Turkey cannot secure Syrian border alone
Turkish officials say Turkey is doing its best to prevent crossings into and out of Syria by Islamic militants, blaming European countries for not furnishing useful intelligence.
Hayat Boumeddiene, the female terror suspect sought by the French police, was found to have entered Turkey shortly before the Paris attacks and traveled from there to Syria, raising questions about whether Ankara is doing enough to fight groups like the Islamic State (IS).
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and government officials remain highly defensive on this topic, saying Turkey is doing more than its share, given the odds it faces. They blame Western countries in turn for not cooperating sufficiently by providing timely intelligence that could prevent such attacks.
The situation is a complicated one for Ankara, as tens of millions of foreigners enter Turkey every year. It is also problematic to monitor a border with Syria that is almost 900 kilometers (560 miles) long. The usual, and not entirely unjustified, example given by Turkish officials in this case is the US-Mexican border, which remains porous despite all the hi-tech precautions that have been taken. The problem is also aggravated by suspicions aired in Turkey concerning he country’s vast bureaucratic apparatus, which contains officials sympathetic to radical Islamic groups.
Davutoglu was angered during a Jan. 12 press conference in Berlin, following talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, when asked if Turkey was doing enough to secure its borders.
