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What are Turkey's Aims in Syria?

Turkey's offensive against Kurdish militia in Syria has angered its NATO allies

Turkey has sent tanks and warplanes into northern Syria. Their stated target is a Kurdish militia group, the YPG, regarded by Ankara as a terrorist organisation allied to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the PKK, which has been fighting for autonomy in Turkey for decades. It's an indication of the complexity of this conflict is that while Turkey regards the YPG as a serious threat, the same group has been a key ally of the United States in the battle against the so-called Islamic State in Syria. If Turkey were to achieve its stated aim of destroying the YPG - or even just loosen its hold in the border region - who would fill the vacuum? On Newshour Extra this week Ritula Shah and her guests discuss Turkey's war aims in Syria and ask whether Ankara can persuade Washington to abandon the Kurds.

Photo: a Syrian woman and child who fled from the Turkish offensive on the Afrin enclave. Credit: Getty Images

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50 minutes

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Sat 27 Jan 2018 12:06GMT
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Contributors

Gulnur Aybet - Professor at Yildiz Technical University and a senior adviser to President Erdogan of Turkey.

James Jeffrey -Μύformer US ambassador to Turkey

Andrei Kortunov - Director-General of the Russian International Affairs Council, a foreign policy think tank in Moscow.

Rosemary Hollis - Professor of International Politics at City University, London.

Alan Semo - London representative of the Kurdish PYD, the political wing of the YPG, which is fighting Turkish forces in northern Syria.

Also taking part:

Rania - English teacher in the Afrin region, northern Syria

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Broadcasts

  • Fri 26 Jan 2018 00:06GMT
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia, Online, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview & Europe and the Middle East only
  • Fri 26 Jan 2018 09:06GMT
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except News Internet
  • Fri 26 Jan 2018 18:06GMT
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service Australasia
  • Fri 26 Jan 2018 23:06GMT
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa, South Asia, West and Central Africa & East Asia only
  • Sat 27 Jan 2018 04:06GMT
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Australasia & News Internet
  • Sat 27 Jan 2018 12:06GMT
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except Americas and the Caribbean, East and Southern Africa, News Internet & West and Central Africa

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