Civil War and Syria

Turkey: The Kurdish Problem Although Turkey has gained greater prominence in the news due to the influx of Serbian refugees into its borders, it is also struggling with another problem, namely the ethnic tensions pertaining to Kurdish separatists besieging critical areas. Like many Middle Eastern nations, despite its relative close proximity to Europe, Turkey is home to a wide variety of different ethnic groups with various religious affiliations, including the Kurds.

The southeast of Turkey is home to a majority population of Kurds, which has sown the seeds of a longstanding civil war. Kurdish separatists have long been engaging in violent resistance against the government of Turkey, demanding their own separate state. Although the violence has existed for many decades, recent skirmishes have been characterized as "the worst seen in the past two decades" (Tharoor 2016). This is due in no small part to the recently emboldened Turkish separatist groups within Syria itself.

Turkey must tread a delicate balance between honoring the rights of the Kurdish minority while still curtailing separatist violence. It must also work to ensure that ethnic rivalries between Kurds and Turks do not become further enflamed and result in ethnic tensions becoming a source of discrimination against innocent minorities.

Many of these goals put it in conflict with other Western powers, including the United States, who are mainly concerned about limiting the influence of the Islamic State within Syria and abroad and are less concerned about the growing influence of Kurdish militancy which could further destabilize Turkey. As recently reported in the Washington Post: "In the heart of the ancient city of Diyarbakir, behind its historic black-stone walls, security forces have been engaged for weeks in clashes with the youth wing of an outlawed Kurdish separatist group.

Whole neighborhoods have been sealed off under curfew; tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee" (Tharoor 2016). The Turkish government alleges that the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK has been the cause of the death of more than 200 members of law enforcement and equally as many civilians; but as many as 500 members of the PKK have been killed recently in this civil conflict by the Turkish government (Tharoor 2016). The reason for the outbreak, Turkey alleges, is U.S. support for Kurdish groups within Syria linked to the PKK.

As well as fighting ethnic Kurds within its own borders, Turkey is also battling the Kurdish nation within Syria in the form of the Popular Protection Units (YPG). But the YPG has been very influential in quelling other Islamic groups currently involved in the civil war and the UN, U.S., and EU have all asked Turkey to stop its attack on the YPG given its utility in opposing the Islamic State (also known as ISIS).

"Ankara says it is retaliating against what it calls provocations by the YPG...it has long warned against the group making territorial advances in northern Syria near its border" ("Turkey v Syria's Kurds v Islamic State," 2016). Turkey's Western allies do consider the PKK within Turkey's own borders to be a terrorist organization because of its behavior but not the YPG, which it sees as a legitimate civil resistance against the militancy of the Islamic State.

Turkey insists that the YPG and the PKK, although technically different entities, both have similar goals and threaten its future. "Turkey is worried that as the Kurds, supported by American air cover, expand westward in their war against the Islamic State, they could establish a corridor along the Turkish border stretching from Iraq to the Mediterranean" (Tol 2016). This could develop into a base of support for Kurdish militants within Turkey.

But Turkey must weigh the potential dangers of inflaming tensions with the Kurdish population within its borders with the risk of coming into conflict with the United States in the long-term, given the U.S. military support to the PKK. "A U.S.-backed alliance between the YPG and some Syrian Arabs called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has been advancing and taking over strategic areas from various armed Islamist groups despite Turkey 's ongoing bombardments" ("Turkey v Syria's Kurds v Islamic State," 2016). Turkey needs U.S.

support for a variety of political and economic goals in the near and far future. Turkey has long striven to be a functional member of the European Union and to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the international community as a modern, democratic nation. However, "Turkey's decision to work with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) as part of Operation Euphrates Shield" and thus to oppose both the YPG, SDF, and the United States puts it into a collision course with the world's major superpower (Basburg 2016).

According to Basburg (2016), the former Chief of the General Staff of Turkey, working with the U.S., Russia, and Iran are essential to develop a united policy position with is amenable to dealing with the Kurdish issue in a satisfactory fashion. While the PKK does present a real threat to Turkey because of its ties to Kurdish military groups, Turkey must work proactively to establish a lasting and peaceful solution within the borders of Syria.

This may require direct negotiations with the Assad government as well as the other major powers in the region. Turkey must make concession to ensure that the U.S. supports it in other major conflicts it has in the region with other key players. For.