Ferda Çetin
“The US, Turkey, the KDP, and the Iraqi government want to distort this fact and turn it on its head. The future and security of Sinjar and Yazidi Kurds in Sinjar are sought to be handed over to the KDP and Iraqi forces, who gathered their weapons and fled while the ISIS massacre was taking place”, writes Ferda Çetin for Yeni Özgür Politika.
This column may seem a repetition for readers of Yeni Özgür Politika. This repetition is not due to a lack of fresh material but instead reflects the deepening and widening of plans held by international players as the fierce struggle continues.
While Turkey’s invasion of Southern Kurdistan continued with the support and assistance of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Iraqi army also enlisted the help of the KDP to launch an attack on Sinjar.
The US has brought Turkey and Iraq together to eliminate the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), suggesting both should, “shoot the Kurds with the Kurds.”
The KDP and the Barzani family show that they are ready and willing to commit all kinds of vulgarity and malice in order to realise this plan, which they regard as a clear issue to the very existence of the PKK.
On 3 August 2014, ISIS gangs attacked Sinjar. Thousands of Yazidi Kurds were massacred and 4000 Yazidi women -whose fate is still unknown- were kidnapped by the gangs. Neither the UN, the USA, Iraq, nor the KDP forces intervened in this massacre that took place in full view. Only with the intervention of PKK guerrillas and the People’s Defence Units fighters (YPG/YPJ), was the massacre prevented from further escalation.
The US, Turkey, the KDP, and the Iraqi government want to distort this fact and turn it on its head. They intend to hand over the future and security of Sinjar and the Yazidi Kurds in Sinjar to the KDP and Iraqi forces. These are the same forces who gathered their weapons and fled while the ISIS massacre was taking place.
The 9 October 2020 Sinjar Agreement, that was signed in conjunction with the US, included the Iraqi government in a partnership between the Turkish state and the KDP. This agreement consisted of only one item: the removal of PKK forces and foreign forces in Sinjar.
The US, the Iraqi Kadhimi government, and the KDP are perfectly aware of the fact that the PKK guerrillas left Sinjar in March 2018 and that not a single PKK guerrilla now remains.
There is another crucial fact: The only force fighting in its homeland, Iraq (Southern Kurdistan), which is not a foreign power, is the PKK.
There are hundreds of non-Iraqi foreign forces, organisations, and groups on Iraqi territory, including the Turkish Republic, the US, the UK, France, Iran, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Haşdi al-Shaabi [Popular Mobilization Forces], Haşdi Vatani, and the Turkmen Front formed by Turkey from foreign jihadist gangs.
The US does not have objections to the presence of these organisations, neither Al Qaeda nor ISIS. It is clear that when the US says, “foreign organisations”, it is specifically talking about the PKK.
US and European states cannot cover up this simple truth with the rhetoric of “fight against terrorism”, “Turkey’s right to self-defence”, nor “foreign powers in Iraq”. These lies do not make the elimination of the PKK credible. An international plan in which the Turkish Republic and the KDP share the goal of irradicating the PKK, is becoming increasingly evident.
The Greater Middle East Project (GMEP) of the US and Europe is still alive and kicking. International powers see both Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President of Turkey, and the Barzani Family as useful allies for this project.
The United States and the European Union still support the Erdoğan dictatorship despite significant ruptures in relations with the Erdoğan government.
It should be noted that the US and the EU did not show any serious reaction against the AKP and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) government. The US and the EU are careful not to make moves that will benefit the opposition in Turkey or adversely affect the Erdoğan government.
In 2006 at the American Enterprise Institute, top level AKP advisor Cüneyt Zapsu reportedly urged the US administration to take advantage of Erdoğan’s position, using the Turkish phrase for “do not sweep this man into a hole, use him”. It is apparent this advice was taken.
It is clear that the US and the EU intend to keep the Erdoğan government in power for another term. Those preparing for the elections in Turkey should account for this.
The causes for this crisis are the Turkish state’s support of ISIS in Syria and Iraq; the dispute on the embargo against Iran and the Halkbank Case; relations with Russia, the S400 problem and policies contrary to NATO membership; non-recognition of decisions made by the European Union, the Council of Europe, and the European Court of Human Rights.
No matter how critical, these issues are not providing sufficient pressure to turn the US and EU away from supporting Turkey.
On the contrary, political, military, and economic support to the Erdoğan regime have accelerated.
Tolerance toward the Turkish state and Erdoğan is the result of a need to use Turkey and Erdogan to implement the “Master Plan”, the Greater Middle East Project, prepared by the imperial powers for the Middle East.
Hosni Mubarak, Omar al-Bashir, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai were once also useful and dependable, favourite allies to the United States and Europe.
It is a classic and well-known policy of the US, England, France, and other so called, ‘Greats’ to support and exploit dictatorships and oligarchic governments to the fullest, then pretend to suddenly wake afresh to the violation of human rights and democratic principles.
Erdoğan is still a reliable partner for the West and will not ‘be swept into the hole’ for a long while yet.
