With nearly one million displaced Syrians massing near the Turkish border in the...
ISTANBUL - With nearly one million displaced Syrians massing near the Turkish border in the face of a Syrian government military offensive, President Tayyip Erdogan’s options are narrowing. He feels blindsided by Russia’s push into Syria’s Idlib region and the risk of full-blown conflict is growing, but Turkey’s Erdogan remains hopeful a deal with Moscow may offer a way out of the crisis, according to Turkish government officials and other sources.
Turkish government and Syrian opposition military officials, diplomats and analysts said while a full-scale Turkish-backed military operation is still a possibility, depending on how hard Russia bargains, Erdogan is more likely at this late stage to agree a deal with Moscow that has him withdraw some of Turkey’s military presence in exchange for a role in deciding Syria’s future.
As Russian-backed Syrian government forces have pushed northwest, displaced Syrians have amassed along Turkey’s closed southern border sleeping in tents or outside, with at least several children having died in freezing weather in recent months. “The bombing comes at us from everywhere... We no longer have any guarantor, not Turkey nor anyone else,” said Mohamad Atouf, 31, sheltering with his wife and four children in an empty hut near the border town of Azaz.
Faced with Russian air supremacy in Idlib, Erdogan’s most likely action would be striking a ceasefire deal with Putin in which the Turkish leader walks back repeated threats of an offensive but saves face with a role in deciding Syria’s future and in managing the migrant crisis, according to the government officials, diplomats and analysts.
A separate Turkish official said a final resolution was unlikely until March 6, when leaders have floated but not confirmed a Turkey-Russia-Iran summit on Idlib.
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