and Turkey continue to fundamentally diverge over the PYD’s position in northern Syria, the Turkish purchase of the Russian S-400s, and arms transfers.
The main goal of Erdogan's leadership will be permanently removing the “terror corridor” that has been established by the terrorist organization, the PYD, with the support of the United States.
The emergence of terrorist groups such as Daesh and the PYD, and various external threats emanating from the interest of international actors against Turkey’s will in the region have made it necessary for Ankara to obtain air defense systems.
For Turkey, the PYD/YPG is a terrorist organization and the Syrian arm of the PKK – which the country has been fighting against for almost 40 years both within and outside its borders.
Afrin was the first place where the PKK/PYD was cleaned off, the PKK leader Ocalan’s posters were taken down from Afrin city, and school textbooks with references to Ocalan are no longer being taught to school kids in Afrin.
he outlawed PKK’s Syrian offshoot Democratic Union Party (PYD) has been forcibly recruiting children similar to the PKK, which has been systematically using children in armed conflicts since 1994.
he PKK terror group and all of its offshoots use women not only as suicide bombers, but also as propaganda tools in order to soften their negative images among global audiences.
The increasing willingness of France to become a new player especially in eastern Syriain order to recalibrate France’s strategic interests in consolidating the PYD-YPG presence is perceived as a potential rival in addition to the U.
While Turkey desires a future Syria with no piece of it under the PYD’s control, it wants Turkey-backed actors, such as the National Army (formerly the Free Syrian Army), to have its fair share of power in the new status quo to be built.
While the three presidents unanimously agreed on terrorism being the main concern for Syria, President Erdogan stressed the need to counter the YPG/PYD threat it faces along the Syria-Turkey border.
The operation in Afrin, beginning in January of this year and ending last month, has been hailed by people in Turkey and those in the northwestern regions of Syria as not only a success against the PKK/PYD tyranny, but also on the fact that it has become one of the numbered peaceful places within the calamitous ongoing Syrian Civil War.
” On the other side of the Atlantic, French President Macron met with a delegation of the Syrian Democratic Forces (the late brand of the PYD) and declared his support for the organization.