On February 7, it became known that a significant number of reinforcements from Iraq moved in the direction of the Syrian city Afrin, where battles are conducted between the Turkish army and Kurdish groupings, such as the People’s Self-Defense Units YPG (branch of the terrorist organization Kurdistan Workers’ Party). These formations intend to oppose the Turks on the side of the Kurds of Afrin. It is known that they have already entered the territory of the canton.
So, according to the statement of the Telegram-channel “Directorate 4”, which monitors the activities of terrorists, these groups consist of parts of YBS – “Resistance forces of Sinjar”, where most of them are Yezidi Kurds. The exact strength and armament of the column is currently unknown.
Who are the Yezidis, and why they went (or, perhaps, they were sent) to the Syrian Afrin?
The Yezidis are a Kurdish ethno confessional group, mainly living in the north of Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan), in the post-Soviet space and in European countries.
During the reign and after the death of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi authorities did not abandon attempts to assimilate the representatives of this nation. And since 2014, the Yezidis started to be exposed to the open genocide in Iraq by ISIS.
A noteworthy fact: according to the population census in 2010, there are 40,586 Yezidi Kurds in Russia.
Back in January 2016, the text of a letter written by a representative of this ethnic group, a resident of the Iraqi Shingala, on behalf of the Yezidis to the Russian leadership leaked into the information space.
So, they asked personally Putin to give an order to bomb ISIS in Iraq in this letter as the Russian army does in Syria. Moreover, they begged him to send them weapons – allegedly for self-defense.
“If Putin helps us and sends us weapons, then we will help Putin in the fight against ISIS. Our people want to return to Shingal, but now it’s not safe there. We ask Russia for help. We are waiting for help from Putin”, – the letter said.
Now, it is known that the groupings managed to pass through the territories controlled by the Syrian government after Turkey deployed its troops in the province of Aleppo.
“Assistance to the Kurds of Afrin their comrades promised earlier. But the road connecting the Kurdish territories in the north and northeast Syria with the canton passes through the territory controlled by the Syrian government troops (another road passes through the territory occupied by pro-Turkish militants) and, according to some sources, the Syrian authorities prevented the passage of reinforcements. The “green light” for the column may have become a response to the deployment of Turkish troops in the region of the el-Eis in the province of Aleppo, where they have already begun to equip positions, “- “Directorate 4” said.
It is interesting that on the evening of February 7 the head of the International Association Against Unreasonable Armenian Claims (“ASİMDER”) acting in Turkey, Hexel Gulbey made a really sensational statement. So, he said that along with Kurdish terrorists from PYD / YPG in the Syrian canton of Afrin are fighting Yezidi Kurds (attention!), who arrived from Armenia.
He made it very clear that at one time Armenia placed Syrian Yezidi Kurds and Armenians on the territory of Karabakh under its control. According to Gulbey, there are twelve camps in which terrorists from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Iranian branch of this organization PJAK are trained. The head of “ASİMDER” asserts that the terrorists, which were trained in Karabakh, are redeployed through Iran and Iraq to the Syrian region of Kamyshli, and from there to Manbij and to Afrin.
Before we continue our story, we recall that the same PKK has been fully supported – financially and militarily – by Moscow since the early 1980s. This project has been used for many years by the Kremlin special services for one purpose: to weaken Turkey, using Kurdish separatist pressure, and to force the leadership of this country to coordinate its actions exclusively with the Russian leadership.
However, we will continue. The same Gulbay, gave more clear information about training places of the Yezidi Kurds in Armenia in another statement on October 22, 2017.
“Armenia is critical to the PKK, whose camps operate in Gyumri, Spitak, and Yerevan and in the occupied settlements – Lachin and Kelbajar”, – Gulbay said.
But the most interesting is that the game is not led by Armenia, but Russia, which simply trivializes the territory of another country for its “hybrid adventures”. Now just let’s take a minute to look at the map. The locations described above coincide with those near which the 102nd Russian military base is located. Let’s say even more precisely: the object is located in the city of Gyumri, 126 kilometers north of the Armenian capital, Yerevan.
Early, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “The issues for which Russian servicemen will be responsible concern the territory of Armenia. It means that in case of any external threat to Armenia, this will be viewed as an external threat to Russia.”
In other words, the Russian Foreign Minister said that the Russian military command (?) controls the territory of Armenia.
On August 22, 2017, almost a month before Gulbey’s statement, servicemen of the reconnaissance units of the South Military District of the Russian Armed Forces deployed at the same 102nd military base conducted exercises (?) to train forces for the redeployment of forces behind the imaginary enemy’s line.
During the exercises, Mi-24P attack helicopters and military Mi-8MT military aircraft helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles were involved.
The press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported: “Special Forces groups conducted training and studied the landing behind of the imaginary enemy’s line in the high-mountain training ranges” Kamhud “and” Alagyaz “at an altitude more than 2 thousand meters above sea level. Also, helicopter pilots and Special Forces groups work out cooperation in the group’s standard withdrawal to the enemy’s line and solve reconnaissance and search tasks to find an imaginary enemy”.
Remember this small village – the village of Alyagaz. This will come in handy In the future.
Further, another one was followed after these exercises: it was held from 9 to 13 October last year.
Then the same reconnaissance units of the 102nd base were supposed to destroy the imaginary illegal armed formation (IAF).
Tactical group was delivered to Alagyaz high-altitude range by Mi-8MT helicopters of the Russian air base Erebuni. It was pointed out that “the reconnaissance troops landed in the highlands and destroyed the subversive reconnaissance groups of the imaginary enemy from the rear”.
But what is most interesting, the basis of the population of Alyagaz, near which the training range is located, are Yezidi Kurds.
By comparing all the information, we can come to one very interesting conclusion, which sounds something like this: the Russian Federation was preparing the Yezidi Kurds at its training ranges for their further redeployment to Syria. Moscow prepared them solely for the struggle with Ankara.
In this case, the place is simply excellent for that. Really, open the map and see that it is easy to get from this place (especially if we are talking about the opportunities provided by the Russian base) both to the border of Iran, and to the border of Turkey.
Well, in fact, all this is not surprising. Back in Soviet times, as the IR group previously reported, the GRU of the USSR launched a large-scale training program for non-regular specialists from among the citizens of the USSR who have Turkish or Kurdish roots on the basis of the intelligence departments of the military districts aimed at Turkey. At the same time, such people got agent background tied to the biography of the once-existing Kurds who killed or died under different circumstances. They passed through units of the Soviet Special Forces, and then went to the training camps of Kurdish militants as instructors or in the fighting cells of the PKK as advisers.
And all that we have stated now proves one thing: even after the collapse of the USSR, the Russian GRU was able to successfully restore this program in the Kurdish direction, and this means that Moscow continues to conduct an active struggle against Turkey with the help of the Kurds.
And if you will add to this to the recently appeared information about the interception of a party of Russian weapons by the Turkish troops, which was sent to the Kurds in Afrin, the picture will be extremely clear.
IR