Turkey’s ‘Deep State’ Has a Secret Back Channel to Assad – ForeignPolicy

ISTANBUL — In the past month, Turkey has worked to turn two old rivals into new friends. On June 27, Turkish officials announced a deal normalizing relations with Israel after a six-year rift in the wake of the deadly Mavi Marmara incident. That day, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also expressed regret to Russia over the downing of a Russian warplane in November 2015, which paved the way for the two countries to patch up their relationship. 

The fate of Syria looms large over Turkey’s foreign-policy “reset.”

Could Ankara also extend an olive branch to its greatest enemy: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime? Read full in ForeignPolicy