Turkey turns on Syria

Turkey’s economic sanctions against Syria will greatly increase the pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to quit and could be followed by a new tactic in a one-two punch.

If the killing of Syrian anti-government demonstrators does not stop, Turkey might send its army, not to attack Assad’s forces but to establish “safety zones” in Syria on its borders with Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said last week.

Davutoglu said the intent would be to protect Syria’s neighbors from the “huge stress” of an increase in Syrians fleeing violence. Turkey is sheltering 7,500 Syrians in tents and is letting dissident Syrian army officers operate from Turkey.

The foreign minister didn’t have to mention that Turkish troops inside Syria would be in a better position to enforce trade sanctions, and one of the safety zones could be the location of a rival government to Assad’s.

Turkey’s sanctions, about which the Obama administration was consulted, were co-ordinated with those of the Arab League announced two days earli-er. There are similar travel bans for Syrian leaders, a prohibition on dealings with the Syrian central bank, an embargo on arms shipments, an end to credits for the Damascus government and a diversion of trade flows away from crossing Syrian territory. (European Union and U.S. sanctions already have crippled Syria’s oil exports.)

Diplomatic recognition of a rival government — however difficult it might be to form — by the United States, the Euro-pean Union and the Arab League would strengthen and encourage opponents of a regime that, according to a United Nations report, is guilty of “summary execution, arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, torture, including sexual violence, as well as violations of children’s rights.”

Assad’s fall can’t come too soon.