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Considering YPG is considered a terrorist organization and is an extension of another terrorist organization recognized by many countries, including US, I'm not sure this is about the ruler of the country.

YPG/PKK terrorism is something Turkey is trying to deal with for ~30 years now.

Calling people killing Turkish citizens as Kurdish minorities is also overly romantic if it's unintentional.



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YPG has strong ties to PKK, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by NATO and EU [1] [2].

I strongly dislike Erdogan and his policies, and certainly don't approve the attack but YPG is a different issue. It is sad that most outsiders' view about the Kurdish conflict boils down to 'Turkey hates Kurds'. It's just not like that. We should all unite against terrorism.

[1]: http://www.coedat.nato.int/publication/datr/volume8-2016/01-... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan_Workers%27_Party


YPG and PKK are two different entities.

Which Kurdish nation? The one that terrorists want? Even Turkey's Minister of Economy, as well as the Undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization of Turkey, are of Kurdish origin. Millions of Kurdish-origin Turkish citizens have been living in peace and harmony for centuries. The PKK/YPG is a terrorist organization aiming to disrupt the harmony between Kurds and Turks for their own political and financial purposes, and your tone of speech closely resembles theirs

The YPG is essentially a rebranding of the PKK, and the United States is utilizing them as proxy warriors. An American general has acknowledged this. Here's a link to the video where the admission takes place. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t0f9GmTs_U Furthermore, the situation is not related to any authoritarianism in Ankara. The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization, and their cessation is imperative for those who champion peace and prosperity.

Turkey sees YPG as a subsidiary to PKK. Others don't necessarily agree.

The list you've linked doesn't contain the YPG, only the PKK. While the authoritarian in Ankara and people sympathetic to his goals like to conflate both, they are not the same, which is why the US supports one and has the other on the list.

In Turkish propaganda, any form of Kurds organizing themselves, be it inside Turkey our outside in Iran, Iraq or Syria, is "terrorism". Even though most of this activity is political and from a democratic standpoint quite "legitimate". Even much of what the PKK has been doing historically falls under that umbrella.

Also the Kurds are forming a state in parts of Syria and Iraq, where the "original" state is not able to restore order, especially against islamic militants. On top of that, the Turkish security forces have a long history of prosecuting Kurdish civilians. This makes the whole label of "terrorism" extremely murky and what Erdogan wants of NATO is much less nice than support against terrorists: He wants support and acquiescence in his war against Kurdish forces, including outside Turkey.


I'm very sympathetic to the YPG, and I don't think they are a subsidiary... but any objective observer can see that YPG and PKK are very closely related. They have posters of Abdullah Ocalan everywhere, they have many PKK fighters in their ranks, etc. etc.

Isn't that erdogan pretending to be the pkk in order to justify ethnic cleansing though?

But Sweden and Finland are NOT "openly supporting" the PKK and YPG. Just copying the Erdogan propaganda is at best lazy. Nor is it correct to label these organizations as entirely "terrorist".

The reality is a lot more complicated, but Erdogan would very much like you to simplify "organized Kurds = Terrorists"...


I'd argue that Turkey is much more an enemy of YPG than the YPG is an enemy of Turkey.

The history of Turkish forces prosecuting Kurdish civilians makes the whole matter extremely murky. Even the PKK does have quite legitimate and understandable goals and motivations, though it has been criticized for its methods which could be called "terrorism". But the same can be said of the Turkish state.

As a total outsider I see the situation as somewhat related to the Palestinian struggle: The more you are struggling for basic survival in the face of aggression, oppression and poverty, the less energy and motivation there is to curb the excesses of extremists in the own ranks.


quite a lot of Kurds will beg to differ on the definition of "terrorist" by the AKP/Erdogan?

YPG would still be mainly Kurds. So Erdogan would find a reason to kill them.

Turkish Government has had many high-ranking Kurdish officials, including multiple presidents and prime ministers.

There have been more Kurds served in the Turkish Army than all the other armed organizations combined.

Majority of Kurds in Turkey openly support the Turkish Government, especially against the PKK terror.

Several Kurdish organizations in Iraq, Syria, and Iran support the Turkish Government, especially against the PKK terror.

PKK kills Kurds. PKK kills Turks. PKK will happily kill you if doing so benefits the crime and propaganda business they have been profiting for decades.

Let's not parrot some politically charged material as facts without having any actual understanding about such sensitive matter.


It's becoming a ritual with Erdogan's govt recently to launch airstrikes against PKK positions in Qandil, Northern Iraq following every terrorist attack in Turkey that's blamed on militant Kurdish nationalists and they even sent troops to Iraqi Kurdistan last December with the tacit approval of the Kurdish authorities to neutralize PKK militants there.

There's always been tension between Kurdish nationalist factions and they even had a brief civil war[1] between Iraqi Kurds in the 90s (Talabani vs Barzani) and there's rivalry between the Peshmerga and the PKK esp. in the area where the Peshmerga deems its territories in Iraq where some PKK members challenge their authority there but despite all of this, some Kurdish nationalist love to portray the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds as an ethnic and not a political one as it garners more support and sympathy for their cause and make Turkey look like the bad guy in this conflict.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Kurdish_Civil_War


Nonsense.

In turkey saying the Kurds should have an independent state, via peaceful means makes you a terrorist.

In the US you can openly campaign for illegal succession and it’s fine as long as you don’t t start engaging in overt acts.


I can't help but wonder if the dude is actually another country looking to gain greater control or influence over Turkey.

Erdogan has reignited PKK terrorism.
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