The Turkish Left’s love for Assad

Bashar al-Assad, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for 24 years before getting his comeuppance, received silent support from one of the unlikeliest places during his dictatorial rule. Numerous groups in Turkey’s splintered Left, from self-professed Maoists to Stalin apologists and various “Kemalist revolutionary” sects, have pledged alliance to the leader of the Syrian Ba’ath Party since the war started in 2011. The love affair has been costly for Turkey’s secular progressives, the very people the Leftists claim to represent. And it has empowered Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has accused the opposition of being heartless in the face of Syria’s tragedy.