The United States is bound to the Middle East by interests, but Turkey
shares about 800 miles of border with Syria and Iraq alone. In this
geography and beyond, Turkey and the United States share the goal of
defeating terrorist organizations that threaten our nations. Daesh (or the
so-called Islamic State) has been our common enemy, and the victory against
the group could not have been possible without Turkey’s active
contributions.
Those contributions continue even though the group has been defeated
militarily in both Iraq and Syria. The Turkish military was crucial in the
liberation of the northern Syrian city of Jarabulus from Daesh in 2016.
Turkey detained more than 10,000 members of Daesh and Qaeda affiliates, and
deported around 5,800 terrorists while denying entry to more than 4,000
suspicious travelers.
Daesh has lost territorial control in Syria and Iraq, but it still retains
the capacity to inflict horrors. Turkish authorities recently carried out
operations against Daesh cells and damaged its efforts to reorganize.
American officials have told us that the United States wants to remain
engaged and needs boots on the ground in Syria to prevent the remnants of
Daesh from regrouping. But fighting Daesh cannot and should not mean that
we will not fight other terrorist groups in our region that which threaten
our country and the security of our citizens.
An impasse has been created between us by the United States’ choice of
local partner in this war: a group that the American government itself
recognizes as a terrorist organization. The so-called People’s Protection
Units, or Y.P.G., is simply the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party terrorist
organization by another name.
The groups have adopted different names and developed convoluted
structures, but that does not cloak their reality. They are led by the same
cadres, train in the same camps, share organizational and military
structures, and use the same propaganda tools and financial resources. The
Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., directs the Y.P.G., and the P.K.K.’s
suicide bombers are trained in Y.P.G. camps in Syria.
To our dismay, the Y.P.G./P.K.K. terrorists across our borders in Iraq and
Syria are using weapons and training provided by the United States. The
weapons confiscated by our security forces from P.K.K. terrorists have also
been significantly increasing in both numbers and sophistication.
A NATO ally arming a terrorist organization that is attacking another NATO
ally is a fundamental breach of everything that NATO stands for. It is a
policy anomaly that needs to be corrected.
We have no doubt that the United States will see the damage this policy is
inflicting on the credibility of the NATO alliance and correct its policy
by putting its allies and long-term interests first again. American
reliance on the People’s Protection Units is a self-inflicted error when
the United States already has a capable partner in Turkey.
Turkey, however, cannot afford to wait for eventual and inevitable course
corrections. Paying lip service to understanding Turkey’s security concerns
does not remove those threats and dangers.
In the recent weeks, Turkish authorities have documented an increase in
threats posed by the Y.P.G. and Daesh encampments in Syria. Terrorists in
the Afrin region in Syria were menacing the lives and property of both the
people of the region and Turks along the border.
We had to act, and so Turkey has launched Operation Olive Branch against
the terrorists in Afrin.
The operation has a clear objective: to ensure the security of our borders
and neutralize the terrorists in Afrin. It is carried out on the basis of
international law, in accordance with our right to self-defense. The
targets are the terrorists, their shelters, their weapons and related
infrastructure. The Turkish Army is acting with utmost precaution to avoid
harming civilians.
We have already intensified our humanitarian efforts substantially, setting
up camps to help the civilians fleeing Afrin. We are already hosting over
three million Syrians, and Turkish humanitarian agencies are helping those
who need our support.
Turkey will continue the mission until terrorists are wiped out. Turkey
will not consent to the creation of separatist enclaves or terrorist safe
havens that threaten its national security and are against the will of the
Syrian people.
Turkey has already been active in every political process that seeks a
solution to the quagmire in Syria. Maintaining the territorial integrity of
Syria is key to the peace efforts. Clearing terrorists means opening space
for peace.
We strive for a future that is free of terrorist entities, imploding
neighbors, wars and humanitarian calamities in our region. Turkey deserves
the respect and support of the United States in this essential fight.