![ahıska03.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/12/ah%C4%B1ska03.jpg/ah%C4%B1ska03.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=knuuyRy0)
Metin Gurcan is a columnist for Al-Monitor's Turkey Pulse. He is a founding member of Ali Babacan's new political party, and served in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Iraq as a Turkish military adviser from 2002 to 2008. After resigning from the military, he became an Istanbul-based independent security analyst. Gurcan obtained his PhD in 2016 with a dissertation on changes in the Turkish military over the preceding decade. He has published extensively in Turkish and foreign academic journals, and his book “What Went Wrong in Afghanistan: Understanding Counterinsurgency in Tribalized, Rural, Muslim Environments” was published in August 2016. On Twitter: @Metin4020
![ahıska03.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/12/ah%C4%B1ska03.jpg/ah%C4%B1ska03.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=knuuyRy0)
![GettyImages-1166779481.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/12/GettyImages-1166779481.jpg/GettyImages-1166779481.jpg?h=f15b89ee&itok=HJbz__3t)
![Metin Gurcan](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2014/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg?h=f60cfb31&itok=bkTQ93w9)
Metin Gurcan
![GettyImages-1183593286.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/12/GettyImages-1183593286.jpg/GettyImages-1183593286.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=uGXbo-VE)
![Metin Gurcan](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2014/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg?h=f60cfb31&itok=bkTQ93w9)
Metin Gurcan
![A Turkish military M60T battle tank is seen along the M4 highway, which links the northern Syrian provinces of Aleppo and Latakia, before incoming joint Turkish and Russian military patrols (as per an earlier agreed upon ceasefire deal) in the village of al-Nayrab, about 14 kilometres southeast of the city of Idlib and seven kilometres west of Saraqib in northwestern Syria on March 15, 2020. - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan reached a deal on March 5 to crea](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/12/GettyImages-1207206728.jpg/GettyImages-1207206728.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=Yi2tLt_w)
![Metin Gurcan](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2014/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg?h=f60cfb31&itok=bkTQ93w9)
Metin Gurcan
![US Vice President Joe Biden (L) gestures next to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a meeting at Yildiz Mabeyn Palace on January 23, 2016 in Istanbul. / AFP / POOL / SEDAT SUNA (Photo credit should read SEDAT SUNA/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/11/GettyImages-506416754.jpg/GettyImages-506416754.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=ZCliCC1a)
![Metin Gurcan](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2014/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg?h=f60cfb31&itok=bkTQ93w9)
Metin Gurcan
![Russian-built Proton-M rocket with the Turksat-4A Turkish communications satellite blasts off at the Russian leased Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome on February 15, 2014. AFP PHOTO/STRINGER (Photo credit should read STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/11/GettyImages-469460881.jpg/GettyImages-469460881.jpg?h=6f8e8448&itok=5w7rwDEF)
![Metin Gurcan](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2014/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg?h=f60cfb31&itok=bkTQ93w9)
Metin Gurcan
![A woman holds the national flag and a portrait of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev as people celebrate in the streets of the capital Baku on November 10, 2020, after Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed a ceasefire following a string of Azeri victories in fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. - Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a deal with Russia to end weeks of fierce clashes over Nagorno-Karabakh on November 10, 2020, after a string of Azerbaijani victories in its fight to retake the disputed re](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/11/GettyImages-1229562011.jpg/GettyImages-1229562011.jpg?h=4bd20877&itok=j4VhUK8J)
![Metin Gurcan](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2014/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg?h=f60cfb31&itok=bkTQ93w9)
Metin Gurcan
![Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan exchange documents during a signing ceremony following their meeting in Kiev on February 3, 2020. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP) (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/10/GettyImages-1198369967.jpg/GettyImages-1198369967.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=HCREpnX2)
![Metin Gurcan](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2014/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg?h=f60cfb31&itok=bkTQ93w9)
Metin Gurcan
![GettyImages-1189941864.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/10/GettyImages-1189941864.jpg/GettyImages-1189941864.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=xrYJtwxm)
![Metin Gurcan](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2014/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg?h=f60cfb31&itok=bkTQ93w9)
Metin Gurcan
![Military trucks are seen on the side of a road near the village of Zangakatun in Armenia on September 30, 2020. - Armenia and Azerbaijan rejected international calls for negotiations and a halt to fighting as fierce clashes over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh spilled over into a fourth day on September 30. (Photo by - / AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/09/GettyImages-1228800534.jpg/GettyImages-1228800534.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=isHEGeNJ)
![Metin Gurcan](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2014/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg?h=f60cfb31&itok=bkTQ93w9)
Metin Gurcan
![Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj (L) hold a joint press conference at the Presidential Complex in Ankara on June 4, 2020. (Photo by Adem ALTAN / AFP) (Photo by ADEM ALTAN/AFP via Getty Images)](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/09/GettyImages-1217500812.jpg/GettyImages-1217500812.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=2GGSKzVw)
![Metin Gurcan](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2014/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg?h=f60cfb31&itok=bkTQ93w9)
Metin Gurcan
![GettyImages-576801852.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/article_header/public/almpics/2020/09/GettyImages-576801852.jpg/GettyImages-576801852.jpg?h=a5ae579a&itok=d1Q_lIDL)
![Metin Gurcan](https://www.al-monitor.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/authors/2014/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg/12_Photo%20Metin%20Gurcan.jpg?h=f60cfb31&itok=bkTQ93w9)
Metin Gurcan