Erdogan is not enough "Turkish stream"?
Transit aggression
In Turkey, the Kurds have always been and remain in the position of a non-titular nation, approximately like the Armenians. Ankara, for which nationalist politics is the norm, has always struggled with any manifestations of nationalism on their part. However, for the Turkish military operation in northern Syria, the notorious fight against Kurdish terrorists is nothing more than a veil, which should cover the real interest of the country's ruling circles.
The course of hostilities is very clearly stated in the publication of the Military Review: "Turkish Air Force struck at the self-proclaimed capital of Syrian Kurdistan - Kamyshly". And the interest mentioned above stems primarily from Ankara’s long-standing desire to fully seize transit oil and gas pipelines from northern Iraq through the Syrian North to ports in the south and south-west of Turkey: Ceyhan, Iskenderun and Yumurtalik.
Turkey expects to reorient pipelines from this oil and gas region of Syria from its ports to the same ports in the south of the country. And along the way, "solve" the problem of the self-proclaimed state of the Kurds in northern Syria. For Ankara, the real headache is that the “state” is an incentive for the insurgent Kurdish movement in southern Turkey, adjacent to the Syrian Kurdish region.
At the same time, the sharply negative reaction of the United States to such plans is due to the fact that Washington is not interested in strengthening Turkey’s role as the main transit corridor for oil and gas raw materials from Syria and northern Iraq. In other words, the Turkish Stream, the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC: the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey-Balkans gas pipeline) and the Caspian-Mediterranean BTC pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan port) will suffice from it.
In this regard, information from the Federal Agency is noteworthy. News from June 21, 2017: “SSA” units (one of the anti-Assad groups. - Approx. Aut.), supported by the US-led antiterrorist coalition, are targeted at Deir ez-Zor, one of Syria’s richest oil and gas regions (near the junction the borders of Syria, Turkey and Iraq. - Approx. Thus, Washington, with the help of Syrian opposition fighters, intends to take control of energy resources and the pipeline through Turkey through the territory and from the wells of this province. ”
Recall that before the conflict in Syria, about half of the transit of North Iraqi oil was pumped for subsequent export to the Syrian ports of Baniyas and Tartus. Up to a third of the volumes were in neighboring Turkish ports (Yumurtalyk, Ceyhan, Iskenderun) and about 15% - in the ports of Lebanon (Sidon, Tripoli), connected to trans-Syrian pipelines. The war in Syria, of course, “froze” the Syrian and Syrian-Lebanese oil transit.
But Turkey in the field of domestic consumption and re-export soon mastered more than 80% of the total volume of oil supplies from Iraqi Kurdistan, that is, Northern Iraq. Moreover, the share of North Iraqi raw materials in the actual consumption of oil and oil products in Turkey has already exceeded 60%. And oil and gas in the northern region of Syria, which has been “patronized” by Turkey since the beginning of the intra-Syrian conflict, is now also consumed by Turkey by almost 100%.
Old accounts
Transit pipelines from Northern Iraq were built at the end of the 40's - the beginning of the 70's, but so "bizarre" that they repeatedly cross northern Syria and the neighboring south of Turkey. It was as if everything had been built with a reserve for future conflicts between Ankara and Damascus for control of these arteries.
And they were built from the north of Iraq to the Mediterranean ports because it is through these corridors that the shortest distance to the European market (in contrast to the ports of South Iraq). It is clear why a very similar conflict situation developed here 60 years ago, when Syria and Lebanon, having gained independence from France, became owners - at least geographically - of transit oil arteries and ports on their territory.
But France, together with Great Britain and the USA in the first half of the 50's, tried to tear off these oil pipelines and ports. At the same time, uniting them in a certain international zone under the control of the same powers - like the British-French condominium in the Suez Canal and along both its banks until the middle of the 50's inclusive.
But it did not happen - for a number of interrelated political reasons. Including due to opposition from Turkey, which intended to seize transit pipelines with the United States or “separately” adjacent to it. Recall that in 1957, Turkey and the United States were preparing an invasion of Syria, because its then "pro-Pacer" authorities rejected the long-term concession project proposed by Washington and Ankara for almost all Syria transit oil pipelines.
In addition, since the end of the 30 of the last century, Turkey claimed almost 90% of the territory of Northern Syria, which was associated with the same oil transit factor and the desire to control the North Syrian Kurds.
However, then the USSR prevented aggression: on October 18 on October 1957 a TASS statement was published, where, in particular, it was noted that
“The Turkish General Staff, together with American military advisers, developed an operational plan for military operations against Syria. No one should have any doubt that in the event of an attack on Syria, the USSR, guided by the goals and principles of the UN Charter and the interests of its security, will take all necessary measures to provide assistance to the victim of aggression. "
Ankara’s desire to completely seize transit ports in the neighboring region of Syria dates back to the second half of the same 30-s, when Turkey managed to tear away from Syria, the French protectorate (in 1920-1943), the port of Alexandretta (now Iskenderun) with an adjacent area . Since even then the Turkish authorities planned to seize the North Iraqi oil and its transit (“How the Turks in 1939 year arranged a“ circumcision ”of Syria).
In a word, Turkey still wants to completely master all the oil and gas transit routes in a vast region, from the Black and Caspian Seas to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. And for this it is necessary at all costs to “add” other oil and gas corridors to the Turkish Stream, BTC and SGC ...
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