Tag: sanctions against Syria

Turkey Mulls Kosovo-Like Plan for Syria

Turkey is entertaining the possibility of working with the international community to establish a humanitarian corridor into Syria without a U.N. Security Council directive as it did in Kosovo in 1999.

Establishing corridors needs a United Nations Security Council mandate, but Russia and China, who both have veto power, have said they would not allow the passage of any resolution they see as unbalanced.

If Russia and China keep blocking attempts for U.N. Security Council measures against the Syrian regime, the international community could seek alternative legitimate ways to create a humanitarian corridor into Syria, a Turkish official told Hürriyet Daily News.

The international community may enforce a humanitarian aid corridor into Syria without a U.N. Security Council resolution, as was implemented in Kosovo over a decade ago, if the country’s humanitarian problems reach unbearable dimensions, according to a Turkish official.

In the case of Kosovo, the international community, including the United States and NATO, established humanitarian corridors into the region in 1999 ahead of a U.N. Security Council decision after ethnic conflict erupted in the former Yugoslavia.

According to assessments in Ankara, Moscow may change its position after upcoming elections in Russia and follow a path closer to the majority of the international community on the Syrian crisis.

Arab countries should do more, Çiçek says

Meanwhile, Turkish Parliamentary Speaker Cemil Çiçek has criticized those who have been pushing Turkey to find a solution to the Syrian crisis. “Don’t egg us on this issue,” he said during a visit to Riyadh. “Some ruse circles just follow what is happening [in Syria] as if they were watching a football game and then say, ‘Turkey should handle this.’”

Turkey has pulled its weight on the Syrian crisis, Çiçek said, adding that everyone had a responsibility in disputes in the Middle East and that Turkey was following a realistic policy.

“Those who do not have borders with Syria should not be content with mere remarks. I hope Muslim countries with Arab roots will do more than they have done up until now. They haven’t done enough,” he said.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey would host a meeting on Syria. Addressing his deputies, Erdoğan said Turkey had been part of every step in the Friends of Syria meeting.

‘Cannot remain indifferent’

Elsewhere, the National Security Council (MGK) gathered Feb. 27 and said in a written statement that the international community should not remain indifferent to the violence and “mass massacres” in Syria. The council highlighted the importance of protecting Syrian people and extending humanitarian aid to those people.

Turkey denied claims that it had turned a blind eye to Syria’s usage of Turkish territory as a route to obtain weapons. Britain’s The Times had reported that Syria was using Turkey as a route to bypass sanctions and obtain materiel and equipment for its weapons industry and that Turkey was turning a blind eye.

The claims are groundless, Foreign Ministry spokesman Selçuk Ünal told Anatolia news agency.

Wednesday, 29 February 2012

via Turkey Mulls Kosovo-Like Plan for Syria, 29 February 2012 Wednesday 11:28.

March 1, 2012
Turkey Has One Big Problem in Neighbor Syria

The popular uprisings that toppled decade old dictatorships in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya last year forced the Turks to reconsider their famed “zero problems with neighbors” policy and take sides. They welcomed the winds of change and proved quite willing to cut their ties with Middle Eastern despots after years of engagement in order to promote their own model of Islamist democracy and maintain an influence.

Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey's foreign minister, answers questions from reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels, January 18, 2011

Regime change in Egypt and Libya was brokered by Western powers, alleviating Turkey of the burden of balancing their rhetorical support for anti-government protests with a realist imperative to compromise with (military) caretakers.

In Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is refusing to listen to the rest of the world and continues to crush the revolt against his regime, the Turks have finally to come to terms with the situation and decide how serious they are about supporting the Arab cause.

For now, Ankara doesn’t appear willing to do more than let the Syrian opposition organize on its soil and refugees pour in from the south despite demands from Damascus that it seal the border. Turkish diplomacy appears to have little effect. Writes Leon Hadar in National Interest, “Turks certainly seem to have made very little impression on the Machiavellian rulers in Damascus, who rejected Erdoğan’s pleadings to play nice.” The Turkish leader urged his Syrian counterpart as early as March of last year to “respond positively” to the demands of his people. Instead, Assad sent tanks into rebel cities. “So much for Turkish soft power,” concludes Hadar.

The Arab spring, he believes, has taught Turkey that reshaping the Middle East in its image “involves more than just sending trade missions to the Arab world, producing captivating television soap operas or pledging a commitment to promote the Palestinian cause.”

Indeed, while Americans may be from Mars and Europeans from Venus, the Middle East is now experiencing an explosive big bang, and Turkey is finding that being pulled into the developments in the region is like being drawn into a political black hole—and that getting out of it requires more than just soft power.

Hoping that the next generation of Arab leaders copying the Turkish model will put an end to the unrest is naive, he adds.

After all, the evolution of Turkey into a more or less functioning democracy was a century long drama involving larger than life players like Atatürk, social instability, political crises, ethnic warfare, military coups, the emancipation of women and the rise of a new middle class and business elite.

Even today, there is a very real tension between Turkey’s secularists and conservative Muslim majority represented by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s party. Similar tension is apparent in the new Egypt where the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood secured nearly a majority of seats in the nation’s freely elected parliament this year. In Egypt as well as Tunisia, religious minorities and secular Muslims fear an Islamist revival that could crush their freedoms and those of women.

In Syria, it seems that minority Alawites, Christians and Druze as well as the inhabitants of cities in the coastal areas are far less in favor of regime change than people in the Sunni dominated south and southwest of the country where the uprising is strongest. They are afraid that the revolt, if successful, will make life harder for them in the short term.

Hadar nevertheless recommends that the Turks work with the Arab League to negotiate Assad’s exile even if the aim of the Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, is probably to see the Sunnis take power and move Syria away from its alliances with Hezbollah and Iran. Arab and Turkish peacekeepers should then move in to restore order.

It may not bring about the sort of multiethnic democracy that Western observers are hoping for overnight. But it would be a chance for the Turks to prove that they are prepared to assume the responsibility that comes with being a regional power.

Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey’s foreign minister, told France24 that he was “ready to do everything for [the] Syrian people” last month but stopped short of endorsing calls for military intervention at the time. The Turks hesitate to go it alone and for good reason but the United States will probably not make the choice for them this time.

via Turkey Has One Big Problem in Neighbor Syria | Atlantic Sentinel.

February 12, 2012
Turkey Says Upset by Rejection of U.N. Resolution on Syria

Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Monday expressed his country’s disappointment over the veto by China and Russia of a U.N. resolution on the Syrian crisis, saying that the cold war era was over.

“I’d like to say that we are upset about the vote at the United Nations,” Gul told a televised news conference with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Myung-Bak.

“Everyone should remember that the cold war era is over,” he added.

Russia and China, permanent members of the Security Council, Saturday blocked the U.N. resolution condemning Syria for its deadly crackdown on protests, which drew condemnation from other global powers as well as from neighboring Turkey.

“Human rights violations and the use of military force against people have no place in the world,” said Gul.

The president raised concerns about the loss of life, saying that everything was going in the direction of a “worst-case scenario” in Syria, without elaborating.

The biggest favor that President Bashar Assad could do for his country and for his people would be to give up on repressive policies and adapt to the change, he added.

Turkey, once a close ally of Syria, has been at the forefront of international criticism against the Damascus regime and has also become a haven for many Syrian opposition activists.

via Turkey Says Upset by Rejection of U.N. Resolution on Syria — Naharnet.

February 7, 2012
Suspending free trade pact harms Syrians

The Syrian economy, hit hard by five months of anti-government protests, could survive unrest and sanctions into next year but experts and officials warn of a sharp deterioration afterwards. AFP PHOTO/JOSEPH EID

ISTANBUL: Syria is punishing its own people by suspending a free trade agreement with Turkey in retaliation for Turkish sanctions against the Damascus regime, the Turkish economy minister said Sunday.

By cutting off bilateral trade, “the Syrian government punishes its own people, industrialists … and entrepreneurs,” Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said in a statement carried by the state-run Anatolia news agency.

Damascus decided last week to suspend the 2004 trade pact after Turkey, one of Syria’s closest economic partners, followed in the footsteps of the Arab League in announcing a series of sanctions on the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad for its months-long crackdown on anti-regime protesters that has claimed more than 4,000 lives according to the United Nations.

Among the measures, Ankara froze trade and severed links between the two countries’ central banks.

Turkey has a trade surplus with Syria, exporting goods worth a total of $1.8 billion (1.3 billion euros) to its neighbor in 2010, while imports from Syria were $663 million, accounting for only 0.3 percent of Turkey’s total imports, Caglayan said.

However, 10.6 percent of Syria’s total imports are from Turkey, he added.

“Suspending the agreement syria will expose Syria to more problems, as it already suffers from procurement issues,” Caglayan said.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on December 05, 2011, on page 4.

via THE DAILY STAR :: Business :: Middle East :: Suspending free trade pact harms Syrians: Turkey.

December 5, 2011
Turkey Moves to Intensify Sanctions Against Syria

By DAN BILEFSKY and ANTHONY SHADID

ISTANBUL — Turkey took steps on Wednesday to freeze the Syrian government’s financial assets, impose a travel ban on senior Syrian officials and cut off transactions with the country’s central bank, sharply escalating international pressure on Damascus in response to its continuing violence against civilians.

Dilek Mermer/Anadolu Agency, via European Pressphoto Agency

Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, announced strict new measures against Syria in Ankara, Turkey, on Wednesday.

The latest measures, Turkish officials said, were enacted in concert with the Arab League, which imposed broad trade sanctions on Sunday, and are part of a developing international effort to strangle Syria’s economy and severely diminish the power of its government.

Also on Wednesday, the Arab League unveiled a list of 17 senior Syrian officials who could face a ban on travel to other Arab countries, including the ministers of defense and interior. Also on the list are Rami Makhlouf, a millionaire cousin of President Bashar al-Assad who has controlled the mobile phone network; Mr. Assad’s younger brother Maher, who heads the elite Fourth Division and the Republican Guard; and members of the state security service, including Maj. Gen. Assef Shawkat, the deputy chief of staff for security affairs, who is married to the president’s sister.

European, American and Turkish officials all said they believed Syria’s economic troubles could prove the undoing of Mr. Assad, who to date has managed to maintain the allegiance of Syria’s business elite.

Reiterating his calls for Mr. Assad to relinquish power and to stop his brutal assault on his own people, Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said in Ankara that the measures would include an extensive ban on military sales to Damascus and a blockade of weapons deliveries from third countries at Turkey’s land and sea borders with Syria. He said Turkey would also stop new transactions with the Commercial Bank of Syria and halt all credit to the Syrian government.

“Every bullet fired, every bombed mosque has taken away the legitimacy of the Syrian leadership and has widened the gap between us,” Mr. Davutoglu said. “Syria has wasted the last chance that it was given.”

He said the list of sanctions was a “first stage” in the measures against Damascus. The government also stressed that Wednesday’s sanctions would not include vital supplies like water and electricity that could harm the Syrian people.

Syria is 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. Before the recent souring of relations, it was forecast to reach $5 billion by 2013.

The European Union and the United States were the first to impose penalties, and European sanctions, in particular, harmed Syria’s oil industry, which once contributed as much as a third of the government’s revenue. Though Europe is Syria’s biggest overall trading partner, Turkey and Arab states make up four of its next five biggest, and the Syrian leadership, along with those tied to it, has large investments in the Persian Gulf.

The Obama administration commended Turkey for its latest steps, and noted that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had coordinated closely with President Obama. “The leadership shown by Turkey in response to the brutality and violation of the fundamental rights of the Syrian people will isolate the Assad regime and send a strong message to Assad and his circle that their actions are unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” said a statement issued by a White House spokesman, Tommy Vietor.

An Obama administration official in Washington estimated that the Syrian government had lost more than 40 percent of its revenue, with the oil industry reeling and tourism devastated. The official said that the Assad government was having more trouble than ever supporting the Syrian pound, which residents say has fallen 12 percent in the black market from its official rate and now trades at 56 pounds to the dollar.

The Arab and Turkish sanctions also carry great symbolic weight. Just a year ago, neighboring Turkey was emerging as one of Syria’s closest allies, and Damascus has long managed to play on inter-Arab rivalries to maintain a profile that traditionally outstripped its resources or relative strength. Moves by both the league and Turkey have left it as isolated as at any time since Mr. Assad’s father, Hafez, seized power four decades ago.

In Syria, some people said they feared the sanctions could embolden government supporters and focus criticism on external forces. “The sanctions will make the regime supporters even more supportive,” said Joelle, 25, a graphic designer from Damascus. “That’s the notion I’m getting from people around me. They are blaming Arab nations for what’s happening to them, and reminiscing about the old days. They feel that this is an insult to Syria’s sovereignty.”

The intensification of pressure by Turkey against Syria is part of a radical about-face in relations between the two countries, as Turkey seeks to assert its leadership in the Muslim world. Only a year ago Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Assad took vacations together and the countries held joint cabinet sessions.

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Dan Bilefsky reported from Istanbul, and Anthony Shadid from Beirut, Lebanon. Reporting was contributed by Sebnem Arsu from Istanbul; Neil MacFarquhar from Damascus, Syria; Nada Bakri from Beirut; and Brian Knowlton from Washington.

A version of this article appeared in print on December 1, 2011, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Turkey Moves to Intensify Sanctions Against Syria.

December 1, 2011
France and Turkey Call for Pressure on Syria

By NADA BAKRI

BEIRUT, Lebanon — France joined Turkey in calling for greater international effort to exert pressure on Syria to stop its bloody crackdown on protesters, as at least 15 more people were reported killed on Friday.

At the same time, Syria made its first response to a proposal by the Arab League to send a delegation of more than 500 military and civilian observers to the country, but critics said it appeared to be a stalling tactic.

The Arab League chief, Nabil al-Araby, said he received a letter from Syria’s foreign minister, Walid al-Moallem, asking him to amend the proposed plan. “These amendments are currently being studied,” Mr. Araby said.

On Nov. 2, Syria said it had agreed to an Arab League-brokered plan under which it would halt all violence and withdraw armed forces from civilian areas, but the bloodshed continued, prompting the league to vote last weekend to suspend Syria. The proposal to send observers effectively delayed the suspension, and the current back and forth appears to push it back further.

Activists said that three people were shot in Irbin, a town on the outskirts of Damascus; two were shot in Homs and three in Hama, two of the most restive cities in central Syria. At least seven protesters were also killed in the southern city of Dara’a, from where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad broke out in mid-March.

On Friday, Syrian state television said that three soldiers were killed and an officer was critically wounded in a bomb blast in Hama.

With the situation in the country deteriorating, foreign leaders are themselves struggling for some kind of effective response.

France’s foreign minister, Alain Juppé, on a visit to Ankara, Turkey, on Friday, called the situation “no longer sustainable.”

At a news conference alongside his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, Mr. Juppé also called on the Syrian opposition “to avoid recourse to an armed insurrection,” saying, “A civil war would, of course, be a true catastrophe.”

Asked whether France would support military action by Turkey, including the entrance of forces to establish a kind of buffer zone as the opposition has proposed at various times, Mr. Juppé answered that any military action, no matter by whom, would have to be approved by the United Nations.

Such a development, however, would appear extremely unlikely.

Eight months into the uprising, the Syrian opposition is too fractured and diffuse to offer a unified position on what the international community should do.

“The Arab League has offered us huge support, and we will never forget that,” said an activist named Ayman, 25, from Al Qaboun, a town on the northern outskirts of Damascus. “We believe that Arab states and Turkey are very close to figuring out how to help us.”

Some dissidents said that the league’s latest offer to send monitors was too little, too late and that the government would find a way to foil their work.

Separately on Friday, Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called for “restraint and caution.” France’s prime minister, François Fillon said at the same news conference: “We consider that the situation is becoming more and more dramatic. Bashar al-Assad has stayed deaf to the calls of the international community and has not followed up reform promises, and the massacres are continuing. We think that it is indispensable to increase international pressure, and we have tabled a resolution at the United Nations. We hope it will find as wide support as possible.”

Neil MacFarquhar contributed reporting from Cairo.

A version of this article appeared in print on November 19, 2011, on page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: New Calls To Press Syria From France And Turkey.

via France and Turkey Call for Pressure on Syria – NYTimes.com.

November 19, 2011