Erdogan’s disdain for Turkey’s constitutional secularism is now as clear as his refusal to play his prescribed role as figurehead president, and his preference for the Muslim fundamentalist Syrian opposition puts him at odds with the West’s declared strategic goal. While President Obama has begun to assist Syria’s Kurds against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), Erdogan has consistently tried to undercut the West’s new allies from gaining ground in northern Syria. At the same time, Ankara has let the jihadists operating in Syria and Iraq use southern Turkey as a safe haven. To Erdogan, the existential threat posed by the Kurds at home, as well as in Syria and Iraq, is a problem which he now has a solid four-year mandate to solve.