Despite Smiles in Syria, Supporting Kurdish Separatism Remains Germany’s Top Priority in Middle East

Berlin’s modern-day foreign policy is focused on two things: antagonizing Russia and a search for energy, and Annalena Baerbock’s Syria trip was aimed primarily at “trying to secure relations with parties that hold a good grasp on energy resources,” i.e. the separatist Kurds in the war-torn country’s northeast, Sakarya University security policy expert and researcher Furkan Halit Yolcu told Sputnik.

Pointing to long-standing German support for Kurdish separatist movements across the region, from Syria and Iraq to Turkiye, Yolcu pointed out with the YPG militias controlling “a good amount of energy reserves” in Syria, Germany is looking to avoid losing “its leverage on that side,” while trying to get a sense of where Transitional Government head Abu Mohammad al-Julani stands, and convince him, if possible, of Germany’s potential support in the coming years if he avoids an escalation against YPG positions.

Ultimately, Yolcu doesn’t expect Berlin to give up on its support for Kurdish groups in Syria, Iraq or Turkiye, with such support giving them the means to pressure all three countries, as “leverage for them, mainly against Turkiye. They have been sending agents, sending financial support, sending equipment.”

Accordingly, as far as Syria is concerned, the Kurds – an namely the separatist Kurdish elements, are what’s most important for Berlin, the Turkish security policy analyst summed up.