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Turkey's Russian Roulette In Syria: Political Suicide

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  • Turkey's Russian Roulette In Syria: Political Suicide

    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

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