Telling reporters in Istanbul that the U.S. and Turkey were prepared for a military solution against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS], 73-year-old Vice President Joe Biden proved the Obama administration can’t make up its mind. Telling Russian President Vladimir Putin Dec. 15, 2015 that the U.S. no longer insists on regime change in Damascus, it looked like the White House was finally getting its Syrian policy right. For five years, the White House rubber-stamped the Saudi-Turkish position that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must go. Al-Assad counts on Russia, Iran and the Beirut-based Hezbollah militia to defend his Shiite regime against a determined Saudi proxy war to oust him. Responding to a possible delay in Syrian peace talks slated for Jan. 25, Biden hoped to ratchet up pressure on all sides, trying for force Syria and its opposition groups into a peace deal.
When Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet Nov. 24, 2015 for straying briefly into Turkish air space, Russian President Vladimir Putin ripped 61-year-old Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for justifying the action. When no apologies were forthcoming, Putin ripped Erdogan for receiving untold quantities of cheap ISIS oil from Iraq’s oil fields around Mosul. While denied by Erodgan, Russian air strikes targeted ISIS oil infrastructure, including tankers traveling from Mosul northbound into Turkey. Talking about joining forces military against ISIS, Biden ignores Turkey’s involvement with ISIS. “We do know it would be better if we can reach a political solution but we are prepared . . . if that’s not possible, to have a military solution to this operation taking out Daesh [ISIS],” Biden said at a joint press event with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
Biden’s tough talk hopes to pressure all parties in upcoming Syrian peace talks in Geneva led by veteran U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura. De. Mistura and other U.N. officials blame Putin for vetoing conference participants, especially Saudi-backed opposition groups committed to toppling al-Assad. Syrian, Russian and Iranian officials oppose participation by any groups seeking to oust al-Assad from power. Saudi’s 53-year-old U.S.-educated Foreign Minister Adel al-Hubeir expressed his misgivings about the Dec. 25, 2015 Russian air-strike killing 43-year-old Saudi-funded opposition leader Zahran Alloush. Syrian, Russian and Iranian officials oppose any participation in Saudi-backed Wahhabi opposition groups seeking to topple al-Assaid’s Shiite regime and install Sunni rule known as Shariah Law. White House officials have denied Saudi’s involvement in Syria’s “civil war.”
Talking about joining forces with Turkey, Biden shows why his best days are behind him. After backing the Saudi proxy war against al-Assad for nearly five years, it looks like the White House was finally accepted Putin’s position. Putin told the U.N. Sept. 28, 2015 that toppling al-Assad would have the same catastrophic outcome to the region as the Iraq War or toppling Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi. Unable to admit how the Saudis destabilize the region, Biden buys the Saudi narrative that Iran causes the lion’s share of Mideast mischief. Despite relying heavily of Kurdish forces to battle ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Turkey sees the Kurds as its archenemy. Turkey has no problem allowing Alloush’s Jayish al-Islam to participate in peace talks but not the Kurdish Democratic Party [PYD] or Kurdistan Workers Party [PKK], groups Ankara see as terrorists.
Iraq’s beleaguered military relies heavily on the PYD and PKK in recent efforts to rid ISIS of Ramadi and other areas. Erdogan’s strong opposition to the Kurds in Iraq and Syria shows he’s not concerned about ISIS, only litigating old Turkish battles against the Kurds. As Syrian peace talks take shape in Geneva, it’s clear that Turkey adopts the same view as Saudi Arabia that before dealing with ISIS, toppling al-Assad is top on the list. Calling the Kurd’s YPG a terrorist group, Turkish Prime Minister Davatoglu warned that his military wouldn’t hesitate to attack the group in Northern Syria. White House officials haven’t yet admitted that any end to the Syrian conflict won’t come through Ankara or Riyadh. Fighting its own battles, Turkey doesn’t admit the role the Saudi proxy war plays in killing and displacing Syrian civilians, driving them to neighboring Mideast states and Europe.
Erdogan’s shoot down of a Russian fighter jet showed that Ankara isn’t worthy of NATO membership. Threatening more attacks on the Kurds, it’s clear that Erdogan has his own parallel agenda with Saudi Arabia, hoping to install Salafist or Wahhabi regimes in the region. Biden kids himself that Turkey shares the same objective of destroying ISIS. If there’s any shred of proof to Putin’s comments about Erdogan’s family profiting from cheap ISIS oil, it shows Turkey has a very different agenda in the region. Cracking down on academics denouncing Ankara’s actions on the Southeast, Erdogan shows his government takes a more repressive turn. Erdogan puts the White House in a real bind, rejecting academic freedom and, at the same time, backing a more repressive Turkish government. Turkish efforts to fight terror have little to do with ISIS, focusing instead on its old Kurdish enemy.
