Analysis: The Recent Developments At The Syria-Turkey Border

Garegin Nalbandian

Analysis: The Recent Developments At The Syria-Turkey Border

October 17, 2019

By Garegin Nalbandian
Geopolitical Club (USA)

It’s no secret that Turkey has its eye on all territories that were previously made part of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey’s President Erdogan wants to restore the previous borders of the Ottoman Empire. This will affect many countries and will disturb the lives of millions of people…

Turkey’s President, Erdogan, who sees himself as the modern emperor of the Turkish World and the Supreme Leader of the Islam has in fact been a failure as the leader of Turkey. Erdogan’s political party, Justice and Development Party (Turkish: Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi), abbreviated officially AK Parti in Turkish, lost the trust of the Turkish voters in Istanbul (formerly Constantinople), and other cities in the recent elections. Considering this fact after the failed coup on July 15, 2016, which many politicians believe was orchestrated by President Erdogan himself to eliminate his opposition and to spread fear among the Turkish voters, Turkey’s President needed something that would maintain the perception of his power both in Turkey and in the world at large.

Thus, President Erdogan started provocations and aggressions against the neighboring countries of Iraq, Cyprus, Greece, and Syria. Erdogan’s name and the Turkish military are also tied to activities; such as, recruiting, inviting, training, arming, individuals from Turkey, Russia, Caucasus, Azerbaijan Republic, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Arab countries, African countries, European countries, and American countries, and sending those individuals to fill the ranks of the terrorist organizations; such as, Al-Qaida and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and their subordinate organizations, and supporting the terror and jihad of those organizations against humanity.

With the defeat of ISIS and Al-Qaida in Iraq and in Syria, Erdogan had no choice but to employ the Turkish military to complete the unfinished tasks of those terrorists in the region and achieve his imperialistic goals.

For months Turkey was gathering its armed forces near the Syria-Turkey border. Anyone with common sense would understand the intentions of President Erdogan to invade Syria. However, the world chose to stay silent…

Last week, after President Donald Trump announced about withdrawing the US Military from the Syria-Turkey border; thus, giving Turkey the green light to invade Syria. Three days after Trump’s announcement about withdrawing the US military from Syria-Turkey border and making sure that US Military units are leaving, on the morning of October 10, 2019, Erdogan ordered the Turkish Military to invade Syria under the name of Operation “Peace Spring,” aiming to clear the area for resettlement of two to three million pro-Turkey Syrian refugees and creating a 30 kilometer (20 mile) Turkish Corridor, which he calls a “safe zone.”

Needless to say that as a result of the Turkish invasion, hundreds of ISIS terrorists, who were held as prisoners by the Kurdish militia units, escaped and will soon become a threat to the region again. There were also pictures of Turkish soldiers with Turkish military patches on their left shoulder and ISIS patches on their right shoulder circulating in the social media. Draw your own conclusions!

President Erdogan announced that Turkey’s military operation in Syria is coordinated with Russia. This means Erdogan had the approvals of both Putin and Trump to invade Syria. Russia, who is trusted with defending the Syria’s air space, did not fly a single warplane or an air defense missile against the Turkish warplanes, after selling the S-400 missiles to Turkey. The US Air Force did not fly a single warplane against the NATO ally, when, by the way, Turkey didn’t shy about shelling the observation post, where the US Special Forces were stationed. Soon after the shelling, the US Special Forces unit left that post, too.

Why did President Trump do what he did? Why did Trump abandon the Kurds? There can be several speculative reasons, but the most actual reasons are that Trump was cornered domestically (in the USA) by the impeachment process, which would end his carrier as a President, and he needed to shift the focus of the American voters to something so violent that people would forget about the impeachment. With the Presidential Election coming up in 2020, Trump needed to be the American hero, who saved America. Thus, President Trump thought that by bringing home the American troops from Syrian, he was going to save America. Another reason, which the media doesn’t talk about, is that by pushing America’s allies away and towards Russia, by creating a perception that Americans can’t be trusted, President Trump tried to restore Putin’s place in the world order as a leader. What can be Donald Trump’s motivation for doing that? Can it be a form of gratitude for Russia’s meddling during the last Presidential Elections in the USA? Just stating facts here…

His plan backfired as many American politicians and high ranking military officials condemned Trump’s decision to betray the allies of the USA, who fought against ISIS at a time when America needed most. Thus, thanks to President Trump’s betrayal, the world perceived the USA as untrustworthy, and the Kurds made deals with Russian, Syrian, and Iranian governments to get their much needed support.

The world witnessed how the Turks have not changed and how the Turkish solders were killing unarmed civilians of Muslim, Kurdish, Syrian Yezidi and Christian minorities, while the Turkish military was unable to fight against the armed units of the Syrian citizens who fought to defend their families from the Turkish aggression. Those very same people, who fought against the Turkey-supported terrorists, had no problem fighting against the Turkish armed forces in an uneven battle.

After a week of blood shed and Turkey losing tanks and soldiers, the Vice-President of the United States of America, Mike Pence, made a deal on October 17, 2019, with Turkey’s President, Erdogan, to a five-day ceasefire, which will allow the USA to withdraw the Kurdish armed units from the area. With the armed units withdrawn, what will await the unarmed population of the area in the hands of blood-thirsty Turkish soldiers and the bands of terrorist organizations? Think about it!

Many Americans believe that Vice-President’s ceasefire deal, at the time when the Syrian locals took control of the Turkish invasion and the Turkish “all mighty” military started losing, was another bad idea. Many understand that Trump wants to save the face of a NATO ally (Turkey) on the count of the America’s unofficial allies. As the world’s leader the United States was, President Trump should have managed to keep the balance and the peace by restraining its allies, if Turkey can still be considered an ally, and not create a situation where he had to choose between two allies. CNN believes that Trump’s Administration is thus “validating what Turkey did and allowing them to annex a portion of Syria and displace the Kurdish population.” What do you think?


 

Share Button