According to KurdPress, among the American politicians and officials who have played a role in alleviating the suffering of the Kurds or preventing widespread attacks against them in recent decades, there are only a few names.The late Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham was one of these figures, a politician who influenced the course of developments related to the Syrian Kurds at two key points.

Graham’s role in the Kurdish issue was driven more by his understanding of the position of America’s allies and its role in supporting forces that, in his view, were on the front lines of the fight against extremism and the defense of Western-backed order than by economic interests or personal relationships.

The first important point in his career dates back to 2019, when Turkey and its allied armed groups launched military operations against the Ras al-Ayn (Sari Kaniye) and Tal Abyad regions in northern Syria. The operation began after Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces from some border areas in Syria and raised concerns about a wider attack on Kurdish-dominated areas in northern Syria.Graham was a strong critic of the Trump administration's policy at the time, and along with a number of senators, he tried to limit the scope of the operation by applying political pressure and threatening to sanction Turkey. His pressure and that of other members of Congress ultimately led to the Turkish advance being halted within a certain range.

Graham's second important role came in 2026, after tensions increased between the Damascus government and Syrian Kurdish forces. On January 29 of that year, he introduced a plan called "Save the Kurds" in Congress, which aimed to restore sanctions against the Damascus government if attacks on Kurdish areas in Syria continued.

Graham had warned in defense of the plan: "Anyone who thinks that the Kurds' free hunting season in Syria will be without consequences is mistaken."

For Graham and the political movement close to McCain, the Kurds were allies that the United States could not easily abandon. Syrian Kurdish forces, especially the Syrian Democratic Forces, played a key role in defeating ISIS in Syria, losing thousands of their own men in the war.

But the Kurds’ historical experience has shown that great powers have repeatedly abandoned them at critical moments, from the political settlements after World War I to the developments in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey in recent decades.

In this movement in Washington, the Kurdish issue was not simply an ethnic issue, but part of a broader debate about human rights, the fight against extremism, and America’s credibility as a reliable ally.

Graham saw the Kurds not as an independent political project, but as allies that the United States needed on the battlefield, and he saw abandoning them as a blow to his own credibility after the conflict ended.

He may not have supported all of the Kurdish political aspirations, including their national aspirations; but he believed that an ally that stood by America in war should not be abandoned to the forces that would destroy it.

In this sense, Graham's relationship with the Kurds was a continuation of the same political tradition that had previously been known with John McCain: defending America's allies, even when this support came at significant political and diplomatic costs.

German Center for Kurdish Studies