- Burak Bekdil
- March 21, 2018
- Paper No. 777
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoฤan has been the main beneficiary of a newfound feeling of glory among Turkeyโs increasingly nationalistic masses. The main loser is the YGP, which has sought to consolidate control over Kurdish areas of Syria in the hopes of forging an autonomous state. But in the Syrian war theater, alliances are fragile and complex. Russia has given Turkey a limited free hand in its engagement in northern Syria, mainly in order to deepen Turkish-US and Turkish-NATO divisions. But Russia is not Turkeyโs strategic ally.