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Quadriga

May 16, 2013

Tensions are rising between Ankara and Damascus following the latest fatal border incident in Turkey. But still the US and EU refuse to intervene militarily in Syria, despite repeated calls from NATO ally Turkey. The civil war in Syria has claimed more than 70,000 victims up to now. Is there a growing danger that the conflict envelops the region?

https://p.dw.com/p/18ZZy

The twin bombings in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli on Saturday left dozens dead and have heightened tensions between Ankara and neighbouring Syria. Reyhanli is a hub for Syrian refugees and the Syrian oppostion. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed Damascus for the attacks and has once more urged the United Nations to take action against the country's leader Bashar al-Assad.

US President Barack Obama is also coming under increasing pressure from Ankara and other NATO allies. This is not the first deadly bomb attack on Turkish soil. And Syrian refugees continue to flood into neighbouring states. How long can the West keep up its policy of non-intervention? And could some states and groups have an active interest in an escalation of the crisis?

Tell us what you think: Syrian Crisis - Who is Pulling the Strings?

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Our guests:

Fawaz Tello - is part of Syria's secular opposition movement. He has been living in exile in Germany since 2012. Before that, he was a member of the Damascus Spring Movement. As a result of his political activities he was imprisoned by the Assad regime from 2001 to 2006. He is a founding member of the National Dialog Forum the most powerful liberal grouping, and assisted in establishing the National Council of the Damascus Declaration, the most extended movement inside Syria set up to advocate reform of the Syrian political system. He resigned from the Syrian National Council, criticising its lack of democratic reforms and disunity.

Robert Reid - he is Associated Press chief of bureau for Germany, Austria and Switzerland and has been a journalist for nearly 45 years, including about 15 years in the Middle East. During the US-led invasion of Iraq, he was a supervisory editor for the AP based in Doha and then spent the next six years as chief editor for the AP in Iraq. Later, he served as AP News Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan based in Kabul and was AP's chief editor for the Middle East based in Cairo before transferring to Berlin in 2012.

Günter Seufert - worked as a freelance author and journalist in the Turkish capital Istanbul for several years before joining the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin. He also worked as a researcher and lecturer at the University of Cyprus, the German Oriental Institute in Istanbul and at the University of Lausanne in France. He specializes in Turkish domestic and foreign policies.