The mutual hypocrisy of the Russo-Turkish game [14] for control of Syria continues to become more grimly amusing. Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu today accused Russia of attempting "ethnic cleansing" with its air-strikes in northern Syria. "Russia is trying to make ethnic cleansing in the northern Latakia [region] to force [out] all Turkmen and Sunni populations who do not have good relations with the [Syrian] regime," Davutoglu told reporters in Istanbul, according to the BBC News [15]. He added that the Russian air-strikes are "strengthening" ISIS. Turkmen areas in Latakia [16] have indeed been coming under vicious Russian aerial bombardment [17], and it is plausible that these air-strikes are ethnically taregted. But Turkey has also been conniving [17] with ISIS and other jihadist forces that are bent on "cleansing" Kurds, Yazidis and Assyrians. The fact that Moscow (for its own propagandistic purposes) is now making such charges [18] doesn't mean that they aren't true! And Turkey's plans for a "buffer zone [18]" in northern Syria are clearly aimed at expunging the Kurdish autonmous zone in the region. What's more, Turkey is arguably already commiting ethnic cleansing in its renewed counter-insurgency campaign [19] against Kurdish rebels within its own territory.
We continue to say that the correct position for progressives on the the Russo-Turkish game is a pox on both their houses [16]. Putin and Erdogan, hands off Syria!
