ANOTHER POWER VACUUM IN THE MIDDLE EAST

President Trump has seriously mishandled the situation in northern Syria. Even though the ISIS caliphate has been considered defeated and the ISIS leader, Abu Bakhar Al-Baghdadi, is now dead, the power vacuum in Syria is getting worse by the day.

The biggest event to happen so far is that Trump gave the president of Turkey permission to occupy the northern part of Syria, by withdrawing U.S. troops that have been patrolling the northern border of Syria for a few years. Millions of Syrians have sought refuge in Turkey, to the point where this is affecting the Turkish economy and employment.

Throughout his presidency, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has mentioned multiple times the idea of a safe zone in that region of northern Syria to harbor all the refugees. Although this plan has been in the making for several years, it has not been able to be pursued because of United Nations disagreements and the U.S. occupation at the border.

However, now Trump has pulled American troops from Syria.  

The problem that arises is the possible genocide of the Kurdish ethnic group in that region. An outburst of violence has risen between Turkey’s army and the Kurdish people, ever since the U.S. troops ended their occupation. The Kurdish people have played a big part in the retaking of ISIS territory and they’ve worked closely with the U.S. coalition. To use the Kurds for their help in the removal of ISIS and then give Turkey – a long-standing rival of the Kurdish people – military control over the region and ultimately the Kurdish people is a stab in the back to them.

What’s more hundreds of ISIS prisoners have escaped due to ongoing violence and the lack of authority in Syria at this time. 

But the worst of the situation is the way things are being handled. The discourse in our politics isn’t new to public announcements regarding foreign policy, but the way Trump talks about these things, whether it’s on Twitter or his own rallies, is very uncalculated.

Trump tends to make light of situations he has to deal with because, in his view, it makes him likable and relatable. In one of his recent rallies he describes the brutal violence that is going on in Syria to be “tough love” and “a brawl between brothers” that just needs to be fought out. He is de-sensitizing the situation and making his followers believe that what he did was a great strategy.

The reality is that the U.S. pullout has provoked more violence. We are losing ground in terms of ISIS because all the prisoners are escaping yet he is presenting the idea that ISIS is “gone” when it is still of concern. There is nothing remotely funny about the possible land war between the Turkish army and the Kurdish rebels – it’s making light of a conflict that is piled on top of the other several conflicts of the past century.  

In total Trump fashion, there’s that reassurance from backlash phase: the stage where negative press in the media makes him roll back in some way. In this case, it was the relationship between Trump and Erdogan.

Trump has told citizens that Turkey isn’t going to make the drastic military campaign against the Kurds that experts are inferring. But, considering that Erdogan’s way of ruling Turkey borders on dictatorship, and Trump tends to appease dictators – this assertion by Trump is now being proven to be false.

We at The Advocate agree that the conflicts of the Middle East have stemmed from U.S. intervention and have spider-webbed into a continuum of policy flip-flops that don’t reflect the views of the American people.

It is crucial for individuals to do research and educate themselves on what is truly going on in the world and not take what Trump is saying as the gospel.