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Turkey faces uphill battle to improve image after Syria operation

The Turkish president is maintaining his hard line, which indicates that Ankara’s ties with the international community will remain strained.
Turkish military vehicles arrive at the Turkish-Syrian border before a joint Turkish-Russian patrol in northeast Syria, near the Turkish border town of Kiziltepe in Mardin province, Turkey, November 1, 2019. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan - RC188E120370

The cost of Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring in northeastern Syria against the People's Protection Units (YPG) is growing fast for Ankara.

The operation secured political points for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at home, where the mood is increasingly nationalistic, and achieved some of Turkey’s objectives east of the Euphrates River. On aggregate, though, Turkey’s gains could be minor when compared to the unprecedented international isolation it now faces.

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