In Border Town, 'It Feels Like We Are Living in War' - Wall Street Journal [getdailynow.blogspot.com]
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By JOE PARKINSON
![[image]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/WO-AL315_BORDER_G_20121004184424.jpg)
Associated Press Women mourn in Akcakale on Thursday following the burial of the victims of Wednesday's mortar strikes.
AKCAKALE, Turkeyâ€"On a residential street in this Turkish border town stands a monument to the Syrian conflict's newest flash point: a mangled iron gate and a coiled garden hose.
Shortly before 4 p.m. on Wednesday, the gate was ripped off its hinges by a shell that flew from Syria and killed five people, including four members of the same family, say local officials, neighbors and family members. Before daybreak on Thursday, the hose washed the area where victims' bodies lay before they were taken for burial.
Wednesday's mortar strikes on this town led to the first killing of Turkish civilians as a result of Syria's deepening civil conflict. The shelling also prompted Turkey to strike Syrian targets in retaliation, the first foreign attack against President Bashar al-Assad's forces since the uprising against him began in early 2011. That has turned this town of less than 30,000 people into a pressure point in an escalating crisis that analysts fear could spark a regional war.
"We don't want to be in a war. But if they push us to war, we will have war," said Mustafa Taka, a 58-year-old civil servant who was discussing the events with his friends.
The first shell to hit Akcakale on Wednesday landed at a grain depot located in the southeast of the town, officials and residents said Thursday. The second hit Ceylanpinar Street, injuring a policeman and sending residents fleeing for shelter. Two more bombs then landed in the same area, scattering shrapnel into mudbrick walls.
"Suddenly the whole town was covered by dust and shards of metal like razors, and the ground shook," said Memduh Tokmak, a neighbor who saw the blast.
On Thursday afternoon, the residents of Akcakale, one of dozens of Turkish towns dotted along the country's 565-mile border with Syria, were struggling to make sense of the strikes and preserve a degree of normality. Inside the predominantly Arab town, stores remained open, although efforts to pursue a familiar routine were disrupted by the heavy police and military presence. Groups of local men gathered at the governor's office to watch the arrival of dignitaries and famous Turkish television correspondents.
Many here believe Wednesday's shells were meant for the rebels who are fighting Syrian forces on the other side of the border. But others insisted that the strikes were a deliberate effort to hit Turkish civilians and hit a town that has developed close ties to Syria's Sunni rebel opposition.
"This is clearly a deliberate attack. They have maps and they know where everything is," said a 26-year-old Syrian laboratory worker who said he sought refuge in Akcakale with family members, and who identified himself by his first name, Muhammed. "Its just too far from the supposed targets and too many bombs to be a mistake."
Residents appeared unanimous in applauding Ankara's move to retaliate.
Turkey's counterstrikesâ€"in the form of shelling from the Turkish army's second battalion, based nearbyâ€"were echoing across Akcakale for almost 12 hours before halting shortly before 7 a.m. Thursday.
Akcakale has been under a form of bombardment for 15 days, since Syrian opposition fighters captured the border gate of Tal Abyad, directly on the other side of the frontier.
Damascus has been pounding rebels positions at the crossing, which serves as a conduit for arms and medical supplies, sending artillery shells and bullets sporadically into the area. Schools have been closed for two weeks, while about one-fifth of the town's residents have fled to nearby cities to stay with relatives, say local officials.
"Before that gate was captured, people would still come and go to Syria. We were quite safe, but not anymore," said Akcakale's mayor, Abdulhakim Ayhan. "Now we're not in a war but it feels like we are living in war….We're trying not to show our fear because if we do, people will be even more afraid."
"We are ready and we're waiting for our orders from Ankara," said the Turkish commander, who declined to give his name in line with military protocol. "When they come, we will do what we are told."
Still, the Syrian and Turkish strikes have dramatically increased the prospect of further conflict in the region, and residents are bracing for more attacks.
In the village of Oncul, a short drive from Akcakale, two Turkish tanks sit camouflaged behind hay bales with their guns pointed at Syrian positions.
Write to Joe Parkinson at
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