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American Military positions in northern Syria leaked by Turkey over Kurdish support

A

AcademicSaucer

Member
Turkey's state-run news agency leaked the positions of U.S. military bases and special forces stationed in northern Syria Tuesday as Ankara continues to vent its anger over Washington's support for Syrian Kurds on its southern border.

Anadolu news agency reported that the U.S. has 10 military points in northern Syria to assist the People's Protection Units, or YPG, in the fight against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).

The YPG is a militia that Turkey says is affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, a group that Turkey, U.S. and the EU have listed as an extremist organization, which has waged a decades-long, bloody insurgency against Ankara.

The news agency said the bases are "usually hidden for security reasons," but proceeded to list 10 bases in the northern and northeastern Syrian districts of Al-Hasakah, Kobane, Manbij and Raqqa, in a move that could rupture relations between the NATO partners.

The report goes on to list the U.S. areas of operation and the precise district in which they are stationed. It also provides the presence of U.S. and French special forces at particular bases, and the number of elite forces stationed there.

Turkey opposes the Syrian Kurds located along its southern border, saying they want to create a de facto state that would threaten Turkish sovereignty. Ankara opposes the YPG's involvement in the battle for the eastern Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIS's self-styled demi-state that straddles the Iraqi-Syrian border.

The U.S. denies that the arms it gives the Syrian Kurds will end up in the hands of the PKK, which has conducted many deadly attacks on Turkish soil. But Turkish government anger appears to have spilled over, and the disclosure of U.S. military locations in one of the bloodiest warzones in the world is not likely to be accepted without censure from Washington.
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Source: http://www.newsweek.com/american-mi...ria-leaked-turkey-over-kurdish-support-638860
 
P

patapuf

Member
What does Erdogan hope to achieve here?

First Germany, now the US. What does he gain by pissing of allies in this way?

Does he think this will increase his power in the region?
 
SiteSeer

SiteSeer

Member
patapuf said:
What does Erdogan hope to achieve here?

First Germany, now the US. What does he gain by pissing of allies in this way?

Does he think this will increase his power in the region?
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create an atmosphere of 'us vs them'. and he will be the leader to defeat 'them'. textbook dictator's tactic.
 
V

Violet_0

Banned
hawkshockey11 said:
Can someone name anything good about Turkey? Definitely my front-runner for worst country.
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still better than a large number of other countries - NK, Syria, Venezuela, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, there are still many much worse places
good country for a vacation, great food, nice people for the most part
they deserve someone far better than Erdogan
 
R

reckless

Member
Baron Doggystyle von Woof said:
YPG is a terrorist organization which already killed hundreds of people in turkey which US is actively supporting. No shit turkey is pissed.
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Maybe Turkey should have thought about that when they were supporting ISIS as a way to hurt the Kurds. We're supporting the SDF since they are by far the most effective anti ISIS group in Syria.
 
Raven117

Raven117

Member
Walshicus said:
Kick the fuckers out of NATO.
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What? No! Why? We as the West should have been (read should have...we screwed the pooch), pulling Turkey closer to the west. They used to be the only secular democratic muslim country over there. Instead, we pushed them away and they recently had an referendum giving the President almost a dictatorship.

Gawd the west effed that up.
 
B

Baron Doggystyle von Woof

Member
reckless said:
Maybe Turkey should have thought about that when they were supporting ISIS as a way to hurt the Kurds. We're supporting the SDF since they are by far the most effective anti ISIS group in Syria.
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Please show me proof that turkey is supporting isis. Erdoğan asked the US to send troops inside of Syria to battle isis together. US refused. They rather support a terrorist organization which is killing civilians in a NATO friend's country then cleaning up their own mess.
 
C

ClosingADoor

Member
Raven117 said:
What? No! Why? We as the West should have been (read should have...we screwed the pooch), pulling Turkey closer to the west. They used to be the only secular democratic muslim country over there. Instead, we pushed them away and they recently had an referendum giving the President almost a dictatorship.

Gawd the west effed that up.
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We did not push Turkey away. Erdogan started this shit all by himself.
 
T

trembli0s

Member
Raven117 said:
What? No! Why? We as the West should have been (read should have...we screwed the pooch), pulling Turkey closer to the west. They used to be the only secular democratic muslim country over there. Instead, we pushed them away and they recently had an referendum giving the President almost a dictatorship.

Gawd the west effed that up.
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Get the fuck out of here with that bullshit narrative. Erdogan and his Islamist goons have known exactly what they were doing for the better part of a decade, despite European warnings about their actions.

Decommission all the nukes in Incrilik, pull all hardware out of Turkey, and support a Kurdish state out of former Syria. Fuck Erdogan.
 
K

kirblar

Member
trembli0s said:
Get the fuck out of here with that bullshit narrative. Erdogan and his Islamist goons have known exactly what they were doing for the better part of a decade, despite European warnings about their actions.

Decommission all the nukes in Incrilik, pull all hardware out of Turkey, and support a Kurdish state out of former Syria. Fuck Erdogan.
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Yup. Blaming this on the "west" when it's entirely due to the rise of an internal far right religious majority is ridiculous.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
This could literally get our troops killed. Under any other President this would be a serious incident to look over.

I can't imagine how pissed the pentagon is.
 
K

kirblar

Member
Trojita said:
This could literally get our troops killed. Under any other President this would be a serious incident to look over.

I can't imagine how pissed the pentagon is.
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But under this President, they're waiting for Putin's instructions on what to do next.
 
R

reckless

Member
Baron Doggystyle von Woof said:
Please show me proof that turkey is supporting isis. Erdoğan asked the US to send troops inside of Syria to battle isis together. US refused. They rather support a terrorist organization which is killing civilians in a NATO friend's country then cleaning up their own mess.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-l-phillips/research-paper-isis-turke_b_6128950.html

Euphrates shield shows that Turkey's military is incompetent and the goals of the U.S and Turkey are not the same. Turkey clearly cares more about the YPG then ISIS. Why would we work with them when the SDF has shown to be actually competent and has the same goal of destroying ISIS.
 
G

Goofalo

Member
sflufan said:
One man's "terrorist" is another man's "freedom fighter".

It's all a matter of perspective.
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Uh, ISIS isn't fighting for freedom. At least my understanding of a caliphate, it doesn't emphasize much freedom.

edit: My bad, the PKK isn't looking for a caliphate. They are seeking, on paper, some weird form of participatory democracy, sort of, but i'm not sure if they want an actual state per se.
 
C

commedieu

Banned
linkboy said:
And of course, the idiot in chief won't do a damn thing about it.

I'm so glad I'm out of the military now.
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Thanks for serving.

While trump is a wet tissue.. I don't think this will go down well for our military apparatus.

They will be able to shine a laserpointer toward the paper he needs to sign.
 
W

Wolfgunblood Garopa

Member
Baron Doggystyle von Woof said:
Please show me proof that turkey is supporting isis. Erdoğan asked the US to send troops inside of Syria to battle isis together. US refused. They rather support a terrorist organization which is killing civilians in a NATO friend's country then cleaning up their own mess.
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US allies in the region are slim to none, and YPG was actively fighting ISIS alongside the US. When Obama tried to protect them, Turkey withdrew cooperation with the US. Obama wasn't going to let them die when they put their lives on the line fighting terrorists especially given that Erdogan is just another asshole in the region who doesn't care about ISIS.
 
T

trembli0s

Member
reckless said:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-l-phillips/research-paper-isis-turke_b_6128950.html

Euphrates shield shows that Turkey's military is incompetent and the goals of the U.S and Turkey are not the same. Turkey clearly cares more about the YPG then ISIS. Why would we work with them when the SDF has shown to be actually competent and has the same goal of destroying ISIS.
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The reason they're incompetent is because they jailed, demoted, or outright dismissed the only military commanders who knew anything. The military is now an inept force full of yes men and sycophants.
 
1

18-Volt

Member
patapuf said:
What does Erdogan hope to achieve here?

First Germany, now the US. What does he gain by pissing of allies in this way?

Does he think this will increase his power in the region?
Click to expand...

He actually thinks that. He actually thinks that he's capable of regaining the territories the Ottoman Empire lost 100 years ago. He's fighting a war he knows he'll lose in near furture, but he does it anyway and isn't ashamed to use dirty tricks like this one. He's scared, very scared because the whole Qatar thing signals his eventual downfall.

Baron Doggystyle von Woof said:
YPG is a terrorist organization which already killed hundreds of people in turkey which US is actively supporting. No shit turkey is pissed.
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Except it isn't? YPG is not Turkey's enemy, it's Tayyip's personal nemesis. Turkey had been in good terms with YPG and Syrian Kurdish organizations before Tayyip dictatorship. He's trying to demonize Kurds and YPG just to cover and protect Islamic terrorist organizations like ISIS or Al-Nusra. The propaganda he's making in Turkey is absolutely disgusting, even the most obvious ISIS attacks are blamed on Kurds and other leftist organizatons.

Plus YPG never had presence in Turkey, never claimed any responsibility for any attack. Government is ready to blame them for even the smallest car crash happens in Turkey.
 
M

Mimosa97

Member
Baron Doggystyle von Woof said:
YPG is a terrorist organization which already killed hundreds of people in turkey which US is actively supporting. No shit turkey is pissed.
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Anytime there's an article about the Kurds, the Erdogan chills come out of the woodwork. So fucking pathetic.

We're talking about a NATO ally disclosing the secret location of foreign troops and that's all you have to say? I hope the kurds and their " terrorist " organization achieve independence so they can get finally rid of your beloved murderous dictator.
 
C

CTLance

Member
Holy crap. That's pretty extreme. Down to the exact deployment numbers. Are they fucking nuts?!

I wonder how much longer Turkey can keep its current NATO status. Can't we all just grab our stuff and send it over to the Greek? I heard they're a little tight with money at the moment, so they probably wouldn't mind a few military bases full of well-paid soldiers. Sure, they'd be a bit farther away, but hey, life's a bitch.
 
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