Turkey's Erdogan says no to Syrian Kurdistan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said his country opposes the idea of a Kurdish-controlled autonomous government in northern Syria, local media reported on Tuesday
.
"We do not want a new Iraq. What's
this? Northern Iraq," Erdogan told the Hurriyet newspaper aboard a plane
en route from an African tour at the weekend. He was referring to the
Kurdish-controlled part of Iraq known as Iraqi Kurdistan
.
"A northern Syria there after northern Iraq... It is not possible for us to accept this," he said
.
"Such formations will lead to grave problems in the future."
His comments came as Kurdish militia drove the Islamic
State insurgents from the Syrian town of Kobane just across the Turkish
border and raised their flags on Monday, in a heavy blow to jihadists
after months of intensive fighting.
Kurdish forces gradually pushed back IS militants who have
captured large chunks of territory in Iraq and Syria, with the help of
the US-led air raids and a group of fighters from Iraq's Kurdish
peshmerga forces
.
Turkey, which has fought a 30-year insurgency against
Kurdish rebels in its southeast, has hesitated to act for Kobane over
fears it could embolden Kurdish forces
.
Erdogan has in the past said that his country will not
allow "a terrorist group to establish camps in northern Syria" and
threaten Turkey
.
Ankara blacklists the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
-- which uses its safe havens in northern Iraq as a springboard for
deadly attacks on its soil -- as a terrorist organisation and sees the
Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) as Syrian branch of the PKK
.
Turkey has refused to play a robust role in the US-led
coalition against IS insurgency, prompting its own Kurds to take to
streets in October.
Over 30 people were killed in two days of steet clashes in the Kurdish-majority southeast
.
Turkey's sole contribution to the coalition has been
allowing a contingent of Iraqi peshmerga Kurdish fighters to transit
Turkish soil to fight IS militants for Kobane
.
In recent years, Turkey has enjoyed burgeoning trade and
energy ties with the Iraqi Kurdish region, while at home Ankara has
started a peace process with its sizeable Kurdish minority with an
ultimate goal of disarming PKK rebels.Source: thepeninsulaqatar.com
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