Turkey’s Erdogan is one of the biggest threats to peace in the Middle East

By: Giran Ozcan

Giran Ozcan is the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) representative to the US. The HDP is a pro-Kurdish, pro-minority political party in Turkey

"As long as Turkey is at war with the PKK, that war will not be confined to Turkey’s borders. It is a situation that threatens the stability and security of US partners and allies in Syria and Iraq"

This article was originally published on The Independent. To read it there, please click here.

Erdogan’s threatened intervention in Northeast Syria would be a repeat of this pattern: attacks on the region’s pluralistic and democratic institutions, at the expense of the global fight against terrorist groups that threaten us all. Such an outcome will be disastrous for Syria, Turkey, or the international community as a whole.

Treating peace in Turkey and peace in Syria as separate initiatives, as has been US policy, will doom both processes to failure. As long as Turkey is at war with the PKK, that war will not be confined to Turkey’s borders – a situation that threatens the stability and security of US partners and allies in Syria and Iraq. The most recent round of peace negotiations was supported by 81 per cent of the Turkish population and resulted in a two-year ceasefire – during which Turkish troops were even able to conduct a successful joint operation with the same YPG that Erdogan now seeks to eradicate.