The United States has committed a colossal mistake by supporting and actually fostering the militant groups in Syria that are extensions of the PKK terrorist group, which has been fighting a secessionist campaign in Turkey for the past four decades.

The U.S. did not only cooperate with the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its military wing the People's Protection Units (YPG), but gave them modern arms and heavy weapons, provided them with military training and dished out vital intelligence information. The U.S. knew all along that these two were extensions of the PKK in Syria.

The U.S. claimed they were using these forces against Daesh terrorists. When Turkey offered to fight Daesh in Syria with the U.S., Ankara was told the American generals preferred the PYD and YPG saying Turkish military was incapable of doing the job.

The American administration should have remembered that these are the generals who have failed in Afghanistan, in Iraq and elsewhere. So, the U.S. went on an adventure with the PKK in Syria while the PYD/YPG militants used the pretext of fighting Daesh to expand their territory to 25 percent of Syria and eat into Arab and Turkmen lands. The PKK also used its military strength in Syria to humiliate the Syrian Kurdish opposition and secure the loyalty of the Kurdish population through tyranny. That is all the work of the American generals, whether they did this on purpose or were fooled remains to be seen.

On the other side of the coin, the Russians trusted Turkey, allowed it to launch Operation Euphrates Shield in August 2016 to kick out Daesh terrorists from a land of 2,000 square kilometers inside Syria bordering Turkish territory. The success of this operation led to the strengthening of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) which cooperated with Turkey and became an effective fighting force in Syria.

This turned Turkey into a key player in Syria along with Russia and Iran. With Turkey's growing influence on the Syrian opposition groups, Ankara started a peace process with the help of Russia in Astana and that led to first a temporary cease-fire and then a permanent cease-fire in many trouble spots in Syria. Astana then led to the creation of no-conflict zones that led to the Sochi summit between Turkey, Russia and Iran. The world hailed Russia as the peacemaker. Today the Russians have given their blessings to Operation Olive Branch in Syria's Afrin region where Turkey and the FSA is wiping out the PKK.

So those who cooperated with Turkey have emerged as peacemakers and have enhanced their global image. After the Sochi summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin has been hailed as a responsible and successful statesman.

Yet it is also a fact that had the U.S. cooperated with Turkey instead of the PKK, PYD and YPG they too would have been at the table in Sochi. However, today they are nowhere. That is exactly the difference between what happens to you when you are a friend of Turkey and when you antagonize it and alienate the Turks.

U.S. President Donald Trump should have never listened to those generals. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan should have been his best bet. But better late than never. The U.S. can still turn its back on the PKK, PYD and YPG and cooperate with Turkey and Russia to build a new Syria.