Turkey takes tough steps to curb Kurds in northern Syria — News Analysis

With the help of U.S. air strikes, the Kurds have routed Islamic State fighters from Syrian border towns like Kobani and Tal Abyad and have asserted control of much of Syria’s more than 500-mile border with Turkey. But now, many accuse Erdogan of pandering to Turkish nationalist voters outraged at any compromise with the Kurds.

The suicide bomber targeted a group of university-age activists who came to Suruc with the hopes of crossing over to Kobane and contributing to the rebuilding of the city. If Turkish lawmakers fail to reach an agreement, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be required to call new elections.

Both the policeman and the civilian passer-by later died of their wounds in hospital, Turkish official media said. The attack led the government to launch a campaign against hundreds of suspected militants.

Earlier this week, members of the Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG) said Turkish tanks hit its positions and those of allied Arab rebel fighters in Aleppo province with heavy fire. RUSI’s Stephens said Ankara “backed off right away” when the Syrian Kurds accused Turkish forces of shelling them over the weekend and it was “clear the Americans sent out the message that these guys are not to be touched”. “We stand in strong solidarity with our ally Turkey“, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said before the meeting. Under Turkey’s electoral laws, if the HDP does not pass a 10 percent election threshold almost all of its seats will go the AKP.

Turkey in the past imposed several restrictions on the use of Incirlik by the US military.

The official said the Turkish planes had not violated Syrian airspace. “You’re essentially opening up a two-front war against the PKK and ISIS at a time when Turkey’s internal political situation is incredibly fragile”. The PKK is banned under Turkish law.

“Erdogan views the pro-Kurdish HDP as the main barrier to his aims of amending the constitution to bring about a powerful executive presidential system of government”, says Fadi Hakura, a Turkey analyst at the London-based Chatham House think tank. But on Tuesday, he said it was impossible to continue peace efforts with the Kurds.

After the air strikes against PKK bases in northern Iraq, attacks on Turkish soil blamed on Kurdish militants have intensified. The Iraqi government condemned the attacks as a “dangerous escalation and an assault on Iraqi sovereignty“. The first is hardly controversial: The end of the Cold War presented numerous opportunities and challenges for Turkey. Parliamentary elections in June failed to give any party a majority.

The United States sees Syria as a source of Islamist terrorism, threatening the Middle East’s stability and the safety of Westerners. Washington would do well to refine its policy and its role. Its popularity has cost Erdogan’s dream for executive presidency and paved the way for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to lose the majority in Parliament.

Though it has long sought more concerted global action against the Assad government, the Erdogan government also appears more interested, for now, in short-term tactical considerations. Although Turkey began shelling Islamic State and Kurdish targets on the same day, the administration insists there’s no connection. Those have apparently been left to U.S. troops.

“The price Turkey wants for cooperation is a free hand against the Kurds”, said Jon Alterman, a former State Department official who runs the Mideast program at the Center for Strategic and global Studies.

But in an unexpected twist, Turkey simultaneously started shelling Kurdish rebels in Iraq, where Kurds have proven unusually capable of wresting back territory from the Islamic State militants with the help of air support from the U.S.-led coalition.

But Sinan Ciddi is warning that the two air campaigns could hurt President Erdogan.

Until this week, Turkey had refused to allow the U.S.to launch airstrikes against Islamic State jihadists from its territory unless Washington supported the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Other critics have suggested that Turkey’s hard-line response is aimed at rallying nationalism ahead of possible new elections, potentially undercutting the gains made by the HDP.