The United States Should Unambiguously Embrace Our Kurdish Partners

Since the United States took the bold decision to partner with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in 2015, our NATO ally Turkey has accused us of working with (what it perceives to be) “terrorists.” In the opinion of Turkey’s President Erdogan, you cannot fight terrorism by collaborating with terrorists. No problem-except the SDF are not terrorists.

The U.S. partnership with the Syrian Kurds has been the most effective means of not only degrading the Islamic State (ISIS), but also preventing its potential resurgence, since major combat operations against the entity declined. Even today, SDF forces carry out a vital missions, by continuing to target remnants of ISIS forces, as well as guarding ISIS prisons in Syria, that house some of the world’s most dangerous jihadists. Ankara wants to eliminate the SDF, due to its ideological links to its Turkish parent organization: the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK)- a U.S. and European Union (EU) designated terrorist organization. We must make it clear to Ankara that we stand behind our SDF partners. Why?

 
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