Before the Syrian war erupted, almost four years ago, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK – an extreme nationalist group that has a long history of committing acts of terrorism against Turkish citizens – enjoyed the active support of the Assad regime, so much so that on several occasions Syria and Turkey came close to hostilities.

This bad behaviour was one of the reasons why Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan aligned himself with the struggle to overthrow the Assad regime, an alliance that has prompted accusations from various quarters that Ankara is colluding with ISIL militants in Iraq.

The Turks’ ambivalent relationship with ISIL, as well as their repeated insistence that the coalition should concentrate all its efforts on removing Assad, has been the main stumbling blocks to closer cooperation between Ankara and the US. This did not materialise as effectively as Erdogan wished, and now the Turks are paying a heavy price for their double standards so far as Ankara’s dealings with ISIL are concerned. The ISIL suicide bomb attack against the border town of Suruc earlier this month, in which 32 people were killed and 100 injured, has finally persuaded Mr Erdogan’s government that ISIL poses just as great a threat to Turkey’s security as it does to the rest of the region, including our next door neighbours in Libya.

But if the Suruc bombing has been the catalyst for Mr Erdogan’s change of heart, the Turks’ obsession with the Kurds means that they are still a long way from becoming reliable allies. What Mr Erdogan needs to understand is that, even if he disowns ISIL, he cannot bomb the Kurds and still be considered a dependable ally.

Jos Edmond Zarb

Birkirkara