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As Assad lingers, Turkey focuses on ISIS

Despite its predictions and aspirations, Turkey has lost what grip it had on many of today's political and military conflicts, to the amusement and satisfaction of many in the region.
A boy holds bread as he walks in front of the Syrian opposition flag during a protest against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Aleppo's Salaheddine neighbourhood January 10, 2014. REUTERS/Hosam Katan (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT) - RTX178MM
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Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has rarely been correct in his predictions about Syria. Just about every plan and expectation he had for this country has gone awry in ways he never factored in. Some of his assessments about the current situation appear equally questionable. For example, he is saying now that Turkey's new bane in northern Syria, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), is in league with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

In a rare admission that things are not going according to his expectations, Davutoglu now acknowledges, albeit indirectly, that the activities of radical Islamists in Syria are making Assad the lesser evil for the international community. This stands in stark contrast with his predictions less than two years ago that Assad had only months, if not weeks, to go.

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