S2 E78. Turkish President Erdogan: What’s He Up To In Syria?

It all went down with lightning speed and took the world by surprise: the toppling of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime by a group of rebels united in their hatred of the brutal dictator. Abu Mohammed al Jolani, who has led this so-far successful rebellion, has been working to present to the world a pragmatic image. He has been associated since his youth with various jihadist groups but is suggesting that the new Syria will be a proper country where civilians may go about their lives peacefully. Olive branches have been sort of extended to the Kurds as well as Israel, but in very guarded language. After all, Turkish President Erdogan has been Jolani’s main benefactor and supplier of weapons, and he is not known to be a silent, benign actor. No. If Erdogan is in the mix, it is because he wants something. And we already know that he wants to bomb the Kurds into submission. Because that is what he has been doing for the past week or so. So—something’s gotta give. Syria is a complex pastiche of minorities—religious and ethnic—and many scores to settle. ISIS-aligned jihadists remain strong in sections of northern Syria, where thousands of former ISIS fighters and their families are imprisoned in primitive camps controlled by the Kurds. Russia has been driven from its Syrian bases. Iran has suddenly lost its land bridge through Syria to Lebanon, cutting off Hezballah supply routes. And the Biden administration just isn’t getting too fussed about Turkey these days. It will leave that mess for President-elect Trump. The Biden White House is doing its darnedest to negotiate a deal for the release of the remaining 100 hostages in Hamas captivity. The stuff of an emotional and enduring legacy. To untangle it all we speak with Turkish expert (and expatriate) Sinan Ciddi, whose biography is featured below.

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Sinan Ciddi is an expert on Turkish politics and an associate professor of National Security Studies at Marine Corps University (MCU). Prior to joining MCU, Sinan was the Executive Director of the Institute of Turkish Studies, based at Georgetown University (2011-2020). He continues to serve as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Sinan is the author of Kemalism in Turkish Politics: The Republican People’s Party: Secularism and Nationalism (Routledge, January 2009) a book which explains the electoral weakness of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party.

He obtained his Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2007 in the field of Political Science.

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