Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Jan. 30 once again made comments comparing the Republican People’s Party (CHP) to the Syrian Baath Party. One can only assume that by uttering such a reference to Turkey’s main opposition party, Erdogan hopes the public will believe that the CHP supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and is, like Assad’s Baath Party, incapacitated and unconcerned about its own people.

The civil war next door is about Syrians killing each other — not a conflict between Turkey and Syria — but it has spawned a domestic battle in Ankara. Surely Turkey would have kept its borders open for people fleeing to safety regardless of the party in power in Ankara. In addition, the compassion that Erdogan espouses toward the Syrian people on behalf of the Turkish nation is that of all Turks, including those in opposition. Thus, the problem between Erdogan and the CHP likely stems from the prime minister’s displeasure with opposition accusations that his Justice and Development Party (AKP) is either helping the armed opposition in the Syrian refugee camps in Turkey or is, at the least, turning a blind eye.

Although the Erdogan government has adopted a negative tone toward the political opposition and the international community, for its seeming indifference to the carnage in Syria, there is no clear path to altering the current state of affairs. Out of frustration, Erdogan thus may think that verbal assaults against the CHP will help in creating the impression domestically that the AKP’s Syria policy has been the right one all along — first, when it established close relations with Assad, and later, after the outbreak of rebellion when it called for Assad to step down and sided with the Syrian people. In addition, Erdogan does not mind highlighting that neither the CHP nor anyone else has offered a solution for halting the conflict.

Until 1998, when Syria expelled Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party, Turkish-Syrian relations had been limited. A few years later, the opposition expressed the criticism that Erdogan was getting too close, too quickly to the untested Assad, who took power in 2000, and that such rapidly developing relationships usually have the potential to go off course. The opposition repeatedly stated that they did not oppose abolishing visas or developing trade ties with Syria, but that regardless of who controlled the Turkish government, such steps should be taken only gradually.