February 18, 2016 | Quoted Natasha Bertrand - Business Insider
Turkey just received a huge ‘political gift’
but its opponents are warning it could lead to a ‘big war'
Turkish prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced Thursday that the People's Protections Unit (YPG), a Kurdish militia based in northern Syria, was responsible for Wednesday's bombing in Ankara that killed 28 people.
“Yesterday's attack was directly targeting Turkey and the perpetrator is the YPG and the divisive terrorist organization PKK. All necessary measures will be taken against them,” Davutoglu said in a televised speech.
If Ankara has evidence that the YPG — the military wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) — was behind the attack, it has not yet been released. A YPG leader, moreover, later denied responsibility for the blast and warned Ankara against launching a ground incursion into Syria.
…
“While we have yet to see the supporting evidence, it is clear that the AKP will use the attack to try and erode the support of the United States for Kurdish fighting factions in Syria and to further justify strikes on Kurdish targets,” Jonathan Schanzer, vice president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Business Insider on Thursday.
He added: “This was undeniably a political gift for the AKP. Their goal has long been to challenge Western ties with the Kurds in Syria. This offers the AKP a justification.”
Aykan Erdemir, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, largely agreed.
“The Turkish government will have greater domestic and international legitimacy in attacking PYD positions in northern Syria,” Erdemir, a former member of Turkish parliament, told Business Insider by email.
“The bombing will pose a greater challenge to the US policy of differentiating the PYD from the [terrorist] PKK,” Erdemir said. “Turkey will continue to produce evidence implicating the PYD in the attack, making it more difficult for the US to continue working with a partner that has allegedly targeted a NATO ally.”
Erdemir, of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, noted that while the bombing in Ankara would give more “legitimacy” to a Turkish military incursion into Syria, it remains “relatively unlikely in the short term” that Turkey will send ground troops.
…
Read the full here.