Turkish Forum

Category: Syria

  • The Independent: How Turkey blew its chance to lead this troubled region

    The Independent: How Turkey blew its chance to lead this troubled region

    The country could have enhanced its influence and saved a lot of lives. It did the exact opposite

    Whatever happened to the idea that Turkey was the coming power in the Middle East, with its surging economy and stable democracy under a mildly Islamic government which might be the model for Arab states as they ended decades of police state rule in 2011? Turkey seemed perfectly positioned to lead the way, with no serious enemies in the region and with good relations with the US and the EU. Oversimplified headlines comparing modern Turkey with the Ottoman empire in the days before it became a great power in the 16th century did not seem wholly exaggerated.

    Two years later, none of these good things has come to pass for Turkey, and it is very short of friends in the Middle East. It has managed simultaneously to make enemies of the four powers to its south and east: Iran, Iraq, Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon – as well as the monarchies of the Gulf with the exception of Qatar. Turkish pilots are kidnapped in Beirut and Turkish truck drivers arrested in Egypt. Turkish support for the former president of Egypt Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood has infuriated the military regime, which has even intervened to stop the showing of Turkish soap operas on Egyptian television.

    Most serious of all, Turkey’s entanglement in support of what may well be the losing side in the Syrian crisis is bringing nothing but disaster. It did not have to be like this: at the start of the Syrian crisis Ankara was well placed to play a moderating role in the crisis, since it was on good terms with President Bashar al-Assad but able to put pressure on the insurgents who depend on keeping open the 560-mile Turkish-Syrian frontier. But the Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, overplayed his hand, assumed that Assad would go down as quickly as Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and gave full support for the armed groups Many other governments made the same mistake, but the consequences of the failure of the armed groups to win a decisive victory is most serious for Turkey.

    via Syrian TV – The Independent: How Turkey blew its chance to lead this troubled region.

  • Turkey becomes a victim of its own arrogance

    Turkey becomes a victim of its own arrogance

    Ben Levitas

    turkiye-suriye-sinirinda-duvar-tartismasi_normal_4850745Well Halleluya! Turkey has started to build a wall along its border with Syria. Guess what, most of the wall is 2 metres tall and will ‘have barbed wire fencing over it’ according to the Hurriyet Daily News, making it nearly 2,5 metres high. The first part of the wall that could extend over the 900 kilometres border between Turkey and Syria, is being built near the city of Nusaybin.

    According to the Times, of October 11th, “It is a largely Kurdish area, and the first aim is to make it more difficult for Syrian Kurds to join radical Kurdish groupings in Turkey”. Walls separate people and break up families. Walls cut people off from each other and their fields. This wall will split vulnerable refugees from their kith and kin across the border.

    This wall will divide Turkish Kurds from Iraqi and Syrian Kurds, and Turkey’s ruthless war against Kurdish nationalists has already claimed more lives than the Israel Arab dispute and dragged on for a longer time.

    Haven’t we heard all this before about the ‘Security fence’ that Israel built to stop attacks on its civilians. Yes, indeed and that one has been dubbed an ‘Apartheid Wall’, by Israel’s detractors. So why should this wall, which is likely to be longer and higher, not be painted with the same brush. Is it ok to separate Muslims from Muslims, but not Muslims from Jews?

    Surely if it permissible for Turkey to prevent terrorists from penetrating into its territory, the same rules should apply to Israel? Surely a wall is a wall, irrespective of where it is built!

    In 2003, while Israel was building its ‘wall’ there was an international outcry. No one expressed any concern while suicide bombers entered Israel at will and blew up thousands of civilians. In November, 2003 Pope John Paul II criticized Israel’s building of a wall to keep Palestinians out, and he called for a global movement against terrorism following deadly attacks in Iraq and Turkey.

    At a Sunday blessing on November 16th , 2003  the Pope said ; “In reality, the Holy Land does not need walls but bridges. Without reconciliation of souls, there can be no peace…The construction of a wall between the Israeli and Palestinian people is seen by many as a new obstacle on the road to peaceful coexistence.”

    Surely Israel’s detractors will need to acknowledge that the Pope’s words apply fittingly to the Turkish wall as well! Let’s see whether Turkey being a member of the NATO alliance, will draw any ire from the organization. It begs the question whether the European Union and even the International Criminal Court, which have pronounced on Israel’s Security barrier, will have equally vocal opinions.

    Is it not ironic, that Turkey who so arrogantly led an illegal flotilla to breach and deliberately challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza, is now falling prey to its own venom. Turkey was shrill and defiant in its assault on Israel. Even after Israel apologized to Turkey, and offered compensation to the kin of those killed in the raid, Turkey has rejected with disdain Israel’s overtures.

    Turkey is now being ‘hoisted with their own petard’ and is culpable of the very same actions it so vociferously accused Israel of. Remember how Turkey reacted with brute force against its own citizens, over 3 million of them, when they protested in Gezi Park and elsewhere. The Turkish Police and military killed 11 protesters, injured about 8,500 some critically and arrested over 5,000 people.

    Remember how Turkey invaded Cyprus twice during 1974 and is still occupying 40% of the Island. Remember how the Greek majority that were living in Turkish occupied Cyprus, about 200,000 people were forced to flee to the south. Bear in mind that United Nations forces are required to man the ‘Green line’ separating the Turkish north from the Greek, south. Recall that a week ago, the Turkish parliament voted to extend by a year a mandate authorizing a military deployment to Syria if needed. Note with concern the firing of a TV presenter, Godze Kansu, only because she wore a revealing dress, while on air.

    Heed the move to Islamisize the country by the removal last week of the restriction on wearing headscarves, which exemplified Turkey’s status as a secular country since 1920. Observe with concern the continued imprisonment of journalists, more than any other country, as the Committee to Protect Journalists reported;

    “In Turkey, the world’s worst jailer with 49 journalists behind bars, the authorities held dozens of Kurdish reporters and editors on terror-related charges and a number of other journalists on charges of involvement in anti-government plots.”

    I await with anticipation an outcry from the multitudes of human rights activists who find walls and infringements of constitutional rights so cantankerous.

    via Turkey becomes a victim of its own arrogance | News24.

  • Assad: Turkey Will Pay for Supporting ‘Terrorists’

    Assad: Turkey Will Pay for Supporting ‘Terrorists’

    VOA News

    October 04, 2013

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    Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is warning neighboring Turkey will pay a “heavy price” for supporting what he referred to as “terrorists” in his country.

    Turkey-Syria ties were once close, but have deteriorated over Ankara’s staunch support for rebels fighting to overthrow Assad’s government.

    In an interview aired Friday on Turkey’s Halk TV, Assad accused Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of allowing extremists from over 80 countries to cross the border. He said this resulted in the deaths of “tens of thousands” of Syrians.

    The comments come after Turkey’s parliament extended authorization for troops to be sent to Syria, if necessary. The mandate was originally passed last year after a Syrian mortar shell crossed into Turkey and killed five Turkish citizens.

    President Assad’s government is fighting a divided rebel force that analysts say is increasingly being infiltrated by Muslim extremists. Last month, al-Qaida-linked fighters seized the town of Azaz, just five kilometers from the border with Turkey.

    Meanwhile, international inspectors in Syria are pressing ahead with their fourth day of efforts to oversee the destruction of the Syrian governments’ chemical weapons arsenal.

    The Geneva-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Thursday their team has made “encouraging process” following meetings with Syrian authorities. The group said it hopes next week to begin onsite inspections and start the initial disabling of some of the weapons systems.

    Their mission, endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, stems from a deadly August 21 attack on opposition-held Damascus suburbs in which the U.N. determined the nerve agent sarin was used. The U.S. and its allies accuse the Syrian government of being responsible for the attack, while Damascus blames the rebels.

    The U.S. has said the attack killed 1,400 people.

    Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.

    via Assad: Turkey Will Pay for Supporting ‘Terrorists’.

  • Homemade Sarin Was Used In Attack Near Damascus

    Homemade Sarin Was Used In Attack Near Damascus – Lavrov

    By RT

    September 26, 2013 “Information Clearing House – Russia has enough evidence to assert that homemade sarin was used on August 21 in a chemical attack near Damascus, the same type but in higher concentration than in an Aleppo incident earlier this year, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said.

    “On the occasion of the incident in the vicinity of Aleppo on March 19, 2013 when the United Nations, under the pressure of some Security Council members, didn’t respond to the request of the Syrian government to send inspectors to investigate, Russia, at the request of the Syrian government, investigated that case, and this report, i.e. the results of this investigation are broadly available to the Security Council and publicly,” Lavrov said.

    “The main conclusion is that the type of sarin used in that incident was homemade. We also have evidence to assert that the type of sarin used on August 21 was the same, only of higher concentration.”

    The minister said he had recently presented his US counterpart John Kerry with the latest compilation of evidence, which was an analysis of publicly available information.

    “The reports by the journalists who visited the sites, who talked to the combatants, combatants telling the journalists that they were given some unusual rockets and munitions by some foreign country and they didn’t know how to use them. You have also the evidence from the nuns serving in a monastery nearby who visited the site. You can read the evidence and the assessments by the chemical weapons experts who say that the images shown do not correspond to a real situation if chemical weapons were used. And we also know about an open letter sent to President Obama by former operatives of the CIA and the Pentagon saying that the assertion that it was the government that used the chemical weapons was a fake.”

    Lavrov emphasized that Russia stands fully committed to implementing the Geneva framework of September 14, a bilateral agreement with the United States to move forward with the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons stockpiles under the Chemical Weapons Organization’s supervision.

    The foreign minister, however, reminded that the agreement did not suggest adopting any UN resolution that mentions immediate UN Chapter 7 measures against Syria, or rather the potential for the use of military force.

    “We set in that framework which we agreed in Geneva that we would be very serious about any violation of the obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, we would be very serious about any use of chemical weapons by anyone in Syria and that those issues would be brought to the Security Council under Chapter 7.”

    UN resolution within two days?

    The draft resolution to back Syria’s disarmament could be finalized “very soon,” possibly “within the next two days,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told the AP.

    Although the text of the resolution will include a reference to Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, Gatilov stressed there will be “no automaticity in engaging” in military or non-military actions without a separate discussion at the UN Security Council.

    The five permanent members of the Security Council have yet to agree on a final text of the resolution, though the group has indicated significant progress is being made.

    Russian news agency Interfax rebutted earlier reports on Wednesday made by Western news agencies that claimed that a deal between the United States, Russia, France, China and Britain on wording of the draft resolution on destruction of chemical weapons in Syria had been reached.

    “The alleged report claiming that five Security Council agreed on the main part of the resolution on Syria is not true. The Russian delegation was extremely surprised by the appearance of such information,” a source from the Russian delegation told Interfax.

    #Russian UN delegation says reports that the #UNSC has agreed on a resolution are false. #Syria #UN @RT_America @RT_com

    — Anastasia Churkina (@NastiaChurkina) September 25, 2013

    “This is just their wishful thinking,” the spokesman for Russia’s UN delegation said. “It is not the reality. The work on the draft resolution is still going on,” quoted Reuters.

    Earlier AFP and Reuters had reported that three Western diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity indicated that the permanent members of the Security Council had agreed on a new proposal.

    “It seems that things are moving forward,” one source told Reuters, adding that there was “an agreement among the five on the core.” “We are closer on all the key points,” he said.

    The envoys told AFP that the draft resolution would allow for sanctions under Chapter 7 of the UN charter to be considered if President Bashar al-Assad fails to keep to a Russia-US disarmament plan.

    On Tuesday, on the sidelines of the UNGA US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a “constructive” meeting and agreed to continue pushing towards destruction of chemical weapons held by all sides in Syria under international supervision.

    © Autonomous Nonprofit Organization “TV-Novosti”, 2005–2013

    via Homemade Sarin Was Used In Attack Near Damascus – Lavrov.

  • SYRIA ; To Bomb or Not to Bomb .. MESSAGE FROM WHITE HOUSE

    SYRIA ; To Bomb or Not to Bomb .. MESSAGE FROM WHITE HOUSE

    OBAMADAN GELEN MESAJ

    Subject: Syria
    Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 23:56:52 -0500
    To: [email protected]
    From: [email protected].gov

    The White House, Washington

    Good evening —
    I just addressed the nation about the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
    Over the past two years, what began as a series of peaceful protests against the repressive regime of Bashar al-Assad has turned into a brutal civil war in Syria. Over 100,000 people have been killed.
    In that time, we have worked with friends and allies to provide humanitarian support for the Syrian people, to help the moderate opposition within Syria, and to shape a political settlement. But we have resisted calls for military action because we cannot resolve someone else’s civil war through force.
    The situation profoundly changed in the early hours of August 21, when more than 1,000 Syrians — including hundreds of children — were killed by chemical weapons launched by the Assad government.
    What happened to those people — to those children — is not only a violation of international law — it’s also a danger to our security. Here’s why:
    If we fail to act, the Assad regime will see no reason to stop using chemical weapons. As the ban against these deadly weapons erodes, other tyrants and authoritarian regimes will have no reason to think twice about acquiring poison gases and using them. Over time, our troops could face the prospect of chemical warfare on the battlefield. It could be easier for terrorist organizations to obtain these weapons and use them to attack civilians. If fighting spills beyond Syria’s borders, these weapons could threaten our allies in the region.
    So after careful deliberation, I determined that it is in the national security interests of the United States to respond to the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons through a targeted military strike. The purpose of this strike would be to deter Assad from using chemical weapons, to degrade his regime’s ability to use them, and make clear to the world that we will not tolerate their use.
    Though I possess the authority to order these strikes, in the absence of a direct threat to our security I believe that Congress should consider my decision to act. Our democracy is stronger when the President acts with the support of Congress — and when Americans stand together as one people.
    Over the last few days, as this debate unfolds, we’ve already begun to see signs that the credible threat of U.S. military action may produce a diplomatic breakthrough. The Russian government has indicated a willingness to join with the international community in pushing Assad to give up his chemical weapons and the Assad regime has now admitted that it has these weapons, and even said they’d join the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits their use.
    It’s too early to tell whether this offer will succeed, and any agreement must verify that the Assad regime keeps its commitments. But this initiative has the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons without the use of force.
    That’s why I’ve asked the leaders of Congress to postpone a vote to authorize the use of force while we pursue this diplomatic path. I’m sending Secretary of State John Kerry to meet his Russian counterpart on Thursday, and I will continue my own discussions with President Putin. At the same time, we’ll work with two of our closest allies — France and the United Kingdom — to put forward a resolution at the U.N. Security Council requiring Assad to give up his chemical weapons, and to ultimately destroy them under international control.
    Meanwhile, I’ve ordered our military to maintain their current posture to keep the pressure on Assad, and to be in a position to respond if diplomacy fails. And tonight, I give thanks again to our military and their families for their incredible strength and sacrifices.
    As we continue this debate — in Washington, and across the country — I need your help to make sure that everyone understands the factors at play.
    Please share this message with others to make sure they know where I stand, and how they can stay up to date on this situation. Anyone can find the latest information about the situation in Syria, including video of tonight’s address, here:
    issues/foreign-policy/syria
    Thank you,
    President Barack Obama

    This email was sent to [email protected].
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    The White House • 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW • Washington, DC 20500 •  numbers button skype logo202-456-1111 

    =============

    From: Nursel Oran [mailto:[email protected]]

     

     

    “In April 2009, an Abu Dhabi newspaper carried the news that Qatar had proposed a gas pipeline from the Persian Gulf to Turkey. The Gulf sheikhdom had just finished an ambitious program to more than double its capacity to produce liquefied natural gas at the world’s biggest gas field and needed access to European markets, bypassing the troubled Persian Gulf where the threat of Iran hangs over the heads of the region’s medieval monarchs… But what Qatar and Turkey had not foreseen was the fact President Assad of Syria would have the gall to say ‘No’ to their moneymaking venture, instead inking deals with both Russia and Iran.”

     

    September 11, 2013

     

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    To Bomb or Not to Bomb

     

    Tarek Fatah

    The Toronto Sun

     

    While Russia and America try to outfox each other in the equivalent of a 21st century “Great Game,” Syria’s next-door neighbour Israel may end up being drawn into the conflict.

     

    After all, the Syrian civil war has taken place very close to Israel’s northern borders and the prospect of Hezbollah getting its hands on Syrian chemical weapons cannot be ruled out, despite a number of Israeli air attacks on Syrian convoys that were suspected of transferring military equipment to southern Lebanon.

     

    For the first time, Israel has deployed its Iron Dome anti-missile defence battery in the Jerusalem area. Last week, the IDF had moved Iron Dome batteries to various locations, including the Tel Aviv area, in response to the possibility of reprisals for an American attack against Syria.

     

    The possibility of cruise missiles landing in Damascus triggered serious debate on Monday at the opening of the World Summit on Counter-Terrorism hosted by the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Centre in Herzliya, Israel.

     

    Uzi Arad, the former head of the Israeli National Security Council, told the conference he doubted if an attack on Syrian government forces by the U.S. would be successful.

     

    Speaking to a packed audience, Arad surprised delegates from more than 50 countries when he criticized President Barack Obama, saying the American leader, by threatening Damascus, had bitten off more than he could chew. Arad, once an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Netenyahu, suggested the best thing President Obama could do now was to extricate himself from the corner he had backed himself into with as much dignity as possible.

     

    Twenty-four hours later, the American president seems to have received just such a chance to back out from his disastrous diplomatic debacle. This happened when the Russians called John Kerry’s bluff and obtained agreement from Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control.

     

    At the summit, Uzi Arad not only dismissed the Obama-Kerry proposed response as a bad idea, he openly questioned its legality. He told the counter-terrorism summit, “Syria is not a signatory to international conventions against the use of chemical weapons,” making the legal basis for intervention somewhat shoddy. “You cannot say that Assad violated an international convention Syria is not signed on to.”

     

    The annual summit attracted nearly 1,000 delegates from more than 50 countries ranging from India and Brazil to Canada and Australia. They included academics, intelligence officials, retired generals and police officials, and the one question on everyone’s mind, was this: “Why can’t America get its act together?”

     

    Few were aware of the oil factor behind the Syrian civil war.

     

    In April 2009, an Abu Dhabi newspaper carried the news that Qatar had proposed a gas pipeline from the Persian Gulf to Turkey. The Gulf sheikhdom had just finished an ambitious program to more than double its capacity to produce liquefied natural gas at the world’s biggest gas field and needed access to European markets, bypassing the troubled Persian Gulf where the threat of Iran hangs over the heads of the region’s medieval monarchs.

     

    Following talks with the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, the then ruler of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani told the media, “We are eager to have a gas pipeline from Qatar to Turkey.” But what Qatar and Turkey had not foreseen was the fact President Assad of Syria would have the gall to say ‘No’ to their moneymaking venture, instead inking deals with both Russia and Iran.

     

    As one counter-terrorism expert at the Herzliya summit said, “follow the money.”

  • The Troodos Conundrum

    The Troodos Conundrum

    troodos

    Craig Murray

    The GCHQ listening post on Mount Troodos in Cyprus is arguably the most valued asset which the UK contributes to UK/US intelligence cooperation.  The communications intercept agencies, GCHQ in the UK and NSA in the US, share all their intelligence reports (as do the CIA and MI6).  Troodos is valued enormously by the NSA.  It monitors all radio, satellite and microwave traffic across the Middle East, ranging from Egypt and Eastern Libya right through to the Caucasus.  Even almost all landline telephone communication in this region is routed through microwave links at some stage, picked up on Troodos.

    Troodos is highly effective – the jewel in the crown of British intelligence.  Its capacity and efficiency, as well as its reach, is staggering.  The US do not have their own comparable facility for the Middle East.  I should state that I have actually been inside all of this facility and been fully briefed on its operations and capabilities, while I was head of the FCO Cyprus Section in the early 1990s.  This is fact, not speculation.

    It is therefore very strange, to say the least, that John Kerry claims to have access to communications intercepts of Syrian military and officials organising chemical weapons attacks, which intercepts were not available to the British Joint Intelligence Committee.

    On one level the explanation is simple.  The intercept evidence was provided to the USA by Mossad, according to my own well  placed source in the Washington intelligence community.  Intelligence provided by a third party is not automatically shared with the UK, and indeed Israel specifies it should not be.

    But the inescapable question is this.  Mossad have nothing comparable to the Troodos operation.  The reported content of the conversations fits exactly with key tasking for Troodos, and would have tripped all the triggers.  How can Troodos have missed this if Mossad got it?  The only remote possibility is that all the conversations went on a purely landline route, on which Mossad have a physical wire tap, but that is very unlikely in a number of ways – not least nowadays the purely landline route.

    Israel has repeatedly been involved in the Syrian civil war, carrying out a number of illegal bombings and missile strikes over many months.  This absolutely illegal activity by Israel- which has killed a great many civilians, including children – has brought no condemnation at all from the West.  Israel has now provided “intelligence” to the United States designed to allow the United States to join in with Israel’s bombing and missile campaign.

    The answer to the Troodos Conundrum is simple.  Troodos did not pick up the intercepts because they do not exist.  Mossad fabricated them.  John Kerry’s “evidence” is the shabbiest of tricks.  More children may now be blown to pieces by massive American missile blasts.  It is nothing to do with humanitarian intervention.  It is, yet again, the USA acting at the behest of Israel.

    craigmurray.org.uk