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Turkey's new 'Erdogan Doctrine'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's aggressive foreign and security policies are coalescing into a clear doctrine of pre-emptive action that he seems to be using both to drum up domestic support and for leverage in negotiations with the West.
Turkish army officers stand at attention during a Republic Day ceremony at Anitkabir, the mausoleum of modern Turkey's founder Ataturk, to mark the republic's anniversary in Ankara, Turkey, October 29, 2016.  REUTERS/Umit Bektas - RTX2QXNK

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan isn't known as a patient man. The new "Erdogan Doctrine" won't do much to change that.

The strategy is turning heads with its proactive stances. Erdogan recently hosted local village headmen at the presidential palace in Ankara. He definitely caught their attention when he said, “After today we won’t wait for border problems to break out. We won’t wait until the last minute, until we fully sink into a morass. From now on, we will confront problems. Is there a problem with terror? We won’t wait for terror outfits to strike us. Wherever they are, we will go find them and hit them hard.”

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