On the other is Isis, a marauding force of global jihadists, who have claimed a homeland from the ruins of the once feared police states of Iraq and Syria.
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“There is no place [for the Islamic State] on Turkey’s borders”, Davutoglu said. On paper, the countries agree that the terrorist group must be stamped out and that, in due course, Syrian President Bashar Al Assad also has to go.
In many ways, it is a repeat performance of the disastrous involvement the United States has had in Egypt’s politics over the decades. The war has produced over 4 million refugees – almost half of whom have fled to Turkey.
Responding to G2 Pentagon spokeswoman Laura Seal insisted, however, there is no connection between “deeper cooperation against ISIL (ISIS) and Turkey’s strikes against the PKK“. One attack involved a suicide bombing that killed more than 30 civilian activists in the Turkish town of Suruc.
As if the U.S. collusion in that domestic, entirely partisan strategy would not be shameful enough, the United States is also pledging to help Erdogan on another matter. If Turkey eliminates or severely weakens them, then the West has lost the one regional group that has held strong against the Islamic State. “It’s what we’ve all been warning about”, said Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Together, the two countries hope to achieve an Islamic-Free zone. Syrian Kurds have battled the Islamic State near the border, pushing the extremists out of a swath of territory. “Turkey’s future is dark”, sums up the author. Besides ISIS, Turkey is also taking military action against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq.
The moment Egypt’s transition floundered in 2013, and it became convenient to do so, U.S. officials abandoned support for democrats in favor of generals.
The only reason this hasn’t happened is that the U.S. and its allies have always viewed ISIS as a convenient proxy against Syria, Hezbollah, and Iran, not to mention leverage against the Iran-friendly government of Iraq. The proximity of the bases to Syrian territory means U.S. warplanes will be able to confirm and hit targets with much greater speed.
“Syrian Kurds in northern Syria working with and alongside in many instances Free Syrian Army groups have been very effective against Daesh [the Arabic acronym for ISIS]”, a State Department official said in a background press briefing. He said the Incirlik air base can be used by the US against ISIS anytime.
A buffer zone in Syria, backed by U.S. air power, serves both these Turkish interests. The U.S. has said it will train and equip 5,400 such rebels to fight ISIS in Syria but Defence Secretary Ash Carter admitted earlier this month they had actually only managed to train 60 Syrian fighters. U.S. diplomats nixed the plan, explaining that while they admired Turkey’s anti-communist zeal, there was no need to alienate the Arab world with an outright invasion when they could just continue discreetly plotting coups instead.
In the predominantly Kurdish city of Kobani, for example, the retreating militants laid mines and booby traps wherever they could – going as far as to stuff explosives inside dead bodies.
In the Turkish town of Karkamis, the rising tensions are evident. But its allies are only fighting one of them. Turkish soldiers have urged families living near the border to leave. “I want to see my family and relatives”.
Alongside the autonomy enjoyed by Iraqi Kurds, and gains for the Kurdish party in Turkey’s election last month, it adds up to a threatening prospect for Turkish rulers.
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The area in question is now under the control of ISIS, and includes the last border post with Turkey under the Islamists’ control. By contrast, Turkey sees the terrorist group as a problem that can only be solved by overthrowing Al Assad, he said. Another motivating factor, some analysts say, was growing US cooperation with Syrian Kurds, whose fighting forces have racked up some of the most decisive victories against the Islamic State. In jail, Ocalan proved newly willing to cooperate, and even many in the Turkish military came to realize that the PKK could never be destroyed by force alone. “The Free Syrian Army just ran”, said 45-year-old Matin Damer.
