What the Bashiqa Dispute and Operation Euphrates Shield tell us about Turkey’s changing foreign policy

With the advent of the protests that swept the Arab world in 2011, Turkey saw its chance to become the region’s new religious and cultural powerhouse leading the way in the name of moderate Islam. Fast-forward to November 2016, and Turkey now borders two countries plagued by civil wars, hosts the highest number of refugees in the world and finds itself, once again, in open domestic conflict with Kurdish insurgents. This has led Turkey to recalibrate its foreign policy objectives, based on geographical proximity and vital security interests, which Operation Euphrates Shield and the dispute over the Bashiqa camp clearly demonstrate.