kurds-turkey conflicts effects on syria

pkk-turkey fight aftermath

The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) operating in Syria and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq have become indirect partners of the Western anti-Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) coalition. In July 2015, however, the Turkish Armed Forces launched airstrikes against PKK targets following an attack that killed two policemen. Turkey’s renewed focus on the PKK might result in a recruitment problem for the Kurdish armed group—PKK must now fight a two-front war with Turkey on one side and jihadists in Iraq and Syria on the other. This could hurt the US-led campaign against ISIS after Kurdish forces in Syria have proven to be the most effective force on the ground.

Two weeks before Turkey launched airstrikes in July against the PKK, ISIS published a prediction of this conflict in its online Dabiq magazine. ISIS hoped this development would give their forces an advantage in northern Syria. read more