Kurdish troops’ resistance to Turkey ‘could have been substantial’ if not US guarantees – expert  

The Kurdish troops in Syria could have reacted to Turkey more vehemently during the recent offensive if not the earlier guarantees by Washington, according to a Yerevan-based expert in Kurdish studies.  

Vahram Petrosyan, who heads the Yerevan State University (YSU) Chair in International Relations and Diplomacy, says the United States ″essentially undermined Kurds″ in the trans-border zone, neutralizing their military capacities and causing them to pull back their troops.

“From that moment on, they naturally weakened their capacity of resistance,” he told the Armnews TV Channel during the broadcast Globe: Outlook from Yerevan.

Noting that the Syrian Kurds "never practically posed any hazard threat to Turkey", the expert admitted the possibility of a ″situational change″ after the recent attacks. “Regardless of how long this conflict will last – and how it will be settled at all– Ankara will have, from now on, to expect a Kurdish threat also from Syria. In other words, Turkey tried to restrict the threats  on the one hand while facing a source of an unpredictable hazard on the other,” Petrosyan noted.  

In his words, Turkey is trying to exclude the ″strengthening of the Kurdish unit″ while trying simultaneously to "reinforce its positions". “Additionally, they are seeking for chances of a more serious engagement in the Syrian peace operations,” the expert added.

Asked what could have eventually motivated the Syrian government to accept the plan for backing the Kurds, Petrosyan pointed out to a mutually “beneficial arrangement” reflecting the Kurds’ unyielding demand for sovereignty.

“From the standpoint of Syria, the Kurds today are the least between the two evils. And the Syrian regime was not at all a long-awaited one for the Kurds. Yet, this now remains the most acceptable option,” he said, noting that both the Syrian authorities and the Kurds prefer mutual concessions and return of regions to an external control.

Addressing the Kurds' statement declaring an end to ″anti-terrorist operations″ against the Islamic State (IISIS), the expert noted that the Kurdish forces in Syria ″are no longer treated as terrorist group″. ″They have already reached a certain level of a legitimate perception and status. And that status was secured also through the fight against the Islamic State. The Kurds' value was high from the Western perspective as far that the anti-ISIS fight was concerned. And hence it is absolutely logical that they will try to rely on this kind of trump card. That should be a concern for not only the United States but also the Russian Federation,″ Petrosyan said, ruling out a   ®complete weakening of the trump card”.

″The Kurds, regrettably enough, are a trump card for the United States, and hence the United State will not ever want to diminish those their diversity,″ Petrosyan added.

Meantime he agreed that war situatiosn are a ″normal reality″ for Kurds. ″Military operations are not something to intimidate the Kurds. Counting on others has always been temporary for the Kurdish people, causing their disappointment in the long run,″ he added.