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Israel Shamir: Turks, Cease Fire!

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  • Israel Shamir: Turks, Cease Fire!

    http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/12/turks-cease-fire/

    Turks, Cease Fire!
    by ISRAEL SHAMIR
    Erdogan's Janissaries
    Weekend Edition October 12-14, 2012

    In the Middle Eastern corrida, the moment of truth is approaching
    fast. Assad's Syria is running around the arena like a wounded bull,
    fraught and worn down by a year of cruel strife. Banderillas of
    mujaheeds stick out of his broken hide. The public, the Europeans, the
    Americans, the Gulf rulers call: Kill him! And the Turkish matador
    steps forward, pulling out his sword. His cannons rain death on Syrian
    slopes; fire and lead storm consumes the hills. Erdogan is preparing
    to deal last blow to his exhausted neighbour.

    `Don't do it, Erdogan! Desist!' - cry thousands of Turks demonstrating
    against the bloody war. Syria was a good neighbour of Turkey: Assad
    did not allow the Kurdish separatists to open the second front against
    the Turks, he delivered Ocalan to their hands, he did not turn the
    loss of Antioch into a national cause, he kept Israeli army at bay, he
    bore the brunt of war in Lebanon, supporting the brave warriors of
    Hezbullah. Post-Assad Syria will be worse for Turkey.

    If Erdogan's Janissaries will deal treachourous strike to Syria, and
    cause its collapse, a terrible whirlwind will ensue, and it will
    engulf Turkey as well. Inevitable massacre of Syrian Christians by the
    mujaheeds with Turkish support will remind the world of so many
    forgotten Christian villages and cities smashed and depopulated by the
    victorious Turks. The ghosts of slaughtered Armenians and Greeks will
    emerge from the lanes of Smyrna and the shores of Van. From broken
    Syria, Kurdistan will definitely come to being, reducing Turkey to the
    size envisaged by the Versailles Conference.

    Saudis will be the great winners of the war, not the Turks. The dream
    of Caliphate will be centered on the Gulf, not on the Bosphorus. With
    their own hands, the Turks prepare their own defeat.

    Good relations with Russia will suffer immensely. Russia has called
    upon Turkey to restrain its actions and reminded of terrible
    responsibility to be born by the aggressor. Russia wants Syria to find
    its own way. Russia is the biggest trade partner of Turkey; thousands
    of Turkish engineers and technicians work in Russia, thousands of
    Russians holiday in Turkey.

    Moreover, the relations of Russia and Turkey are important beyond
    practical mercantile considerations. These two great countries are
    heirs to one greatest Eastern Roman, or Byzantine Empire. The Ottomans
    inherited her main body that was broken in 1918 into many splinters;
    her most important offshoot, Russia inherited her spirit and faith. If
    you seek symmetry, think of the Western Roman Empire: her main body,
    Western Europe, was fragmented and is now in the process of being
    united, while her most important offshoot, the United States of
    America, inherited her imperial spirit.

    Russians and Turks are very similar to each other; the Turks are
    `Russians in shalvars', they say. Both nations went through
    modernisation and Westernisation, but preserved their own identity.
    Both nations passed through violent denial of faith from 1920s to
    1990s, and rediscovered their religious leanings afterwards.

    The Russians see the Turks as equal human beings and feel empathy to
    them. The leading Russian historian Lev Gumilev exalted the Russian -
    Turkic comradeship-in-arms that broke the wave of Western Crusades in
    13-14th Centuries. In modern times Vladimir Lenin gave a hand in
    friendship to Mustafa Kemal and forfeited all Russian claims to
    defeated Turkey, for he expected Turkey to sustain its historical role
    of protector of the East. The Russians and the Turks must remain
    friends. If the Russians ask Erdogan `Do not do it!' he should listen.

    The Russians are not obsessed with Bashar al Assad, nor is he their
    best friend. He came to power in year 2000, but his first visit to
    Moscow took place only in 2005, meanwhile he frequented Paris and
    London. Russian trade with Syria is not too big, either. Israeli PM
    Netanyahu promised Russian President Putin to protect Russian
    interests in Syria in case of the rebels' victory. The Russians aren't
    selfish; they insist on peaceful transformation, in accordance with
    Syrian people's will, and they do object to the rape of Syria as
    envisaged by Saudis and the West.

    The relations of Turkey with Iran will suffer. For Iran, Syria is an
    important partner, a window to the Mediterranean. Victory of
    pro-American forces in Syria will close the window. Iranians will be
    mighty upset with Turkey. It is not a good idea to spoil these
    relations.

    The people of Turkey do not want war with Syria; even Turkish generals
    are not keen to unleash the dogs of war. Only pro-NATO Westernisers
    within Turkish leadership desire to overturn the legitimate government
    in Damascus. Other Turks remember that doing Western bidding never led
    Turkey - or Russia - to any good result.

    I understand why the Turkish leaders decided to embrace and support
    the rebels a year ago: they were misled by the Western-cum-Gulf spin
    of Syrian government's forthcoming speedy collapse, and they wanted to
    be on the winning side. But after the noisy media campaign, reality
    came and debunked the propheciers: despite billions of dollars wasted
    by Qatar, Saudis and the West, despite heaps of armaments transported
    through Turkish-Syrian border, the Assad regime stands fast and still
    enjoys enough popular support.

    This is the right time for reassessment. In every game, there is a
    moment for it, when you decide not to throw good money after bad one.
    And reassessment started, with many Turks calling to write off the
    losses, stop supporting the rebels and try to restore normalcy under
    the good slogan `with neighbours - no problems'. The New York Times
    reported a few days before the flare-up of the U-turn in Turkish
    minds: people are disappointed with flow of unruly Syrian mujaheddin,
    with lawlessness, with flood of refugees, with growth of Kurdish
    resistance. Turks are known for their daring U-turns. In 1940, they
    sided with Germany being certain of the Reich's victory, but in 1944
    they understood that the USSR is winning, and changed sides. Now is
    the time to change sides, to go back to strict neutrality, to stop
    support of the rebels and seal the border, said the people to the New
    York Times reporter.

    But people overseas who planned the Syrian Disaster, drew different
    conclusion of this turn of mind: they decided to speed up their
    operations and provoked the artillery exchanges. We do not know who
    aimed the mortars at the Turkish border villages: whether it was done
    by the Syrian Army in the heat of the battle, or by the rebels trying
    to trigger the war. The Turkish Yurt newspaper reported that the shots
    were fired from the NATO weapons recently given to the rebels by the
    Turks: `Erdogan's Government Handed over the Mortars to Armed (Free
    Syrian Army) Groups in Syria which Shelled Akcakale Town' - they
    headlined. The ammunition was reportedly NATO ammunition 120 AE
    HE-TNT. Even the New York Times admitted that it's unknown who's
    responsible for mortars landing in Turkey. A German TV canal ZDF
    reported: mortars were launched from territory controlled by FSA
    fighters. A leaked video clip said they admitted responsibility for
    striking Akcakale and killing five Turkish nationals.

    But it is possible that the shells were fired by the government troops
    who shot at the rebels and the Turkish villagers became innocent
    victims. Provided the Turks allow the rebels to operate freely on
    their territory, it is quite possible.

    It is still not a good reason to begin war. Let us remember 2010, when
    the Israelis murdered mafia-style nine unarmed Turkish volunteers on
    board of Mavi Marmara. This was brutal murder at full daylight, filmed
    and undoubted. Erdogan threatened to send Turkish Navy to the shores
    of Palestine and relieve Gaza by force. Now, did he do it? No, he did
    not. Now he is brave to shoot at tired and devastated Syria; but why
    he was not brave enough to deal with Israel, like the Syrians did?

    Now Israelis hope Erdogan will help the rebels to destroy Syria; they
    asked Turks to coordinate joint action with them. So instead of
    punishing Israel, Erdogan ends with doing Israel's desire.

    I remember snowy February 2003 in Istanbul, when I came to argue for
    banning the US army passage to Iraq. I told them that `the long
    standing Zionist plan is being realised. First, Iraq must be
    destroyed. After that, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, until all the former
    Ottoman Empire and its neighbours from Pakistan to Africa are turned
    into a Zone of Special Interests for Israel, policed by the Turks.

    This plan was outlined by General Sharon many years ago, re-formulated
    by the Zionist Neo-cons Richard Perle and Douglas Feith in 1996, and
    is now upheld by the Wolfowitz Cabal, the people who run the US
    foreign policy. If it will be done, it will have been done with the
    connivance of Turkey, of its `Islamic' government.

    I am sorry for you, friends. You were shepherds of the Middle East,
    now you help the Wolves. You were the rulers of men, now you have
    become the servants of your masters. You were the protectors of Islam,
    now you are about to allow desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque.'

    What I said then, became true; nothing good came out of Iraqi war. And
    now, I can say it again: nothing good will come out of Syria War.

    The stories of multiple massacres are often just stories. Wikileaks
    published a Stratfor report saying: `most of the [Syrian] opposition's
    more serious claims have turned out to be grossly exaggerated or
    simply untrue.' And the events on the ground are certainly not worse
    than whatever was done to Kurds in Turkey, and the Turks probably do
    not cherish a R2P intervention in their country.

    My advice: do not try to finish off Syria, return to your policy of
    strict neutrality, cease fire and logistic support of the rebels. Let
    the Syrians sort out their problems themselves, without foreign
    intervention.




    From: A. Papazian
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