US, Turkey goals in backing ISIL at odds: Political expert

Press TV has conducted and interview with Rodney Martin, political commentator from Los Angeles, to ask for his insight on recent attacks by the Turkish military against the positions of Syrian Kurdish forces as part of Ankara’s so-called anti-ISIL campaign.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: First of all, if the Syrian Kurds’ claims are true, why do you think Turkey is bombing the YPG instead of ISIL?

Martin: If you go back and look at why ISIL was created, it was created by the United States, the West and Saudi Arabia to continue to destabilize the region and to further their geo-political objectives. And Turkey went along with it, because as ISIL swept through and destabilized Syria in the Western hopes of toppling Bashar al-Assad, it spread into Iraq in hopes of fracturing and partitioning Iraq and overthrowing Maliki. And Turkey went along with that, because Turkey has long suppressed and opposed the Kurds. So Turkey was OK. So you have these various interests…and they all had their various reasons for doing that. And now they’re in conflict. Now the United States is finding out that Turkey’s interest in creating ISIL were not on the same agreement as the United States and they’re going to find out that Saudi Arabia’s support for ISIL wasn’t necessarily in unison with the United States either. So what you have is you have these mad scientists in Turkey and the United States and in Saudi Arabia creating this Frankenstein monster. And the Frankenstein monster has got not a hand and now they are blaming each other for creating that.  

Press TV: Many analyst believe Turkey is using the fight against terror as a front for its main objectives: one, getting rid of the Kurdish or PKK threat, and two, helping create a buffer zone to be able to inject more terrorists into Syria. If this is true, how detrimental would it be for Turkey itself?

Martin: Absolutely and this has every potential backfiring, because what Turkey is doing is attempting to suppress the self-determination of the Kurdish people. And give in mind the Kurds have long enjoyed the support of the United States that’s going to put Turkey at odds with the United States and they already are. There’s no doubt that the United States’ State Department, Defense Department are talking to Turkey about their action. But Turkey also has been in opposition to President Assad. And Turkey is looking to take advantage of the events in Syria and hopefully feel a potential vacuum in the event that President Assad fails. And I don’t think that’s going to happen.  

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