The first Monday of February of this 2020 for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was like many other days. Imperial.
He said that the Syrians of Assad will pay dearly for the killing of eight men of the Turkish Armed Forces in Idlib, the city disputed between pro-Russian loyalists and pro-Turkish Islamists: indeed, he said that "We are already making him pay"thus announcing an ongoing attack by the Ankara Air Force against dozens of Syrian targets. For the record, the Turks killed 76 men of Assad with this retaliation.
He signed agreements for military and financial cooperation with Ukraine, at the same time meeting Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev (following photo), a living national hero for Tatar and a former Soviet dissident, whom Moscow sees as smoke in the eyes. Ukrainian President Zelenski warmly thanked for "Turkish assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces" committed to backing up pro-Russian separatists in Donbass.
It intensified bombing attacks on Kurdish territories in Syria, particularly north of Raqqa and parts of Tall Tamr, while some Russian armored vehicles were escorting away from the Americans to avoid "accidents".
It has lost a remotely piloted aircraft in northern Iraq, in an area where Turkey has dozens of observation points.
He rejected Donald Trump's proposal for peace between Israel and Palestine, criticizing the silence of the Arab Gulf countries.
He had a frigate escort the delivery by sea of armaments and systems, ammunition and vehicles to Tripoli, under the attentive but prudent gaze of the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle.
He called Russia's annexation of Crimea illegitimate and warned Moscow not to go sideways in Syria.
Finally, he read Emmanuel Macron's angry comments on Turkish activism in West Africa and the Sahel, traditionally areas of exclusive or almost Parisian influence, as well as on the plan to establish a Turkish military base there. Not surprisingly, Erdogan recently visited Senegal and Gambia.
All this in the first twenty-four hours of the week.
In the same hours Giuseppe Conte commented on Renzi's latest releases and met the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at Palazzo Chigi. I don't even dare to think how our other majority and opposition leaders spent this Monday.
End of the day.
Photo: Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri / presidency of the republic of Turkey
