Turkey’s isolation, Erdogan’s achievement

Turkey's incursion into northern Syria is not going as Recep Tayyip Erdogan had hoped. Turkey and its Islamist allies might have gained some territory and Kurdish forces may have committed to withdrawing from the border area, but Turkey finds itself increasingly isolated and dependent on Russia's objectives, whereas the Kurds have won international sympathy and their leaders are in talks with the Americans, the Russians and the Syrian government.

In exchange for some territory in Syria, Turkey is losing ground on far more important fronts. The House of Representatives resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide by the Turks in 1915-16 (with 405 votes in favor and three against), proves that Ankara's influence in Washington is in free fall. Decades of impassioned efforts by the Armenians of America had not succeeded in achieving this. And then, suddenly, it was adopted...