Turkey’s misguided policies now haunt it at Mosul
Turkey’s foreign policy is subject to bizarre cycles, and nowhere is that clearer than in the following example:
Turkey criticizes the Mosul operation but is doing everything possible to be part of it.
Author Fehim Taştekin Posted October 21, 2016
TranslatorTimur Göksel
In March 2011, when then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan traveled to Baghdad, he was met with an avalanche of cheers and affection from supporters of Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr. Thousands of greeters lining his route carried placards welcoming him. Five years later, there is not the slightest trace of that affection. On Oct. 18, Sadr’s supporters demonstrated in front of the Turkish Embassy in Baghdad, shouting “Occupier, get out!”
As the dialogue between Ankara and Baghdad turned into angry threats, Erdogan warned, “We are determined to be in the Mosul operation. If coalition forces don’t want Turkey, then our B plan will enter into force. If not that, we have plan C.”
What plans B and C are is open to speculation. There are many who see Erdogan’s threat as a bluff he hopes will portray him as a strong leader, but there are also some who think Turkey is liable to seek a new adventure similar to its outing in Syria.
Read more:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/10/turkey-iraq-mosul-operation-ankara-misguided-policies.html#ixzz4Nv34gp9p
