The US is setting up so-called “observation posts” along Syria’s border with Turkey. This controversial move was sharply criticized by Turkey, which sees it as further proof that the US is continuing to protect Syrian Kurdish groups that Ankara officially regards as terrorists. The argument can be made that the US is trying to deter…
When Vladimir Putin visited President Erdogan’s lavish new $500-million presidential palace in Ankara, he had one thing to say: “I’m very impressed.” Professor Hasan Unal, savoring the dry humor, derives as much pleasure in retelling the story as Putin’s remark may have been lost on Erdogan, who is famous for his lack of humor. Professor Hasan…
During a Pentagon briefing last weekend, Secretary of Defence James Mattis dropped a bombshell by innocuously slipping in that the US military intends to set up a string of observation posts on the Syrian-Turkish border. Mattis implied that Turkey was on board and that the idea was for the two militaries to jointly prevent any…
More than 100 people were injured as a result of a chemical attack in Aleppo on Nov. 24. The Syrian government asked the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to send a fact-finding mission to the city. Evidently the rebels were responsible. The West’s reaction has been surprising. Unlike in previous instances, the…
The kingdom of terror is the so-called Idlib province in Syria. Militants of various terrorist and opposition organizations official in Damascus are locked in it. At one time, Turkey insisted that they should not be “pacified” to the end, risking to cause a “catastrophe” and “terror”. So now the insurgents have arranged a catastrophe and…
It was packaged as a stark, graphic message, echoing across Eurasia: Presidents Erdogan and Putin, in a packed hall in Istanbul on Monday, surrounded by notables, celebrating completion of the 930 kilometer-long offshore section of the TurkStream gas pipeline across the bottom of the Black Sea. This is no less than a key landmark in…
