International Response Lacking as Syria Refugee Crisis Mounts

As tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have crossed into Turkey in recent days, and thousands more have set up camp along the border, questions are mounting over how Turkey and the greater international community should respond.

Debate is particularly fervent within the Turkish media, where some reports indicate that Ankara has begun to entertain the possibility of deploying its own military to create a "buffer zone" for refugees within Syrian territory, on the southern side of the Syria-Turkey border.

The report was met with skepticism from Henri Barkey, a visiting scholar in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who says risks of a clash with Syrian troops are simply too high for Turkey to seriously consider taking such a step.

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