MESOP INSIDER : ERDOGAN TESTING OBAMA Syrian Kurds’ independence unlikely, Erdogan worried about PYD power: US former ambassador says

2 July 2015 – A former U.S. ambassador to Turkey has stated that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is worried about Syrian pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) getting power, stating that the creation of an independent Kurdish state in northern Syria is very unlikely.

Erdogan stated last week that Ankara would never allow the establishment of a Kurdish state in northern Syria and Turkish media reported that Turkish army is mulling a military operation in northern Syria after the YPG forces took the control of the bordering city of Tal Tabyad and connecting their two cantons of Kobani and Jezira.

Robert Pierson, the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey from 2000 to 2003 told daily Color that it seems that Ankara wants to warn the U.S. to stay away from the YPG and decrease its military bombings in favor of the Kurdish forces, noting that overt Turkey intervention warning is an attempt to see the U.S. reaction.The ambassador continued that any Turkey military intervention in northern Syria will hurt Ankara and Washington interests and deepens disputes between the two sides. The ambassador added that Turkey is seriously worried about the YPG advances in northern Syria against the IS and said Turkey does not want the IS to weaken before the fall of the Syria President Bashar al-Assad. Pierson called the creation of an independent Kurdish state in northern Syria a nightmare for Turkey as Ankara is worried the move would urge its own Kurds and lead ultimately into the creation of a big Kurdish state from Turkey and Syria soil. He, however, said the establishment of a Kurdish state in northern Syria is impossible as it is not the YPG goal.