Turkey vs. US vs. IS vs. PKK

The politics of involving Turkey in the war against ISIS are complicated. The Turks joined in the airstrikes last week and sent their first load of ordinance at the PKK – the Kurdish organization which has been at war with the Turkish Government, the Iraqi government and the Iranian government for decades, but the PKK’s main focus these days has been against ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State troops.

The PKK and the Kurds have been trying to reinforce beleagured defenders of that town in Syria, alternately called Kobane or Kobani by the media. Turkey hindered that reinforcement. According to the Associated Press, that has put US interests at odds with Turkey’s interests;

Kobani desperately needs troop reinforcements, but because the Islamic State controls the Syrian territory between Iraqi Kurdistan, which might be willing to provide them, and Kobani, there’s almost no way to send in additional forces except via Turkey.

And this is where Obama’s second confrontation comes in—with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The two now are in flat disagreement over the fate of the enclave, which lies directly on the Syrian-Turkish border. Ankara is willing to let it fall, and Washington clearly isn’t.

The rulers of Kobani, the Democratic Union Party or PYD, are affiliated with the separatist Kurdistan Worker’s Party or PKK, which has waged a 30-year guerrilla war against the Turkish state. Turkey, the United States and the European Union all have labeled the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Yeah, well the fight against ISIS has become a mess, what with Iran and Hezbollah joining the war, but Turkey may have relented says Reuters;

Turkey said on Monday it would allow Iraqi Kurdish fighters to reinforce fellow Kurds in the Syrian town of Kobani, while the United States air-dropped arms for the first time to help the defenders resist an Islamic State assault.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington had asked Ankara to help “get the peshmerga or other groups” into Kobani so that they could help defend the town on the Turkish frontier, adding that he hoped the Kurds would “take this fight on”.

If the reinforcements come through, this may mark a turning point in the battle for Kobani, a town that has become a frontline of the battle to foil Islamic State’s attempt to reshape the Middle East.

According to the Washington Post, the US air-dropped weapons and ammunition to the fighters in Kobani/Kobane;

Turkey had opposed delivering weapons to Kobane’s Syrian Kurds because of their affiliations with a Kurdish group in Turkey that began an insurgency three decades ago.

But the U.S.-dropped supplies and possible fresh fighters are expected to give a big boost to the battle against the Islamic State advance on Kobane, which is within sight of the Turkish border and has been the target of escalating American-led airstrikes.

So I watched Pentagon spokeman, Admiral Kirby on Fox this morning and he says that the only reason Kobane/Kobani is important to us is because it’s important to ISIS. That makes no sense to me. We should be choosing targets to destroy or “degrade” ISIS instead of fighting the war they want us to fight. And soothing Turkish sensibilities shouldn’t be part of that war. We’ve poured billions into the Turkish Armies and Air Forces with no real return on our investment. We should clamp down on our assistance to them until they wholeheartedly engage with ISIS instead of pursuing their own agenda to wipe out the Kurds.

Category: Terror War