- Dr. James M. Dorsey
- October 23, 2019
- Paper No. 1318
Turkey, like much of the Middle East, is discovering that what goes around comes around. President Recep Tayyip Erdoฤan appears to have miscalculated the fallout of what may prove to be a foolhardy intervention in Syria and neglected alternative options that could have strengthened Turkeyโs position without sparking the ire of much of the international community. His strategic error is rooted in a policy of decades of denial of Kurdish identity and suppression of Kurdish cultural and political rights that was more likely to fuel conflict than encourage societal cohesion.