Erdogan hopes Putin summit will greenlight Turkey's new Syria operation
Ankara’s central role in facilitating the Russia-Ukraine grain deal could strengthen its hand in securing Moscow’s acceptance of a Turkish military incursion.
ISTANBUL — Turkey’s president will meet Russia’s Vladimir Putin on Friday amid plaudits for his role in the Ukraine-Russia grain deal and plans for a military incursion into north Syria on his mind.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s stock on the international stage has rarely been higher and the Turkish leader will be hoping to translate it into Russian agreement for a mission in Syria targeting the Kurdish force known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The summit in Sochi, some 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of Odessa, where the first Ukrainian grain shipment left on Monday, will be Erdogan’s eighth trip to Russia since the start of 2019.
“Putin and Erdogan have established a special relationship. They understand each other and have direct communication,” said Emre Caliskan, a research fellow at the London-based Foreign Policy Center.
