Turkey’s U-turn Against ISIL Creates Doubts About Real Intentions
August 01, 2015, Saturday/ 17:00:00
DENİZ ARSLAN / ANKARA
For many, it is not easy to understand the reasoning behind previously reluctant NATO ally Turkey's “change of heart” in taking a seemingly harsher stand against terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants with its recent air strikes on them inside Syria -- a move that still creates doubts about Turkey's real intentions and sincerity.
After an ISIL militant's suicide bomb attack in Suruç in Turkey's Şanlıurfa province on July 20, which killed 32 and injured more than 100 people, Turkish warplanes launched a military operation against targets inside Syria on July 23, reportedly killing 35 militants in a number of airstrikes. Along with ISIL, the interim government in Turkey also launched air strikes against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside Iraq, following a number of Turkish police officers and soldiers being targeted and killed by the PKK, effectively killing the country's Kurdish peace process.
Turkey's air strikes against Kurds have puzzled many international observers, including Turkey's allies. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had a phone conversation on July 22 with US President Barack Obama before hitting ISIL targets inside Syria. Turkey and the US recently reached an agreement which allows US military forces expanded access to military bases in Turkey, including İncirlik Air Base in Adana province, which is in close proximity to ISIL targets inside Syria and Iraq.
Turkey had been dragging its feet to open İncirlik to US forces and had been pushing for the establishment of a safe zone, which may or may not be supported by a no-fly zone, as a precondition to opening İncirlik Air Base. The US has never been warm to establishing a safe zone inside Syria, but when a deal was announced recently on İncirlik, statements coming from the US on the safe zone issue have slightly softened. Yet senior US State Department officials in the past week again told journalists that there won't be a safe zone or a no-fly zone on the Turkish-Syrian border and that the US-led coalition against ISIL is only focused on clearing ISIL from the Turkish border to the west of the Euphrates River.
“The government's move against ISIL, though high profile, is more virtual than real,” said former main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy and seasoned diplomat Faruk Loğoğlu to Sunday's Zaman.
“Attacking ISIL became unavoidable after the Suruç massacre. The ISIL offensive was designed in part to win the goodwill of the US and the Europeans. The opening of Turkey's bases to coalition aircraft was an added bonus in this regard. However, the real target for the AKP [Justice and Development Party (AK Party)] government is not ISIL, it is the PKK,” said Loğoğlu.
Erdoğan said last week that the peace process had become impossible. Hours after his remarks, on Tuesday evening, Turkish fighter jets launched their heaviest assault on PKK terrorists in northern Iraq since air strikes began last week.
Erdoğan's motives in launching a military operation against the PKK are being questioned in international circles, with claims surfacing that air strikes against ISIL are a cover-up for targeting Kurds. Turkey has been candid about being disturbed by the recent Syrian Kurdish advances against ISIL, and Erdoğan openly expressed that Turkey will never allow a Kurdish independent state in the region. Turkey says the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), have ties with the PKK. The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by the US, but US officials say that, according to US law, the PYD -- which is a big asset for the US against ISIL -- is not considered a terrorist organization. Despite Turkey's objection, the US airdropped weapons and ammunition to the PYD last October, when PYD forces were fighting against ISIL militants in Kobani in northern Syria.
The AK Party lost its majority in Parliament after the June 7 parliamentary election, and the interim government's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is working on forming a coalition government.
Speaking to CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday, Davutoğlu dismissed the labeling of Turkey's military campaign against ISIL targets inside Syria as a “U-turn” when asked why Turkey was late to join the US-led coalition efforts against ISIL. Instead, he said that after the ISIL attack in the town of Suruç in Şanlıurfa province on July 20, in which 32 people died, and after ISIL militants shot a Turkish soldier on the border, launching a military operation against ISIL “became a necessity” for Turkey.
According to Loğoğlu, having pronounced the end of the Kurdish peace process, the AK Party and especially President Erdoğan are now targeting the PKK in Turkey and in Iraq in order to discredit the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and to return to power after a repeat election in the near future. “In short, the AKP leadership is playing a highly dangerous game with the security and wellbeing of the people of Turkey,” Loğoğlu said.
Washington is concerned that Turkey is using its campaign as a pretext to crush the Kurds in the region, while the US has relied on the Kurds as a ground force in the fight against ISIL in Syria and Iraq. US President Obama's deputy special envoy for the campaign against ISIL tweeted last week that there is no connection between Turkey's air strikes and the recent agreement that was reached between US and Turkey that intensifies the two countries' cooperation against ISIL.
Also, US Department of State Spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that the US has long recognized the PKK as a terrorist organization, adding that the US recognizes Turkey's right to defend itself against the PKK. “I recognize that in some cases, the PKK have fought against ISIL, but they are a foreign terrorist organization; we've designated them as an FTO,” Kirby said. “Our fight against ISIL is not in cooperation with, coordination with or communication with the PKK,” he added.
Davutoğlu said last week that Ankara has no intention of sending ground troops into Syria, but stressed that Syrian moderate opposition forces should replace the ISIL militants on Turkey's Syria border.
Speaking to the Washington Times newspaper last week, Cenk Sidar, who heads the Washington-based research and strategic advisory firm Sidar Global Advisors, said, “The reason Kurdish groups gained strength in the fight against ISIS [another acronym for ISIL] in the first place is the fact that Turkey didn't do its job in the fight against the group.” Sidar continued: “Turkey dragged its feet because its primary motivation was to fight against the [regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad] in Syria, not ISIS. Now, I think Turkey is uncomfortable that Kurdish groups are becoming more legitimate and are the U.S. partner in the fight against ISIS, so the Turks now feel that they need to get involved.” He added that Erdoğan “likely has domestic political motivations in mind.” Because the pro-Kurdish HDP has entered Parliament, Erdoğan seems keen to win back nationalist votes in a possible snap election. Sidar said Erdoğan might be aiming to inflame Kurdish unrest in the region in the hope that it will “tarnish pro-Kurdish political parties in Turkey, undercut coalition talks and set the stage for new elections in the fall.”
The US-based think tank the Washington Kurdish Institute (WKI) published an interview with Polat Can, a representative of the YPG, on July 24. Can criticized Turkey harshly and said: “In the early stages, foreign countries were affected by the Turkish propaganda and adopted negative attitudes toward our struggle, but the resistance of Kobani turned the scales -- the world realized who is truly fighting terrorism and achieving victories, they know that the YPG protects all of the Syrian people without discrimination and is ready to create a democratic free homeland. Today the world knows who hinder the international coalition's efforts to fight against terrorism, who turns a blind eye to the movements of terrorists in their country, and whose transportation is used to send foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq.”
In his recent article "Turkey conflict with Kurds: Was approving air strikes against the PKK America's worst error in the Middle East since the Iraq War?" in The Independent, Patrick Cockburn -- the author of “The Rise of Islamic State: ISIS and the New Sunni Revolution" -- wrote that “a possible interpretation” of the Turkish government's assault on ISIL, the PKK and other opposition groups is that Erdoğan “intends to win the new election expected by many later this year if no governing coalition can be formed in the meantime.”
“He would then try to win a majority on the back of a wave of anti-Kurdish and anti-terrorist nationalism, fuelled by revulsion against attacks by the PKK and ISIS,” the author says, also noting, “Turkey has become increasingly unstable and violent over the past two years as [Erdoğan] has tried to consolidate his grip on power, even as his AKP party lost its parliamentary majority in last month's general election.”
Graham Fuller, a former CIA operative, wrote last week in his blog that Turkey's policy change toward ISIL and the country's willingness to cooperate with Washington is related to Erdoğan's quest for political survival. Fuller argued that Erdoğan's calculation of emerging as a stronger party from a snap election may not prove to be right. Fuller wrote: “After the rebuff to the ruling AKP Party in the June elections that caused it to lose its majority in parliament, Erdoğan is now desperately trying to recover, find a reliable partner for a coalition government and, in its absence, to force new elections next month in the hopes of recouping his majority. Given the growing impression of growing loss of coherency at the top levels of the Turkish government, it is something of a gamble that the AKP could achieve a better electoral outcome next month. Indeed the AKP may well emerge yet weaker.”
DENİZ ARSLAN / ANKARA
For many, it is not easy to understand the reasoning behind previously reluctant NATO ally Turkey's “change of heart” in taking a seemingly harsher stand against terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants with its recent air strikes on them inside Syria -- a move that still creates doubts about Turkey's real intentions and sincerity.
After an ISIL militant's suicide bomb attack in Suruç in Turkey's Şanlıurfa province on July 20, which killed 32 and injured more than 100 people, Turkish warplanes launched a military operation against targets inside Syria on July 23, reportedly killing 35 militants in a number of airstrikes. Along with ISIL, the interim government in Turkey also launched air strikes against the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside Iraq, following a number of Turkish police officers and soldiers being targeted and killed by the PKK, effectively killing the country's Kurdish peace process.
Turkey's air strikes against Kurds have puzzled many international observers, including Turkey's allies. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had a phone conversation on July 22 with US President Barack Obama before hitting ISIL targets inside Syria. Turkey and the US recently reached an agreement which allows US military forces expanded access to military bases in Turkey, including İncirlik Air Base in Adana province, which is in close proximity to ISIL targets inside Syria and Iraq.
Turkey had been dragging its feet to open İncirlik to US forces and had been pushing for the establishment of a safe zone, which may or may not be supported by a no-fly zone, as a precondition to opening İncirlik Air Base. The US has never been warm to establishing a safe zone inside Syria, but when a deal was announced recently on İncirlik, statements coming from the US on the safe zone issue have slightly softened. Yet senior US State Department officials in the past week again told journalists that there won't be a safe zone or a no-fly zone on the Turkish-Syrian border and that the US-led coalition against ISIL is only focused on clearing ISIL from the Turkish border to the west of the Euphrates River.
“The government's move against ISIL, though high profile, is more virtual than real,” said former main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy and seasoned diplomat Faruk Loğoğlu to Sunday's Zaman.
“Attacking ISIL became unavoidable after the Suruç massacre. The ISIL offensive was designed in part to win the goodwill of the US and the Europeans. The opening of Turkey's bases to coalition aircraft was an added bonus in this regard. However, the real target for the AKP [Justice and Development Party (AK Party)] government is not ISIL, it is the PKK,” said Loğoğlu.
Erdoğan said last week that the peace process had become impossible. Hours after his remarks, on Tuesday evening, Turkish fighter jets launched their heaviest assault on PKK terrorists in northern Iraq since air strikes began last week.
Erdoğan's motives in launching a military operation against the PKK are being questioned in international circles, with claims surfacing that air strikes against ISIL are a cover-up for targeting Kurds. Turkey has been candid about being disturbed by the recent Syrian Kurdish advances against ISIL, and Erdoğan openly expressed that Turkey will never allow a Kurdish independent state in the region. Turkey says the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), have ties with the PKK. The PKK is classified as a terrorist organization by the US, but US officials say that, according to US law, the PYD -- which is a big asset for the US against ISIL -- is not considered a terrorist organization. Despite Turkey's objection, the US airdropped weapons and ammunition to the PYD last October, when PYD forces were fighting against ISIL militants in Kobani in northern Syria.
The AK Party lost its majority in Parliament after the June 7 parliamentary election, and the interim government's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is working on forming a coalition government.
Speaking to CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday, Davutoğlu dismissed the labeling of Turkey's military campaign against ISIL targets inside Syria as a “U-turn” when asked why Turkey was late to join the US-led coalition efforts against ISIL. Instead, he said that after the ISIL attack in the town of Suruç in Şanlıurfa province on July 20, in which 32 people died, and after ISIL militants shot a Turkish soldier on the border, launching a military operation against ISIL “became a necessity” for Turkey.
According to Loğoğlu, having pronounced the end of the Kurdish peace process, the AK Party and especially President Erdoğan are now targeting the PKK in Turkey and in Iraq in order to discredit the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and to return to power after a repeat election in the near future. “In short, the AKP leadership is playing a highly dangerous game with the security and wellbeing of the people of Turkey,” Loğoğlu said.
Washington is concerned that Turkey is using its campaign as a pretext to crush the Kurds in the region, while the US has relied on the Kurds as a ground force in the fight against ISIL in Syria and Iraq. US President Obama's deputy special envoy for the campaign against ISIL tweeted last week that there is no connection between Turkey's air strikes and the recent agreement that was reached between US and Turkey that intensifies the two countries' cooperation against ISIL.
Also, US Department of State Spokesman John Kirby said on Monday that the US has long recognized the PKK as a terrorist organization, adding that the US recognizes Turkey's right to defend itself against the PKK. “I recognize that in some cases, the PKK have fought against ISIL, but they are a foreign terrorist organization; we've designated them as an FTO,” Kirby said. “Our fight against ISIL is not in cooperation with, coordination with or communication with the PKK,” he added.
Davutoğlu said last week that Ankara has no intention of sending ground troops into Syria, but stressed that Syrian moderate opposition forces should replace the ISIL militants on Turkey's Syria border.
Speaking to the Washington Times newspaper last week, Cenk Sidar, who heads the Washington-based research and strategic advisory firm Sidar Global Advisors, said, “The reason Kurdish groups gained strength in the fight against ISIS [another acronym for ISIL] in the first place is the fact that Turkey didn't do its job in the fight against the group.” Sidar continued: “Turkey dragged its feet because its primary motivation was to fight against the [regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad] in Syria, not ISIS. Now, I think Turkey is uncomfortable that Kurdish groups are becoming more legitimate and are the U.S. partner in the fight against ISIS, so the Turks now feel that they need to get involved.” He added that Erdoğan “likely has domestic political motivations in mind.” Because the pro-Kurdish HDP has entered Parliament, Erdoğan seems keen to win back nationalist votes in a possible snap election. Sidar said Erdoğan might be aiming to inflame Kurdish unrest in the region in the hope that it will “tarnish pro-Kurdish political parties in Turkey, undercut coalition talks and set the stage for new elections in the fall.”
The US-based think tank the Washington Kurdish Institute (WKI) published an interview with Polat Can, a representative of the YPG, on July 24. Can criticized Turkey harshly and said: “In the early stages, foreign countries were affected by the Turkish propaganda and adopted negative attitudes toward our struggle, but the resistance of Kobani turned the scales -- the world realized who is truly fighting terrorism and achieving victories, they know that the YPG protects all of the Syrian people without discrimination and is ready to create a democratic free homeland. Today the world knows who hinder the international coalition's efforts to fight against terrorism, who turns a blind eye to the movements of terrorists in their country, and whose transportation is used to send foreign fighters to Syria and Iraq.”
In his recent article "Turkey conflict with Kurds: Was approving air strikes against the PKK America's worst error in the Middle East since the Iraq War?" in The Independent, Patrick Cockburn -- the author of “The Rise of Islamic State: ISIS and the New Sunni Revolution" -- wrote that “a possible interpretation” of the Turkish government's assault on ISIL, the PKK and other opposition groups is that Erdoğan “intends to win the new election expected by many later this year if no governing coalition can be formed in the meantime.”
“He would then try to win a majority on the back of a wave of anti-Kurdish and anti-terrorist nationalism, fuelled by revulsion against attacks by the PKK and ISIS,” the author says, also noting, “Turkey has become increasingly unstable and violent over the past two years as [Erdoğan] has tried to consolidate his grip on power, even as his AKP party lost its parliamentary majority in last month's general election.”
Graham Fuller, a former CIA operative, wrote last week in his blog that Turkey's policy change toward ISIL and the country's willingness to cooperate with Washington is related to Erdoğan's quest for political survival. Fuller argued that Erdoğan's calculation of emerging as a stronger party from a snap election may not prove to be right. Fuller wrote: “After the rebuff to the ruling AKP Party in the June elections that caused it to lose its majority in parliament, Erdoğan is now desperately trying to recover, find a reliable partner for a coalition government and, in its absence, to force new elections next month in the hopes of recouping his majority. Given the growing impression of growing loss of coherency at the top levels of the Turkish government, it is something of a gamble that the AKP could achieve a better electoral outcome next month. Indeed the AKP may well emerge yet weaker.”
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