How will Turkey gain power abroad when it can't protect its borders?
Turkey's ineffectiveness in protecting the city of Kilis on the Syrian border points to how unlikely it is that the government will fulfill its ambition to become a regional power.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is very effective and convincing when it comes to intimidating dissenters in Turkey or bullying the European Union. But so far his words have carried no weight in tackling the Islamic State (IS) next door.
Since January, IS has been raining missiles down on Kilis, a Turkish city on the border with northern Syria. The assaults have taken the lives of 21 people, including eight Syrian refugees, and wounded scores of others. Many buildings have been devastated. The people mostly remain indoors, day and night.
"The war in Syria has gradually metastasized into Turkey in recent years, and few places have transformed as greatly as Kilis, a cozy town once known mostly for its baklava and kebabs," wrote the International Business Times. "Everyday life in the town has come to a standstill as anger against both the government and refugees has begun to boil over."
Kilis is only 3 miles from the Syrian border, which is controlled by IS operating from the nearby town of al-Bab. While the Turkish inhabitants of Kilis (predominantly of Turkmen background) are taking refuge in the hinterland of the province, the town and its environs are flooded with Syrian refugees who left their homes in settlements as far south as Aleppo. Estimates vary widely, but it appears that roughly 110,000 Syrian refugees now outnumber the town's Turkish population, which has dropped to between 70,000 and 90,000.
