or less ended after a poor showing in last June’s elections.

It is not unusual, therefore, to see the Russian government — which is hostile towards Turkey — to open lines of communication and cooperation with the PYD and provide official offices for the party in Moscow, after the Putin government sought to sabotage its relationship with the Turks under the pretext of the Russian jet fighter being shot down in November. Russia is intensifying its contact and cooperation with Kurdish parties for two reasons: For a start, it is intended as a punishment for the Turkish government and, as far as Putin is concerned, revenge. Russia is also using these Kurdish parties as mercenaries in its military operations in order to dominate or divide Syria. When Russia needs ground forces to attack the Syrian opposition, it convinces the Kurds that they will get a slice of Syria if they help the Russian occupation to establish an Alawite state for Bashar Al-Assad.

Not unnaturally, this doesn’t please the Turkish government, which views Moscow’s policy as being that of an individual, a dictatorship, for which the whole of Russia cannot be held accountable, even if it does breach international law by having connections with the terrorist PKK. Hence, it may be useless to condemn such Russian behaviour.

Meanwhile, Turkey has condemned the US statements that seek to distinguish between the PKK and the PYD, labelling the first as a terrorist party but not the second. This is despite the fact that Ankara has irrefutable evidence that the PYD, led by Saleh Mohammed Musallam, is a branch of the PKK, and that he takes his orders from those in the Qandil Mountains, even though his is a Syrian party. For the Turks, the PYD is simply a terrorist branch of a terrorist party, which cooperates with Assad, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Russian occupation in Syria. It is noteworthy that the advanced weapons provided by the US to the Democratic Union Party in Syria to fight Daesh were smuggled by the party to the PKK in Turkey, and were used in the recent terrorist attacks that took place there. These attacks killed dozens and wounded hundreds.

Based on this, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu condemned the spokesman of the US Department of State, John Kirby, when he announced that America does not consider the PYD to be a terrorist organisation. Çavuşoğlu expressed his bewilderment at this, and asked Washington who its main partner is in the fight against Daesh. “Our friends and allies need to make their minds up,” insisted the foreign minister. “Are we [one of] the partner countries in Syria in the fight against Daesh or are terror organisations?”

He rejected claims that Daesh is a bad terrorist organisation because it is full of religious extremists, while the PKK and PYD may be bad but are not as bad as Daesh because they are secular organisations. “Is this kind of thinking logical?” asked Çavuşoğlu. “It is as if the position on Daesh is limited to ideological differences, not because it is a terrorist organisation. The PKK and PYD are terrorist organisations given their terrorist attacks in Turkey and Syria, based on the testimonies of Amnesty International and other international human rights organisations.”

Perhaps the Turkish Armed Forces’ announcement a couple of days ago regarding its discovery of four explosive belts with people on their way to Turkey from Syria will put these groups on the terrorist list as well. The Turkish intelligence services have monitored many secret meetings between Daesh, the PYD and Assad’s intelligence agencies where they are said to have been planning terrorist attacks across Turkey. Although the smuggling operations are in the hands of Daesh members, the final destination of the arms and ammunition is the PKK across the border in Turkey.

This Turkish position was reiterated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a recent speech at the Presidential Palace. “No one has been able to plant the seeds of discord amongst the Turks,” said Erdogan. “Turkey is no longer weak and fragile, as it was in the past. Today, Turkey is strong and no one will be able to divide it; the athan [call to prayer] will continue to be heard and the Turkish flag will continue to be raised. Turkey is not only the country of the Turks; it is a country for hundreds of millions of oppressed people, and we will forever continue to promote the slogan of one people, one nation and one flag.”

Erdogan drew attention to the number of times that his government has warned the Americans about the terrorist groups. Washington’s failure to brand them as such, he insisted, has helped to turn the region into a pool of blood. “Are you together with us or are you with the PYD and YPG terror groups? Is there a difference between the PKK and the PYD? Is there a difference with the YPG? We have written proof! We tell the Americans ‘it’s a terror group’. But the Americans stand up and say, ‘No, we don’t see them as terror groups’.”

The Turkish president’s position is very clear; Turkey knows more than America and other countries about the Kurdish parties in the region; and Turkey is better at differentiating between Daesh and the terrorism of the PKK and PYD. He was also clear that Turkey’s standard for a group to be labelled as “terrorist” is very different to that of the US, Russia, Iran and Assad. The Turkish benchmark, Erdogan pointed out, is the security of Turkish citizens, not the interests of the Americans, Russians or Revolutionary Guard Corps’. Furthermore, Turkey’s position on various terrorist parties is not based on their nationality, ideology, race, language or religion; it is based on their impact on the security of Turkish citizens, the security of Turkey as a state, and the unity of the republic.

Translated from Alkhaleejonline, 12 February 2016.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.