Turks Give Rivals No Chance
The following points can be accounted as the reason Turkey is playing an active role in the Syrian crisis, from hosting the Syrian opposition parties and to showing Bashar Assad carrot and stick to realize reforms:
1. Territorially, Syria’s future is of the utmost importance for Turkey. The dispute over the historical Antakya region, located within Turkey’s southeastern region but claimed by Syria, is still living. In the event of establishment of a new regime in Syria which is not as much in harmony with Turkey as Bashar Assad, the problem will create new tensions. Ankara is after all concerned with formation of a radical regime on its southern borders.
2. The Euphrates River and the relevant water rights have always been a potential source of argument between Ankara and Damascus.
3. Syria has been technically in a war with Israel since 1967, but has not beaten the war drums for decades. The relation between Damascus and Tel Aviv and the future of the Arab-Israel peace process bears import for Ankara.
4. Economy is the most important factor. Syria is a developing country, with large economic potentials. In the meantime, Turkey is eager to invest in this country and expand its sphere of influence.
5. Turkey has become the ideal model of developing Muslim World, achieving this status with generous support from Western countries. Just as the majority of Muslim World, it is a Sunni-dominated country. The history of the Ottoman Empire also encourages other Muslim countries to adopt Turkey as a model. The Turkish model will be most probably applied in Libya, Tunisia and other Mediterranean littoral states.
Turks have concentrated on two branches of diplomacy to turn into an active player on the international state: economic diplomacy and public diplomacy (mainly geared towards the Muslim World). Recently, the Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a visit to Somalia, donating 150 million dollars to the aid campaign. The money was mainly collected from Turkey’s thriving private sector, highly regarded by the Turkish politicians and an inseparable part of every official diplomatic trip made by senior politicians. Somalia may be the next potential market for Turkish traders.