Tweet
REMEDY FOR THE AL-QA'IDAH SCOURGE
Taraf, Turkey
Aug 2 2013
Column Ceyda Karan
This is not so unusual in foreign policy. Every politician with no
vision who sees peoples as playing cards in the game of imperialism and
who sees himself in a magnifying glass does it. He complains only when
he starts paying a price instead of others. Just look at the adventures
of the United States since Vietnam. It is hard to enumerate all the
occasions that illustrate this arrogance but let us talk about the
best known one of recent years, namely Al-Qa'idah. After all, that is
the scourge we face. In truth this is also the story of how a foreign
policy vision that started out with aspirations of "zero problems"
was "zeroed out." To start now rather than saying that redressing
deficiencies will take a long time [sentence as published].
There are not too many people who do not know this but let us
summarize: Groups that swear allegiance to Al-Qa'idah - the local
people generally call them the "Al-Nusra Front" - and that receive
logistical support from the Gulf through Turkey in the name of
"freeing" Syria are now swarming on Syria's northern border or along
our longest border. I will not get into the "very deep" ideological
distinctions between them over whether there should or should not be
a caliphate. In sum, these groups dream of establishing a Salafi state.
Until a few month ago, we were being told: "You exaggerate too much.
There are only a few foreign fighters. The real force is the Free
Syrian Army." Today, [Turkish] support for Al-Nusra is out in the
open. Consequently, it is hard to tell whether we should laugh or
cry at explanations by government sources to the effect that "we
support them out of necessity because they are superior militarily
and economically."
Here is a dejA vu of the US trauma in Afghanistan. Syrian dictator
Bashar al-Asad must be snickering somewhere. Faced with open attacks
by Al-Nusra, Syrian Kurds have mobilized. A Kurdish-Arab war is
being imposed in the region. Westerners, chiefly the United States,
are perturbed. Ankara does not know what to do. Just take a look at
PYD [Democratic Union Party] Salih Muslim's visit [to Turkey]. Is
Turkey a mediator, a big brother, a regional giant who is worried
that the crow it has fed may gouge its own eye, or a country that
is reluctantly providing support for a Kurdish state in Rojava and
therefore the West Kurdistan project?
Whether you like it or not, Syrian Kurds have seized an important
and historical opportunity. They will not allow Al-Nusra to take it
away from them. This is an existential fight. In truth, the fight is
against raving fanatics whom we oppose together and who are sworn to
establish a permanent presence in the region. These people are prepared
to perpetrate every form of terrorism. They are also prepared to bite
the hand that feeds them.
Some people have upset the applecart. More correctly, some people
dreamed of apples in the cart but realized that they are bad after
getting their hands on them. Imagine that we got the message in
Somalia, from which we have not spared any assistance as part of
our African overture. The Al-Qa'idah-affiliated Al-Shabab struck our
embassy there.
Now we have to sort the rice in Dimyat as we are about to lose the
bulgur at home [a play on an old adage meaning "figure out what went
wrong as we try to save what little we had"]. As you know, Dimyat
[Damietta] is in Egypt, the place where we have run a deep policy
against the coup and where no one has listened to our condemnatory
statements. Let us say that it is normal for Westerners not to take
note. However, not even a single Arab country has paid attention. The
Al-Jazeera television station of our ally Qatar has suddenly been
labelled a "bad boy" because of its Egypt reporting. Jingoistic
habits are useless if the only function of the media is "agitation
and propaganda."
For example, the "one minute" sallies staged against Israel would not
save the day in these circumstances because the probable response
will be: "Men with sticks in their hands are killing your youth in
your streets."
A foreign policy that is weak and isolated but that maintains its
defiance is not policy. The only remedy to the hopelessness in
relations with Gulf countries, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, Russia,
the EU, and even the United States is a new direction. The way to
do that is clear: Cleanse the region of "Al-Qa'idah elements"; stop
patronizing the Kurds on the other side of the border and turning
them into enemies while making peace with Kurds at home; put an end
to the rhetoric of "Ottoman legacy" in relations with the countries
of the region; and develop the parameters of a new harmony with the
EU instead of engaging in arrogant acts of defiance.
Most importantly, this is the time to think about what Turkey
"inspires."
[Translated from Turkish]
Taraf, Turkey
Aug 2 2013
Column Ceyda Karan
This is not so unusual in foreign policy. Every politician with no
vision who sees peoples as playing cards in the game of imperialism and
who sees himself in a magnifying glass does it. He complains only when
he starts paying a price instead of others. Just look at the adventures
of the United States since Vietnam. It is hard to enumerate all the
occasions that illustrate this arrogance but let us talk about the
best known one of recent years, namely Al-Qa'idah. After all, that is
the scourge we face. In truth this is also the story of how a foreign
policy vision that started out with aspirations of "zero problems"
was "zeroed out." To start now rather than saying that redressing
deficiencies will take a long time [sentence as published].
There are not too many people who do not know this but let us
summarize: Groups that swear allegiance to Al-Qa'idah - the local
people generally call them the "Al-Nusra Front" - and that receive
logistical support from the Gulf through Turkey in the name of
"freeing" Syria are now swarming on Syria's northern border or along
our longest border. I will not get into the "very deep" ideological
distinctions between them over whether there should or should not be
a caliphate. In sum, these groups dream of establishing a Salafi state.
Until a few month ago, we were being told: "You exaggerate too much.
There are only a few foreign fighters. The real force is the Free
Syrian Army." Today, [Turkish] support for Al-Nusra is out in the
open. Consequently, it is hard to tell whether we should laugh or
cry at explanations by government sources to the effect that "we
support them out of necessity because they are superior militarily
and economically."
Here is a dejA vu of the US trauma in Afghanistan. Syrian dictator
Bashar al-Asad must be snickering somewhere. Faced with open attacks
by Al-Nusra, Syrian Kurds have mobilized. A Kurdish-Arab war is
being imposed in the region. Westerners, chiefly the United States,
are perturbed. Ankara does not know what to do. Just take a look at
PYD [Democratic Union Party] Salih Muslim's visit [to Turkey]. Is
Turkey a mediator, a big brother, a regional giant who is worried
that the crow it has fed may gouge its own eye, or a country that
is reluctantly providing support for a Kurdish state in Rojava and
therefore the West Kurdistan project?
Whether you like it or not, Syrian Kurds have seized an important
and historical opportunity. They will not allow Al-Nusra to take it
away from them. This is an existential fight. In truth, the fight is
against raving fanatics whom we oppose together and who are sworn to
establish a permanent presence in the region. These people are prepared
to perpetrate every form of terrorism. They are also prepared to bite
the hand that feeds them.
Some people have upset the applecart. More correctly, some people
dreamed of apples in the cart but realized that they are bad after
getting their hands on them. Imagine that we got the message in
Somalia, from which we have not spared any assistance as part of
our African overture. The Al-Qa'idah-affiliated Al-Shabab struck our
embassy there.
Now we have to sort the rice in Dimyat as we are about to lose the
bulgur at home [a play on an old adage meaning "figure out what went
wrong as we try to save what little we had"]. As you know, Dimyat
[Damietta] is in Egypt, the place where we have run a deep policy
against the coup and where no one has listened to our condemnatory
statements. Let us say that it is normal for Westerners not to take
note. However, not even a single Arab country has paid attention. The
Al-Jazeera television station of our ally Qatar has suddenly been
labelled a "bad boy" because of its Egypt reporting. Jingoistic
habits are useless if the only function of the media is "agitation
and propaganda."
For example, the "one minute" sallies staged against Israel would not
save the day in these circumstances because the probable response
will be: "Men with sticks in their hands are killing your youth in
your streets."
A foreign policy that is weak and isolated but that maintains its
defiance is not policy. The only remedy to the hopelessness in
relations with Gulf countries, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, Russia,
the EU, and even the United States is a new direction. The way to
do that is clear: Cleanse the region of "Al-Qa'idah elements"; stop
patronizing the Kurds on the other side of the border and turning
them into enemies while making peace with Kurds at home; put an end
to the rhetoric of "Ottoman legacy" in relations with the countries
of the region; and develop the parameters of a new harmony with the
EU instead of engaging in arrogant acts of defiance.
Most importantly, this is the time to think about what Turkey
"inspires."
[Translated from Turkish]