Today’s Economist offers another perspective as to why Turkey has turned on Syria. Quoting British historian Timothy Garton Ash, the newspaper says Prime Minister Reccep Tayyip Erdogan is suffering from “extraordinary neo-Ottoman ambitions”, with the warning that he would do well “not to overestimate its possibilities.”

Turkey’s secular opposition say that Erdogan is seeking to lead a Sunni alliance spanning Africa, Asia, Middle East and the Balkans.

Faruk Logoglu, deputy for the Republican People’s Party, said: “They want to counter Iran, and America is encouraging this.”