Awkward allies

WHEN news broke of a deal between Turkey and America over Syria last weekend, it was welcomed as a game-changer. But it has speedily become clear that the agreement is riddled with ambiguity and divergent agendas. That should not come as a surprise: the idea that two countries with such a fraught recent relationship were burying their differences to defeat Islamic State (IS) was always unlikely.

 

The apparent change of heart in Ankara came after the murder of 32 young activists at a Kurdish cultural centre in the border town of Suruc on July 20th. Having long turned a blind eye to IS (and other Sunni jihadist groups fighting Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria), the Turkish government seemed to have been shocked out of its complacency about the menace it poses.

 

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