A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Monday, July 27, 2015

Turkey Bombs Both the PKK and ISIS: What a Tangled Web . . ., .

The good news of the past few days seems to be Turkey's new aggressiveness against ISIS in the wake of the Suruç bombing. But this is the Middle East, and Turkey is also bombing the PKK inside Iraq, where he PKK has been actively fighting ISIS, while the PKK's Syrian affiliates, the PYD and their YPG military wing, have been successfully pushing ISIS back in Syria. Certainly, too, many Kurds suspect the proposed "safe zone" inside Syria might be rendered not just ISIS-free but PYD-YPG free as well.

The multi-factored equation in northern Syria and Iraq has now taken on a whole new dimension. Turkey is now fighting against both sides in a conflict. If they were to invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter, I wonder if he United States would be obligated to bomb itself?

I'm just kidding, but the tangled web of allegiances is so complex that before pulling on one string, one needs to compute what others will be affected. In military terms, a true Coyote Foxtrot.

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