Turkish Forum English

Category: Syria

Assad: Turkey Untruthful About Syrian Uprising

VOA News

April 06, 2013

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been lying about the Syrian uprising.

In comments made to Turkish journalists earlier this week and released later in televised broadcasts, Mr. Assad said both Turkey and Jordan are “playing with fire” to let Syrian insurgents train on their soil. He accused Erdogan of working with Israel to destroy Syria, and said Ankara is contributing directly to the killing of Syrians.

Turkey and Jordan both harbor hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.

Meanwhile, Activists say a Syrian government airstrike on a mainly Kurdish area in the northern city of Aleppo has killed 15 people.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says nine children and three women are among those killed in Saturday’s attack on the Sheikh Maksoud neighborhood in Aleppo.

Activists in the area reported the number of dead is likely to rise due to a large number of severe injuries.

The observatory said that after the airstrike, Syrian-based Kurdish fighters killed five soldiers in an attack on an army checkpoint on the outskirts of Sheikh Maksoud.

On Friday, Syrian rebels said they seized a military checkpoint on a main highway between Damascus and Jordan.

A rebel commander told the Reuters news agency that the Umm al-Mayathen checkpoint is a major army garrison. He says the rebels will now capture the border crossing and cut off the military’s supply lines.

And the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Syrian forces bombed a key Damascus neighborhood, trapping people under the rubble.

The United Nations says the Syrian civil war has killed about 70,000 people since March, 2011. Most of the victims have been civilians.

via Assad: Turkey Untruthful About Syrian Uprising.

April 8, 2013
Kerry to press Turkey on Israel ties, Syrian border, Iraq

REUTERS/Paul J. Richards/Pool

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talks to reporters after finding out that the aircraft had a mechanical failure before take off, at the Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland April 6, 2013.

By Arshad Mohammed, Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will press Turkey on Sunday to quickly normalize relations with Israel, keep its border with Syria open to refugees and improve ties with Iraq, a senior U.S. official said.

Kerry arrived in Istanbul some two weeks after U.S. President Barack Obama brokered a rapprochement between Turkey and Israel, whose relations were shattered by the killing of nine Turkish citizens in a 2010 Israeli naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

The rapprochement could help regional coordination to contain spillover from the Syrian civil war and ease Israel’s diplomatic isolation in the Middle East as it faces challenges posed by Iran’s nuclear program.

Despite Obama’s having pulled off a diplomatic coup on March 22 – a three-way telephone call with the Israeli and Turkish prime ministers, who had not spoken since 2011 – Washington has some concerns that Turkey might be backtracking on the deal.

Israel bowed to a long-standing demand by Ankara, once its close strategic partner, to apologize formally for the deaths aboard the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara. It was boarded by Israeli marines who had intercepted a flotilla challenging Israel’s naval blockade of the Palestinian-run Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had agreed to conclude an agreement on compensation and that he and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan agreed to normalize ties, including returning their ambassadors to their posts.

A senior U.S. official told reporters traveling with Kerry that he “will encourage Turkey to expeditiously implement its agreement with Israel and fully normalize their relationship to allow for deeper cooperation between the two countries.”

While the official denied the United States was worried the Turkish government might be backing away from the deal, another U.S. official earlier this week said Washington was concerned.

Kerry will also raise Syria and Iraq during his talks on Sunday with Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul, his first stop on a 10-day trip to the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

One of the underlying motivations for the Israeli-Turkish rapprochement, at least on the Israeli side, has been a desire to secure allies in the region as the Syrian civil war churns into its third year.

Kerry’s message in Istanbul will include “reiterating the importance of keeping the borders open to Syrians fleeing from violence,” the senior U.S. official told reporters with Kerry.

The official said this was a reference to reports, which Turkey denied on March 28, that it had rounded up and deported hundreds of Syrian refugees following unrest at a border camp.

Witnesses said hundreds of Syrians were bussed to the border after clashes in which refugees in the Suleymansah camp, near the Turkish town of Akcakale, threw rocks at military police, who fired teargas and water cannon.

Turkey’s foreign ministry said 130 people, identified as being “involved in the provocations,” crossed back into Syria voluntarily, either because they did not want to face judicial proceedings or because of repercussions from other refugees.

The incident highlighted the strain that the exodus from Syria’s civil war is placing on neighboring states.

Since the revolt in Syria began two years ago, more than 1.2 million Syrians fleeing violence and persecution have registered as refugees or await processing in neighboring countries and North Africa, according to U.N. figures.

They include 261,635 in Turkey, mostly staying in 17 camps, many of them teeming.

Kerry also plans to nudge Turkey to improve ties with Iraq, which is troubled by efforts by its autonomous Kurdistan region, where ethnic Kurds have administered their affairs since 1991, to sell energy to Turkey.

The Iraqi central government argues that this would deprive it of oil revenues that belong to Iraq as a whole.

via Kerry to press Turkey on Israel ties, Syrian border, Iraq – World News.

April 8, 2013
Turkey sends terrorists into Syria: President Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accused Turkey of harboring terrorists and transferring them into his country.

“Turkey’s government officially harbors terrorists and sends them into Syria. They’re also crossing over from Jordan,” Assad said during an interview with Turkish TV station Ulusal Kanal, which was aired on Friday.

Damascus says Ankara has been playing a key role in fueling the unrest in Syria by financing, training, and arming the militants since violence erupted in the Arab country in March 2011.

The Syrian president also warned that if his country “is partitioned, or if terrorist forces take control of the country, there will be direct contagion of the surrounding countries.”

Assad also referred to the infiltration of terrorists from some other neighbors of Syria and said, “Of course, not necessarily all these countries are doing it on purpose. Iraq, for example, is against the infiltration of terrorists, but it has special circumstances, and cannot control its borders. In Lebanon, there are some different factions that help people who want to infiltrate Syria.”

Assad also slammed the Arab League for its recent decision to give Syria’s seat to its foreign-backed opposition coalition.

“The Arab League lacks legitimacy. It’s a league that represents the Arab states, not the Arab people, so it can’t grant or retract legitimacy,” Assad said.

On March 26, the Arab League handed Syria’s seat to the so-called National Coalition during a two-day summit held in the Qatari capital, Doha.

The Arab League also authorized its member states to send all means of what it called self-defense, including weapons, to the foreign-sponsored terrorists inside Syria.

Many people, including large numbers of army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence in Syria.

The Syrian government has said that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and that a very large number of the militants operating in the country are foreign nationals.

Several international human rights organizations have accused the foreign-sponsored militants of committing war crimes.

DB/HN/HJL

via PressTV – Turkey sends terrorists into Syria: President Assad.

April 7, 2013
An Open Letter to Joshua M. Landis

Attn. Mr. Joshua M. Landis

University of Oklahoma
729 Elm Ave., Hester Hall 116
Norman, OK 73019

Mr. Joshua Landis;

I was shocked by your comments during the live program on Al Jazeera International channel at “Inside Syria” debate on 06 April 2013 Saturday evening as you have been saying “When opposition push in Damascus, Syrian army and government supporters and families will escape from Syria, like 3.000.000 Christians fled from Turkey after 1st World War”

Sir; First of all you have been talking about Syria, what made you comment about the ear after 1st World War? You could give a recent example to the case that was more relevant like Bosnia, like Iraq, like Kosova etc. where they had a civil war.

Let me remind you, it was not a civil war during 1914-1918 and after during 1918-1922.

Allied forces did occupy Turkey for 4 years right after 1st World War that led Turks to rage their Independence War and finally they expelled the occupiers from their land!

I want to know; were you talking about the so called Armenian claims during a civil unrest erupted during Ottoman era? If so that your claim was based on, it was the case which is still not proved and have been occurred during Ottomans before the 1st World War (so the word “Turkey” you used is wrong as well as timing that you have mentioned besides the number you have given).

If you were talking about 1.000.000-1.500.000 Armenians who had to leave Anatolia to southern territories of Ottomans (today’s Syrian & Lebanon) during 1st World War again cannot be the base for your claims as these Armenians did not escape, they have organized armed gangs called Tashnak Sutyun & Hinchak that were burning Turkish & Kurdish villages and killing the civilian Muslim population and acting as pathfinders and support units to Russians in occupied Eastern Anatolia that time, therefore the Armenians living in Eastern Anatolia (only) were forced to be re-located by the Ottoman government by the law called “Tehcir bill” to prevent Armenians aiding Russians to occupy Anatolia against Ottomans in another term basically in order to prevent Armenians from treason.

Or were you talking about the Rum “Greek” minority as they have been subject to a population exchange between Turkey and Greece according to an agreement that was reached between Turkey and Greece after Turkish Liberation War (after 1922) where millions of Turks had to leave Greece and come to Turkey while the same way the Greeks in Anatolia have left Turkey and went to Greece… This as well was not an escape.

So I wish you could explain me who was those 3.000.000 Christians escaping Turkey after 1st World War that you were talking about? When we look at above cases that I have referred to, none of them support you which proves that your comment was irrelevant and since you are a professor, you are not supposed to make your cases on irrelevances. That made me to think; that you are a big anti-Turkish for a reason and you are after fake slogans, lies and bias… If I am wrong please correct me. These are not the qualities of an academic person.

I strongly protest you for your false statements that you have delivered on above mentioned live TV program about Turkey and Turkish history, and hope that you go back to your books and search more about the recent history of Middle East – Turkey & Balkans after 1st World War era to refresh your mind and perhaps learn some true facts to not to make irrelevant, false and annoying comments again.

Regards,

Yusuf Ilker Karaaslan

T: +974 55688730

Doha-QATAR

PS:

Joshua M. Landis is Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He is a member of the Department of International and Area Studies in the College of International Studies. He is also the President of the Syrian Studies Association.

April 7, 2013
Syria Lashes Out at Jordan and Turkey

By RICK GLADSTONE

Syria lashed out at Turkey and Jordan on Thursday for what it called their duplicitous work in fomenting the Syrian rebellion, accusing the Turkish prime minister of chronic lies and telling the Jordanians they were “playing with fire” in letting insurgents arm and train on their soil — a possible hint of retaliation.

The criticisms in the state news media appeared to be part of an intensified propaganda response to new rebel gains in the two-year-old conflict and President Bashar al-Assad’s further isolation.

It included snippets of an interview that Mr. Assad had given to a Turkish television station, in which he also denounced the Arab League for granting Syria’s seat to the opposition coalition bent on overthrowing him.

Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was once close to Mr. Assad, has turned into an ardent enemy and repeatedly called for his departure. Turkey is also housing more than 250,000 Syrian refugees and is helping the Free Syrian Army insurgent group, although the Turks insist they are not providing weapons. Syria, which shares a 550-mile border with Turkey, has frequently accused Turkey of arming the rebels.

“Erdogan has not said a single word of truth since the beginning of the crisis in Syria,” Mr. Assad said in the interview with the Ulusal Kanal television channel in Turkey that is to be broadcast on Friday. A brief preview was posted on YouTube.

Mr. Assad appeared to reserve special criticism for the Arab League, which suspended Syria’s membership in November 2011 and awarded the vacant seat to the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, in a formal ceremony on March 26.

“Real legitimacy is not accorded by organizations or foreign officials,” he said. “All these theatrics have no value in our eyes.”

Syria state television, citing reports in The New York Times and other Western news media about Jordan’s role in helping the rebels, said they showed Jordan had “a hand in training terrorists and then facilitating their entry into Syria,” according to a translation by The Associated Press. It quoted state radio as saying Jordan was “playing with fire.”

The Syrian newspaper Al Thawra, also citing those Western news reports, said in a front-page editorial that the Jordanian government could not claim neutrality while actively supporting the insurgents and collaborating with the United States, Saudi Arabia and others hostile to Mr. Assad. “Their attempts to put out the flame that the leaked information caused will fail in allowing them to continue their game of ambiguity because they have gotten really close to the volcanic crater,” the editorial said.

In what appeared to be a veiled threat of retaliation, the editorial also said “it is difficult to prevent sparks from crossing the border.”

There was no comment from Jordan’s government on the warnings, which have come as insurgent activity in southern Syria near the Jordanian border has escalated and posed a new threat to Assad loyalists there. In the past few weeks, rebels have seized territory near the southern city of Dara’a, where the uprising against Mr. Assad first began.

At the same time, Jordan is facing an acute refugee crisis caused by the Syrian conflict. There are at least 320,000 registered refugees in the country, according to the United Nations, and many more who entered Jordan without registering.

United Nations officials have been warning that the refugee crisis could overwhelm Syria’s neighbors, who have collectively absorbed more than 1.3 million Syrians since the conflict began.

On Thursday in Lebanon, home to about 500,000 Syrian refugees, the commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Filippo Grandi, said the refugee flows caused by the conflict were becoming “unmanageable and dangerous.”

Mr. Grandi’s agency is responsible for Palestinian refugees, a legacy of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Lebanon, which has a population of four million, is already home to about 460,000 Palestinian refugees, and the Lebanese are increasingly concerned that Syria’s Palestinian refugee population of 530,000 could surge into Lebanon if fighting intensifies in the Damascus area, where many of them live. So far, however, Mr. Grandi said, more than 90 percent have stayed in Syria.

Hala Droubi contributed reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Thanassis Cambanis from Beirut, Lebanon.

A version of this article appeared in print on April 5, 2013, on page A8 of the New York edition with the headline: Jordanians And Turks Are Focus Of Syria’s Ire.

via Syria Lashes Out at Jordan and Turkey – NYTimes.com.

April 6, 2013
Turkey: John Kerry to talk about Syria with PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Secretary of State John F. Kerry will head to Turkey before the end of this week to discuss the continuing Syrian conflict, which has just entered its second year.
Photo by: J. Scott Applewhite
Secretary of State John F. Kerry (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
A Turkish official confirmed the upcoming meeting with the Reuters news agency and said it will likely take place before Sunday.

The meeting comes as The Guardian reports another 100 people were killed in a Damascus neighborhood by warplane strikes. The death toll in the ongoing conflict has been estimated at 70,000, the United Nations reported.

Mr. Kerry’s stop in Turkey is part of a Western Europe and Asian visit. And his talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will be closely watched. The United States sees Turkey as a crucial player for helping rebel fighters oust Syrian President Bashar Assad and implement a new government.

“Mr. Kerry will visit Turkey,” said the unnamed Turkish spokesman in the Reuters report. “The date is not clear yet but possibly it will take place either on Friday or on Saturday.”

The State Department did not comment in the Reuters report.

via Turkey: John Kerry to talk about Syria with PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan – Washington Times.

April 4, 2013