Turkey: No tolerance for Kurdish entity in Syria

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Turkey: No tolerance for Kurdish entity in Syria

AP foreign, Monday July 22 2013

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Turkey's deputy prime minister says his country supports Syria's territorial integrity and won't tolerate the creation of a "de facto" Syrian Kurdish entity on its frontiers.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Bulent Arinc would not spell out what Turkey would do prevent any such entity from coming about but said it would act carefully and in a cool-headed manner.

Authorities here have been concerned over Syrian Kurdish militants' recent strengthening of power in areas bordering Turkey.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10895855

[William deB. Mills]

1. Bad News for Turkish Democracy

The Turkish regime's intolerance toward the aspirations of Syrian Kurds is very bad news for Mideast stability and for Turkish democracy. One can only wonder when the Turks will ever learn that their democracy and the region's peace both require fair treatment of the vast Kurdish minority. Supporting a fair deal for Syrian Kurds is an opportunity for Erdogan to show the substance in his policies of good-neighborliness and his recent offer of a new deal for Turkish Kurds. Instead, we seem to be seeing the old racist attitudes rearing their ugly heads in a fast backpedaling Turkey.

This is very hard to evaluate since the internal contradictions are so glaringly clear. The Erdogan regime unfortunately does not appear capable of putting out a clear signal about where it stands. This is dangerous for the Kurds of Iraq and Syria at the moment have every reason to defend themselves, while Turkish Kurds are poised on a cliff edge with Ankara glowering at them even as it offers them a conflict-ending deal. Why is Erdogan undercutting his own initiative?

[bemildred]

2. Too bad, there is going to be one. nt