When Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring against the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) on Oct. 9, Ankara’s main concern was about branding the operation a “war on terror.” The YPG is an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States, along with many Western powers. Turkey said that these terror organizations should be “cleansed” from the Turkish border and that the operation wasn’t targeting the Kurdish people. The other oft-repeated goal was to send some 2 million Syrian refugees to the proposed safe zone. 

However, two weeks later, following two separate deals Turkey reached with the United States and Russia most of the public focus had shifted from those two goals to another one: extraditing Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) commander Mazlum Kobane to Turkey. How did the commander end up in the center of this row?

Kobane's SDF helped the United States battle the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, and he has been praised by the US and Russia. However, Turkey considers Kobane a terrorist as he once served with the PKK in 1990s.

Ankara even finds his name offensive. “General” Mazlum, as the US president has called him, is known by the suits in Ankara as Sahin Cilo, his code name during his days with the PKK. He is also known as “Mazlum Abdi” and “Ferhat Abdi Sahin." Ankara is disturbed by the use of the revered title of general, and has two other issues with regard to his name. One is the alarming fact that a person Ankara views as a terrorist is now easing into the global political scene, publicly communicating with top American and Russian officials.