Turkey making itself at home in Syria
Turkey is looking less like a visitor in northern Syria as it sets up more permanent facilities and resettles Turkmens in certain areas.
![MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-TURKEY Turkish military vehicles drive in the Syrian rebel-held town of al-Rai, as they head towards the northern Syrian town of al-Bab, Syria January 4, 2017. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi - RTX2XITU](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2017/05/RTX2XITU.jpg/RTX2XITU.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=HMPkB-90)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s favorite slogan when defending Operation Euphrates Shield and other cross-border actions in Syria is, “If you are not in the field, then you will be on the menu.”
To be in the field, to get a place at the table, is his way of summarizing Turkey’s interventionist foreign policy that relies on hard power. Nowadays, Turkey’s activities in the Syrian turf it controls between Jarablus-Azaz and al-Bab signals it has more on its mind than combating the Islamic State (IS).