Yousif Ismael is the director of media and policy at the Washington Kurdish Institute.

By shelling Kurdish troops and allied Syrian Democratic Forces (S.D.F.) in northern Syria, killing civilians, Turkey threatens to derail the fight against ISIS in order to weaken Kurdish aspirations.

S.D.F. was formed last year after a streak of victories by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (Y.P.G.) against ISIS in Kobani and Tal Abyad that encouraged non-Kurdish groups to join the fight against ISIS and become Y.P.G. allies. Kurdish-led forces are considered America’s most effective ally in the fight against ISIS.

Turkish policies and the Islamist ideology that dominates the Turkish ruling party will only strengthen ISIS and Assad.

But in its fervor to defeat Assad, Turkey has helped create terrorist organizations such as the Qaeda offshoot the Nusra Front and Ahrar al Sham. It has also opened its borders to various Islamist militias, providing logistics and aid, and enabling hundreds of ISIS fighters to enter Syria via Turkey. When the S.D.F. liberated the Mengah airbase and the town of Tall Rifat from these terror groups, Turkey responded by shelling the S.D.F.

Turkey claims that its problem is with Y.P.G., but it is really more generally with Kurdish autonomy in Syria. Turkish officials oppose an autonomous Syrian Kurdistan, as they opposed the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, despite Y.P.G.’s victories over ISIS and its securing of border areas, which stopped the flow of terrorists into Turkey.

Instead of opposing Syrian Kurdistan, Turkey should accept its reality and support a positive, constructive relationship with the Y.P.G.

The Muslim Brotherhood ideology that dominates the Turkish ruling party focuses on creating an Islamic regime in Syria backed by the Muslim Brotherhood party. If left unchanged, those policies will only strengthen ISIS and Assad by repressing the Kurds and secular and tribal groups in Syria who are the most effective forces to defeat ISIS.

The United States and European Union should pressure Turkey to focus on the fight against ISIS, not S.D.F. and Y.P.G., if Turkey is truly committed to protecting the Syrian people from Assad’s repression and ISIS terror.



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