Turkish-Syrian Border Becomes Haven for Syrian Opposition

Henry Ridgwell | Antkaya, Turkey

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.

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.

Turkey’s bid to restore balance

Despite the historic animosity between the two neighbours, the recent shift in Ankara’s Syria policy is due to geo-political factors

• By Marwan Kabalan, Special to Gulf News

Syrians living in Turkey wave Turkish and Syrian flags as they protest against the government of Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad after Friday prayers in front of the Syrian consulate in Istanbul on Friday

Since they emerged as new states after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire following the First World War, relations between Syria and Turkey were marked by animosity. The history of Syria and Turkey would reveal that most of these relations have contributed to their physical insecurity with regard to each other, and their persistent endeavours to achieve their security requirements.

Border dispute was perhaps the thorniest issue. Both Syria and Turkey claim unquestionable sovereignty over Uskandaron province (Turkey calls it Hatay) which came under Turkish control in 1938. Dispute over water distribution — the problem of the Euphrates, Orontes and Tigris rivers — had also hindered the establishment of good relations between the two countries. This is especially an important issue wherein both sides try to meet their developmental requirements.

Furthermore, since the early 1980s, Turkey used to accuse Syria of providing the separatists Kurdistan Workers Party (Partiya Karkerana Kurdistan, or PKK) with weapons and logistic support to gain concessions on other fronts. Syria accused Turkey, on the other hand, of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood during and after the Hama massacre in 1982.

Given the complex nature of these relations, the end of the Cold War did not lead to fundamental shift in the way the two neighbours viewed each other. It was the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, however, that resulted in notable change in the foreign policies of Damascus and Ankara. Facing different set of challenges, Syria and Turkey opted for co-operation to help restore the regional balance of power, which has been disrupted by the occupation of Iraq. Common geo-political interests made most, if not all, of the historic differences between Turkey and Syria irrelevant.

Disregarded

Following the invasion of Iraq, Turkey sought to act independently, perhaps provocatively, towards Washington, which has completely disregarded Turkish interests in the region. Turkey opposed the invasion, fearing that it would lead to disintegration and eventually the emergence of a Kurdish state in the north. This would certainly affect Turkey’s Kurdish minority and strengthen cession trends.

US policy on Iraq has hence provided key incentive to improve ties with Syria, which shared with Turkey its concerns on Iraq partition and the Kurdish issue. Rapprochement with Damascus was therefore of considerable geo-political significance for Ankara. It demonstrated that regional alliances are still seen by venerable states as key means to ward off threats and tackle challenges.

The withdrawal of the US forces from Iraq by the end of 2011 seems to have made the opposite impact on the relationship between the two neighbours. It played key role in bringing the situation back to conflict. In fact, the US invasion of Iraq brought Syria and Turkey close together; the US withdrawal is bringing them apart.

Rising influence

As the US retreats, Turkey, alongside the Arab Gulf States, fears Iran’s rising regional influence. Iran could emerge with a sphere of influence stretching from western Afghanistan to the Mediterranean. If Iran manages after the completion of the US withdrawal from Iraq to establish the so-called Shiite Crescent consisting of Iraq, Syria and Hezbollah under its leadership, the political landscape of the entire region will undergo a fundamental change.

The breakout of the so-called “Arab Spring” presented Turkey therefore with a golden opportunity to contribute to reshaping the future of the region and re-assert itself as a key regional power with a political model to promote.

In addition, as the US seems to have accepted Iran’s dominant position in Iraq, Syria is seen by Turkey as too important to be lost to Iran’s sphere of influence. Following the outbreak of its uprising, Syria emerged as an ideal arena to check Iran’s power and contain its ambitions. At present, the polarisation is clear; taking a sectarian flavour for some and Turkey sees an opportunity to bring about a regime change in Damascus.

This is quite a shift in Turkish foreign policy which until a few months ago viewed Syria and to an extent Iran as friends and partners. The failure of the US to prevent Iran from dominating Iraq and Tehran’s attempt to aggressively further its regional influence made Turkey rethink its position on Syria.

Indeed, several other factors such as the position of the Turkish public opinion on the brutal repression of the Syrian uprising and the ideological and religious orientation of the Turkish leadership have played an important role in contributing to the shift in Turkish foreign policy. Yet, the geo-political factor remains the driving force of this shift.

Dr. Marwan Kabalan is the dean of the Faculty of International Relations and Diplomacy, Kalamoon University, Damascus, Syria.

via gulfnews : Turkey’s bid to restore balance.