Erdogan Attacks Kurdistan to Distract World From His Failures

By Scott Morgan

The Week of May 27th was an interesting one for Middle East watchers. It was during that week that Turkish President Erdogan kept one of his promises. He launched an offensive into Kurdistan with the target being the Kurdistan Workers Party.

It should be noted that this offensive was launched in an area where it appeared not to lead to any confrontation with any Peshmerga units or other forces that could be allied to the United States in its efforts to defeat the Islamic State in the region.

The Operation was launched in a remote region where Turkey, Iraq and Iran meet: the south of Hakurk. The PKK is based there in the Qandal region. At this time, the Operation began with a series of Air and Artillery strikes preceding actions made by Special Forces Units.

Despite the glowing fanfare by Turkish Media there are two questions that quickly come to mind: 

• Why Now? 
• Who Benefits the Most from this Action?

The Local Elections, which took place on March 31st in Turkey, saw a battle between the governing People’s Alliance comprising the AKP (Justice and Development Party) and the MHP (Nationalist Movement Party) being challenged by a coalition comprised of the CHP (Republican People’s Party) and the IYI Party known as the National Alliance. Turnout for these polls was just over 84% on a national level.

Surprisingly, there was a shift on a local level of 10% from the People’s Alliance towards the National Alliance. Several Elections will face a runoff that began on the 2nd of June. So, what could President Erdogan do to regain the public trust that appears to be slipping away from his coalition?

The answer appears to be: the Operation against the Kurds.

During 2017, Turkish Forces intervened in Syria targeting Kurdish Rebels in an Mission called Operation Euphrates Shield. After meeting their objective at that time the Turkish Government reserved the right to resume this mission and even enter Iraq if they felt the need to. After a period of 18 months it appears that a slippage in local elections is giving Erdogan and his supporters the proper impetus to resume this operation while the world is focused on other hotspots.

This is a clever Political Trick by a leader who has been entrenching himself as a leader and seeks to be seen as a regional power.

(Image: Peshmerga Fighters[Ed] - JPost)

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