ISIS's Rebellion against Ankara: Turkey Cannot Leave Its Southern Neighbor Syria Under The Control Of Iran
11 October 2015By Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
The official Turkish version is reasonable, despite what skeptics might
believe. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was most likely behind
the suicide bomb attack in the southeastern Turkish town of Suruç last week,
which left more than 30 people dead. This latest action by ISIS is not
surprising, however. Following the attack, US President Barack Obama seized
the opportunity to call his Turkish counterpart to convince him to stop the
flow of fighters across the Turkish border into Syria.
This urges a review of events and raises the following question: What is it
that went wrong here for Turkey?
Turkey's stance towards the Syrian regime was, initially at least, entirely
normal—that is, until things got more complicated as the conflict went on.
For the first 18 months of the uprising, Syrian youths took up arms in
response to the Assad regime's massacres. Ankara's position was in favor of
the opposition, which was formed from several local groups under the umbrella
of the Syrian National Coalition and the Free Syrian Army (FSA). By the end
of the second year of the uprising—now a full-blown conflict—the Assad regime
was teetering on the brink of collapse; it lost many major cities, and the
outskirts of the capital Damascus were experiencing daily battles between the
two sides. After the second year, two events, almost simultaneous, changed
the conflict's course: Syria began to represent a serious issue in the Muslim
world, similar to the Bosnian tragedy of the 1990s, due to the large numbers
of dead and the destruction wrought by the regime's forces. Outrage began to
mount in the face of a lack of response from world powers, a failure of
mediation without sanctions, and the refusal to arm the opposition. The
second event was the military interference of Iran and its allies in Syria to
support the waning regime in Damascus. Jihadist fighters, both pro- and anti-Assad,
began to flow into the country.
So while Iranian aircrafts were transporting fighters, along with thousands
of Iraqi and Lebanese militias crossing the borders, fighters were also
crossing from the Turkish border to fight against the regime. Thus, Syria
turned into a magnet and hub for regional and sectarian conflict. The West
saw it as a war within the Muslim camp and felt it should therefore do
nothing to intervene.
Turkey, meanwhile, turned a blind eye on fighters sneaking into Syria through
its borders, and, if its detractors are right, began supporting ''the lesser
evil'' of the conflict's jihadist groups, the Al-Nusra Front. Al-Nusra is
just another organization affiliated to Al-Qaeda—just one that doesn't film
its slaughter of hostages. But Ankara believed it could only counter the
Iraqi, Lebanese, Afghan, and Iranian jihadist militias with similar groups
such as ISIS and Al-Nusra. This erroneous thinking led to its overlooking the
true opposition—the FSA and other revolutionary groups—which did not resort
to religious slogans because they had a national and political issue that
represented most Syrians.
Of course, those who know Al-Qaeda well will be able to predict the end of
ISIS. And just as Al-Qaeda did previously, ISIS began kidnapping and killing
Westerners. It played with fire and rallied enemies much stronger than
itself. This is what characterizes terrorist organizations: they have neither
national nor moral boundaries. They are mere destructive groups that believe
in defeating the whole world in order to pave their own way to paradise. All
the while, Ankara was also involved in other regional conflicts and the chaos
of the Arab Spring. But despite all this, Turkey remains the only country
capable of bringing about substantive changes in Syria. The recent rebellion
by ISIS and Al-Nusra against Ankara is not surprising, because ISIS
especially became trapped in a corner when thousands of fighters were
recently prohibited from crossing Turkish borders and Turkey closed down some
of the group's websites.
We should not forget that ISIS, which has achieved several impressive
military victories in Iraq and Syria, has also fulfilled the will of the
Syrian and Iranian regimes by sabotaging the Syrian revolution, tarnishing
the image of the Syrian national movement, and damaging governments such as
those of Turkey and the Gulf states, who stood up against Tehran and
Damascus.
Despite all the chaos and pressures, I believe Ankara, like the rest of the
region's governments, is in the midst of a battle of balances. It cannot
leave its southern neighbor Syria under the control of Iran, especially after
the signing of the nuclear deal that lifted all sanctions on the Iranian
regime, because such a deal will increase Iran's confidence to pursue further
expansion in the region. Turkey now has an opportunity to reestablish its
ties with Syrian revolutionary forces, who are fighting for a genuine,
legitimate cause the world simply cannot ignore.
Al Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya television. He is also the
former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in the daily newspapers
of Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is a US post-graduate degree in mass
communications. He has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs. He
is currently based in Dubai.
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