İSTANBUL -Stating that the USA paved the way for the attacks,  Middle East expert Arzu Yılmaz said: "We understand Turkey's legitimate security concerns. The only fear of the USA and Turkey is the model of self-government.

 

The attack launched by Turkey against Northern and Eastern Syrian cities, especially Kobanê, as well as the Federated Kurdistan Region and Shengal on November 20, continues. The AKP government, which prepared the ground for the attacks with the bomb explosion that took place in Istanbul Taksim on November 13, is also making threats of ground attacks in addition to its attacks. Mazlum Abdi, Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said: “We have been preparing for war for 3 years. If the Turkish state attacks, we will determine the outcome, not them.”

 

Middle East scholar Dr. Arzu Yılmaz evaluated Turkey's attacks and the attitude of the USA and Russia.

 

US-RUSSIA-TURKEY RELATIONS

 

Stating that Turkey has been preparing to attack Rojava for a long time, Yılmaz said: "The objections of the USA and Russia to the attacks were tactical and conjunctural. There are structural problems between Turkey and the USA. The separation between Turkey and the USA on the Rojava issue is not the cause but the result of these structural problems. The US has shown hesitations at certain periods depending on the conjuncture in Turkey's attacks against Rojava. Since 2015, we see that Turkey-Russia relations have evolved into a strategic partnership on the scale of Rojava and Syria in general. Turkey has been holding many talks for the last 6 months to attack Rojava: however, the war in Ukraine, the demonstrations and protests in Iran, the establishment of the government in Iraq, the midterm elections in the United States and the negotiations between the west and Turkey for the membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO delayed this."

 

NEW ALLIANCES FORM

 

Noting that the alliances were dissolved in the Middle East with the Arab Spring, Yılmaz said: "These alliances, which had been dissolved for the last ten years, entered the process of restructuring. Now, a new alliance is being formed in the Middle East. Turkey's determination of its side in these reconstructed alliance relations is important for both the West and the United States. Therefore, in such a process, Turkey is entering a process where it retests the limits of its maximalist policies. We will see if the result of this will be an advantage or a handicap for Turkey's foreign policy when these alliances are re-formed."

 

US STANCE

 

Criticizing the US's stance against Turkey's attacks, Yılmaz continued his words as follows: "Although the self-government formed in Rojava is accepted all over the world, the US emphasizes Rojava's fight against ISIS rather than the self-government model. Actors in the Middle East since 2017, we need to pay special attention to the fact that fiction has always been limited to the fight against ISIS, rather than the self-government created by the peoples of Northern and Eastern Syria. In other words, we have not seen any support for the self-government of the peoples in Rojava until today.”

 

LEGAL SECURITY CONCERNS!

 

Drawing attention to the statements made by the USA from time to time, Yılmaz said: "We understand Turkey's legitimate security concerns. The USA, which made a statement regarding the recent attacks against Northern and Eastern Syria, once again emphasized Turkey's security concerns. So what is this legitimate security concern? Has there been any attack on Turkey so far? It was understood that the attack on Istiklal Street had nothing to do with the PKK and YPG. Mazlum Kobanê even said that they had nothing to do with the attack in Antep. So what is this legitimate security concern then? The first of these; It is the fear of establishing a self-government in Rojava. Against this, it is to ensure that Damascus dominates all of Syria again. The second is; The USA sometimes paves the way for Turkey attacks with silent and sometimes non-sanctioned condemnations. This is because they see self-government in Rojava as a threat to them.”

 

MA / Esra Solin Dal