Turkey's Humiliation in Syria

by David P. Goldman • Jul 23, 2012 at 2:59 pm

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3190/turkey-humiliation-in-syria

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My Asia Times colleague MK Bhadrakumar writes of "The Rise and fall of Turkey's Erdogan" in Asia Times today. Per our July 22 discussion just posted, Turkey got the short end of the stick in the Syrian stalemate. Ambassador Bhadrakumar writes:

Someone is needed to plunge a sharp knife deep into Bashar's back. Jordan's king can't do the job; he measures up only to Bashar's knees. The Saudi and Qatari sheikhs with their ponderous, flabby body are not used to physical activity; the North Atlantic Treaty Organization prefers to be left alone, having burnt its fingers in Libya with a bloody operation that borders on war crime. That leaves Turkey.

In principle, Turkey has the muscle power, but intervention in Syria is fraught with risks and one of the enduring legacies of Kemal Ataturk is that Turkey avoids taking risks. Besides, Turkey's military is not quite in top form.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also unable to carry the majority opinion within Turkey in favor of a war in Syria, and he is navigating a tricky path himself, trying to amend his country's constitution and make himself a real sultan - as if French President Francois Hollande were to combine the jobs of Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and Socialist Party chief Martine Aubry.

MK is a terrific journalist, but he is also close to Russian thinking, and the contemptuous tone of his assessment of Erdogan probably reflects Russian disappointment with the Turkish prime minister.

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Why doesn't Russia do it themselves? [115 words]	Jennifer Spreng	Jul 23, 2012 16:14

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