It is important to understand that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not at war with Daesh (ISIL). He is waging war against the Syrian government over the Kurdish problem, said Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer and Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest.

If the Kurds established their own state they would seize 30 percent of Turkey’s territory, Giraldi said in an interview with Gazeta.Ru. This is Erdogan’s nightmare. His policy in Syria should be considered from this perspective.

The analyst noted that the downing of a Russian bomber by a Turkish jet in Syria was an act of provocation orchestrated by Turkish senior officials.

“But he couldn’t predict that NATO would not defend him and Russia would take decisive responsive measures. Now Erdogan is trying to take a step back. He’s saying he wanted that the incident wouldn’t happen. But it took place because Erdogan wanted it,” he underscored.

Giraldi further explained the reason why the US has turned a blind eye to the fact that Ankara pursues its own interests in Syria, including supporting terrorists.

“As for Turkey, there is a dilemma for Washington. The US policy in Syria is impossible without Turkey. The US needs the base in Turkey to carry out airstrikes in Syria,” he said.

Giraldi pointed out that Washington has done nothing so far to improve the situation.

“In his turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin acts properly. He is sure that the key to resolve the conflict is to support stable governments in the region – Syria and Iraq,” he said.

The expert also confirmed the recent allegations that Erdogan’s family, especially his son, Bilal Erdogan, is involved in illegal oil trading with Daesh.

“The allegations are true. There is no secret. Everybody saw that tank trucks and money paid for oil. By the way, Turkey did the same with Iran when it was under sanctions. It bought Iranian oil. All operations were controlled by Erdogan’s son,” Giraldi said.

The US did nothing to stop the oil smuggling by Erdogan’s family as it did not want to raise tensions with Ankara, he explained.