ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s military incursion in Syria has given President Tayyip Erdogan a bump in opinion polls and exposed potential cracks in an informal political alliance that claimed surprise victories over his ruling party in local elections this year. The operation in northeast Syria came after months of stagnant approval ratings for Erdogan, who had appeared vulnerable after his AK Party (AKP) lost control of Turkey’s two biggest cities for the first time since he took power in 2003. Opposition lawmakers told Reuters they suspected Ankara’s decision to launch cross-border attacks on the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia was taken largely to revive Erdogan’s political fortunes at home.
