Kurds

Jayson Lenzen

Opt Ed.

1/24

            Turkey has bombed the Kurds within the last week; this is an urgent problem that leaves the United States in a particular foreign policy situation. The relationship between the Kurds and the United States is a complex one because the Kurds have no official state. Also historically Turkey has stopped any state from forming since as late as the 1920s. Since these people have no state, they often tend to group up into a community; there is at least 30 million Kurds within the mountains of Syria and Turkey. Within these enclaves of people, with no central power, ISIS has been attacking them.

Ever since their rise to power, ISIS had taken a decent proportion of Syrian lands, and those people that were living there were Kurdish, this in fact makes it harder and more urgent for the United States support the Kurds. It almost seems that we will only help them in a last resort type tactic. For example, when Obama called an airstrike to help Kurds off a mountain, because ISIS was starving them, it was already days of fighting that lead them to this solution. The United States had an wait and see type of approach. This should not be the case now, also, let us be honest, the Kurds have done tremendous work fighting ISIS, especially in recent months. So, to have Turkey attack the Kurds now seems sketchy at best. This will be a foreign policy nightmare. Turkey hasn’t really even helped the Kurds fight ISIS; this seems like to me a personal grab for power under Erdogan.

Earlier I mentioned that the Kurds will form small groups, well some of the groups are the: Kurdistan Workers' Party, Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party, and People's Defense Unit. These are parties majority Kurdish that fight ISIS, and they don't even have a State or centralized power, also they fight Turkey, For example, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), is labeled as terrorist cell by Turkey’s government. They are continuously engaged with fighting with the Turkish military. Also, Turkey is a NATO member, which leave the United States in a particular sticky situation because if we help the Kurds we would be going against our own ally. 

Personally I would like to see sanctions, if Turkey continues to move into Kurdish territory, it would seem that it is the only thing that the United States can do, because of the NATO alliance. If there was more international outrage maybe then NATO and the United States could put enough pressure to deter Turkey’s actions. Yet, I don't think that will happen because of the example of Obama stepping in and helping the Kurds off the mountain, if it the responsibility of Turkey to help them, they probably would have died to ISIS. The lack of outrage from the international community from the recent attacks on the Kurds is due to Turkey and their NATO membership. In other words, if there are ally they can murder innocent people.

We also should continue to supply aid to the Kurds, and if so military assistance such as arms, not actual personnel. The Kurds will not be able to fight ISIS, even in their weaken state, and Turkey at the same time; they do not have the central government capacities to do such a thing. Turkey is a powerful nation in the region with enormous economic and military capabilities. We cannot just let them do this with how volatile the region is, having an authoritarian like Erdogan have control over a minority group with the oppressive historical precedent that has occurred would be terrible for U.S. foreign policy.