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Many Turks Concerned with Erdogan's Syria Policy

There is discontent on the streets of Istanbul, Turkey's most metropolitan¹ city. Government critics complain about the surge in the number of refugees from Syria and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's support of the Syrian opposition². They say the policies of the Turkish government are hurting trade and may lead to instability as refugee numbers swell³.

The United Nations refugee agency said Tuesday that more than 100,000 Syrians reside in 14 government-run camps spread across seven provinces. Ilter Turan is a political scientist at Bilgi University.

"It is rather an expensive proposition," Turan noted⁴. "I am not able to judge how much longer Turkey will be able to host these newcomers, particularly if the numbers keep increasing."

And as cross volleys of mortar⁵ shells between Turkey and Syria take place almost every day, Turkish soldiers are increasing their border presence, worrying Turkish citizens.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has called for intervention⁶ from major powers to stop the violence in Syria.

In Monday's U.S. presidential debate on foreign policy issues, both President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt⁷ Romney sparred over how best to support the Syrian opposition.

"Now - what we're seeing taking place in Syria is heartbreaking, and that's why we are going to do everything we can to make sure that we are helping⁸ the opposition," said Obama. "But we also have to recognize that, you know, for us to get more entangled⁹ militarily in Syria is a serious step."

Mitt Romney argued the US needs to intervene in a larger way. "This is a time - this should have been a time for American leadership. We should have taken a leading role, not militarily, but a leading role organizationally, governmentally to bring together the parties there; to find responsible parties."

But the Turkish government is feeling increasingly isolated¹⁰.

"Turkey misread the willingness of others to participate in the intervention and Turkey is not interested in staging a unilateral intervention," Turan explained. "So Turkish policy of bringing about change through intervention does not seem to be working at the moment."

A significant drop in trade since the conflict began is a big concern. Some companies say they are doing a fifth of their normal trade since Turkish trucks no longer carry goods into Syria.

What began as a display of international leadership is increasingly becoming an internal political problem for Erdogan and his government, one that seems be getting more complex by the day.