Turkey and Saudi Policies Toward Daesh

Turkey’s policy towards ISIL is perhaps one of the most complicated. In the early stages of ISIL’s formation Turkey actually quietly supported them. They saw it as a logical counter to the Iranian backed government of Bashar al-Assad. This support created what Burak Bekdil described in the Middle East Quarterly as a “Frankenstein monster” for Turkey. After an embassy in Mosul was raided and prisoners were taken on both sides, as well as a suicide bomb that killed 32 Turkish citizens, Turkey has now become more public about its disdain for ISIL. Following these attacks, Turkey has now joined the US in military operations against ISIL. Adding to the often-contradictory web of alliances, this comes at the same time as Turkey continues to support the overthrow of Assad (who is fighting ISIL) as well as containing the PKK and the Kurds (who are also fighting ISIL). Turkey’s ultimate end game is to stop ISIL, depose Assad, and contain the Kurds. These concepts are at odds though, especially when one considers the tangled grouping of regional powers that all have different end goals.

Unlike Turkey, Saudi Arabia and ISIS have the most in common in terms of religious ideology. Wahhabism is a type of Islam that emphasizes religious conservatism and a return to traditional sharia law. This is a clear parallel to what ISIL regards as key to its new caliphate. Although similar in ideology, ISIL and Saudi Arabia differ in terms of regime goals. In addition, a variety of private donors in Saudi Arabia and in the other Gulf States have funneled money into the coffers of ISIL and other radically aligned groups on the ground in Syria. Although ideologically similar, Saudi Arabia has participated in coalition airstrikes against Syria. Although primarily financial (Saudi Arabia gave Lebanon $1 billion to fight ISIL), Saudi Arabia has intervened in the conflict militarily in the form of airstrikes.