A recent photograph of a clean-shaven Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) terrorist sufficiently relaxed to pose in swimming trunks against the background of a beach in the Turkish resort of Amara speaks volumes about Ankara’s hitherto laissez faire stance against this terrorist organisation threatening the region.
Turkey has not only steadfastly resisted pressure from its western allies to get involved but permitted Daesh fighters to stock up on supplies in a town bordering Syria while the injured were treated in Turkish clinics on “humanitarian grounds”. Iranian news sites, including Press TV and Fars News Agency, report that the Turkish president’s daughter Sumeyye Erdogan has allegedly been running a secret hospital that cares for “wounded militants”; a claim that’s been forcefully rejected by the president’s office as “a smear campaign”.
What’s not in doubt is that Turkey has done little to prevent itself from becoming a way station for thousands of would-be Daesh militants heading for Daesh headquarters in the Syrian city of Raqqa. The idea that this security-conscious state had no way to prevent the in-flow and out-flow is beyond belief and a growing number of Turkish citizens are railing against their government’s lackadaisical approach.
On the heels of a suspected Daesh suicide bombing that killed 32 — mostly pro-Kurdish student activists — hundreds of protesters took to the streets across the country to denounce the government with chants blaming the authorities for collusion. But it took the shooting dead of a Turkish soldier and the wounding of others for Ankara to take a policy U-turn.
Opportunistic position
Whereas Turkish soldiers had stood watching Daesh battering the Kurdish town of Kobani, they’ve now been ordered into cross-border action. Moreover the Turkish Air Force is crossing into Syria for the first time to bomb Daesh positions. Finally, Ankara has acceded to Washington’s long-standing request for access to Turkish airbases. However, Turkey is being opportunistic. Its F-16s are not only bombing Daesh positions but also those of the Turkey’s Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. Concurrently, over 250 alleged members of Daesh and the PKK have been detained by Turkish security forces, suggesting their whereabouts were known for some time.
Erdogan’s hatred for the PKK is clouding his judgment. Kurdish fighters, including those from the PKK, have proven to be among the most effective in the fight against Daesh. Rather than take the line, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ he is opting to kill two birds with one stone and, thus, he has broken the tentative peace deal sealed between Ankara and the PKK in 2013.
Negotiations have been underway between Turkey and the PKK to end hostilities and in March, the PKK’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan proffered an olive branch by calling upon his following to lay down their arms.
“Our struggle came to the point that it cannot continue as it is,” he said. Erdogan’s reaction was cool. “These calls are very nice, but what matters is their implementation,” he said. He has now, foolishly in my opinion, banged shut that door to peace.
Although the US and many of its allies have categorised the PKK as “terrorist” there has been a recognition that the group’s affiliate the PYD, representing over two million Syrian Kurds, is on side vis-a-vis Daesh. “The Kurds are acting, and because the Kurds are capable of acting, we are supporting them, and that is successful”, said US Defence Secretary Ash Carter earlier this month. The Turkish strikes are in violation of the US-led coalition’s interests yet in seems that Turkey, which gave the US advance notice, has enforced this quid pro quo in return for its cooperation.
Turkey’s involvement in this battle was thought to be crucial, but on the other hand its dual-pronged involvement muddies the waters. Turkey can now expect a backlash from the PKK and from sympathisers within its own Kurdish population. Soufan, a US-based intelligence group that provides security services to governments, earlier claimed that Turkey prefers Daesh as a neighbour to the PKK. But now that Daesh has bit the hand that once fed it, Turkey intends to build a 150-km modular wall and deep ditches along its frontier with Syria.
The question remains whether Turkey is serious about diminishing Daesh capabilities or whether its engagement is a pretext to hammer the PKK. Erdogan’s off-script activities against Kurds could not only boomerang to destabilise Turkey, but have the potential of complicating or even escalating one of the messiest civil wars in human history.
Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be contacted at lheard@gulfnews.com
