Turkey has rejected the American embassy’s condolence message, and western media is weirdly silent about the whole affair.
Türkiye has identified YPG militias in Syria as the masterminds behind the deadly bombing in Istanbul and will not accept condolences from the US, which has has supported them in the past.
“We have received the message, but we will not accept and are rejecting condolences from the US embassy,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told journalists, as quoted by TASS.
Soylu’s rebuke came as he updated the media on the response by Turkish law enforcement following Sunday’s attack, which killed six people and left 81 others injured.
The Turkish official pointed the finger at Syria-based Kurdish YPG militias as the people behind the bombing attack, claiming that “the terror plot came from Ayn al-Arab” – the district in northern Syria where the predominantly Kurdish city of Kobani is located.
Ankara considers the YPG to be part of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Turkish-Kurdish militia group that has waged a decades-old guerrilla war against the government. The US has designated the PKK as a terrorist organization.
It helped Syrian Kurdish fighters by providing weapons, training and air support as part of Washington’s military involvement in Syria. The YPG fought against the forces of the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) with Washingtion’s assistance. The Turkish government complained that by bolstering the YPG, the US was undermining Türkiye’s national security.
Sunday’s bombing occurred on the iconic Istiklal Avenue, one of Istanbul’s biggest tourist attractions. Soylu announced on Monday that Turkish law enforcement had arrested 46 people in connection with the bombing, including the woman who allegedly dropped the bomb before fleeing the scene, along with the person accused of organizing the plot.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed Russia’s condolences in relation to the attack in a Monday morning cable addressed to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Russia “confirmed its commitment to closest cooperation with Turkish partners in fighting all forms of terrorism,” the message released by the Kremlin said.
I was unable to find even one mainstream American media outlet that mentioned this news. Consider this article from CNN. Officials deny Turkey’s claim that the YPG was involved, but no one seems to deny that the YPG is funded, trained, and armed by the American government.
A spokesperson for the armed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the General Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, also denied involvement in Sunday’s attack. The US-allied SDF is the official defense force of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and its armed forces are led by the YPG.
Turkey’s conflict with Kurdish separatist groups has spanned four decades and claimed tens of thousands of lives. The PKK, which seeks an independent state in Turkey, has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
It’s a strange situation, and the USA’s strategy in Syria resembles a lunatic suffering from multiple personalities disorder. The USA is a NATO ally of Turkey while simultaneously supporting Kurdish terrorist groups who have repeatedly attacked Turkish soil over the years. The USA is also ostensibly at war with ISIS, while at the same time supporting “moderate” ISIS militants in their war against Syrian, Iranian, and Russian troops. Consider the tone of this NYT article from last July:
Days before presiding over the grain agreement, the Turkish autocrat renewed a warning that he might veto NATO’s plans to accept Sweden and Finland as members in the coming months, an act that would deeply embarrass the alliance and the Biden administration as they work to counter Russia…
On Tuesday, Mr. Erdogan traveled to Tehran for meetings with Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, and Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin. The images of two prime American rivals with Mr. Erdogan, the leader of a NATO country, clashed with the Western narrative of a deeply isolated Iran and Russia, analysts said.
Then on Friday, a White House spokesman reiterated U.S. concerns about Mr. Erdogan’s threats to mount a new invasion of northern Syria targeting U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters whom he considers terrorists.
Taken together, Mr. Erdogan’s actions — and Mr. Biden’s limited ability to restrain them — underscore the Turkish leader’s unique position as a military ally frequently at odds with the agenda of his Western allies. To U.S. officials, it is an often maddening role.
All this raises a question in my mind. Are the Kurds a loose cannon, or are they simply carrying out orders from Washington? I struggle to come up with a plausible motive for God Emperor Biden to want to kill a bunch of innocent people in Istanbul. But then again, there really isn’t a plausible explanation for Ukrainian terrorist attacks against Donbass, Crimea, and Moscow – and they are under the full operational control of the Pentagon. It’s the actions of an unhinged lunatic to which logic need not apply.
Consider also the growing split between our military and civilian leadership. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley has joined the growing number of generals who are uncomfortable with the idea of endless war and escalation with no attempts at diplomacy. From CNN:
During internal conversations about the war in Ukraine, America’s top general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, has in recent weeks led a strong push to seek a diplomatic solution as fighting heads toward a winter lull.
But Milley’s position is not widely backed by President Joe Biden’s national security team, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, neither of whom believe it’s time to make a serious push for talks over Ukraine, according to two administration officials familiar with the discussion.
The result is a growing debate inside the administration over whether Ukraine’s recent gains on the battlefield should spark a renewed effort to seek some sort of negotiated end to the fighting, according to officials...
But that view is not widely held across the administration. One official explained that the State Department is on the opposite side of the pole from Milley. That dynamic has led to a unique situation where military brass are more fervently pushing for diplomacy than US diplomats.
Generals have an understanding of warfare, or at least they do theoretically. Civilian staff in the State Department have no understanding of war at all, and are acting entirely off of their emotions and ideological fanaticism. This is all very alarming, especially combined with Republicans’ miserable performance in the midterms last week. There is no “other side” who can take the wheel and change course from Mutually Assured Destruction.
Featured Image Credit: janeb13 on Pixabay.
Ian Kummer
Support my work by making a contribution through Boosty
All text in Reading Junkie posts are free to share or republish without permission, and I highly encourage my fellow bloggers to do so. Please be courteous and link back to the original.
I now have a new YouTube channel that I will use to upload videos from my travels around Russia. Expect new content there soon. Please give me a follow here.
Also feel free to connect with me on Quora (I sometimes share unique articles there).
erdogan has – as usual – been sticking his head in places it might not belong (for better or worse). he’s been talking about some kind of nebulous “peace talks” between russia and ukraine that may or may not leave the west out in the cold. he also seems to give very few f_cks about anti-russian sanctions.
https://www.reuters.com/world/turkey-seeks-ukraine-peace-talks-despite-western-actions-erdogan-says-2022-11-12/
always keep in mind that he’s a damn weirdo whose own “strategy” is a bit schizo. he’s been on the anti-assad/russia side in syria yet tries to be buddies with putin. he pals around with israel yet pretends to be an ally of palestinians.
or: maybe it’s just another kurd attack. they’ve been at it for a while.
Quite a few Turks in Moscow. They seem to do well here, but their government is too keen to play both sides and I think it is going to bite them in the ass. This terrorist attack might in fact be the beginning of the bite.
Otherwhile Western media, they are excited about missile explosion at Poland now.
Who choose everyday news ?
The State department is full of delusional rabid ideologues capable of anything.
They think they are gods shaping history, despite always getting everything wrong.
The Pentagon still has people with actual expertise who keep the whole ship from sailing over the edge of the world.
. . . despite furious efforts on the part of successive Administrations (both parties) to weed such people out.
From western media I had the same impression as your first commenter, but a journalist asked Putin for his opinion at the Valdai Club meeting on the 27th October 2022 and this was the exchange..
Fyodor Lukyanov: Two years ago, you spoke highly about President Erdogan at the Valdai Club meeting, saying that he did not go back on his words but did what he said he would do. Many things have happened over the past two years. Has your opinion of him changed?
Vladimir Putin: No. He is a competent and strong leader who is guided above all, and possibly exclusively, by the interests of Turkiye, its people and its economy. This largely explains his position on energy issues and, for example, on the construction of TurkStream.
We have proposed building a gas hub in Turkiye for European consumers. Turkiye has supported this idea, of course, first of all, based on its own interests. We have many common interests in tourism, the construction sector and agriculture. There are many areas where we have common interests.
President Erdogan never lets anyone get a free ride or acts in the interests of third countries. He upholds above all the interests of Turkiye, including in dialogue with us. In this sense, Turkiye as a whole and personally President Erdogan are not easy partners; many of our decisions are born amid long and difficult debates and negotiations.
But there is a desire on both sides to reach agreements, and we usually do it. In this sense, President Erdogan is a consistent and reliable partner. This is probably his most important trait, that he is a reliable partner.
I wasn’t sure I would find it, but this is part of the Q&A session at Valdai in 2020..
But I know that our bilateral trade exceeds $20 billion. I know that Turkey is really interested in continuing this cooperation. I know that President Erdogan is pursuing an independent foreign policy. Despite a lot of pressure, we implemented the TurkStream project together rather quickly. We cannot do the same with Europe; we have been discussing this issue for years, but Europe seems unable to show enough basic independence or sovereignty to implement the Nord Stream 2 project, which would be advantageous to it in every respect.
As for Turkey, we implemented our project quite quickly, despite any threats. Erdogan, who was aware of his national interests, said that we would do it, and we did it. The same is true of our ties in other areas, for example, our military-technical cooperation. Turkey decided it needed a modern air defence system, and the world’s best is the S-400, a triumph of Russian industry. He said he would do it, and he bought it. Working with such a partner is not only pleasant but also safe.
I recently spent over two months in Poland, during which time my wife and I went on a package, week-long trip to Istanbul. One of the “highlights” was a walk late in the evening down the Istiklal Avenue, where recently a terrorist attack killed 6 injuring over 80.
Istanbul has nearly 16 million people and is clogged with cars and trucks. But pedestrians don’t have many rights as they do in most European countries. Drivers will not stop when you wait at zebra crossings. You patiently wait until at last a merciful driver will motion to you to cross. Bad luck if you get hit because most likely you will be held responsible.
Bad as Istanbul is in general–overpopulated, congested, and polluted–the Istiklal Avenue is a street out of some horror novel. The about 1-mile stretch is tightly packed with humans trying to move in whatever direction. At any moment, one or two people breathe right into your face, and you feel others touching or pushing you from all sides. If the air is infected, you will be infected. Your backpack should become your front-pack because thieves will steal whatever they can, and you cannot turn your head around the way owls can. “Highlight” indeed.
As I somehow made my way trying to stay close enough behind our Polish guide, I realized that if there are Kurdish or other terrorists committed to hurting Turkey, the Istiklal Avenue would be one of the top selections for the carnage. When I came back to the States, I read, of course, what happened to another such location, that is, in South Korea. People stampeding will destroy everything in their paths, mostly other people. That’s what can happen in any overcrowded area. One small bomb will wreak a horrifying destruction.
And so it happened. We were lucky this time. And, no, we are never going again to Istanbul.
I’ve visited Istanbul in 2019, it was but a 3-day business trip, but I walked a lot whenever I could. Istanbul is one of those amazing places where you feel that people have been living here for millenia and millenia. It is in the air and it is something you don’t feel in say, Cuba (yes, there were natives, but they didn’t build huge cities). Traffic did seem wierd to me tho. Pity, I haven’t seen St. Sophia … it’s a mosque now(. Not sure I want to go to Turkey again tho. Just not high on my wish list.