President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan definitely wants Turkey to be part of the Mosul operation and has the support of nationalists and Islamists alike. For the former, this is a matter of national honor because they believe Mosul belongs to Turkey by birthright.

How they can delude themselves into thinking that Mosul will be handed over to Turkey or that Turkey will be the principal country determining the future of this city, if the Turkish military is part of this operation, is another question.