Syria still faces potential conflict with its northern neighbor Turkey. Relations have been strained since Turkey annexed the port city of Iskenderun in 1939. Since the 1980's Turkey has undergone an eastern revolt by Kurdish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas.
Turkey has accused Syria of supporting PKK terrorists and sheltering them in Syria. Syria fears that Turkey's Anatolia Project, which completed a dam on the Euphrates River in 1989, could be used to deprive it of needed water. Indeed, Turkey has threatened to stop water unless Syria stops aiding the PKK. An Israel-Turkey military treaty that was signed in February, 1996, was seen as anti-Arab. Syria worried about being encircled by unfriendly states.
In 1998, the concern about encirclement created by the tactical alliance of Israel and Turkey led Hafiz al-Assad to seek to markedly improve relations with Iraq. Syria and Iraq established a free trade zone along their common border, a Syrian cabinet minister visited Iraq, and an oil pipeline from Iraqi fields across Syria to the Mediterranean was reopened. Syrian ties to Iraq continued to grow warmer even after the death of Hafiz al-Asad in 2000. However, although Syria remained wary of Turkey, the Turkish and Syrian interior ministers did meet on September 10 and agreed to cooperate in combating terrorism in their two countries.
After the Persian Gulf War Syria agreed to participate in the direct Arab-Israeli peace talks sponsored by the United States. The talks began in Madrid, Spain, in October, 1991, and later moved to the United States. Despite its participation in the peace process, Syria continued an impressive military buildup.
It is not clear whether participation indicated any deep change in attitude toward Israel or merely Syria's hope that it can find ways to contain Israel through diplomacy instead of through united Arab cooperation or its own military power. Syria may drag out the peace process to gain time to improve its military position.
Syria's condition for a comprehensive peace with Israel was that Israel completely withdraw from the Golan Heights. This was Asad's principle of "total peace for total withdrawal." This principle continued to direct Syrian policy toward Israel after Hafiz al-Asad's death. When President Bashar al-Asad made his inaugural address on July 17, 2000, he repeated clearly his government's refusal to consider giving up any part of this territory to Israel. Israel, however, remained unlikely to return the Golan Heights because of its settlers, the desire for a buffer zone between Syria, and the area's water resources. For Asad, who was defense minister during the 1967 Six-Day War, the Golan is a highly symbolic part of Syria that must be returned. Thus, as long as the Golan is in dispute, peace between Israel and Syria is unlikely.
Thomas McGeary Updated by the Editors
World History
