It’s likely that the United States will carry out a military strike in Syria as early as next week. One subject that may be debated domestically in Turkey is the potential impact of this development on the government-led peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The short answer to this question would be a straight zero.

Let’s not forget that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants to see both a successful conclusion of the negotiations with the PKK as well as the United States using its mighty military in Syria. If he sees no conflict between these issues, why should anyone worry about it?  

It also looks likely that Turkey will play a limited or no role in this military operation. If the French do not bail out at the last minute as the British did, the United States and French military will be the only ones to take on the burden of this military strike. While Turkey might have wished to use its land forces more aggressively on the border line with Syria, it does not look like it would be given a free hand to do that. But Turks could have wished to keep the Kurdish-controlled areas on the Syrian side apart from each other, like the distance between Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ain, without them getting control of the whole territory, reaching the Turkmen and Alevi areas closer to Latakia, and therefore gaining access to the Mediterranean.

Remember what Erdogan said this year on the anniversary of the infamous vote at the Turkish parliament prior to the US invasion of Iraq, which prevented the American forces from launching their invasion through Turkish territory: “If the March 1 bill were to have been accepted at the parliament, and if Turkey were to have taken part in the coalition,” Erdogan said March 1, 2013, “I wish we had taken a part in it. If we had been  there, neither the terror organization [PKK] could have acted in the way it does today nor would it have been possible to ignore Turkey’s views on Iraq’s future. Our position would be different.”