{"id":64995,"date":"2013-02-11T09:41:17","date_gmt":"2013-02-11T07:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/?p=64995"},"modified":"2013-10-19T21:25:26","modified_gmt":"2013-10-19T18:25:26","slug":"arabs-turkey-want-to-control-serekaniye-for-strategic-advantage-kurdish-leader-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2013\/02\/11\/arabs-turkey-want-to-control-serekaniye-for-strategic-advantage-kurdish-leader-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Arabs, Turkey Want to Control Serekaniye for Strategic Advantage, Kurdish Leader Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"10539_492768387453738_1424759149_n_326350546\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Fighters of the Farouq brigade in Serekaniye. Photo: PYD.<\/p>\n

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region \u2013 The close proximity of the Syrian city of Serekaniye (Ras al-Ain) to the Turkish border is the reason behind ongoing violent clashes there between the Arab and Kurdish opposition to the Damascus regime, says Salih Muslim, the leader of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD).<\/p>\n

The Kurdish opposition in Syria and the predominantly Arab Free Syrian Army (FSA), the main force fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad\u2019s regime, has been on the same side in its quest to topple the regime. But recently, fighting erupted in Serekaniye between the FSA and PYD-affiliated Popular Protection Committee (YPG), with the Kurds accusing Turkey of fueling an Arab-Kurdish war.<\/p>\n

\u201cSerekaniye is the Arab fighters\u2019 door to Turkey and logistical support,\u201d says Muslim. \u201cIf they control Serekaniye they will easily control Derik. As matter fact if they control Serekaniye they can control as far as Hassaka,\u201d Muslim says.<\/p>\n

He explains that Serekaniye has a strategic location, and controlling it would give the Arabs more leverage over the Kurds, because the Arabs can separate Kobani and Afreen from Jazeera. Muslim claims that Arab control over this region will impede traffic and communications between Kurds in the two geographically separate regions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no communication, there is fighting in this area. When the fight is over, the communications and relations will restore to their ordinary situation,\u201d Muslim says. \u201dThe Arab fighters are trying to eliminate communications and relations completely, and place Jazeera under their control,\u201d he claims.<\/p>\n

Muslim adds that upon discovering that they could not implement their plan through the FSA Turkish forces joined up with tribal leader Nawaf Basheer, who was appointed head of the Jazeera and Furat Liberation Front.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey (Turkish forces) have allocated $200 million for this force,\u201d Muslim says.<\/p>\n

According to Muslim, \u201cBasheer is after money. His tribe does not support him. Those who fight for him, they fight for money.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the past, Arab fighters have publicly claimed that the PYD receives orders from Turkey, saying that if it and the YPG comply with Turkish demands to stay away from the border from Serekaniye to Derik, then both would have to withdraw from these towns.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir plan is to disarm the Kurds, \u201cMuslim says. \u201cThis is something different from the Syrian revolution, it does not serve the Syrian revolution. This is a Turkish demand to eliminate the Kurds.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Muslim believes that the fight in Serekaniye has brought the Kurdish factions closer together.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no longer a revolution for freedom and democracy. What\u2019s happening today is a fight for power and distribution of power,\u201d he told Rudaw.<\/p>\n

Thus far, Muslim claims, eight members of the YPG have been killed, while the death toll within forces loyal to Turkey is estimated in the hundreds.<\/p>\n

via Rudaw.net – English – Arabs, Turkey Want to Control Serekaniye for Strategic Advantage, Kurdish Leader Says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fighters of the Farouq brigade in Serekaniye. Photo: PYD. ERBIL, Kurdistan Region \u2013 The close proximity of the Syrian city of Serekaniye (Ras al-Ain) to the Turkish border is the reason behind ongoing violent clashes there between the Arab and Kurdish opposition to the Damascus regime, says Salih Muslim, the leader of the Kurdish Democratic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":64997,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,89],"tags":[5250,5341,8772,8771],"class_list":["post-64995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iraq","category-turkey","tag-erbil","tag-kurds","tag-pyd","tag-serekaniye"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}