Kurdish dilemma: The US could hurt Turkey if it's not careful

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu today blamed Kurdish militants in Turkey and Syrian Kurdish fighters for the Ankara bombing that left some 28 people dead and 45 others wounded yesterday.

Russia, which has been carrying out air strikes in support of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's forces, has called on the council to press Turkey to halt its shelling of Kurdish forces in northern Syria. Of the fatalities, 27 were Turkish service members.

The U.S. doesn't want to cut off the last viable nonregime anti-ISIS ground force in Syria.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said Washington was not in a position to either confirm or deny Turkey's charge the YPG was behind the attack. "NATO Allies stand shoulder to shoulder in the fight against terrorism".

The northern Syrian town of Azaz is the flashpoint for a wider conflict, with also threatening to destroy the Syrian Menagh air base if the Kurds refused to withdraw.

Tourist Shawn Winrich was taking photos of Pearl Harbor when he saw a helicopter "essentially coming straight at us" at a popular tourist destination that attracts thousands of visitors daily. To further complicate the matter, Prime Minister Davutoglu quoted a Syrian official and pointed the finger at the Syrian government as well. The PYD and YPG denied any involvement in the attack.

The TAK, which is a splinter group of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), vowed to continue its attacks.

Analysts underline the fact that the YPG has never used a vehicle bomb attack until now and that it would be hard to see how this terror incident will help their strategy.

The bomber was named as Salih Neccar, from the predominantly Kurdish border town of Amouda. He added that the YPG was a "tool of the Syrian regime".

Turkey considers the PKK, PYD and YPG to be terror outfits but the USA designates only the PKK as a terrorist organization and regards the YPG as a "reliable partner" in northern Syria fighting Daesh. The YPG is the military branch of the PYD, the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party. While Turkey remains at odds with the Kurds, those groups are still receiving support from the United States in Syria for their fight against Islamic State forces there.

The YPG has exploited the Russian-backed offensive, seizing ground from other opposition groups.

Noteworthy, spokespeople for the United States administration earlier stated that Turkey was acting inadequately in relation to the Kurds.

Seventeen world and regional powers including Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia were invited to the first gathering of the task force aimed to forge a temporary truce in Syria's five-year civil war that has killed at least 250,000 people and displaced at least 11 million people, according to United Nations estimates.

It said the raids took place in cities from Izmir on the Aegean to Diyarbakir in the mainly Kurdish southeast. The commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to reveal military secrets, said a mixed coalition of rebel fighters were permitted to pass into Turkey and enter Syria again in order to prevent the city of Azaz from falling into SDF hands.

Source: Kurdish dilemma: The US could hurt Turkey if it's not careful