Recep Tayyip Erdogan's deadly serious colonial project The neo-Ottomanism propagated by Erdogan has long been more than rhetoric and symbolic politics. This can be seen from recent developments in parts of northern Syria, where Turkey is in the process of permanently securing its sphere of influence. Joseph Croitoru reports Since 2016 Turkey has launched a series of military operations in parts of northern Syria, wresting back control not only from IS militias, but above all from the autonomous Kurds that live there. With the help of its vassals in the Syrian Interim Government (SIG), Turkey is pursuing nothing less than a colonial project in the northern Syrian border region – a project it obviously intends to use to extend its area of influence further southwards.