Turkey deceived the opposition… and now it has begun to reveal its intention to get close to the Syrian regime

Yamin Al Khaled – Idlib
Translated by: Hejar Abbo

After years of Turkey deceiving the Syrians by claiming to stand by the Syrian people and their aspirations to establish a democratic state and overthrow the Syrian regime, and lift tyranny and injustice from them, the opposite has emerged, and the Turkish occupation government has finally begun to show its true intentions, work for its interests, and exploit the file of the Syrian opposition, by researching For a way to openly approach the Syrian regime’s government, due to the continuation of its series of interests by targeting the Kurdish presence in Syria, which caused a great shock to the Syrian refugees in Turkey and the Syrians residing in North of Syria who announced their refusal to return to the embrace of the Syrian regime and reconcile with him, while the positions of the Syrian opposition were With all its sectors negative towards Turkey’s usurpation of areas in Syria, and Turkey’s declaration of war against the Syrian Kurds.

Turkey deceived the Syrians
Recently, several statements were issued by Turkish officials, contradicting Turkey’s logic in supporting the Syrian opposition, so it began flirting with the government of the Syrian regime, and announced through official statements from its officials that there is a rapprochement in views, and Turkey’s intention to communicate, coordinate and agree to fight terrorism, and that an agreement between the regime and the opposition is necessary.

The last of these statements that ignited the Syrian street was the one made by Turkish Foreign Minister “Cavusoglu” on Thursday, August 11, and which was reported by the official Turkish “Anatolia Agency”, in which he said, “We must reconcile the opposition with the Syrian regime, otherwise there will be no permanent peace.” However, the agency quickly amended the statement after the reaction of the Syrians in the areas outside the regime’s control.

In response to these statements, tens of thousands of Syrians went out at noon the following day, August 12, with massive demonstrations that spread to all areas of northern Syria, starting from the city of Idlib and several towns in its countryside, such as Sarmada, Al-Dana, Hazano, Darkush, Jisr Al-Shughour, Al-Mastumah and others, all the way to the areas of the northern countryside of Aleppo, including usurped cities by Turkey, such as Serêkaniyê / Ras al-Ain and Afrin, and the demonstrations spread to the cities and towns of Azaz, al-Bab, al-Rai and many other areas.

Najib Al-Ghazi, displaced from Sahl Al-Ghab area in the western countryside of Hama and residing in the town of Azaz in the northern countryside of Aleppo, told Aso News Network that he went out in the demonstrations to denounce the Turkish rapprochement with the Syrian regime, which caused the displacement of nearly 14 million Syrians outside and inside Syria, and its most terrible perpetrations including killing and arresting hundreds of thousands of Syrians, and after all that the Syrian people have suffered at the hands of the Syrian regime, the Turkish occupation state wants to return the Syrians to its mercy.

He added: The Syrian regime only understands the language of killing and torture, and the idea of ​​returning under its rule is impossible, and it is a betrayal of the blood of hundreds of thousands who sacrificed themselves in order to gain freedom and dignity, but the Turkish guarantor revealed his true face, and Turkey wants to play the Syrian refugee card and return them to Syria for its interests, Because the presidential elections are approaching, they also want to return the Syrian refugees to satisfy the opposition parties.

Too late
The deadline has passed, a sentence in which Syrian activists described the Turkish position on the Syrian opposition. There was talk about the Syrian opposition’s delay in taking a position from Turkey, which undermined the Syrian movement, and participated in the Astana course, which increased the Syrians’ tragedy, and resulted in bargains between Turkey and Russia to hand over areas in the northwest to the regime in exchange for Turkey’s control of Kurdish areas in Syria.

Several Syrian Kurdish activists have stated that the Syrian opposition’s stance towards Turkey today came late, and that it should have appeared with Turkey’s usurpation of lands in northern and eastern Syria, during the displacement of the indigenous population and the settlement of settlers from other provinces, and the support of the Syrian National Army, related to the revolution, to Turkey.

Demonstrations escalate
The demonstrations that took place in northern Syria formed a strong reaction against the Turkish position, and showed that the position is unified by the lack of popular desire for reconciliation with the Syrian regime, and that Turkey is not the guardian of the Syrian people and does not have the right to self-determination, as described by Najib Ghazi. On the other hand, the position of Syrian political and military opponents was different by justifying and defending Turkey.

Najib Ghazi considered that the only solution accepted by the Syrian people is the resignation of the head of the regime and holding him accountable with all those involved in the killing and displacement of the Syrian people, and the establishment of a pluralistic democratic state in which justice and equality prevail among all components of the Syrian people.

Shameful stances from the political and military opposition
There was no clear position on the political and military opposition, nor did a position appear on the Syrian civil society and media, which are institutions that are like institutions undermined by Turkey. Instead of having a position towards the Syrians who reject the Turkish decision, many of them stopped at the incident of burning the Turkish flag in Azaz. And expressed their apologies to Turkey, and statements appeared from the Interim Government and Syrian opponents denouncing the burning of the Turkish flag.

A group of military leaders in the Syrian National Army apologized for burning the Turkish flag, and published that they would hold the perpetrators accountable. Indeed, the media reported the arrest of people for burning the Turkish flag, and Turkish officials confirmed this and praised the role of the Syrian National Army in that.

After the wave of popular discontent and the emergence of thousands in large-scale demonstrations and the burning of Turkish flags and the gathering in front of Turkish institutions and observation points, Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu made new statements on his Twitter account on Friday, August 12, in an attempt to absorb the anger of the Syrian street, in which he said: His country did not and will not leave the Syrians who are moaning of the injustice of the Syrian regime, and that accounts on social media in northern Syria had previously published his words, accusing the PKK, the Kurdish units, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the regime of being behind spreading words that were misunderstood.

On August 12, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement in which it said that Turkey, since the beginning of the crisis in Syria, has been one of the countries that has worked to support solutions to the crisis based on achieving the legitimate demands of the people. The statement added that Turkey was at the forefront of the parties that worked to consolidate the ceasefire. On the ground, it contributed to the Astana and Geneva tracks, building the Constitutional Committee, and provided full support to the opposition and the Negotiating Committee.

Turkey is going to reconcile with the regime and hit the Kurds
All intentions show that the Turkish government is clearly determined to restore its relations with the Syrian regime, despite all the statements made by the Turks justifying “Oglu”‘s statements, which revealed the intentions of the Turkish government and revealed that Turkey has no problem with restoring its relations with the Syrian regime, according to the activist. “Moayad Al-Ali” (pseudonym)

Al-Ali adds that there is a political evasion by the Turkish government, while Turkey claims to continue to support the Syrians’ cause and their aspirations to overthrow the regime and establish a pluralistic democratic state. The Syrian government is seen as tools to implement its agendas, and when the role of these factions ends, Turkey will abandon them and throw their leaders in prisons.

Al-Ali expressed his concern that the Turkish government would return the Syrian refugees to northern Syria, and this is not excluded because of Erdogan’s willingness to make all concessions in exchange for his stay in power, and the idea of ​​the refugees’ return is now almost impossible because there are no residential places to accommodate them in the north of Syria and the area has not been prepared for services. If Turkey decides to do so, the factions must wake up from their slumber, take off the Turkish cloak, and rely on themselves to restore areas from the grip of the Syrian regime to return refugees and displaced persons.

At the time when Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced the possibility of reconciliation between the Syrian regime and the Syrian opposition, he had also talked about a short meeting he had with his Syrian counterpart, and they talked about the need to fight terrorism in northern Syria, knowing that the Syrian regime considers everyone in the north of Syria terrorists from civilians and military factions.

Professor “Saleem al-Ahmad” (pseudonym), a university doctor at Idlib University, told Aso News Network that the truth of Turkish intentions has become clear. At a time when it is calling for the reconciliation of the Syrian opposition with the Syrian regime, which has practiced the worst means of repression against the Syrian people, Turkey insists that On the other hand, to launch a military operation against the areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces.

He added: From here, we understand that the goal is not to restore water to its flow and conduct reconciliation for the benefit of the two parties and for the benefit of Syria and its future, but rather the goal is barter, and it will hand over areas to the regime and Russia, and hand over defected elements and officers from the Syrian army to the Syrian government, in exchange for allowing it to occupy more areas in the north Eastern Syria, which is under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Turkey has a settlement project and is working on it by taking gradual steps. The question here is why Turkey does not reconcile the Syrian Democratic Forces, bring peace and stop occupying more Syrian lands? It is necessary to be aware of Turkey’s future plan in Syria, and here comes the role of the factions that must abandon Turkey and do not allow it to manipulate the fate of the Syrian people, he said.

Al-Ahmad stressed that the position of the majority of civilians in northern Syria regarding the Kurds is positive, and they consider the Kurdish component an integral part of the Syrian social fabric, but the Turkish-affiliated factions are trying to distort the image of the Kurds in northern Syria, and we reject Turkey’s occupation of Kurdish areas and the displacement of their Kurdish owners from their lands.

However, Kurdish activists believe in the current Syrian position against Turkey that it should actually include what Turkey has done in Syria, and that there should indeed be a return from Turkish support and watching what Turkey is doing against the Syrian Kurds, and that the Turkish goal of getting closer to the regime is to strike any Kurdish project in Syria, and targets the presence of the Syrian Kurds.

It is worth noting that the Turkish announcement of a rapprochement with the Syrian regime was not limited to the speech of the Turkish Foreign Minister, “Cavusoglu,” but rather sources close to the Turkish government revealed a few days ago the possibility of a phone call between Turkish President “Recep Tayyip Erdogan” and his Syrian counterpart, “Bashar al-Assad.” Through the mediation of some Gulf countries and the State of Algeria.

Erdogan had said in early August, “Putin has an approach based on his preference for Turkey to resort to the option of resolving the issue of combating terrorism with the regime, and we say that our intelligence services communicate with the intelligence of the Syrian regime on these issues, but the important thing is to reach a conclusion, because Our intelligence services were meeting with the regime’s intelligence, and despite this, terrorists are moving in the region, so you (Russia) must support us in this matter, and we have an agreement in this regard.”