A lawmaker said Turkey's ongoing operation against Kurds in Syria's Afrin region shows Ankara does not have a consistent strategy toward Syria.
"Turkey cannot claim that it supports Syria and at the same time kills its Kurdish population," Abolfazl Aboutorabi said, warning that "[Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan is struggling in a quagmire that he might find no way to get out."
Criticizing Turkey for its decisions which sometimes are in favor of the Syrian government and at times are against it, the lawmaker said, "At the start of the Syrian war, Turkey opted to follow the US foreign policies. However, when it realized that it had been betrayed by the US, Ankara's policies switched to those of Iran and Russia." Turkey's policy on Syria has seen lots of ups and downs since the start of the foreign-backed militancy against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad seven years ago.
Ankara soon supported the western call for Assad's resignation and provided weapons to Syrian insurgents fighting Assad.
The US-backed Syrian Kurds turned out to become one of the strongest voices in the melting pot of ethnicities fighting against the Syrian government. They could also gain the control of Kurdish-populated areas in the war-torn country and were the force behind the liberation of the strategic city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group in Syria. The gains soon set the alarm bells ringing for Ankara, which has a strong 21-million Kurdish population itself.
The last straw came when the Iraqi Kurdistan Region announced its plan to hold an illegal secession referendum last September, which resulted in an overwhelming "yes". Turkey blasted the move, promising to stop it whatever the price. That also significantly affected Turkey's Syrian policies, and prompted it to lean toward Iran and Russia.
On January 20, Turkey launched the operation in northern Syria against the US-backed People's Protection Units (YPG) in its border stronghold of Afrin in northwestern Syria. Many countries, including Iran and Russia, warned Turkey against doing so, warning that it would make the already complex war more complicated. Aboutorabi said Turkey should know that Syrian Kurds have expressed their loyalty to the Syrian government, calling on Ankara not to mix that issue with its own Kurdish population.
He also cautioned Turkey against cooperating with US to solve the Syrian Kurds' rise to power in Syria. "Putting your trust in America again would be to Turkey's disadvantage," he said.
"Ankara should continue to work with Iran and Russia if it wants to get out of the complex situation it has created for itself in Syria," Aboutorabi concluded.
