Can Turkey go it alone in Syria?

Turkish troops have entered their fourth week in Syria. Most security and intelligence analysts believe Turkey has managed the process successfully so far. But there are dark clouds on the horizon that may force a policy change.

As you are reading this article, two more coffins wrapped in the Turkish flag will be sent home carrying the corpses of two fallen soldiers during the Euphrates Shield Operation. The two young men reportedly died not in combat but due to a mine explosion during the construction of a wall that separates the borders. And that means more than "casualties." 

Signs of trouble emerged last week when Turkey was on holiday. U.S. Special Ops entered the area protected by Kurds but faced an uproar when they came face to face with Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups. Turkish Special Ops convinced their partners and pulled the American soldiers from the danger zone. Pro-government Turkish media shouted in headlines: "US troops booed and kicked out of Syria" as if the FSA has become a legitimate partner overnight and a NATO partner has turned into an insurgent group. The sadness of all this comes with a price tag. Every time Turkish public opinion is misled and manipulated by some pro-government outlets, diplomatic and operational troubles surface in the war theater.

Then a visitor came in from the cold in a development that was so important that we needed to pay more attention to him after his departure. Months after the Russian crisis, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of the Russian Army, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, came to Ankara for a tête-à-tête with Gen. Hulusi Akar. Establishing a hotline for emergencies was a positive sign of his visit but there was some harsh dialogue as well. Gerasimov reportedly warned his Turkish counterpart...