Turkey’s move sends a message to the US and strengthens its argument for excluding Kurds from Syrian peace talks

Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey’s prime minister, was keen to make a point. All the evidence suggested that the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) were responsible for Wednesday evening’s car bomb in Ankara that killed 28 people, he declared on the morning after the attack.

For Davutoğlu, this “certain” conclusion demonstrated the truth of what Turkey had been saying all along: that the YPG and its political arm in northern Syria, the Kurdish Democratic Union (PYD), are terrorists who are no different from Islamic State and the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK).

“A direct link between the attack and the YPG has been established,” Davutoğlu said. It had received logistical support from PKK militants inside Turkish territory, he added. But both the YPG and the PKK flatly deny responsibility. The PYD leader, Salim Muslim, also said his group was not involved.

These denials, plus the speed, unusually detailed nature and alacrity of Davutoğlu’s announcement, will raise questions about the thoroughness of the investigation, the accuracy of its findings and possible political motivations.

Turkish military attacked in south-east as Syrian Kurds blamed for Ankara blast Read more

On the face of it, the prime minister’s claim that Turkey’s security services have uncovered the identity, birthplace, personal history and political affiliation of the alleged bomber within hours of the attack looks suspicious. If they knew so much about the movements of the accused – Salih Necer, a 24-year-old Syrian national – why were they unable to stop him?

In the wake of suicide bombings targeting a mainly Kurdish peace rally in Ankara last October that killed more than 100 people, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, quickly accused the PKK – ethnic Kurdish militants from Turkey’s south-east – and Syrian Kurds of blowing up their own people. It later transpired that Isis caused the blasts. But blaming the Kurds suited Erdoğan’s political ends.

A similar process may now be underway, except it has been accelerated. True or not, fingering the Syrian Kurds for Wednesday’s attack serves a number of official purposes. Curbs on media reporting in Turkey make it harder to challenge the authorised version of events.

First and foremost, claims of Syrian Kurd responsibility send a powerful message to the Obama administration, which values the PYD/YPG as an effective ally against Isis and has refused to designate it a terrorist group. The resulting row with the US has been exploited by Moscow. Russian forces in Syria are backing YPG fighters, who have recently made significant territorial gains.

“It is out of the question for us to excuse tolerance toward a terrorist organisation that targets our people in our capital,” Davutoğlu said, taking aim at the US and Russia. Erdoğan, too, took the opportunity to press the US over the YPG in remarks delivered on Thursday.

Second, the official narrative strengthens Turkey’s argument for continuing to exclude the PYD from the Syrian peace talks in Geneva, due to resume next week. Turkey believes its fears that the Syrian Kurds could establish an autonomous territorial zone along its southern border, linked to that controlled by the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq, are not taken seriously by the west.

Hundreds of armed rebels cross from Turkey into Syria, says monitor Read more

“Just as al-Qaida or Daesh (Isis) do not have seats at the table, the YPG, which is a terrorist organisation, cannot have one,” Davutoğlu said.

Third, pinning the blame on the Kurds helps justify the Turkish army’s continuing cross-border artillery bombardment of Syrian Kurd positions, its security crackdown in the south-east, and the assistance it is giving to rebel groups and Islamists who have been crossing into Syria from Turkey in their hundreds this week to oppose the YPG advances.

If Turkey succeeds in convincing the US and other allies that the Syrian Kurds are enemies, it may feel emboldened to launch a more direct, military intervention on the ground – a move Erdoğan has frequently threatened in the teeth of Washington’s opposition. It called this week for all its western and Gulf allies to join an operation inside Syria. Turkey wants to establish a “humanitarian zone” inside northern Syria where refugees can find protection, rather than join the migrant exodus. It has long been pushing the Americans to support some form of no-fly zone, and this week secured the backing of Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor. The US opposes the idea.

Speaking shortly before the Ankara attack, Erdoğan voiced his fury at US links with the Syrian Kurds: “At the moment, I have difficulty in understanding America, which still hasn’t called or still cannot call the PYD and the YPG terrorists.” In the murky aftermath of Wednesday’s carnage, Erdoğan and Davutoğlu plainly believe they have proved their point.