Deadly Ankara-West fault line cracks open at Syria's Manbij
Confrontation with the United States and the West is a necessary ingredient in Erdogan’s quest to consolidate his nationalist base, making it more likely that Turkey and the United States will collide over Manbij.
The town of Manbij in northern Syria has been gradually becoming a dangerous fault line between Turkey and the West, as Turkish strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his loyalists continue lambasting Western capitals — particularly Washington and Paris — one after the other for their lack of support for Turkey’s offensive against Syrian Kurdish groups.
One of the most recent and striking examples of this enmity came April 1, when Turkey’s low-profile deputy prime minister accused Western governments of supporting terrorist groups to “avenge the defeat of their grandfathers.”
"We drove their grandfathers into the sea," he said. "That is why they are waging a relentless struggle against us,” Hakan Cavusoglu said, referring to the Greco-Turkish war in 1897. “However, because they do not dare to confront us openly, they franchise the terrorist organizations."
He said, “Look at France, Germany, Italy and Spain, they are ruled by technocrats. No real leaders. In the whole world, Recep Tayyip Erdogan occupies the top seat as a leader. You may perhaps add [Russian President Vladimir] Putin next to him.”
