The country of Turkey has made it very clear that they are against the Syrian regime of President Assad and fully support the rebels in their struggle. In addition to their vocal declarations, they've become one of the primary locations where Syrian refugees are welcomed. Now, that support and charity has proven to have consequences when two car bombs were set off in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli, claiming dozens of lives.
The bombs went off within 15 minutes of each other and claimed a total of 46 lives, leaving more than 100 others wounded. The Turkish government has expressed its opinion that the suspects they've rounded up - nine people in total - are connected with the Syrian secret police and that the act was an attempt by Syria and their allies in Turkey to destabilize the Turkish government and create ethnic and sectarian violence.
The Syrian response to those accusations was, naturally, denial. They place the blame squarely on the Turkish government, though that’s to be expected regardless of whether they are truly involved or not. The citizens of Turkey have expressed their own opinions on the matter, voicing their anger against Syria, the Syrian refugees and the Turkish Prime Minister. Following the bombing, many refugees had their windows smashed and property damaged and there were protests in the streets against the inaction of the Prime Minister.
Turkey has made no move against Syria for these actions, despite their belief that Assad’s regime was connected to them. This isn't the first time that they've had to deal with problems, and since the Syrian civil war began there have been two other incidents that claimed lives. Still, they have declared that they plan on taking no military action.
They also had some strong words for the UN and the international community in general, saying that their failure to act in a decisive manner on the conflict has caused it to escalate and bleed over into neighboring countries. Hopefully, this tragedy will not change Turkey’s attitude about protecting the Syrian refugees, though more action from outside is definitely needed to prevent more such terrorist attacks in the future.
Turkish/Syrian flag courtesy of Lakisan97 via Wikicommons
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