At the end of 2019, Turkey was criticized by the United States and the European Union for its counterterrorism Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria for "eradicating the Kurds." However, time has shown that this is not true. Turkey never fought against Kurds in Syria, Iraq or at home but has resisted the PKK/YPG terrorist elements in the region.

The reason for Turkey's resistance in the anti-terror campaign was directly linked with its national security as the PKK/YPG seeks to establish a terrorist state on Turkey's southern border with a logistically favorable exit to the Eastern Mediterranean to be able to carry out operations against the country.

The paradox

In the course of the anti-Turkey campaign in 2019, Turkey was demonized by the West and its media. The fact that the U.S. has previously supplied the YPG with several thousand truckloads of weapons, although the PKK/YPG is classified as a terrorist organization in the West, and no one even made it an issue, is a moral destitution in itself.

Also, when Israel fought the Palestinians in their homeland behind the veil of national security for many years, the West took no position on the issue.

However, the Western stance differs when it comes to Turkey whereby Ankara indeed takes lawful measures to preserve its homeland and border security.

For example, Turkey’s Kurdish issue is often compared to that of Spain’s Catalonian issue. When the latter wants to secede, the media often say that separatists are at work and show solidarity with Spain. However, when a terrorist group in Turkey wants to split the country, the West treats this as the democratic right of the "Kurds" and Turkey is admonished to be prudent.

Nevertheless, what many people refuse to comprehend is that Turkey has been fighting the PKK for over 40 years, a terrorist organization that was formed with U.S. support and does not represent the interests of Turkey’s Kurds.

Since the beginning of the reform movement in 2002, the Kurds have enjoyed the same rights as all other ethnic groups, including ethnic Turks. In addition, Kurds in Turkey have more rights than the Turks living in Germany.

Likewise, a Turks-dominated political party in Germany is not entitled to funding from the state budget, whereas the pro-PKK Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey is able to take part in elections and even sits in the Turkish Parliament.

Moreover, it should be underlined that the HDP in no way represents the Kurds in Parliament. There are three active and recent reasons for this: