I CONGRATULATE you for printing President Erdogan's controversial yet interesting account of why Turkey is currently engaged in military action in Syria (“The world should support what Turkey is trying to do”, The Herald, October 17). The President is absolutely within his rights to underline the fact that Turkey has done more than any other country to support millions of the victims of the Syrian civil war with limited assistance from the international community. He should be commended for welcoming Syrian refugees with open arms and an undeniable generosity of spirit and tangible aid. However, his justification for the launching of Operation Peace Spring which he claims will restore peace and stability to Syria, must be challenged.
President Erdogan claims he has embarked on this action to remove the terrorist threat in Northeast Syria without providing any historical background or perspective for his views. Since 1978 the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has tried to counter oppression by successive Turkish administrations in their quest for increased autonomy. The Kurds have suffered innumerable human rights abuses under Turkish rule in recent times from a total ban on their language and culture to the destruction of villages, the execution of Kurdish civilians and journalists and widespread rape and torture. Some commentators believe that the President's recent opportunistic decision to use military force is simply a continuation of a long-term Turkish government policy of ethnic cleansing of the Kurdish people and certainly not an operation with peace in mind.
The President has rightly been condemned for this aggressive venture which will destabilise a region that is still reeling from the carnage of its civil war. The humanitarian consequences of his operation are already being felt with more than100,000 displaced civilians, a growing list of casualties and the reported escape of Islamic State prisoners from jails administered by the PKK.
The increasingly irrational and unpredictable foreign policy of the United States has allowed President Erdogan to capitalise on a control vacuum in Northeast Syria. He must now realise that international opinion, with the exception of perhaps Russia, is not on his side and agree to a ceasefire as suggested by a US delegation. Jaw-jaw must always be better than war-war.
Owen Kelly, Stirling.
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