I heard that his military is struggling in Iraq because the purge of suspected coup sympathizers among Turkish military ranks weakened its officer corps. Isn't he getting way ahead of the reality on the ground?
Oh, YES.
He is not on the ground himself. And his losses have been large. How large? I’m not sure. I think he would like to extract himself from Al Bab. But doesn’t quite know how.
He is too busy shooting at Kurds in other places, jailing his opposition for the referendum, removing professors that sign peace petitions and other despotic crap.