Turks Concerned Over Kurdish Counter-Offensive

Thousands of refugees fled northern Syria for safety in Turkey as Syrian Kurdish led forces (consisting of the YPG and various Syrian militant groups opposed to Islamic State) started an offensive against Islamic State fighters holding the northern Syrian town of Tel Abyad. A Turkish official stated that nearly 7,000 refugees had been admitted into the country over the past week. At least 20,000 refugees are reportedly leaving the area for safety. Turkish border guards had to resort to tear gas and water cannons in order to prevent the Akçakale border outpost from being overrun.

Tal Abyad is strategically significant as it provides access to roads and supply lines leading to Islamic State’s headquarters in Raqqa. With US and Gulf Arab air support, the YPG have managed to retake over 250 towns and villages from Islamic State over the past month. Reports show that the YPG attacked Tel Abyad from both the east and west, and seized control of the town as of yesterday. Islamic State was dependent on Tel Abyad for shipping oil out of their territory into Turkey and the world market. Tel Abyad also served as an entry point for Islamic State jihadists coming into Syria from Turkey as well. YPG spokesmen stated that Islamic State fighters retreated into Turkey after they lost control of Tel Abyad.

The Syrian Kurds are affiliated with Turkey’s Kurdistan Worker’s Party, a Kurdish nationalist organization that is considered a terrorist organization by both the Turkish and US governments. With the Kurdish nationalist political party People’s Democratic Party winning 13% of the vote in the recent Turkish parliamentary elections, the Turkish government is understandably worried about a further upswing in Kurdish separatism. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan openly criticized the YPG offensive, accusing the US of backing “terrorists” and claiming that the attack on Tel Abyad displaced Arabs and Turkmen from Northern Syria. The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights denied President Erdoğan’s claim, stating that Turkmen were not being forced out and the refugees were only leaving the area due to the fighting.

With more and more evidence that Turkey is giving aid to Islamic State, the outcome of the recent Turkish election, and with increasing concerns in the Turkish government over Kurdish separatism, the next few months could be interesting ones for Turkey and the Middle East as a whole.