On October 9, Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring against the Kurds, whom they consider terrorists posing internal threats to the Turkish state. As United States Secretary of Defense Mark Esper stated, fewer than 50 Special Operations soldiers had previously given Turkey an incentive to keep peace with Syria because Turkey wouldn’t risk spilling any American blood in the attack zone. Now that President Donald Trump P ’00 has pulled U.S. troops from the region, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, now believes he can justify sending troops into Northern Syria. He hopes to prevent a Kurdish-led state in Northern Syria, which connects to the southern part of Turkey home to Kurdish people and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Kurdish separatists living in Turkey.
The Kurds, who fought on America’s behalf against the terrorist organization ISIS, have every reason to believe their “ally,” the United States, has abandoned them. But Operation Peace Spring will harm both sides — this military incursion will neither stabilize the area nor address Turkey’s domestic problems.
Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops will undermine efforts to defeat ISIS. Since Operation Peace Spring began, the primary goal of the Kurds in Northern Syria has been resisting Turkish forces, making looking after around 12,000 jihadi terrorists a secondary goal. I believe the thousands of ISIS fighters held prisoners by Kurdish forces should be repatriated by their countries of origin, including Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Belgium. Otherwise, a possible jailbreak denotes that even though the caliphate is destroyed, these 12,000 ISIS prisoners might enable ISIS to regain power. Three suicide bombings that happened on October 9 in Raqqa, Syria, the closest major city to ISIS-held territory, show that ISIS members throughout the region are already emboldened by what is happening up North.
Trump’s move also proves to the U.S.’ allies that “America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests,” as Nixon-era Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once put it. Israeli officials now think that betraying the Kurds gives a sign of a potential betrayal of Israel. Losing Israel’s trust, and consequently losing the best intelligence agency in a geopolitically crucial place, would be costly for the U.S.
Right now, Erdoğan must focus on the most pressing issues in Turkey: a heightening humanitarian situation, destabilization of the region, and reversed progress in defeating ISIS. Remembering the many times ISIS launched coordinated attacks on Turkish citizens and killed hundreds within the country’s borders — and especially the day when an ISIS suicide bomber exploded right in front of my former school in Istanbul — I believe ISIS poses a much bigger threat than PKK for Turkish citizens. Both sides need to start thinking more rationally to maintain stability in the region and prevent the revival of militant terror organizations.
