Erdoğan reaping what he sowed
Mr. Erdogan of Turkey is to meet President Vladimir Putin of the Federal Russia after along waiting on the door of the Kremlin. It is according to many reading a meeting between a terrorist and anti-terrorism hero.
It is a meeting between an occupier and a staunch fighter for freedom and independence. It is but Erdogan’s crying wolf for what his hands has been slaughtering of the innocents and anti-terrorism fighters.
The silly threats of manipulating his hand-made refugees crisis are never to work this time. The refugees from tens of countries worldwide have been exploited by Erdogan himself. Thus, the fabrications, lies and distortions and empty promises are never to work more!
According to a recent analysis by Simon Tisdall, the Guardian, it is the Maverick, out-of-control authoritarian leaders – and here we are talking about Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president – tend to think they know best about everything, and are fiercely intolerant of criticism. It is this hubris that has finally led Erdoğan and Turkey to the brink of disaster in Syria after nine years of bombastic threats, proxy conflict and direct military intervention.
Erdoğan is now isolated on all sides, sharply at odds with other major players in the Syrian crisis. Having sent an extra 7,000 troops and armour into Idlib last month to reinforce existing military outposts, Turkey has plunged in open warfare with Syria. It has attacked airports and radar sites well behind the de facto “frontline”. It has declared all Syrian “elements” to be legitimate targets.
But what is happening now in north-west Syria is no longer a proxy war. It is a direct confrontation between the two heavily armed neighbouring states. And it threatens to draw Turkey deeper into military conflict with Russia.
It’s hard to know the facts, given Erdoğan’s suppression of independent journalism. But the truth seems to be very different. The death toll may have totaled up to 55, according to Metin Gurcan, a military analyst writing for the respected online regional platform al-Monitor. Local reports speak of up to 100 dead.
Infuriated Russian commanders – or maybe the order came from Moscow – appear to have drawn a line after weeks of lethal sparring. The Turkish convoy was hit late in the afternoon that same day. In the hours that followed, with injured soldiers in urgent need of medical aid, Moscow rejected Ankara’s request to open Idlib’s airspace to allow an evacuation, Gurcan reported.
Was Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, intent on teaching Erdoğan a harsh lesson? If so, it seems to have worked. Erdoğan is now pinning his hopes on a face-to-face meeting with the Russian leader to prevent more, costly collisions that Turkey cannot win. He will travel to Moscow on Thursday in search of a ceasefire – after Putin agreed to make time for him.
Putin’s price for letting Erdoğan off the hook may be a full or partial Turkish withdrawal from Idlib but also from other Turkish-occupied Syrian territory west of the Euphrates – and from the Kurdish-dominated north-east region that he controversially invaded last autumn. Once again, Erdoğan is reaping what he sowed.
Dr. Mohamad Abdo Al-Ibrahim