The Turks Continue To Attack The Kurds

In northern Syria, Turkish forces are attacking Kurdish militias.  That's a big problem for the USA since both the Turks and the Kurds are our allies.  It shouldn't be that big of a problem, however.  The Kurds fought valiantly with the USA and shouldered a principal burden in the fight against ISIS.  The Turks cooperated and did a little bit, but not much when it came to fighting ISIS.  During the Iraq War, the Kurds cooperated with the USA and their area of Iraq was the only one to be pacified without American bloodshed.  Simply put, the Kurds are America's friends.  They are also the only sizeable ethnic group in the region without their own state.  Indeed, it is the Turkish desire to suppress any chance for a Kurdish state that has led them to attack the Kurds now.

So what can the USA do?  First, we ought to be calling on Turkey to stop its attack immediately.  As a second step, we might tell the Turks that we may send forces to defend our allies the Kurds from any attack by other forces.  That can be coupled with advice to the Turks that we would also defend them should the Kurds attack.  In other words, we will defend any of our allies who are attacked.

The Kurds deserve their own state.  The USA should support this.  Hopefully, the threat of American intervention would stop the Turkish attack.  It's a high risk move, but America cannot just stand by and watch our friends and allies fight and kill each other.  In this case, the Turks are clearly in the wrong, and we should make that clear.