Turkey’s support for the Syrian rebels in the neighboring country’s civil war has led to a policy of choosing between “bad and worse,” say analysts urging Ankara to come up with an impartial approach to the crisis.
The government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has shunned dialogue with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and explicitly called for his ouster after diplomacy failed to convince him to adopt democratic reforms.
Turkey has also become a base for Syrian rebels and army defectors who form the core of the opposition Free Syrian Army.
A recent article in the New York Times was among many to claim that Ankara’s Esenboga Airport was now a major hub for arms supply to rebel factions — though Turkey denies arming the rebels.
“Turkey’s Syria policy has been full of mistakes since the very beginning,” professor Huseyin Bagci of the Middle East Technical University said. “Turkey is perceived to be a contract killer in Syria backing the radicals.”
Witnesses have said they have seen jihadist fighters staying in hotels in Turkish border towns, shuttling back and forth from Syria.
The merger of al-Nusra and al-Qaeda, considered terrorist groups by Washington, has bolstered the Damascus claim that the rebels are extremists. Al-Nusra has been playing an effective role in the fight against al-Assad’s forces.
Ankara is betting on the likelihood that the radical elements on the rebel side will not fit into Syrian society, and when the conflict is over, they will be “weeded out.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has admitted Turkey would face “extraordinary security risks” whether or not al-Assad remains in power in Syria as the two countries share a 910km frontier.
“Turkey is a frontline state in the Syrian crisis. Whatever happens has a direct effect on Turkey,” said professor Carlo Masala of the University of the German Armed Forces.
Turkey makes its decisions based on its own perception of the Syrian situation, and its policy on Syria is the “result of a hard choice between bad and worse,” Masala said.
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
SCAM CLAMPDOWN: About 130 South Korean scam suspects have been sent home since October last year, and 60 more are still waiting for repatriation Dozens of South Koreans allegedly involved in online scams in Cambodia were yesterday returned to South Korea to face investigations in what was the largest group repatriation of Korean criminal suspects from abroad. The 73 South Korean suspects allegedly scammed fellow Koreans out of 48.6 billion won (US$33 million), South Korea said. Upon arrival in South Korea’s Incheon International Airport aboard a chartered plane, the suspects — 65 men and eight women — were sent to police stations. Local TV footage showed the suspects, in handcuffs and wearing masks, being escorted by police officers and boarding buses. They were among about 260 South
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS