MOSCOW, October 9 (RIA Novosti), Daria Chernyshova - Washington’s line might lead to the establishment of an independent Iraqi Kurdistan, which will in turn pose threats to Turkey, Vladimir Evseev, the CIS Institute’s Caucasus department head said Thursday.
“Unfortunately, I have to say that the United States is pursuing a policy that might lead to not only a de-facto, but also a de-jure establishment of an independent Iraqi Kurdistan,” Evseev said at a press conference on the IS held at news agency Rossiya Segodnya’s press center.
“This will have the most serious consequences for Turkey, because the regions in Turkey where the Kurds are living, will most likely seek to join this new territorial entity. We see how serious Kurdish protests have become in Turkey,” Evseev said.
He also noted Turkey’s peculiar role in NATO, seen inferior by other members, and unwilling to have NATO ships in the Black Sea. “So, hypothetically speaking, it is not obvious that once Turkey is invaded by the Islamic State, NATO will come to help as one,” the Caucasus specialist said.
This week, Turkey proposed to create a buffer zone along its border with Syria, a move backed by French President Francois Hollande.
Islamic State (IS) militants have besieged Kobani, one of the largest towns in the Kurdish region bordering Turkey, for the past three weeks. More than 400 people have died in clashes between IS and Kurdish fighters in the city also known as Ayn al-Arab, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Some 200,000 refugees have crossed into Turkey, fleeing the IS threat.
The IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has been fighting the Syrian government since 2012. In June 2014, the group extended its attacks to northern and western Iraq, declaring a caliphate on the territories over which it had control.
Following the group’s advance, the United States and its allies launched airstrikes against IS insurgents fighting on Iraqi soil in August. The military campaign was subsequently extended to Syria, with an international coalition taking part in air raids.
