Yetkin Report

  • Türkçe
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Life
  • Writers
  • Archive
  • Contact

Syria math doesn’t add up without Arab Spring

by Nuri Çolakoğlu / 04 March 2020, Wednesday / Published in Politics
A crowd gathers in Tahrir Square, Cairo during the anti-regime protests in 2011.
Photo by Jonathan Rashad.

Nuri Çolakoğlu

I’ve been watching the news and debates on TV, reading reports and comments on the internet for weeks. Of course, the agenda is invariably Idlib. But when I try to understand the issue and solve the equation, I see that the most crucial point is overlooked: an undying longing of 200 years.

I’ll try to elaborate. Russia grew from the small Eastern European Duchy of Moscow. Its dream for 200 years has been reaching “warm water ports” and setting sail to the world through there. Perhaps because the North and East were covered by ice, or maybe because the territory was surrounded by seas that were far away from almost everywhere, this dream remained out of reach. Neither in the period of Tsardom nor the Stalin era, when the U.S.S.R. was considered among the world’s great powers, Russia managed to reach such a goal. The first ten years of the Cold War saw no improvements either.

But after the 1950s, the awakening in the Arab world as the colonialist period came to an end, paved the way for Russia and granted it the ways of achieving its dreams.

As winds of revolution began to blow, the Arab countries that had just gained their independence found a strong ally in Moscow. Through this relation, Russia gained access to so many military bases, especially in the Mediterranean, that it couldn’t have seen it in its wildest dreams.

The first blow to this lovely story came when Russia lost its way during the Perestroika and Glasnost periods. It ended with the Arab Spring. It was burden on Russia when Algeria, Libya, and Egypt got out of control and Syria took a separate road. So Russia made one last move and came out on the field in Syria. The fight started little by little at the peripheries, then it was all out: Russia fully joined the game. And in the meantime, on top of the naval base in Syria, they got hold of the air bases and other military positions too.

As the U.S.’s Great Middle Eastern Dream came crashing down, Russia took the center stage in the region.

Turkey wants Russia to stop supporting the Assad regime. But this would actually mean Russia leaving the last position it has in the region and waving goodbye to the warm water ports.

Any assessment made without understanding this and without coming up with a formula that enables Russia to somehow retain its gains is bound to hit a wall.

Yeni yazılardan haberdar olun! Lütfen aboneliğinizi güncelleyin.

İstenmeyen posta göndermiyoruz! Daha fazla bilgi için gizlilik politikamızı okuyun.

Aboneliğinizi onaylamak için gelen veya istenmeyen posta kutunuzu kontrol edin.

What you can read next

Turkey warns US over lifting embargo on Greek Cyprus
Turkish diplomat Sinirlioğlu tagged as the new OSCE Secretary General
The Kobani verdicts: Dissecting a political trial
  • After İmamoğlu, Turkish opposition leader Özel faces prison threat, too3 July 2025
  • Overcoming semantics in Cyprus, establishing functionality3 July 2025
  • Can Ankara convince Hamas to a ceasefire and disarmament?1 July 2025
  • Erdogan with Trump after five years: why can they get along better now?26 June 2025
  • The Story of Iranian Women: The Resistance Never Stopped26 June 2025
  • Why did Türkiye not condemn the U.S. strike on Iran? What is going on?23 June 2025
  • What the U.S. strike on Iran might unleash — from the Gulf to Ankara23 June 2025
  • Turkish Defense Ministry on high alert against migration risk from Iran18 June 2025
  • Five Lessons from Israel’s strike on Iran, one is about Türkiye14 June 2025
  • Ankara watched Israel’s Iran attack: 200 jets in 6 waves, local support13 June 2025
Search the news archive...

Politics

Economy

Life

Writers

Archive

Türkçe

About

Impressum

FAQ

Advertising

Contact

Made with ♥ by tbtcreative.com © 2022 yetkinreport.com All rights reserved.

Yetkin Report     ·      Help     ·      User Agreement     ·      Legal

TOP