Visions in the Labyrinths of Politics: When the Solution Becomes the Problem

The fall of the Syrian regime was not the long-awaited triumph Ankara had envisioned--;-- rather, it became a haunting nightmare echoing through its own corridors of power. Turkish strategists believed that Assad’s departure would fling open wide avenues to regional influence and resolve both the refugee dilemma and the Kurdish question. Yet, to their dismay, they awoke to a Middle East far more entangled than their calculations, a landscape where powerful rivals dug their trenches along Turkey’s borders. The spell, once thought to be theirs to cast, backfired—and instead of breathing a sigh of relief, Ankara found itself confronted with a new, assertive actor filling the geopolitical vacuum: Israel, spreading like wildfire, entrenching itself in the Golan and Suwayda, and challenging Ankara’s imperial nostalgia with blunt rhetoric that recalls the echoes of Ottoman grandeur while warning against its return.

This was no longer a mere matter of military skirmishes--;-- it evolved into a deep, multidimensional strategic conundrum. The Israel of today bears little resemblance to the Israel of the 1990s, when Ankara and Tel Aviv forged a pragmatic alliance against shared adversaries. That partnership has dissolved into irrelevance. Israel now leans on new allies in Greece and Cyprus, while the Abraham Accords have reshaped the region’s power dynamics, steadily diminishing Turkey’s leverage in the broader equation. The conflict is no longer confined to territorial disputes—it represents a seismic geopolitical shift, one in which Ankara no longer holds the brush that paints the regional canvas.

Amid this shifting storm, the Kurdish question has once again forced its way through the window of history. Erdogan had once hoped for progress in his delicate dialogue with Ocalan, seeking both political concessions and parliamentary support from Kurdish factions. Yet Syrian Kurds—emboldened by subtle, in--dir--ect assurances from Israel regarding the protection of minorities—have grown increasingly steadfast in their demands for autonomy. What Ankara had sought to contain has slipped beyond its grasp, leaving it trapped between the hammer of Israeli expansion and the anvil of Kurdish aspirations.

Neither persistent diplomatic overtures to Washington, nor military posturing, nor even Ankara’s cautious flirtation with Moscow has yielded the desired results. Russia, after all, is no dependable ally--;-- it will not jeopardize its growing strategic rapport with Israel for Turkey’s sake. Thus, Ankara now finds itself wandering through a labyrinth without exit, where every path forward threatens to deepen its entanglement unless it redefines its vision entirely. Perhaps the solution lies not in clinging to an outdated model of centralized dominance, but in embracing Syria’s pluralistic reality, guaranteeing minority rights, and investing in the architecture of a new political order built on citizenship rather than domination.

But the question remains: Can Ankara relinquish its long-cherished ambitions of regional hegemony and adopt a fresh vision capable of restoring stability to a region that has long resisted it? The answer, for now, lies buried in the shadows of an uncertain future.

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