A few days back, Turkish forces found thirteen citizens including military and police personnel dead in a cave complex located in Sirnak Province of Northern Iraq. An Anti-terror Operation, Eagle-Claw 2, launched on 10th February by the Turkish Armed Forces in which dead bodies were recovered.
Turkish Defense Minister, Hulusi Akar, claimed that the victims were first abducted and then brutally executed by the terrorist organization, the Kurdish worker Party (PKK). It is pertinent to know that PKK has been banned in Turkey since 1984 and declared as a terrorist organization. The USA and other western allies of Turkey also labelled PKK as a terrorist organization. The recent coward, but deadliest activities by PKK has created a new wave of outrage of violence in Turkey. Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has strictly condemned and made it clear that PKK is responsible for this heinous attack. He strongly bashed on the USA because the American state department was initially hesitant to declare PKK as responsible for the terror attack.
President Erdogan addressing this issue said, “The statement made by the United States is a farce; you said you did not support terrorists, when in fact you are on their side and behind them”. Turkish authorities always oppose and use to condemn the American-YPG alliance in Syria, where both partners are fighting against the ISIL. YPG (People’s Protection Units) is a Syrian based Kurdish militant organization that is also convicted in several terror attacks in Turkey.
Turkey considered YPG as an offshoot of PKK and identified that both organizations are the same having common interests and enemies. PKK is a permanent threat to the peace and stability of Turkey. The Turkish government is sceptical regarding the American alliance with YPG because the militant group receives armaments and political support from America and these weapons are being used against Turkey’s innocent citizens.
Turkey is a strong NATO ally of America and European nations, which is acting as a buffer State between terrorism and Europe. Apart from this, Turkey is hosting more than four million refugees, the largest refugee absorber State in the world, and is securing Europe from the refugee crisis. It is the only state in the Middle East that is stable and can neutralize the region as well. Erdogan’s government is very much concerned about PKK and their western supporters. Interestingly, Kurds are always supported by the westerners because of their secular and liberal ideology, but the continuous support from America and other European nations is not tolerable to Turkey.
On this horrible incident, the US State Department took the position that it was waiting for further confirmation of deaths from Turkish Authorities, but this hesitant behaviour from the strongest NATO ally (USA) was not expected by Turkey. This compromise on the part of the US rightly depicts how the United States reacts when it comes to the soil being attacked by terrorists other than American soil. On Monday, President Recep Erdogan stated that “After this, there are two options. Either act with Turkey with no ifs or buts, without question, or they will be a partner to every murder and bloodshed, the terrorist organization on our doorstep, on our borders, is killing innocents.”
In these words, President Erdogan categorically accused America due to their defence pact with the Kurdish Terrorist organization YPG. In the previous four years, the hawkish policies of President Trump ruined the American credibility to a larger extent and now it is posing a serious challenge for President Biden’s administration to maintain the balance between the allies.
In the contemporary scenario, America cannot afford a diplomatic bust-up with Turkey, when Turkey is behaving offensively in its near abroad, China’s roadmap to the Middle East has been growing for the last few years and resurgent Russia is already playing actively in every Middle Eastern conflict. The strategic location of Turkey made it important for all the major powers to act decisively in the region. Now, America has to come up with a clear stance, because currently, America is not in the former position where there was no competition at the global level, the era of Uni-polarity has ended and now the world has welcomed multi-polarity.
In this situation, it would be challenging for America to play on both sides. This scenario can be explained in the words of an all-time great Italian diplomat, Niccolo Machiavelli, that it is better to be the party and choose one side than to remain neutral {or to act on both sides}. If President Biden’s administration wants to enjoy good diplomatic terms with the strategically important NATO ally then they have to choose between Turkey and PKK, otherwise, they may lose an ally that is far better and significant than Saudi-Arabia and Israel in the region.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy and position of Regional Rapport.
