PYD fishing for trouble in border areas

The Syrian Kurdish militants of the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing the People's Protection Units (YPG), both extensions of the PKK terrorist organization, seem to be exploiting the current referendum atmosphere in Turkey to strengthen their grip on the Arab areas they are holding in northern Syria, across our border.

They are trying to use the United States and Russia as shields and continue to hold on to the Arab town of Manbij just west of the Euphrates River while they remain encroached in the Afrin region just east of our border across the Hatay province.

The U.S. had promised Turkey that the YPG forces, which were a large portion of the force that wrestled Manbij from Daesh, would return to the east of the Euphrates River and leave the town to its rightful owners, the Arabs of Syria.

But that never happened.

The U.S. repeated over and over again they would pull the Kurds out of the town, yet in the end the YPG declared it was holding on to the city and will be protected by American forces.

The YPG, in another maneuver, positioned the Russian-supported Assad regime forces west of Manbij thus creating a buffer between them and the Turkish forces that had captured the strategic town of al-Bab from Daesh.

So the Americans who want to use the PYD in their operation to capture the Daesh stronghold of Raqqa paid them lip service in Manbij and actually became their bodyguards against Turkey in the town.

The U.S. is protecting Syrian militants affiliated to the PKK rather than their NATO ally, Turkey. Doesn't that sound a bit crooked to you? Unfortunately that is exactly what is happening.

On the other hand, the PYD and YPG are playing another dangerous game in the Afrin area by trying to enlist the support and protection of Russia against Turkey. They realize that after the fall of al-Bab and the fact that with the help of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Turkey has established a secure zone between Afrin and the Rojova area that is controlled by the PYD in the east of the Euphrates, their dreams of creating a Kurdish zone to the south of the Turkish border have collapsed.

Besides, these links between Rojava and Afrin have been severed thus their supplies lines have been destroyed. Afrin has been effectively isolated.

So they are now claiming the Russians are setting up a base in Afrin. The Russians have denied this and said they have established a cease-fire monitoring station and that is all.

The Kurds are also saying the Russians are protecting them with armored vehicles whereas the Russians say these vehicles are used for peace monitoring.

While all this is going on, the PYD has started harassing Turkish border areas. Their sharpshooters killed a Turkish soldier on guard duty inside Turkish territory in the border area of Hatay only a few days ago.

The fact that the PKK uses PYD bases in Afrin, and places like Kobani in Rojava, to train their terrorists and acquire arms and bombs to be used in Turkey, are all acts of provocation that cannot be neglected.

Sooner or later Turkey has to deal with the PKK, PYD and YPG in Syria just as it has dealt with the Daesh terrorists who hurled missiles into our cities and staged suicide bombings in the industrial city of Gaziantep.

Just wait till after the referendum on the constitutional changes on April 16.