Turkey would be justified in demanding a buffer zone inside Syria's border.
Syrian refugees walk in their camp near the Syrian border in Reyhanli, Turkey Photo: AP
By Telegraph View
8:49PM BST 10 Apr 2012
1 Comment
If Kofi Annan has every reason to feel aggrieved with President Bashar al-Assad for perfidiously ignoring his peace plan, Turkey has even greater grounds for righteous anger. Its national frontier has been casually violated by Syrian troops, who fired across the border on Monday, wounding five people inside a refugee camp on Turkish soil.
Whether premeditated or not, this incident was an outrageous provocation. Before the onset of Syria’s uprising, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, proclaimed a policy of “zero problems with neighbours” and did his utmost to help Mr Assad: their two cabinets would even hold joint meetings. Now the Turks have witnessed how Syria’s dictator treats those who tried to be his friends.
In response, Turkey would be justified in considering the imposition of a buffer zone on the Syrian side of their common frontier. Last month, Mr Erdogan’s government floated this idea, but drew back, understandably wary of the risks of military confrontation. But such zones are far from unknown: indeed, Turkey co-operated with America and Britain to create a safe area in northern Iraq in 1991, designed to shield the Kurds from Saddam Hussein.
The latest incident shows that Syria’s army now poses a direct threat to Turkey’s sovereignty, as well as its own people. Mr Erdogan would have right on his side if he demanded the withdrawal of Syrian troops to a line five kilometres from the border – and backed this with a credible threat of military enforcement. As the world casts around for a response to the apparent failure of the Annan plan, this is one option that – by providing a safe haven for Mr Assad’s victims, and for those who have taken up arms against him – might seriously worry the Syrian regime. That alone is reason at least to consider it.
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