What is Turkey doing in Syria?
Featuring Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocok
Date: September 9, 2026
Time: 12:30 ET
In August 2026, Turkish troops arrived at Syria’s abandoned Abu al-Duhur air base, immediately raising questions about what they were doing there. Negotiations between Syria and Turkey have also quietly taken place over the Tiyas Air Base, (also known as T4), which may be used for air defense systems. Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been hosting Hamas figures in Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey. Are the Turks eager to dismantle Hamas? Will Turkey end up being a major new headquarters for Hamas? Do we remember that in October of 2011, 1,027 Hamas terrorists were traded for Gilad Shalit, many of whom ended up in Turkey? Are the Turks on the right side or the wrong side of history?
About Our Speaker:
Dr. Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak is a Turkey expert at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies (MDC) at Tel Aviv University. He received his Ph.D. from Tel Aviv University’s School of History and is a lecturer there, as well as at Shalem Academic College. Dr. Cohen Yanarocak is the editor of Turkeyscope: Insights on Turkish Affairs. In May 2015, he was awarded the Dan David Prize Scholarship in the category of “Past: Retrieving the Past, Historians and Their Sources.” He is the author of The Evolution of the Turkish School Textbooks from Atatürk to Erdoğan, published by Lexington Books, Rowman & Littlefield, in September 2022.
