Turkey squeezed as US-Russia tensions rise in Syria
Since the suspected chemical weapons attack by Syrian regime forces in Douma, Turkey has been producing conflicting messages, visibly torn between its strategic interests in Syria and ties to NATO and the West.
The limits of Turkey’s balancing act in Syria are being exposed as the prospects of a military confrontation between the United States and Russia over Syria continue to grow.
Ever since last Saturday’s suspected chemical weapons attack by regime forces in Douma, Turkish leaders have made a series of conflicting statements mirroring the tension between what Ankara defines as its strategic interests in Syria and its institutional ties to NATO and the West.
Ankara’s immediate response to the gruesome images coming out of Ghouta was unequivocally in favor of intervention.
Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin declared on Monday, “The Syrian regime will have to pay a price.” Government spokesman Bekir Bozdag chimed in via Twitter with calls for retaliation. Bozdag wrote, “We hope that the Syrian regime’s chemical attack will not be left unanswered this time,” and in a veiled swipe at Russia and Iran, he added, “Those who did not obstruct this barbarity, these attacks, these deaths are as responsible as the regime itself.”
