Turkey upbeat, nervous as first civilian convoy evacuates Aleppo
Turkish media outlets across the political spectrum are reporting on the evacuation of the first group of residents from eastern Aleppo with hope, but also apprehension.
A diverse range of Turkish media outlets reported Dec. 15 that the first bus convoy transporting about 1,000 Aleppans had left rebel-held districts in eastern Aleppo and arrived at areas held by other Turkey-backed rebels. Dogan Media Group’s daily newspaper Hurriyet ran the story with the flashy headline “And they arrived at their destination!” According to Hurriyet, the evacuees reached the Rashidin district west of Aleppo around 5 p.m. local time. Pro-government daily Sabah had a more dramatic headline: “They reached the target under the cover of jets.”
Meanwhile, Yeni Safak, another leading pro-government daily, noted that staff from Turkey’s controversial nongovernmental organization IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation welcomed the evacuees in Rashidin.
Since July 2012, Syria’s armed opposition backed by the United States, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia has fought the Russian and Iranian-supported Syrian regime for control of Aleppo, the country’s largest city and its commercial and cultural heart until the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. After Russia sent in ground troops and commenced airstrikes against the rebels in 2015, the tide in Aleppo and its environs slowly began to turn in the regime’s favor.
The regime’s advances in northwestern Syria puts Ankara in an awkward position. On Nov. 29, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that his country’s military operations in Syria were meant “to end the rule of the cruel [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad.” Facing Russia’s potential wrath, Erdogan quickly walked back his remarks and said Ankara aimed to rid Syria of the Islamic State and prevent Kurdish groups from consolidating their gains along the Turkish-Syrian border. After backing the opposition for the past five years and calling for the Syrian president to step down, the fall of Aleppo is going to be a serious blow to Turkey’s attempts to reorder Syria and the greater Middle East. For now, Erdogan seems to have reconciled with the idea that his archnemesis in Damascus will win this round.
