Nine
years ago in 2003, when Turkey applied to NATO in accordance with
Article 4 before the Iraq Occupation; NATO sent five Patriot air
defense systems and three AWACS aircrafts to Turkey in order to
provide defense against “Iraq's non-existent chemical weapons”.
At
that time, the relations were not as good as today. NATO played hard
to give these systems, and even then gave them temporarily. In any
case, the Turkish Parliament ended up not giving permission to 40.000
US soldiers passing through Turkey.
Rumors
said that the Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan let the MPs loose and
the negative answer coming from the parliament was a shock to
everyone including the governing party, but the parliament was
“people's will”. There is another rumor. According to this
version, the bargaining didn't go well. Turkey demanded
25 million dollars for 40.000 American troops for passing through
Turkey to enter Iraq, the US did not accept, and in the end the US
had find other ways. You know the rest of the story: Bags, scenes,
incidents...
In
fine, a lot of water has flowed beneath the bridge. Once submissively
watched its foundation, the Kurdish Autonomous Region has today
become Turkey's biggest trade partner. And Turkey is not anymore a
passive country to let soldiers pass through its land, but a
strategical partner.
If
this is what is understood by development; yes, Turkey has developed
quite a lot.
Because
now, they don't need to send missile defense systems to Turkey;
paramount systems had just placed to Kürecik last summer when the
partnership agreement was declared. And in connection to that; the
central control station of the missile defense systems, the Monterrey
US battleship, anchored to Iskenderun; the predators were deployed to
Incirlik and are not working towards Syria and not towards PKK; the
ties with Iran were broken; unlimited air operations were allowed to
Kandil; Roj TV was closed down; Abdullah Öcalan is under segregation
since one year; the oppression of the Kurdish has gone wild; and
Turkey does not care at all about any kind of foreign pressure...
You
scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. The power elite are in
action for dirty business for Syrian people's democratic demands as
well as the Kurdish people's basic rights.
Let
us come to the point. No one actually showed interest as to how the
aircraft was shot down in Syria. Even the Wall Street Journal news
item was nothing but a warning to Turkey. NATO made a statement
without bothering to ask what has happened: “The allied forces will
follow this incident very closely, if it is repeated, NATO will take
action.” After this statement, Turkey made the following statement:
“Turkey will take the necessary steps to implement its rights
coming from international law against this injustice, and will decide
the place, time and method by itself.”
And
this more or less means the following: Turkey, the only NATO member
which has a border to Syria, declared publicly that it accepts the
offer. Turkey will go first and wait with fingers at the trigger.
Meanwhile, “The Friends of Syria” will work for no-flight zones,
buffer zones, and an operation permission from the UN. When the
US-NATO give the sign, a preplanned friction will occur. Islamist
militia supported (by air force and by rear guard support) by Turkey
and NATO will gain grounds. This is how it looks on paper. Yet we
never know how it will turn out in reality. Plans don't work out as
in the Phantom story. Something happens, and you can't find NATO on
your back. You end up with a society in front of you, who has no
other option than fighting till death.
There
are many things to say but these two developments – the Geneva
meeting of the war merchants and the Cairo meeting of the political
beggars – once again underlined an important point: The structures
that are promoted to us as Syrian National Council and Free Syrian
Army are a total mess not promising any trust even for their
supporters.
Despite
all the make-up and presentation, despite all the strategical,
economical and media supports; they are incorrigibly fragmented. They
are much more dispersed than they seem. This means: It seems
impossible for Syria to remain as a single country if Assad falls.
And
Turkey's calculation – together with many other calculations – is
not to watch this breaking-up as in the case of Iraq but be an active
participant of it. It says “It is not enough to ignore the Kurds in
Turkey and deny their basic human rights; we should ignore the Kurds
in Syria and deny their rights too.” It says “We cannot allow
another Kurdish Autonomous Region in Syria after Iraq.”
Turkey
is excited, Turkey does not want to remain passive, Turkey wants to
manipulate regional developments for its benefits. It supports,
directs and manipulates the Syrian National Council. It hosts, trains
and arms the Free Syrian Army. What is Turkey doing? Let us have a
look at the conjuncture:
Much
blood was shed. After nine years, the Iraq invasion accounted for the
death of more than 1 million people. Iraq is not liberated, neither
is it democratized. The US, with blood up to its neck, abandoned the
country in 2012. Why did it leave, actually? Seeing that the next
target was Syria, why did the US leave Iraq and gave the leading role
to Turkey?
The
US, the servant of benevolence and peace, changed its war strategy.
The US soldiers in Iraq were cleared up. The 90.000 soldiers in
Afghanistan are to be reduced to 20.000 by 2014. From now on, it will
distribute benevolence and peace via unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
These
UAVs can be launched from nearby bases, controlled from really far
away, and they can see and shoot the target. There are subcontractor
armies that are quite willing to do the job of the 40.000 US soldiers
for much cheaper. There are huge Muslim masses, who are of no use but
to fight and die but could be trained to do these.
And
most importantly, there is a neoliberal system where money is valued
and respected much more than humankind.
