Turkey Settles for Sidelining Syrian Kurds

Instead of trying to oust Assad from power in Syria, Turkey now hopes to win Russian and American support to corner the Kurds and prevent them from posing a greater threat to Turkey than they do now.

by Joseph Flaherty

When the Syrian conflict began, Ankara was among the loudest voices calling for President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster. But as the multi-sided war rages on, and the embattled Syrian leader is no closer to being overthrown, Turkey has pivoted to a familiar adversary: Kurdish fighters across the border.

In recent meetings with the new Trump a…