It's Not That Simple: Why Erdogan Isn't Fully on the Side of the Syrian Rebels and What His Plan Is

It's not that simple: why Erdogan is not entirely on the side of the Syrian rebels and what his plan is Natalia Belzetskaya

In Syria, rebels have risen up against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, who is supported by Russia, and the war has flared up with renewed vigor. In this situation, Turkey clearly did not take the side of the Russians, and propagandists called it “a knife in the back from Erdogan.”

In reality, everything is not so simple, because relations with Russia are important to the Turkish president. Israeli military expert David Sharp told Channel 24 about this, adding that Erdogan also does not want to ruin relations with Iran.

Whose side is Turkey on

Figuratively speaking, the Assad regime is an asset of Russia and Iran. If you oppose it, you spoil relations with both countries. Therefore, Erdogan now faces a question of various alternatives and dilemmas.

It is worth emphasizing that those who attacked Aleppo and succeeded are not Turkish puppets. On the contrary, they did not move from their places at first, and then attacked the Kurds, and not the Assad regime. They did this given Erdogan's relations with Russia and Iran.

In recent years, Erdogan has come to terms with the fact that the Assad regime has survived. He even tried to get closer to it. But now that the rebels' success is obvious, Erdogan may change his mind and return to his previous approaches, David Sharp noted.

Previously, he supported all the uprisings in Syria. It is also important to say that if the rebels do not receive external assistance, then even such a successful offensive will decline. To wage a major war, ammunition and equipment are needed. There can be no other supplies except from Turkey.

Please note! Military expert Pavel Narozhny emphasized that the war in Syria has made it difficult to export gas through Turkey to Europe. This is primarily beneficial for Russia, because if the gas came from this region, the prices would be lower.

The key question arises: will Erdogan and the Arab countries decide to help the rebels? The Turkish president has many unanswered questions. He really doesn’t want millions of Syrians to cross over to his territory in case of failure. On the other hand, he has already gotten used to Assad.

“The development of the situation in Syria will depend on Erdogan’s actions. There are also other “players” – the US, Israel, the Kurds. Therefore, everything is not at all simple and very ambiguous,” the military expert from Israel emphasized.