Erdogan denied Syrian opportunity to shore up electoral fortunes

Date:22Feb2019

Critical article to understand how the Syria issue is shelved until after Turkey’s election, with the side effect that it robs AKP-MHP off   a potent propaganda tool.

There is perhaps a “matter of survival” not for Turkey, but for Erdogan. His concern, so it seems, is to prevent an unmanageable loss of votes for the AKP amid Turkey’s deepening economic crisis. Hence, his attempt to create the perception of a survival threat over unidentified regional developments came across as a move to consolidate the nationalist voter base in a bid to overcome the actual threat, which is the prospect of electoral losses.