Ground operations in Syria

Give up on the Democratic Union Party [PYD] and instead let us fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL] along with the Turkmen and Arab groups." This was the proposal made by the Turkish officials to their American counterparts last week during President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's trip to the U.S. In return for the intervention of Turkish troops on the ground, they asked for American air cover.

Yet Washington refused to give up its dependence on the PYD in the anti-ISIL fight. But why? Why does Washington not agree to depend on Turkey rather than on PYD? 

According to Nüzhet Kandemir, Turkey's ambassador to Washington during the first Gulf War, the U.S. doesn't want Turkey to become a permanent player in the region. He points at the first Gulf War as an example.

Prior to the Gulf War in 1991, then-President Turgut Özal managed to pass a motion after a second vote in parliament following his insistent efforts. Yet even though the motion passed, Turkey could not get engaged in northern Iraq to the extent it envisioned. 

Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz later admitted: "We have not fulfilled the promises we made to Turkey during the first Gulf War."

Yet Cemil Çiçek, then-state minister of the Motherland Party (ANAP) government, objected to this by saying that it was not the U.S., but the motion itself which restricted Turkey's involvement in Iraq. Çiçek, currently an MP from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and former parliament speaker, recalled the context in those days.

Özal was very insistent on passing the motion, partly due to his warm relations with former U.S. President George Bush. The opposition in parliament, on the other hand, harshly opposed the motion...