This
photo of the popular game Jenga (I love the game) on the Turkish flag demonstrates innovative crisis elements introduced by Erdogan. Every
time a directive is passed that hurts the unity of the Turkish Republic, a
piece is taken out of jenga. Once the Jenga tower topples all will be in place
for Turkish civil war.
By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya
August
16, 2012
Through its much-touted ‘zero problems with
neighbors’ doctrine, the Turkish government had set out with a realistic chance
of being everyone’s friend. It has now made itself everyone’s enemy, including
its own, by embracing policies that have put it on a collision course with
disaster.
By being duped into burning its bridges with Syria ~ Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya explains ~ Ankara has laid the foundations for the destabilization of the Turkish republic at the hands of the very same powers with which she is currently colluding.
Turkey is acting as a rear base for the insurgency and a forward command
post for US/NATO forces.
Turkey itself is a major target for destabilization, upheaval,
and finally balkanization through its participation in the US-led siege against
Syria.
Ankara has burned its bridges in Syria for the sake of its
failing neo-Ottoman regional policy. The Turkish government has actively
pursued regime change, spied on Syria for NATO and Israel, violated Syrian
sovereignty, supported acts of terrorism and lawlessness, and provided
logistical support for the insurgency inside Syria.
Any
chances of seeing some form of Turkish regional leadership under neo-Ottomanism
have faded. Turkey’s southern borders have been transformed into intelligence
and logistical hubs for the CIA and the Mossad in the process, complete with an
intelligence “nerve centre” in the Turkish city of Adana. [1]
Despite
Turkey’s denials, reports about Adana are undeniable and Turkish officers have
also been apprehended in covert military operations against the Syrian Arab
Republic.
The
Turkish Labour Party has even demanded that the US General Consul in Adana be
deported for “masterminding and leading the activities of Syrian terrorists.” [2] Mehmet Ali Ediboglu and Mevlut Dudu, two Turkish MPs, have also
testified that foreign fighters have been renting homes [3] on Turkey’s border with Syria and that Turkish ambulances have been
helping smuggle weapons for the insurgents inside Syria. [4]
TURKISH REGIONAL ISOLATION
If
the Syrian state collapses, neighbouring Turkey will be the biggest loser.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government are foolishly
aligning Turkey for disaster.
Aside
from Ankara’s historically bad relations with Armenia, Erdogan has managed to
singlehandedly alienate Russia and three of Turkey’s most important neighbours.
This has damaged the Turkish economy and disrupted the flow of Turkish goods.
There
have been clamp downs on activists too in connection with Turkey’s policy
against Damascus. The freedom of the Turkish media has been affected as well;
Erdogan has moved forward with legislation to restrict media freedoms.
Prime
Minister Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu have even both
attacked “reporters who quoted President Assad’s statements in Cumhuriyet, accusing them of treason,
because they had questioned the official Turkish account of the Turkish jet
shot down by in [sic.] Syria [for spying].” [5]
On
Turkey’s eastern flank tensions are building between it and both Iraq and Iran.
Baghdad is reviewing its diplomatic ties with the Turkish government, because
Ankara is encouraging the Kurdistan Regional Government in Northern Iraq to act
independently of Iraq’s federal government.
Erdogan’s
government has done this partially as a result of Baghdad’s steadfast
opposition to regime change in Syria and in part because of Iraq’s
strengthening alliance with Iran.
Tehran
on the other hand has halted the visa-free entry of Turkish citizens into Iran
and warned the Turkish government that it is stoking the flames of a regional
fire in Syria that will eventually burn Turkey too.
GROWING INTERNAL DIVISIONS IN TURKEY
Despite
all the patriotic speeches being made by the Turkish government to rally the
Turkish people against Syria, Turkey is a much divided nation over Erdogan’s
hostilities with Damascus.
A
significant portion of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey or Turkish Meclis
and Turkey’s opposition parties have all condemned Erdogan for misleading the
Turkish people and stirring their country towards disaster.
There
is also growing resentment amongst the citizens of Turkey about Erdogan’s
cooperation with the US, NATO, Israel, and the Arab dictatorships ~ like Qatar
and Saudi Arabia ~ against the Syrians and others.
The
majority of Turkish citizens oppose Turkish ties to Israel, the hosting of NATO
facilities in Turkey, the missile shield project, and cooperation with the US
in the Middle East.
The
Republican People’s Party, Turkey’s second largest political party and its main
opposition party, has condemned the government in Ankara over Syria. Their
leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, has openly accused Prime Minister
Erdogan of interfering in the internal affairs of Syria. [6]
Kılıçdaroğlu
has been joined by Turkey’s other political parties in the condemnations of
Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party. Devlet Bahceli, the
leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, has warned the Turkish government not
to drag their country into a war with Syria through intervention.
“Some Western countries have put pressure on Turkey for an intervention in Syria. Turkey should not fall into this trap,” Bahceli, who leads the third largest Turkish political party, has warned Erdogan according to the Turkish press. [7]
The
Peace and Democracy Party, which is the fourth largest Turkish political party,
has also clarified that it is against war with Syria. [8]
The
politician Selahattin Demirtas, who is one of the leaders of the Peace and
Democracy Party, has warned that any military intervention by Ankara in Syria
would drag Turkey into a broader regional war. [9]
Hasan
Basri Ozbey, the deputy leader of the Turkish Labour Party, has announced that
his political party will file a complaint against Turkish President Abdullah
Gul with the Turkish Meclis and the Turkish Higher Court to prosecute Gul,
because the Labour Party “has clear evidence that [Gul] incited terrorism and
war on Syria and signed a secret agreement with the United States, which alone
is grounds for trial.” [10]
Mustafa
Kamalak, the leader of the Felicity Party, has even led a Turkish delegation to
visit Bashar Al-Assad to show their support for Syria and opposition to
Erdogan’s policies. [11]
The
mobilization of the Turkish military on the Syrian border as a show of force is
a psychological tactic to scare the Syrian regime. [12]
Any
large-scale military operations against the Syrians would be very dangerous for
Turkey and could fragment the Turkish Armed Forces. Segments of the Turkish
military are at odds with the Turkish government and the military itself is
divided over Turkish foreign policy. Erdogan does not even trust half of
Turkey’s own military leaders and has arrested forty of them for planning to
overthrow him. [13]
How
can he send such a force to even attack neighbouring Syria or think that he can
control it during a broader war?
THE DANGERS OF “BLOWBACK”
FROM SYRIA
While
Turkey is trumpeting that it will not allow Kurdish militias to establish bases
in northern Syria, the Turkish government is actually facilitating this itself.
There is a real risk of “blowback” from Syria for Turkey.
Like
Syria, Turkey is a kaleidoscope of various peoples and faiths. The people of
Turkey are held together by the primacy of the Turkish language and a shared
citizenship.
Turkey’s
minorities constitute at the very minimum one-third of the country. A
significant proportion of Turkey’s minority communities have ties to Syria,
Iraq, or Iran.
The
Kurds and other similar Iranian peoples alone form about 25% of Turkey’s
population, which means one out of four Turkish citizens are of Kurdish and
Iranian stock. Other ethnic minorities include Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians,
Azerbaijanis, Bulgarians, and Greeks.
No
exact figures have ever been available about Turkey’s Shiite Muslims, because
of the historical persecution and restrictions on Shia Muslims in Turkey from
Ottoman times. Anywhere from 20% to 30% or more of the Turkish population may
be categorized as Shiite Muslims, which includes Alevis, Alawites, and
Twelvers.
Turkey
also has a small Christian minority, some of which have historic or
organizational ties to Syria like Turkey’s Alawites and ethnic Arabs.
Turkey
will be consumed too, one way or another, should a broader sectarian conflict
spread from Syria and should the Syrians be violently divided along sectarian
fault lines.
THE SELF-DESTRUCTIVE NATURE
OF TURKISH
INVOLVEMENT IN SYRIA
All
the factors discussed above are a recipe for disaster.
Civil
war in Turkey is a real possibility in an increasingly polarized Turkish state.
Should
Syria burn, Turkey will ultimately burn too.
This
is why a whole spectrum of Turkish leaders have been warning their country and
people that the consequences for the fire that Erdogan, Davutoglu, and Gul are
stoking in Syria will have disastrous consequences for Turkey and all the
countries bordering Syria.
Erdogan’s government has managed to alienate Turkey from its most important neighbours, hurt the Turkish economy, and destabilize their country’s own borders.This, however, is only the tip of the iceberg compared to the damages they could unleash on Turkey. The Turks have been walking into a trap, where they are slated for a self-destructive kamikaze operation against Syria.The US-led siege on Syria intends to create chaos across the entire Middle East and ignite multiple regional conflicts.Violence and conflict from Syria is intended to consume Lebanon and Iraq too.Within this mêlée, Turkey has been slated to be weakened and divided – just as the US, NATO, and Israel have envisaged in their project to create a “new Middle East.” [14]
"Turkey has been slated to be weakened and divided – just as the US, NATO, and Israel have envisaged in their project to create a “new Middle East.”
ReplyDeleteyeah, and I don't even like Erdogan anymore.:-(