It is important for Turkey to limit the length of its military incursion, and to initiate a comprehensive dialogue with the Syrian regime
All stakeholders have contributed to the exacerbation of the Syrian crisis, and only punishing Turkey via imposing sanctions would sabotage regional stability
It is easy, thousands of miles away, to blame Turkey following its recent military attack into Syria, but Ankara has licit reasons for its actions. Firstly, it is to avoid compromising its national security, and secondly, to create a sustainable solution for the Syrian refugee crises. Ankara is not the only actor to be held responsible for the mess in Syria. Considerable mistakes by the key stakeholders, the United States and Brussels, have significantly added to the problem. Since Turkey shares a long border with Syria, it will suffer more from its instability and must legitimately act to secure its territory.
Washington’s crucial mistakes in Syria are a result of its failed policies a long time ago. The Obama administration’s decision in 2016 to arm the People’s Protection Unit members (YPG), directly embedded with America’s special forces, was a wrong move. Another Kurdish group, PKK is identical to YPG, and has been declared as a terrorist organisation by the United States, NATO, and the European Union. Watching its strategic partner, the US, equipping its major terror threat, YPG, was distressing for Turks. US’s efforts to arm a terrorist organisation were not the only mistake to that was made in Syria. On top of that, the Obama administration failed to curb bloodshed in the region. The situation could have been different if President Obama had intervened in the Syrian crisis.
This time it is President Donald Trump who has failed to prevent the escalating tension. His impetuous decisions, lack of coordination between the Pentagon, the White House and the State department, and uncertain tweets have, once more, depicted the global leadership gap in regional and international politics.
Although European countries had suffered from the flux of refugees to the region, the EU did not honour its words to help Ankara in its challenge of accepting nearly four million Syrian refugees.
The refugee crisis has badly affected the Turkish economy. Additionally emerging social tensions are increasing public hostilities towards the refugees.
Ignoring an impulsive move by the US and Brussels, Turkey could have avoided a military operation. However, during the reign of the former prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, between 2012 and 2016,the Turkish foreign policy was centred on the removal of the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad, rather than fighting ISIS to stabilise Syria. Turkey’s lack of concern and intent to fight against ISIS allowed the YPG to emerge as a reliable ally to the US, and made Turkey suffer multiple ISIS terrorist attacks, which claimed the lives of hundreds of Turkish citizens in its major cities.
This time it is President Donald Trump who has failed to prevent the escalating tension. His impetuous decisions, lack of coordination between the Pentagon, the White House and the State department, and uncertain tweets have, once more, depicted the global leadership gap in regional and international politics
It is a misconception in the public and the US media that Turkey’s military operation in Syria is to kill Kurds. In reality, it is only against the YPG and the PKK. There are millions of Kurds living in Turkey, enjoying equal rights and protection after attaining the status of a citizen. The US mainstream media is unfair to project Turkey’s operation as a violent act. Regardless of Ankara-Washington strained relations, Turkey is a strategic NATO ally, and is acting in conformity with the international law to mop up terrorist sanctuaries in Syria that are used for attacking the Turkish soil regularly.
President Trump has made an uninformed decision to pull out military forces from Syria. It is risky and depicts his shallow understanding. Washington must collaborate with other stakeholders in the region, led by Ankara and Syria, and leave the policy to arm a militant group against other militants since that contradicts with the principles of the United States foreign policy. It is important for Turkey to limit the length of its military incursion, and to initiate a comprehensive dialogue with the Syrian regime. A dialogue would help Turkey to resolve disagreements and accomplish its strategic goals.
All stakeholders have contributed tothe exacerbation of the Syrian crisis, and only punishing Turkey via imposing sanctions would sabotage regional stability. It would also widen the vacuum left by the absence of responsible US leadership in the Middle East.
The writer is a journalist at Fox News Digital