Ankara sidelined on Syria
Ankara has hardly any influence left over events in Syria and its goal of deposing President Bashar al-Assad is no closer now than four years ago, while the persisting conflict poses ever-increasing headaches for Turkey.
As the Syrian crisis enters its fifth year, an end to one of the bloodiest conflicts the region has seen in modern times appears no nearer, leaving Turkey bearing a large share of the burden while facing serious quandaries it has found no answers to yet.
Having marginalized itself regionally in a series of miscalculations since the end of 2011, Ankara has hardly any influence left over events in neighboring Syria, let alone in the rest of the Middle East. Meanwhile, events continue to move in a direction that is anathema to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who still insist on the total defeat of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and his regime and its replacement by an elected government.
