The war in “Kurdistan” compounds the tension

Amid growing tension between Ankara and Washington, in the context of the S-400 issue, which will be at the center of the meeting of NATO defense ministers next week, the Qara process added to the gap between the two parts. In light of the events of the past two days in northern Iraq, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan found an opportunity to revive one of the main points of disagreement pending with the Americans, after he accused Washington of supporting to the “terrorists” who murdered the thirteen Turks Erdogan’s attack on the United States was accompanied by a protest A diplomat who summoned the US ambassador to Ankara to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, dissatisfied with the US response to the murder of Turkish citizens.

In its statement the day before yesterday, the US State Department announced that it “regrets the murder of Turkish citizens”, but indicated that it is awaiting further confirmation on what Ankara has announced on the circumstances of their deaths. She said: “If the reports confirm that Turkish civilians were killed by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the organization considered terrorist, then we condemn this act in the strongest terms.” The US position was shared by the Turkish media, close to the “Justice and Development Party”, as they were quick to criticize the language used in the statement, while the Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the US ambassador to Ankara, David Satterfield. , to protest his country’s position on the issue. The Turkish president, in turn, considered that “the United States’ statements are regrettable. You say you don’t support the terrorists, but you’re actually with them. ”

The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the US ambassador, David Satterfield, to protest his country’s position

Erdogan’s statements rejecting the US position reflect the growing tension between the two Atlantic allies since the victory of Joe Biden, who was openly called by Ankara to abandon his administration’s support for the Kurds in northern Syria, to discuss the issue of Russian S-400 missiles. “You cannot be with the terrorists,” Erdogan said, addressing Washington. If you want to be a party, support us. If we are together in NATO, and if we are to continue our unity, then they must act sincerely towards us. ” Yesterday, Turkey accused “Kurdish workers” of executing 13 Turks, most of them soldiers and security forces, who had held them in northern Iraq for years. Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Agar claimed that Turkish soldiers had found 13 bodies in a cave that was controlled in the Qara region of northern Iraq, where Ankara has launched, since last Wednesday, an operation against the “Kurds “who, for his part, approved of the killing of a group of prisoners, but denied Ankara’s account, saying that they had been killed by Turkish air strikes. From here, Erdogan saw that “no country, person or entity can ask questions after today about Turkey’s military operations (in Iraq) after the Qarah massacre,” adding: “Terrorists will no longer be safe anywhere. , neither in Qandil nor in Sinjar. ».
At the time, the Turkish security forces carried out an arrest campaign in pro-Kurdish circles in Turkey, where hundreds were arrested. Pressure on the Kurdish-supporting “People’s Democratic Party”, which Ankara considers the political front of the “Kurdish workers”, has increased as the Turkish Interior announced the arrest of 718 people, including leaders of the “democratic peoples”. “. , for “suspected association with the PKK”. The Interior Ministry said that “during the raids a large number of weapons, documents and digital materials belonging to the (terrorist) organization were seized,” indicating that the operations covered 40 cities in the country and are still continuing.

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