AKP's Syrian priorities remain confused

The report by McClatchy, the U.S. publishing company, alleging that Turkish intelligence tipped off the al Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, and led to the recent routing by the group of opposition forces trained in Turkey by the U.S., has seriously ruffled Ankara?s feathers.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Tanju Bilgic said the report was an ?ill-intentioned and lowly slander.?

Washington, for its part, says it has no information to corroborate the claim. Given the ?fog of war? along Turkey?s borders with Syria, the truth of the matter may not surface for some time - if ever.

What is crucial here, though, is that this report, even if false, indicates that the AKP administration of Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu is still under suspicion concerning its commitment to the fight against radical Islamic groups in Syria. In other words, its decision to allow the U.S.-led coalition to use ?ncirlik and other military bases in Turkey against the Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has not done away with these suspicions.

While the McClatchy report is speculative, to say the least, what was not so ambiguous was the recent statement by U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, who said last week that that even after granting the U.S. military permission to use its bases against ISIL, the Turkish government had to ?do more? in the fight against this group.

Following some minor retaliatory strikes against ISIL, which was the least it could do given the public outcry after the Suruç massacre by the group on July 20, the Turkish military appears to have stayed its hand. Instead, it has concentrated its energies on bombing the Kurdistan Workers? Party (PKK) targets in Northern Iraq.

This has played into the hands of those who...