Friday, September 7, 2012

Turkey's 'Syria' Problem

Turkish Dilemma -- Karen Leigh, Foreign Policy

Turkey's voluble prime minister has talked himself into a corner on Syria. Will the spiraling unrest next door finally force him to back up his words?

ISTANBUL — On Sept. 4 in Ankara, in a meeting with members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan loudly threw down a gauntlet for next-door neighbor President Bashar al-Assad.

"The massacres in Syria that gain strength from the international community's indifference are continuing to increase," he said. "The regime in Syria has now become a terrorist state. We do not have the luxury to be indifferent to what is happening there."

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My Comment: He has backed himself in a corner .... and blaming the U.S. for not providing leadership to face the Syrian regime is falling on deaf ears. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan is now left with only three options .... (1) do nothing, (2) continue to support the Syrian rebels at the level that they are providing now, and (3) escalate their support of the Syrian rebels by providing them heavy weapons and military support. By prediction is that they will stick with #2.

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