Davutoglu's wishful thinking
Remarks by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu that US President Barack Obama is coming around to Ankara’s position on Syria are not supported by statements from Washington.
The Syrian crisis has turned into the bane of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s life, defying all his predictions and plans for the region. In August 2012, when he was still foreign minister, he confidently announced during a television interview that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had only a few months to go, if not weeks. That prediction turned out to be woefully wrong, of course.
Davutoglu is maintaining that he received strong signals from President Barack Obama indicating that Washington was preparing to change tack on Syria, and to line up with Ankara’s position by making the Assad regime the priority target, while relegating the fight against the Islamic State (IS) to a secondary position.
