Erdogan links Crusades with present-day terror
Turkey’s president looks to the past, rather than to his own failed policies; Aleppo offensive imminent; is Israel employing a double standard in its dealings with Turkey?
Turkey now "least influential player"
Cengiz Candar reports Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bizarre remark at an iftar dinner on the second day of Ramadan, where he said, “Those who came with aspirations of occupying Istanbul now are using the terrorist organization as a tool. They wish to complete their unfulfilled dreams at the time of the Crusades, today with terror.”
Candar suggests that it might have been “somewhat confusing to readers to see Turkey’s president accuse Western countries of trying to revive their dreams of destroying Turkey alongside the statements of Western leaders strongly condemning the Istanbul terror attack [June 7] and standing with Turkey.”
As Erdogan searches history for dragons to slay, Semih Idiz assesses the real-time consequences of Turkey’s Syria policies.
