#kurds

While the U.S. and Russia are backing opposing sides in Syria, there are signs the two may join forces to combat ISIS and bring some relief to civilians.

In the eyes of Russia, Iran, American allies and many Americans themselves, the United States is no longer guiding foreign policy in the Middle East.

Inflicting a series of defeats on ISIS, Kurds have emerged from obscurity to become a major force in the Syrian conflict.

Naming genocide something else does not make a difference to the victims. Indeed, why anyone would want to re-label a crime against humanity?

The Kurds are often hailed as the West’s most reliable partner in the fight against the Islamic State. At the same time, they have taken advantage of the chaos in the region to get closer to achieving their dream of statehood.

ISIS’s increased activity abroad is a sign of weakness rather than strength: the group has lost around 20% of its territory in Syria and over 40% in Iraq since its peak expansion in August 2014.

Recently, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged that a genocide is occurring. We all knew about it for a long time.

In dealing with this immediate threat, it behooves the Turkish government to put politicking on the back-burner, separate the non-violent opposition from the violent, and mend fences with the former. Swallowing that bitter pill is necessary for terrorism to be brought “to its knees.”

The indiscriminate killing of civilians in order to fight terrorism is unlawful. Moreover, the state’s brutal response has actually led to an increase in the number of terrorist attacks.

The multiplicity of Kurdish national movements throughout the Middle East adds an additional layer of complexity in the fight against ISIS.

Turkey, long hailed as a bastion of secular democracy in the Muslim world, could be spiraling toward an all-out civil war as conflicts between Turkish security forces and Kurds as well as other ethnic minorities continue to escalate.

Lacking outside alliances and with the geopolitical situation slowly starting to tilt against it, Islamic State’s pretensions to act as a legitimate government seem to have its days numbered.