Erdogan and redlines: Russia foils Erdogan's plans in Syria (2 – 3)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has is being held hostage by redlines drawn him in the past period by influential states in the region.
In Libya, he is incapable of crossing the redline drawn
him by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, namely this of Sirte and
al-Jufra.
The Turkish president has also failed in achieving his
goals in Syria after Russia reined in his ambitions in this Arab country.
The same thing has happened in the East Mediterranean
after French President Emmanuel Macron sent naval units to safeguard the Greek
coast.
Fighting on all fronts
Erdogan has changed the zero problems policy of his
country into a problems on all fronts one.
He once viewed the Syrian civil war as a good
opportunity for him to expand the influence of his country in Syria. However,
Russia drew redlines for him in Syria, sabotaging his ambitions in the country.
Erdogan has been campaigning for deposing Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad since 2011. Nonetheless, he failed in achieving this
objective, despite all the military operations he carried out in Syria and the
large number of terrorist organizations he supported in it.
The Turkish army is also sustaining untold losses at
the hands of the Syrian army. This is especially true with the support given
the Syrian army by Russia.
Erdogan is accused of weakening his country's army. He
embroiled the army in the presumed coup attempt in July 2016. He also destroyed
three successive generations of army officers.
The Turkish president ordered the arrest of almost all
senior army officers in a political satire revealed by a leaked classified
document recently.
The document says that Turkish authorities had
arrested 7,000 people in the first 72 hours following the presumed coup
attempt.
It adds that Erdogan also ordered the sacking of tens
of thousands of civilians and military officials from their jobs.
He also used the presumed coup attempt to amend the
Turkish constitution and expand his powers.
