In late May, Turkish President Erdogan announced that Turkey plans to launch another operation into northern Syria. Turkish artillery fire in the region has been registered since early June, while Russia has intensified military patrols in the parts of northern Syria it controls. Both the US and Russia have called on Turkey not to launch this new military operation in the region. Ambassador Marc Pierini joins Thanos Davelis to look at why Turkey has taken this decision now, and what challenges this will pose not only for the region, but for Ankara’s relations with Washington and Moscow. 

Marc Pierini is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, where his research focuses on developments in the Middle East and Turkey from a European perspective. Prior to this, Pierini was a career EU diplomat, and served as EU ambassador to Turkey (2006–2011). 

Read Ambassador Marc Pierini’s latest piece here: A New Operation in Syria?

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