What Are Turkey and Russia Doing in Syria? [View all]

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What Are Turkey and Russia Doing in Syria?

Umit Bektas / Reuters - KATHY GILSINAN DEC 19, 2016

Some background on the assassination of the Russian ambassador in Ankara

When an off-duty police officer fatally shot the Russian ambassador in Turkey on Monday, he reportedly shouted: “Don’t forget Aleppo. Don’t forget Syria.” Russia has attracted broad international condemnation for its role in the sustained siege and bombardment of rebel-held enclaves in Aleppo, which in recent days fell to the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies.

Turkey and Russia have been on opposite sides of the conflict, with Turkey arming fighters opposed to Russia’s ally Assad. Last November, Turkey shot down a Russian military jet it said had violated its airspace, prompting a rupture in relations. Following an attempted coup against him over the summer, though, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid his first post-coup visit to Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and began to mend the rift. Last week, Turkey and Russia brokered a deal with Syrian rebels, and without the United States, to evacuate civilians from Aleppo; the foreign and defense ministers from Russia, Turkey, and Iran are still scheduled to meet in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss the situation.

Monday’s attack took place in a context of spillover from the Syrian conflict into Turkey, where ISIS has staged several attacks in the last year, even as the Turkish government fights a separate battle against Kurdish separatists in its southeast and over the border into Syria. Following the attack, I spoke to Steven A. Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations about its background and its implications. A condensed and edited transcript of our discussion follows.

Kathy Gilsinan: What is Turkey doing with Russia in Syria?

Steven A. Cook: Well, most recently the Turks are working with the Russians on the evacuation of East Aleppo. Interestingly, the Turks and the Russians did not go to the United States to participate in this, in any way, shape, or form. I think this speaks to the quality of U.S.-Turkey relations, and also the idea that the Turks are seeking better relations with the Russians, even though they’ve been on opposite sides of this horrific conflict in Syria...

Read more:
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/12/whats-turkey-doing-in-syria/511148/