With friends like these... Turkey leaks locations of US bases in Syria.

US troops in Syria. The Daily Beast/Getty. 

Turkey has leaked to their media the locations of US bases in Syria, further increasing tensions between the NATO allies. The Daily Beast. The Turks released the locations of 10 US bases in Syria and even listed the number of troops and the involvement of French special forces. Turkey has long been upset by US support for Kurdish rebels, who are leading the fight against ISIS in Syria. Turkey considers the YPG, peoples protection units, to be members of the banned PKK Kurdish terrorist group and have accused the US of letting provided arms fall into the hands of the PKK. The leaks between two NATO allies is unprecedented. 

My Comment:

Once again Turkey has proven themselves to be a horrible ally in the fight against ISIS. This leak is almost unforgivable. There is no reason whatsoever for Turkey to do this other than petty revenge. Turkey gets nothing from this other than the satisfaction of giving the middle finger to the United States. 

And lets not downplay how serious this action is. Turkey has put the lives of US (and French) soldiers at risk. These bases were being kept secret for a reason and that reason is so that ISIS and other terror groups wouldn't be able to target them. Now they can. 

Attacking US forces on the ground is a huge priority for ISIS. Doing so would be a propaganda coup for them and if they were to kill US troops it would regain them some of the credibility they have lost since the war turned on them. Capturing US troops would be worse since they would almost certainly be executed horribly. Though they have the will to do so, they might not have the forces, but if they can scrounge some up they could attack these US bases. 

In order to prevent that from happening the United States may have to take steps that they shouldn't have to do. They may have to move these bases so that they can be secret again. They may also have to deploy further troops to the region to provide better security. None of which would be necessary if Turkey hadn't released this information. 

And there is the chance that even after we redeploy or reinforce our troops, Turkey could just pull the same stunt again. The fear is now that because of Turkey we simply cannot have operational security. This will cause deaths if it continues. 

So why did Turkey do this? Quite simply, because they hate the Kurds. Turkey has always treated its religious and ethnic minorities horribly. Just ask the Armenians and the Greeks. Turkey does not want the Kurds to gain power and respect because they consider them a existential threat to their Turkish identity. 

What concerns the Turks the most isn't the threat of the PKK, though that is an admittedly valid concern. It's the idea of an independent Kurdistan that is recognized internationally. The Kurds in Syria have all but accomplished this goal and have gained a massive amount of prestige and respect during their war with ISIS. If that continues it may encourage Kurds in Turkey to continue their fight. The rebels could use the liberated areas of Syria as a base to attack Turkey. 

Turkey doesn't want that to happen and they are furious at us for supporting the one group in Syria that is actually fighting ISIS. Our goals their have diverged greatly, so much so that the Turks are actively undermining our fight in Syria. 

Not that Turkey has been all that great of an ally in the first place. For a very long time they allowed ISIS to grow and proper while Turkey turned a blind eye to the flood of foreign fighters that passed through their borders. Even worse they actively helped ISIS by buying their oil. This tacit support of ISIS continued until ISIS decided that attacking Turkey was a good idea. It wasn't and it temporarily got Turkey and the United States on the same side of the war. 

That is no longer the case. Now Turkey is fighting our goals in Syria and putting our troops at risk. And Turkey has also gotten into diplomatic slap fights with other allies in NATO, including Germany and the Netherlands. At this point I think that Turkey is a horrible ally and should be kicked out of NATO. Whatever benefit keeping them in the alliance is outweighed by their actions...