Ankara Alarmed by Syrian Kurds' Autonomy

(Wall Street Journal) Joe Parkinson and Ayla Albayrak - Some Syrian Kurds have in recent weeks taken dramatic steps toward autonomous rule, fueling Ankara's existential fear: that its No. 1 enemy, the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, could boost its influence there and even use the region as a base to attack Turkey. Syrian forces have withdrawn to their barracks, leaving security in the region to the Kurdish Democratic Union Party of Syria, or PYD. Turkey's foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, arrived in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdish region, to talk with Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani about the Syrian Kurds' growing autonomy.


2012-08-02 00:00:00

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