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Turkish Kurds hope ISIS offensive will end
Turkey's allowing of jihadists
16.6.2014
Deniz Serinci —
Special to
Ekurd.net |
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June 16, 2014
COPENHAGEN, Denmark,— For some time, Turkish
Kurds near the border with Syria have been
complaining about the militant jihadists who crossed
the border into the southern neighbor.
“Radical Islamic groups with the knowledge of the
Turkish intelligence service recruit and are sending
our young kids to the war in Syria from border bases
in Turkey’s Kurdish provinces,” Atilla Yazar, head
of the Urfa branch of Turkey’s Human Rights
Association (IHD), told Rudaw.
All experts Rudaw spoke to agree that Turkey has
tolerated jihadists crossing the border, to support
the fight against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and
Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria, which is
considered a offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK), which has been at war with Turkey for 30
years. Now, one of these groups, The Islamic State
of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has moved into Iraq and
captured the Turkish consulate in Mosul, releasing
them one day after.
“Now we hope that the Turks have realized how
dangerous these groups are that they'll stop
supporting the anti-Kurdish groups and engage in a
dialogue with the Kurds in Syria,” Yazar said.
"So far militants from ISIS have been able to get
treatment in hospitals in Turkey and hold meetings
there. Turkey tried using ISIS against Assad and PYD,
as they were not happy about suddenly being next
door to their archenemy PKK’s Syrian offshoot,"
explains Joost Jongerden, assistant professor at
Wageningen University, the Netherlands, to Rudaw.
According to Daniella Kuzmanovic, lecturer at
Copenhagen University and an expert on Turkey, the
Turkish allowing of jihadist fighters to move
unhindered across its borders could come to an end
now, especially due to the oil trade between Turkey
and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
"The Turks are not interested in that ISIS threatens
Turkish interests, including Kirkuk with its Turkmen
population and oil fields or oil interests generally
in Iraqi Kurdistan," she told Rudaw adding:
"The Turks have been playing with the jihadists so
far, but it may well end now.”
Naser Khader, senior fellow at Hudson Institute in
US and an expert on Syria, told Rudaw, that ISIS is
a global movement which consists of Chechens,
Algerians, Tunisians, Egyptians, Turks and “probably
also some Kurds”.
"Until now, Turkey's border with Syria has been open
for jihadists. But after ISIS offensive in Iraq, the
Turkish government now will consider seriously the
border, because in the end it is going to harm the
Turks themselves,” Khader said.
Sune Haugbolle, lecturer at Copenhagen University
and an expert on Syria agreed:
“Turkey has probably realized that you cannot trust
ISIS any more. Their indirect support for such
radical groups also gave the Turks themselves a bad
international reputation,” he told Rudaw.
Jongerden, believed the ISIS attack on Turkish
interests in Mosul “could be a turning point”.
"But since ISIS has released the Turkish hostages in
Mosul and if there will be no more attacks on
Turkish interests, the relationship between the
Turks and the ISIS may continue,” he predicted.
The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has
rejected allegations on aiding militant groups in
Syria.
“While Turkey has been struggling with the PKK and
the PYD, while it is struggling with the DHKP/C
[Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front],
al-Qaeda and al-Nusra, there are some efforts to
show Turkey as arm-in-arm with terrorism,” Erdoğan
said during a summit organized by the All
Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (TÜMSİAD)
in Brussels in January 2014.
“Of course, Erdogan denies it, he has to. The fact
is that the Turks have allowed people to cross the
border against PYD,” Kuzmanovic said.
Yesterday co-leader of the PYD, Salih Muslim offered
forming a common front with the Turks against ISIS.
"These groups represent a threat to Turkey. So let
us together fight against them," Muslim said during
an interview with the Turkish TV channel IMC TV.
According to the experts, the strained relationship
between PYD and Turkey may be better because of ISIS
offensive.
“It is possible that, PYD and Turkey come closer to
each other, now that they've got a common enemy. But
it is only a short term. In the longer term, the two
still havewww.Ekurd.net
conflicting interests. But Turkey can be more
careful about who's crossing the border to Syria,
and it is an advantage for PYD,” Khader said.
The same thing can be said about the strained
relationship between PYD, PKK and the Kurdistan
Democratic Party of Iraq (KDP).
According to allegations YPG, the armed wing of PYD
has sent soldiers to Iraqi Kurdistan to assist the
peshmergas. Yesterday the PKK announced they will
help the Iraqi Kurds against ISIS.
"ISIS offensive brings the Kurds closer together.
But they still have unresolved conflicts regarding
power sharing in Syrian Kurdistan and much more.
This will not be solved just because they got a
common enemy, ISIS," Haugbolle said.
Sources
http://en.cihan.com.tr/news/Turkey-fighting-PYD-PKK-al-Nusra-says-Erdogan_2035-CHMTM0MjAzNS8xMDA1
http://www.yuksekovahaber.com/haber/muslim-isid-turkiye-icin-tehlikeyse-neden-isbirligi-yapmayalim-132180.htm
Deniz B. Serinci, a freelance Danish
professional journalist. You can visit his official
website at:
www.serinci.dk.
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