ISISKurdish group on U.S. terrorist list now ally in fight against ISIS
Factions long held to be “terrorists” by the United States government are now being seen as allies as they fight against an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) advance into the traditionally Kurdish areas of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have waged guerilla warfare in Turkey for several decades, and have been seen as terrorists by much of the world community — until recently. The PKK is now being seen as a valuable ally in the fight against ISIS.
Factions long held to be “terrorists” by the United States government are now being seen as allies as they fight against an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) advance into the traditionally Kurdish areas of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria.
As the Daily Beast reports, fighters from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) have waged guerilla warfare in Turkey for several decades, and have been seen as terrorists by much of the world community — until recently. Having overcome differences with the Western-backed Kurdish Regional Government in northern Iraq, and largely reconciled with the Turkish government a , the PKK is now being seen as a valuable ally in the fight against ISIS.
ISIS has made military and symbolic advances in Iraq in recent months, including the capture of large quantities of American arms abandoned by a fleeing Iraqi military.. Now, an off-shoot of the PKK in Syria, called the Democratic Union Party, is joining forces with the U.S. military to fight ISIS in that region — and it successes is gaining notice and changing the minds of some Westerners.
“All Kurdish groups are focused on one point,” said Osman Bahadir Dincer, a Middles East expert at the USAK think tank, “The main winners of this are the Kurds.”
Due to the impending threats in these regions, Masoud Barzani, the president of the Kurish Region in Iraq, and Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the PKK, are putting aside their differences as they face ISIS.
Barzani is now asking the regional parliament to start working on a referendum for statehood. Turkey has indicated that it would accept an independent Kurdish state if “Iraq was to break apart.”
Now seen as the lesser evil, the PKK is expected to be taken off of the terror lists of many countries and given the chance to push for legitimacy.
Veysel Ayhan, head of the IMPR think tank, said, “The West will have to reconsider its approach toward the PKK. Without [it], thousands of people would have been killed in recent weeks.”
