Category: Syria

US being petitioned to push Turkey to open border with Armenia for ethnic Armenians trapped in Syria

© Collage: Voice of Russia

The American White House internet site, or rather its section “We are citizens”, which collects signatures under various kinds of petitions, once again has become an arena for discussion of an absolutely non-American problem. One Armenian political scientist has announced that signatures were being collected under an appeal urging Washington to force Turkey to open the border with Armenia for the sake of the fleeing refugees from Syria. The Voice of Russia’s correspondent in the United States, Roman Mamonov, has tried to find out if there is any connection with America.

Six hundred twenty-five signatures in nine days is a modest result (as of Monday morning) of the petition, posted on the White House site by Daniel Ioannisyan, member of the Heritage opposition party. In this short document (only 10 lines) he calls upon the US government to put pressure on Turkey so that it opens the border with Armenia for the free migration of refugees from Syria. According to Ioannisyan, more than 60 thousand people were killed since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, and half a million people were forced to flee the country. According to the politician, 200 thousand ethnic Armenians live in Syria, most of whom supposedly want to leave the war-stricken Republic and return to their homeland. But the Turkish-Armenian border, which has been closed since 1993, prevents them from doing so. And now Daniel Ioannisyan means to exert pressure on Ankara with the help of Washington. The petition ends with a dramatic phrase, “There should be no closed borders in the 21st century”.

Even in Armenia, many responded with skepticism to this initiative. Firstly, the very idea of appealing to Washington from Yerevan in order to put pressure on Ankara because of the situation in Syria looks strange.

Secondly, political analysts doubt that there are so many Armenians in Syria who are ready to abandon everything and fly away to their homeland. And the question remains whether Armenia is ready to welcome this number of migrants.

Users (from any country of the world) have until February 4 to obtain 25 thousand signatures in order to make the US Administration respond to this appeal. But judging by the current trend, approximately 70 signatures a day, the document will not be sent to the White House, unless a miracle happens.

It is noteworthy that foreign politicians have long used the “We are citizens” section of the White House website as a means of addressing Washington. At present, signatures are being collected under the appeal to stop trafficking of human organs in China, the appeal to stop the persecution of Shia Muslims in Pakistan, and the appeal to monitor the situation with political rights in Venezuela. There is also a petition with the request to recognize the genocide of the Sikhs in India in 1984.

via US being petitioned to push Turkey to open border with Armenia for ethnic Armenians trapped in Syria: Voice of Russia.

January 15, 2013
Syria Civil War: U.S. Troops in Turkey Could Be Start Of Intervention

American soldiers are on their way to Turkey to precariously close locations to the Turkish-Syrian border. While the official explanation is that it is for the protection of Turkey (a fellow NATO member) amid Syria’s ongoing civil war, some are skeptical about the claim, and think something more may be occurring — for all the right reasons.

Four hundred U.S. soldiers are being sent to man the anti-missile batteries along the Turkish-Syrian border. Whether it truly is for defensive purposes or for an impending conflict, there are a few issues that should be discussed beforehand.

First and foremost, Turkey itself is an issue. Geopolitically, having Turkey in NATO provides the organization with a strategic foothold in the Middle East. Turkey is also a perennial EU hopeful that for the past 40 years consistently fails to meet EU requirements, and will probably never attain EU membership. Like a good NATO member, Turkey’s government, headed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had some very harsh words for the Syrian government and accused President Bashar al-Assad of “attempted genocide.”

The hypocrisy of such an accusation, however, is unknown to some. Turkey, and its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, had managed to go through with no less than three genocides in the past century. Pontic Greeks, Assyrians, and Armenians were all but virtually wiped out, while the Turkish state adamantly refuses to admit they had any direct involvement. Twenty-one countries have recognized the Armenian massacres as genocide, while the U.S. Government has failed to do so as to not hamper relations with Turkey, despite 43 U.S. states recognizing the genocide. The Kurds also deserve an honorable mention as a group that have been persecuted on-and-off for the past century, while other ethnic and religious minorities such as the Alevis face occasional attacks.

Something like that cannot be overlooked. Assuming there is a genocide occurring (and history shows these assumptions can be wrong, e.g. Kosovo), at what price do we intervene to put a halt to the human rights violations? If those troops in Turkey are just a build-up for something much bigger, then how can we ignore Turkey’s consistent gross human rights record, and use its convenient geographic location as a launchpad into Syria?

Going back to the issue of whether it is to defend Turkey or launch an attack, it is probably the latter. Turkey, being a NATO member, is guaranteed by the NATO charter that any attack on them is an attack on NATO, and consequently all other member states. Whether Turkey would be able to handle it themselves (and they would be), is then irrelevant. However, would Syria even attack Turkey? Other than stray missiles, the chances of Syria attacking Turkey are very low. It would be very strange for a state that is on the brink of collapse, with the central government losing control, to attack a neighboring state.

When looking at the picture as a whole, defending Turkey seems to appear more an excuse to begin an intervention in Syria. Turkey’s involvement in the compassionate “We need to champion human rights” discourse is a mockery to the very principle. The West must also take into account the Vietnam scenario, and the lesser discussed Lebanon civil war that NATO had to pull out of during Reagan’s administration. Let’s not forget, Iran is a player in the Syrian fiasco as well, and it seems that the U.S. is merely buying time until their intervention is a “secure” one.

via Syria Civil War: U.S. Troops in Turkey Could Be Start Of Intervention.

January 11, 2013
U.S. troops arrive in Turkey to help protect border with Syria, prompting some skepticism

By Jenna Johnson, Published: January 7

ANTAKYA, Turkey — As U.S. troops arrive in Turkey and prepare to man Patriot antimissile batteries along the Syrian border, some of the people who will be under such protection say that the extra line of defense is not needed and that the presence of foreign forces could pull their country into the war next door.

“We don’t need this thing between us and our neighbors,” said Ali Yilmaz, 49, who works in a cellphone shop in this town, whose population is heavily Alawite, members of the same religious sect as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “It’s wrong. It’s only going to cause problems.”

Other Turks expect the missile-blasting defense system — organized and overseen by NATO after a request from the Turkish government last year — to protect them from projectiles that occasionally stray across the border or from a direct attack. But they question why the same level of protection isn’t being extended to those living inside Syria.

“A lot of children and women are getting killed,” said Mehmet Kamil Dervisoglu, 37, who works at a hotel in Reyhanli, a heavily Sunni town that is closer to the border and has become a “Little Syria” in recent months. “If we got involved, it would be an army against an army. But an army against women and children? What did these women and children do wrong?”

For now, about 400 U.S. troops are being airlifted from Oklahoma to Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey. The first wave of troops and supplies arrived Friday, with more scheduled to come in the following days, according to the U.S. European Command.

Eventually, the troops will man two Patriot batteries in Gaziantep, a Turkish town about 30 miles from the border. Germany and the Netherlands also will supply two batteries each, to be stationed in other towns along the border.

The batteries are designed to spot and intercept incoming missiles. Once in place this month, all six will operate under NATO command. The mission is “defensive only” and aims to deter threats to Turkey and de-escalate the fighting along the border, NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said last month. It is not known how long the batteries will remain.

‘It’s a strong shield’

For Turks living close to the border, the sounds of war have become part of life. Those living in Hacipasa — a village of about 3,000 people that shares its olive-grove-dotted valley with Syria — frequently hear the heavy whirl of aircraft and whiz of mortar shells and missiles. Sometimes they feel the faint reverberations from the impacts. After heavy attacks, some residents venture to the river along the border to help wounded Syrians escaping to Turkey for medical treatment.

One morning in October, a stray missile landed in a field where villagers had just finished picking cotton, said Abdulaziz Olmez, a grocery shop owner with a bushy mustache who has lived here his whole life.

“We are afraid that they might come closer,” he said. “You might have a pilot who doesn’t know where he’s going or a strong wind.”

Olmez, 46, said he has become more relaxed since hearing that the Patriot batteries were on their way. He said he hopes their presence will result in fewer attacks on Syrian towns just across the river.

“It’s a strong shield,” he said.

Business has dried up since the uprising began nearly 22 months ago, Olmez said, and hundreds of longtime residents were forced to move. They were replaced by hundreds of Syrian refugees in need of shelter, winter clothing and food.

Two Syrian men who moved to Hacipasa two months ago stopped by Olmez’s shop on Saturday afternoon to buy flour and olive oil. The potential danger in Turkey is nothing compared with what Syrians face, they said.

“The Americans, by doing this, they are protecting the Turkish villages,” said one of the men, who did not want to be identified. “But for the Syrian villages, they are doing nothing.”

‘I don’t see a need for it’

Farther from the border, in Antakya, there is widespread criticism of the Patriot batteries. The town has a large Alawite population, and there are frequent rallies in support of the Syrian government. On Sunday afternoon, many residents said they wanted peace and stability in Syria, not a revolution. Some worry that planting foreign troops on the border is a step toward a broader war, and they question why the Turkish military needs help.

“They’re claiming it’s for defense reasons, but I don’t see a need for it,” said Cemil Yuce, 60, at his restaurant. “I don’t think anything will happen, that any missiles will come over from Syria. Nothing will happen.”

Ihsan Birim, who owns a shop that sells CDs, said the economic consequences of the Syrian uprising have hurt Turkey more than stray missiles. His business is half what it was before the revolt began in 2011, he said. Money is tight, especially with two sons in college, and the family eats chicken instead of red meat. Birim, 53, said he wants this to be over.

As for the Patriot batteries, he said: “If it’s for defense purposes, that’s okay. But if it is to attack Syria, we don’t want it. We don’t want war. People are very afraid of war.”

January 8, 2013
Kurdish Leader: Turkey Will Impede Kurdish Aspirations in post-Assad Syria

By ADIB ABDULMAJID

image Turkish troops deployed along the Turkish-Syrian border, Oct. 2012. Photo: AFP.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Turkey opposes greater political power for Syrian Kurds and will impede Kurdish aspirations in a democratic Syria that emerges after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, the head of the Kurdish Progressive Party in Syria (PPKS) said.

“Turkey is quite concerned with the Kurdish situation in post-Assad Syria, and the Turkish government wants to make sure that Syrian Kurds will not benefit from any transitional phase in the country,” Abdulhamid Darwish told Alkurdiya News on Monday.

He said that Ankara would use “its influence on the opposition in general and on its ally, the Muslim Brotherhood, in particular” to clamp down on Kurdish aspirations.

According to Darwish, Syria’s new opposition coalition was founded under European and American sponsorship in order to guarantee the future of Syrian minorities.

“However, the coalition cannot get rid of the influence of some regional powers, especially Turkey, which is obsessed with a chauvinistic mentality and works hard to impede any possible liberty for the persecuted minorities in Syria, especially the Kurds,” he said.

Darwish added that Syria’s new opposition coalition is a modified body of the Syrian National Council (SNC), adding that the position of the Kurdish Supreme Committee (KSC) in Syria inside the coalition will be similar to the Kurdish National Council’s attitude toward the SNC.

Darwish argued that the opposition coalition cannot be regarded as a ruling party, so the Kurds do not count on it to achieve Kurdish rights.

“The only thing we expect from the coalition is to explicitly recognize our demands as ‘legitimate,” and declare a clear position on the Kurdish issue in Syria,” he said.

Many Kurdish activists blame Kurdish political forces for failing to take the lead in the Syrian civil war.

Siyamend Ahmad, a Kurdish activist in the city of Qamishli, told Rudaw that the KSC wants to blame its inability to respond to the needs of the Kurdish people to a potential intervention of countries like Turkey in the situation in Syria.

Unfortunately, some Kurdish political parties claim that Turkey prevents them from taking any steps forward to achieve what they actually couldn’t achieve,” Ahmad argued.

He added that Turkey is absolutely supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria for some agenda, “but that doesn’t mean to claim that Turkey is behind the suffering of our people in the entire Kurdish region in Syria.”

Ciwan Issa, member of the Union of Kurdish Coordination Committees, said that different Kurdish forces should unify in order to gain a greater voice inside the opposition coalition.

“Only then will we stop blaming outside forces like Turkey, and face challenges without fear.”

via Rudaw.net – English – Kurdish Leader: Turkey Will Impede Kurdish Aspirations in post-Assad Syria.

January 6, 2013
U.S. troops arrive in Turkey; rebels battle for airport in Syria – CNN.com

(CNN) — U.S. troops arrived in Turkey on Friday to man Patriot missile defense batteries near the Syrian border, Turkish state media said.

The move was made after Syria launched Scud missiles at cities near the Turkish border. In response, the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands have deployed Patriot air defense missiles to the border region to intercept any Syrian ballistic missiles.

U.S. officials: Syria using more accurate, Iranian-made missiles

The missiles and troops are under the control of NATO, but the missiles are to be operated by U.S. forces.

U.S. troops arrive in Turkey

A group of 27 U.S. troops landed in Gaziantep, Turkey, where they will survey the Patriot deployment, Turkish state news agency Anadolu said.

U.S. officials did not release any information about the troops’ arrival, but had said last month that forces would be deployed to Turkey.

“We’ve made very clear to them that we’re going to protect countries in this region,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last month. “We have to act to do what we have to do to make sure that we defend ourselves and make sure that Turkey can defend itself.”

The fight for a helicopter airport

Meanwhile, Free Syrian Army fighters tried Friday for the third consecutive day to wrest control of a helicopter base from government forces.

If successful, the assault on Taftanaz Air Base in northern Syria would shut President Bashar al-Assad’s military helicopter pads and diminish his ability to launch airstrikes in the region.

Opposition and government sources reported that the extremist Nusra Front, which the United States has designated as a terrorist group, was taking part in the assault on the airport.

Al-Assad has exacted retribution on the nearby city of Binnish, where amateur video posted on the Internet shows dozens of smoke plumes marking where ordnance has struck.

Read more: Getting to know Syria’s first family

On Thursday, rebels posted videos of themselves firing on the air base with truck-mounted machine guns and a captured tank, destroying one government tank and appearing to shoot down a helicopter.

CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of videos from the Syrian conflict posted online.

Read more: Patriot missiles a warning to Syria’s al-Assad

Gas station attack in Damascus

In Damascus, an explosion at a gas station near a hospital killed 10 people Friday, Syrian TV reported.

An opposition organization expected the toll to rise as many of the wounded were in critical condition after fire spread to nearby cars and buildings.

The explosion came from a car bomb, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on its Facebook page.

Read more: What’s next for Syria

Appeal for missing U.S. journalist

A picture taken on November 5 in Aleppo shows U.S. freelance reporter James Foley,

A picture taken on November 5 in Aleppo shows U.S. freelance reporter James Foley,

In New Hampshire, the parents of American journalist James Foley appealed Thursday to his kidnappers to release him and inform them of his whereabouts and condition of his health.

Read more: American journalist abducted in Syria

Foley’s father choked up while reading a statement directed at the abductors. “We’d like them to contact us,” he said. “I ask the captors for their compassion and James’ quick release.”

Foley was abducted in November in Syria, where he has worked for a year. He had been detained before while working in Libya but was released by the government.

Read more: Missing American journalist’s parents: Send our son home

The rapidly mounting death toll

At least 129 people were killed across Syria on Friday, according to the Local Coordination Committees, an opposition activist network. CNN cannot independently confirm those numbers.

The overall death toll in Syria has surpassed 60,000 people, the United Nations said Wednesday.

That’s roughly the population of Terre Haute, Indiana; or Cheyenne, Wyoming. It’s how many people would fit in Dodger Stadium, and it’s more than the 50,000-plus U.S. combat deaths in Vietnam.

Read more: U.N.’s Syria death toll jumps to 60,000-plus

On Thursday, al-Assad’s forces bombed the Damascus suburb of Douma with airstrikes. In videos posted on the Internet, residents could be seen combing through rubble and pulling out bodies.

CNN’s Amir Ahmed and Joe Sterling contributed to this report.

via U.S. troops arrive in Turkey; rebels battle for airport in Syria – CNN.com.

January 5, 2013
Turkey, Qatar, KSA behind increasing violence in Syria

The Hezbollah Secretary General says Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are responsible for fueling violence in Syria and the increase in casualties.

Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah made the remarks in a televised speech in the southern Lebanese town of Baalbek on the occasion of Arbaeen, which marks the 40th day after the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (PBUH).

He said Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are arming and funding militants fighting the Damascus government.

Nasrollah said the crisis in Syria has a political solution and cautioned that the continuation of the Syrian conflict would have dire consequences.

“If Syria’s battle continues, it will be long, bloody and destructive,” the Hezbollah secretary general pointed out.

Nasrallah said Lebanon in the most affected country in the Middle East by the Syrian crisis, calling on Lebanese political factions to refrain from any moves which would throw the country into turmoil.

He went on to say that the influx of Syrian refugees in Lebanon indicates a major humanitarian crisis, which must not be politicized.

The Hezbollah secretary general stressed that division is the most dangerous threat the Muslim nations face, saying Takfiri extremists are the product of the US seeking to sow discord among Muslims.

He said Takfiris are behind countless massacres and bombings in Muslim countries and particularly Syria.

Nasrallah called on the incumbent Lebanese government to devise a strategy to safeguard the country’s oil and gas resources and said the Hezbollah Resistance Movement is ready to undertake the task of protecting such resources.

He concluded that despite US and Israeli efforts to “isolate, blacklist and demonize Hezbollah such efforts against the resistance movement will get nowhere.”

via Turkey, Qatar, KSA behind increasing violence in Syria.

January 5, 2013