Turkey-Syria duel

Tit for tat is at work between Turkey and Syria. The rising volatility between both the neighbours is a worrisome proposition, as recent border clashes have pitched them almost in a state of war.
The decision by Damascus to ban Turkish civilian flights over its territory has come apparently in retaliation to a similar unannounced move by Ankara. Turkey over the weekend had intercepted a civilian cargo aircraft and forced it to land it on its territory, and later claimed that it was laden with arms and ammunition. This prompted Moscow to jump in the frap replying that the aircraft bound to Damascus was carrying radar equipment, which was non-lethal in essence. All this boils down to an uneasy state of affair, and one that is very upsetting for the prospects of peace and security.
The fact that Turkey is at the vanguard of a movement to see President Bashar Al Assad’s exit, and has been campaigning for a stringent action from the United Nations is enough to flare anti-Ankara sentiments in Syria. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday termed it as a failure of the world body to see Assad well entrenched in power, and observed that it has led to the killings of hundreds of people on a daily basis. Such a statement came within no time after he met the UN special envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi — muting hopes for a negotiated way out of the crisis. The Turkish involvement in the Syrian upheaval is now no more a secret. The fact that many of the Syrian opposition elements are based in Turkey, and operative as well, has made Ankara a party in the dispute — irrespective of the fact that Erdogan has been trading a cautious line by merely supporting the spirit of the uprising. Nonetheless, Brahimi’s empty-handed return from Turkey will not go well, as he was supposed to clinch an understanding for scaling down the rising tensions in the region.
The need of the hour is to limit the extent of militarism on the borders, and spare civilian cooperation from being impacted. Turkey and Syria had of late entered into a couple of meaningful agreements that granted travel facilities to citizens from both the countries on a preferential basis. This new phase of jingoism has negated its spirit. It goes without saying that Syria has a problem to handle, and the amount of force that Damascus is exercising against its civilians is indiscriminate and unwarranted. But this discord can’t whither away if it graduates into a Turkish-Syrian duel, and that too at the cost of regional serenity. Both Ankara and Damascus have no choice but to step back from the brink.