Matt Broomfield yesterday: "Aleppo, the first city to fall to HTS’s blitzkrieg advance, was a former jewel in the Ottoman Empire’s crown. After its capture, the Turkish flag flew from the Aleppo citadel once more."
Here's Turkish MP Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party which is currently in coalition with Erdoğan’s AKP party:
"You cannot encounter a son of the homeland whose heart does not tremble at the mention of Aleppo, because Aleppo is Turkish and Muslim to its core. We are not the only ones who say this.
"History says this. Geography says this. The reality says this. The ancestors say this. The Turkish flag that is raised over the Citadel of Aleppo says this.
"Whatever Istanbul's Grand Bazaar is Aleppo's market is that also. The 'Amens' that rise up from the Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara are the same 'Amens' that echo from the Great Mosque of Aleppo. If Aleppo is there, then the Turkish nationalists and the Turkish nation, who heed the call of history, are here."
Does Turkey now have territorial aims in Syria? Is that Turkish flag on the Aleppo citadel there to stay?
Mick Hartley 
Leave a comment