Tensions Grow Between US, Turkey Along Syrian Border

Turkey Threatens More Attacks on US-Allied Kurds

by Jason Ditz,

The US responded to last week’s Turkish attacks on allied Kurdish forces in both Iraq and Syria by deploying a growing number of US troops in armored vehicles along the Syria-Turkey border, aiming to provide some sort of buffer and to prevent more Turkish attacks.

It doesn’t seem to be working, and if anything, tensions are now growing between the Turkish government and the US, with Turkish officials unhappy that the US is getting in their way, and seeing it as amounting to the US taking the side of the Kurds against them.

Turkish President Erdogan insisted he was “deeply saddened” to see the US flag flying alongside “terrorists” from the Kurdish YPG, saying he intends to demand President Trump stop supporting the Kurds in an upcoming White House visit, adding “this needs to be stopped right now.”

In the meantime, Erdogan insisted that the US presence isn’t going to stop Turkish attacks, and that Turkey retains the option of attacking Kurdish forces in either Iraq or Syria, or both, in the future irrespective of what the US thinks about it.

http://news.antiwar.com/2017/04/30/tensions-grow-between-us-turkey-along-syrian-border/