Friday, February 19, 2016

Turkey's reflexive assumption that the Kurds are behind everything benefits the Islamic State

Turkey's decision to immediately blame the YPG for the Ankara bombing gives ISIS a huge incentive to bomb set off as many bombs as it can in Turkey. Unless the Turks have strong evidence that the YPG did it, their accusation is an incredibly stupid thing to do.

The YPG vehemently denies that it was responsible for the Ankara bombing, pointing out (correctly) that they have no reason to perpetrate such an attack. But the YPG is one of the few effective ground forces currently fighting ISIS. So if Turkey is going to retaliate against the YPG whenever anything explodes in Turkey, you can bet that ISIS is going to try to bomb the hell out of Turkey.