Turkey holds ambiguous relations with ISIL: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with George Jabour, president of the Syrian UN Associations in Damascus, to discuss Turkey’s ongoing airstrikes against the ISIL hideouts in Syria and military positions of Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in neighboring Iraq.  

 The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: This attack by Turkey two-pronged it is said that they target the ISIL and also they target the Kurds but the Kurds are being targeted more - you can talk about the Kurds in Syria and of course the PKK positions that are being targeted in Iraq. How do you see Turkey two-pronged approach towards this conflict?     

Jabour: Well this is very interesting question. As a matter of fact Turkey has some sort of relations, ambiguous, hidden, and secret with Daesh (ISIL) but then now it claims that it is fighting Daesh. At the same time the Kurds and Turkey have been at odds for something like more than one century and of course the PKK is an organization that had some sort of an agreement with Turkey but then this agreement was disowned by both. Now there is no agreement and now the PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and then of course the PKK is the real enemy of Turkey in this fight.

I suppose that Turkey in order to get some blessing from the West regarding its position in the region, sort of [subscribed] to the international coalition against Daesh but then what it meant is simply to take credit for being part of the general alliance, at the same time to fight against the Kurds more than it would fight against Daesh.

There is some sort of secret coordination between Turkey and Daesh. This I suspect, many observers suspect and this can be of course proven by some, disproven by others but then the relationship between Turkey and Daesh is not a relationship of enmity similar to that between Turkey and the PKK.  

Press TV: Well their relationship has been quite strong even last week there was a report by the Guardian indicating that the oil that is being sold on the black market actually are Turkish buyers mainly and it is flowing through Turkey.

But tell us a little bit about this ISIL free zone that the US and Turkey have announced that they wanted to create if they have not moved on that already? And what is very interesting about this is the fact that Turkey and the US are saying they are targeting the ISIL.

My question is once they flush this area out of these ISIL terrorists, who is going to guard that territory to stop the ISIL from coming back because Turkey says it is not going to put boots on the ground? How do you see this announcement made by Turkey and the US?

Jabour: Well it is a complicated scenario. I suppose there is no real agreement between the US and Turkey, between NATO and Turkey on this zone. But then Turkey because it is now a member of the international alliance against terrorism thinks that it can push the Americans and NATO to approve some of what it will be doing alone to have some approval from America and from NATO on what it plans to do. And what it plans to do is to make a free zone for the Syrian refugees to return back to Syria.

This is what it claims. But then essentially it wants secure border between Syria and Turkey, secure from the Kurdish intervention. The Kurdish intervention is very important because if there is - let’s say- a Kurdish strong existence along the frontiers between Syria and Turkey, this means that the Kurds of Turkey will move perhaps militarily against the government of Erdogan.  

So the situation is complicated. It is not settled and I suppose America is following an opportunistic policy regarding this Turkish adventure. Turkey is adventuring and nobody knows how this adventure will end but then we have to keep an eye on the internal situation in Turkey where there is a political difficulty for Mr. Erdogan. Perhaps Turkey will go to a new election within two, three months and then perhaps Erdogan himself might lose the election. Erdogan has been successful as a practical politician to a point till the year 2010, till the year 2011. Since then he has become a rather fanatic politician and this does not auger well for his own political future.

Press TV: My final question to you is that this area that is announced to be free from the ISIL terrorists, some are deducting that Turkey is going to use this area to actually gain a footing inside Syria on Syrian soil to funnel equipment, arms and supplies to the Daesh terrorists in order to strengthen the terrorists’ strength against Assad. Do you think that that is the case?  

Jabour: Well this is one of the things that come to mind when we think of Turkey establishing such a zone within Syria. Turkey has never been serious in fighting Daesh. Her position regarding the joining of the alliance was simply to allow a room for some sort of Turkish-American coordination. This coordination against Daesh will be used by Turkey in order to strengthen Daesh as you have just mentioned.

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