Turkey Goes Down Road of South Africa, Soviet Union, And Israel

An excerpt from, “Turkey Builds Wall On Syria Border To Stop Illegal Crossings” by Humeyra Pamuk and Orhan Coskun (Reuters, October 7):

Turkey, which is sheltering around a quarter of the 2 million people who have fled Syria’s conflict, is one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s fiercest critics and a staunch supporter of the rebels fighting against him.

It has vowed to maintain its “open door” policy to those fleeing the fighting, although it has closed border crossings from time to time following clashes near the frontier.

An excerpt from, “Turkey Builds Wall At Syria Border Troublespot” (Sky News, October 7):

Construction workers have begun digging foundations for the wall in Nusaybin, a border district six miles (10 km) north of the Syrian town of Qamishli.

An unnamed government official in the Turkish capital, Ankara, said: “We haven’t had border security problems in Nusaybin so far but in that area it’s extremely easy for people to cross illegally. It’s almost like there is no border.”

The wall will span a fraction of the 560-mile border, but highlights Ankara’s growing concern about the spillover of violence from northern Syria.

An excerpt from, “Turkey’s wall plans face Kurdish opposition” by Omar al-Saleh (Al Jazeera, October 16):

That is another nightmare scenario for Turkey because Turkey fears the creation of another federal Kurdish region on its borders.

And with an autonomous Kurdish region in Northern Iraq, it could lead Turkey’s Kurds making similar demands.

And to make it worse, the PYD is branch of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party the PKK that Turkey is fighting for the last 30 years.

In other words, the PYD and the PKK could open new fronts and cause problems in Turkey’s own backyard.

And that is why Turkey may take whatever it thinks it needs to protect its vast border with Syria.