The Syrian Arab Spring Uprising of 2011 offered Kurdish political parties a unique opportunity to address the ongoing government repression of their people through political and diplomatic channels. However, Turkey’s covert support for Syrian Arab opposition groups intensified confrontations between the government and various opposition factions. Fearing the spread of violence to neighboring countries, the international community, led by the U.S., formed a 63-nation coalition to address the Syrian conflict through the UN Security Council (UNSC). In response, the UNSC passed Resolution 2254, which proposed a democratic roadmap for resolving the crisis. Yet Turkey, as a member of the coalition, sought to hijack the process, aiming to oust President Bashar al-Assad and dismantle the Kurdish autonomous enclave established by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing, the People's Protection Units (YPG).

As the debate over how to resolve the Syrian conflict raged on, the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) dramatically altered the landscape. Within just 48 hours, ISIS seized one-third of Iraq and Syria, drawing the coalition's focus away from the Syrian civil war and toward the urgent threat posed by ISIS. The U.S., having lost trust in Turkey due to its alliance with radical Islamist and jihadi groups, began looking for reliable local forces to counter ISIS. Brett McGurk, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, identified the YPG as the most capable force to combat ISIS. He found the YPG to be a cohesive, disciplined, and battle-hardened group capable of challenging ISIS's rapid expansion.

Despite being told by the U.S. that they would not receive protection from Turkish military incursions due to geopolitical considerations, the PYD and YPG agreed to the mission—on the condition that the U.S. provide advanced training and weapons. Despite constant Turkish military pressure and attacks from Turkish-backed jihadi groups, the YPG, along with their Arab allies, successfully defeated ISIS in 2019. However, the cost was steep: approximately 11,000 YPG and allied fighters were killed, and large swathes of territory were lost. The Turkish army, together with its Syrian proxies, ethnically cleansed these areas, displacing thousands of Kurds and replacing them with Arabs from other regions of Syria. The international community condemned Turkey’s actions as war crimes against Syrian Kurds, and many accused the U.S. of betraying its Kurdish partners.

In 2024, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was among the first world leaders to congratulate U.S. President-elect Donald Trump after his election victory. Erdoğan stated that, if Trump agreed, Turkey’s military was ready to invade and occupy the remaining Syrian Kurdish areas along Turkey’s southern border, extending to a depth of 30 kilometers (approximately 19 miles). Analysts noted that Turkey’s successive military incursions into Kurdish territories, its forced relocation of thousands of Kurds, and the Turkification of these occupied regions reflected Erdoğan’s long-term colonial ambitions in the broader Kurdistan region.