“U.S. Kurdish policy has been contradictory in itself from the beginning. On the one hand, it does not say anything against Turkey’s operations in Iraq and Syria, and on the other hand, it continues to partner with the SDF.” says journalist Fehim Taştekin to Arti Gercek.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that some ISIS prisoners managed to escape after the assault on the prison compound in mid-January and many have fled to Turkey, and some to Syrian territories occupied by Turkish forces and its proxies in ‘Operation Euphrates Shield’ in the eastern and northeastern countryside of Aleppo.
The escape of ISIS prisoners to either Turkey or Turkish controlled areas was also reported in various international media platforms. According to Taştekin the incident is not a coincidence.
He believes that there are many unanswered questions regarding the killing of ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi who died following a US operation in northern Syria, 3 February.
“How can ISIS leaders live in an open area 2 km from the Turkish border, the first ISIS leader who was killed was very close to the Turkish border too within 5 km, this latest one was around 2 km from Turkey”
Taştekin thinks that the USA is not sincere in its fight against ISIS. He talked about the YPG’s fight against ISIS in which thousands of fighters lost their lives.
“The Kurds are paying the price, but actually ISIS is a politically useful organisation for U.S. The US is fighting against ISIS on the one hand but on the other hand it does not apply any pressure to Turkey, so that ISIS will come to an end.”
Taştekin continues:
“There are contradictions in U.S. politics regarding the Kurds, on the one hand, U.S. continues its relations with Turkey which is also a NATO partner, and at the same time the United States is allowing operations that Turkey has been conducting with unmanned aerial vehicles or directly with F16s. On the Iraqi side, the U.S. is supporting operations against the Kurds. On the other hand, in Syria, the YPG and the U.S. have been partnering since 2014.”
