There’s more to Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria than the media’s reporting

Description

Turkey’s recent invasion of northern Syria – i.e. “Operation Peace Spring” – sought to displace largely Kurdish communities and establish what Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan calls a 20-mile ‘safe zone’ alongside the Turkish-Syrian border. This has faced widespread international condemnation. But the commentaries on Turkey’s latest attack have mostly focused on the history of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict and its relation to Turkey’s alleged national security concerns and the Syrian refugee crisis. And they overlook two crucial reasons for the invasion – the economic crisis in Turkey and Erdoğan’s political challenges at home.