Financial Times: Ankara’s unexpected burden
“The Turks have been dragged into the conflict in a way that they were not expecting,” says a senior international diplomat.
Just three or four years ago, the vaunted strength of Turkey’s foreign policy was good relations with nearby countries. It prided itself particularly on ties with Syria and Mr Assad. But, officials say, they have had to rip up such talking points. Today, relations with neighbours to the south and east are toxic – with Syria but also with Iran, and with Iraq, which this year declared Turkey a “hostile state”. Turkey is also deeply frustrated with its old allies to the west, particularly the US, which declined to back a push for a buffer zone in Syria during highly charged debates at Nato and the UN.
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