A dangerous escalation on the Turkey-Syria border

As Turkish artillery started pounding Syrian-Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) military positions in Syria on Feb. 13, it became clear what Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu meant last week when he said: "Just wait, you'll see." 

Davuto?lu had been asked about the tension between Ankara and Washington over the PYD, which is regarded as a functional ground force against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) by the U.S. administration but as a terrorist organization by the Turkish government, which sees it as the Syria branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Ankara was very upset after Brett McGurk, the anti-ISIL envoy of U.S. President Barack Obama, went to the PYD-held Syrian town of Kobane (bordering Turkey) and received a plaque from the hands of a "PYD commander," who is a known PKK militant with an arrest warrant in Turkey. McGurk's visit also came just after a visit to Turkey by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. Following the controversial photo, President Tayyip Erdo?an asked Obama to decide who his partner was: His NATO ally Turkey or the "PYD terrorists."

The answer came from a U.S. State Department spokesman: Turkey is an ally but the U.S. does not consider the PYD to be a terrorist organization like the PKK. Obama, who wants to keep the boots of U.S. soldiers away from foreign soil, needs foot soldiers on the ground to fight against ISIL and die if necessary.

When Davuto?lu told reporters to "wait and see," he also said Turkey was determined to hit every terrorist target that it considered a threat. The fire by 155 mm Turkish "F?rt?na-Strom" howitzers with a 45-km range on the weekend of Feb. 13-14 showed that he was not bluffing.

By then, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu had already...