SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Syrian Arab and Kurdish civilians flee amid Turkish bombardment on Syria's northeastern town of Ras al-Ain in the Hasakeh province along the Turkish border on October 9, 2019. (Photo: Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images)
Critics Denounce Turkey's Ceasefire Demand Announced by Pence as 'Ethnic Cleansing' of Syrian Kurds
President Trump, meanwhile, said Kurdish homeland had to be "cleared out" or Turkey would have had to "kill millions of people."
Oct 17, 2019
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday afternoon announced a ceasefire agreement with Turkey for northern Syria, just over a week after President Donald Trump opened the door to Turkish forces invading the area and slaughtering the Kurdish population there.
"One thing we can count on is that the Kurds won't trust the U.S. going forward and why should they?"
--Rukmini Callimachi, The New York Times
The deal hinges on Kurds with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leaving a 20-mile buffer zone between Turkey and Syria within five days, a prerequisite that Jewish Community Action Minnesota communications director Isaiah Breen condemned as "ethnic cleansing."
The president, in comments to reporters on Turkey Thursday, used similar language, saying of the border that Turkey "had to have it cleaned out."
The president also said that the ceasefire was helpful because Turkey was now "not going to have to kill millions of people."
\u201cReferring to Kurds living along Turkish border in Syria, Trump says of Turkey, "they had to have it cleaned out."\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1571336619
The agreement, according to The New York Times, puts the Kurds in a tough spot:
Kurdish fighters now have 120 hours to leave a safe zone reaching about 20 miles south of Turkey's border with Syria, Mr. Pence said. He said that while the Trump administration did not agree with Mr. Erdogan's invasion, American officials also understood Turkey's concerns about the Kurdish fighters, whom they regard as part of a terror group.
Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, launched his attack on the Kurds on October 9, days after Trump withdrew U.S. troops from the area on October 6. The Turkish leader received a letter from Trump warning against the action; Erdogan reportedly threw the letter in the trash and attacked the area anyway.
Even with the ceasefire, Axios reported, the damage done by the assault is incalculable:
Significant harm, however, has already been done. Hundreds of Kurds have been killed, thousands have been displaced, and at least 1,000 ISIS prisoners and supporters have escaped prison camps since Trump's decision to move U.S. troops out of northern Syria.
Thursday's announcement comes with a lifting of sanctions put on Turkey by the U.S. and a promise not to add any more, Pence told reporters.
But critics of the deal wondered how the ceasefire would work in practice and if the U.S. and Turkey had consulted the SDF on the Kurdish role in the agreement.
"Waiting for the official SDF statement, but from the conversations I've just had with sources in Syria, I'm wondering if the deal being announced by Pence, etc. even consulted the SDF?" tweeted New York Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi. "One thing we can count on is that the Kurds won't trust the U.S. going forward and why should they?"
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday afternoon announced a ceasefire agreement with Turkey for northern Syria, just over a week after President Donald Trump opened the door to Turkish forces invading the area and slaughtering the Kurdish population there.
"One thing we can count on is that the Kurds won't trust the U.S. going forward and why should they?"
--Rukmini Callimachi, The New York Times
The deal hinges on Kurds with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leaving a 20-mile buffer zone between Turkey and Syria within five days, a prerequisite that Jewish Community Action Minnesota communications director Isaiah Breen condemned as "ethnic cleansing."
The president, in comments to reporters on Turkey Thursday, used similar language, saying of the border that Turkey "had to have it cleaned out."
The president also said that the ceasefire was helpful because Turkey was now "not going to have to kill millions of people."
\u201cReferring to Kurds living along Turkish border in Syria, Trump says of Turkey, "they had to have it cleaned out."\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1571336619
The agreement, according to The New York Times, puts the Kurds in a tough spot:
Kurdish fighters now have 120 hours to leave a safe zone reaching about 20 miles south of Turkey's border with Syria, Mr. Pence said. He said that while the Trump administration did not agree with Mr. Erdogan's invasion, American officials also understood Turkey's concerns about the Kurdish fighters, whom they regard as part of a terror group.
Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, launched his attack on the Kurds on October 9, days after Trump withdrew U.S. troops from the area on October 6. The Turkish leader received a letter from Trump warning against the action; Erdogan reportedly threw the letter in the trash and attacked the area anyway.
Even with the ceasefire, Axios reported, the damage done by the assault is incalculable:
Significant harm, however, has already been done. Hundreds of Kurds have been killed, thousands have been displaced, and at least 1,000 ISIS prisoners and supporters have escaped prison camps since Trump's decision to move U.S. troops out of northern Syria.
Thursday's announcement comes with a lifting of sanctions put on Turkey by the U.S. and a promise not to add any more, Pence told reporters.
But critics of the deal wondered how the ceasefire would work in practice and if the U.S. and Turkey had consulted the SDF on the Kurdish role in the agreement.
"Waiting for the official SDF statement, but from the conversations I've just had with sources in Syria, I'm wondering if the deal being announced by Pence, etc. even consulted the SDF?" tweeted New York Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi. "One thing we can count on is that the Kurds won't trust the U.S. going forward and why should they?"
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday afternoon announced a ceasefire agreement with Turkey for northern Syria, just over a week after President Donald Trump opened the door to Turkish forces invading the area and slaughtering the Kurdish population there.
"One thing we can count on is that the Kurds won't trust the U.S. going forward and why should they?"
--Rukmini Callimachi, The New York Times
The deal hinges on Kurds with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) leaving a 20-mile buffer zone between Turkey and Syria within five days, a prerequisite that Jewish Community Action Minnesota communications director Isaiah Breen condemned as "ethnic cleansing."
The president, in comments to reporters on Turkey Thursday, used similar language, saying of the border that Turkey "had to have it cleaned out."
The president also said that the ceasefire was helpful because Turkey was now "not going to have to kill millions of people."
\u201cReferring to Kurds living along Turkish border in Syria, Trump says of Turkey, "they had to have it cleaned out."\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1571336619
The agreement, according to The New York Times, puts the Kurds in a tough spot:
Kurdish fighters now have 120 hours to leave a safe zone reaching about 20 miles south of Turkey's border with Syria, Mr. Pence said. He said that while the Trump administration did not agree with Mr. Erdogan's invasion, American officials also understood Turkey's concerns about the Kurdish fighters, whom they regard as part of a terror group.
Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, launched his attack on the Kurds on October 9, days after Trump withdrew U.S. troops from the area on October 6. The Turkish leader received a letter from Trump warning against the action; Erdogan reportedly threw the letter in the trash and attacked the area anyway.
Even with the ceasefire, Axios reported, the damage done by the assault is incalculable:
Significant harm, however, has already been done. Hundreds of Kurds have been killed, thousands have been displaced, and at least 1,000 ISIS prisoners and supporters have escaped prison camps since Trump's decision to move U.S. troops out of northern Syria.
Thursday's announcement comes with a lifting of sanctions put on Turkey by the U.S. and a promise not to add any more, Pence told reporters.
But critics of the deal wondered how the ceasefire would work in practice and if the U.S. and Turkey had consulted the SDF on the Kurdish role in the agreement.
"Waiting for the official SDF statement, but from the conversations I've just had with sources in Syria, I'm wondering if the deal being announced by Pence, etc. even consulted the SDF?" tweeted New York Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi. "One thing we can count on is that the Kurds won't trust the U.S. going forward and why should they?"
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.