, Columnist
Erdogan Is Holding a Gun to His Own Head in Syria
Turkey’s president has willfully cozied up to Putin. The inevitable consequence is isolation.
The battle for Idlib.
Photographer: BAKR ALKASEM/AFPThis article is for subscribers only.
One of the more threadbare aphorisms in foreign-policy circles is that Pakistan negotiates with the West by pointing a gun at its own head. Under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has updated this unique bargaining technique by contriving to aim one pistol at the West even as it presses another to its own temple.
Over the past two years, Erdogan has willfully antagonized Turkey’s partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization by cozying up to their adversary, Russia. The consequence, entirely predictable, is Turkish isolation in Syria and Libya, where Ankara’s interests are in direct conflict with Moscow’s.