This paper studies Turkey’s strategic interest in the Syrian conflict in response to the ‘Arab spring’. It examines the impact of the Syrian crisis on Turkish foreign policy at the regional level, including the impact of Turkey’s leadership, ‘Erdoğanism’, during the Arab spring, and the simultaneous shift from an ‘idealist policy’ of ‘zero problems’ in response to the outbreak of changes. Turkey’s ‘strategic depth’ and its idealistic ‘zero problems’ policy shifted with the outbreak of the Arab spring and the Syrian crisis, in particular, which posed a number of challenges both domestically and regionally. Domestic politics, history and leadership have played a significant role in shifting the tactics and techniques of Turkey’s foreign policy in terms of the Syrian crisis. I include an examination of the relationship between Turkey and non-state actors during the crisis. Despite geopolitical interaction between the two countries, Turkey’s foreign policy in Syria has failed to enable the ‘free Syrian army’ to impose a security zone in northern Syria.