Turkey Syria Relation

[Name of the institute]Turkey Syria Relation

Introduction

The relationship between Syria and Turkey can be described as strained. Syria is a country with which Turkey shares its longest and common border. Moreover, various links of geographic and historic nature also tie these two countries together. There are scores of issues that are considered as main reasons to ignite the fire between the two states. These reasons include self annexation of the Hatay Province to Turkey in the year 1939, disputes over water that resulted because of the Southern-eastern Anatolia project and support that Syria extends towards Kurdistan workers party (PKK) and for the Armenian Secret Army that work for the liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and recognized as a terrorist group by NATO, EU and various other countries. It was after October of the Year 1998 that the relation between the two states began to improve when Syria took the action of expelling the Abdullah Ocalan the leader of PKK. After this the process of improvement in relationship does not last long and the Syrian civil war became the cause to affect the Syria and Turkey relationship. This also led the two countries to a situation of suspension of diplomatic contacts. In June 2012, an incident of immense importance occurred of the Syrian downing of a Turkish military training. After that Turkey called an emergency meeting of NATO. There is an embassy of Syria in Ankara and two consulates general in one in Istanbul and one in Gaziantep. Similarly, Turkey has an embassy in Damascus and maintains a consulate in Aleppo. The serving of the diplomatic relations has been severed and the main reason behind this is civilian war. Both, Syria and Turley are the members of the Union for the Mediterranean and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

From the perspective of history it can be said that the strategy of Turkey towards Syria was relied on the instruments of hard power. This was the approach or strategy of Turkey that can be said to be adopted by Turkey as a result of sponsorship of Syria of Kurdistan Workers' Party in the early years of 1980s. In order to make Syria to end up their support for those separatists organizations with whom Turkey had fought and battled for decades the government of Turkey made an attempt to put in place corrective strategies with Syria on four separate occasions during the period of 1980s and 1990s.

While deciding how to deal with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brutal crackdown, and the humanitarian disaster that is going on and unfolding in its own backyard, Turkey has been evaluating its options since the beginning of the Syrian up rise. The most important aspect that brings Turkey in limelight is its policies. It is the lofty rhetoric of Ankara that put Turkey in the international spotlight over Syria. Turkey is famous for its policy of zero problems with the neighbors. Turkey also has claimed the regional leadership for itself. Because of the Turkey's own domestic evolution ...