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Why can't Turkey explain its foreign policy?

Turkey's hesitation to act against groups such as the Islamic State makes others wonder whether it has an ideological foreign policy.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu talk to the media before a meeting in Ankara September 12, 2014. Kerry will meet Cavusoglu, as well as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and President Tayyip Erdogan during his two-day visit to the capital Ankara, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS) - RTR45Z12

Until now, the Turkish government has condemned all those claiming it supports extremist terror groups in Syria. The government, however, has been maintaining silence since Francis Ricciardone, US ambassador to Turkey until July, said openly last week that Turkey has actually worked with al-Qaeda affiliate groups in Syria such as Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham. “The Turks frankly worked with groups for a period, including Jabhat al-Nusra, whom we finally designated as we’re not willing to work with,” Ricciardone said Sept. 12, emphasizing that the Turkish side believed that Turkey could benefit from the groups' fighting ability against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and at the same time reshape them to become more moderate.

Although Ricciardone became the first US official — albeit a newly retired one — to openly speak out against Turkey’s mishandling of these terror groups, a US official speaking to the McClatchy news service on Sept. 12 disputed that the Turks directly worked with Jabhat al-Nusra, instead arguing that Ankara allowed the group operating space. “For quite a while, Turkey, at the very least, turned a blind eye to it,” the US official said. “It’s only in recent months that they’ve done a 180 and now recognize the dangers posed by [IS] and other extremists.”

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