Following the vehicle bomb attack on a military convoy in Ankara this week which left 28 people dead, a breakaway faction of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for the attack, and Turkey has vowed to intensify its fight against the Kurds both at home and in Syria.
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“Turkey will not be going into Syria with the boots on the ground if it is not a collective action, either by the Security Council resolution or by the global coalition that we are a part of”, said Turkey’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Halit Cevik.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Saturday called on the United States to give unconditional support in the fight against Syrian Kurdish militants, illustrating growing tension between Ankara and Washington over policy in northern Syria. The attack, which was blamed on the PKK and the YPG, came four months after twin suicide bombings attributed to Daesh killed 103 people in the capital, marking the deadliest attack in Turkey’s history. Russian Federation expressed regrets on the matter – Russian Federation was expecting a swift response and the security council to urge Turkey to stop the shelling – however, they delayed making a decision until Monday.
A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that there was “no hard evidence of a YPG link” presented to the diplomats at the meeting.
“Aside from security measures across Turkey, a new and special security mechanism and an action plan that accounts for Ankara’s unique properties will be prepared”, Davutoglu told reporters.
Kurdish fighters’ recent advance into territory controlled by Turkey-backed rebels in northern Aleppo near the Turkish border has anxious Ankara, which clearly set the Euphrates River as a “red line” that must be the limit of their westwards drive.
Turkey is shelling Kurdish militia in Syria, but it has ruled out any unilateral ground intervention there. The fight against Daesh is continuing now, so does the one against Assad regime.
Nihat Ali Ozcan, security expert at the Ankara-based TEPAV think-tank, said there would be consequences for Washington preferring a mere “player in Syria” to a “legitimate state” like Turkey.
But Turkey is hoping to galvanise American support in the wake of the Ankara attack for a ground operation into Syria with its allies, analysts say.
Davutoglu again called on the United States not to back the group and to show solidarity with Turkey “without ifs or buts”.
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“If 28 Turkish lives have been claimed through a terrorist attack we can only expect them [the US] to say any threat against Turkey is a threat against them”, Davutoglu stated.
