For years, Israel has treated Turkey and the Kurds as background to its concerns in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. That view is now out of date. Turkey has entrenched itself in northern Syria and parts of Iraq, and Iran is trying to build a land route from Tehran to the Mediterranean. In this setting, Israel cannot just react. It needs an alliance strategy and must set it out before the map hardens against it.

Turkey’s military presence in northern Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan has shifted from short raids to a fixed deployment. Ankara has sent troops, armour and aircraft across the border again and again, then built bases and local structures to hold what it has gained. It presents this as a campaign against terrorism, yet on the ground Turkish units work with Islamist armed groups that rely on Ankara for weapons, money and political cover. Together they are shaping a belt that blocks Kurdish self-rule and gives Turkey leverage over its southern neighbours. The longer this belt remains, the harder it becomes to reverse it or build any useful alliance around Kurdistan.

From Ankara’s point of view, a Kurdish entity on its border could inspire Kurds inside Turkey to demand more rights and, in time, autonomy. Any sign of Western or Israeli backing makes that prospect more alarming. So Turkey moves early. It breaks up Kurdish control where it can and tries to keep outside powers from using Kurdistan as a base.

For Israel, Kurdistan is part of its security, not a side cause. Kurdish regions in Syria, Iraq and Iran lie across the land routes that connect........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)