Erdogan scores big with Afrin operation, but problems remain
Military experts say taking Afrin will be a tactical success for Ankara, but Turkey’s Kurdish concerns in Syria appear to be far from over.
It’s too early to say what Turkey’s military offensive on Afrin, code-named Operation Olive Branch, will produce with regard to Ankara’s long-term expectations in Syria.
Nevertheless, one has to hand it to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He achieved a major coup with this operation against the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), a group Ankara says is a terrorist organization that threatens Turkey.
Whatever others may say, this sort of situation leaves a leader looking strong in the eyes of his people. Erdogan has therefore scored major political points at home, which he will use all the way up to the 2019 presidential elections.
Turkey is also now poised to gain more territory in northern Syria with the help of thousands of Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters. It can add this to the territory it captured under Operation Euphrates Shield, which it mounted in August 2016.
