VIDEO: ‘Trump will inherit same frustrations as Obama regarding Turkey, Kurds’

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan24) – According to a US analyst, President-elect Donald Trump will encounter the same issues regarding Turkish and Kurdish forces battling the Islamic State (IS) in Syria.

Nicholas Danforth, a senior policy analyst for the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), spoke to Kurdistan24 about the new US administration’s plans regarding the relationship with Kurds.

Danforth said Trump did not have a clear policy related to the Kurds in Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava).

“Trump does not necessarily have a well thought out Kurdish policy at this point,” Danforth told Kurdistan24.

Moreover, the BPC analyst pointed to the US’ relationship with Russia and Iran and said it would play a factor in its Kurdish policy.

“The implications of the Trump presidency for the Kurds will have much more to do with much larger factors,” Danforth said.

He explained the United States’ developing relationship with Russia and Iran would affect Trump’s policy toward the Kurds in Rojava.

The US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) have been battling IS in Syria since the group’s emergence.

Turkey affiliates the YPG with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) who have been waging a decades-long guerrilla warfare in the country against the Turkish government for Kurdish rights.

Although Washington, like Ankara, labels the PKK “terrorists,” they do not share the same opinion regarding the YPG.

Danforth said Trump’s administration would encounter the same issues the current US President Barack Obama faced regarding the YPG forces and Turkey.

“Trump will inherit all the same frustrations with Turkey that Obama has had to deal with,” he concluded.

Editing by Ava Homa

(Rahim Rashidi conducted the interview in Washington, DC)