Coronavirus Has Opposite Effects on Turkish Policy in Syria and Libya
Soner Cagaptay with Deniz Yuksel
April 17, 2020
Ceasefire agreements and contagion concerns will likely limit Turkish operations in Syria for the time being, but Ankara has no such constraints in its Libya proxy war.
As of April 16, Turkey’s government had reported over 74,000 cases of coronavirus and 1,643 deaths. Thanks to the advancement of healthcare services under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the country’s mortality rate stands relatively low at around 2 percent, comparable to Germany’s. Although the overall health impact of COVID-19 is yet to be seen, Turkey seems to be doing better than many other countries at the moment (e.g., Italy’s mortality rate is around 12 percent).
More:Coronavirus Has Opposite Effects on Turkish Policy in Syria and Libya - The Washington Institute for Near East Policy