| ANALYSIS
“Turkey will soon have to redress some of the imbalance between its efforts against the PKK and its efforts against Isis, or risk that the US-Kurdish alliance will get even closer and Ankara will once again be sidelined. Such a transactional relationship is not the ‘model partnership’ Barack Obama called for when he visited Turkey on his first foreign trip as president. But it is important co-operation, achieved not by seeking to curry favour with Turkey, but by demonstrating—as only a superpower can—that no ally is indispensable,” writes Jeremy Shapiro in the Financial Times.
“The escalation of violence in Turkey is reaching such a magnitude that Turkey may not—perhaps even cannot—become an effective coalition partner against Washington’s priority, IS. If all the energy and the military potential of Turkey is devoted to fighting the PKK, it can hardly focus on fighting or contributing to the fight against IS,” writes Cengiz Candar in Al-Monitor.
“The president has no such luxury this time given how painfully obvious the multiple threats Turkey confronts are the result of both violent terrorist groups and Erdogan’s own political machinations. It is a sign of a weakening politician desperate to reverse his slide. If Erdogan solves the puzzle, he will get his executive presidency and he will continue his vision for the transformation of the country. If he does not, Turkey is in for an extended period of instability and violence. Either way, Turks will pay a steep price,” writes CFR’s Steven A. Cook in Politico. |