I won’t bore readers with an explanation of how I goofed up. The prior post, which I republish below, is essentially correct—except that I quoted for background a year old story that talked about a Kurdish bombing in Istanbul rather than in Ankara. So I’m republishing but substituting a CNN article from yesterday that pertains to the current situation, before the US - Turkey aerial altercations. I took the opportunity to edit just a bit. Big H/T Commenter Jeff:
This post highlights a series of events over the last few days that hasn’t received much coverage in the MSM. It stems from a Kurdish terror bombing in Ankara, Turkey’s capital. Turkey retaliated against Kurdish forces in Syria within the US occupied areas of Syria:
Turkish airstrikes kill at least 11 in northern Syria, Kurdish security forces say
Turkish airstrikes killed at least 11 people in multiple Kurdish-controlled locations in northeastern Syria, the Kurdish Internal Security Force said Thursday, the latest response from Ankara’s forces following a bomb attack in Turkey’s capital claimed by Kurdish militants.
This led to actual combat between the US and Turkey—NATO allies. The US stated that a Turkish drone flew too close to a US position. Of course, that’s an official story. The reality may be—probably is—that the US was warning Turkey off from attacking US allies:
301 Military
@301military
Oct 5
F-35A fighter jet of USAF from 421st EFS shot-down a Turkish Air Force's Anka-S armed drone over Hasakah. The Turkish drone had bombed positions of SDF which are the US allies in North East of Syria.
That led to Turkish retaliation—a rather remarkable development:
301 Military
@301military
2h
US-controlled oilfields are attacked by Turkey.
A video shows the results of Turkey's retaliatory strike on US-controlled Syrian oil fields.
Recall that yesterday the US Air Force shot down a Turkish UAV that bombed Kurdish infrastructure
Complicated enough?
This is simply a reminder that Erdogan’s Turkey considers that it has non-negotiable interests and ambitions, and that they sometimes conflict with those of the US. Despite the two countries being NATO “allies” and despite the major US air base at Incirlik in Turkey. It’s a fact worth keeping in mind as events continue to unfold in the Caucasus. It’s doubtful that Turkey would welcome a NATO presence in Armenia, but it’s a difficult balancing act that Erdogan is pursuing between Russia and the West.
Thanks for reading Meaning In History! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
"This is simply a reminder that Erdogan’s Turkey considers that it has non-negotiable interests and ambitions, and that they sometimes conflict with those of the US." Seems like Erdogan and Putin ought to get along just fine as regards their views of national rights on the geopolitical stage:
https://www.rt.com/russia/584125-putin-international-relations-principles/
Of course, as a practical matter, there will always be a few flies in the ointment ;)