 left-wing organization fighting an insurgency against a NATO government, the United States was completely gung-ho in supporting Turkey in often very violent, undemocratic crackdowns. But geopolitics shifted after the fall of the Soviet Union. The U.S. started to arm Kurdish insurgents in Iraq against Saddam Hussein, and again in the 2010s against ISIS in Syria. Danforth says it was a strategic move for the U.S., but not for Turkey.