YEREVAN, AUGUST 1, ARMENPRESS. Director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights David Phillips published an article in the popular American the Huffington Post periodic where he blames the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in leading the country into perpetual war. “Turkey has a dark future. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan bears responsibility. His policies have made Turkey less secure, stable, and solvent. Erdogan is digging a hole for Turkey. Instead of getting out of the ditch, he keeps digging, casting aspersions and blaming others for Turkey's problems”, the author of the article expresses such a viewpoint.

Phillips reminds that on July 24 the US and Turkey announced an agreement allowing use of Turkey's Incirlik Air Base by the coalition for air strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Meanwhile, the American expert notes that Erdogan seized on the deal to bomb PKK outposts in the Qandil Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan. “To the West, counter-terrorism means fighting ISIS. To Erdogan it means killing Kurds. Erdogan cannot whitewash his true intentions by feigning cooperation with the coalition. At the recent NATO meeting, several countries expressed concern that targeting Kurds would strengthen ISIS”, Phillip writes adding that attacking Kurdish civilians impede the productive process of peace settlement.

“Escalation comes at a time of waning legitimacy for Erdogan. Turkey’s future is dark”, sums up the author.

David Phillips served as a senior adviser and foreign affairs expert to the U.S. State Department. His recent book is The Kurdish Spring: A New Map for the Middle East.