After years of leadership in Mid East, Turkey “in ruins” by comparison on domestic, Syrian front
Despite years of strengthening ties with Europe and the United States prior to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, Turkey has become a decreasingly reliable party in the conflict, with its own agenda further muddying the waters of any attempt at a resolution.
Despite a sometimes questionable record on human rights and other freedoms, Turkey at the time of the first Arab Spring protests in Syria in 2011 was considered a close NATO ally to the United States, and more generally, “a bridge between Muslim and Western nations.”
Over the past few years, however, the Turkish government has grown increasingly authoritarian domestically under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and fallen into hostile and often deadly relations with multiple parties as part of the Syrian Civil War. The Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, the Islamic State, the Kurdish minorities of Syria and Turkey, a flood of refugees, and Russian involvement have all contributed to making Turkey’s domestic situation and their own involvement in the conflict into a messy, often deadly chaos. Turkish foreign policy has transformed over only a few years from “the talk of the town” to “in ruins.”
Despite a history of very tense relations with the Syrian government over much of the 1900’s, Turkey had remained relatively peaceful with Syria for about a decade up until the Arab Spring uprising in 2011. As violent action under orders from the office of Syria’s al-Assad begin to clash with Syria’s quickly growing opposition, Turkey expressed its opposition to the Assad regime and stepped in to provide the Free Syrian Army with arms and supplies. Turkey soon found themselves engaged in a rapidly escalating series of opposing jets shot down, bombs, and frequent instances of Syrian Army forces engaging in fire with Turkish forces near their border.
The conflict within Syria has led to a mass exodus of nearly five million people from Syria, with no signs that the flow will slow anytime soon. Turkey on its own has absorbed more than half of these refugees, with the number surpassing two million in late 2015. Today the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey stands at nearly 2.7 million. Most of these refugees have been indefinitely stationed, some for nearly five years, at government-run tent cities throughout the country, many along the border with Syria.
Further complicating Turkey’s agenda is their relationship with the Kurdish minority within their own territory, and across the border within Syria. The Kurds, a stateless ethnic minority making up parts of Iran, Iraq, southeastern Turkey and Northern Syria. Various Kurdish insurgent groups, most notably the Kurdistan Workers’ Group, have been engaged in armed conflict with Turkey for over three decades, in demands of their own state within current Turkish territory. The PKK and neighboring YPG, the Syrian Kurdish militia, have allied throughout the Syrian Civil War to try to undermine Turkish territorial claims. The Kurdish minority has received varying degrees of support and condemnation, from receiving arms from the United States to fight ISIS, while on the other hand being linked to numerous attacks within Turkey.
All this goes without even mentioning the role ISIS plays on the Turkish agenda. While ISIS has taken responsibility for some acts of terrorism within Syria, they take a backseat on the list of priorities to removing Assad from power and stemming the flow of migrants, as well as stopping any Kurdish territorial advances.
Although Turkey is at no fault for the hand it was dealt, current policies are only exacerbating the crisis in Syria by further muddying the waters over any chance at resolution. To shed only one brief light on the mess, Turkey is currently diverting much of its resources to fighting the Kurds, who until recently had been armed and aided by the United States, Turkey’s ally, to fight ISIS. They are also becoming involved in increasing hostility with Russia as they stepped up their support of the Assad regime. U.S. Secretary of State Ashton Carter maintains that the U.S. sees Turkey as pivotal to the region. But the mess that has become Turkish foreign policy, not half of which is of its own doing, has only made Turkey into another unreliable party in the conflict.
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