Turkey Protests Syrian Offensive, Media Forgets NATO Member Status
Protests erupt in Turkey over a 'deadly Syrian army offensive against Kurdish fighters in Aleppo,' according to Al-Monitor. What the mainstream press often sidesteps is Turkey’s own long-standing military presence, and repeated incursions into northern Syria, often targeting Kurdish groups it labels 'terrorists'—groups that, ironically, were once US allies against ISIS. This convenient framing
allows Ankara to posture as a concerned party in Aleppo, even as it maintains an illegal occupation of Syrian territory and frequently bombs Kurdish-held areas. One might wonder if the Syrian army's actions are simply mirroring the 'security concerns' Turkey regularly invokes for its own cross-border operations. When does one nation's 'offensive' become another's 'counter-terrorism'? Or is it only
'offensive' when the weapons aren’t American-made and approved?