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Category: Syria

Will NATO and Turkey become Actively Involved in Syria War?

Source: Rick Rozoff and John Robles

As the Syrian crisis escalates, Turkey, Syria and Poland are all under NATO’s constraint these days. Was a bilateral arrangement of Poland with the US a mistake? Should Poland develop its own missiles interception system integrated into or with NATO?

Interview with Mr. Rick Rozoff, manager of Stop NATO website .

Can you give our listeners an update on what’s going on with NATO?

NATO’s been keeping a very low profile for several weeks. Their website, for example, has not updated for at least three weeks, perhaps a month. I’m not sure what to attribute that to. It may be a conscious decision to keep a low profile as the Syrian crisis escalates. So that should they become involved – a likely scenario, of course, is in alleged defense of Turkey – if border skirmishes develop that they will not have tipped their hand or signaled what they want to do…In terms of a new commander at NATO’s Norfolk command, which is called Allied Command Transformation, it was the first major NATO headquarters – and the only one to date – in the United States…

You talked about defending Turkey. Now Turkey recently made some statements regarding the fact that they’re against a military intervention in Syria.

I believe Turkish officials said that to Russian officials. And I would imagine that’s what Ankara thinks Moscow wants to hear. We should recall that last week Turkey moved 25 tanks as well as missile batteries and armored personnel carriers along with troops to within two kilometers of the Syrian border, allegedly engaging in a military exercise aimed at the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, but in fact claiming that a political party on the other side of the border, in Syria, is linked with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and intimating if not stating quite openly that Turkey reserves the right to intervene militarily against supporters of the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, inside Syria.

So a scenario could come into existence whereby Turkey stages a provocation. You probably saw today’s news, John, that Turkey is claiming they’ve killed something like 117 Kurdistan Workers Party fighters in southeastern Turkey near the Iraqi border. So things are heating up there. And if it’s the intent, not only of Turkey, but if it’s the intent of the West as a whole to stage a direct military intervention into Syria, then the most likely pretext for doing so would be a clash between Turkish and Syrian forces near the border, on either side of the border, and then Turkey once again returning to NATO and asking for assistance from its fellow NATO members.

Do you have any information on what’s going on in Aleppo? Several high officials, I believe, were captured when the Syrian Army took Aleppo back under its control.

An English-language Iranian website mentioned that a Turkish general had been captured by Syrian forces in Aleppo. And I personally spoke with a Syrian émigré whose brother is in pretty influential circles in Damascus and he mentioned that six or seven foreign officers were captured in Aleppo within the last 24-48 hours. And he mentioned them being not only Turkish, but Arabic-speaking, presumably Saudi, Qatari or other Persian Gulf Arab States. This shouldn’t surprise us that, trying to throw together an organized insurgency, funded certainly and based abroad, would also entail having probably special operations officers, maybe of fairly high rank, from Turkey and from Arab Gulf states involved in the fighting in Aleppo and earlier in Damascus.

You’re saying six or seven generals were captured in Aleppo.

The term that was used in my conversation was generals, but I think we’re probably safe in assuming they were officers of some ranking, perhaps not generals.

They were commanding officers, but were they from different countries?

That’s correct.

Have you heard anything about training camps that have been set up on borders of Syria?

That’s an established fact. That Saudi Arabia supplied the funding for a training camp for fighters. Roughly, I believe, 40 kilometers from the Syrian border, if I’m not mistaken, inside Turkey. But this has been going on for quite a while. As long ago as, say, last November or October as I recollect even the Daily Telegraph in Britain was quoting an official of so-called Free Syrian Army stating there were 15,000 fighters – he didn’t specify their nationality, incidentally – but 15,000 fighters inside Turkey receiving material support and training. That’s probably a hyperbolical figure. He was probably exaggerating for propaganda purposes. But it’s an indication this has been going on for some time. The Saudis funding the creation of a special training camp inside Turkey that close to the Syrian border is an escalation of the conflict.

Can you tell us about the problems that NATO has had supplying the troops in Afghanistan?

For five days now what was to be the resumption of NATO supplies from Pakistan into Afghanistan has been held up, supposedly because of security concerns, as I understand it, but as recently as yesterday two NATO vehicles were torched in the Pakistani province of Balochistan. So what we’re seeing, in fact, is a resumption of attempted supplying of NATO forces in Afghanistan and we’re seeing exactly the same situation that obtained at the time they were occurring before the attack on the Pakistani border outpost in Salala last November that killed 25 Pakistani troops. What we’re seeing is that NATO supply vehicles are being attacked and set afire.

What can you say about Polish President’s announcement a couple of days ago? He said that it had been a mistake to agree with NATO on building ABM infrastructure in Poland.

That is a fascinating question. I’ve been trying to make sense of that since the story broke. I’m not quite sure if he was alluding to the earlier George W. Bush administration plan to put Ground-based Midcourse, longer-range, interceptor missiles or if it’s an allusion to what’s called the European Phased Adaptive Approach of the Obama administration, which is planning to put 24 Standard Missile-3, advanced Standard Missile-3, interceptors in Poland by 2018. It’s unclear whether he’s talking about the Bush program that’s already been superseded or the Obama program that’s still in the works. But in any event, the paraphrase of his comments that I’ve read suggested that a bilateral arrangement with the United States was a mistake and that Poland should develop its own missile interception system and integrate it into or with NATO.

He was repeatedly asked who they would be defending themselves against. He refused to answer the question.

Of course he refused to answer because the answer is not one that the United States wants him to provide. That country is Russia. The argument that the original Ground-based Midcourse interceptors were meant to hit Iranian missiles…one has to in one’s imagination conjure up a map of the world and try to imagine, first of all, how Iran would have the capability of launching basically intercontinental ballistic missiles over Poland, presumably over the Arctic Circle to hit the United States. That’s an impossibility, fallacious from the very beginning.

August 10, 2012
A rebel fighter falls in Aleppo – but this one was from Istanbul

A rebel fighter falls in Aleppo – but this one was from Istanbul

Thomas Seibert

Aug 10, 2012

ISTANBUL // Osman Karahan, an Istanbul lawyer with radical Islamist views, told colleagues he was travelling to Iskenderun near the Syrian border to attend a trial. In fact, he crossed into Syria to join the fight to topple Bashar Al Assad.

The lawyer was shot and killed by regime forces in Aleppo on Saturday. He was buried by fellow fighters in Syria, but a vigil for him is planned in an Istanbul mosque after Friday prayers today.

“He has become a martyr, God willing,” said Yavuz Cengiz, a colleague of Mr Karahan in Istanbul.

Opposition politicians from Turkey’s border region say the lawyer was one of several hundred non-Syrian fighters, many of them Islamist militants, who entered Syria via Turkey in recent months.

They accuse the government in Ankara of turning a blind eye to the militants and to arms shipments for Syrian rebels, with weapons and ammunition sometimes smuggled in Turkish ambulances.

A member of the Syrian opposition in exile in Istanbul said he had no information about a widespread influx of foreign fighters into Syria.

“There may be some isolated cases,” said Mahmut Osman, Turkey representative of the Syrian National Council. “The Free Syrian Army does not need fighters anyway, they need weapons and ammunition.”

But one expert in Turkey said some radical Islamist groups regarded the conflict in Syria as a “holy war” because an Alawite elite was fighting to keep power over a mostly Sunni population. He said several hundred militants from Turkey alone had joined the fight in Syria.

The use of Turkish territory as a launch pad for foreign Islamists on their way to Syria would be hugely embarrassing for the government, given Turkey’s calls for an end to the violence in Syria and concerns among Turkey’s western allies about activities of militant groups such as Al Qaeda in Syria.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, openly supports the political opposition against Mr Al Assad and has been calling on the Syrian leader to resign. But Turkey insists it does not send arms or fighters over the 900-kilometre border.

But the opposition in Ankara says that does not cover the activities of foreign militants. “They move around in cars and buses,” said Mehmet Ali Ediboglu of the opposition Republican People’s Party, the CHP. “There are hundreds, if not thousands. They come from places like Libya, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Africa.”

Mr Ediboglu and Mevlut Dudu, another CHP politician, said foreigners were renting houses near the border to shelter foreign fighters before and after they take part in clashes in Syria. Mr Dudu said Turkish ambulances carried weapons and ammunition into Syria and returned with wounded fighters for treatment in Turkish hospitals.

Mr Karahan, the Istanbul lawyer, was known in Turkey as the legal representative of several high-profile Islamists, among them Louai Sakka, a Syrian said to be a member of Al Qaeda.

In 2007, Sakka was sentenced to life in prison for masterminding a series of lorry-bomb attacks on synagogues and British interests in Istanbul in 2003, in which 57 people were killed. A partial retrial, ordered by Turkey’s court of appeals, is continuing, but Sakka is still in prison. Mr Karahan also defended other Islamists in court.

Mr Cengiz said his colleague was killed during a fire fight for the control of a police station in Aleppo.

Mr Karahan’s family said he had dedicated his life to “Muslims under persecution in the world and in Turkey”, and the armed resistance against Syrian forces was a “holy fight”.

There are no official figures about how many foreigners from Turkey and other nations have joined the Syrian rebels, but Veysel Ayhan, chairman of the International Middle East Peace Research Centre, a think tank in Ankara, said there were more than just a few individuals.

“We’re not talking about one or two people.” More fighting in Syria could attract even more, he said.

Mr Ediboglu of the CHP said the Erdogan government remained passive to the developments because they were in line with Ankara’s stance in Syria. “Turkey is a party to the conflict there,” he said. “Erdogan has called Syria an enemy state.”

But Mr Erdogan’s policy carried the risk of widening the conflict, amid concerns that Syria could encourage Kurdish rebels to increase their attacks in Turkey, Mr Ediboglu said.

“We are meddling there, and now they have started meddling here,” he said.

via A rebel fighter falls in Aleppo – but this one was from Istanbul – The National.

August 10, 2012
State Department: Clinton to go to Istanbul for talks on the crisis in Syria

LILONGWE, Malawi – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will visit Istanbul this coming week for talks with Turkish officials over the worsening crisis in Syria.

The State Department said Sunday that Clinton, who’s now in Africa, would hold talks with Turkish leaders on Syria as well as other timely issues. The talks are scheduled for Saturday.

Clinton is adding the stop in Turkey to her lengthy tour of Africa. She’s also added stops in Nigeria and Benin to her Africa trip.

via State Department: Clinton to go to Istanbul for talks on the crisis in Syria | StarTribune.com.

August 6, 2012
Is Incirlik airbase in Turkey being used to direct military and communications aid to Syria’s rebels

Is Incirlik airbase in Turkey being used to direct military and communications aid to Syria’s rebels August 2, 2012

Posted by Richard Clements in Drones, Syria.

According to an interesting article recently published by Reuters Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have set up a secret base in the Turkish city of Adana, some 100 km (60miles) from the Syrian border, whose purpose is to direct arms and communication aid supplies to Syrian opposition forces.

“It’s the Turks who are militarily controlling it. Turkey is the main co-ordinator/facilitator. Think of a triangle, with Turkey at the top and Saudi Arabia and Qatar at the bottom” said Reuters source based in Doha.

“The Americans are very hands off on this, U.S intel(ligence) are working through middlemen, middlemen are controlling access to weapons and routes.”

As mentioned above, Adana is close to the Syrian border but also is home to Incirlik airbase, a strategic U.S. military installation located some 8 km from the town.

It is unclear whether the alleged “nerve centre” is located within the confines of the huge airbase.

However, since the base is believed to be used along with other airports in the Gulf area (as Al Dhafra, in the UAE) to launch spy missions over or near Syria, the proximity of the “rebels support center” to the American drones raises some questions: are drones being flown from Incirlik providing the “middlemen” with the intel they require to provide logistics and communications to the rebels?

An MQ-1B Predator from the 414th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron sits on the flightline Feb. 14, 2012, at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. (U.S. Air Force photo) Note the lack of markings on this drone: a typical feature of robots operating in “hot areas.”

Indeed Obama administration has publicly admitted that it is providing “non-lethal” assistance to Assad’s opposition by means of communication equipment, even if some reports claim he has given the go ahead to clandestine support to Syria’s rebels.

In the meanwhile, the Free Syrian Army has reportedly obtained nearly two dozen shoulder-fired missiles, weapons that could be used against regime’s helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

According to NBC News, the MANPADS (of Soviet origin) have been delivered to the rebels via Turkey.

On Jun. 22, a Turkish RF-4E Phantom was mysteriously downed by a Syrian Air Defense battery after violating Syria’s airspace.

Written with David Cenciotti

via Is Incirlik airbase in Turkey being used to direct military and communications aid to Syria’s rebels « The Aviationist.

August 3, 2012
Turkish Tanks Conduct Maneuver along Syrian Border

Over two dozen Turkish tanks conducted a maneuver along the Syrian border as Turkish army continued its military buildup in the region.

Over two dozen Turkish tanks conducted a maneuver along the Syrian border on Wednesday as Turkish army continued its military buildup in the region.

A local governor said the maneuver near Nusaybin town of the southeastern province of Mardin was a routine exercise which “tested tactical capabilities of the tanks.”

The governor said the maneuver would last a few more days.

AA

August 2, 2012
Turkey Plays NATO Attack Dog, Risks Future

Choosing Hegemony: Turkey, NATO and the Path to War

Eric Draitser
StopImperialism.com
August 1, 2012

As the destabilization of Syria has evolved over the course of the last year and a half, what has become apparent to political observers is the seeming incongruity of Turkey’s role in the region. While Ankara has attempted in recent years to establish itself as a force for political and economic change and progress, it has also assumed the role of a NATO attack dog, becoming a crucial weapon in the arsenal of the Western imperialists. While Turkey’s actions in Syria, in particular the sponsorship and coordination of terrorists, must be vigorously condemned, it is also important to note the geopolitical and economic issues at stake for Turkey. In doing so, those of us around the world who reject imperialist meddling and destabilization, who stand in opposition to Western hegemony and proxy states, must help push Turkey back onto the path of peace and progress.

Turkey’s Role in Syria

Anyone who has followed the evolution of the imperialist aggression against Syria has undoubtedly noted the insidious role that Turkey has played. From a diplomatic perspective, Ankara has led the charge in demonizing the Assad regime, saying that it “stands against the will of the Syrian people” and is “killing its own people.” However, the reality is that Turkey, along with its collaborators in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon and elsewhere, have done more to fan the flames of violence and instability than the Assad regime ever could.

First and foremost, one must examine the overt sponsorship and hosting of international terrorists on Turkish soil. As Reuters and other news outlets reported last week, Turkey has been operating a terrorist base in Adana, in the vicinity of US-NATO’s base at Incirlik. It is from this base (and others, to be sure) that many of the terrorists have been funneled into Syria. Moreover, these terrorists are not strictly Syrians trying to destabilize their own country. In fact, the majority of those operating from the Turkish base are from Libya, Chechnya, Qatar, and elsewhere. Essentially then, it is clear that, at the behest of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, under the command and control of the Turkish military and intelligence apparatus, the destabilization of Syria has been led. So, it would be fair to say that Turkey has been at the forefront of the attack on its neighbor, acting as a willing partner of NATO, complicit in countless horrendous war crimes perpetrated against the people of Syria.

Hosting and operating terror networks is not the only way in which Ankara has played an instrumental role in exacerbating the conflict. In an article entitled “War at Any Cost: Another Manufactured Pretext for War with Syria”, I analyzed the way in which the Erdogan government attempted to use the downing of one of its jets as a legitimization of war against its neighbor. In the ensuing weeks, and after careful investigation, it has become clear that, at the very least, the Turkish jet had violated Syrian airspace and that the military acted within the confines of international law in their response. It was the rhetoric of Erdogan, Davotoglu and others that was more instructive however. In the aftermath of this event, Erdogan threatened military action against Syria, claiming that the military might pose a threat. Of course, this should be taken to mean that Turkey would have taken upon itself the right to interpret the military of a sovereign state acting within its own borders as a threat, a clear violation of the principles of international relations and law. Essentially, the entire episode with the downing of the jet demonstrated the fact that Erdogan and Co. were willing to allow themselves to be used as NATO’s dagger against Assad.

One integral element of the destabilization campaign has been the use of foreign “diplomatic” entities, primarily the so-called Syrian National Council to act as the ostensible voice of the opposition, while in fact being the mouthpiece of US-NATO. The SNC, led by foundation-funded Western proxies such as Bassma Kodmani, advocates regime change in Syria and supports the loose collection of terror groups and death squads operating under the moniker of the “Free Syrian Army” (FSA). The Council has been hosted by Turkey, receiving financial and diplomatic support from Ankara. This dubious entity has failed to unite the opposition, its one US-NATO delegated task, and has instead become a lightning rod for criticism from much of the international community. It has become clear in recent months that the SNC is, in fact, composed of a number of factions including the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been implicated in weapons smuggling along the Syria-Turkey border in tandem with the CIA. In addition, the SNC and their Turkish hosts have attempted to foment chaos in Syria using discontented Kurdish elements, many of whom view the SNC and the dismantling of the Syrian state as a prelude to Kurdish independence. Essentially, the Syrian National Council (and, to a lesser degree, the Free Syrian Army) could not exist were it not for overt support, both financial and diplomatic, of the Turkish government.

What the Turkish government has called “support for the Syrian people” has, in fact, become support for international terror networks. It is now public knowledge that Al Qaeda is operating on Turkish soil near the Syrian border, using Turkey as a safe haven and command center from which to launch incursions into Syria. As Tony Cartalucci points out however, this trend is nothing new. Cartalucci points to the famous New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh entitled “The Redirection”, in which Hersh states:

“To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has cooperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.”

Here we see the complicity of the United States and its proxies in the region in organizing and unleashing Al Qaeda as a weapon against its enemies. Turkey has merely allowed itself to be made into a staging ground for this type of destabilization, precisely what the Assad regime has argued since the beginning of the conflict. Aside from Al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood and other terror networks have been mobilized in Turkey in order to smash the Syrian state. The attempt was to topple the Assad regime and put, in its place, a government more amenable to US designs for a new Arab World, one that would be subservient to Western imperialism for another half century. What has taken place however, has been quite the opposite. Instead of destroying Syria and the regime in Damascus, it is the terrorists and their handlers in Ankara, Riyadh, and Washington who have had to backpedal as Damascus has executed a successful counter-terrorism strategy and maintained control of the country.

Geopolitics and Rationalizing the Subversion

Many times since the destabilization of Syria began, keen political observers have wondered what Turkey hopes to gain from fomenting chaos over the border. In addressing this perplexing question, one begins to gain insight into more than Turkey’s reasons for doing so; one begins to explore the Turkish mindset. For years, Turkey has maintained a “Zero Problems” policy with its neighbors, essentially preferring to have relations with all regional players, from Israel to Syria and Iran. However, as the NY Times points out, this strategy has changed in recent years, particularly under the leadership of Erdogan and current Foreign Minister Davutoglu. With them at the helm, Turkey has instead chosen to allow itself to become NATO’s enforcer, doing the dirty work of imperialism including diplomatic attacks, terrorism, and countless other equally horrendous forms of subversion. In doing so, the ruling establishment in Ankara has bought into NATO’s insidious tenets of hegemony and domination.

The Turkish government seems to have succumbed to a form of hubris or, as some might argue, the hysteria of power. Erdogan, Davutoglu and others have chosen to try to make Turkey into a regional hegemon capable of dominating its neighbors economically, politically, and militarily. However, what they seem to have failed to realize is that Turkey itself is a fragile state, created less than a century ago and comprised of a number of ethnic groups at odds with each other. As author and historian Webster Tarpley has pointed out, “Turkey has been bought off by the Anglo-American elite and created a situation where the risk and possible rewards are entirely out of proportion.” Indeed, it would seem that the ruling establishment in Ankara has made the proverbial “deal with the devil”, eschewing the rational and sound “zero problems” policy in favor of an “endless problems” policy espoused by NATO and its masters on Wall St. and in London.

Playing a Dangerous Game

Turkey is risking quite a lot in attempting to destroy the Assad regime and, with it, the Syrian state. First and foremost is the immediate blowback from the destruction of its neighbor. Undoubtedly, the Kurdish minority in Turkey, which makes up more than a quarter of the total population, will then become more difficult to manage, uniting with their Syrian cousins and beginning to cause unrest inside Turkey which has, for decades, been fighting a perpetual separatist movement in the Kurdish areas. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been engaged in terrorist activities in Turkey for years and, with the destruction of Syria, would likely emerge as a much more immediate threat to the safety and security of Turkey. Essentially then, Turkey’s destabilization of Syria would, quite predictably, grow to destabilize Turkey itself.

Secondly, Turkey risks very lucrative and long-standing economic ties with Russia and China. Because of their belligerent position vis-à-vis Syria, Turkey might jeopardize precisely those relations which stand to benefit its economy and people most. With regard to Russia, Turkey has important development deals that must be understood. Most prominent among these is the proposed Mersin Akkuyu nuclear power deal signed by Moscow and Ankara worth upwards of $20 billion. This represents the largest single Russian investment anywhere outside of the Russian Federation. Moreover, this deal would move Turkey forward in the fields of energy production and high technology, both of which are crucial for the maintenance and building of an advanced economy in the 21^st Century. Likewise, the South Stream Pipeline, long seen as integral to the economic futures of both Russia and Turkey, could be in jeopardy. Additionally, the establishment of the High Level Cooperation Council (UDIK) under Medvedev sought to bring together the diplomatic and political leadership of the two countries to jointly work toward building a common economic destiny. This could be the beginning of tremendous economic and geopolitical progress for Russia and Turkey, progress which is likely to be stymied by Ankara’s incomprehensible folly in Syria.

Lastly, Turkey continues to look towards membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), dominated by Russia and China. Because of the economic crisis in Europe and cloudy future of the EU more generally, Turkey has put the brakes on possible full integration with Europe and, instead, chosen to focus on the SCO. Just this week, Erdogan explained that his country is looking more and more to integration into the SCO instead of the EU. Naturally, Moscow and Beijing will not allow a NATO attack dog state into the SCO and so, as with many other issues, Turkey risks their opportunity to integrate themselves into the “developing world” of the BRICS and SCO solely because they’ve allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by US-NATO.

Turkey would do well to look at its own past to find the wisdom that will light the path back to a sound foreign policy, back to progress and reason. Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey once said, “Unless a nation’s life faces peril, war is murder.” The truth and meaning of this statement must not be underestimated. In fact, Turkey had to learn the hard way that the path to progress is fraught with challenges; that notions of empire and hegemony must be shed in order to better the lives of the people. In this case, we must think not only of the lives of Turkish people, but of Syrians as well and, for that matter, all people of the world. In so doing, it is important to remember that no good can come to Turkey or the region if they continue down the path of subversion, terrorism, and destruction in Syria. As Ataturk famously said, “Peace at home, peace in the world.” Hopefully, these words are not entirely forgotten in Turkey today.

August 2, 2012