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TURKEY'S RUSSIAN ROULETTE IN SYRIA: POLITICAL SUICIDE
By Appo Jabarian
USA Armenian Life Magazine
August 31, 2011
The Arab Spring in post-Mubarak Egypt has already yielded unwanted
results for the West, Turkey and Israel.
In May, Egypt opened the Gaza crossing which was previously shut down
by former dictator Hosni Mubarak.
In April, the new rulers of Egypt unveiled their plans to reestablish
ties with Iran, and to reevaluate relations with Israel. Ousted
President Mubarak had cut ties with Iran after the 1979 Islamic
Revolution near the time when Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel
and established diplomatic ties.
In August, Israel sent two warships to its border with Egypt following
intelligence indicating an imminent threat coming from militants in
Egypt. Recently several militants reportedly performed a cross-border
attack against southern Israel.
As for Turkey, the situation in Syria has paved the way for thousands
of Syrian Kurds to infiltrate inside Turkey and to join their kinsmen
in Northern Kurdistan (Southeastern Turkey), and Southern Kurdistan
(Northern Iraq) in order to help escalate military attacks against
the Turkish occupation forces.
Turkish alarm, bordering on anger, was manifested last week through
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's virulent attacks
against Syria. Turkey is troubled by the impact of the unrest on its
efforts to suppress Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters active in
the south-east of the country, many of whom are Syrian-born or based
in Syria. A report by the National Intelligence Organization (NIT),
obtained by Today's Zaman newspaper, features "a complaint that Syria
is not co-operating adequately with Turkish anti-terrorism efforts."
The report also recalls "the 1990s, when Syria provided safe haven
for the PKK, hosted its now jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, and
the two countries almost went to war amid other disputes about water
resources and territory." Since late 1930's, Turkey has been occupying
the Syrian territory of Alexandretta (renamed Iskendrun, and placed
under the jurisdiction of Hatay region in what is now called Turkey).
In recent years, Ankara lured Damascus into a seemingly cozy new
relationship. But yesterday's Turkish ally has sold out its Syrian
Arab ally today, by seeing mouthwatering prospects in the anti-Assad
camp. Before Damascus' "reconciliation" with Ankara, several
political observers warned the Syrian leaders of the treacherous
nature of Turkish politics in Syria. But they still went ahead with
"normalizing" relations with Turkey.
For the better part of the last decade, Syria fostered political
and commercial relations with Turkey at great costs in terms of huge
territorial and economic concessions.
But now that Turkey's betrayal finally has been exposed, Damascus
finds itself short-changed by Ankara. True to its traditional deceptive
tactics, Turkey has now turned against Syria and is eying more lands
from Syria under the guise of "securing a safe haven for refugees"
in Syria's north.
Sizable segments of Sunni Muslims, and Shia Muslims in the Middle East
feel especially threatened by Turkey's and the West's conspiracies to
create a deadly wedge between them in order to weaken them socially,
politically and economically. They are also wary of Turkey and its
recent re-blossoming relations with Israel.
While Ankara has reportedly taken the first step of carving more
lands out of Syria, Turkey's traditional ally Israel is toying with a
similar idea of carving more Syrian lands in Syria's southwest, near
the Israeli-occupied Golan heights, as has hinted Anthony Rusonik,
in Jerusalem Post. (Rusonik holds a PhD in International Relations
from Queen's University, Ontario, and has completed post-doctoral
studies at Hebrew University, Jerusalem.)
Enter a new player, Saudi Arabia. According to reliable sources,
the Turkish military invasion of northern Syria would be matched by
Saudi troops entering southern Syria at the head of Gulf Co-operation
Council contingents. They would move in via Jordan and establish a
third military enclave under GCC auspices.
In the event Sunni-controlled Turkey and Saudi Arabia tighten the
noose around joint Syrian, mainly Alawite-Sunni regime, the political
landscape in the entire Middle East may spell trouble for all, and
Turkey itself.
In stark contrast to Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Syria is a highly
diverse, multi-religious, multi-ethnic polity which has made the
United Nations hesitant to intervene for fears that disruption in the
status quo will lead to a post-Assad, civil-war scenario led by an
empowered group of Sunni Islamists, openly backed by Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, and covertly supported by the Obama Administration.
Syria presents a good example of Alawite (Shia)-Sunni partnership.
Instead of transforming that alliance into a working democracy,
Syria's enemies, namely Turkey and its sponsors in the West promote
the collapse of that alliance without fully knowing for sure as to
what would come next.
For a starter, the Syrian military advance on the border village
of Khirbet al-Jouz last week - initially portrayed by Damascus as
a sweep to rout dissidents - was instead a veiled threat to Turkey,
Diplomats in Beirut underlined.
Ankara's political opportunism in pursuit of political and economic
windfall at the expense of its southern neighbor Syria, may entice
Turkey to play political Russian roulette.
Over the past weekend Turkey officially jumped aboard the Saudi
Sunni bandwagon. Sources in the Gulf region assert that a surging
co-operation between Saudi King Abdullah and Turkish President Gul
has facilitated for Saudi Arabia and Turkey to come together in the
pursuit of the removal of Assad from power by establishing a joint
Saudi-Turkish command for activating a Muslim volunteer force against
his regime inside Syria, reported world-news-research.com.
But to the dismay of Turkey, King Abdullah may not be ready to go
all the way in confronting Iran, including military action. Instead,
he may heed the wise advice of devout Muslim elders to steer away from
fratricidal all-out war among Muslim Sunni and Shia Arabs throughout
Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and the
Gulf region.
By helping patch things up between the Syrian dissidents and the
rulers, the Saudi King can become the real hero of the Arab street
from Beirut to Mecca, from Aleppo to Doha and beyond.
To its credit, the current regime in Damascus is willing to help its
people lay the foundation of a developing democracy. By bringing the
feuding Arab brethren together, King Abdullah can help every Syrian
get an equal opportunity to participate in building a strong democracy
empowering Syria to become a bastion of sustainable peace, stability
and prosperity for the region and the international community.
And once again, Turkey may get caught red-handed and become a political
casualty of its own Russian roulette in Syria
By Appo Jabarian
USA Armenian Life Magazine
August 31, 2011
The Arab Spring in post-Mubarak Egypt has already yielded unwanted
results for the West, Turkey and Israel.
In May, Egypt opened the Gaza crossing which was previously shut down
by former dictator Hosni Mubarak.
In April, the new rulers of Egypt unveiled their plans to reestablish
ties with Iran, and to reevaluate relations with Israel. Ousted
President Mubarak had cut ties with Iran after the 1979 Islamic
Revolution near the time when Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel
and established diplomatic ties.
In August, Israel sent two warships to its border with Egypt following
intelligence indicating an imminent threat coming from militants in
Egypt. Recently several militants reportedly performed a cross-border
attack against southern Israel.
As for Turkey, the situation in Syria has paved the way for thousands
of Syrian Kurds to infiltrate inside Turkey and to join their kinsmen
in Northern Kurdistan (Southeastern Turkey), and Southern Kurdistan
(Northern Iraq) in order to help escalate military attacks against
the Turkish occupation forces.
Turkish alarm, bordering on anger, was manifested last week through
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's virulent attacks
against Syria. Turkey is troubled by the impact of the unrest on its
efforts to suppress Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters active in
the south-east of the country, many of whom are Syrian-born or based
in Syria. A report by the National Intelligence Organization (NIT),
obtained by Today's Zaman newspaper, features "a complaint that Syria
is not co-operating adequately with Turkish anti-terrorism efforts."
The report also recalls "the 1990s, when Syria provided safe haven
for the PKK, hosted its now jailed leader, Abdullah Ocalan, and
the two countries almost went to war amid other disputes about water
resources and territory." Since late 1930's, Turkey has been occupying
the Syrian territory of Alexandretta (renamed Iskendrun, and placed
under the jurisdiction of Hatay region in what is now called Turkey).
In recent years, Ankara lured Damascus into a seemingly cozy new
relationship. But yesterday's Turkish ally has sold out its Syrian
Arab ally today, by seeing mouthwatering prospects in the anti-Assad
camp. Before Damascus' "reconciliation" with Ankara, several
political observers warned the Syrian leaders of the treacherous
nature of Turkish politics in Syria. But they still went ahead with
"normalizing" relations with Turkey.
For the better part of the last decade, Syria fostered political
and commercial relations with Turkey at great costs in terms of huge
territorial and economic concessions.
But now that Turkey's betrayal finally has been exposed, Damascus
finds itself short-changed by Ankara. True to its traditional deceptive
tactics, Turkey has now turned against Syria and is eying more lands
from Syria under the guise of "securing a safe haven for refugees"
in Syria's north.
Sizable segments of Sunni Muslims, and Shia Muslims in the Middle East
feel especially threatened by Turkey's and the West's conspiracies to
create a deadly wedge between them in order to weaken them socially,
politically and economically. They are also wary of Turkey and its
recent re-blossoming relations with Israel.
While Ankara has reportedly taken the first step of carving more
lands out of Syria, Turkey's traditional ally Israel is toying with a
similar idea of carving more Syrian lands in Syria's southwest, near
the Israeli-occupied Golan heights, as has hinted Anthony Rusonik,
in Jerusalem Post. (Rusonik holds a PhD in International Relations
from Queen's University, Ontario, and has completed post-doctoral
studies at Hebrew University, Jerusalem.)
Enter a new player, Saudi Arabia. According to reliable sources,
the Turkish military invasion of northern Syria would be matched by
Saudi troops entering southern Syria at the head of Gulf Co-operation
Council contingents. They would move in via Jordan and establish a
third military enclave under GCC auspices.
In the event Sunni-controlled Turkey and Saudi Arabia tighten the
noose around joint Syrian, mainly Alawite-Sunni regime, the political
landscape in the entire Middle East may spell trouble for all, and
Turkey itself.
In stark contrast to Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Syria is a highly
diverse, multi-religious, multi-ethnic polity which has made the
United Nations hesitant to intervene for fears that disruption in the
status quo will lead to a post-Assad, civil-war scenario led by an
empowered group of Sunni Islamists, openly backed by Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, and covertly supported by the Obama Administration.
Syria presents a good example of Alawite (Shia)-Sunni partnership.
Instead of transforming that alliance into a working democracy,
Syria's enemies, namely Turkey and its sponsors in the West promote
the collapse of that alliance without fully knowing for sure as to
what would come next.
For a starter, the Syrian military advance on the border village
of Khirbet al-Jouz last week - initially portrayed by Damascus as
a sweep to rout dissidents - was instead a veiled threat to Turkey,
Diplomats in Beirut underlined.
Ankara's political opportunism in pursuit of political and economic
windfall at the expense of its southern neighbor Syria, may entice
Turkey to play political Russian roulette.
Over the past weekend Turkey officially jumped aboard the Saudi
Sunni bandwagon. Sources in the Gulf region assert that a surging
co-operation between Saudi King Abdullah and Turkish President Gul
has facilitated for Saudi Arabia and Turkey to come together in the
pursuit of the removal of Assad from power by establishing a joint
Saudi-Turkish command for activating a Muslim volunteer force against
his regime inside Syria, reported world-news-research.com.
But to the dismay of Turkey, King Abdullah may not be ready to go
all the way in confronting Iran, including military action. Instead,
he may heed the wise advice of devout Muslim elders to steer away from
fratricidal all-out war among Muslim Sunni and Shia Arabs throughout
Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and the
Gulf region.
By helping patch things up between the Syrian dissidents and the
rulers, the Saudi King can become the real hero of the Arab street
from Beirut to Mecca, from Aleppo to Doha and beyond.
To its credit, the current regime in Damascus is willing to help its
people lay the foundation of a developing democracy. By bringing the
feuding Arab brethren together, King Abdullah can help every Syrian
get an equal opportunity to participate in building a strong democracy
empowering Syria to become a bastion of sustainable peace, stability
and prosperity for the region and the international community.
And once again, Turkey may get caught red-handed and become a political
casualty of its own Russian roulette in Syria