The Turkish Wild Card in Syria That Russia and U.S. Both Need
- Erdogan's strategy for war increasingly at odds with allies
- Washington urges calm as Ankara and Moscow escalate rhetoric
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Turkey just reinforced its role as a wild card in the Syrian civil war, and one that both sides of the conflict ultimately have to deal with.
After becoming the first NATO country in more than half a century to shoot down a Russian warplane, it sent the alliance scrambling to deescalate tension with Moscow as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to continue to protect his country’s airspace. It was a reminder of how Turkish priorities for Syria, its southern neighbor, remain out of step as its unflinching opposition to Kurdish separatists and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad overshadows the fight against Islamic State.