No exit in sight: Why Turkey is keeping troops in Syria and Iraq

No exit in sight: Why Turkey is keeping troops in Syria and Iraq

Despite the recent setback for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and a renewed peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Turkey shows no signs of withdrawing its troops from Syria or Iraq. “We have no agenda for withdrawing or leaving those areas,” Turkish Defence Minister Yaser Guler told Hurriyet in an interview published on 9 February. “The decision to withdraw from those areas will be made by the Republic of Turkey,…