US Attempts to Encircle Turkey by Increasing Troop Numbers in Region

TEHRAN (defapress)- The latest Pentagon campaign aimed to alter the region’s map in order to encircle Turkey by setting up an ‘American Axis’ that stretches from Hungary all the way to the Persian Gulf.

News ID: 67713

Date: 25 December 2017 - 13:25

After the US published its annual National Security Strategy (NSS) report a few days ago which designated China and Russia as competitors, Turkey was left out of the document without being mentioned as either ‘adversary’ or ‘ally’, Yeni Safak reported.

The 68-page document, which was released by the Donald Trump administration, lists Saudi Arabia and Egypt among ‘friend-ally’ countries.

The absence of any mention of Turkey in the US document is the latest in a series of developments that point to the deteriorating relations between the two NATO allies, as Washington continues to openly cooperate with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)’s Syria offshoot, the PYD, despite repeated objections by Ankara, and continues its attempts to encircle Turkey by increasing the numbers of its troops in the region from 40,000 just a few a months ago, as declared by the Pentagon, to 65,000 today.

The biggest increase in US troops was in Turkish bases as their numbers doubled in just two months, reaching 4,000.

The numbers of American troops deployed to Turkey’s army base in Qatar increased from 3,000 to 7,000 in the last 3 months alone.

The US also has sizeable troops stationed in Bahrain, Kuwait and Syria.

This marks the biggest deployment of US forces to the region since the end of the Cold War, which has been done under the pretext of NATO, in an attempt to encircle Turkey from the West.

The US has also deployed additional troops and munitions to Eastern Europe, in countries such as Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, among others.

The latest Pentagon campaign aims to alter the region’s map in order to encircle Turkey by setting up an ‘American Axis’ that stretches from Hungary through Bosnia Herzegovina, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, all the way toward the Persian Gulf.

Despite repeated reassurances that claim it is being set up as a defensive line against Russia, the true aim for this project is Turkey and Iran.

The US also threatens Turkey from the South through its support for PKK terrorists in Norther Syria, who received over 4,000 truckloads of weapons and munitions from the Pentagon over the past months.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. The PKK has been conducting armed violence in the Southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the three-decade long conflict.

The US has provided the PYD/YPG, which are Syrian branches of the terrorist organization, with over 4,000 trucks containing weapons to reportedly use against the fight with ISIL, despite Ankara’s warnings that they are offshoots of the PKK.

In the coming days, Turkey is preparing to launch an operation to clear PKK terrorists from Afrin and areas under their occupation West of the Euphrates Shield Operations regions.

It is only a matter of time before a possible confrontation between Turk and American troops takes place either in Euphrates Shield regions or in Afrin and Manbij.