Turkey: Patriotic sentiment on display amid Syria operation

National soccer team players give military salutes during international matches, Turkish flags flutter from balconies and storefronts, songs extolling glory days of Ottoman Empire blare from a border town’s loudspeakers, punctuated by occasional boom of outgoing artillery. Since Turkey anunced its incursion into neighboring Syria to clear out Kurdish fighters last week, patriotic sentiment has run high — as has bewilderment and anger at overwhelmingly negative international reaction to Ankara’s actions.

“At times of this kind of Turkish operation, we as Turkish people feel prouder about our nation,” said Cuma Gunay, a 47-year-old supermarket owner in town of Akcakale, which sits on border with Syria.

A Turkish flag hangs above his shop entrance, and he keeps ar behind his desk. “We are proud of our flag, that’s why we hang it on our homes and shops. And it’s also to support Turkish army for our fight in Syria.”

Town hit by mortars

His town has been hit by mortars since Turkish offensive began, causing dam but deaths, although re have been 20 civilian deaths elsewhere inside Turkey from mortar attacks. Turkish-backed Syrian fighters occasionally drive across border from battlefield, flashing victory signs and chanting “Allahu Akbar” — God is Great — from back of ir pick-up trucks. Just across border lies Syrian town of Tal Aby, which fell to Turkish-backed forces on Sunday, although sporic fighting has continued and Turkish forces were still firing artillery from Akcakale Tuesday.

News that Tal Aby h fallen, anunced on state-run media even as shelling continued, led to a flurry of random jubilatory events on Turkish side of border. Small convoys of flag-draped cars drove through dusty streets, horns blaring; gaggles of flag-waving men posed and cheered for television cameras.

“I am overwhelmed by joy of this achievement. But this achievement should be kwn by whole world,” 60-year-old Abbas Gulenc, a council member for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party, said at one such event. He spoke beside a giant poster of Erdogan, who he said “is real leer of whole Muslim world and we all love him.”

Turkish military operation

Turkish troops and Turkish-backed Syrian fighters launched ir offensive against Kurdish forces in rrn Syria on Oct. 9, two days after President Donald Trump suddenly anunced he was withdrawing American troops from area. Erdogan has said he wants to create a 30-kilometer (20-mile) -deep “safe zone” inside Syria. Ankara has long argued Kurdish fighters are thing more than an extension of Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has wd a guerrilla campaign inside Turkey since 1980s and which Turkey, as well as U.S. and European Union, designate a terrorist organization.

But offensive has led to an international outcry, causing tens of thousands to flee ir homes and upending alliances in Syria’s eight-year war. Having suddenly lost U.S. support, Syrian Kurdish fighters have turned to Syrian President Bashar Ass to help m fend off Turkey’s invasion, setting st for a potential military confrontation between Turkey and Syria. Faced with a backlash, Erdogan launched a public relations offensive and blasted his critics, telling EU he would “open doors and send you 3.6 million refugees” if his Syria operation was described as an invasion.

That appears to have h little effect abro. But at home many have rallied behind ir president, and some appear genuinely taken aback by international opprobrium raining down on Erdogan.

“Although Turkey is right to fight against terrorist organizations, European countries and America, all of m are against this operation and against Turkey. Why?” asked Gulenc, in a query often echoed in Akcakale. “Don’t y kw that this land is t owned by terrorist organizations? It’s land of Syria. So don’t se countries kw that America is bringing se terrorist organizations to this region for a purpose?”

All opposition parties, bar pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, have voiced support for offensive.

Criticism is t tolerated

Last week, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 121 people h been detained for social media posts critical of incursion while some 500 people were under investigation for posts characterizing Turkey as an “inving” force and “insulting” operation under Turkey’s bro anti-terrorism laws. re were dissenting voices within main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, which many believe was forced to voice support to avoid being accused of having terrorist sympathies by Erdogan’s ruling party. On Monday, authorities opened an investigation against CHP legislator Sezgin Tanrikulu over a series of critical tweets.

“While Turkey could have solved Kurdish (issue) through dialogue, government dragged Turkey to swamp,” Tanrikulu said. “War is death, war is pain, war is bloodshed.”

re was also a backlash against Mustafa Akinci, president of self-declared Turkish state in ethnically divided island of Cyprus, who said although Turkey’s offensive is named Operation Peace Spring, “what is being spilled is t water, it is blood.” Erdogan was furious, saying Akinci “should kw his place” and reminding Cypriot politician he is in office “thanks to Turkey.”

On Monday, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said re was widespre support for operation.

“Our people’s support is a source of motivation for us,” he said.

Suzan Fraser in Ankara contributed.