Maybe Turkey has a terrible politicians atm, But in this case they are right as f***.
Russia forces people to relocate, EU and USA want to stop that, But they are giving very little support.
There is no PKK/YPG in Idlib. Turkey is there only for avoiding refugee problem and solving the existent one, and nobody gives shit since Turkey has shitty image atm.
For all those people who say Turkey shouldn't be funding extremist groups, I agree. Funding extremism is a recipe for disaster. But it is hypocritical for any of us to blame Turkey for arming extremists when every country in the region is doing it. Pakistan, Iran, Saudi, US, have all been doing it for decades. Let's not pretend Turkey is the only guilty one here.
EU and USA probably told Erdogan that Russia was never gonna do something like this, and now at least 35 deaths directly from Russian airstrike to Turkish military base.
EU and USA should get their shit together and solve that Syrian conflict immediately, Trump literally ran away from that conflict in order to not deal with the problem most likely USA created at first. And EU is just not caring enough because that hate Turkey anyway.
EU should start doing some shit. Turkish soldiers are not there because of Erdogan's neo-ottoman dreams. Its only because of refugee problem, and its not only Turkey's problem.
Otherwise not a single Turkish officer will care about stopping refugees to flow into Europe. Why would they?
West and Turkey were together in this mess against Assad, unlike Iraq war. Now west left Turkey alone, and wants them to pay all the bill.
When Turkey retreats from Syria, how do you think that war is gonna end? With massacre. Its crystal clear. Assad will not show any pity. Thats why those refugees will never go back to Syria but they will prefer living as refugees in Turkey as long as Assad is there.
What's left of their homes in Syria anyways? Why would they go back?
The moment Turkey retreats all those people will run into Turkey to not get killed by Assad.
And most likely they will prefer staying here.
A large part of Syria is former rebel controlled areas now under government control. Syria isn't going to rebuild itself. Germany was a mess in 1945, Japan had been nuked. They rebuilt their country. Moving the Syrian people isn't exactly a good option. We are talking about a dictator who has killed his own citizens many times. Would you trust Assad and go back to Syria? If you were a Syrian refugee who was against him?
Turkey isn't in Syria for fun. It's there because you can't choose your neighbors and they have to deal with Syria whether they like it or not. Closing your eyes doesn't make the problem go away.
For all these fools who are saying Turkey had no business in Syria and they didn't get invited by Assad, ofc Assad didn't invite Turkey because he's the one who created this refugee crisis. In case anyone forgot, you can see Idlib from Turkey, it's not some far away place.
Turkey is hosting more refugees than any other country in the world. Who are we to complain that they shouldn't be involved in Syria? They have every right to be involved if they are hosting that many refugees. EU gave Turkey maybe 3 billion aid for refugees but it costs Turkey 40 billion. That war has hurt their economy a lot and created a lot of security concern inside Turkey. EU was the one who bitched about safe zones but didn't give a better solution. What was Turkey supposed to do? Let Russia bomb the shit out of Idlib so another 2 million can flee towards Turkey while Europe is so scared of taking any refugees that UK ditched the EU? People hate Erdogan but I haven't seen a single person offer a better solution.
Everyone and their dog over here is saying Turkey should just pull out and quit. Well guess what, it's not that simple. US could've pulled out of Afghanistan 10 years ago, there was a reason they didn't. Stabilizing the region is important as s***. I don't like the fact that US spent 2 decades in Afghanistan but now US and Taliban have come to a peaceful negotiated settlement which is the best outcome. Now imagine if US pulled out in 2010 instead of 2020. Does anyone remember what kind of violence, bombings, and suicide blasts were going on in Pakistan in 2010? It was one of the most violent and bloodiest periods in Pakistan's entire history. If US abandoned the region at such a critical time, the region would've been fucked. Over a period of 10 years, gradual reduction of tensions and violence allowed a mutual diplomatic settlement to be reached and that is how Syria should be resolved, ideally in less time.
It is not that simple that Turkey just gets up and leaves the region. It's not America that they can just get out whenever they want. Syria is in Turkey's neighborhood and vice versa. They have to live next to Syria and they need some stability. 5 million refugees is not sustainable and Erdogan wants to resettle them back in Syria. Europe is terrified of refugees and Russia doesn't give two shits. So Turkey has to do something, doing nothing is a not an option. Erdogan knows that Syrian refugees who are afraid of Assad will not go back to Syria until Assad is gone. The refugee crisis will exist as long as Assad is in power and any solution to Turkey's refugee crisis will require weakening or ousting Assad by any means possible. If that means arming rebels and extremists, so be it. It worked for Pakistan in the Soviet war. Maybe people don't want to hear the ugly truth but that's what it is, whether you like it or not. Assad will massacre all of those refugees if they return which is why Erdogan wanted a bulletproof guarantee for a Turkish controlled safe zone. When it became clear that Russia wouldn't allow it and the West didn't care, Turkey realized they had to get whatever Syrian land they can annex themselves by force so they can resettle these refugees.
Maybe for the first time Turkey is seriously considering taking out Assad or getting the US involved to do it for them. Syria is already destroyed, it can't get much more bleak at this point. From Turkey's POV, their back is against the wall and options are very limited as Russia is being completely uncooperative. All Russia cares about is Syria's territorial integrity which means jackshit if the entire population has fled Syria. NATO is absolutely useless but US has openly backed Turkey in this situation which is what matters. Will US get involved? I doubt it but I could see some kind of backroom deal between US and Turkey to blitzkrieg SAA out of oblivion by handing over S400's and unblocking F35's or something like that. If Russia could turn the war in favor of Assad, it's not impossible for US to turn it back against him vis a vis Turkey. US doesn't want to get involved in Syria but they do want someone else to do it besides the Kurds and US might sense that a strong country like Turkey is finally motivated enough to do it.
The reason Turkey wants Assad regime out is so that Syria can be safe for the 4-5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey to return back to normal life in Syria, so that the burden on the Turkish economy can be lifted. Assad or anyone that kills their own citizens is not a person that can be trusted on their word to protect refugees from harm if they return to Syria.
If it was Iran hosting 4 million Syrian refugees, Iran would be a lot more vocal about wanting Assad out so anti-regime refugees could safely resettle back into Syria.
You can replace Turkey with any country and it is the same story. Pakistan wanted Afghanistan to return to normal so refugees in Pakistan could return to Afghanistan. Some will stay in Pakistan but many want to return home.
Plus, this is middle east man. Some people just don't care about that "rebuild" thing here.
Yeah EU deserved this. Whole refugee crisis not only Turkey's problem. Let's be real here, Turkey caring of 5 million refugees. It's too much for that economy.
Europe and America should have stepped up, and at least took over the camps. Open a whole string of them in Greece, Cyprus, aid Turkey, turn the American Zone in Syria into a refugee+UN zone.
Turkey isn't perfect but the West dropped the ball, and has, for nearly a decade now.
Millions of people need homes, food, security, jobs. Europe has dragged its feet on this. America looks away. Turkey is not some rich hyperpower that it can take in millions of refugees and come out of it swinging.
All the Europeans and Americans had to do was take in the refugees, put them somewhere, keep them clean, safe, trained for jobs, the like. And then when the war is over, provide some more aid and leave it at that. But nooo.
Now Europe is going to be caught with its pants down and America will just shutter itself even more. Turkey doesn't care at this point - it can either drive to Damascus or go down fighting at the border, but its reaching its limit.
Ya'll aint going to mow down the refugees, so they're gonna keep on coming, so the next thing to do is to take care of them ASAP on the spot so they don't come in and cause strain or problems. It's logical.
