Turks remain glued to reports about the progress of the Turkish military campaign in northern Syria against the People's Protection Units (YPG), the Kurdish group Ankara considers to be a terrorist organization that poses an existential threat to Turkey. Operation Olive Branch, launched Jan. 20, has sparked a growing debate on whether Ankara should make peace with Damascus so that it can more effectively attain its military and political objectives in northern Syria.

Opposition parties along with retired generals and analysts argue that cooperating with Damascus is the only way to ensure Turkey’s security interests along its long border with Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains adamantly opposed to talking with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, however, even though Ankara established low-level contacts with Damascus prior to launching its onslaught against the YPG in Afrin.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People's Party, told hundreds of delegates during his party’s general congress on Feb. 3 in Ankara that Turkey must establish contact with Damascus without further delay. “I want to make an open call here,” Kilicdaroglu said. “Contact the Syrian government. If Syria’s territorial integrity is to be retained, if the bloodshed is to be stopped, then there is the need to immediately establish ties with the Syrian state and government.” Kilicdaroglu, whose party has come out in support of Operation Olive Branch, was repeating what he and his party executives have been arguing for some time.

Meral Aksener, the leader of the newly formed Good Party, also supports this position. After Turkey launched its military offensive, she told reporters in Ankara that it was wrong to establish low-level diplomatic contacts with Damascus while at the same time giving the impression of harboring animosity toward the Assad regime. Aksener was referring to the recent revelation by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim that Turkey had established contacts with Damascus through Russian intermediaries prior to the military operation.