Turkey acts like an elephant in a China shop on FETÖ

Turkey was not vigilant enough in monitoring border crossings to Syria in the initial two or three years of the civil war there. The government was probably hoping that additional manpower would contribute to what it expected to be the rapid fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime. But once the issue of foreign fighters returning to their home country became alarming, Turkey started to come under pressure from European capitals to secure better control of the border.

The Turkish security forces cooperated with their foreign interlocutors, but it can be fairly said that the government truly started to take the issue seriously only after 2014, when the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) deadly activities became more visible, especially after three foreign nationals of ISIL killed a Turkish police officer and military officer in March 2014. 

European capitals' initial complaints about lacking cooperation ceased over time, especially after several incidents revealed that some extradited ISIL members suspects were not properly investigated by the authorities of their country of origin, with some going on to stage attacks after being released. The men who injured three soldiers in Nice in 2015, for instance, were expelled by Turkey only a week before the attack. 

Western diplomats admit that it is not always easy to cooperate with Turkish security officials, who are not generous in sharing information. But that is not an approach specific to the Turkish security and intelligence apparatus.

Some of the attacks staged by ISIL show that even cooperation among EU member states is not at a satisfactory level, and neither is cohesion among different institutions within the same country.

One additional difficulty specific to...