Daily Sabah Discovers 'Terrorists' When It Suits Ankara
Daily Sabah breathlessly reports Syria's declaration of a military zone in Aleppo amidst clashes with the 'U.S.-backed terrorist group YPG.' It's a convenient framing for Ankara, which views any Kurdish group linked to the PKK as an existential threat, regardless of their role fighting ISIS. What they omit is Turkey's own murky alliances, including alleged support for various Syrian opposition
groups, some with extremist ideologies, as documented by Human Rights Watch reports on Turkish border policies and their impact on refugee flows. One might wonder why a 'terrorist' designation becomes so fluid depending on the geopolitical winds or who's paying for military equipment. While the Daily Sabah focuses on the Syrian army's actions, they gloss over the broader struggle for influence in
northern Syria, where Turkey's operations against the YPG/SDF have repeatedly been condemned by international bodies for displacing civilians and disrupting humanitarian aid. The 'terrorist' label, applied liberally, conveniently distracts from Turkey's own strategic aims and historical antagonism towards Kurdish self-determination, a consistent thread in Turkish foreign policy long before the
Syrian civil war, as evidenced by decades of conflict with the PKK.