Turkey after own goals in fight against Daesh: Activist

Press TV has conducted an interview with Sabah Jawad, director of the Iraqi Democrats against Occupation in London, about Iraq condemning Turkey for dispatching special forces into its territory in pursuit of Kurdish militants, calling it a “clear violation” of its sovereignty.

What follows is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: How can Turkey explain what Iraq has called a clear violation of its sovereignty?

Jawad: We all knew actually from the beginning that Turkey entering the American so-called alliance against terrorism was not meant to be fighting ISIS or any other terrorist group because Turkey still maintains support for terrorist groups in both Syria and Iraq.

What we know for definite now is that Turkey is using the [so-called] fight against terrorism to fight against Kurdish opposition inside Syria, inside Turkey and inside Iraq as well, and they have been carrying out a lot of bombardments on Iraqi territories and now their ground troops are conducting operations in north of Iraq as well.

This is actually a dilemma of Erdogan government because Kurdish opposition scored notable victories and deprived him of the necessary majority in the Turkish parliament to achieve what he wanted to achieve i.e. to become the ruler of Turkey for the foreseeable future and beyond foreseeable future, and this attempt was failed by mainly the Kurdish oppositions to his rule. Now he wants to utilize this campaign against the Kurdish people internally and in Iraq and in Syria actually to enhance his chance for calling an early general election because he wants the Turkish people to perceive the Kurds as the terrorist enemy of Turkey and he wants to utilize this situation for his electoral advantage.  

Press TV: How do you think Turkey would have reacted if Iraq did the same with the same excuse?

Jawad: Of course he would not like it, nobody would like it, but he has the support of the Americans because the Americans wanted to utilize military bases in Turkey…and in return actually the Americans are turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed by Turkey government in Syria and also in Iraq.

We know for a fact actually that one of the reasons Turkey joined this so-called alliance against terrorism is to prevent Syrian Kurds from achieving and enhancing their victories in Ayn al-Arab and other areas as well.

So Turkey is entering the fight against terrorism for its own purpose and to defeat the opposition to its rule in Turkey and the opposition to its policies – the true policy of Turkey of supporting terrorism in both Iraq and Syria.

Press TV: How much does the PKK issue affect Iraq?

Jawad: It affects Iraq because this is the Iraqi territories but we have rulers in [Iraqi Kurdistan] actually they are hand in hand with the Erdogan government acting against the interest of the Iraqi central government…while at the same time the Iraqi forces are not even able to enter Iraqi Kurdistan. We see the Turkish forces entering as much as they want and bombarding area in northern Iraqi Kurdistan so there are accomplices with the Turkish government in Iraqi Kurdistan and that is namely the regional government in Kurdistan.  

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