Why Turkey Took the Fight to Syria

(MENAFN- Daily Outlook Afghanistan) ANKARA, Turkey— It isdismaying that Turkey's military operation in northeastern Syria is being spunin the American news media as an attack on Kurds, as weakening the fightagainst the remnants of Daesh (or the so-called Islamic State) and hurtingAmerica's credibility with its allies. I am compelled to set the recordstraight because the 67-year-old NATO alliance that Turkey has with the UnitedStates is not temporary, tactical nor transactional.
Turkey started theoperation to ensure its national security by removing the danger posed byterrorists along its border regions. This operation will liberate Syriansliving there from the tyranny of terrorist organizations and eliminate thethreat to Syria's territorial integrity and political unity. These twodevelopments would facilitate the safe and voluntary return of displacedSyrians.
Turkey has neveraccepted a corridor run by a terrorist group on its border. We have repeatedlyproposed establishing a safe zone, including at the United Nations GeneralAssembly. We have called on the United States to stop providing materialsupport to terrorists.
But the Americansecurity bureaucracy couldn't bring itself to disengage from the group, knownfor short as the P.Y.D./Y.P.G. This is even though American officials,including a secretary of defense, have admitted that the P.Y.D./Y.P.G., whichforms the core of Syrian Democratic Forces, is inseparable from the KurdistanWorkers' Party, or the P.K.K., in Turkey, which is recognized as a terroristorganization by the United States, the European Union and NATO.
Our Americaninterlocutors seemed to agree that those forces needed to be removed from alongour borders and we had even agreed on a timeline. Most recently,military-to-military talks in August ended with a mutual commitment toestablish a safe zone from which the P.Y.D./Y.P.G. was supposed to be removed.But the United States did not see this through and gave us the strongimpression that it was playing for time as the terrorist group entrencheditself even deeper in Syria.
The P.Y.D./Y.P.G. maypresent itself to the world as the group that fought Daesh, but it alsosmuggles explosives to the P.K.K. by digging tunnels into Turkish soil. We havefound its members ushering Daesh prisoners toward Turkey. And in November 2017,the BBC reported on a secret deal under which the Syrian Democratic Forcesarranged transport and allowed hundreds of Daesh terrorists to escape duringthe coalition operation to liberate the city of Raqqa.
We had to act.Several voices expressed concerns about the safety of the Kurdish population inSyria. I want to repeat and emphasize that Turkey's fight is not against theKurds. Our fight is against the terrorists. Any description of the situation as'Turks against Kurds is malicious and false. Kurds are not our enemies.
Our target is thecomplex of terror run together by the Kurdistan Workers' Party and theP.Y.D./Y.P.G., which have recruited child soldiers, intimidated dissidents,altered the demography and forced conscription in areas under their control.
The Kurds, Arabs, Christiansand others who have been suffering under the P.Y.D./Y.P.G. yoke will be betteroff when freed. The World Council of Aramaean Christians have been assertingthis point insistently.
Before proceedingwith this operation, we have taken all steps to minimize risk to civilians andprevent a humanitarian crisis. Over the past several years, Turkey has providedshelter to large numbers of refugees from northeastern Syria, including Arabs,Kurds and Turkmens.
Most of them,including over 300,000 Kurds, were driven from their homes by the terrorists.We have extended to them safety, shelter and livelihood in Turkey. We haveshared our bread and the benefits of our public services. Turkey is the biggesthumanitarian spender in the world and host to most refugees worldwide.
Turkey hasestablished a reliable pattern in the last three years. Turkey's operations innorthwestern Syria — in 2016-7 in and around Jarabulus and 2018 in Afrin —cleared a vast area of the terrorist presence. In the aftermath of those operationsthe communities that suffered under the terrorists started living in peace andbenefiting from orderly governance. Some 365,000 refugees returned to theirhome in northwestern Syria.
We have institutedpublic services, including schools for over 230,000 students. Six hospitalswith 55 ambulances employ over 2,000 Syrian and Turkish personnel in liberatedareas in northwestern Syria. Scores of recreational and sports facilities werebuilt, including a soccer stadium. Businesses were rehabilitated and a bordergate was opened to facilitate trade. Agriculture and animal husbandry startedreceiving material support.
Compare Turkey'sprevious operations to the destruction of Raqqa by the coalition and you willsee how carefully we manage counterterrorism operations. The lessons learned inthose operations will help us make it even better this time around.
The P.K.K. and theP.Y.D./Y.P.G. have been blackmailing the global community by claiming that thefight against Daesh would falter without them. But the fight against thosebrutal terrorists will not falter, especially if our allies stay the course andcooperate with Turkey. We are the only nation that put boots on the groundagainst Daesh.
The fight againstDaesh and other terrorist organizations will have to continue with everyone'scontributions and cooperation. Several European countries have been reluctant to allowthe return of their citizens who joined the group. However, wishing away theproblem cannot be the policy. They must shoulder their share of the burden.
We in Turkey areconvinced that we are paving the way for the Syrian refugees to return home andensuring that Daesh and other terrorist groups will not re-emerge.
I am aware that safeand voluntary return home of the Syrian refugees needs to be carefully plannedand managed. This has to proceed in accordance with international law and incooperation with the relevant United Nations agencies. Syria is home to severalethnicities and viable and representative local councils need to be establisheduntil a political solution is found to the Syrian conflict.
After our lastcounterterrorism operation, in areas where the Kurds were in majority, Turkeyfacilitated the creation of local governing councils with a Kurdish majority toreflect the population.
The Syrians want togo home now. They have suffered more than enough. We are taking the initiativeto help create the peaceful conditions that are necessary for the homecoming ofmillions of refugees. Contrary to the prevailing misapprehensions, ouroperation will help address the humanitarian dimension of the problem,contribute to the preservation of the unity of the country and add to thepolitical process.

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