Drones and Energy: All Things Turkish Between Türkiye and the United States
The United States shot down a Turkish drone that came too close to American troops in Syria. But there will be no crisis in relations. And Turkey relaunches with a dialogue on energy
The United States Department of Defense announced the shooting down of a Turkish drone in Syria yesterday that was close to American troops. It is the first time that the United States has shot down an aircraft from Turkey, an allied country and member of NATO.
THE TURKEY VERSION
Reuters reported the statement of a Turkish defense official, according to whom the downed drone did not belong to Ankara's armed forces, but did not specify its ownership. A Turkish security source told Reuters that Turkey's intelligence agency carried out airstrikes in Syria against Turkish militants after a bomb attack in Ankara last weekend.
The Turkish Defense Ministry said that the army destroyed thirty Kurdish positions by air in northern Syria – including an oil well, a storage site and various shelters – and "neutralized" several militiamen. The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia was the main ally of the Western, US-led coalition against the Islamic State in Syria.
THE US VERSION
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder reconstructed what happened. Turkish drones were spotted conducting airstrikes in Hasakh, Syria, about a kilometer away from US troops on Thursday morning. A few hours later, a drone approached within half a kilometer of the American forces and was shot down as a precaution by an F-16 aircraft.
Ryder specified that “we have no indication that Turkey was intentionally targeting US forces.” In short, a deep crisis between the United States and Turkey seems to be ruled out.
THE RAIDS AGAINST THE KURDS
Kurdish militias in Syria say recent Turkish attacks have left eight people dead, including two civilians. Ankara considers the Syrian Kurdish militias a force affiliated with the PKK , the Kurdistan Workers' Party, considered a terrorist organization – not only by Turkey, but also by the United States and the European Union – due to the armed insurrection which, since 1980s, caused the deaths of over 40,000 people. The PKK claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack in the Turkish capital. Turkey also carries out raids against the PKK in northern Iraq.
“The PKK and YPG are the same terrorist organization, they are our legitimate target everywhere,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said.
TURKEY SHIFTS FOCUS ON ENERGY
Yesterday in the Turkish newspapers, a piece of news was highlighted, again relating to Ankara-Washington relations, but of a cooperative rather than conflictual nature: the Ministry of Energy Alparslan Bayraktar (Bayraktar is also the name of the family at the helm of Baykar , the most important company Turkish drone manufacturer) has announced its intention to start an energy collaboration program with the United States.
The program, officially referred to as the Türkiye-US Intergovernmental Energy and Climate Dialogue Program , will open in November. It is not clear what it will consist of, but it has been described as a platform to foster dialogue between respective governments and companies on energy issues.
Meanwhile, Turkey is proceeding with the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant – a site with 4,800 megawatts of capacity and a value of 20 billion dollars located in the southern part of the country – together with the Russian company Rosatom . The first of Akkuyu's four reactors is expected to come online in October 2024.
Minister Bayraktar also spoke about the ongoing negotiations for the transportation of Israeli natural gas to Europe, via Turkey.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/stati-uniti-abbattuto-drone-turchia/ on Fri, 06 Oct 2023 08:48:35 +0000.