(Los Angeles Times) Borzou Daragahi - Turkey on Thursday signaled a diplomatic shift to further distance itself from longtime ally Syria, welcoming defecting Syrian officers and announcing plans to deliver relief assistance to beleaguered pro-democracy protesters across the border. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, analysts say, is enraged that Assad didn't heed his advice to curtail violence and embark on reforms, humiliated that for years he has been talking up the Syrian president to partners in the West as the man to reform Syria. "Erdogan is [angry] at Bashar for not listening to him, the big brother," said Henri J. Barkey, a Turkey specialist at Lehigh University and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
2011-06-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive