Obama, who has been in the office for 8 years, will be remembered for his impotent stance towards the brutal Assad regime. Even though Obama has been trying to make emotional statements shortly before his departure from the Oval Office, Syrian and Turkish people know very well that his administration has been one of the actors in dragging Syria into today’s situation.
It is a fact that the Obama administration had previously pledged to train and equip Syrian opposition fighters. However, U.S. General Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), in September 2015 admitted before senators the the train-and-equip program that cost the U.S. $ 500 million spent on about 5,000 fighters to combat ISIS was a total failure with only four or five fighters left on the ground.
It is also argued that the Obama administration did not fulfill its commitments towards the Syrian opposition. Instead, Washington decided to side with the PKK’s Syrian offshoot Democratic Union Party’s (PYD) and its armed wing, Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG).
While the Turkish state has been training and equipping Syrian fighters, also known as the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the Obama administration has been providing tons of weapons and ammunition to a terrorist group.
The FSA, in cooperation with the Turkish military, has been carrying out Operation Euphrates Shield in Syria and gaining significant ground against ISIS and the YPG. From time to time, the U.S.-backed YPG attacked the FSA as well.
It has become a fact on the ground that the Obama administration’s partner in Syria has turned into an enemy against NATO ally, Turkey, and the FSA. Now that Obama’s days are numbered, Ankara turned eyes to the President-elect Donald Trump.
In a speech in December 2016, Trump said: “When I look at what’s going on in Syria, it’s so sad.” It was the first time that Trump commented on Syria. He added: “We’ll build and help build safe zones in Syria, so people will have a chance.”
Unlike Hillary Clinton, who had asserted that the U.S. should further work with the YPG and arm it, Trump could change the U.S.’ policy in Syria and alter the course of the developments on the ground.
Obama’s frustrating policy in Syria isolated Turkey from the U.S. Ankara bettered its ties with the Kremlin and the two countries have been conducting joint operations in and around al-Bab. Seeing its most important NATO ally side with Russia, Trump could throw the U.S. policy in the thrash and end its relationship with the YPG.
Trump has a chance to do the right thing by ending Washington’s love affair with the PKK’s Syrian wing, the YPG. The Obama administration’s stubborn stance to work with a terrorist group led to a crisis with Turkey. Trump has a chance to repair the relations as well.
Last but certainly not least, a brand new U.S. approach in Syria could prevent more innocent people from losing their lives in the country.
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Yunus Paksoy is the chief reporter of the Istanbul-based Turkish newspaper DAILY SABAH. Paksoy has covered Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield in Syria and the Mosul Operation in Iraq and focuses on developments in Syria, the Middle East and Turkey’s southeast.
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