The danger of Turkish incitement

An aide to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday threatened to use force to strike at US forces partnering with Syrian Kurdish fighters fighting the Islamic State across the border in Syria. The Washington Times reported:

If YPG units and their American military advisers “go too far, our forces would not care if American armor is there, whether armored carriers are there,” Mr. Cevik said during an interview on Turkish radio station CRI TURK Wednesday. “All of a sudden, by accident, a few rockets can hit them,” he added, referring to partnered US forces.

It’s hard to put lipstick on that pig and, at the very least, it is going to raise questions about intent should Turkish forces even accidentally strike any American forces. Turkey is angry that the United States is working with forces with deep links to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a group which, in 1984, began an insurgency inside Turkey. That said, the Syrian Kurdish forces (which I visited in 2014) now focus their efforts—more effectively than either the Turkish Army or the other Syrian opposition—on defeating the Islamic State.

 
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The danger of Turkish incitement

 
Πηγή: American Enterprise Institute