There is abundant reason to reevaluate Turkey’s membership in NATO. But they’ve steadfastly ignored it all in Washington up to now; why stop now?
“Turkey accused of killing Kurdish female commander in Syria,” by Seth J. Frantzman, Jerusalem Post, July 28, 2022:
A Kurdish commander in the Syrian Democratic Forces, the US-backed group that helped defeat ISIS, was murdered in a targeted assassination by a drone strike in Syria on July 22.
The attack by Turkey, using an armed drone, appears to be the latest attempt by Ankara to attack US-backed anti-ISIS forces. Turkey has also encouraged extremist groups to shell areas of Syria around Tel Tamr, driving civilians from their homes.
The same groups have targeted churches and have been accused of ethnic cleansing of Kurds and Yazidis, as well as the kidnapping and abuse of women. In addition, Turkish strikes allegedly killed four other members of a Kurdish security force south of Ayn Issa and killed nine tourists in northern Iraq in the last week.
The targeted killing of Salwa Yusuk by a drone appears to be an extrajudicial execution.
In the past, human rights groups such as Amnesty International have examined armed drone strikes in the context of extrajudicial executions. A report in 2018 by Amnesty noted “according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, US drone strikes have killed up to 1,551 civilians since 2004 in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia. Amnesty International and others have exposed how some drone strikes have violated international law and may amount to extrajudicial executions or war crimes.”
Furthermore, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions has looked at drone strikes in the same way. A report by Agnes Callamard discussed the proliferation of drones and ramifications under international law in recent years.
According to a US Central Command statement, “Salwa Yusuk (AKA Ciyan Afrin) a Deputy Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – along with 2 fellow female fighters – was killed in an attack near Qamishli, Syria, on July 22, 2022. Salwa was a critical SDF leader who led forces in combat vs ISIS since the height of the fight to defeat the vile ideology in NE Syria in 2017. CENTCOM extends our condolences to the Families of these 3 SDF fighters, the people in Northeast Syria and our SDF partners.”
Targeted assassinations of Kurds and Yazidis
An article at NBC noted that “a renowned female commander of the Kurdish opposition forces in Syria, credited by the US military with saving American lives in the battle against ISIS, has been killed by a Turkish drone strike, according to two defense officials.” The article quoted an official who said, “there is no doubt she saved American lives on the battlefield.”
The reports say that Yusuk was murdered alongside other SDF members near Qamishli in Syria. Yusuk was 42 years old. In recent years, Turkey has increased its targeted assassinations of Kurds and Yazidis in Syria and Iraq….
gravenimage says
Turkey accused of killing commander of US-backed group that helped defeat the Islamic State
………………………..
Grimly, this would not surprise. Turkey has been supporting the Islamic State since its inception.
Turkey should be out of NATO long since.
mortimer says
Exactly, Turkey was buying oil from ISIS and Erdogan’s son was involved. Turkey was trying to exterminate the Kurds and Allowites … fellow Muslims who wanted their own states independent from Turkey. The Kurds for their determined resistance to ISIS should be granted an independent state.
Infidel says
Instead, they are right now a hero to NATO, since they are one of the few remaining mediators b/w Moscow and Kyiv. Which gives them an even bigger opportunity to play both sides of that fence
They’re one reason that I’ve been calling for US to withdraw from NATO, so that it becomes irrelevant and Russia can stop caring about whether or not Ukraine joins it
jack reynolds says
Turkey should have been booted out of NATO 20 years ago.
Turkey should have been booted out of NATO 20 years ago.
Turkey should have been booted out of NATO 20 years ago.
Turkey should have been booted out of NATO 20 years ago.
Turkey should have been booted out of NATO 20 years ago.
Turkey should have been booted out of NATO 20 years ago.
Turkey should have been booted out of NATO 20 years ago.
.
Long, long over due.
Fred Alan Medforth says
BREAKING: Kosovo army plans to attack northern Serbia at midnight – Serbian President Vucic
https://medforth.biz/kosovo-army-plans-to-attack-northern-serbia-at-midnight-serbian-president-vucic/
gravenimage says
This is scary, Medforth. I had not heard anything about this.
Infidel says
How would Kosovo attack northern Serbia when they are to their south? I would think Sandzak and other such areas should be protected
TD says
TURKEY. An ally of convinience. not our western or US values.
Israel is our true ally. US-UK-Israel. and now Australia.
IRC is the enemy. Iran-Russia-China. Iran is secretly the most dangerous of the 3.
Infidel says
No, China is. Iran’s economy is totally dependent on Western sanctions being lifted. Russia’s is currently okay just due to oil prices, and them finding alternate customers. But China is almost sanction proof, since all of the world’s manufacturing happens there, and except India and Japan, nobody has tried to stop Chinese imports
The real enemy axis is TIC – Turkey-Iran-China. Russia is now a client state of China
sidney penny says
“There is abundant reason to reevaluate Turkey’s membership in NATO. But they’ve steadfastly ignored it all in Washington up to now; why stop now?”
Robert Spencer , you keep hitting the nail on the head. Turkey should not be in NATO. If getting Turkey out of NATO is difficult, start something else with the same objectives without Turkey>
Andrew Blackadder says
NATO, so when did Turkey get close to the North Atlantic, EU, so when did Turkey become part of Europe, and some may say that a sliver of Turkey is on European soil however forgetting that the Capital of Turkey is a Thousand miles away from Europe.
So does Turkey have anything to do with NATO or the EU.
Listening to the political wisdom of American Movies Stars and Patrica Arquette told us recently that she thinks its about time we kicked Russia out of NATO… Applause please…I would like to thank the Academy…
Infidel says
Turkey is about as European a country as Japan is. Aside from their capital being in central Anatolia, their people are primarily descendants of the people of today’s Turkmenistan. And yeah, a lot of their ancestors are raped Greek & Armenian women, but that doesn’t make these savages Greek or Armenian
Problem is that the West has yet to recognize islam as the enemy. The day they do, Turkey will automatically fall off the classification of ‘ally’
raja says
Infidel,
Your comment: Problem is that the West has yet to recognize islam as the enemy. The day they do, Turkey will automatically fall off the classification of ‘ally’
This is the grim reality of today and it won’t fade away anytime soon. Goons/ugly people/ugly religion are never called out in public for what they are. The world is too scared to venture into that area. The repercussions are too nasty to image. Perhaps Boris Johnson’s ride on a JCB was a cursory glimpse of confrontation (with islam) in view of what JCB were used for ( to fix Islamists of India through bulldozers), as some MP made a big issue of photo op in UK. So islam remains a silent killer-enemy despite the odious hatred for that “religion”
raja says
Infidel,
I cannot disagree with you in almost all issues discussed here. But we cannot ignore so many of the elites who have been in bed with islam for ages and they are tumbling out of the closet now. Much before 9/11 you had princess Diana hobnobbing with Islamists. Charles loves the smell of dollars from Obama. So the list is endless.