Turkey could not have launched attacks against fellow U.S. allies, the Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG), without mending ties with Russia, experts say.
The attacks on the Syrian side of the border must have taken months of extensive preparation and had Russia’s allowance, given the Russian military’s powerful presence on the Syrian battlefield.
Turkey has made it clear that its military operations in Syria, which it launched on Aug. 24, are as much about preventing the YPG from seizing territory as they are about going after the ISIS terrorist group.
The predominant targeting of YPG-controlled areas seems to have caught U.S. officials by surprise and the United States is calling on Turkey to cease those military operations.
But despite that, experts say it is unlikely the United States will seriously challenge its NATO partner, given Turkey’s importance as a strategic and regional ally.
Cooperation with Russia
The Turkish intervention could not have happened without a reconciliation between Istanbul and Moscow, with Russia expecting several concessions from Turkey, said Reva Goujon, vice president of global analysis at Stratfor.
“Russia wants Turkey’s cooperation on limiting NATO’s building up in the Black Sea, on energy projects like TurkStream, and also wants to avoid Turkish interference in the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Turkey patched things up with Russia so that it could pursue its objectives in Syria,” she said.
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