After sending some mixed messages about just how much space it will give Turkey to cut out territory in Syria, Moscow has come to Ankara’s aid at a critical moment in their fight for the city of Afrin.
Ankara announced on Tuesday that Russia is supporting Turkey’s move to block a deal which would have seen Syrian pro-government forces move into the Kurdish-held northwestern area to help push back against Turkish-led troops.
“The (deployment) was seriously stopped yesterday,” Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted by Reuters as telling reporters. The decision, he said, was made following a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which Erdogan asked for Russian intervention.
Syrian state media had announced on Monday that a pro-government militia would be deployed in Afrin, though Damascus has reportedly yet to comment on the decision.
“Russia has a main role in this issue,” Fawza Youssef, a leading Syrian Kurdish politician was quoted as saying. “They are the ones who agreed with the Turks for this aggression to happen. Either they’d have to stop their agreement with Turkey or get on board,” she added.
Siege on Afrin imminent
In a speech to a parliamentary meeting of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party on Tuesday, Erdogan said that the country’s army is set to lay siege to Afrin.
“Afrin city center will be besieged in the coming days,” he was reported by Turkey’s Anadolu Agency as saying. “So that the external aid coming to the city and the region gets cut.”
Erdogan defended the operation in his speech, saying Turkey entered Syria’s Afrin region as a last resort “to make the region livable and secure.”
Very true, Turkey is there to make the region safe for Turkey and at least 500000 Syrian refugees in turkey will be deployed to the afrin after turkey clean the region from the terrorists pkk,ypg,ypj organizations. Turkey does not aim to invade the region, look at the example of El-Bab in 2016. Now it is secure and 200000 people began to live inside the small town.
Turkey can save Syria with Russia but not with US. The isolation of US from the middle east will save the world.
this nonsense. erdogan/turkey are only interested in a ottoman empire resurection. they want the northern part iof syria as part of turkey and they dont want the kurds in there. russia has made a error backing this erdogan cabal. why putin did this seems only as a ""stick in the eye"" of the u.s..
Agreed. Call this what it is.
If you just discovered Jesus, you will renounce war. Hope the message of LOVE that Jesus preached will overwhelmed your heart and hatred will be replace with PEACE.
I hope Turks has made this to avert an imminent threat that might come out from American’s back on Kurds
If you believe that , then what did they do to CYPRUS.They replaced the Greek Cypriots with Turkish people.
True. Turkey and Russia are in league and Russia is the boss in charge
What GOD HAS SAID THROUGH HIS PROPHETS WILL COME TO PASS.Young man or woman read the word of God,You will understand.
Maria Turner actually it is chinas greatest fear and russia they dont want a south korea managed unified korea on their door step
Great job by Great turkey
You think the US and Saudi Arabia will sit and watch Turkey and Russian succedd
in Afrin YPG will be well armed with american weapons to give Turkey a dirty blow
Barry Marlow Cooper yes they did wrong…
Whole of the island should have been captured. Why did they settle for a part only
Barry Marlow Cooper actually you did nt read any history. you just live with what you have heard. ın Cyprus, for centuries, there have been turkish citizens. before the operation , Cyprus Peace Operation, Greek terrorists have been killing Turkish citizens in the island. after then we interfered and Turkish citizens have been taken under protection. We could erase any signs of Greeks from the island, did we do that? no! and right now, the south cyprus greek government is acting like all Mediterrenean sea and Cyprus is belong to them and they are provacating Turkey for natural gas fields , hiring and licencing the full sea for foreign foreign companies. This is what happens in Cyprus now. Turkey will be surely protecting its interests and rights in alll over Aegean sea. in our culture there is a saying, lands can only be someone’ s with blood. We sacrificied that blood many times and we will not be afraid or Greek government in Greece or Egypt, who tries to provocate the Arab union. We have the 5th rank in international armies and technologies. To define a policy in middle east, anyone shall come to us. without us, no policy will sustain.
Your entire post reeks of hogwash. Instead of regurgiating Turkish propaganda, try at least to figure out the very fact that Afrin region does not pose any sort of threat to Turkey. This region, although engulfed by homeless refugees from all over Syria, was less torn by the war, so turkish accusations just does not hold any water. Erdogan’s regime is undergoing a crisis within as resentments and internal cleveages are accentuated more than ever before. So the only way left for Erdogan to distract public attention is to prosecute an all-out onslaught on behalf of national security. Yet Turkish army could barely score any gain as most of its assaults were in vain and the YPG, as the se legitimate power out there, withstood inpressively. Turkey far-reaching plans are to carve up certain chunks of Syria, to expel ethnic Kurds and thwart their righteous demands for self-determination.
Col Mehmeti do you have any idea about the missiles and rockets fired to Turkey ‘ kilis and Hatay cities from afrin region? How many attacks from their side ? First read about it then write this answer to me. Secondly, did you see the world war II type tunnels which can be up to 5km ? Pure concrete and iron. This is all in afrin. They try to invade turkey’ s south border. Before you submit any of your opinions, read something true about turkey and legitimate act for afrin. Otherwise, an ordinary man like me turn your face to purple.
I beleive the Kurds have the right to live in their country. Turkish invasion of northern syria undermines syria’s soveriegnty. The only interest Turkey has in Syria is to wipe out the kurds. If Russia is marginalising Syria on this issue, then Whose interest is Russia protecting?
It never occured to me that Turkey’s objective is to carve out a piece of Syrian territory. I thought they went there to dismantle a possible terrorist enclave that could threaten Turkey in the future. I guess that is how Atimes wants to spin it.????