Sending tanks and armored personnel carriers into Syria along the Turkish border, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tried to save face after suicide attack Aug. 21 at a Turkish wedding killed 54, injuring scores more. Reluctant to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] over the last three years, Erdogan flexed his muscles after routinely bombing Kurdish targets along the Turkish-Syrian border. Backed by U.S. air fire around the ISIS-occupied border town of Jarablus in Syria, Erdogan wanted to make a statement against ISIS, but, more importantly, against the Kurds. Turkey has battled the Kurdistan Peoples Party [PKK] for some 20 years, preventing Turkey’s largest minority from carving out a homeland in Iraq or Turkey. Erdogan makes no distinction between the Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK] and the Syrian-based Kurdish Protection Units [YPG], a U.S. ally in Syria..
Adding to the already complicate on-the-ground picture in Syria, Erdogan makes the situation worse routinely attacking the PKK and YPG in Iraq and Syria. Shelling jidhadists in Jarablus near the Turkish border, Erdogan can’t distinguish between ISIS or the Kurds, despite knowing the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF] are made of Kurds and other Sunni Arab groups. Erdogan claims his goal is “to wipe out Islamic State militants along the border with Turkey,” yet for the past two years Turkey has routinely shelled PKK and YPG positions along the long Turkish-Syrian borders. Turkey once subscribed to the policy of ousting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, something closely aligned with the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. President Barack Obama won’t admit that his pledge to topple al-Assad no longer works with Russia and Iran defending al-Assad’s Shiite Damascus regime.
Visiting Turkey today, Vice President Joe Biden tried to find a silver lining with Ankara’s troops finally going after ISIS on the Turkish border. Biden walks a fine line responding to Erdogan’s extradition requests of Pocono, Pa.-based exiled Sufi cleric Fethullah Gulen. Erdogan put enormous pressure on Biden to expedite Gullen’s extradition, despite offering no real proof of the 75-year-old cleric’s involvement in Turkey’s July 16 failed coup. Neither Obama nor Biden have anything to do with extradition requests, requiring a federal judge to weigh the evidence and decide whether or not any U.S. laws were broken. Whether or not Turkey, with U.S. help, can retake Jarablus from ISIS is anyone’s guess Sending in tanks or shelling the area are no guarantees that the territory can be taken back from ISIS. Turkish officials start out strongly buy often show less resolve.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov plan to meet to discuss Syria in Geneva, after two failed rounds of peace talks. Kerry can’t get beyond his backing of Saudi Arabia’s High Negotiation Commission, producing two failed rounds of peace talks. With Russia and Iran backing al-Assad, it’s difficult to understand Obama’s reasoning joining ISIS and al-Qaeda’s Jahbat al-Nusra Front to topple al-Assad’s Shiite government. Kerry’s dreaming to think things have changed at the Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s made his position on Syria clear at last year’s U.N. General Assembly Sept. 28 where he said toppling al-Assad would create more Mideast chaos.. Neither Obama nor Kerry have the spine to confront Saudi Arabia, whose nearly six-year-old proxy war to topple al-Assad has wreaked havoc on the Middle East and Europe.
When Kerry meets Lavrov Aug. 26, the two are expected to discuss the Syrian war but also the situation in Southeastern Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists continue to fight the U.S.-backed Kiev government. Since Putin invaded Crimea March 1, 2009, the U.S. and its EU allies have slapped Moscow with economic sanctions, making cooperation difficult in other parts of the globe. U.S. and EU officials show little sympathy toward Putin for seizing Crimea after a pro-Western coup Feb. 22, 2014 toppled the Russian-backed government of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich. Kerry wants Lavrov to recognize U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces currently battling ISIS in various towns and villages before the decisive battle to retake oil-rich Mosul. Looking for a humanitarian truce, Kerry hopes to get Lavrov to stop al-Assad from attacking U.S.-backed forces.
Whatever Turkey does along its border with Syria, the U.S. shouldn’t hold its breath that Erdogan’s a true ally in fighting ISIS. While it’s true that Turkey has rolled troops over the Turkish border, it’s also true that Erdogan’s son Bilal reportedly makes millions off of illicit ISIS oil sales. Showing force on the border with Syria helps drive headlines for Erdogan but does little to end ISIS’s occupation. As long as Erdogan goes after the Kurds’ PKK and YPG, there’s little reason to believe he’s serious about ISIS. No one knows for sure whether Turkey’s Aug. 21 terrorist attack, killing 54 at a wedding, was caused by ISIS or some other terrorist group. With Erdogan cracking down after the July 16 coup, he looks to mend fences with Russia and the West. After downing a Russian SU-24 fighter jet Nov. 24, 2015, Erdogan’s worked hard to win back Kremlin’s support.
