Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that the Turkish military will not withdraw from Syria until every single other nation involved in the country in any way does first, adding that “we will not let up until every last terrorist leaves the region.”
Erdogan is looking to establish Turkey’s invasion as open-ended, and
indeed if they’re insisting on being the last out, they’re practically
setting themselves up to be in Syria permanently.
The talk of “every last terrorist” leaving is also open-ended, because
Turkey has made clear they view the Kurdish YPG as terrorists, but are
often willing to label anyone Kurdish who has a problem with Turkish
military policy terrorists as well.
Since Erdogan is all but certain to be pressed on the question of Turkey
staying in Syria during his visit to the US next week, he seems to want
to get his position out there before he arrives, although doing so is
unlikely to change criticism of the policy, nor is it surprising that
Turkey intends to stay.
Erdogan: Turkey Won’t Leave Syria Until Every Other Country Does
Says Turkey will not let up on offensive against Kurdish militants
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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