Ankara has increased its attacks on the Kurds both inside its borders and in Iraq and Syria where Turkish forces attacked the Kurdish city of Afrin in 2018.

Turkey also arrested a large number of political activists and politicians affiliated with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP).

Erdogan has also ordered three military operation against the forces of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. In the last move against the Kurdish population in Turkey, Ankara officials ordered the sack of three elected Kurdish mayors and appointed its trustees.

Working in the Middle East Security Program of the center, Nicholas A. Heras, told Kurdpress that Erdogan's political survival is at stake, and he knows it.

A Senior Analyst at the Jamestown Foundation, Heras says Erdogan thinks by increasing the assaults on the Kurds he can prevent the fall of his power, adding that “the Turkish leader sees his political opponents growing stronger, and he is at real risk of losing power.”

“Erdogan therefore believes that if he goes back to the same strategy, which is to attack the Kurds, he can increase his political support enough to beat back his Turkish political rivals. It is that simple: for Erdogan the first reflex is to make the Kurds his scapegoat.”

“The safe zone effort in Syria is frustrating him because the Americans are strictly limiting what Turkey is able to do there,” Heras said about the August 7 deal between the U.S. and Turkey over the establishment of a safe zone in the north of Syria.

He even believes Moscow has defrauded Turkey in Idlib as “in Idlib, Putin has tricked Erdogan into believing that the Turkish leader can sell out the Syrian rebels for Russia's agreement that Turkey can attack the Syrian Kurds.”

The analyst also stated “Erdogan is running out of ideas and is being shown the limit of his power to manipulate events to attack the Kurdish people. Erdogan will only grow more desperate, which is dangerous for the Kurds. The international community should be prepared to prevent Erdogan from committing more massacres against the Kurds because he wants to retain his power in Turkey.”

Reporter’s code: 50101