Opinion: Turkey’s misguided Syria policy

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Turkey has three goals in Syria: eliminating Bashar al-Assad, weakening the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) and defeating the ‘Islamic State' (IS). The snag is that these three goals are incompatible, at least in the short term.

If Turkey is serious in its opposition to the ‘Islamic State' as its role in the US-led anti-IS coalition would warrant, it cannot simultaneously counter the Syrian regime and the Kurdish movement.

The ‘moderate' Syrian opposition is hardly decisive. In Kobani, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the military arm of the PKK-affiliated Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), are key. Absent Western boots on the ground, the only way to defeat IS militarily lies precisely in the role played by the Kurds and Assad, unpalatable as this may be for Ankara.

Of Turkey's three foreign policy goals in Syria, only two are genuinely linked to Turkish national security interests.

http://www.dw.de/opinion-turkeys-misguided-syria-policy/a-18036779?maca=en-rss-en-world-4025-rdf

[TwilightGardener]

1. I have never understood why Turkey just doesn't invade and get rid of Assad

themselves, since they're so maniacal and hell-bent on that result. Turkey has a big military--if it's so damn important to them, they need to pull on their big boy underpants, declare war, risk the backlash from Iran/Russia, and just do it.

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2. Erdogan would like to, but he's not that stupid.

He does seem to be contemplating what he could do with Syrian Kurdistan, but he has his hands full with the Kurds already, so he wants IS to do the job for him first. But that doesn't seem to be working out well either.