Turkey’s offensive ‘violation of Syrian sovereignty’: Journalist

Turkey's military operation in northeastern Syria technically is a violation of the Syrian sovereignty, a journalist says, but the offensive can also be construed as a means of weakening the US-backed militias and compelling them to initiate peace talks with the government in Damascus.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Tuesday that his country’s military forces and the Turkish-backed militants of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) have launched a long-threatened offensive in Syria’s northeast against Kurdish militants from the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to push them away from border areas.

PressTV-Turkey starts war against Kurds in northeastern Syria

Turkish military and allied forces have launched a cross-border offensive against Kurdish YPG militants in northeastern Syria.

“Turkey’s attack on Syrian soil and Syrian territory technically is a violation of the Syrian sovereignty, and that’s of course why Damascus has been denouncing and condemning it,” Brecht Jonkers, historian and journalist from Belgium, said during a Wednesday edition of Press TV’s The Debate program.  

But the incursion, on the other side, has raised hopes that, “it would be sufficiently weakening the Kurdish militia… and that the YPG and the SDF would be weakened to such an extent that they will finally open up discussions with Damascus and finally see that there is no future for them to be a proxy state under US control anymore,” Jonkers added.

The US has long been providing the YPG and SDF militants with arms, calling them a key partner in the purported fight against the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in Syria. Many observers, however, see the support as part of Washington's plans to carve out a foothold in the Arab country.

Hatem Yavuz, a political observer from Istanbul was the other panelist invited to The Debate, who said, "the armory that has been pumped into the YPG by the United States is directed to Turkey, that is, the YPG is a proxy war of the US that wants to make war with the republic of Turkey, a NATO ally."

PressTV-Condemnations pour in over Turkey's Syria operation

Turkey's military operation in northeast Syria sparks a wave of severe criticism from across the world, with the UN Security Council and Arab League set to hold emergency meetings.

Ankara views the YPG as the Syria branch of the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group, which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.

The Turkish military, with support from allied militants of the so-called Free Syrian Army, launched two cross-border operations in northern Syria, namely “Euphrates Shield” in August 2016 and “Olive Branch” in January 2018 with the declared aim of eradicating the presence of Kurdish militants and Daesh terrorists near Turkey’s borders.

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