Olive Branch wins Erdogan friends at home, but risks standoff with US
Despite the success of Ankara's Syrian military operation in closing Turkish ranks around him, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has raised the possibility of a military confrontation between Turkey and the United States.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has achieved one of his main goals by ordering the Olive Branch operation against the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Afrin. He has won the support of most if not all Turks, who tend to close their ranks at such times.
Journalist Fehmi Koru, who was once close to Erdogan, recalled in a recent article how left-leaning Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit had called snap elections after ordering the military to go to Cyprus in 1974, and won in a landslide. Koru also recalled, however, that Winston Churchill had lost the first elections after World War II despite his role in defeating Hitler’s Germany.
Whatever Erdogan’s calculations, things may not go as smoothly as he expects in Syria, especially now that he has raised the possibility of a military confrontation between Turkey and the United States.
American support for the YPG and its parent organization, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Ankara says are terrorist organizations linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), continues to fuel tensions between Ankara and Washington.
