With former ally Turkey, the Syrian government can’t seem to win.
In April the Turkish government was railing against Syria’s over-active border patrols, accusing them of killing refugees and even launching attacks against people inside Turkey. Now Turkey is condemning them for not controlling the border better.
Turkish officials say that the Assad regime is giving the Kurdish rebel faction the PKK virtual “free rein” in the country’s north, and blamed them for not catching PKK militants who crossed into Turkey with plastic explosives on Friday.
Faced with a growing civil war, Syria has backed off the PKK considerably, and the PKK for its part has endorsed the regime, fearing that the Turkish-backed rebels would be considerably harsher toward them.
This is perceived as a negative action by Turkey, but is materially no different than Turkey’s own behavior, as it has not only given Syrian rebel forces free rein over its own territory, but has eagerly endorsed the rebels and helped them to organize.
These same leaders came to this same point once before. They backed off and made a deal. Same guys, same actions, same issues, so we can expect them to do the same again. No doubt that is what the Syrians expect, which is part of the reason why they are doing this with the PKK. The other part is to keep the PKK inside the coalition of minorities that is Assad's base. Because of that second concern, the compromise may be more limited than last time. Still, we can expect to see Turkey backing off, not moving forward into intervention. This has all played out before, and everyone has shown what he is.
Wow, so Turkey does not like PKK rebels, but they love anti-Assad rebels in Syria and it does see a problem with this. It would be actually just and fair if Assad's government played PKK card, although I think embattled government of Syria does not have a leisure to care for PKK guys – their hands are full of Turkey backed "rebels" home. In any case this would be just tasting of own medicine for Turkey.
Correction of typo:
Turkish officials must be insane. They are lucky that Syria is not arming the PKK in the same way that turkey is totally supporting America’s Al-Qaeda terrorists killing mostly civilians in Syria. Don’t Turkish officials feel shame in asking for Assad’s help? I guess not. They must have the same mentality as their master and puppeteer, you know who.