For Erdogan, Christmas — So To Speak — Is Coming Early This Year

Seismic events in Syria show how Ankara will easily don the mantle of regional power broker, even if some feathers are quietly ruffled.

Alexis Mitas/Getty Images
President Erdogan.  Alexis Mitas/Getty Images

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk he will never be, but the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria has shown President Erdogan to be the shrewdest leader of Turkey in recent history.

The famously grouchy septuagenarian has leveraged Turkey’s position between Europe and Asia, and its membership in the North Atlantic Treaty, to maximum effect as change blows over its southern neighbor. He may not celebrate Christmas, but the gifts keep coming. 

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