After Opening Way to Armed groups, Turkey Is Paying Heavy Price

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Syrian TV - The NewYork Times: In normal times, hauling 50,000 pounds of frozen chicken into Iraq is a routine job for Turfan Aydin, a Turkish trucker who has been working the route for years. But the cross-border trade has suddenly all but halted, locked up by the insurgent offensive in Iraq and the kidnapping of 80 Turkish citizens.

Once this border was wide open, as Turkey allowed armed groups of any stripe easy access to the battlefields in Syria in an effort to topple Syrian government. But that created fertile ground in Syria for the development of the extremist militant group that launched a blitzkrieg in Iraq this month, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

“For three years, we have seen ISIS flags in Syria, and that is because of Turkey,” Mr. Aydin said, eyeing hundreds of Iraq-bound trucks that snaked in a line over the horizon. “Turkey let them in.”

“The fall of Mosul was the epitome of the failure of Turkish foreign policy over the last four years,” said Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. “I can’t disassociate what happened in Mosul from what happened in Syria, and Turkish foreign policy toward Syria has been unrealistic, hubristic, ideological and stubborn.”

For years, a “zero problems with neighbors” policy helped make Turkey a much-admired example of Islamic democracy and economic growth. It benefited heavily from the opening of Iraq’s market, exporting $12 billion worth of goods last year, second only to Turkey’s exports to Germany. That number could drop by one-quarter, or even more if the fighting spreads, said Atilla Yesilada, a Turkey analyst at GlobalSource Partners.

These losses came after the crisis in Syria destroyed that country’s ability to buy Turkish goods and sent hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming across the border. Turkey has spent $1.5 billion caring for them, with no end in sight.

Many here are now blaming the Turkish government for facilitating the rise of extremists in Syria.

Thus, Erdogan Government's support to terrorists has started to backfire; Erdogan is tasting his own bitter medicine. Erdogan has transferred Turkey from "zero problems" with neighbors into zero normal relations with all and not only the neighbours.

Source http://www.syriaonline.sy/?f=Details&pageid=10813&catid=24

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