Turkey continues to deny that it is lenient with radical groups fighting to establish an Islamic regime in Syria, let alone actively supporting them, and the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is now much more open in its criticism of these groups than was initially the case.

The Erdogan government also announced measures in the Official Gazette on Oct. 10 freezing the financial assets of 349 people and 67 legal entities said by the UN Security Council to be linked to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Despite these steps, however, Ankara continues to be accused of turning a blind eye as members of these groups use Turkish territory for various purposes in their fight not just against the Assad regime, but also the moderate elements of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Syrian Kurds.

Meanwhile, the spin being developed in the pro-government Islamist Turkish media is that the presence of these al-Qaeda-affiliated Sunni groups in Syria is actually a ploy on the part of Shiite Iran to undermine Ankara’s Syrian policy in order to support President Bashar al-Assad and his regime.