The Going Gets Tough: Turkey Tries to Meet the Syrian Challenge

In shaping its policy in the Arab Middle East, Turkey had worked to build a network of stable relationships with the existing regimes. Now confronted with regimes, each of which had come under popular challenges, it found itself in a difficult situation. There was no established international mechanism that prevented the use of force by authoritarian regimes against their citizens who demanded democratic reforms. Turkish responses to Tunisian and Egyptian developments were in harmony with the United States and the EU. In the Libyan and then the Syrian crisis, Turkey experienced difficulty in formulating a quick response. Syria presents a particularly complex picture. The unity and stability of Syria was critical for both Turkish and regional interests as well as those of the Western Alliance.