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WASHINGTON, DC – Turkey will not be an effective force to combat ISIS – militarily or ideologically, argued an analyst.
The United States is pulling its forces out of northern Syria, President Donald Trump announced earlier this month, saying Turkey will take over the fight against ISIS.
Militarily, Turkey will have a difficult time against ISIS as it has “little to zero” cooperation with local forces on the ground in northern Syria, explained Aykan Erdemir, senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Erdemir sat in the Turkish parliament from 2011 to 2015, a member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and was a guest on Rudaw’s The Washington Perspective on Friday.
The bigger challenge Turkey would face is combatting the ideology of ISIS, he argued.
“The idea of jihadism could survive” if Turkey uses its Syrian proxy forces who Erdemir labelled “soft jihadists” who would introduce other ways of imposing Islamist rule in territories they control.
Turkey is backing elements of the Free Syrian Army and has used these militia forces in two previous operations in northern Syria – Euphrates Shield west of the Euphrates and Operation Olive Branch in Afrin. The militias have been accused of carrying out crimes against the local populations in these areas, including looting and murder.
But neither Turkey nor the United States are the real power players in Syria, Erdemir argued, describing the situation as a “multi-dimensional chess game” masterminded by Moscow.
The moment Kurds began to gain influence in northern Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped his demand for regime change and turned his focus to the armed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
This triggered tensions between Turkey and the US, who is backing the YPG. And a dispute between two NATO allies is good news for Russia, Erdemir explained.
In addition, replacing the US with Turkey and weakening Kurdish self-rule will ultimately help President Bashar al-Assad regain control of all of Syria, he added.
The United States is pulling its forces out of northern Syria, President Donald Trump announced earlier this month, saying Turkey will take over the fight against ISIS.
Militarily, Turkey will have a difficult time against ISIS as it has “little to zero” cooperation with local forces on the ground in northern Syria, explained Aykan Erdemir, senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Erdemir sat in the Turkish parliament from 2011 to 2015, a member of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and was a guest on Rudaw’s The Washington Perspective on Friday.
The bigger challenge Turkey would face is combatting the ideology of ISIS, he argued.
“The idea of jihadism could survive” if Turkey uses its Syrian proxy forces who Erdemir labelled “soft jihadists” who would introduce other ways of imposing Islamist rule in territories they control.
Turkey is backing elements of the Free Syrian Army and has used these militia forces in two previous operations in northern Syria – Euphrates Shield west of the Euphrates and Operation Olive Branch in Afrin. The militias have been accused of carrying out crimes against the local populations in these areas, including looting and murder.
But neither Turkey nor the United States are the real power players in Syria, Erdemir argued, describing the situation as a “multi-dimensional chess game” masterminded by Moscow.
The moment Kurds began to gain influence in northern Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped his demand for regime change and turned his focus to the armed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
This triggered tensions between Turkey and the US, who is backing the YPG. And a dispute between two NATO allies is good news for Russia, Erdemir explained.
In addition, replacing the US with Turkey and weakening Kurdish self-rule will ultimately help President Bashar al-Assad regain control of all of Syria, he added.
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