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SYRIA/ TURKEY – Turkish MP Presents Note of Interrogation to Erdogan about His Government’s Stances toward Syria

SYRIA/ TURKEY – Turkish MP Presents Note of Interrogation to Erdogan about His Government’s Stances toward Syria

Turkish MP Presents Note of Interrogation to Erdogan about His Government’s Stances toward Syria

Dec 15, 2011

ANKARA, (SANA)- Turkish MP of the opposition Republican People’s Party, Refik Eryilmaz, has presented a note of interrogation to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan regarding his government’s stances towards Syria.

Eryilmaz said that Erdogan government’s support to the Syrian opposition poses a threat to Turkey’s interests and national security.

He added in the note that Erdogan’s statements contradict international relations and will create many problems for Turkey.

The Turkish Parliamentarian requested immediate response from Erdogan to his questions asking “Is it true that Erdogan has already promised the Syrian opposition to cut off all ties with the Syrian leadership and to participate in international sanctions against Syria? Is it true that the Turkish government has made promises to arm the Syrian opposition and support it on the international level and to establish a buffer zone on the border with Syria?”

The statute of the Turkish Parliament grants the MPs the right to inquire about any issue of any minister or prime minister, without specifying the period within which such inquires are to be answered.

Turkish Merchants and Citizens criticize their government’s policy towards Syria

Turkish citizens and merchants reject the policies of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan towards Syria that harmed the Syrian and Turkish peoples alike, and obstructed the move of bilateral tourism and trade.

Emre Hadimogullari, 22, an electrical engineering student in Gaziantep, is so irate at the Turkish government’s policy towards Syria, he told the New York Times in a press statement.

“Turkey should mind its own business and stop interfering in another country’s affairs,” he said.

Turkish businesspeople here also questioned the wisdom of sanctions, saying that the Turkish new stances would negatively affect the economy and the Turkish people.

Cengiz Akinal, a shoe manufacturer who imports bows for his shoes from artisans in Syria, said that the Turkish tax increase on goods from Syria was forcing him to import bows from China.

( Fonte: www.sana.sy )

via SYRIA/ TURKEY – Turkish MP Presents Note of Interrogation to Erdogan about His Government’s Stances toward Syria « dagobertobellucci.

December 16, 2011
Turkey tries to influence Syria minorities

Syrian dissidents opposed to Bashar al-Assad give a press conference in Istanbul (File Photo)

Turkey is reportedly planning to enter into negotiations with Syrian minorities in a bid to persuade them to withdraw their support from the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

In a bid to help fuel the unrest in Syria, the European Union, Arab League, US and Turkey have been in contact and supporting dissidents across Syria. But there are also reports suggesting that the opposition, in collaboration with Turkey, is now trying to make contact with pro-government groups in Syria.

Minorities such as the Christians, the Druze and the Alawites have been expressing full support for President Assad and his reform program since the beginning of unrest in the country.

Turkey has reportedly promised to guarantee security for Syrian minorities after the supposed fall of Assad’s government.

Syria has been experiencing a deadly unrest ever since mid-March, with demonstrations being held both against and in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.

Damascus blames “outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, saying it is being orchestrated from abroad.

Confessions by Syrian rebels in which they admit to carrying out armed activities and killing people as well as security forces prove that recent developments in the country are to be seen as parts of an attempt to overthrow the current government and replace it with a US-backed regime.

Syrian opposition groups have also been interviewed by Israeli news outlets over the past months. The interviews clearly show the future Syria they envision, which will be developing relations with Tel Aviv.

This is while the Arab League resolution adopted against Syria has increased the unity of Syrians. Figures show that over the past weeks, nearly 12 million people have demonstrated in support of Syrian President Assad.

HM/HGH

via PressTV – Turkey tries to influence Syria minorities.

December 15, 2011
Powers entice Turkey to meddle in Syria

Turkey is encouraged by some major powers to militarily intervene in the events of Syria, but Ankara will not accept such a request, a Turkish political analyst tells Press TV.

Hasan Kanbolat, director of the Ankara-based Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM)

“We witnessed a situation like this earlier in Iraq, but Turkey has repeatedly stated that it is against a military intervention. We witnessed that in Iraq too, as Turkey did not intervene,” said Hasan Kanbolat, the director of the Ankara-based Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM), told Press TV on Sunday.

“Turkey’s policy towards Syria is aimed at preventing a situation like Iraq,” Kanbolat added.

The political analyst went on to say that seeing a situation like Iraq in Syria “would mean increasing instability in the region.”

“Turkey is not considering any military intervention in Syria and will not consider that,” he further explained.

Kanbolat also warned that any military intervention by the West in Syria would throw the Middle East into chaos.

“The US intervened in Iraq. Was peace established there? Was bloodshed stopped? Of course not,” he concluded.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March, with demonstrations being held both in favor of and against President Bashar al-Assad.

Damascus blames “outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, saying it is being orchestrated from abroad.

HSN/JR/HGH

via PressTV – Powers entice Turkey to meddle in Syria.

December 12, 2011
Turkey Directly Involved in Terrorist Operations against Syria

Russian Zavtra Newspaper: Turkey Directly Involved in Terrorist Operations against Syria – SANA, Syria

MOSCOW, (SANA)- Turkey is directly in charge of coordinating acts of sabotage and terrorism against Syria and involved in carrying out special operations on the Syrian territories, said the Russian Newspaper, Zavtra.

The Newspaper pointed out in an article written by Boris Borisov that the statements of Turkey’s Prime Minister and German, French and U.S. foreign ministers against Syria indicate that they decided to use the Libyan scenario.

It revealed that the leaders of the Western alliance have taken the decision to target Syria since 2003 when they proposed partial disarmament to Syria for amity and god relations with the West in exchange, a proposal rejected by President Bashar al-Assad.

At that time, Borisov added, the U.S. Congress enacted what is called Syria Accountability Act which gave the U.S. President the right to impose sanctions on Damascus according to his interests, particularly seizing Syrian capitals and restricting the Syrian Airline flights.

The Newspaper clarified that Turkey has played a major role in conducting systematic operational plans to undermine Syria, pointing out that the insurgents were trained and armed in the Turkish territories to infiltrate into the Syrian territories as defectors from the Syrian army.

Turkey is in charge of providing the terrorist groups with information on the Syrian troops’ stationing and movements. In addition, the Turkish intelligence conducts radio-electronic reconnaissance on Syrian military talks, the newspaper continued.

It pointed out that the Department of Turkish Land Forces plays a main role in preparing for operations against Syria, as Zaverta also warned of the Turkish Department of Psychological Intelligence’ s role in targeting Syria which uses media methods to affect the awareness and behavior of governments, institutions and individuals in the foreign countries.

The Russian Newspaper highlighted the continuous coordination between the Turkish and U.S. and French intelligence on this issue.

R. Milhem / H. Said

via Russian Zavtra Newspaper: Turkey Directly Involved in Terrorist Operations against Syria – SANA, Syria.

December 12, 2011
Turkey Blue Berets sent to Syria border

File photo shows Blue Berets in the Turkish Army.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul has reportedly ordered the deployment of army forces on Turkey’s border with Syria to prevent any act of violence along the border.

The troops, known as Blue Berets in the Turkish Army, are set to establish a security region to deal with possible confrontations along the border with Syria, Turkish newspaper Sabah reported.

The deployment came after Syria earlier this week sent tanks to its border with Turkey, saying they are to confront with terrorist elements attempting to cross into the Syrian territory via Turkey.

On Friday, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara would not hesitate to insulate the region’s security from the situation in Syria. Turkey shares a 560 mile border with Syria.

“Turkey has no desire to interfere in anyone’s internal affairs. But if a risk to regional security arises, then we do not have the luxury of standing by and looking on,” Davutoglu said.

Syria has been experiencing a deadly unrest ever since mid-March, with demonstrations being held both against and in support of President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.

Damascus blames “outlaws, saboteurs and armed terrorist groups” for the unrest, saying it is being orchestrated from abroad.

Confessions by Syrian rebels in which they admit to carrying out armed activities and killing people as well as security forces prove that recent developments in the country are to be seen as parts of an attempt to overthrow the current government and replace it with a US-backed regime.

Syrian opposition groups have also been interviewed by Israeli news outlets over the past months. The interviews clearly show the future Syria they envision, which will be developing relations with Tel Aviv.

This is while the Arab League resolution adopted against Syria has increased the unity of Syrians. Figures show that over the past weeks, nearly 12 million people have demonstrated in support of Syrian President Assad.

AGB/HGH

via PressTV – Turkey Blue Berets sent to Syria border.

December 11, 2011
In Turkey’s footsteps
In Turkey’s footsteps

The AK Party model of governance is a model for countries like Egypt where religious norms are in conflict with civil liberties
- By George S. Hishmeh, Special to Gulf News
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The rise of Islamists in some Arab countries, particularly Tunisia and Egypt, that have undergone significant political change in the course of landmark elections, has appeared to have somewhat alarmed leading western governments, who did not anticipate these results.

Whether these results are final is too early to tell. Needless to say, the West is partly responsible for this surprise turnaround.

In 1977, US president Jimmy Carter revealed to an audience at the University of Notre Dame as he was spelling out his new “human rights” policy, that “an inordinate fear of Communism … once led us to embrace any dictator who joined us in that fear”.

Speaking at the American University in Cairo six years ago, Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state during president George W. Bush’s tenure, seemingly apologised that “for 60 years my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region here in the Middle East — and we achieved neither”.

Disappointingly, the US did not adopt a new or different line thereafter, still feeling comfortable with autocrats in the Arab world.

But last week, US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, until recently the director of the CIA, went on to urge Israel to “reach out and mend fences” with its neighbours, particularly Turkey and Egypt, underlining his concern about Israel’s growing isolation in the volatile Middle East.

“I believe security is dependent on a strong military, but it is also dependent on strong diplomacy,” Panetta said in remarks at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “And unfortunately, over the past year, we have seen Israel’s isolation from its traditional security partners in the region grow, and the pursuit of a comprehensive Middle East peace has effectively been put on hold.”

A day later, US Vice-President, Joseph R. Biden Jr, seemed to echo the new Obama administration line during a stopover in Istanbul on his way home from Iraq.

During a lengthy meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Biden was reported to have urged the prime minister to repair Turkey’s “badly frayed” relations with Israel following Turkey’s attempt, aborted by the Israeli navy, to offer humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

There were no public disclosures about any specific suggestions, now that Turkey has become a key American ally since its long-desired membership in the European Union has been shelved. Turkey is slowly emerging as a respected pace-setter for many neighbouring Arab states.

Turkey’s involvement, seen as a step to assert its leadership in the Arab world, will open the way for Arab governments to follow the footsteps of Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party), a centre-right political group which holds a majority of the seats in the non-sectarian Turkish parliament.

Since it shares a long border with neighbouring Syria, Turkey has joined the ranks of the 22-member Arab League in combating the Bashar Al Assad regime.

European, American and Turkish officials were reported to be confident that “Syria’s economic troubles could prove the undoing” of the Syrian regime, “which to date has managed to maintain the allegiance of the business elite”. Syria is known to be “heavily reliant on Turkey for trade, which more than tripled between the two countries to $2.5 billion in 2009, from $795 million in 2006,” reported the New York Times. “Before the recent souring of relations, it was forecast to reach $5 billion by 2013.”

It is very likely the Turkish model would be an attractive one to follow in the Arab world, as seems likely in Egypt. Ahmad Tharwat, a professor at the University of St Thomas in Minneapolis and host in a local Arab-American community television programme BelAhdan told Suzanne Manneh on New America Media that religious differences have always been an issue in Egypt, “but always in a civil liberties context”.

Furthermore, he said, the religious conflict perceived in Egypt today is less a product of the current revolution than it is “a remnant of the Mubarak regime”.

George S. Hishmeh is a Washington-based columnist. He can be contacted at ghishmeh@gulfnews.com

via gulfnews : In Turkey’s footsteps.
December 10, 2011