Last week, Turkey sent substantial ground forces into Syria, ostensibly with the aim of doing battle against Islamic State (IS)—thus earning praise from Joseph Biden, who also made a point of calling for Kurdish withdrawal from areas where Turkey plans to attack the terrorist group. The news, on its face, allays longstanding concerns that Istanbul has been apathetic to IS and has perhaps even helped it. In fact, writes Christopher Caldwell, President Erdogan’s goals haven’t changed—as Biden himself surely knows:
Turkey’s strategic objective is not to “crush” IS. It is to crush the most effective part of the anti-IS coalition: the Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union party and People’s Protection Units. . . .
Turkey [has so far] cleared out the IS-held town of Jarabulus, on its border. Had it not done so, the Kurds would have. . . . The anti-IS part of the Turkish operation was over before it started. . . .
Supporting Turkey’s desire for the neutralization [of Kurdish forces] is a quo for which one can only assume America is somehow getting a quid. Perhaps it involves the European refugee crisis, which Turkey is helping to stem, but at an ever-mounting price. Apparently that price is nobody’s business but the Turks’.
Read more on Weekly Standard: http://www.weeklystandard.com/turkeys-troubling-entry-into-syria/article/2004029