Turkish Forum

Tag: Bashar al-Assad

President of Syria
  • Syria’s Assad hails Turkey anti-Erdogan opposition

    Syria’s Assad hails Turkey anti-Erdogan opposition

    display_imageDAMASCUS: President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday hailed Turkish opposition to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s backing for the revolt that began in Syria nearly two years ago, in a statement seen by AFP.

    The statement comes after Assad met a Turkish opposition delegation, which prompted Erdogan to issue a stinging criticism of the politicians, asking why they were meeting with “such a dictator.”

    Assad told the Republican People’s Party delegation there was “a need to distinguish between the stance of the Turkish people, who support stability in Syria, and the positions of Erdogan’s government, which supports terrorism, extremism and destabilisation in the region,” it said.

    “The Syrian people appreciates the position adopted by forces and parties in Turkey that reject the Erdogan government’s negative impact on our societies, which are multi-religious and multi-ethnic,” Assad said.

    The Turkish delegation, headed by Hassan Akgul, stressed “the Turkish people’s refusal to interfere in Syrian affairs, and a commitment to good neighbourly relations,” the statement said.

    The visitors also “warned of the risks of the Syrian crisis’s impact on Turkey and other countries in the region,” it added.

    Speaking on television, Erdogan asked: “Why is this country’s main opposition party sending its three lawmakers to meet with this dictator, this tyrant? What do they want to achieve?”

    Damascus, meanwhile, called on the international community in letters to the United Nations to condemn Ankara’s role in the Syrian conflict, which has left some 70,000 people dead.

    “Syria hopes that the international community… will fulfil its responsibilities clearly and sincerely, and denounce the role of the Turkish government and other states that fund the Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist groups, while bearing them responsible for what is happening in Syria,” the letters said.

    Assad’s government has systematically blamed the violence in Syria on a foreign-backed plot, and has frequently accused Turkey of channelling funds and weapons to the armed opposition.

    Reacting to the letters, Erdogan asked if Assad would “complain about Turkey to the United Nations just because we are accommodating 250,000 Syrians on our soil? This person is committing a kind of genocide there… Will he complain about us because of this?”

    Ankara broke off relations with Damascus soon after the outbreak of Syria’s uprising, which morphed into an armed insurgency after the regime unleashed a brutal crackdown against dissent that began in mid-March 2011.

    Turkey hosts some 200,000 Syrians who fled the violence, and earlier this month it hosted a Syrian opposition election for Aleppo’s provincial council.

    – AFP/jc

    via Syria’s Assad hails Turkey anti-Erdogan opposition – Channel NewsAsia.

  • France, Turkey plot to assasinate Assad: Report

    France, Turkey plot to assasinate Assad: Report

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    A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syrians carrying an injured man after a powerful car bomb exploded near the headquarters of Syria’s ruling Baath party in the center of Damascus.

    Sun Mar 3, 2013 8:28AM GMT

    A Lebanese news website says it has obtained a documentary movie revealing a plot hatched by French and Turkish spy agencies to assassinate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

    Lebanese Asianews website says the movie, which has been produced by the well-known Syrian media activist Khedar Awarake, shows confessions by those who were on a joint mission to kill top Syrian officials.

    According to the report, Syrian security organizations have recently defused assassination attempts by Turkey and France’s intelligence agencies on the lives of Assad and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem.

    The report added that Turkish and French spy agencies have set up a joint operation room aimed at accomplishing the assassination mission. It added that their mission had overlapped with operations of security services of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the US on many times.

    The report said that they also had tried to recruit high-ranking officials in Syrian governmental offices, including the office of Muallem and the presidential palace in Damascus.

    Syria accuses Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey as well as some Western countries of fanning the flames of violence that have erupted in the country since March 2011.

    The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.

    DB/MA

    via PressTV – France, Turkey plot to assasinate Assad: Report.

  • Damascus letter accuses Turkey of harboring al-Qaeda terrorists

    Damascus letter accuses Turkey of harboring al-Qaeda terrorists

    By Al Arabiya with agencies

    Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad (L) meets with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Damascus August 9, 2011. Assad had said his forces would continue to pursue “terrorist groups” (Reuters)

    A letter attacking Turkey’s “destructive” role in the Syrian conflict has been sent from President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to the United Nations on Friday, according to Syrian state media.

    The Syrian foreign ministry’s letter accuses Turkey of harboring “terrorists from Al-Qaeda’s network”, the SANA news agency said.

    The ministry also accused Ankara of taking “increasingly hostile stances towards Syria, by blockin. measures taken by Damascus for a political solution to the crisis” that the U.N. says has left some 70,000 people dead.

    The letter, published by SANA, also criticizes Turkey for “pressuring Syrian opposition members to refuse a political plan” proposed in a speech Assad on January 9.

    Assad in the rare speech offered negotiations to end the conflict but only to opposition groups with no links to rebels the regime considers to be “terrorists.”

    The proposal was rejected by Western and Arab countries, as well as by Turkey and the Syrian opposition, including dissident groups tolerated by Assad’s regime.

    “Turkey supports and publicly justifies terrorist, destructive acts” against Syria, said the ministry in letters addressed to the U.N. Security Council and to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

    “Turkey has turned its territory into camps used to house, train, finance and infiltrate armed terrorist groups, chief among them the Al-Qaeda network and the Al-Nusra Front,” said the letter.

    Strike back

    Earlier on Friday, Turkish artillery struck back after a shell fired from neighboring Syria ploughed into Turkish territory without causing any casualties, the state-run news agency reported.

    The shell fell near the town of Yayladag in Hatay province near the border with Syria and Turkish forces retaliated immediately, Anatolia said.

    Since Syrian fire killed five Turks on October 3, Turkey has systematically retaliated to every cross-border shelling.

    Key opposition backer Turkey early in the revolt against Assad broke ties with Damascus and has led international calls for his ouster.

    Some 200,000 Syrian refugees have fled the conflict in their country for Turkey, many of them living in insalubrious camps.

    Assad’s regime views dissidents and insurgents as foreign-backed “terrorists” whose aim is to destroy Syria.

    Al-Nusra Front, which the United States says has links to Al-Qaeda, has been listed by Washington as a “terrorist” organization.

    Its jihadists have claimed responsibility for most suicide bombings that have shaken Syria in the spiraling conflict.

    Violence continues

    Syria’s rebels captured a military airbase in the northern province of Aleppo on Friday and geared for a major battle against loyalist forces for control of two nearby strategic airports, a watchdog said.

    The rebels, from the Islamist Al-Nusra Front and the Muhajireen battalion, overran the base in Sfeira, east of Aleppo international airport, and captured a large stockpile of ammunition, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

    The Britain-based watchdog also reported intermittent clashes around Aleppo international airport itself as well as around Nayrab airbase and another military complex, as the two sides squared up for a major fight.

    “The army shelled the area around Aleppo international airport and Nayrab air base on Friday morning, while rebels used home-made rockets to shell Nayrab,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

    “The army is preparing a large-scale operation to take back control of Base 80,” he added of a military complex tasked with managing both Nayrab and Aleppo airports.

    Rebels seized the base on Wednesday after a battle that left at least 150 dead from both sides, among them senior army officers, said the Observatory.

    Insurgents fighting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime “are trying to take control of Nayrab and to destroy the runways at Aleppo international airport, which the army is using for military purposes,” Abdel Rahman said.

    Activists in Aleppo have said the rebel Free Syrian Army shifted its focus weeks ago from the city to airbases in the province.

    Insurgents see the capture of airports such as Al-Jarrah, also in Aleppo province, on Tuesday as a way of seizing large amounts of ammunition and to put out of action warplanes used by the regime to bombard rebel-held areas.

    Regime tanks, meanwhile, shelled the town of Khan Sheikhun in the province of Idlib, killing at least 11 civilians, said the Observatory.

    In Damascus, the army shelled the eastern district of Jobar, where rebels have set up enclaves, the Britain-based group said.

    See here what is left of Assad’s regime: The Lion’s Den

    via Damascus letter accuses Turkey of harboring al-Qaeda terrorists.

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

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

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    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.”

  • Turkey Will Pay a High Price After Assad

    Turkey Will Pay a High Price After Assad

    Syrian children from the northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ain are pictured near the Turkish border fence during gunfire is heard between Free Syrian Army and armed Kurds of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party in the Ceylanpinar
    Syrian children from the northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ain are pictured near the Turkish border fence as gunfire is heard between the Free Syrian Army and the armed Kurds of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in the northern Syrian town of Ceylanpinar, Nov. 25, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)
    By: Kadri Gursel. posted on Wed, Dec 26.

    If we have to explain Turkey’s fundamental mistake in the Syria crisis, there is no better way than “putting all the eggs in one basket.” This is exactly what Turkey did by putting all its eggs in the basket of the Muslim Brotherhood and locked itself into the parameters of a zero-sum game.

    About This Article

    Summary :

    By throwing its lot completely with Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey will sustain costs whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stays or goes, writes Kadri Gursel.

    Author: Kadri Gursel
    posted on: Wed, Dec 26, 2012

    But a zero-sum game couldn’t be played in Syria. For Turkey to emerge from the Syrian conflict as a country collecting all the bonuses, the Muslim Brotherhood has to fully and absolutely dominate the entirety of Syria. The likelihood of this is close to zero.

    Foreign-policy makers in Ankara, while putting all Turkish eggs into the Muslim Brotherhood basket, acted recklessly with extreme self-confidence, confident that the Baath regime will be toppled in a short time.

    One reason why the neo-Islamist elite ruling Turkey today adopted an attitude that was far removed from realities was their underestimation of the institutional resistance capacity of the Baath regime against an uprising. This was a gross misjudgment.

    But that wasn’t the only reason: There were also emotional instincts in play.

    The AKP elite was in an unprecedented euphoria after seeing the Arab uprisings bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt, and Islamists in two other Maghreb countries, while Sunnis were marching toward power in Syria. Here we have to take note that the AKP represents the Muslim Brotherhood traditions in Turkey.

    The hope that solidarity among countries dominated by Sunni-based Islam could lead to a new Middle East order in the eastern Mediterranean basin created that euphoria within the AKP elite who lost track of reality. Emotional factors played a significant role in the emergence of Sunni, Islamic and Ottoman elements in Turkey’s foreign policy.

    Now, the general expectation is for Assad to be ousted in near future, one way or the other.

    For the rulers of Turkey, the criterion for the success of their Syrian policy is Assad’s departure. We are expected to applaud the success of their policy once Assad goes. But if we apply concrete assessment criteria, a positive reaction to their wish won’t be possible.

    Before answering the question “What problems await Turkey once Assad goes?” we must ask ourselves “What will be the price of Assad staying in power longer than expected?”

    Turkey has already paid a heavy political and economic price for Assad clinging to power for 21 months despite all overt and covert policies and measures we employed to topple him.

    As an example, we can cite the almost total disruption of our land trade with the Middle East and costs accrued to transport, production and agricultural sectors. Naturally there will be a price AKP has to pay in domestic politics for this situation. The masses of Syrian refugees more or less invited with the hope that they may facilitate setting up a buffer zone did not work. Today, Turkey is carrying alone the financial burden of more than 140,000 refugees.

    As long as Assad remains in Damascus, efforts of the Syrian Kurds to achieve autonomy, seen as a threat by Ankara, will gain momentum. The longer Assad stays in power higher the cost will be for Turkey.

    But don’t think that Turkey’s problems will ease once Assad departs. On the contrary, the problems will be more diverse, more complicated and confusing, the vast majority of which can be attributed to Turkey’s faulty policies.

    Let’s begin with Turkey’s Kurdish issue: Emergence of Syrian Kurds under the leadership of the PYD — seen as Syrian offshoot of the PKK — affixed regional context to Turkey’s Kurdish issue. In this context Iran, Baath, Baghdad, Kurdistan regional government of Iraq and many other elements entered Turkey’s Kurdish equation. A possible intervention by Turkey in this region will bring with it the risk of internationalizing the issue.

    If Syria’s Kurdish issue is solved through peaceful means and Kurds achieve their aspiration of autonomy, Turkey will be exposed as a country with the largest Kurdish population but also a country that has given the minimum political rights to its own Kurds.

    Meanwhile, the PKK, with weapons it will acquire from the army of the Baath regime, will be even a greater threat to Turkey’s security.

    Ankara’s entry to the Syrian conflict as a party supporting the Sunni majority will cause serious problems of confidence in its relations with other minorities of that country. After every massacre and act of brutality against those minorities, there will be attempts to determine Turkey’s part in it. The fact that weapons to Sunni opposition and Jihadist groups were sent via Turkey will burden Turkey with ethical and political responsibility.

    Turkey will also suffer headaches because of the activities of Al Nusra Front and other al-Qaeda-linked groups in Syria.

    And finally we might see the small Syrian Turkmen minority being designated a target of retaliation against Turkey.

    Since Assad’s departure doesn’t automatically mean stability, the problems of Turkey’s Middle East trade because of the Syrian crisis will continue during the transition period.

    Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2012/al-monitor/turkey-syria-muslim-brother.html#ixzz2GG6ryWIj
  • In Turkey, Syria poses a new test for Erdogan’s authority – The Washington Post

    In Turkey, Syria poses a new test for Erdogan’s authority – The Washington Post

    By Anthony Faiola, Sunday, November 4, 12:12 AM

    Adam Berry/Getty Images - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a news conference in Berlin. His plans to transform Turkey into a model of Muslim democracy face increased threats, both internal and external.
    Adam Berry/Getty Images – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a news conference in Berlin. His plans to transform Turkey into a model of Muslim democracy face increased threats, both internal and external.

    ANKARA, Turkey — Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emerged during the past decade as a transformative leader of Turkey, pledging to make his country a model of Muslim democracy while presidingover an economic miracle of China-like growth and building a new brand of neo-Ottoman clout in the Middle East.

    A convergence of challenges are rocking this nation that straddles two continents, with the escalating crisis in neighboring Syria leaving the Islamist leader struggling among foreign allies and within his own electorate to muster support for a more forceful international response.

    Many observers still see Turkey as a model for the budding democracies in the Muslim world. But thousands from the secular opposition here faced water cannons and tear gas last week during a protest against what they decry as Erdogan’s increasingly religious and autocratic bent in a nation where the separation of church and state were once a jealously guarded nationalist ideal.

    Meanwhile, Turkey’s once-roaring economy is slowing, and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party is staging its most audacious attacks since the 1990s.

    And though Erdogan’s backers in the ruling Justice and Development Party routinely unfurl banners saying, “welcome, great master” when he lands in town, that same term is being co-opted by his field of critics, who are wielding the words against him with sarcastic derision.

    “He is now experiencing the most difficult time of his premiership, with a number of things happening at once,” said Suat Kiniklioglu, head of the Ankara-based think tank Center for Strategic Communication and a former national legislator from Erdogan’s ruling party.

    Once imprisoned for reciting an Islamic poem in an institutionally secular nation, Erdogan is now in the midst of his maximum third term as premier after a decade that saw him tame an activist military establishment, including scores of acting and retired soldiers and brass jailed as coup plotters.

    Having come to power during the onset of the Iraq war, he is now facing his greatest strategic test because of the 20-month-old conflict in neighboring Syria, particularly in the days since stray Syrian shells crossed the border and killed five Turks last month.

    In the immediate aftermath, Erdogan appeared to put this nation on war footing. Turkish forces returned fire and intercepted a Damascus-bound Russian transport plane, seizing its cargo. Parliament has granted Erdogan the authority to deploy troops and stage airstrikes on Syrian soil.

    Turkish tanks are still trained on the Syrian frontier, and the military is on standing orders to respond with two rounds of mortar fire for every one Syrian shell that lands on Turkish territory. But the specter of any serious Turkish intervention is ebbing with Erdogan toning down rhetoric and refraining from steps that could morph Syria’s civil war into a full-blown regional conflict.

    More tempered response

    Political insiders here say Erdogan’s call for more aggressive action to bring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad down has backfired, in part because of a lack of support from Washington, which is now calling on the Turks to offer a more tempered response.

    via In Turkey, Syria poses a new test for Erdogan’s authority – The Washington Post.

    more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/in-turkey-syria-poses-a-new-test-for-erdogans-authority/2012/11/03/12c5cfce-2445-11e2-92f8-7f9c4daf276a_story.html