Remember when Turkish tanks just sat and watched from the city of Suruรง, while Daesh attacked neighbouring Kobane?
Remember how Erdogan did not want to intervene and told the Coalition that bombardments would not help?
I remember.
Kurds deserve a state of their own, where their people can feel safe and secure. Kurdistan needs to be a reality. Until it is, Kurds will continue to be singled out as targets by despotic regimes and groups that seek to erase their identity.
@Vandalay_Inc
@SeekingReality7
Ironic, especially when they're calling what's happening in Gaza a "genocide", while simultaneously showing genocidal intent and support of organisations that want jews dead.
When Daesh occupied the Jarabulus-Azaz pocket, the border was not closed. There was no border wall erected. The Coalition practically begged Turkey to shut it to stop fighters. It was only when YPG/SDF was advancing that Turkey decided to do something.
Here's
@brett_mcgurk
words:
On the sixth anniversary of the Yazidi genocide, let us not forget those Yazidis who were targetted and killed at the hands of Daesh. Let us not forget the thousands who were enslaved and displaced. Let us not forget them. We owe it to them. Never forget.
#YazidiGenocide
Armenia has been raising the alarm bells on Azerbaijan for a while now. The Aliyev regime was never going to stop with Artsakh. Azerbaijan wants Armenia proper, too. The rhetoric of Aliyev's gov, its policies, and its behaviour all show its intent.Armenia is directly threatened.
Erdogan wanted an exclusion zone by the border. He didn't want to stop Daesh from taking Kobane, and all indications showed he would have tolerated it had it been successful.
Turkey views the YPG as a greater threat to its national security than Daesh. It tolerated the latter.
The dictator of Baku is trying to set up a justification for Azeri annexation of Armenian land. It was never just about Artsakh for Aliyev. It has always been about destroying Armenia proper and the people of that land. Azeri aggression will not end until a red line is drawn.
The decision of the Soviet government to separate West Zangezur, our historical land, from Azerbaijan and hand it over to Armenia led to the geographical separation of the Turkic world.
A General that will be remembered in Syrian, Kurdish and world history. Gen. Mazloum Kobani Abdi. Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces. A hero to his people. Right up there with other commanders.
@MazloumAbdi
#RiseUp4Rojava
Looks like Turkish lobbyists are buying YouTube ads to spread bullshit to general public and sell misinformation. This is desperation from the Turkish government who is losing the PR war. No ammount of money can fully white wash ethnic cleansing and state violence.
This is what liberal internationalism looks like. Macron walks the damaged streets of Beirut where not even Lebanese goverment officials have yet been since the explosion. Many ask him for help. He promises to deliver on a political pact to help the state. Promising to act.
Macron to Lebanese citizens in a blast hit area of
#Beirut
:
"I will propose a new political pact in Lebanon and I will be back on September 1. If they can't implement it, I'll take the political responsibility."
Assad is a war criminal.
Erdoฤan is a war criminal.
Putin is a war criminal.
Rouhani is a war criminal.
All these people are war criminals.
Don't be an apologist for any of these criminals.
Both Armenia and Ukraine have a right to self-defence. This right is enshrined in UN Charter article 51 and in customary international law. Supporting these nations with the necessary political, military and economic assistance helps enforce this right.
This one of the reasons why I was against Azerbaijan in the Artsakh conflict. It's simply because Azerbaijan does not just want Artsakh but wants to deny Armenia its existence. It's not going to just stop at "reclaiming" one territory. This is not how it works.
If this is true, then this is the same negotiation strategy ("ultimatum") that Russia did with the YPG in Afrin prior to the Turkish invasion in 2018. Russia told the Afrin Civil Council to give up the area to the regime. When the ACC refused, Russia moved its MPs out of Afrin.
1/3 At the meeting held in
#Qamishli
, Russia asked the YPG to withdraw all its military presence from the Turkish border to the M4 road (and leave the entire region to the government).
"We don't have a problem with Kurds, we only have a problem with PKK." Is the Turkish state's official narrative. Officials say it to try pretend they are not anti-Kurdish. Problem with the narrative is that it is clearly false. The Turkish state is fundamentally anti-Kurdish.
Fact Check:
-US does not support HTS.
-US targets AQ in Syria already including in Idlib (Huras ad din).
-US is not waging a regime change war. It is in NES to counter Daesh.
-US backs a multi-ethnic force (SDF).
-Assad regime is responsible for bulk of Syria's suffering.
Iโm glad some of my former colleagues in Congress are speaking out against the recent unconstitutional airstrikes in Syriaโbut theyโre ignoring the bigger issue: the regime change war the US continues to wage in Syria using al-Qaeda/al-Nusra/HTS terrorists as our proxy...
Turkish forces act like fascists when they engage in extrajudicial killings of Kurdish fighters. This includes but is not limited to: torturing prisoners, forcing prisoners to engage in humiliating acts, sodomising prisoners, and mutilating corpses. This is barbarism.
Aliyev is the Saddam Hussein of the Caucus region. He is responsible for the forced displacement of tens of thousands, demographic alteration of Artsakh, and a slew of humanitarian crises. He is an imperial revanchist in the same calibre as Putin and shouldn't be thanked.
I had a call with
@presidentaz
Ilham Aliyev and thanked him for Azerbaijanโs significant humanitarian assistance, particularly in the energy sector as winter approaches.
We reaffirmed our commitment to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.
We alsoโฆ
These last couple days have been mind boggling. People throwing out serious terms such as, 'genocide'; accusations of war crimes; implicit support for Hamas, etc. The level of misinformation, double standards and abuse of terminology is concerning.
Take this example from Oliver
Today marks the 9th anniversary of the establishment of the 'Yekรฎneyรชn Parastina Jin' (
#YPJ
) or 'Women's protection forces'. Founded on the principles of jineology (Kurdish feminism) within the Rojava revolution, thousands of Syriac, Assyrian, Kurdish and Arab women took up arms.
I raise my glass in memory of Christopher Hitchens who died on this day six years ago (April 13th, 1949 - December 15th, 2011). Happy
#Hitchmas
. Memento Mori.
Turkey simply did not care that much about Daesh. It cared more about the YPG/SDF. It would rather use jihadi extremists that fight on Daesh's side if it meant the destruction of YPG/SDF.
For the Turkish state, a daesh-AQ extremist north is better than YPG/SDF.
Reminder:
Bashar al-Assad is not the only butcher within the Syrian regime. There are military commanders such as Maher al-Assad and Suheil al-hassan that have blood on their hands. Some of these people, such as Maher were more eager to clamp down on protesters than even Bashar.
The hatred for Armenians runs deep in the Azeri state.
Here is a university lecturer from Baku openly endorsing Azeri forces attacking displays of Armenian language.
I have repeatedly stated that this has nothing to do with just Artsakh. This runs deeper. It is anti-Armenian.
@SolFlos66
@emilynussbaum
It shouldn't be an option to begin with. As an official elected to represent your constituency in government, the only text that one should swear on is the founding legal document that the government is based on. It represents a commitment to be bound to the law of the land.
James Jeffrey is the former US Special rep for Syria. He was the turkophile in the Trump admin that wanted to handover the northeast on a silver platter to the Erdogan regime. The fact that Ankara still recieves him after his tenure shows the dedication of Jeffrey to TR. FA
I could go on and talk about Turkey's relations with jihadi groups like Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (AQ rebrand and on FTO list), but the point has been made. Turkey is a bad Coalition partner in the fight against terror and a direct threat to stability in the region.
Azerbaijan is under the dictatorship of Aliyev. The country has ethnically cleansed Armenians from Artsakh and is pursuing a revanchist foreign policy regarding trying to acquire Armenia proper. EU likes AZ because it can help it get gas, which comes from Russia.
Congratulated
@presidentaz
Aliyev on his reelection & extended best wishes for his new mandate. Underlined the importance of continued engagement with
@osce_odihr
.
Discussed also ๐ช๐บ๐ฆ๐ฟ relations & cooperation, including connectivity & energy.
Had substantive discussions also onโฆ
Erdoฤan: 'Armenian genocide did not happen.'
Macron: 'Yes, it did.'
Erdoฤan: 'Becareful, I will strike upon your troops in Syria.'
Macron: *whistling*
Erdoฤan: 'French are cowards.'
Macron: *Makes April 24th a national holiday for Armenian genocide rememberance*
Erdoฤan: wha...
#UPDATE
Turkey hits out at President Emmanuel Macron's announcement that France would make April 24 a "national day of commemoration of the Armenian genocide"
Reminder:
While the world is focused on Afghanistan for the moment, Turkey continues to launch airstrikes in Sinjar. Killing Yazidis and contributing to more destruction in the region.
Reminder: This is how far ISIS is from Turkish border. In order for Turkey to "fight" ISIS, it will have to go through SDF territory. In fact, Erdoฤan has repeatedly made clear his intention to only push 30km inward. The whole 'bufferzone' thing. Turkey clearly won't fight ISIS.
@DukakisDude
Ominous but not true. Violations of multiple UNSC resolution regarding WMDs, terms of peace, etc. National security concerns regarding state terrorism, internal instability. Past rogue state behaviour, etc. List goes on. There were reasons. You might disagree but that is ok.
One of the biggest anti-war coalitions in history is being formed and it's all because Russia wanted to take some land in eastern Europe. Big brain move by Putin.
Turkey's threats to invade Kobane should be taken seriously, and its actions should be blocked. Every operation it has done since 2016 has only worsened the north and unleashed untold suffering. Now, it wants to do that again. It wants to reverse years of work against terror.
A full withdrawal from Afghanistan means opening up the door to the Taliban re-establishing an Islamic Emirate. The consequences of this are enormous and will be felt by local partners including Afghans. Women, girls and those who worked with US will be especially impacted.
Turkey's war against the PKK has always been a war against the Kurds. The PKK is a pretext the Turkish state uses to launch operations to counter Kurdish autonomy. The language used by the state paints the conflict as one over terrorism, when it is fundamentally one over rights.
Look at the territory that Turkey has taken since 2016 in Syria. Look at the resurgence of Daesh and other extremist elements in its areas. Turkey doesn't care about stopping these groups.
US has conducted multiple ops and airstrikes in Turkish-held areas against Daesh and AQ.
Reminder:
This picture is of two Turkish tanks overlooking the city of Kobanรฎ in Syria from the Turkush border. It was taken during the siege of Kobanรฎ. Turkish forces sit and watch the destruction. Turkey did not care about fighting Daesh. Only in killing YPG.
As the only army that carried out hand-to-hand fight with DAESH, Turkish Armed Forces neutralized over 3,000 radical terrorists of DAESH and enabled 320,000 Syrians to return to their homes with the Operation Euphrates Shield launched on August 2016.
Does anyone remember all the think tank analysts that would make excuses for Turkey's many invasions?
Remember how their analyses were often just attempts at white washing Turkey's fascist behaviour and hiding their own hatred of the AANES/SDF?
I remember.
Fuck off with your fake concerns. When Afrin was being invaded and ethnically cleansed, you played apologetics and cheered on Turkey. Afrin was once led by a locally elected administration. Now it is led by an authoritarian one you support.
It never had to be like this - so damn depressing & frustrating.
- "'Nothing is ours anymore':
#Kurds
forced out of
#Afrin
after
#Turkey
's assault.โ
Remember when Turkish tanks sat at the border town opposite to Kobane and watched Kobane get besieged by ISIS? I do.
And Trump says this force is going to fight ISIS. Smh
The last two leaders of Daesh had to be neutralised by Coalition (US) forces. This is despite both being by the border of Turkey and clearly under its watch. The SDF even helped provide intelligence on the movement of both to the US.
Reminder:
If you go to Syria on a government sponsored tour, your money is going directly to efforts by the regime to erase its crimes and ensure those impacted never are able to live in peace. You will have a government intel agent show you a very tailored version of Syria.
I wrote a new article on
@Medium
dissecting John Oliver's segment on Israel during the most recent Gaza war with Hamas. The article delves into international law, legal doctrines and the nature of the conflict including commentary on it.
This is Hevrin Khalaf.
Hevrin was a Kurdish woman, politician and activist in Rojava (north-east Syria). She passionately strived for peace in Syria.
Last year she was brutally killed by Turkish-backed Ahrar al-Sharqiya fighters well on M4 highway.
Hevrin was just 34 years old.
Here it is. My new piece on
#Afrin
for
@TheRegionOrg
. I outline what has been occuring in the area since the conclusion of the Turkish offensive. Hint: Turkey is committing ethnic cleansing in the region:
I propose replacing US special envoy for Syria, James Jeffrey with US deputy special envoy, William Roebuck. I suggest this in light of James Jeffrey's appeasement to Turkey regarding Syria. Replace him with Roebuck who has done more to build relations with AANES, etc.
Let's recap:
-Turkey is killing civilians in
#Afrin
.
-Destroying historical monuments.
-Working with Al-Qaeda in Syria.
-Threatening to attack US forces.
-Waging 'jihad'.
Does this sound like a state interested in Stability, peace and counterterrorism?
There seems to be a lot of ignorance about Jewish history and identity amongst public. A lot of people's knowledge is limited to Holocaust and stereotypes. Many don't know about things like Farhud or pogroms against Jews. And people don't know that Jews don't just look "white".
This is good. However, small little minor issue....Hamas has control over the whole of the Gaza strip. How on Earth are you planning to get aid into the area without Hamas involvement?
The Middle East does not just belong to the Arabs or Islamists. It belongs to many different peoples. Each has a right to exist in their native homeland.
@IbaraEleven
I know that you don't really care about the truth, but for those who do care...This is a picture of Halimce, east of Kobane (pic 21/22):
It was destroyed by ISIS.
I should make something clear: I support NATO as an organisation for collective security and peace. I believe that overall, its value to the world is justified. However, I am extremely critical of some states within it, notably Turkey and Hungary. Turkey alone undermines NATO.
Reminder:
Tulsi Gabbard met Assad through the SSNP.
Basically, Gabbard met a brutal dictator responsible for mass slaughter in Syria via the equivalent of what is essentially an Arab Nazi Party.
These people are not anti-war with Iran. They are pro-IRGC and Ayatollah regime. When the Ayatollah's forces kill iranian dissidents, these people are nowhere to be seen. Yet, when a mass murderer is killed or when Ayatollah regime is threatened, these people cry crocodile tears.
.
@MaxBlumenthal
told 100s of anti war activists outside the White House today "why Qassem Soleiman was killed: He rolled back salafi jihadi forces the CIA had been backing in Syria to destabilize another independent state & he helped prevent Iraq from becoming a US client state."
Thousands are protesting Turkish aggression against
#Afrin
. This is the people of Afrin. They are not terrorists. What they want is to live their lives. To protect their families, homes and create a future for their children.
#TurkeyHandsOffAfrin
If I was
@nytimes
, I would add two more women to this list. I would add Nadia Murad (
@NadiaMuradBasee
) and
#SDF
commander Rojda Felat, who is a representative for many of the brave women combating
#ISIS
in Syria. Both are true heroes.
Over 10, 000 fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces (
#SDF
) gave their lives in the war against
#ISIS
. With the collapse of ISIS' proto-state, I reflect on the martyrs that died to destroy it. Here is my essay for
@Jerusalem_Post
.
#twitterKurds
#Syria
-
"I want to talk about happy things, man!"
You're the president of the United States of America. You're not a civilian. You're a country's leader. Someone is asking you about a situation that you are helping make worse.
What a joke. Does not inspire confidence at all.
Remember the people of Rojava.
Their sacrifices.
Their martyrs.
From Kobane to Tal abyad.
From Manbij to Raqqa.
Remember them.
They are our friends.
They deserve our support.
#DoNotAbandonRojava
This is a clear sign that US lawmakers understand that the nature of US-TR bilateral relations have changed. There is now a slow shift away from Turkey and towards other potential partners in the region. I welcome this gradual shift away from Turkey.
Turkey has been threatening to renew operations in northeast Syria ever since Peace spring in 2019. It has been bombing areas like Ayn Issa, Kobanรช, etc. TR wants to dump millions of refugees in a "safe zone" (ethnic cleansing corridor) along its border. Seeking to destroy Rojava
@Der_Parrot
Hamas is also a jihadist organisation built on the basis of wanting the destruction of Israel and death of the Jews. The ANC was started as a national liberation movement engaging in civil protest against Apartheid, before engaging in an armed struggle (MK). However, it was atโฆ
@BeijingPalmer
It's not even that impressive. Ozymandias is a short poem. I want to see someone recite GK Chesterton's Lepanto or something impressive like that.
Reminder:
Just because a conflict may be asymetric in nature does not mean that the "weaker" or "smaller" party automatically deserves support. I can think of multiple expamples of terror organisations, whether it be AQ, Hamas or Taliban, that do not deserve support.
18 years ago today Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad's Firdos Square was toppled, bringing an end to his near 30 year reign of terror in Iraq. The statue's collapse symbolised the start of a new chapter, one that gave way to new opportunities for Iraqis to shape their own future
The Yazidi genocide marks another dark chapter in human history. Thousands of Yazidis were killed in 2014 by Daesh. While Thousands more women and girls were enslaved into sex slavery. It marks the 74th firman in the Yazidis history. It should not be forgot.
It is because at the end of the day it was never about Artsakh. It was instead about Armenians and the continued existence of Armenia as a state. The regime in Baku wants to disintegrate the Armenian homeland. Artsakh was just the beginning.
This is a tragedy. However, international media did not report when Kurds were thrown out of helicopters or when Kurdish farmers were killed in Turkish airstrikes. Intl media does not report a lot of this stuff. Treatment towards Kurds in Turkey is returning to the old days.
Reminder:
The SDF did the bulk of the fighting against ISIS in Syria with the support of US-led Coalition. SDF sacrificed over thirteen thousand troops in the fighting. These included Kurdish, Syriac, Assyrian, Chaldean, Turkmen, Circassians and Arabs. All fighting together.
I wrote a new article for
@GPMonitor
. It is on the humanitarian crisis developing in Artsakh and the threat that Azerbaijan poses to Armenians. Thank you, Geopoliticalmonitor for publishing, and special thanks to
@aniboghoss
for providing quotes.
Guaido is the rightful constitutional interim leader of Venezuela. He has legitimacy, Maduro does not. A member on the foreign committee should know this. The fact that she deliberately continues to spread Maduro propaganda is indicative of her lack of knowledge. Shame on her.
This is unsurprising. Ankara is pushing Sweden and Finland to change their domestic laws to align with itss unjust laws regarding fighting "terrorism." Sweden is being asked to give disproportionately to Turkey. Turkey continues to hold it hostage and block it from joining NATO.
Erdogan claims that there are dozens of Kurdish mps in AKP and in Turkish parliament. This, I do not doubt. However, and to remind people, how many of those mps can openly state their love of Kurdistan or any expression of Kurdish identity? The answer: none.