Backfiring Policy; Change of Kurdish Geopolitics in Syria against Turkey’s Interests

Meanwhile, one of the issues that obviously showed face is the Kurdish dispute that before the crisis in Syria was not seen as an ethnic issue. However following eruption of the conflict in Syria it turned into key ethnic dispute.
 
Providing Kurds with the new chances, due to the crisis in Syria, they managed to gain control of the areas that they historically were living in. Gaining security control of their regions and also the ongoing developments of the crisis caused clashes between the Kurds and the terrorist forces inside Syria. 
 
Meanwhile, what has been significant for the neighboring Turkey is the bonds between the Kurds of Syria and Turkey. The Kurdistan Democratic Union party or PYD for short which is a key Kurdish party in Syria and is practically in control of Kurdish-inhabited regions in Syria has been considered as an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. This bond has created many sensitivities for the Turkish side. Ankara since the initial days of the devastating conflict in Syria announced that talk of autonomy or full independence for the Kurds inside Syria was its red line. In fact, due to influence of the Kurds of Syria on the Kurdish geopolitics in the region and with consideration of the links between the Syrian and Turkish Kurds, any advances and Kurds' power gaining works against interests of Ankara. 
 
On the other side, having in mind that the US during the past two years has worked with the Kurdish party of Syria, Turkey saw the cooperation as a threat to itself. The top Turkish officials including the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeatedly said that they were against any collaboration between the Americans and the PYD, demanding that Washington recognizes the pro-independence Kurdish group as a terrorist group. In response and practice the US administration not only declined to brand PYD a terrorist group but also it expanded its backing and logistic supports for the Kurdish group. Washington also has the back of the PYD in terms of intelligence, security, and arming.
 
A collection of these factors have caused the Turks to think that Kurdish geopolitics is changing in the region and also in Syria and very likely the Kurds would keep making advances as they receive support from the US. Once this happens, a corridor of Kurdish regions that up to now were limited to the land could be opened towards the high seas and Mediterranean Sea. Should this takes place, the Kurds can more easily pursue their demands for independence. Up to now the Kurds have been landlocked between Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. But if this corridor from Syria to the Mediterranean Sea is opened, the Kurds in practice can access the high seas and then other countries, something that can entirely transform the Kurdish geopolitics compared to the past. This transformation brings about major challenges for Erdogan and the Turkish foreign policy.
 
Also it must be taken into consideration that the Turkish foreign policy has become more vulnerable in past few years due to the strategic mistakes made in dealing with the Syrian crisis. This comes while Ankara has so far failed to realize any of its goals in Syria. The Turks wanted that the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad be immediately removed from power following rise of the crisis in the country so that a new government with Muslim Brotherhood views that holds strong bonds with Turkey rises to power in Syria. They wanted a new government in Syria that is away from such key regional players as Iran. Not only Ankara failed to make its dreams come true but also itself ended up grappling with an array of challenges. For example, radical and terrorist groups now are existing along the Syrian border with Turkey. They are ready to drag the insecurity and terrorism any time into the Turkish territories. Iraq and Syria, once stable neighbors of Turkey which had great benefits for Ankara, are now plagued by war and crisis. The Kurdish issue has turned into an outstanding matter in the regional equations. Actually, the situation never goes back to the time that Syria was living in peace.
 
Just before the conflict in Syria, the Kurdish cause was a hidden and unseen issue in the country but now it has ethnic dimensions. As a result of wrong policies of Turkey in Syria now the region is seeing a highlighted Kurdish cause and the increasing bonds between the Syrian Kurds and the Kurds of Turkey, something that bring forth a set of challenges for the Turkish national security. The wrong policies of Ankara in Syria could push Turkey toward the risk of ethnic split in upcoming years.