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AL-Monitor
June 7 2014
Turkey finally designates al-Nusra a terrorist group
Author: Tulin DalogluPosted June 6, 2014
The timing was interesting. Turkey's Council of Ministers decided on
June 3 -- the day war-torn Syria held a dubious election in
regime-controlled areas -- to designate Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda
affiliate fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime, a terrorist
organization.
Since the May 2013 Reyhanli bombing -- the worst terrorist attack in
Turkey, which killed 52 and wounded more than a hundred -- the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP) has held the Syrian regime
responsible. Yet, the country's main opposition Republican People's
Party (CHP) has submitted multiple requests to the Turkish parliament
for a thorough investigation into the matter. The CHP has frequently
demanded the formation of a parliamentary investigation commission in
an attempt to come clean on Turkey's alleged support for al-Qaeda's
franchise groups in Syria. Their proposals have not produced any
outcome.
However, in March 2014, Tacan Ildem, Turkey's ambassador to the
Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE), became the first high-level Turkish official to claim
that Reyhanli was actually an al-Qaeda attack. Ildem's statement only
came after Turkey shot down a Syrian fighter jet on March 23, claiming
it violated Turkish airspace. This was just a day before Armenians
marked the anniversary of their fallen ancestors in 1915.
Ildem could have been acting on his own personal initiative to save
Turkey's image from a fierce Armenian attack, which held Turkey
responsible for atrocities committed in Syria at the hands of radical
Islamists. On March 25, the Armenian Bar Association complained to US
President Barack Obama in a letter that Turkey's shooting down of the
Syrian jet only helped the radicals take over the majority Armenian
city of Kassab in Syria, close to the Turkish border. Although Turkey
has been under the spotlight since the early stages of the uprising in
Syria for its alleged support of these radical groups, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has constantly fired back, questioning
whether those raising such criticisms are vying for the survival of
the Assad regime.
The Council of Ministers stated that its decision to brand Jabhat
al-Nusra a terrorist organization is based on UN decisions. This same
Erdogan government, however, never adopted US or UN decisions
regarding Yasin al-Qadi, the Saudi businessman who was listed in 2001
as a "specially designated global terrorist" for his role as
al-Qaeda's financier. At the time, Erdogan said he knew al-Qadi
personally. He would later repeat this assertion -- that al-Qadi is a
"family friend" -- after the surfacing of several audio recordings in
the December graft probe, which publicized a talk between al-Qadi and
Erdogan's son Bilal.
This is just one example of Turkey not complying with UN decisions,
but since then, Turkey has come under international inquiry for its
support of these radical groups fighting in Syria. "Moreover, Turkey
chose to stay silent about many developments in the Kurdish-held parts
of Syria. The Turkish side perceived the PYD's [Democratic Union
Party] political and military establishment adjacent to its border as
a threat to its domestic security," Yasin Atlioglu of Nigde
University, an expert on Syria, told Al-Monitor. "The armed wing of
the PYD, the YPG's [People's Protection Units] joint declaration with
the Islamic Front -- and therefore al-Nusra -- that they bring their
forces together to fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and
al-Sham, led to serious shifts on the alliances in the field."
Although Turkey does not admit that its Syria policy and its vision of
having zero problems with neighbors failed, there is no end in sight
to the radicalization of the Syrian theater. It's like a free-for-all
jihadist camp.
The shift is clear with regard to the Erdogan government's perception
that it knows the Middle East well. It is not that Assad should stay
or go -- it is a fact of life that Turkey's calculation of Assad's
staying power did not match the reality. Although the United States
and Europe were equally dismal in their strategic and tactical
approach to the Syrian war, Turkey stuck its neck out due to its
geography and Erdogan's public statements that made the toppling of
Assad a state policy.
With the Council of Ministers' recent decision, Turkey could be
signaling a shift in its Syria policy. After all, Ersan Sen, a law
professor in Istanbul, told Al-Monitor that the council does not have
the right to designate a group a terrorist organization. "[O]nly the
court of cassation has the authority to designate a group a terror
organization. Unless the Council of Ministers is applying a specific
international agreement to its decision, this decision is not
binding," he said.
It is not clear how Turkey is going to act upon this decision. "There
are so many Islamic civil movements in Turkey recruiting people for
jihad. If Turkish authorities carry an operation against them, or if
they freeze the assets and bank accounts of those who are affiliated
with al-Nusra in Turkey, carry out arrests and take some serious
measures on border security, then this decision will mean something,"
Atlioglu said. "Without it, it only looks like an effort to better
Turkey's image in the international arena."
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/turkey-al-nusra-terrorist-organization-syria-al-qaeda.html#
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
June 7 2014
Turkey finally designates al-Nusra a terrorist group
Author: Tulin DalogluPosted June 6, 2014
The timing was interesting. Turkey's Council of Ministers decided on
June 3 -- the day war-torn Syria held a dubious election in
regime-controlled areas -- to designate Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda
affiliate fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime, a terrorist
organization.
Since the May 2013 Reyhanli bombing -- the worst terrorist attack in
Turkey, which killed 52 and wounded more than a hundred -- the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP) has held the Syrian regime
responsible. Yet, the country's main opposition Republican People's
Party (CHP) has submitted multiple requests to the Turkish parliament
for a thorough investigation into the matter. The CHP has frequently
demanded the formation of a parliamentary investigation commission in
an attempt to come clean on Turkey's alleged support for al-Qaeda's
franchise groups in Syria. Their proposals have not produced any
outcome.
However, in March 2014, Tacan Ildem, Turkey's ambassador to the
Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE), became the first high-level Turkish official to claim
that Reyhanli was actually an al-Qaeda attack. Ildem's statement only
came after Turkey shot down a Syrian fighter jet on March 23, claiming
it violated Turkish airspace. This was just a day before Armenians
marked the anniversary of their fallen ancestors in 1915.
Ildem could have been acting on his own personal initiative to save
Turkey's image from a fierce Armenian attack, which held Turkey
responsible for atrocities committed in Syria at the hands of radical
Islamists. On March 25, the Armenian Bar Association complained to US
President Barack Obama in a letter that Turkey's shooting down of the
Syrian jet only helped the radicals take over the majority Armenian
city of Kassab in Syria, close to the Turkish border. Although Turkey
has been under the spotlight since the early stages of the uprising in
Syria for its alleged support of these radical groups, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has constantly fired back, questioning
whether those raising such criticisms are vying for the survival of
the Assad regime.
The Council of Ministers stated that its decision to brand Jabhat
al-Nusra a terrorist organization is based on UN decisions. This same
Erdogan government, however, never adopted US or UN decisions
regarding Yasin al-Qadi, the Saudi businessman who was listed in 2001
as a "specially designated global terrorist" for his role as
al-Qaeda's financier. At the time, Erdogan said he knew al-Qadi
personally. He would later repeat this assertion -- that al-Qadi is a
"family friend" -- after the surfacing of several audio recordings in
the December graft probe, which publicized a talk between al-Qadi and
Erdogan's son Bilal.
This is just one example of Turkey not complying with UN decisions,
but since then, Turkey has come under international inquiry for its
support of these radical groups fighting in Syria. "Moreover, Turkey
chose to stay silent about many developments in the Kurdish-held parts
of Syria. The Turkish side perceived the PYD's [Democratic Union
Party] political and military establishment adjacent to its border as
a threat to its domestic security," Yasin Atlioglu of Nigde
University, an expert on Syria, told Al-Monitor. "The armed wing of
the PYD, the YPG's [People's Protection Units] joint declaration with
the Islamic Front -- and therefore al-Nusra -- that they bring their
forces together to fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and
al-Sham, led to serious shifts on the alliances in the field."
Although Turkey does not admit that its Syria policy and its vision of
having zero problems with neighbors failed, there is no end in sight
to the radicalization of the Syrian theater. It's like a free-for-all
jihadist camp.
The shift is clear with regard to the Erdogan government's perception
that it knows the Middle East well. It is not that Assad should stay
or go -- it is a fact of life that Turkey's calculation of Assad's
staying power did not match the reality. Although the United States
and Europe were equally dismal in their strategic and tactical
approach to the Syrian war, Turkey stuck its neck out due to its
geography and Erdogan's public statements that made the toppling of
Assad a state policy.
With the Council of Ministers' recent decision, Turkey could be
signaling a shift in its Syria policy. After all, Ersan Sen, a law
professor in Istanbul, told Al-Monitor that the council does not have
the right to designate a group a terrorist organization. "[O]nly the
court of cassation has the authority to designate a group a terror
organization. Unless the Council of Ministers is applying a specific
international agreement to its decision, this decision is not
binding," he said.
It is not clear how Turkey is going to act upon this decision. "There
are so many Islamic civil movements in Turkey recruiting people for
jihad. If Turkish authorities carry an operation against them, or if
they freeze the assets and bank accounts of those who are affiliated
with al-Nusra in Turkey, carry out arrests and take some serious
measures on border security, then this decision will mean something,"
Atlioglu said. "Without it, it only looks like an effort to better
Turkey's image in the international arena."
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/06/turkey-al-nusra-terrorist-organization-syria-al-qaeda.html#
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress