Very close to Syria – Ragıp Duran

This article is a shortened translation of the Turkish original “Suriye'ye çok yakın...” by Ragıp Duran, published in Birdirbir.org on 11 July 2012. We mean this translation to be a continuation of an article series about Syria, which you can follow using the Syria label.

In Antioch, Iskenderun or Samandağ, the people are sticked to a single subject. Journalists, intellectuals, artisans... all are disgruntled. Instead of the tourists who came here or who passed through, they now have “weird Syrians” around. And those other things who speak English...

I saw and heard about it when taking the plane in Istanbul: This time, the Antioch passengers were different. English-speaking middle-aged men. They pretend to be locals but are obviously foreigners. They put some Turkish or Arabic words in-between when they talk. Officially, they are journalists, officials of humanitarian help organizations, Redcross personnel etc. but that they are unofficially something else is crystal clear as if it was written on their faces. I have seen many of them in the 1991 operations in Nusaybin, Cizre, Kamışlı and Duhok.

They were talking about the situation in the refugee camps. They were complaining about translation shortages. One was explaining that his report was not taken seriously. It seems there are not only reconnaissance aircrafts scouting in the Turkey-Syria borders...

The Antioch society is overly unhappy. They took down CHP (Republican People's Party) after Mrs. Iris and gave the city government to AKP (Justice and Development Party), and they also sent a local to the Ministry of Justice. Yet, thanks to the incredible policies of Erdoğan-Davutoğlu, the border gate in Cilvegözü, the former window of friendship, is now a frozen photograph. No one gets in, no one gets out. And the Uzunçarşı (the Long Bazaar) shopkeepers are deeply grieved.

Until now, I read more and deeper analyses and news on Syria in French, English and American newspapers than in Turkish press. In our media there is not even a Syria expert. We do not even know if anyone else other than Davutoğlu is actually interested in the Syrian issue. On the other hand, in Antioch, there are lots of journalists and experts who know Arabic, who studied in Syria and who are quite familiar with Damascus. Of course this group is never on stage as they think differently than Davutoğlu.

The only topic of conversation is Syria here:

• So-called Free Syrian Army!... If one fights for democracy, then one doesn't take shelter in the neighboring country or in the Americans, one stays in one's country and fights together with the people.
• The refugee camps are a complete ambiguity... We are not able to go see our own relatives. Blond, blue-eyed men are swarming in there like inspectors.
• What kind of dissident democrats are these! Thievery, they've got. Harassing our girls and women, they've got... And I don't get this, there are some guys around with some North African accent of Arabic, Libyan I guess...
• I did not see it with my own eyes, but they are sending armed men down at nights.
• The aircraft thing was apparent since the beginning... Erdoğan called the American newspaper “cowardly” but they turned out correct. I don't like Assad particularly, but Erdoğan proved him right...
• Aleppo is the decisive one there, and Damascus too. Hamas revolts since old times. Look, the Kurds still did not get into the main opposition there.
• Assad is secular, to begin with. And all the minorities, the Christians, Armenians, Assyrians, Jews... They all are supporting Assad still. However artificial, there is a comprador bourgeoisie , and they are also on Assad's side. The democracy front is both weak and unorganized. Since they don't have a political or ideological opposition tradition, the opponents of Assad are easily getting under the control of Ankara or Washington.
• Assad has Iran, Russia and China on his back. The American experts also realized that Assad will remain the short-term, even in the middle-term.

Let us empathize to understand better. Is this example enough?

• “The friends of the Turkish people group” in Damascus published a declaration saying that the Prime Minister Erdoğan should immediately resign unconditionally.

Antioch is melancholic in the hot summer. When was it that Antioch joined the national pact, 1938 or 1939?

Syria issue. Samandağ reflections: Zero neighbors, zero ministers, lots of problems – Ragıp Duran

This article is translated from the Turkish original “Samandağ izlenimleri: Sıfır komşu, sıfır bakan, çok sorun” by Ragıp Duran, published in Birdirbir.org on 18 July 2012. We mean this translation to be a continuation of an article series about Syria, the first of which can be found here.

We went to Samandağ¹ for the “Evvel Temmuz” festival. While locals explain, you understand that, beyond minor harms, the Erdoğan-Davutoğlu Syria policy has destroyed the social fabric. The Peace Demonstration that couldn't be done, the Syrian camps, the incredible classiness of Samandağ people...

• I personally went to talk with the Chief of Police. I am responsible for the Organization Committee. We'll make a demonstration against war. As İHD (The Human Rights Association) and other organizations, we make our preparations. We are against an intervention to Syria. We want good neighbor relations. You know what the Chief of Police told me?
• What did he say?
• We cannot ensure your security under these circumstances.
• What do you mean, the Turkish police is not able to ensure your security within Turkish borders against whom?
• At first he didn't say anything, tried every cunning way, but then spilled the beans. The Free Syrian Army would oppose such a demonstration!

The İHD responsible told me these before our panel in Samandağ. However unbelievable it is, as a result of Davutoğlu-Erdoğan diplomacy, the Samandağ society cannot organize a demonstration for peace because of a militia located in camps in their homeland. Because that state does not allow them to.

This is not the whole story.

• At nights, under cover of bringing the wounded, they bring armed men back and forth by the ambulances.

There is a huge traffic(ing) in all the bordering region, especially in the camping areas. Foreign press also wrote about this.

The camps are problematic in several aspects: First off, they are located along the borders, within the range of artillery from Assad. You cannot control the runaways. But if you aim at infiltration through the borders, of course you should put them near the border.

Another local who is interested in the issue reports:

• A migration seminar was held here, so we were able to visit the camps. Also, we have family on the Syria side. There are people going and coming back, they also tell a lot. We follow Syrian newspapers and watch Syrian television. The majority of the people in these camps are the elderly, women and children. But of course these families have their men too. We spotted five different groups in the camp population.
• The criminals in Syria. Like thieves, rapists, some people who have a criminal record but not sentences yet. They expect to join the opposition and when the Assad regime falls to return to homeland as heroes.
• Militants of all kinds of radical Islamist groups, especially Taliban, Al-Kaida and the Muslim Brothers. Even their high- and middle-ranking officials. They come and go, they are trying to administer their insider militants from here.
• There is a group called “The Soldiers of Damascus”, this is totally a hired army. They are also known as Davutoğlu's men. It's a small group, but the most money and support goes to this group.
• We encountered, another small group, the real democratic dissidents. They were many in the beginning; but in the camps they were treated very badly by the Turkish authorities and these fundamentalist groups, the ones who could afford fled to Europe, and the rest fled to Ankara or Istanbul.
• The fifth group is a bit floating. We first thought they don't belong to any of the parties, they seemed to accord with whoever is more powerful in the camp. Then we learned that there is some internal feud. The ones who were exposed are liquidized, and the rest ran away. These were Assad's agents...

As a matter of fact, Samandağ has an incredibly peaceful, calm, easy-going and cheerful identity. It has a strong and deep left-wing culture. It is also very rich in terms of religious, ethnic and language diversity; and these different sections have really positive interrelations. It is like a modern mosaic museum. It has everything, everything gets along well with everything else, all different, all equal. Moreover, they have amazing kebab and marvelous boğma-rakısı. However, Erdoğan distorted this atmosphere:

• We are not Assad-supporters or anything.
• Nusayri² is now used as an insult. I mean, we are very uncomfortable.
• Who is fighting for what, anyway?
• The people in Ankara do not know anything about Syria. And they want to become regional power, this and that...
• Even Americans are more cautious than Erdoğan...
• Not a single proper journalist came here... They came for that aircraft occasion, and those just took some records on the coast and left immediately...

If you listen to local people's evaluations, you easily understand why the eminent Turkish media does not emphasize Samandağ, Antioch, and the Syria issue. Almost every single detail experienced here moment-to-moment refutes Erdoğan's words. In any case; most probably there exist decent journalists and authors who can write the state of mind and the problems of the local society; but we have a problem of finding place to publish them.

With all these in my mind, we started the panel “What to do against this media?” with Nazım Alpman in Akdeniz Cafe along the Samandağ coast. It is 5 pm. The temperature is somewhere around 30-35 degrees Celsius. All the chairs in the outdoors cafeteria are occupied. The elders, the youth, women, children; really crowded. It was such a beautiful panel. Especially in the question-answer part we had very nice discussions, and the way the questions were posed were so elegant and deep that we were fascinated... For instance, we made a comparison between Orwellian and Huxley-like societies. In this cute town Samandağ of our sad and lonely country.

1 Samandağ is a town and district in Hatay Province in Turkey. It is geographically to the south of Antioc, near the Turkey-Syria border.

2 A Syrian Shiite sect.