The dispute between Turkey and Syria, which surprised foreign governments with its suddenness and ferocity, has exposed the suspicion many Arab countries feel towards Turkey since Ankara struck up an informal military alliance with Israel.
Turkey accuses Syria of waging an "undeclared war" by backing Kurdish separatist guerrillas fighting for autonomy in the south-east over the past 14 years. The Syrians deny the charge.
Ankara stepped up its war of words against Damascus at the weekend, as regional mediators intensified their efforts to avert Turkish military strikes against alleged Kurdish separatist targets in Syria and Lebanon. The Turkish Prime Minister, Mr Mesut Yilmaz, warned he would "go all the way" if Damascus does not act against Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) leaders and militants said to be sheltering in Syria. "If Syria doesn't come to its senses, it is our duty to bring Syria's world tumbling down. We do not have our eyes on anyone's territory but we are obliged to poke out the eyes of those who are eyeing our territory," the Anatolian news agency quoted Mr Yilmaz as saying yesterday.
Mr Yilmaz accused Syria of prolonging the conflict between Turkish forces and the PKK. More than 28,000 people have died in the fighting.
"If Syria did not shelter the head of the bandits, if it did not set up camps and give money then it would not be possible for this separatist bandit to continue his path," he said. "Our primary duty is to uproot this bandit. We are determined to do this, we are sworn."
He was speaking at a ceremony to lay the foundations of a power plant in eastern Turkey.
Mr Yilmaz has previously lashed out at Syria for condemning Turkey's defence alliance with Israel and accused Damascus of inflaming Arab opinion against Ankara. After the 22-member Arab group at the UN expressed solidarity with Syria and rejected Turkey's threats, the Turkish president, Mr Suleiman Demirel, asserted ominously: "This is a problem between two countries. Any country which sees this as an opportunity to adopt a hostile policy towards Turkey will face the consequences."
The Syrian Foreign Minister, Mr Farouk al-Sharaa, in Cairo for consultations with the Egyptian government, responded at the weekend by repeating Damascus's denial of involvement with the PKK. He said Syria had "waved aside Turkish threats" and expressed its "sincere wish" to resolve the problems between the two countries, with security at the top of the list.
Egypt's President, Mr Hosni Mubarak, and the Iranian Foreign Minister, Mr Kamal Kharrazi, have taken the lead in trying to defuse tensions. Both have visited Damascus and Ankara and are expected to continue their contacts this week.
Meanwhile, Iraq denied reports that the PKK leader, Mr Abdullah Ocalan, who is said to live in Damascus, has relocated to Iraq, taking his guerrillas with him. Arab analysts agree with Damascus's contention that the crisis is "artificial" and has more to do with Turkey's internal affairs than any Syrian connection with the PKK. While few believe Turkish Kurds have a significant paramilitary presence in Syria, a Lebanese source told The Irish Times that there are PKK guerrillas at a long established base in Lebanon's northern Bekaa Valley, although the base was supposed to have been closed down several years ago.
In the Arab view, Turkey has two internal reasons for its campaign against Syria: first, the Turkish army command, unable to crush a 14-year Kurdish rebellion which has cost 37,000 lives, seeks to deflect popular attention by blaming Syria for harbouring the PKK. Second, the politicomilitary establishment wants to stir up Turkish secular nationalism before elections next April in order to undermine the popular strength of the Islamist "Virtue Party", the successor to the banned Welfare Party.
By deploying 10,000 troops along its 877-km frontier with Syria, Ankara has antagonised the Arab world and Iran, solidifying a hostile eastern front. Meanwhile, in the west Turkey hovers on the brink of war with Greece over Cyprus and territorial rights in the Aegean Sea.
