Turkey eyes reconciliation with a Syrian regime it tried to topple

THEY WERE once friends, but even a good therapist might call their relationship hopeless. For years they traded insults. One used terms such as terrorist, butcher, baby-killer; the other had his own choice slurs, from thief and murderer to “small-time employee of the Americans”. Words are just words, but there were actions too: it is hard to forgive a friend for supporting men who want you dead. But in diplomacy everything can be forgiven, or—at least officially—forgotten.