Category: Syria

  • Video: Syrian activists in Turkey speak to Al Jazeera

    Video: Syrian activists in Turkey speak to Al Jazeera

    Turkey’s foreign minister condemned Syrian soldiers for attacking a town close to the Turkish border, on Wednesday.

    Al Jazeera met with some activists in Turkey who are trying to help coordinate the opposition movement.

    Zeina Khodr reports from Hatay in south-east Turkey.

  • Turkish-Syrian Border Becomes Haven for Syrian Opposition

    Turkish-Syrian Border Becomes Haven for Syrian Opposition

    Turkish-Syrian Border Becomes Haven for Syrian Opposition

    Henry Ridgwell | Antkaya, Turkey

    reuters turkey syria protest 480 11dec2011

    A demonstrator protests against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria, December 19, 2011.

    Photo: Reuters

    A demonstrator protests against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria, December 19, 2011.

    The Turkish-Syrian border has become a key conduit for the Syrian opposition, including defectors in the Free Syria Army who have set up an underground network of bases.

    A couple of kilometers over the border: A cellphone video captures Syrian soldiers firing on people trying to flee across to Turkey.

    Locals say the Syrian army now has deployed snipers and units all along the frontier. Dozens of people have been killed in the last month.

    They include Dr. Ibrahim Othman, one of the leading figures in the organization ‘Damascus Doctors,’ which ran an underground network of clinics to treat wounded protesters. Fellow activists say he was shot dead while crossing the border.

    The Syria-Turkey frontier has become a key conduit for the opposition. At a refugee camp in the village of Yayladagi, one former soldier described how he defected and fled to Turkey.

    “I was faced with two choices,” he said. “Either to shoot the demonstrators or to be shot myself. So I defected and fled from the army. After I did that, I got the news that my father had been shot and killed. I didn’t know what to do. They also took my cousin, he is five years old,” the soldier added. “I was not the only one who defected from the army. Another 10 soldiers fled with me and came here. All my family are at home so I cannot reveal my identity.”

    Army defectors have formed the ‘Free Syria Army’ to take on Assad’s forces. Turkey has said that international forces could create a buffer zone at the border if the situation worsens. The Free Syria Army said that would give it a launch pad to topple the Assad government. But for now, the defectors are heavily outnumbered and outgunned.

    One activist took VOA to see a basement safehouse in the Turkish city of Antakya. The Free Syria Army is run through a network of bases like this one.

    After dark, the activists gather in the basement, greeting each other warmly.

    One of them, Wael Khardy said his brother is a captain in the Free Syria Army. He said they need international help.

    “There is no outside help for the Free Army and they do not have the capability [to overthrow Assad],” he said. “If they get that support, I think we will achieve the freedom of Syria, but with the current situation on the ground, it is impossible.”

    So far international powers have indicated they have no plans to intervene militarily in Syria, for fear of the consequences across the Middle East. So the activists along the Turkish border – and the protesters inside Syria – will continue to fight alone.

    via Turkish-Syrian Border Becomes Haven for Syrian Opposition | Middle East | English.

  • Turkey seeks way out for Assad

    Turkey seeks way out for Assad

    By Samia Nakhoul

    Reuters

    Turkey, with strong backing from its Arab and Western allies, very much wants Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to step down — but not just yet.

    Under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his post-Islamist ruling party, Turkey has become the main organizing hub for Syria’s opposition — the 260-member liberal Syrian National Council, and the Free Syrian Army, comprising mainly army defectors.

    But across the region and in Western capitals there are fears that Assad’s opponents are not ready to take power, and that Syria’s ethnic and sectarian mosaic could disintegrate and plunge the country of 22 million into chaos unless a way is found to smooth the transition.

    “The key priority is for the opposition inside and outside (Syria) to come together, become a more credible option and include all sects and get their coordination right. Turkey is working on that,” a senior Western diplomat in Ankara told Reuters.

    “What worries them is that if Assad went today there will be more chaos, more destruction and they don’t know who will emerge and they want the opposition to be ready.”

    The main worry, Syria watchers say, is that what began nine months ago as a civic uprising is turning into a shooting war capable of spilling into a lethal sectarian conflict.

    While Ankara has publicly warned Damascus against encouraging the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to step up its attacks, and raised the stakes by joining Europe, the United States and the Arab League in sanctions against the Assad government, most observers believe Turkey is extremely reluctant to take any military action.

    “I don’t expect any military action by the Turkish government unless there is an international consensus and a UN Security Council resolution or NATO operation,” says Mustafa Akyol, author of “Islam without extremes: a Muslim case for Liberty”.

    “They will be more concerned about the Kurdish situation in Syria, because the PKK has a lot of Syrian Kurds in its ranks…and the government believes that Assad is supporting right now the PKK against Turkey”.

    Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat now head of the liberal EDAM think-tank in Istanbul, says Ankara is wary of any rerun of a decade ago, when Kurdish refugees from Saddam Hussein streamed over the Turkish border in the aftermath of the Gulf War, and might now move to create a safe haven or humanitarian corridor inside Syria.

    The US, France, and Turkey are on the same wavelength, said Ulgen, but Turkey would still want a Security Council resolution, and regional as well as NATO support to go ahead.

    In a surprising move, Russia, Damascus’ longstanding ally, offered the Security Council on Thursday a new, stronger draft resolution on Syria, raising Western hopes of UN action following a sharp rise in sectarian killing.

    The Western diplomat, by contrast, thinks Turkey would be reluctant to create a humanitarian safe haven because this would commit Turkish troops in Syrian territory.

    “They will open their facilities and provide a humanitarian response but I don’t think they will intervene, and nor do they want anybody else to intervene,” he said. “I don’t think Turkish troops want to cross into Syria.”

    Another Western diplomat in Ankara also doubts there will be military intervention, believing instead that sanctions, which are draining the resources of Assad and eroding his position, will be ratcheted up. __

    via Saudi Gazette – Turkey seeks way out for Assad.

  • Video: Alawite Muslims in Turkey show support for Assad

    Video: Alawite Muslims in Turkey show support for Assad

    w460

    Turkey is continuing to put pressure on Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to resign, but not all Turks share this attitude. In Antakya, close to the Syrian border, a small community of Alawite Muslims are still backing Assad.

  • 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

    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.

  • Turkey tries to influence Syria minorities

    Turkey tries to influence Syria minorities

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    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.