Hüseyin Çiçek about Turkey’s military role in Syria and its implications for the relation to the USA
On Febuary 28 Hüseyin Çiçek, political scientist and associated EZIRE-member, commented in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung the current military situation in Syria, regarding its implications for the relation between Turkey and the USA.
Since months, the military single-handed actions taken by Turkey in order to push back the Kurdish groups has put a strain on the relations to the other NATO-member states, especially to the USA.But in regard of the mounting military pressure on behalf of the Assad-regime and its powerful ally Russia, Turkey is increasingly reliant on support by its Western allies. According to Çiçek, this was “a real chance, to put the anti-American rhetoric, the authoritarianism as well as the neo-Osmanistic policy of the AKP of the last 17 years in their place”.
Furthermore he stresses, that the military operation in Syria might affect the Turkish government also domestically. “The martyrdom for the nation, as it seems, might have reached its limits. As simple as the invasion into Syria, as hard it will be, to get out of it.”