Today, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rebuffed US calls to cutain Turkey’s military offense in Afrin, Syria, citing Washington’s 17 year-long military occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Although Erdogan has a point regarding the obvious US sins of Afghanistan and Iraq, it would have been a better point to make that the US currently inside of Syria illegally and against international law. Article 51 of the UN Charter clearly prohibits any military action by one country against another, unless this action is in self-defense – or with the authorization of the UN Security Council. The US had neither. Moreover, the US is also in violation of its own constitutional law under the Supremacy Clause (Article 6, Clause 2).
However, neither does Tayyip Erdogan, who’s claim that the Afrin Kurds are terrorists simply does not add up, not is it legal. In this way, Erdogan is doing what Saudi Arabia (backed by the US, UK and the UAE) are doing to Yemen by attacking it under the false pretense that the ‘Houthis’ (Ansarullah Movement) are somehow terrorists, and thereby avoiding any due process – and remaining completely unaccountable for waging an undeclared war of aggression, according to the Nuremberg Principles of international law defined as “planning preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances.”
In reality however, should Turkey make a move to occupy land in northern Syria – in the name of establishing its ‘security zone’ – then it will be doing what Israel did by seizing and occupying South Lebanon (1985-2000), which did not end well for Israel, who was eventually driven out by Hezbollah.
Could Turkey’s relentless campaign of aggression against Syrian Kurds provide the ethnic group with an increased ‘victim status’ internationally, and thus justifying the Kurdish call for carving-out an independent Kurdish state from Syrian territory?
RT International reports on Turkey’s latest act of aggression against Syria…
The US asked Ankara on Sunday to “ensure that its military operations remain limited in scope and duration.”
“The Afrin operation will end when it reaches its goal like the Euphrates Shield did,” Erdogan said while addressing an awards ceremony in Ankara on Monday.
The US says it ‘should not last for too long.’ And I’m asking the US, how long have you been in Afghanistan, when will it end? You came in Iraq before we came to power. Has the time duration ended in Iraq? You are still there,” Erdogan said.
Turkey does not have any plans to take over “the territories of another country” and will eventually leave Syrian soil, he stressed. The operation is not targeting the Kurdish population, but solely terrorists, according to the Turkish leader.
“It is very clear that we do not have any problem with our Kurdish citizens; it is also not a matter of a Kurdish corridor,” he stated. “The main purpose of this operation is to contribute to the safety of life and property of Syrian people as well as the territorial integrity of Syria along with Turkey’s national security.”
Turkey’s Operation ‘Olive Branch’ in the Syrian region of Afrin – controlled by Kurdish militias which Ankara believes to be terrorists – kicked off on Saturday. The military action began with massive airstrikes, and was followed by a land offensive.
Turkish PM Binali Yildirim told journalists on Sunday that the operation aims to create a 30-kilometer “secure zone” within Syrian territory. The Syrian government calls the campaign an aggression, while Moscow has urged Turkey to show restraint and respect for Syria’s territorial integrity.
READ MORE TURKEY NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Turkey Files
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