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Source: http://jcpa.org/article/turkey-attacks-kurds-islamic-state/
Turkey Attacks the Kurds and the Islamic State
(Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah - Out of the 1,302 people arrested in Turkey, in what officials have described as a "full-fledged battle against terrorist groups," 847 were accused of links to the PKK and just 137 to Islamic State. Moreover, Turkey's agreement with the U.S. on a "safe zone" in northern Syria is meant to ensure that the territory remains out of the hands of the Kurds. One cannot escape the conclusion that Turkey's sudden change of policy is linked to the political situation. In the June 7 general elections, the Turkish-Kurdish People's Democracy Party (HDP), which is seen as close to the PKK, won 13% of the seats, depriving Erdogan's AKP party its majority in Parliament for the first time since 2002. By reviving the confrontation with the PKK (and the HDP), Erdogan hopes to undermine support for the HDP in view of possible repeat elections. The writer, an analyst at the Jerusalem Center, was formerly Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.