On October 17 Hurriyet published an article by Mehmet Ali Birand headlined 'The Syria crisis has started damaging us.'
"The longer the Syria crisis continues, the bigger the harm it causes in the region," the article reads. "Ankara has used whatever pressure it could. It has changed gears and it has come to the forefront on the issue, but it has not been able to topple Bashar al-Assad. Given the present state of affairs, it is obvious that it would be difficult to topple him. Up until now, the burden of the Syrian crisis has been manageable, but this load has been increasing and becoming more and more serious in recent weeks."
"In the international media, there is the mistaken impression that Turkey is about to enter a war with Syria. That impression is spreading. Its an impression that stems from our stance, from the harsh statements we frequently issue, from the downing of planes to the shelling bombardments. No matter how wrong this perception is, it has started affecting international financial institutions and investors. Almost every day, questions are asked: “What is happening? Are you really going to war?” the author writes.
"Signs of doubt and concern are slowly appearing in investors. If it goes on like this then the risks will increase even more. Even though hints are not seen today, alarm bells will also start ringing in tourism if this war climate continues."
"Ankara’s rush is understandable, but if this tempo is maintained and if there is no fine tuning to today’s pro-conflict stance, then it seems that the cost of the Syrian crisis will become too high for us," the author concludes.
