Kurdish leader: US-Kurdish cooperation will cease after IS defeat
Kurdish leader: US-Kurdish cooperation will cease after IS defeat
Analysis: Selahattin Demirtas, a leader of a Turkish pro-Kurdish party, has told a German newspaper that cooperation with Washington is temporary and tactical.
3 min read
Demirtas has been called 'the Kurdish Obama' [Getty]
Selahattin Demirtas, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party in Turkey, said that Kurdish cooperation with the US against the Islamic State group will end after the militant group is defeated.
"I think that the Kurds and US only have a tactical approach to the matter," Demirtas told . "The Kurds also must use the diplomatic and international relations for their interests, otherwise, they would be foolish. They now fight together against the IS, but there is no common future plan."
Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq have had recent military successes against IS, able to take retake Kobane and Tal Aybad in Syria and defend the Peshmerga in Iraq - but not without extensive air support from US forces.
"After all the problems are solved, in my opinion, there will be ideological discussions and conflicts… In the end, the Kurdish movement is an anti-imperialist movement," Dermitas told the newspaper.
The US, EU and Turkey currently designate the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - with whom Kurdish parties in Syria and Iraq have affiliations with - a "terrorist organisation".
Demirtas' pro-Kurdish, leftist party recently robbed President Erdogan's AKP of its parliamentary majority in Turkish elections.
Dermirtas also critiqued Turkish government policy on Syria, saying that "logistical support" to opposition groups in Syria was escalating the conflict.
He also brushed off suggestions of Kurds allying with the EU, who he said was encouraging him to "push the Kurds in Syria to cooperate with the AKP" in order to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Dermitas reiterated Turkey's long-term hostility towards the Kurds, and said that "Europe has chosen Turkey".
He urged the Turkish government to stop weapons and intelligence support and enter into dialogue with all parties in Syria - including the Assad regime.
Analysts speculate that part of the reason why the US gave such strong backing to the Kurds in Syria, while being accused of neglecting Syrian rebels, is due to the Kurds' focus on fighting IS, and not the regime.
Turkey, on the other hand, has supported a range of opposition groups since the uprising began. It has also hosted the Syrian National Council - a coalition of politicians in exile - in Istanbul.
Media reports are currently speculating on whether Turkey will intervene in Syria - specifically in Rojava - reportedly not to stop the Islamic State, members of whom were recently photographed just metres from the Turkish-Syria border, but to outflank Kurdish attempts to create a state of their own along Turkey's southern frontier.
Kurds in Iraq have long enjoyed cooperation with the US, since the country imposed a no-fly zone in northern Iraq in 1991, giving some protection to much of the population there who had been terrorised by Saddam Hussein.
In the years following the invasion, Kurds benefited from some degree of self-autonomy, with a federal government based in Erbil, but have also had tensions with the Iraqi government in Baghdad, often over the division of oil and gas revenues.
Additionally, the Iraqi government continually insists that US support to the Peshmerga fighting IS must go through Baghdad, and not directly to Kurdish forces.
"I think that the Kurds and US only have a tactical approach to the matter," Demirtas told . "The Kurds also must use the diplomatic and international relations for their interests, otherwise, they would be foolish. They now fight together against the IS, but there is no common future plan."
Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq have had recent military successes against IS, able to take retake Kobane and Tal Aybad in Syria and defend the Peshmerga in Iraq - but not without extensive air support from US forces.
"After all the problems are solved, in my opinion, there will be ideological discussions and conflicts… In the end, the Kurdish movement is an anti-imperialist movement," Dermitas told the newspaper.
The US, EU and Turkey currently designate the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - with whom Kurdish parties in Syria and Iraq have affiliations with - a "terrorist organisation".
Demirtas' pro-Kurdish, leftist party recently robbed President Erdogan's AKP of its parliamentary majority in Turkish elections.
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In the end, the Kurdish movement is an anti-imperialist movement - Selahattin Demirtas |
Dermirtas also critiqued Turkish government policy on Syria, saying that "logistical support" to opposition groups in Syria was escalating the conflict.
He also brushed off suggestions of Kurds allying with the EU, who he said was encouraging him to "push the Kurds in Syria to cooperate with the AKP" in order to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Dermitas reiterated Turkey's long-term hostility towards the Kurds, and said that "Europe has chosen Turkey".
He urged the Turkish government to stop weapons and intelligence support and enter into dialogue with all parties in Syria - including the Assad regime.
Analysts speculate that part of the reason why the US gave such strong backing to the Kurds in Syria, while being accused of neglecting Syrian rebels, is due to the Kurds' focus on fighting IS, and not the regime.
Turkey, on the other hand, has supported a range of opposition groups since the uprising began. It has also hosted the Syrian National Council - a coalition of politicians in exile - in Istanbul.
Media reports are currently speculating on whether Turkey will intervene in Syria - specifically in Rojava - reportedly not to stop the Islamic State, members of whom were recently photographed just metres from the Turkish-Syria border, but to outflank Kurdish attempts to create a state of their own along Turkey's southern frontier.
Kurds in Iraq have long enjoyed cooperation with the US, since the country imposed a no-fly zone in northern Iraq in 1991, giving some protection to much of the population there who had been terrorised by Saddam Hussein.
In the years following the invasion, Kurds benefited from some degree of self-autonomy, with a federal government based in Erbil, but have also had tensions with the Iraqi government in Baghdad, often over the division of oil and gas revenues.
Additionally, the Iraqi government continually insists that US support to the Peshmerga fighting IS must go through Baghdad, and not directly to Kurdish forces.
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