Turkey’s invasion of Northern Syria is being billed as a full frontal attack on ISIS. Turkey has poured in ground troops, tanks, and harnessed NATO air cover to break the Kurdish control near their border.
True, there are pockets of ISIS near Jarablus the entry point for Turkish forces, but the Syrian Kurdish forces (YPG) have pretty much taken out the heaviest ISIS strongholds months ago. Furthermore, we know the Russian military has pounded ISIS into the ground in various locations in Northern Syria.
All of the above supports the assertion that Erdogan is far more concerned with the rise of an independent Kurdish State on its border than they are about Russian control over the Black Sea. Not only are the Turks concerned with an independent Kurdistan, it can be assumed NATO is as well.
The Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq based out of Erbil has been a fantastic tool for Western technocrats wanting to display their credentials in the indigenous rights movement. The KRG has pumped tons of oil into the global system and the Peshmerga has helped pushed back ISIS in many areas, but that is all the West is willing to concede.
The rise of Kurdistan from Iran to the Mediterranean is a danger to their post colonial rule, which saw the West hoist the Arabs up as the real indigenous rulers of the Middle East, while at the same time throwing at the most crumbs to the Kurds, Druze, Arameans, and Jews of the region. The fact is the an independent Kurdistan blows out the Arab claim of indigenous rights. The Kurds along with the Druze, Arameans, and Jews are far more indigenous than the British created Arab states now in control of these areas. Kurdistan is a reminder of what once was well before Mohamed heard the voices that drove him and his followers to start the Jihad and eventually colonize the surrounding area.
With Turkey’s rapproachment with Russia now in full swing, Erdogan can finish off what the Turks started centuries ago when they came from the East and that is to wipe out the truly indigenous people of the region, first the Armenians and now the Kurds.