Middle East

Iranian-Turkish co-operation in Syria driven by mutual interest in containing Kurdish aspirations amid incremental US disengagement

There is now a greater incentive for Turkey and Iran to co-operate on containing the aspirations for autonomy among Kurdish people as the end of the Syrian civil war nears, while the US gradually disengages militarily from Syria as the Islamic State is being defeated.

Turkey’s priority in Syria is to contain Syrian Kurds’ aspirations of creating an autonomous enclave along its border. Although the US military presence will probably assure the Kurds’ security, at least for as long as it remains, it cannot assure Syrian Kurds’ economic viability. In the absence of a feasible trade route via Turkey and Iraq, the dominant Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (Partiya Yekitiya Demokrat: PYD) will probably have to reach an agreement with a future Syrian government. For its part, the PYD’s control of Sunni-majority Raqqa increases its leverage vis-à-vis the Syrian government in negotiating for some level of Kurdish local governance.