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Erdogan Threatens Military Escalation in Syria

Dorian Jones

   ISTANBUL - Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is threatening to
   escalate fighting against Syrian government forces following Monday's
   killing of Turkish soldiers. The warning comes in the face of calls for
   restraint from Moscow, but Erdogan is facing growing domestic pressure
   for an uncompromising stance.

   "We have given the necessary response and retaliated in kind, but this
   is not enough," Erdogan said Tuesday. The Turkish military claimed to
   have hit more than 100 targets of Damascus forces Monday.

   The strikes were in response to the killing of five Turkish soldiers by
   artillery from Syrian forces in Idlib province.

   Erdogan said Tuesday he would announce what new military steps he will
   take. He met Monday with his military commanders to discuss the Syrian
   situation.

   In the space of a week, 12 Turkish soldiers have been killed by regime
   forces in Idlib. The Turkish president is facing growing domestic
   pressure to hit back.

   "What are you waiting for? Don't beat around the bush while Turkish
   soldiers are being martyred in attacks carried out by soldiers of
   another state," Meral Aksener, leader of the IYI Party, said in a
   meeting of her party's parliamentary group.

   "(Syrian leader Bashar al-) Assad is a murderer, a criminal and the
   source of hostility," said Devlet Bahceli, the MHP leader and
   parliamentary coalition partner of Erdogan's AKP. Bahceli turned up the
   pressure on Erdogan, calling on Turkish forces to march on Damascus,
   saying until Assad's removal, there will be "no peace."

   "By saying such things, they [Bahceli and Aksener] are cornering
   Erdogan. They are pressuring him, he may feel compelled into taking
   steps he doesn't want," said international relations teacher Soli Ozel
   of Istanbul's Kadir Has University.

   Analysts point out Bahceli's party is increasingly making inroads into
   Erdogan's AKP nationalist voter base. "The basis of [Turkish] foreign
   relations needs to be viewed through the prism of domestic policy,"
   said analyst Sezer Aydin.

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