https://arab.news/8fwtw
Since 2015, US support for the Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria has bedeviled relations between Washington and Ankara. Regardless of which administration occupies the White House, this issue has continued to plague Turkish-American relations.
Ankara has long maintained that successive US administrations have disregarded the security concerns of a NATO ally, opting instead to partner with forces affiliated with an organization Turkiye designates as terrorist in the fight against Daesh. This perception has led Ankara to launch three military operations in northern Syria to eliminate the elements it considers threats to Turkish security and stability.
Washington’s policy of supporting the SDF — formed from the Syrian affiliates of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK — even led Ankara to enhance its cooperation with Russia. For many years, Moscow has weaponized the PKK, which was ideologically attractive to Russia due to its Marxist-Leninist roots, for its own geopolitical interests. Moscow also provided the PKK affiliates with a large amount of military support to help fight Daesh in Syria. Yet, when the PKK affiliates reached out to Russia to back the establishment of an autonomous Kurdish region in northeastern Syria, the Kremlin declined to offer support. The positive track in Turkish-Russian ties influenced Moscow’s strategic calculus toward the SDF, but concerns over US and Western dominance in Syria also played a role.
