Is Turkey really committed to fighting IS?

In joining the fight against the Islamic State (IS) — following the July 20 attack by the group in the town of Suruc that killed 32 people, most of them Kurdish peace activists, and another near the town of Kilis on July 23 that left a Turkish officer dead — Ankara has clearly moved in the direction long desired by its Western allies. The decision to open the Incirlik Air Base to the US-led coalition for use against IS provides tangible evidence that Turkey has turned a corner in this respect.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has decided to fight terrorism on multiple fronts simultaneously, not only taking on IS, but the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as well and to a much lesser extent the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front, a left-wing terrorist group. 

Ankara is bearing down heavily on PKK camps in northern Iraq (after deadly attacks by the group against Turkish policemen and soldiers). The disproportionate manner in which this is being done compared with the campaign against IS has raised questions about the AKP’s motives. Many argue that the government, egged on by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is trying to shore up its base of support by using the anti-Kurdish sentiments of nationalist Turks with a view toward regaining its pre-eminent political position in early elections, which could be held in November.

According to this argument, the AKP, to curry favor with the nationalists, wants to end the peace process it initiated in 2012 with the PKK through the mediation of members of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which got 13% of the vote in the June 7 elections. The AKP’s coalition negotiations are ongoing, but there are indications that the party is under pressure from Erdogan, its “spiritual leader,” to prepare for early elections instead of working to form a government with another party.