[Centraal] Crisis in Syri� #181 Fuck een TT

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Kurds and the government are playing a dangerous game

The tension stemming from the weeks-long siege of the Kurdish town Kobane in northern Syria by the jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has gripped Turkey.

Thousands of people took to the streets to protest the government’s inaction on the situation even as mortar shells and bullets increasingly hit Turkish villages. At least 18 people were killed in the clashes during the protests, which started after calls by the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The situation in Kobane, from where over 150,000 Syrian Kurds have fled to Turkey, is unacceptable, and the ISIL jihadists, who have taken barbarism to another level in the name of Islam, should be stopped at all costs. Turkey should continue providing humanitarian support to the Syrian Kurds, hit ISIL positions if mortar shells continue to fall inside Turkey, and seriously consider meeting the demand of a corridor to allow People’s Protection Units (YPG) members to travel to Kobane to defend the town.

One of the reasons behind the protests is the belief that the government has supported (and is still supporting) ISIL, which government officials categorically deny. Kurds say that if Kobane falls into the hands of ISIL, the government-led Kurdish peace process will crumble and the 18-month-long cease-fire that the PKK declared unilaterally will come to an end.

The government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan have increased their tone against ISIL since the the former’s visit to New York for the U.N. convention last month. Both Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and Erdoğan now define ISIL as a terrorist organization, a term they had avoided using until the last couple of weeks, instead preferring the term “ISIL elements.” Davutoğlu has also repeatedly said ISIL’s main power source was “oppressed and angry” Sunnis, blaming the sectarian polices of ex-Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

But the government’s failed policies cannot be an excuse for the violence that the protesters resorted to. Kurdish politicians should acknowledge that the violence, coupled with their rather provocative action calls, is not helping their cause, but is in fact damaging it. The situation is increasing the skepticism among the public about the peace process, while also creating a suitable environment for anti-Kurdish messages to spread with the help of social media, which has turned into a haven for racism.

The government’s stance is not helping, either. On the one hand, state officials, including National Intelligence Agency (MİT) chief Hakan Fidan, are holding talks with the PKK’s jailed leader, Abdullah �calan. On the other hand, Erdoğan says ISIL is “no different” than the PKK, calling on the coalition also to target the PKK. This is not a way to go while you are involved in talks and have even created a legal basis for a solution to the decades-long problem.

Another danger in the situation is the resurfacing of a deadly conflict in the southeast. Most of the victims in the protests were killed in clashes between protesters and other groups, not with the security forces. Eight were killed in Diyarbakır in clashes between Kurdish protesters and members of the Free Cause Party (H�da-Par) during an attempt to attack the party’s building.

The party was founded in December 2012 by members of a defunct association with reported links to Turkish Hizbullah, used as a tool by the state in the 1990s against the PKK and Kurdish politicians. The organization was behind hundreds of murders committed in the region until it was the target of police raids in 2000.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has created enemies as a way of doing politics for years. First it was the military, then it was coup plotters, then it was Gezi protesters, and the latest “enemy of the national will” is the G�len Movement, dubbed the "parallel state" by AKP officials. In times of crisis, people tend to support the strongest party and the leader, which are without doubt the AKP and Erdoğan in Turkey.

The party's supporters were quick to try to make use of the situation, portraying the situation as a “combined attack” on the government.

“The PKK-HDP-parallel state serve the international purpose of using ISIL as a tool to undermine the government,” AKP lawmaker Şamil Tayyar wrote on his Twitter account yesterday.

As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools." The government and Kurdish politicians are playing a dangerous game over the lives and pains of the people; we will soon see if anyone has learned anything.
October/09/2014

twitter:

NOSWaagmeester twitterde op donderdag 09-10-2014 om 09:44:01 IS: Turkije zal bloeden omdat het meewerkt met de kruisvaarders. De kruisvaarders: Turkije werkt niet mee #itscomplicated reageer retweet

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Op donderdag 9 oktober 2014 10:15 schreef De_Guidance het volgende:

twitter:

NOSWaagmeester twitterde op donderdag 09-10-2014 om 09:44:01 IS: Turkije zal bloeden omdat het meewerkt met de kruisvaarders. De kruisvaarders: Turkije werkt niet mee #itscomplicated reageer retweet

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Op donderdag 9 oktober 2014 10:15 schreef De_Guidance het volgende:

twitter:

NOSWaagmeester twitterde op donderdag 09-10-2014 om 09:44:01 IS: Turkije zal bloeden omdat het meewerkt met de kruisvaarders. De kruisvaarders: Turkije werkt niet mee #itscomplicated reageer retweet

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"Zwaarste aanval op IS in Kobani"

_{donderdag 9 okt 2014, 10:59 (Update: 09-10-14, 11:07)}

Doelen van Islamitische Staat in de Syrische stad Kobani zijn vannacht en vanmorgen vroeg opnieuw gebombardeerd. Volgens Koerdische bronnen was het een van de zwaarste luchtaanvallen tot nu toe, met meer dan twintig bombardementen.

Er wordt nog steeds gevochten in de Syrische grensplaats. Strijders van IS hebben een politiebureau in het oosten van de stad ingenomen. Niet lang daarna zou het bureau door de luchtaanvallen zijn verwoest.

Islamitische Staat zou nu meer dan een derde van de stad in handen hebben. Dat wordt gemeld door een Syrische mensenrechtenorganisatie, maar ontkend door een Koerdische functionaris. Hij zegt juist dat Koerdische strijders vanochtend een aantal wijken hebben heroverd op de extremistische moslims.

Geen Turkse inval
Kobani ligt al weken onder vuur. Zeker 200.000 Syri�rs zijn naar Turkije gevlucht en hun oproep aan Turkije om in te grijpen wordt steeds luider. De Turkse minister van Buitenlandse Zaken zegt dat er niet gerekend hoeft te worden op een Turkse inval in Kobani. "Het is niet realistisch om te verwachten dat Turkije in zijn eentje een operatie met grondtroepen opzet."

Volgens minister Cavusoglu wordt er met andere landen overlegd over maatregelen, en zal Turkije zijn verantwoordelijkheid nemen als er een gezamenlijk besluit komt.

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Quentin Sommerville@sommervillebbc � 1 min. 1 minuut geleden
Fighter jets overhead Kobane - can hear them only

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Quentin Sommerville@sommervillebbc � 20 min. 20 minuten geleden
We can hear gunfire in the distance from about 3km away. Some rising from various points across Kobane.

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Quentin Sommerville@sommervillebbc � 22 min
Two loud booms and smoke rising from a number of positions inside Kobane

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Op donderdag 9 oktober 2014 11:51 schreef theunderdog het volgende:
[..]
Wij zullen niet meer weten wat te doen als hier de eerste mensen worden onthoofd.

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Kobane: US and UK warn of air strike limitations

_{9 October 2014 Last updated at 07:05 GMT}

The US and UK have warned that air strikes alone will not prevent Islamic State (IS) fighters from seizing the strategic Syrian town of Kobane.

A Pentagon spokesman said the US and its allies were "doing everything we can from the air" but there were limits to what the campaign could achieve.

Similar views were expressed by British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

A Kurdish leader in Kobane said IS had entered two more districts overnight, bringing in heavy weapons.

Seizing the town would give IS jihadists full control of a long stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.

The US also appeared to be at odds with allies over a Turkish idea to create a buffer zone or safe haven along the Syrian side of the border.

France has said it supports the idea but the White House said it was "not something that is under consideration right now".

Three weeks of fighting over Kobane have cost the lives of at least 400 people, and forced more than 160,000 Syrians to flee across the border to Turkey.

'No effective partner'
"Air strikes alone are not going to save the town of Kobane," Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm John Kirby said. "We know that and we've been saying that over and over again."

He said that ultimately rebel fighters in Syria and Iraqi troops would have to defeat IS militants, but it would take time.

"We don't have a willing, capable, effective partner on the ground inside Syria right now," he said, warning that other towns could also fall to IS.

Likewise, Mr Hammond said that it was "never envisaged" that the use of air power "in this battle would turn the tide in the short-term".

"I don't want to suggest that there is anything readily that the coalition can do that will make a fundamental difference... in the tactical situation that's faced around Kobane," he said.

Asya Abdullah, a co-leader of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party representing Syrian Kurds in Kobane, said that on Wednesday night IS entered two districts of Kobane with heavy weapons, including tanks.

"Civilians may have died because there are very intense clashes," she said. Another official there said IS had seized some buildings in the east and that there was fierce fighting with Kurdish forces.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said IS had advanced about 100m (320ft) towards the town centre on Wednesday evening.

It added that IS was bringing in reinforcements from its stronghold in Raqqa province.

The US Central Command said in a statement late on Wednesday that eight coalition air strikes had hit targets in Kobane. It said five IS armed vehicles, an IS supply depot and other buildings had been destroyed.

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Martin Dempsey, told ABC News that IS was becoming "more savvy".

"We have been striking when we can. They don't fly flags and move around in large convoys the way they did. They don't establish headquarters that are visible or identifiable."

Meanwhile, Turkey remains under intense pressure to do more to help Kurdish forces in Kobane.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and President Obama's envoys to the coalition against IS are in Ankara for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on possible Turkish action.

In a BBC interview a senior Kurdish politician in Turkey, Meral Daniss Bestas, called for "a safe corridor for Kurds to supply arms and humanitarian aid to Kobane".

At least 19 people have been killed in Kurdish protests over Turkey's role.

Kurds are angry that Turkey has prevented Kurdish fighters crossing the border to fight IS in Kobane and some protesters want it to take military action against IS.

Fighting between police and demonstrators continued in Istanbul throughout Wednesday night, with protesters congregating in mostly Kurdish districts.

Protesters hurled petrol bombs at police, who responded with water cannon and tear gas.

Last week Turkey's parliament also authorised military action against the jihadists in Iraq and Syria, but so far no action has been taken.

Turkey wants a buffer zone along the Turkish border inside Syria - enforced by a no-fly zone - to ensure security and ease the refugee influx into Turkey.

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Op donderdag 9 oktober 2014 11:55 schreef theunderdog het volgende:

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Isra�l.

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Op donderdag 9 oktober 2014 11:56 schreef De_Guidance het volgende:
Maar zowel de FSA als Assad hebben zich aangesloten bij de Koerden volgens Twitter.
Dus Twitter is onbetrouwbaar. Maar dat wisten we al.

twitter:

shadihamid twitterde op donderdag 09-10-2014 om 00:27:08 Excellent article by @AkbarSAhmed on how #Kobani is also barometer for US support to mainstream Syrian rebels: http://t.co/JW4CPYd20n reageer retweet

اقتحام مواقع داعش في الاحياء الشرقية لمدينة عين العرب (كوباني)

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Op donderdag 9 oktober 2014 11:59 schreef theunderdog het volgende:

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?

Mooi land G.