Amid an intense Turkish military offensive in northern Syria, experts wonder what it is that Ankara is actually after there: while its operations have been carried out "under the guise of fighting against Daesh”, speculation exists that this has little to do with the real motive.sputniknews.com reports:
"Turkey wants to protect itself from its own Kurdish population,
and from being obliged to treat those Kurds with basic dignity,” Henry
Kamens, expert on Central Asia and Caucasus, writes in his article for
the New Eastern Outlook website.
"It has now been maneuvered into a position where the best way it can
achieve this is by helping create a new Kurdish state, as the US has
long desired, on terms as favorable to both Turkey and the US as
possible,” he further says.
The US strategy, the author suggests, is to "let the Turks occupy
territory in Syria which would otherwise have fallen to the US-backed
Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which have until now been the
spear point in securing the Turkish-Syrian border areas still under the
control of the Islamic State (Daesh).”
"This presents Turkey as the conqueror of the Kurdish terrorists who
threaten it,” he explains.
It also means that a "legal” Kurdish state can be established within
territory occupied by "legal” powers, rather than a rogue state set up
by terrorists, he adds.
The military offensive, which the author calls an "illegal Turkish
incursion into a sovereign country, supported by the US,” is designed to
kill two birds with one stone.
As a reward for helping create the new US-sponsored Kurdish state
Turkey has been given free rein to go after the Kurds who control the
area at present,” he says.
"From the Turkish viewpoint, the Kurds are trying to steal Turkish
territory. From the US viewpoint, they are succeeding in driving back
Daesh and creating a contiguous Kurdish State on their own terms, not
the Kurdish State envisioned by the US.”
"The author suggests that now the US "is using the Kurds as a means of
getting back at disobedient Turkey.”He explains that Ankara is concerned that the Turkey-based Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) is becoming a real political force, with the
backing of Syria and Iraq.
"The Peshmerga gains from Daesh have made this a real possibility, and
although the US did not want to see these gains it has turned them to
its advantage by using them to draw Turkey into this adventure,” he
explains.
Turkish armoured personnel carriers escort military vehicles on a
main road in Karkamis on the Turkish-Syrian border in the southeastern
Gaziantep province, Turkey, August 26, 2016
Thus the author suggests that by "helping the US to create a
Kurdish state controlled by Kurds,” Turkey makes sure that no part of
Turkey becomes the territory of this state.
The move serves to repair relations with the US by helping it fulfill
its plan and at the same time does not compromise its new friendship
with Russia, as it is merely fighting terrorists, not the Syrian
government which Russia supports, Henry Kamens suggests.
"It will go after a number of Kurdish targets outside its borders and
within and then come out of it as the joint architect of a new Kurdish
state, a gift from the benevolent Turkish people, which doesn’t include
any of Turkey and ensures Turkish control of the regional oil trade and a
pretext for stripping Turkey’s Kurds of their remaining rights,” he
says.
The author also notes the "suspect timing” of the offensive.
"It is related to the US elections and gives a boost to the US, the
Obama administration and Obama’s preferred successor, Hillary Clinton.
But it also gives the Turkish military the green light to do what they
have long been waiting with bated breath to do,” he states.
A similar view is echoed by Newsweek magazine, which also draws
attention to the recent visit of Vice President Biden to Ankara where he
met with Recep Tayyip Erdogan on August 23.
"Perhaps the tide is now turning in Washington, following the
Erdogan-Putin meeting (August 9),” it suggests.
The outlet notes that it is the first visit to Ankara of any top
Western leader since the coup attempt.
"The White House helped prepare Biden’s visit with its response to the
August 20 terrorist bombing of a wedding in Gaziantep, noting the US
"stands with the Turkish people as they defend their democracy in the
face of all forms of terrorism” and dubs Turkey the US’s "valued NATO
ally and partner.”
The US must now "build on this momentum” and "find a way to overcome the
impasse regarding Mr Gulen’s extradition,” otherwise Ankara will
"freefall into Putin’s arms.”
Though this will not be easy, it will be worth the effort, since Turkey
is more valuable within NATO than outside it.