Link to article: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkey-pursue-syria-targets-after-iraq-operation-against-kurdish-militants-2022-11-15/
After recent deadly bombing in Istanbul, Turkey plans to pursue targets in Syria after completion of the on-going operation against the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) in Iraq. The PKK, as well as the SDF (Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces) has denied any involvement regarding the bombing that killed 6 people and injuring around 80. The suspected bomber whom was a Syrian woman has been detained along with 50 other suspects. President of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan, has previously said that Turkey could conduct another operation against the YPG. There has yet to be any comments from the Turkey Foreign Ministry.
Why does the U.S not view the Kurdish as threats despite being the ones behind the bombing in Istanbul? The U.S uses the Kurdish against the Iranians. The Kurdish want to claim property in Turkey that borders Iran but Turkey doesn’t want to give up the geographic area. Turkey feels like Syria belongs to them and wants to change the Syrian government. Having carved out a portion in Iraq that the Kurdish control, they possess autonomy, and portions in Turkey and Iran in which they don’t control making their independence not internationally recognized. Kurdistan is a stateless nation.
In class we’ve discussed conflicting dyads which involve major powers proxies clashing with other major power rivaling proxies. The Kurdish YPG are a proxy for the United States that mainly help the U.S fight terrorist organization within Iraq such as, ISIS. A conflicting dyad here is that Turkey is also a proxy of the United States and is in NATO. It’s not in the United State best national interest to drop the Kurds completely and run as a knight in shining armor to Turkey. Simply not their problem unless all the Kurdish begin attacking the Kurdish.