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S-400 and Kurd manoeuvring. Meanwhile, “unnamed” Turkish officials are giving growing indications that there will be a delay in the delivery of Russia’s S-400 advanced missile defence system, currently scheduled for July to the dismay of the US and Nato. In exchange for such a delay, the Erdogan government, it is speculated, could continue turning a blind eye to the incremental advances in Idlib, Syria, being made by the forces of Damascus and Russia. Turkey has observation points located in the area, set between former Al-Qaeda militant groups. Talks on a Turko-US deal on the Syrian Kurds have also moved past the level of being merely rumours. The Kurdish YPG side has confirmed that Donald Trump’s Syria envoy James Jeffrey is acting as an intermediator. However, Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) attacks on Turkish military forces inside Turkey and hunger strike campaigns being pursued by Kurds in Turkish prisons continue. That’s the case despite a recent permitted visit of lawyers to the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Erdogan’s nationalist ‘spare tyre’, MHP leader Devlet Bahceli, told reporters in a closed meeting that he was comfortable with the lawyer visits to Ocalan a few hours before accusing the opposition of forming a coalition with the PKK and FETO, the purported shadowy organisation Ankara accuses of orchestrating the failed 2016 coup, in front of the cameras. Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish political party HDP initially dismissed any possibility of supporting Erdogan’s candidate in the Istanbul revote. However, an HDP spokesman has lately said that the party board was discussing whether support will once again be steered towards the opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu, who won the initial Istanbul elections before it was cancelled after AKP claims of irregularities. It seems that the Kurds will at least demand recognition for support provided to Imamoglu, without having to hear heavy insults and hate speeches from the nationalist wing of the main opposition party CHP and its nationalist coalition partner Iyi Party (Good Party).
Erdogan reiterated on May 18 that Ankara’s purchase of the Russian S- 400 advanced missile defence system from Russia was a done deal, and added that Turkey would also jointly produce S-500 systems with Russia.
Russian-backed Damascus forces will advance to Turkish border if northwest rebel defences are pierced: opposition official. Russian-backed Syrian government forces will be able to advance all the way to the Turkish border if they pierce rebel defences in the northwest, a top opposition official was quoted as saying by Reuters on May 27. He reportedly urged Turkey to do more to shield the area from a major attack. The month-long onslaught under way is the most serious escalation of the war between President Bashar al- Assad and his enemies since last summer. Syrian government air strikes and barrel bombing backed by Russian air power have uprooted around 250,000 people in the territory, the last significant rebel stronghold. Many of those displaced are sheltering at the border calling on Turkey to open the frontier. Fawaz Hilal, head of the “Salvation Government” that runs Idlib province, was cited as expressing confidence that opposition fighters gathered in the Idlib region from all over Syria would be able resist the onslaught. “This ferocious attack is a bone-breaking battle. If the regime is able to break our defensive lines in northern Hama and southern Idlib it will not stop until it reaches the borders,” Hilal said in an interview. His government, backed by the powerful Tahrir al-Sham jihadist group, has called on its employees to help shoulder the “military burden” through building sandbag defences, manning front lines, financial support or any other help. “We are all concerned with repelling this attack,” he said. Hilal also said in the interview that Idlib’s defences have been boosted by rebels forced from other parts of Syria such as Ghouta, Homs and Deraa when Assad took their towns and villages. “Those lads have great combat doctrine,” he said. Tahrir al-Sham is the most powerful insurgent group in the region. It was formerly known as the Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s Syrian wing, until it broke away and renamed itself in 2016. The United Nations designates it a terrorist group. Other rebels taking part in the defence of the area include Turkey-backed groups. Senior opposition and rebel sources were quoted by Reuters on May 25 as saying that Turkey had sent fresh supplies of weaponry to these groups to help them repel the assault. Turkey has been
13 TURKEY Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com