Twisted Plots

Turkey's abandonment of Israel as a long-time ally in the Middle East and as a member of NATO, an aspiring member of the European Union transpired as it turned toward warmer relations with Iran and with Syria. Turkey's altered opinion of Hamas and Hezbollah as perfectly acceptable governments-in-waiting, and not proxy Islamist militias whose place in Iran's plans for the future where it sees itself as the new leader of Islam, alternates nicely with Turkey's past under the Ottoman Empire.

But it's alarming for any country to suddenly begin to notice thousands of desperately fleeing citizens of a neighbouring country's population flooding across the border, clamouring for humanitarian aid. It's a costly enterprise for any government to take up its humanitarian responsibility to give aid and comfort to those who flee the armoured wrath of a tyrannical state. And the civil unease that gave voice to the protests against the tyranny speaks of a danger of inciting similar action in one's own population.

Here is Turkey, at first prepared to temporarily host several thousands of desperate refugees, fleeing brutal violence from Syria's leader, an erstwhile friend and ally in a new alliance, even if of fairly recent vintage. The Islamist government of Turkey under Recep Tayyip Erdogan shares some common issues with the Syrian rebels, some of whom were identified as members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Prime Minister Erdogan seems not to think so highly now of Bashar al-Assad, nor of his brother Maher, with his fearsome "savage" reputation of putting the boots to protests. Helicopter gunships and tanks firing live ammunition seem to him more appropriate in defense of the Palestinians in Gaza. But even Gazans aren't being slaughtered and raped, in his dawning realization, the way Syrian Sunni Muslims are by the Alawite regime.

The Turkish authorities on the one hand are not permitting international reporters access to the refugees, nor is Amnesty International able to interview any of them for first-hand information on what has been occurring. Turkey has no wish to have the West alarmed enough to become involved, to have NATO stretch its resources further than it already has in Libya, for its militant presence in Arab and Muslim countries is not attractive to Turkey.

The peculiar circumstances whereby the Turkish "charity", IHH has decided to pull the Mavi Marmara out of leading "Freedom Flotilla 2", is another bit of a puzzle, claiming that Turkish port authorities have withheld the required permits to enable the Mavi Marmara to sail along with the flotilla representing yet again its flagship. Despite which, ships from France, Greece, Spain, the U.S., probably Ireland and possibly Canada are determined to carry on.

And rumours that Turkey may send some of its military across the border to protect those Syrian refugees fleeing further punishment by Syria have yet to be verified. Should that occur, what is to be made of it, that Turkey will have chosen, without invitation, to enter a neighbouring sovereign country, one whose president has ignored its own prime minister's urgent recommendations to ease the conflict and institute reforms?