Turkey’s Kurdish policies provoke backlash everywhere
The US-Turkish deal on Manbij sparks a Damascus opening to Syrian Kurds; Iran scolds Turkey on PKK operations in Syria; the HDP faces violence and an “uneven” playing field in elections; Iran is caught in the middle between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
No preconditions in PYD-Damascus dialogue
This column wrote in August 2017, “Turkey’s preoccupation with beating back Syrian Kurdish control in northern Syria could open the door to some type of accommodation with Damascus.” Since then, we have covered Iranian and Russian efforts to forge a deal between the Syrian government and the Democratic Union Party (PYD) that would pass muster with Ankara.
